In a post at Junta42, Joe Pulizzi discusses communication techniques he developed during frequent public-speaking engagements—300 in five years—and how they influence his online content. "The best idea I can share regarding public speaking is to keep it simple," he says. "To execute that concept, I stole a page from ... more

We all know it: Content rules in today's digital marketplace. Prospects expect to find information about any product or service that strikes their fancy—in a matter of seconds. As a result, the function of the salesperson in this "content-driven environment" has "changed dramatically," John Jatsch writes in an article at ... more

Quick! Recite the first five billboards you saw on your drive to work this morning. You don't remember, right? OK, how about the first three headlines you saw on your favorite news source? Nope? OK. One last chance: Name one commercial you saw on TV last night. more

If you're not an SEO expert, you might wonder what to ask when hiring SEO staff or consultants. How do you tell the difference between someone who knows exactly what he or she is doing and someone who just knows a lot of lingo? To help out, Rand Fishkin created an ... more

What makes Foursquare so addictive? Game mechanics—those charming sets of rules built into games to make them fun to play. Implemented strategically at a website, game mechanics can help you engage both passive visitors and enthusiastic users. How might you add game mechanics to your marketing site? Craig Ferrara, Gigya's gaming/UI expert, offers ... more

There's the legal definition of spam—as outlined in CAN-SPAM—and then there's the real-world definition used by many of your subscribers: any piece of email I'd rather not receive. Even recipients who went to your website, signed up for your newsletter and confirmed their subscription might hit the spam button over ... more

In April, Altimeter released its latest maturity road map for companies seeking to integrate more social media into their websites. In short, being new-media-savvy these days isn't just about having a Facebook and a Twitter page; it's about understanding how people are expecting to interact with you—and treating them well wherever they engage ... more

This article and video are the first in a series that lays out some best-practices not only for radio in a digital age but also for marketing and advertising generally. Many of the principles that the author discusses can just as appropriately be applied to email or social media marketing—or, ... more

"It's easy to bore your customers to death with email," writes Karen Talavera in an article at MarketingProfs. "Just send them the same type of message repeatedly, and you'll succeed." Many companies, for instance, fall into the easy rhythm of sending e-newsletter after e-newsletter, never adding anything else to the mix. ... more

Fully two-thirds (67%) of North American information technology (IT) professionals say they find vendor-produced content such as whitepapers "extremely useful" or "useful," according a new study from IDG Connect. IT professionals say thought-leadership content is the most useful, followed by analysis and survey statistics. more

"How can SEO hurt your business?" asks Olga Taylor in an article at MarketingProfs. "Consider a site that is not user-friendly, is repulsive to visitors (or attractive to the wrong kind), isn't competitive, or is lacking a clear value proposition and the support required to respond to inquiries or follow ... more

A staggering amount of horrible stock photography is available online. We've all seen the pics. Heck, most of us have been guilty of using them at one point or another. Here are 12 of the top offenders. more

"Why does content matter?" writes Erika Potter at the OrangeSoda blog. "It's simple: credibility. Without credibility, your chance of converting viewers into customers goes downhill fast. It's vital that visitors to your site see your online business as a trusted resource."  To help you ensure that your online content is credible, Potter ... more

You've heard of website community managers, but what about content officers? Those are the folks responsible for your site's content—what it looks like, what it reads or sounds like, where it goes in terms of subject matter or throughout the social universe. MarketingProfs Chief Content Officer Ann Handley has written a ... more

Think content marketing is something new? Not even close. It's been a staple in the marketer's toolbox for ages. Here is a brief retrospective of some successful uses of content marketing from the past 175 years that may inspire you. more

A strong search strategy needs content that people want to share with their friends, family and colleagues. But every business faces a serious hurdle: "Branded content is tricky because it's often viewed as 'advertising,'" writes Jon Thomas at the Post Advertising blog. "As we know, audiences trust friends and strangers ... more

SEO experts have spent the last decade preaching a gospel of optimized page-level elements and inbound links. "Those things are still important today," Jonathan Lawoyin writes in an article at MarketingProfs, "but getting real SEO results these days requires not only a technically optimized website and relevant inbound links but ... more

With lead acquisition the top goal of today’s B2B companies, marketers are prioritizing investments in social media and digital content marketing in 2011, according to a survey from Focus. Meanwhile, client understanding and customer retention are top goals for B2C brands with marketers emphasizing social media, digital content, and email ... more

Online video viewing continues to grow—particularly such categories as full-length movies and TV shows—according to a study by Yahoo Insights: 57% of users now watch online video on any given day, up 14 percentage points from the 43% who did so in 2009. more

"Negative keywords can … refine your keyword list and filter out unwanted traffic for your paid-search campaigns," writes Jill Solomon in an article at MarketingProfs. "Excluding specific words or phrases that aren't relevant to your product or service can help you reach your ideal prospects, reduce your cost per click ... more

"Email marketing is thriving—especially for businesses who can adapt it to the changing world," writes Veronica Maria Jarski at the Daily Fix blog. In her post, she gives a sneak-peek at material presented by Silverpop's Loren McDonald in MarketingProfs' Email Marketing Essentials online course. Here are a few of Jarski's takeaways ... more

A successful search strategy relies on strong content marketing—and that means recruiting your company's experts to write articles, blog posts and white papers."For some of us writerly types, content comes easy," writes Ari McKee-Sexton in an article at Marketingprofs. "For other types of folks, extracting copy is like pulling bad ... more

Unless your company finds itself at the epicenter of a major scandal—à la BP—social media chatter can be a valuable sales-generating tool. "[C]onsider every mention of your brand for potential use in your email marketing campaigns," writes Hal Licino in an article at MarketingProfs. "Doing so demonstrates to your subscribers that ... more

In a post at Conversation Marketing, Ian Lurie argues that every SEO should learn at least two programming languages. And if you think you already meet that standard, consider this: "HTML doesn't count as a programming language," he says. "Javascript might, but not if you're using it to create popup ... more

Home Depot recently partnered with Scanbuy to bring QR codes to its products. If you read us regularly, you know how QR codes can help a business and how users are ever more accustomed to seeing codes wherever they may roam. Here's how Home Depot capitalizes on that new reality. When ... more