How the World’s Top Marketers Make Emotional Connections to win in the Marketplace + MORE

What Exactly Is Content Marketing? written by John Jantsch read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape MarketingThe headline of this post may seem a bit odd since everyone knows what content marketing is. I mean, it’s all we’ve been talking about for the last few years. It started with rallying cries like “content is king” and more recently it’s even evolved into its very own form of marketing known as “content marketing…

Image source
Today, the author, Peep Laja (pronounced “Pep”), founder of conversion rate optimization agency Markitekt, and the popular blog ConverionXL, is going to look at 5 different landing page examples, expose how each company is designing their landing page incorrectly and teach you what not to do…

We’ve all been through it. The moment you’re about to dig into the best darn pile of spaghetti and meatballs you’ve ever seen. Just as you twist your fork in the pasta, spear a mouth-watering meatball, and go in for the first savory bite … the phone rings. “May I speak to Aaahnooom Hahsahn?” says the telemarketer on the other end…

Two words are all that stand between you and better copy.
What are they?
I won’t keep you in suspense.
It’s a simple two-word question:
“So what?”
Asking yourself this one simple question will dramatically improve your copy. And yield powerful copywriting.
It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an email to a colleague, a memo to your staff, or a web page selling a humidifier…

Apple. Google. Disney. These are some of the most admired and in many cases, loved brands in the world.  No doubt, many companies are envious of the connection these top brands have been able to make with their customers.  A strong connection between brands and consumer manifest in many ways from retention to word of mouth to premium pricing…

  

With all the talk of new HTML5 standards such as the srcset attribute and <picture> element, as well as server-side techniques such as Responsive Web Design + Server Side Components (RESS), you'd be forgiven for concluding that simple, static websites can’t support responsive images today…

Are you working with the right type of clients or customers, doing work that inspires you and rewards you on every level?
Well, you should be!
The challenge here, is that many small business owners and consultants, are not choosy enough to work for great clients. Instead, they decide to work with pretty much anyone who will pay them…

If I’m going to pay for concert tickets, the show better be great. With that in mind, I put together this week’s playlist of the best ROI I’ve gotten from concerts.Related Articles
Playlist: Favorite Bands & Artists on Twitter40:1 Live Google Hangout & iPad GiveawayYour Benchmark Email President’s Day Playlist

We previously discussed how link building has evolved from a primary indicator for search engine relevance, why it is becoming less relevant, and tickled the idea of there being something we don’t quite understand as the future of SEO.
And so we begin…
The Previously-Unspoken Ranking Factors where Content is the Only Way to Compete
As humans, we suffer from Adaptive Bias…

Yelp has become the most popular Internet rating and review site since its initial inception in 2004. Yelp founders saw that word-of-mouth was a powerful purveyor of new customers, but with the classic local community structure breaking apart in an online era, how could individuals know which businesses to trust? Yelp was the answer – an online review site in which customers shared their experiences, helping others make informed decisions about restaurants, auto-repair shops, and more…

Tweet
As part of human nature, we love to press buttons. Just think of a second grader in an elevator. Guaranteed, they will push every button in that elevator if you let them because they do not understand the cause and effect. It’s fun.
Ironically, the same reason children push buttons is a reason your customers might avoid your call-to-action (CTA) buttons…