Category Archives: Marketing

3 SEO Takeaways from SMX West 2013

Brian Flores | May 15, 2013

smx west 2013

This last week saw the 2013 Search Marketing Expo come and go. With speakers like Matt Cutts and Duane Forester, you can be sure there were a multitude of interesting forums that covered pertinent industry updates. While there is a wealth of information to be gleaned from a conference as prominent as SMX West, here are three major game changers that can contribute to the overall success of a website. 1.  MARKUP MATTERS  In 2011, I urged that you must not ignore Schema.org and that early adopters would see the biggest return.  Well it’s been nearly two years since Schema.org’s big debut at SMX Advanced 2011 and guess what…it’s is only becoming more evolved, more powerful, and a more important tactic to having content stand out effectively in search results.  Here are some really cool types of schema markups that are being used by savvy SEO-minded webmasters: Recipes with Reviews: … Continue reading →

It’s Not You – It’s Your Un-Optimized Mobile Website

Jenna Scaglione | April 2, 2013

Mobile_Site_Choice

I’m reminded of George Costanza on Seinfeld as he not so cleverly connives his way out of a dysfunctional relationship by telling his past love interest the words every woman longs to hear, “It’s not you… it’s me.” So we may not be on the other end of a “Costanza convo” but when talking about the lack of conversions and untapped potential of your website… it really isn’t you, it’s actually your mobile site. Your desktop website could be the best thing since sliced bread, but if your mobile site is not optimized and offers users a terrible experience, you may find yourself on the other end of a “Costanza” moment. How do you optimize your mobile site? That’s the million dollar question and one only you can answer. I could lecture you on the top 10 tips to optimizing a mobile site, but if they don’t apply to your … Continue reading →

Effective Kickstarter Marketing Through SEO, SEM & Nurturing

Brian Rubin | January 18, 2013

I’ve been a member of Kickstarter for a little over a year now, and in that time I’ve backed over thirty projects – almost all of which were video games – and have seen many of them succeed, but also many of them have sadly failed. As an SEO professional, I began to notice patterns in both successful and unsuccessful campaigns that have led me to some theories on why certain campaigns succeed while others don’t, and many of these were similar to practices we use in SEO and SEM every day. What is Kickstarter, you ask? At its core, Kickstarter is a crowdfunding engine that allows fans of a particular project to donate to that project, usually based on reward tiers. For example, a reward tier of $5 for an artist’s new album might get a thank you in the liner notes, while $25 might get you the full … Continue reading →

Email Marketing: Subject Line Best Practices

Rebecca Eaton | December 10, 2012

It’s been estimated that the average email user receives 147 emails every day. If your business markets through email, you’re facing some stiff competition in your customer’s inbox. Industry statistics show that less than 25% of customers are likely to open marketing emails, and even fewer go on to click the links in the email. So how can you make your marketing emails stand out among the rest? The first thing your customer is going to see when your email is delivered is the subject line. Often times, it is what compels them to open the email, or hit the delete button. Here are some email marketing best practices to help you craft a well written and compelling subject line for email marketing campaigns. Beware Of Spam  When writing subject lines, one of the most important things to do is to stay away from any words or phrases that may raise … Continue reading →

Banned From Google AdSense? Monetize Your Site With These AdSense Alternatives

John Vantine | July 3, 2012

Picture this: you’ve had AdSense on your site for about 6 months now. Things have been going well. You’ve tweaked your display units a bit, and you’re making about $50 a day – way more than enough to cover hosting and domain costs. Everything is cool, and then you check your email one morning and see this email, totally out of left field: Hello, After reviewing our records, we’ve determined that your AdSense account poses a risk of generating invalid activity. Because we have a responsibility to protect our AdWords advertisers from inflated costs due to invalid activity, we’ve found it necessary to disable your AdSense account. Your outstanding balance and Google’s share of the revenue will both be fully refunded back to the affected advertisers. Please understand that we need to take such steps to maintain the effectiveness of Google’s advertising system, particularly the advertiser-publisher relationship. We understand the … Continue reading →

thinkLA Schmooze Cruise 2011

Maria Sass | July 20, 2011

Lexus. VW. Toyota. Honda. LA Auto Show? Not quite. These were some of the many advertising accounts represented at the highly anticipated thinkLA Schmooze Cruise. This year, the Schmooze Cruise sold-out the first day tickets went on sale, a record, and huge accomplishment, for thinkLA (although to the dismay of some). This could be due to this years theme, Capture The Moment: Prom Night, or because, well, LA has a lot of love for advertising. We have the entertainment industry. We have sun and sand. But what many people don’t know is that LA is the home of some of the largest advertising agencies and accounts. Saatchi & Saatchi, Deutsch, TBWA/Chiat/Day, Team One, RPA, and even start-up agencies, such as Spark44, are all located in this beautiful place we are fortunate enough to call home. There were also many interactive and online advertising agencies present, such as Break Media, Radium … Continue reading →