• Email Marketing Will Fail If Brands Can't Get The Rest Of The Process Working Correctly
    Brand-name inclusion in shipping confirmation emails produced a 7% increase in unique open rates during the third quarter of 2013, per an email study released Monday. That's all fine and dandy, but if email marketers can't get purchasing and IT on board to make sure there's available inventory, and back-end systems work correctly, you might as well hang it up.
  • Search: Does An Increase In Debt Signal Better Days For 2014?
    When companies increase their financial debt, it typically means that executives have confidence in the economy, according to a study released this week. Marketers can find that comment in the report titled "Global Transition In the Age of Digital Media" in the chapter about how media companies use their cash. A few insights in WeiserMazars's report elude to the health of the media industry in 2014.
  • In Search The Eyes, Clicks Look For Visual Appeal
    An eye-tracking study aims to show how Google controls search query clicks, pulling consumers' eyes toward its advertisers' and branded sites, but it actually calls attention to the demand for visually appealing design and content to succeed.
  • Dispop Takes On Google Display Ads
    The fledgling display and retargeting company Dispop thinks its technology can outdo Google's, so it ran a study to prove its worth. The company plans to release findings Wednesday from a side-by-side comparison. The results suggest that its online display campaigns created through its custom ad creation platform result in double the click-through rates and 80% more conversions compared with Google display ads.
  • Will Native Ads Turn Google.com Into An Ecommerce Site?
    It will become natural for consumers to click on native ads in organic search results -- especially on Google, as the engine steps up its position to standardize product listing ads (PLAs) and becomes the next ecommerce marketplace similar to Amazon, eBay, and Sears. Paid-search ads will combine with native and PLAs to create a hybrid type ad.
  • Open, Open, Click Emails On Smartphones, Then Search
    It turns out the funky Gmail tabs at the top of the in box -- Primary, Social, Promotions, Forums -- have little to no impact on marketing email performance, but a closer look at click performance presents a more complex story. In my opinion, the increase in emails being read from smartphones will reverse a negative trend.
  • Search Marketers Should Consider Optimizing For Anxiety, Distractions
    Conversion optimization (CO) will become one of the most sought after tactics in 2014. Let's face it -- not many marketers do it really well. Not many understand all the nuances of optimization. How many of you optimize for anxiety, for example? It may seem easy to convert Web site visitors into customers, but it's not. It's complicated. Just don't confuse CO with SEO, according to Chris Goward, author of "You Should Test That!"
  • Search Works - But Can The Web Site Handle Traffic, Commerce?
    You're building great search campaigns and optimizing Web sites to serve ads and organic listings at the top of the page in search engine queries -- but no amount of work and consumer clicks will pay off if the company's back-end system fails to support the Web traffic. More people are buying online. Make sure the site's IT folks strengthen the infrastructure because if the site fails to deliver, so will the optimization and ads. The site will need to support the traffic increase coming in 2014. I can't stress it enough.
  • For Naysayers Who Don't Believe The Native Format Is A Form Of Paid-Search Ad
    Pull up the Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) The Native Advertising Playbook released Wednesday and search on the keyword "search." You will find about 20 references. The playbook highlights six core interactive ad formats being used as native. No. 2. on the list is paid-search ad units. Next week at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit, a panel of experts led by Edmunds.com's Blessin Lam will explain how it's done.
  • Ask.com's Site TheKnow Knows The Voice Behind Siri And More
    It's pretty obvious that questions would fuel searches across Ask.com, but this year searches became a bit more intellectual, asking about everything from the typhoon in the Philippines to Obamacare and Mohamed Morsi. Content became more popular and important. It prompted the Q&A engine to launch a content marketing experiment called theKnow, a destination for all of the answers to the questions you never knew you had. The site reveals tidbits like the voice behind Apple Siri.
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