Your visitors are empowered with the ability to access information with the click of a button. You can’t pull a blind-fold over their eyes or manipulate them into anything. They’ll find out the truth with or without you being upfront about what that truth looks like. Being transparent means that you’re being vulnerable, exposing all your wrinkles, scars and bumps, but it also means you’re fully disclosing what makes you better and different.

How can you be completely transparent on your site,…

...continue to read "Compare to Your Competitors Before Your Visitors Do"

That’s my standard response when asked about Social Media.  That’s not to say technology is unimportant, but that technology never really changes how people behave, think, and feel.  Human nature drives that; technology only changes the constraints previously placed on human preferences.

If you’ve ever shared office space with colleagues you really liked and respected, you’ve already twittered.  You’ve already gotten a “feed” of interesting thoughts, updates, recommendations, etc.

Twitter simply allows you to do that with people in other…

...continue to read "It Ain’t About the Technology"

My name is Bryan and I am a screenshot addict.

When I fall off the wagon, every so often, I’ll go ahead and pick a keyphrase and start clicking through PPC ads and their landing pages and take screenshots of the whole entire experience. You can’t imagine how often the experience from keyword to ad to landing page is broken. I want to call them and yell at them to subscribe to OnTarget. I don’t do it. Instead a few weeks…

...continue to read "#1 Pay Per Click Marketing Lie"

The economy still weighs heavily on everyone’s mind, and we’re seeing drastic changes in traffic patterns. Hopefully, with changes in the U.S. political climate, things will turn around a bit.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve also been watching many self-proclaimed marketing gurus speak of social media’s role in filling in the gap during the economic downturn. While social media should be a part of any forward-thinking and transparent company, I would urge caution if you believe that you can monetize…

...continue to read "Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media"

According to STORES’ Favorite 50 list for 2008, Amazon.com leads the pack, followed by eBay and Walmart.com. Rounding out the top 10 online favorites are Best Buy, JCPenney, Target, Google, Overstock, Kohl’s and Sears. You can download the PDF if you want to see the top 50. The NRF Stores websites offers some interesting analysis of the results including tidbits like:

At a time when filling the gas tank can seem like a spending spree for many consumers before they even set foot…

...continue to read "Who is Your Favorite Retailer?"

With the cost of travel going up and budgets getting squeezed we know not everyone has the opportunity to attend all the great conferences we have the honor to be invited to attend and present at. That’s why we put together a full day online curriculum for you to take advantage of.

9:00 am – 9:20 am

Seth Godin on how to get your ideas to spread:

9:30 am – 10:00 am

Avinash Kaushik on how to create a data driven culture:

10:00 am – 10:10 am

Mike Grehan on the future of…

...continue to read "OnClick: The Online Marketing Virtual Conference Mashup"

Or so says Technorati as they released data from their 2008 State of the Blogosphere report.

Techcrunch sums it up:

Blogging is a volume game. The more you post, the more chances there are that someone else will link to one of your posts. (Technorati rank is based on the number of recent links to your blog). The majority of the Top 100 blogs tracked by Technorati post five or more times per day, and a full 43 percent post more than 10 times per…

...continue to read "The More You Post the Better You Rank"

Sunday’s New York Times surprised me with ” Fox News Joins a Social Network, but Not Its Parent’s Site”

“Fox News Channel wants more friends. But instead of reaching out on the News Corporation’s own social network, MySpace, the cable news channel is choosing to network on the site’s chief rival, Facebook.

Think it has anything to do with MySpace’s existing partnership with MSNBC? Fox says it has more to do with audience.”

This is a sign of the maturity of social media,…

...continue to read "Is Facebook The Right Choice For MySpace Owners?"

Here’s a great opportunity: The oceans are dying.

Seriously, the oceans are in horrible shape, and it’s your fault. You did it, Supply, Demand, Pollution and Overfishing. And if we don’t take ownership now, our brands, our children, and our collective appetite for seafood may never forgive us.

I’m not trying to bum you out, but the next time you feel the need to impress clients or co-workers with your sushi-ordering skills, you should at least know whether you’re eating sustainable fish.…

...continue to read "“Green Marketing”? Save Some for the Fishes…"

Love Hillary. Hate Hillary. It’s up to you. But I saw something interesting in her New Hampshire campaign, and she summed it up in the beginning moments of her victory speech.

“…over the past week, I listened to you, and in the process, I found my own voice.”

There was a lot of chatter about Hillary’s emotional moment in a coffee shop caught on video. Watching that moment, many people thought, “Wow, I think for the first time ever, I just saw…

...continue to read "Does Your Website Sound Like Hillary Clinton?"