Marc Herschberger says, “When you first implemented inbound marketing for your business, you knew that you were building a system that utilized high quality content to help generate high quality leads from your website. Flashes of the film Field of Dreams probably kept running through your head as you optimized your website for conversions and started pumping out blogs and offers at a regular basis. If you build it, they will come. And boy did they! Inbound marketing has proven time and time again to be an extremely successful philosophy that can help generate leads for businesses through... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Is there a disconnect between what marketers say and what they do? When it comes to the viewability of their digital ads, it appears the answer may be yes. According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), 97% of the 154 members that participated in its survey indicated that they believe larger media sellers should allow third parties to measure their inventory. Furthermore, 65% stated that the Media Rating Council (MRC) should provide accreditation for media sellers’ internally-derived metrics. The consequences for media sellers could be significant... [...]

Susan Solovic says, “Facebook recently announced financial results that blew expectations out of the water, and its stock shot up on the news. But if you’ll dip into your medium-term memory for a moment, you’ll recall that a few years ago Facebook stock was hitting new lows not long after its IPO. This turnaround is, of course, based on exploding ad revenue and tied up with that fact is good news and (maybe) bad news for small business owners along with some very important lessons. Let’s start with the lessons that Facebook’s success is teaching us, especially in light of the question... [...]

Ina Toncheva says, “Once your mobile app is out in the wild, you begin to face limitations that make app distribution difficult. Some of those limitations are rooted in the underlying structure of the world of mobile apps: Unlike the Web, where, inherently, content is linkable and websites are connected, mobile apps are usually gated behind the walls of their download pages in app stores and mobile content is hidden behind the apps’ homepages. Having interacted with the Internet for years, we often take for granted the discoverability of content, websites’ interconnectivity,... [...]

Josh Manion says, “The battle of the titans is on again this holiday season, as commentators line up to report on Black Friday plans by Amazon, Walmart and the other big retailers, putting a spotlight on the relationship of online and in-store spending. Who’s winning that battle? And where does the truth lie for retailers like Walmart that are seeking to compete in both arenas? Walmart is the world’s biggest retailer, with $482 billion in annual sales, but its online revenue is small compared with Amazon. Now Walmart has announced it will invest $2 billion in the next two years to bolster... [...]

There are a number of well-known eCommerce platforms. Perhaps Shopify is the best known, but there are also BigCommerce, Volusion, Spark Pay, CoreCommerce and others. They all do a reasonable job of helping you get an eCommerce store up and running, but they also share another characteristic: The require ongoing monthly payments. Now, there is a new platform for eCommerce that doesn’t charge you a monthly fee or charge you a commission whenever you make a sale: SaleJunction. This new software is available for a single one-time charge. It also has the advantage of not requiring any supplemental... [...]

Sam Belt says, “You’re sitting at your desk writing a follow-up email for the sales call you just finished, when anemail tracking notification catches your eye: Paul Allen is viewing your Product Page. You freeze. Paul Allen is the decision maker at the white-whale account you’ve been chasing since you started on the team months ago, but to no avail. Now, you’re faced with a dilemma common to a tech-savvy sales rep: do you call him right now? If you don’t follow up right away, you might miss a fleeting window of opportunity to speak with a very busy man. But... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “If questions lingered about Google’s commitment to lead gen, the world’s most popular search engine answered them this week with the launch of Google Compare for mortgages. The service, which helps consumers shop for a mortgage from multiple lenders, was announced earlier this year and is now available in California. Google plans to launch in other states soon. With Google Compare for mortgages, mortgage lenders can market themselves to potential customers on a cost-per-lead (CPL) basis, not the cost-per-click (CPC) model that earns Google billions of... [...]

Stefanie Flaxman says, “Let’s compare bland content to plain bread. Plain content bread isn’t going to build an authority sandwich for your business; it’s fairly easy to produce and many other places offer it. Editing and proofreading are the peppercorn-crusted turkey and applewood-smoked bacon you need to layer on top of your plain content bread. With peppercorn-crusted turkey and applewood-smoked bacon (and maybe even some Dijon mustard or horseradish mayonnaise), you’re able to craft an engaging experience for readers — something savory, a little spicy, and more robust than... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Local business reviews didn’t make the cut in Google’s wholesale revamp of Google+. Google+’s redesign, announced last week, puts the focus on Communities and Collections and removes display of reviews and other local business information such as addresses, phone numbers and hours of operation. The change appears to be permanent. “Reviews will no longer be shown on Google+ Pages in the new Google+ design,” Elizabeth Powers, a Google community manager, wrote in a Google My Business help forum. “Reviews are still accessible on Google Search and Maps which have... [...]