The Rise of Viral Marketing
From Hotmail's free-email footer to the buzz behind The Blair Witch Project, a look at how viral marketing became a real strategy rather than an accident.
The Archive
1999
How Website Usability Changed Digital Marketing in 1999
In 1999, e-commerce traffic finally forced marketers to treat usability as a revenue issue instead of a design afterthought.
Email Newsletters Trends Shaping 1999
Five real shifts in how businesses sent email newsletters in 1999, from the permission marketing debate to the rise of free webmail.
A Practical Guide to Online Branding
Seven concrete ways businesses built recognizable, trustworthy brands on the web in 1999, from domain names to email newsletters to consistent visual identity.
Building a Web Directories Strategy From Scratch
A step-by-step plan for getting a small business listed in Yahoo, the Open Directory Project and the other directories that sent traffic in 1999.
How Affiliate Marketing Changed Digital Marketing in 1999
A look back at what shifted in affiliate marketing over 1999: the networks that launched, the merchants that joined and what it meant for businesses watching.
Case Study: A 1999 GoTo.com Pay-Per-Click Win
How a small mail-order retailer used GoTo.com's new pay-for-placement model to outperform its banner ad budget in 1999.
Building an SEO Strategy Before Google Ruled Search
A 1999 build guide for getting a small business site found, back when submitting to a dozen directories mattered more than any single search engine.
The Rise of Email Marketing: From ARPANET to Permission
How email marketing grew from a 1978 experiment on ARPANET into a mainstream business practice by the end of 1999.
Common Banner Advertising Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Most 1999 banner campaigns underperform for the same avoidable reasons: wrong placement, wrong landing page, wrong metric. What we see most and how to fix it.
Mastering Permission Marketing: A Marketer's Playbook
A working playbook for permission marketing, built on the framework Seth Godin laid out in his book this year: earn attention before you ask for a sale.
How Online Press Releases Changed Digital Marketing in 1999
1999 was the year press releases stopped waiting on a reporter, as wire services and company sites put company news directly in front of the public.
Building an Online Communities Strategy From Scratch
A step-by-step guide to building an online community in 1999, from choosing a platform like a Usenet group or a hosted forum to keeping members coming back.
Mastering E-Commerce Basics: A Marketer's Playbook
The operational checklist for running an online store in 1999, from choosing a payment processor to earning trust from a first-time online buyer.
Building a Viral Marketing Strategy From Scratch
A hands-on guide to designing a viral marketing loop in 1999, using the free-email and referral mechanics that Hotmail and ICQ proved out.
The Rise of Website Usability
Website usability didn't start with the web: it grew out of decades of human-computer interaction research that found a mainstream audience in the late 1990s.
Mastering Email Newsletters: A Marketer's Playbook
An operational playbook for running an email newsletter in 1999, covering list-building, format, cadence and the tools available that year.
The State of Online Branding in 1999
Bandwidth limits, 640x480 monitors and a web still figuring out what a brand even looks like on screen: where online branding stands in 1999.
Common Web Directories Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
The submission mistakes that get small business listings rejected from Yahoo and the Open Directory Project, and what to do differently.
The Rise of Affiliate Marketing
From Amazon Associates in 1996 to a full ecosystem of networks by 1999, the short history of how affiliate marketing became a standard way to sell online.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising Trends Shaping 1999
Why advertisers are quietly shifting budget away from banners and toward keyword bidding this year, and what's driving the change.
Search Engine Optimization Mistakes of the Frames Era
The mistakes tripping up 1999 webmasters most often, from invisible keyword text to frames-only navigation that crawlers simply cannot read.
Building an Email Marketing Strategy in the LISTSERV Era
A step-by-step guide to setting up email marketing in 1999, back when list software meant LISTSERV and Majordomo, not a dashboard.
Case Study: Winning With Banner Advertising
A small catalog spent $4,000 on banner ads in 1999 and nearly quit after a bad first week. What changed, and what it says about that year's banner economics.
A Practical Guide to Permission Marketing
Permission marketing earns the right to reach people instead of interrupting them, an idea from Seth Godin that now underpins modern email, content and privacy.