Olivia Solon says, “China’s unique ecosystem means that international brands can’t adopt a ‘business as usual’ approach to reach its tantalizingly large population. Dr. Sara Ye, president of Chinese ad tech titan iPinYou’s international business, explains how to crack the People’s Republic with programmatic buying. Dr. Ye will be speaking at the forthcoming ad:tech conference in New York on 2-3 November. How would you sum up the challenges faced by international brands trying to break into China? Many international companies find it a very difficult market to enter. Even if... [...]

Brian Ussery says, “With little fanfare, earlier this year Google rolled out a way to embed 360-degree VR media for headsets in search engine optimizable web pages accessible via desktop and mobile. That’s right, immersive VR videos and images for VR headsets can now be optimized for search, accessed directly from Google and experienced on desktops and mobile devices, with or without the need for a native mobile app or VR headset. (Full disclosure: I own stock in Google.) Considering Google has shipped over five million Cardboard VR headsets, and over 12 million VR headsets are expected... [...]

Nathan Sinnott says, “Last week Twitter’s most enthusiastic and likely buyer —Salesforce — punctured the hopes of many Twitter users, and tech bods, when they formally declined to buy the social media business, saying Twitter is not the right fit for them. To make matters worse, and of course to be expected, Twitter shares took a beating following the announcement and interestingly, Salesforce shares rose. Chatter on the topic has been nothing short of epic, with reports Twitter is on the market, and talking with Microsoft, Google, Disney and Salesforce. The impact played... [...]

Itai Elizur says, “One of the best ways to stay highly competitive in the online marketing field is to learn from thought-leaders who get results. Those who’ve earned praise from renown clients and respect from their industry are always worth listening to. Whether you’re just venturing out into the marketing field or you’ve been doing it for over a decade, the following leaders are sure to spark some inspiration! In this list, I’ve included a brief background on each marketer, where to find them online, recommended reading and a notable quote. One excellent way to use this list is... [...]

Sam Hollis says, “They say don’t judge an email by its subject line, but let’s be honest: We’re always keeping an eye out for the best of the best. After all, the subject line is one of the first impressions your message has on its recipients and can help you improve your opens and clicks. That’s a lot of pressure for a seemingly short line of text. While there is no secret to the perfect subject line, there are a few words and phrases that we turn to time and time again to get more eyes on our emails. To add some bling to your subject lines , check out these tips and tricks you... [...]

Michele Linn says, “I hate shopping, and I have a limited fashion sense. So when a friend offered to help me shop for wardrobe essentials that I could mix and match to suit almost any occasion, I wholeheartedly agreed. These staples have been so helpful in many ways. Now I no longer spend time thinking about what to wear and I don’t constantly second-guess myself. Packing is not a nightmare because I don’t have to try on a bunch of things that are “meh” and “good enough.” A wardrobe of staples has saved me so much time, and I feel much more confident. Do you want to regain some... [...]

Six months ago, Cindy Donovan and Keith Gosnell created Viral Loop. It automated creating and promoting websites. It was popular among small business marketers and sold over 500 copies. Now, at 11 AM EDT tomorrow, they are releasing their updated and improved version of this software with new levels of automation. They report that Viral Loop 2.0 is the easiest, fastest and most profitable way to use WordPress in your business. They have shown complete beginners how to build a website within 30 minutes. And it doesn’t require any technical expertise to build your sites because it’s beginner-friendly;... [...]

Andrew Dennis says, “Penguin 4.0 was announced on September 23, and I couldn’t be more excited. I believe Penguin 4 will be a boon for (legitimate) SEO companies everywhere. We had to wait over 700 days for the newest iteration of Penguin; it was a long time coming, but now that it’s here, it’s more than I hoped. There a few reasons I welcome this new Penguin with open arms: The algorithm now devalues links rather than punishing sites. Penguin is baked into Google’s core algorithm, updating in real time. The feasibility of negative SEO is greatly diminished. The new Penguin is more... [...]

Travis Wright says, “Innovation is martech’s currency — and it requires constant change. Keeping up with all the latest tools to make your brand compelling so that it resonates with your audience can be difficult, if not impossible. To help you optimize your martech strategies, I’ve compiled a list of 11 of the hottest technologies that might not be on your radar. Check out these cutting-edge tools designed to increase your marketing’s efficiency and effectiveness. Cloudinary Cloudinary offers a cloud-based image management platform for managing thousands of different image versions... [...]

Danny Wong says, “Writing a sales letter is not an easy task. If it was, everyone would easily score six-figure contracts in a snap. In order to make a sales letter effective as well as specially designed for a large contract, here are some considerations you need to keep in mind. Be appropriately brief  The kids don’t use the phrase TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) for nothing. Your sales letter needs a similar approach. While there is an endless debate as to how long the ideal sales letter should be with no magic bullet solution, one thing that all sales experts agree on is that... [...]