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What do companies like Nordstrom, Jet Blue, Amazon and Dell have in common? They have built their brand value on providing a positive experience for their customers on- and offline. Successful companies match business objectives with customer needs. They combine ongoing testing, feedback and improvement cycles into their daily practices and invest in listening, learning and modifying the user experience to create positive returns in revenue and loyalty. This means user experience is not just a practice or a process—it is a philosophy. Here's how to accomplish the same.

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For decades, professional service providers—including consultants, accountants, lawyers and others—were reluctant marketers. They thrived in a cozy world where networks of personal relationships and word-of-mouth brought them enough new clients to grow a profitable business. Those days aren't gone, but they're fading fast.

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While getting people to enter your site through the home page of your Web site is ideal for conversion, occasionally visitors will enter through a sub-page, not designed for that same means. Marketers need to regularly utilize Web site analytic tools to keep a watchful eye on all pages, to make sure they are effectively converting visitors. Here's what marketers should know about the homepages they may not know about, and what they need to do to optimize these Web pages.

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Search engine optimizers typically label themselves as "white hat" or "black hat" to identify their basic philosophy, approach and methodology for SEO. As with most things in life, SEO probably isn't as much "black" and "white" as a spectrum of gray. And more importantly to marketers, the question isn't so much what's black and what's white but what impact can each approach have on your brand?

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It's the time of year when many businesses start thinking about sending their clients appropriate gifts to thank them for their business. There's no strict rule of thumb with gift giving, but here are some valuable ideas.

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The Web requires leadership if it is to achieve its full potential. Such leadership will rarely be given by senior management. Guess what: that means it's up to you.

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Expert search engine optimization is an ongoing process. It is a process of honing and refining, while simultaneously expanding. It is a process of protecting and bolstering while also minimizing the risk of setback. Recurring costs for search engine optimization should go primarily toward increasing the value of the campaign over time—not maintaining the status quo, or, worse yet, simply reporting on the state of the union.

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Even a small market share can be remarkably difficult to obtain with a new offering in a highly competitive market. A "shoot for the middle" strategy ignores that there are already plenty of competitors fighting over existing positions within the core of the market. But by owning an identifiable market position or niche that may appear to be on the fringes of the market, you may greatly improve your chances for survival and success.

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OK, you got your prospect to raise his hand and seek out further information about your product or service. Now comes the really hard part: turning him into a buying customer. Here are 10 ways to address the challenge and improve your conversion rates of browser to buyer.

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In addition to the skills required 10 years ago, today's marketer must possess more sophisticated marketing skills and a slew of other core competencies. Along with a keen understanding of the creative development process, marketers today must demonstrate capability with business case development and project management. Quantitative analysis skills and the ability to evaluate and interpret customer data and behavior are now essential skills. Marketing departments are also seeking individuals who are familiar with database marketing, integrated marketing and various aspects of CRM. It's a superhuman expectation that any individual master skills in all areas. But here's the key to protect organizations from the backlash of overwork and exhaustion.

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The secret to successful copy is in all the thought, work and research you do before you write a single word. In the following 10 tips, Kranz lifts the curtain to reveal the backstage mechanics you can leverage for more effective copywriting. Get the full story.

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The way most companies are selling solutions just doesn't work in today's business world. Things have gotten so complex that most customers can't even comprehend what their problems are, let alone distinguish between you and your competitors. The answer is to quit selling your solution as you would sell any other product and start selling like a "business advisor," a job that requires the diagnostic skills of a doctor. Get the full story.

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As a rule, pre-merger expectations don't measure up to long-term results. Up to 70% of merged companies don't achieve their predicted revenue synergies -- a problem that's further complicated when companies have multiple brands and serve a variety of customer segments. If the newly combined company hopes to meet expected growth objectives, the executive team must create a combined offer that is uniquely valued by customers and differentiated from competitors. Marketers can help ensure the transaction lives up to its promise by following these three principles. Get the full story.

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Word-of-mouth, or WOM, has become the buzzword in many marketing and advertising circles. Whether you are working in the B2C or B2B space, having your customers tell their friends, family and work colleagues about your product or service is what we all hope to achieve (and translate) into new leads, new customers, increased sales and improved brand awareness. Get the full story.

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Let's face it, sales people are notoriously hard to impress—even when you can get their attention. They tend to be very opportunistic learners; they want information when they need it, not before, and if the content isn't completely relevant to their selling strategies—you've lost them. But your sales organization needs a deep understanding of your customer's business issues and the value of your solutions. So marketing teams need to find new, compelling and sales-relevant tools and techniques to educate sales teams. Get the full story.

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Marketers often delegate responsibility for thinking and decision-making to research companies. Yet much of the customer intelligence in these research debriefs already exists within organizations—and in a format that is easier to understand and remember, and is far more engaging, than PowerPoint presentations or documents. It also encourages innovative solutions. Such customer intelligence exists in the form of customer stories, which can replace the safety net of customer research. They can be a springboard for customer-based innovation. Get the full story.

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To get customers to consider a change to the status quo, you have to give them a good reason. A really good reason. They need to know about the tangible business results they'll get from using your product or service. One of the best ways to awaken prospective customers is to jolt them with a statement about the significant difference that your offering can make. And the bigger the jolt, the better.

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Your direct mail package clears a major hurdle when your prospect opens the envelope. The moment of truth has arrived. The next 3-5 seconds will largely determine whether your marketing effort is a success or failure, because it's during those critical first few seconds that your prospect decides whether to continue reading.

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With the start of autumn and a new school year comes a renewed emphasis on learning. That's true for those of us who haven't ridden a big yellow bus for many years. So, among the dozens of marketing books published every year, here are three (plus on bonus title) published in 2005 that are worth reading (and buying).

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One way to increase your conversion ratio is to make sure your Web site is easy to navigate and information is easy to find. In other words, ensure its "usability." Often, search engine optimization and marketing principles benefit a site's usability with people as well as search engines. Here are some tips on how to improve usability and improve your conversion rates.