Best practices are almost a guarantee that the content won't stand out among the hundreds already doing the same thing, but it will get marketers on the right road to success. So get the blog post or other content up and optimized, and then ditch the general rules for some innovation, according to Srinivas Rao. Avoid the "echo chamber," borrow from other art forms, and explore widely creative ideas, Rao suggests. Read the article here.

Where are those "one-page, mega converting landing pages" Peter Meinertzhagen can use to demonstrate pages that inspire? He looked at between 200 and 300 products. Many were good examples, but the vast majority followed the same template. So he searched more deeply and came up with eight. He tells us why each deserve a place on his list. Read the article here.

Search dominated mobile global advertising revenue in 2012 -- representing 52.8%, or $4.7 billion, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). In 2013, the numbers continue to rise. Education plays a major role. Companies finally got smart, stepped up, and began educating marketers on how to improve mobile campaigns. The education, however, doesn't always come from a book. Sometimes it comes from trial and error and following the leaders, such as Facebook -- which reported a 75% surge in mobile ad revenue in three months.

Bryan Eisenberg believes top organic rankings occur once marketers begin to understand the influential factors around clicks and downloads on a company's Web site. Analytics gives marketers the numbers, but marketers also need to understand human behavior and why people do what they do. So he segments behavior into four categories: Competitive, Spontaneous, Humanistic, and Methodical. Read the article here.

About 183 million Americans watched more than 44 billion online content videos in June, according to comScore. Using videos to promote content on a company's Web sites allows consumers to build a personal relationship with the brand. Roman Viliavin demonstrates how a video can open the door to a business and allow consumers to virtually walk through the store. Some of the video content might include weekly product features or instructional topics that show consumers new ways to use the company's products and services. Allowing comments on the video can help to optimize the content. Read the article here.

Russian search engine Yandex reported Thursday that Q2 2013, revenue rose 35% compared with the year-ago quarter. Income from operations rose 43% to $98.4 million, and net income rose 47% to $89.1 million for the quarter. In the quarter, the company released a mobile version of its Yandex.Browser and a new version of Yandex.Mail.

There's a difference between a customer and a lifetime consumer. So how does a brand turn an occasional customer into a brand advocate for life? Josh Ledgard reflects on a study done while working at Microsoft, where the group tested app speeds. If the start-up time of an application was faster, customers would have a much better impression because of the overall experience. He tells us the app makes the lasting impression within the first five seconds. Read the article here.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released the final version of the Quality Assurance Guidelines 2.0 compliance program to provide safeguards against appearing next to inappropriate content such as pirated property. Search engine marketers working with other media such as mobile or display should become familiar with the guidelines, which address processes in compliance, mobile, transparency and display, video, and programmatic real-time bidding.

Hidden text can enhance the user's Web site experience, but it also hinders it. A Google Webmaster help video discusses the issue of hidden text and how that affects a Web site's rank in search engine query results. Google Engineer Matt Cutts explains in the video that an Ajax-type site kept clean is not a problem. It's only when marketers stuff words behind a small clickable button to alter rankings that it becomes an issue.

China search engine Baidu said Thursday that its Q2 2013, quarterly profit fell 4.5% to 2.6 billion yuan, or $430.8 million, but revenue rose 38.6% from a year earlier to 7.6 billion yuan, or $1.2 billion. While Baidu dominates traditional Internet search in China, the company said it faces competition in mobile search. Mobile revenue accounted for more than 10% of its total revenue for the quarter.