Kristen Dunleavy says, “Hey, you! Yes, you. I’m watching you. I can see how you got here, where you’re from, and how long you’ve stayed. Creepy? Nah. It’s just part of basic web analytics, and it’s something you should be doing, too. (Don’t worry – I can’t see everything you’re doing, i.e. personal information. That’s a different kind of ESP.) If you’re new to tracking your website’s analytics, getting started can be a little daunting. Here’s a breakdown of everything you need to get started and begin seeing better results. How do I get started? First thing’s first:... [...]

Chow says, “For those of you who are in the business of making money online–and if you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance that you are–then you might already be familiar with Elegant Themes. They offer a number of “beautiful premium WordPress themes” to suit a wide range of website and blog types. You might also know that, in addition to WordPress themes, Elegant Themes also develops and provides a number of WordPress plugins. Today’s review takes a look at the newest addition to this collection. It’s called Bloom and it could prove to be one of the most valuable assets... [...]

Kristen Dunleavy says, “Across email campaigns, social media ads, organic search, paid search ads and other online campaigns, we have one goal that usually overrides all others: get the click! You want qualified audience members to click YES! on your subscribe button. You want Facebook or Twitter followers to click through on your ads. You want clicks to open your emails, and clicks on your email calls to action (CTAs). Of course, you want people to click on your pay-per-click (PPC) ads over those of your competitors. Emotion has long been a critical facet of advertising; for decades, researchers... [...]

Jessica Webb says, “Marketers often think of running contests for things like branding, customer delight, and fan engagement — but that’s not all they’re good for. Created a certain way, contests can also help you fill your funnel, making your audience and your boss happy at the same time. We’ve seen this happen first-hand at HubSpot. Last December, my team had the idea to run a contest, but wanted to see if there was a way to tie it more closely to business objectives. Our idea? Run a holiday-themed contest and give away eighteen $100 Visa gift cards, one for... [...]

Return Path team says, “According to stats compiled by Impact Branding & Design, 33% of email recipients open their email based on the subject line alone. This webinar will help you unlock the secrets from the Top 3,000 retailers. Hear from Tom Sather, Sr. Director of email Research, and a panel of Return Path email marketing experts to learn what tactics work to grab your subscriber’s attention from subject line to the content in your email. This webinar will also cover: What tactics ‘best-in-class’ marketers use to grab their subscriber’s attention Important subject line and... [...]

Mitch Meyerson says, “If you’ve created a blog, started a social media account, or even read a few articles online, you’ll almost certainly have noticed that people reading online have short attention spans. There are several reasons for this—including the fact that it’s tougher to read on a screen than in print, and that many websites are chock-full of distractions. When you’re communicating by email, you may have a slight advantage as there’s less visual clutter in most people’s email interfaces than on many websites, but you’ll still need to compete with dozens, perhaps... [...]

Return Path team says, “According to stats compiled by Impact Branding & Design, 33% of email recipients open their email based on the subject line alone. This webinar will help you unlock the secrets from the Top 3,000 retailers. Hear from Tom Sather, Sr. Director of email Research, and a panel of Return Path email marketing experts to learn what tactics work to grab your subscriber’s attention from subject line to the content in your email. This webinar will also cover: What tactics ‘best-in-class’ marketers use to grab their subscriber’s attention Important subject line and... [...]

Carly Okyle says, “There are so many passwords to remember — email, bank accounts, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, news subscriptions, just to name a few. Trying to keep in mind which combination of letters and numbers and symbols goes to what site can be frustrating and time-consuming, which is probably why people routinely use obvious ones that are easy to remember — and easy to hack. Knowing this, Yahoo has created a way to permit access to their email without entering passwords, which it introduced at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, on Sunday. Yahoo’s new system allows... [...]

Andy Pitre says, “I have some bad news: Your email marketing database degrades by about 22.5% every year. Your contacts’ email addresses change as they move from one company to another, opt-out of your email communication, or abandon that old AOL address they only use to fill out forms on websites. As a marketer, it’s your job to make sure you’re constantly adding fresh contacts to your email marketing campaigns so you can keep your numbers moving up and to the right. (But not by purchasing email lists — learn why you should never buy an email list in this post.) If... [...]

Tony D’Anna says, “Email automation has the potential to help publishers—whether traditional, new, media and entertainment, gaming, or apps publishers—drive more Web traffic and encourage readers to visit their sites. Yet, although publishers are creative producers of content, many are not taking full advantage of the potential that email offers to serve up that content. Automated email campaigns can help them reach the right audience at well-timed moments to drive more Web traffic. Here are three ways that publishers can and should automate to retain and increase readership and... [...]