Ryan Lynch says, “Your business can always benefit from high converting landing pages. Higher conversion rates means more customers, and more customers means more profit potential. The purpose of your landing page is to capture leads and warm them up before sending them further down your sales funnel. Think of your landing page as a work of art. Every detail of your page should have a deeper purpose for being there other than a need to fill up space. From the size and color of your call-to-action button to the length of your copy, every choice you make should have a strategic reasoning behind... [...]

Lisa Calhoun says, “In the two seconds it takes you to read this sentence, 1,000 photos have been uploaded to Instagram. Its 300 million users, as I write this, share 70 million moments every day. As we move into 2015, agencies are in a new position. We no longer own “the most creative content.” Actually, creative content is a commodity now. So how can agencies stand out and grow in 2015? Traditionally, we’ve let our clients do the talking and refer us — that will stay the same. Traditionally, we’ve also let our amazing creative work do the talking — that will no longer... [...]

Amanda Durepos says, “Optimizing your marketing campaigns for mobile users isn’t just about having your landing pages render nicely on all smartphones and tablets. It’s also about considering the user behind the device; what they’re doing and thinking about while they’re using it. And while the same people tend to use both mobile and desktop, their behavior and goals at a given time differ depending on the device they’re using. But differ how, exactly? I spoke to nine digital marketers to ask what they’ve learned about their mobile audience and how they’ve... [...]

Dough Davidoff says, “In the sales and marketing world, there are few issues that are getting more attention than the issues surrounding lead management and follow up. In my experience, clarity around lead management, qualification and response times are the crucial linchpin to align sales and marketing efforts. It’s a rather scary statistic, but according to a study most recently done for Harvard Business Review, 71% of qualified leads are never followed up with. What’s more is, of the leads that are followed up on, they’re only touched an average of 1.3 times. This represents tremendous... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “Given the popularity and effectiveness of visual content for marketing, it’s no surprise that today’s marketers are creating more and more infographics. They’re a more enjoyable way of digesting statistics, data sets, and timelines, and they can drive more traffic and engagement than plain text. Even though there are a lot of good infographics out there, there are still a ton of bad infographics out there, too. You usually know one when you see one: Either it’s jam-packed with information, or it hardly shows any useful information at all.... [...]

Rosalia Cefalu says, “They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but let’s be honest … a pretty cover doesn’t hurt when it comes to your marketing. That’s why — whether you’re creating lead generation content, social media content, calls-to-action, or infographics — your marketing materials should always be as visually appealing as possible. Problem is, actually creating all these beautiful visuals isn’t exactly every marketer’s forte. Oh, another problem? Design software can cost an arm and a leg (plus all the classes you need... [...]

Tim Letscher says, “When you want to find something on the web, you Google it. Google is to search what Kleenex is to tissues. But there is a relative newcomer in the world of search that is approaching search not like an answering machine but as a discovery tool. That newcomer is Pinterest with its new promoted pins program. It’s creating an ideal playground where brands and people can make meaningful connections. As an early beta tester, we’re finding that the promoted pins program does more than generate conversions. It also increases engagement and performs as an awareness driver... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “Inbound marketers are constantly on alert for changes in Google’s ever-evolving algorithm … but that doesn’t mean we don’t miss one every now and then. The combination of frequent algorithm updates and a busy workload means that sometimes a critical update gets lost in the sauce. To make sure you’re fully up to date on the latest major changes in SEO, we’ve compiled a full list of the most important Google algorithm updates from 2014. This year, we saw changes from pirates and penguins and pandas and pigeons; the removal... [...]

Ginny Soskey says, “It’s becoming more and more apparent that mobile is an important consideration for marketers. Our audiences are using mobile devices to research our companies, products, and services — in fact, Google found that nearly 60% of consumers visit a company’s mobile website in the buying cycle. And because we want to be where our audience is, it’s important for us to up our mobile game. The first step you need to take? Make your website responsive. To get caught up on what that means, check out the animated GIF below. In under a minute, you’ll... [...]

Jami Oetting says, “As an account manager, your most important priority is developing a trusted advisor relationship with your client. Although some of that will come from genuinely empathizing with her, when you achieve the goals you both agreed to, listen to her, co-collaborate, and educate her, you earn her trust, gratitude, and respect. If you own a small agency, we’re betting that you (or your principals) wear this hat as well. Your next priority is to improve each client account’s profitability. Why? Because it’s far easier and less expensive to get more business from a loyal... [...]