Online Marketing

SUMMARY: Overhauling a website can work wonders for a
business. However, convincing upper management that a
fix is worth the investment might take some persuasion.

Here's the strategy one marketer used to convince
higher-ups to fund a full overhaul. The changes resulted
in a 482% lift in SEO traffic, website conversions are
up 43% and their cart abandonment rate dropped 20%. read the complete case study

SUMMARY: The Web 2.0 bandwagon has been rolling for some time. Visitors to your site expect to see blogs, video and social networking features. Yet, many subscription sites aren’t sure which interactive features actually make money.

In our latest Sherpa Kit, we answer that question and more:
- Glossary of terms and checklists to get you started
- Making the most of widgets
- Cheat sheets for YouTube, user-generated content and blogging
- Lots of creative samples to swipe ideas read the complete article

SUMMARY: "60 percent of online consumers indicated that it is either “extremely important” or “very important” for an online company to be environmentally-conscious, while only 9 percent felt that it is an unimportant factor" "45 percent of online consumers are willing to pay a premium of at least “5 percent or more” for a product that promotes environmentally-friendly attributes." "Over one-third (38 percent) of consumers are attracted to environmentally-conscious marketing that touts specific user benefits (i.e., saves money... view the complete research record

SUMMARY: User-generated content sites provide environments for just about anyone to socialize, share information and trade thoughts with one another. They also offer marketers an audience of like-minded contributors for targeted advertising and sponsorships.

See how CondeNet launched and grew a UGC site into 130,000+ members of young women in its first seven months. Includes three strategies and five tips for a liftoff that also created a new revenue stream. read the complete interview

SUMMARY: By Anne Holland, Content Director

Starting a blog is easy. Keeping a blog going for more than a few months is hard. If you are one of the relatively few, the proud, the multi-year bloggers, you should give yourself a gold medal for sustained effort above most people’s capacities.

However, is your hard work really paying off as much as it could?

Very few blogs are optimized for success. Here are the top 5 action items I’ve... read the complete article

By Anne Holland, Content Director

My husband types two-three words per minute (it’s true, I timed him once).

So, late last Tuesday night, when he decided to donate to Barack Obama’s campaign after watching a bunch of speeches on TV, he got me out of bed to go online and do it for him.

The donation form wasn’t anything unusual -- much like most charity and political sites. But, the next page, that ‘Thank... read the complete blog post