Ayaz Nanji says, “Which words in subject lines significantly increase consumer opens of marketing emails, and which words significantly decrease opens? To find out, Alchemy Worx used the Touchstone platform to analyze data from 21 billion marketing emails sent by 2,500 brands. The research included an examination of thousands of subject lines, word by word, to determine their influence on open rates. The words in subject lines that increase open rates most, on average, are upgrade (+65.7% compared with average open rate), just (+64.8%), content (+59%), go (+55.8%), and wonderful (+55.1%),... [...]

Nikhil Jain says, “With the constant changes in the SEO industry and more frequent Google updates, it is extremely important for webmasters to follow the latest changes and adapt their websites according to them. We have all heard it countless times and still I will repeat it – adapt or die. It is not a secret that since all these updates, your on-page optimization is more important than it ever was. Before even starting an offsite optimization campaign, you should make sure your website is fully prepared for it. As we move into 2015, let us have a look at 15 of most important on-page SEO... [...]

Jami Oetting says, “Website visitors are banner blind. And if they do pay attention to the display ads cluttering their online experience, they can put a stop to irrelevant messaging by installing an ad blocker. Hey, it’s tough for any brand to compete with plug-ins that can replace banner ads with pictures of puppies and kittens. But this isn’t to say banner ads are all bad. In fact, there have been some pretty creative uses of the display format. But overall, people are tired of being bombarded with ads that don’t apply to them or are ill-timed. They lost trust,... [...]

Lara O’reilly says, “Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Taboola are paying the owner of Adblock Plus of to unblock ads on their websites at a fee of “30% of the additional ad revenues” they would have made were ads unblocked, The Financial Times reports. Adblock Plus is the most popular advertising blocker browser extension and has been downloaded more than 300 million times. The free service claims on its website that it blocks “annoying” banners, pop-ups and video ads. Eyeo, the German company that owns Adblock Plus, says the add-on has more than 50 million monthly... [...]

Andrew Broadbent says, “It’s impossible to escape the hype around TV ads during the Super Bowl. But big brands are also running some really impressive experiential advertising events to coincide with the big game. Many large brands are allocating and shifting marketing budgets towards more immersive experiences that really make an emotional impact on consumers and fans. The Bud Light New York hotel was one of last year’s experiential marketing initiatives that went way over the top and really made an impact”. Experiential advertising and how it is changing marketing ‘Econsultancy’... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Mobile devices had the highest average click-through rate (CTR) across all digital ad channels in 4Q14, according to a recent report from Marin Software. The report was based on data from the Marin Global Online Advertising Index, which looks at over $6 billion worth of spend on the Marin platform. The index consists primarily of enterprise-class marketers—larger advertisers and agencies that spend in excess of $1 million annually on paid search, display, social, and mobile. Search ads had the highest average CTR in 4Q14, with social and display lagging sharply—in-line... [...]

Mohit Maheshwari says, “Probably what Bill Gates claimed back in 1996 still holds valid for the digital industry – Content is King; and it will reign for years to come. But what’s the worth of a king without a strong team backing him? Likewise, though content alone takes the throne, content marketing strategies are central to the success of social media. As the year swifts towards its latter half, here’s a look at the good and the bad of content marketing strategies, finally arriving at 10 that have made it to the top of the ‘most effective list” in the world of social media. Businesses... [...]

Gina Broom says, “Whether you’ve decided you’d like to have a crack at writing your own blog posts, or you want to optimize your current writing process, this is sure to give you a boost. I’ve spent a while now trying to find faster ways to do it without sacrificing quality. One particular Bill Gates quote always stuck with me, even before I got into the business world. He said, “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” At first I thought, surely a”. The Productivity-Optimized 5-Step Blog Writing Process Mark... [...]

Ginny Mrvin says, “Marketers are planning to increase investment in native advertising. Sixty-three percent of marketers say they’ll be spending more on native advertising this year. That’s according to a survey of 127 client-side marketers by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). Native ads reflect the look and feel of the editorial environment in which they appear. Publishers have been rolling out native advertising opportunities — and adding editorial and creative staff to create sponsored content — as a way to increase ad revenue, and often charging higher rates for... [...]

Jon Salm says, “Native advertising was much maligned in 2014 as marketers and publishers struggled to effectively walk the fine line between sponsored native content and editorial content. Many native ads were either too obviously promotional, too distantly related to the medium’s core content or perhaps worst of all – not forthcoming about its status as sponsored content. After examining the trajectory and possibility of native solutions, however, it is clear that native will help marketers win big in the new year. I wrote about native advertising for Millward Brown’s 2015 Digital... [...]