Pay-Per-Click Advertising Trends Shaping 2010
The year search advertising split: Yahoo handed paid search to Microsoft, Google pushed into display through an acquisition and Google Instant changed search.
The Archive
2010
Web Analytics: What Every Business Needs to Know
What a business needs to decide about web analytics in 2010: which tool fits, how much time it deserves and what to ignore.
Why Reputation Management Matters for Your Bottom Line
The first page of a Google search for your business name now doubles as your storefront window. Here is the financial case for managing what shows up there.
How LinkedIn Networking Changed Digital Marketing in 2010
LinkedIn closed 2010 near 90 million members and, with Company Pages launching in November, gave B2B marketers a real reason to treat it as more than a resume.
Business Blogging Mistakes Holding Back Small Businesses
The recurring mistakes that kept small business blogs from gaining traction in 2010, and a practical fix for each one.
A Practical Guide to SEO: Search Intent and Site Authority
SEO earns traffic that keeps arriving after you stop paying for it. What decides rankings today: search intent, technical health and authority earned over time.
The Rise of Google AdWords
How Google's advertising auction grew from a 350-advertiser experiment in 2000 into the engine behind most of the company's revenue by 2010.
A Practical Guide to Email Newsletters
A newsletter is an audience you own outright, reached on your schedule with no algorithm in the way. Here is why most newsletters fail and what makes some work.
The Rise of Twitter Marketing: SXSW Buzz to Paid Ads in 2010
From a side project at a podcasting company in 2006 to a platform selling its first ads in 2010, the real timeline of how Twitter became a marketing channel.
Facebook Pages for Business Trends Shaping 2010
The specific shifts in Facebook Pages during 2010, from the redesigned page format to the Like button and Open Graph rollout, and what it meant for businesses.
A Practical Guide to Social Media Marketing
A mechanics-level look at how Facebook, Twitter and YouTube worked for business in 2010, and how to pick platforms instead of running all of them at once.
The State of Content Marketing in 2010
A snapshot of where content marketing stood in 2010: the Content Marketing Institute's founding, the iPad's effect on reading habits and budgets that held.
Why Local Business Listings Matter for Your Bottom Line
A phone call or a set of driving directions is worth more than most clicks. Here's the business case for claiming and maintaining local listings in 2010.
Landing Page Optimization: What Every Business Needs to Know
A decision framework for landing page optimization in 2010: when the investment pays off, when it's premature, and how to tell the difference.
The 2010 Pay-Per-Click Playbook: Quality Score and Bids
A working operator's routine for running a PPC account well: how to structure it, which tools handle bidding and the habits that keep accounts profitable.
A Practical Guide to Web Analytics
How web analytics works, from pageviews and sessions to goals, segmentation and the shift toward first-party measurement.
Online Reputation Management: What Businesses Need to Know
A 2010 decision framework for how much a business should invest in monitoring reviews and mentions, built around what mattered that year on Yelp and Google.
The Rise of LinkedIn Networking
How a professional network built in Reid Hoffman's living room in 2002 grew, slowly and then steadily, into a default part of business life by 2010.
Case Study: A 2010 Accounting Firm's Blogging Win
A composite, illustrative case showing how a small service business used a focused blog to generate real client inquiries in 2010.
How SEO Changed Digital Marketing in 2010
Google's Caffeine rollout and the MayDay update made speed, freshness and thin content quality matter in 2010, ahead of any formal quality-focused update.
Building a Google AdWords Strategy Around Quality Score
A step-by-step way to set up an AdWords account with no wasted spend: structuring campaigns around intent and writing ads that earn Quality Score.
The Rise of Email Newsletters
How email newsletters became a mainstream small-business and blogger tool by 2010, driven by RSS-to-email delivery and self-serve platforms that made it free.
Building a Twitter Marketing Strategy Before You Tweet
A step by step process for setting up a Twitter presence in 2010, from choosing a voice to building a listening habit, with no prior experience assumed.
Mastering Facebook Pages for Business: A Marketer's Playbook
An operational, step-by-step approach to running a Facebook Page in 2010, from setup through the Like button era to a consistent posting rhythm.
How Social Media Marketing Changed Digital Marketing in 2010
A year-in-review of 2010, when Facebook passed 500 million users, the Like button left Facebook's site and a viral Old Spice campaign rewrote real-time ads.