Victor says, “Web design is all about getting those creative juices flowing and bringing web pages to life. Although creativity and skill are the most coveted traits, sometimes they are not enough. The tools and resources used in this line of work must be as sharp and efficient as the user. Whether working on a new website or honing your skills, the tools we are about to present will surely help out. We’ve covered everything from easy to use photo editors, color pickers, icon generators and so much more. Without further ado, here are the best and most useful tools every designer should... [...]

Matthew Torren says, “What should you be focusing on to improve your ecommerce business? You undoubtedly have plenty of ideas of your own, and so do your team members and external stakeholders. Then there’s the seemingly endless advice from industry publications and thought leaders. It’s enough to make your head spin — you might feel like everywhere you turn, there’s another hot design trend, user experience concept, conversion optimization experiment or ecommerce tech tool that someone is hailing as the biggest business game-changer of all time. Keep it in perspective. These... [...]

Brent Leary says, “Key findings in a recent Forrester Study on the benefits of using an omni channel engagement center, commissioned by customer experience platform provider Genesys, include: – 50 percent reduction in customer abandonment at key points in the customer journey – Over $1 million in increased revenue through increased ecommerce and voice conversions While the study focused on customers using Genesys’ omni channel engagement platform, it’s obvious that having a system to manage the different channels customer are using to engage with businesses today should help... [...]

Jenny Foster says, “A driving force behind my marketing career over the past few years has been “Help the world, one business owner at a time.” So I’ve made it my mission to not only help businesses better their SEO practices, but also help the owners understand what SEO truly is. Sadly, misinformation about the field of SEO is still being circulated. One way I’ve been able to effectively overcome some of the outdated or incorrect information still floating around out there is by talking about the “hard truths” or lesser known mechanics behind local SEO. I try to do this as early... [...]

Ben Potter says, “In the recent Econsultancy/Adobe Quarterly Digital Intelligence briefing, 25% of companies said they placed most emphasis on “making our experience as personalised and relevant as possible” in terms of improving the overall customer experience. And according to some research carried out by my agency, 53% of consumers state it is important that brands offer them a personalised shopping experience. So personalisation is clearly important for both consumers and brands alike”. How retail marketers can ensure they deliver the ‘right’ customer experience ‘Econsultancy’... [...]

Brie Moreau says, “User engagement metrics, which measure what users do on your website and how they do it (such as time on page, session duration, bounce rate, and returning users), have become unofficial ranking signals with Google. Gone are the days when posting a 400-word article with a 2% keyword density could boost a page’s search rankings. Now, poor quality content has a far more negative impact on a site, causing it to drown in a sea of content that was created just for SEO purposes. Yes, the way content is interacted with online is definitely on Google’s radar, as shown by Google’s... [...]

Timothy Carter says, “Your brand encapsulates your business; it represents your identity, your mission, and how you want your customers to see you. Your end goals are getting your customers to purchase something from you, and hopefully earning recurring customer loyalty so those customers purchase from you in the future. There are certain brand qualities that are necessary for this exchange to take place, but none is as important as trust; without that trust, you have virtually no hope of earning revenue. So what is it, exactly, establishes brand trust? There’s an art and a science to... [...]

Barry Levine says, “News discovery platform News360 is launching this week a free, cloud-based audience analytics platform for publishers and content marketers. Called NativeAI, it employs machine learning — doesn’t everyone these days? — to track which topics create the most engagement for individual readers on apps and websites, as measured by page views, time on page and similar metrics. The new analytics tool is similar to what News360 has used internally for its app and site, for which it claims about six million users. But co-founder and CEO Roman Karachinsky told me it has been... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “While companies have more ways than ever to distribute important announcements at little or no cost, the formal press release is still alive and well. The reason? A good press release is still capable of driving earned media. Unfortunately, many companies fail to craft press releases that contain the components necessary for success. Here are five of them that every company should keep in mind. If your press release fails to attract attention, the most likely reason will be that it doesn’t tell a compelling enough story. While the launch of an upgraded product,... [...]

Brian Hughes says, “From Google Analytics to social media dashboards, too much data can lead to metrics overload. How can you tell if your customers are happy with your service? How do you know whether your inbound marketing strategy is working? How do you know if your social media marketing is building strong brand awareness or getting lost in the Twittersphere? There’s a good reason that, for marketers, reporting and proving their digital marketing ROI is their biggest challenge, according to HubSpot. More marketing channels mean more metrics, but not necessarily better campaigns or... [...]