Jill Talvensaari says, “Some marketers hear “big data” and their heads spin. They know it can be valuable, but it also can be a mess of multiple databases with divergent fields, formulas, and more. They see data as their marketing kryptonite. To see this kind of data as a treasure chest – as a means to be more effective in your content marketing – I suggest you use the word “personalization” when you talk big data. Big data affords you the opportunity to customize content for your target audiences (far beyond “Dear Jane”). It enables you to deliver the most relevant content... [...]

Erica McGillivray says, “Like the talking mice to Cinderella, we’re already working hard on MozCon and crafting Roger one heck of a ball gown. (And letting our metaphors get out of control in the meantime.) Which means I’m here to share with all of you the current MozCon 2016 Agenda and a ton of other preview goodies. If you’re suddenly like “Oh snap, I haven’t bought my ticket(s)!”, I’ll pause while you”. ​Preview the MozCon 2016 Agenda (and Other Exciting News!) MOZ  [...]

Maria Dykstra says, “I love asking emerging entrepreneurs if they have a lead generation strategy. The typical response is: “We are bootstrapping, we can’t afford strategy”. #WhatYouAreReallySaying: “We don’t know what to do to build a strategy, and we don’t have the money to buy expensive consultants.” The dilemma for the do-it-yourself entrepreneur is that you can’t afford to waste money on the things that do not work, yet you have to get something working for you — quickly and with little expense. What to do? 1. Facebook news feed ads. Facebook News Feed Ads are perfect... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Despite the fact that there are more ways than ever to target and reach audiences, marketers face numerous challenges. And perhaps few face the number of challenges that confront healthcare marketers. Here are seven of the biggest that this group must contend with. 1. Digital underinvestment By some estimates, healthcare spending in the US is close to 20% of GDP, but healthcare marketers aren’t funneling much of their marketing dollars into digital. According to Deloitte Consulting, healthcare and pharma marketers spent just $1.4bn on digital ads, a figure that... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “With the news that over half of the trillions of Google searches happen on mobile, Google announced Tuesday that it will soon change the way advertisers set bids for targeting ads by device type in AdWords. Other coming changes announced at Googler Performance Summit in San Francisco include an update to Google text ads on all devices and responsive mobile display ads that can access native mobile ad inventory on the Google Display Network. The change in bidding is significant in that it accomplishes two things: 1. Untethers desktop and tablet bids; and 2. Allows advertisers... [...]

Ajay Prasad says, “Online review sites now give customers the power to write a public review of your business at any time, making many business owners feel completely defenseless against the potential onslaught. Reviews can pop up when you least expect them, and they can have a lasting effect on how potential and regular customers perceive your business. In short, online reviews can be a pain—especially if you’re below the three-star average range. Managing online reputation is absolutely essential to building a strong customer base and maintaining steady revenue, especially for small... [...]

Brandon Turner says, “Why don’t planes crash more often from mechanical failure? With all the moving parts inside a plane, it seems that something would break fairly easily. So, why doesn’t that happen? One primary reason: checklists. Before pilots push the button for taxiing and take-off, they perform an extensive pre-flight checklist to make sure everything is functioning exactly as it should be. Entrepreneurs hoping for strong SEO (search engine optimization) rankings might take a lesson here. They can create a checklist of their own to make sure everything is perfect for their next... [...]

Page Load Speed is a key ingredient in the search engine algorithms for ranking, along with mobile-responsiveness, backlinks, and more. Not only that, speed can make a difference in whether a visitor stays around to look at your site or bounces off to some other site. Tuning your site for better speed is critical if it is to bring you long-term success. But, isn’t this a job for experts? Yes, it is. But fortunately for the rest of us, experts can capture their knowledge in software that can act as a portable expert. If done well, tuning software can look into the “behind the scenes”... [...]

Tony Messer says, “We’ve all heard the mantra: Content is King! But what exactly does it mean? What are the business benefits of Content Marketing and where exactly do you start? We’ll let’s start with what not to do. The fundamental mistake that most businesses make is to create content for content’s sake. Maybe they’ve heard that businesses that create content on a regular basis get better rankings and get more traffic. These days anyone can easily churn out blog post after blog post, create dozens of podcasts, or draw up an infographic, and upload them to their website. But creating... [...]

Patrick Kulp says, “Google’s advertisers may soon figure much more prominently into the terrain of the company’s maps feature. A new type of ad offering will let companies buy the ability to place a small logo image over their physical locations on Google Maps, the search giant announced on Tuesday. Such ads are already available in Google-owned navigation app Waze. Other new ads within Google Maps will allow retailers to peddle in-store discounts on specific products or display an inventory search of a nearby store when users search relevant terms within Maps. If someone were... [...]