Google has a pretty big change coming to Analytics in late May and website owners need to be prepared. Google Analytics now has a feature called "Data Retention Controls" that will give account holders the ability to set the amount of time before user-level and event-level data stored by Google Analytics is automatically deleted from Google Analytics’ servers. When you log into Google Analytics, you'll see a notification bar as follows: These new data settings will officially go into ... Read More
Internet Marketing Articles and Posts
Internet marketing articles and blog posts related to search engine optimization, online marketing, and Web 2.0 efforts.
Best Podcasts for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
This year I've rekindled my love for podcasts. It started when I began listening to ZenFounder and only increased once I found Entrepreneur On Fire and Online Marketing Made Easy With Amy Porterfield. As I push through my gym visits and long car rides, I've truly come to love plugging into a podcast and listening to smart people talk about the things I love. With each episode, I've found my desire to listen only grows. This has been great because podcasts have helped me power through a number ... Read More
What Are Your Top Marketing Questions?
For the last nine months I've been offering free webinars for the iThemes community. Many of these have been SEO related and have taken place on a monthly schedule. We concluded our webinars for 2016, but we're not done providing free education. Cory Miller and I are working on a new webinar schedule and we'd love your input. What marketing questions do you have? What topics can we cover to help you and your business grow? These questions and topical areas could be related to ... Read More
Benefits of Customer Reviews You Can’t Ignore
Are the benefits of customer reviews and recommendations worth the risk of exposure? They are and there is a lot of data to prove it. Allowing product reviews and displaying client testimonials have a direct impact on a website's lead generation efforts and an e-commerce site's product sales. And guess what? Custom reviews can also help with local SEO efforts. That's a whole lot of goodness that shouldn't be ignored. I want you to be a believer, so let's explore each scenario in a little ... Read More
Google Analytics Goal Tracking Helps You Make Better Business Decisions
Google Analytics goal tracking allows marketers to record specific actions or interactions within their website. These goals are then used to report on website activity via tables, graphs, and flow charts. While goals are generally track a completed conversion, such as an inquiry form submission or product sale, they can also be used to track specific website events. I’ve traditionally used goals within Google Analytics is to obtain a better understanding of our successful website activity ... Read More
Credit Union Marketing in the Age of Digital
Last week I visited a local Michigan restaurant to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday. As soon as I walked through the door I was greeted a life size cut out of a gentlemen in a suit handing me a sandwich. This overly large cardboard advertisement was for a local financial institution promoting their services - in the lobby of a restaurant. And best yet, the sandwich was named after the bank. Think I'm kidding? I'm not. Look to the right to see the ad from the bank's website. I could ... Read More
Use Google Analytics Annotations to Make Better Marketing Decisions
Do you struggle with making solid marketing decisions based on tangible data? If so you are not alone. We talk to a lot of business people who feel they are forced into making decisions on the fly and without tangible metrics to back up their chosen direction. While I cannot solve all of your marketing conundrums, I can offer a suggestion that provides an option for viewing website traffic shifts and monitoring potential sources of such movement. Within Google Analytics there is an easy to ... Read More
The Sad Truth About US and Canadian Small Business Website Usage
The below chart represents internet usage, and more importantly growth, across US and Canada. If you step back and let those figures sink in, you'll realize this is amazing growth. I show you this graph because there is a severe disconnect between user internet adoption and US and Canadian small business website usage. Over 50% of businesses are missing out. The Canadian Internet Registration Authority has an amazingly awesome website that provides statistics for internet usage in Canada. ... Read More
Using Technology to Teach Old Dogs New Tricks
Recently I was sitting on the flight headed to WordCamp San Francisco and I heard a woman behind me state “you can’t teach a dog a new trick” and I just had to giggle. She said this because she was trying to switch her smartphone from regular to airplane mode. You could tell she found the process a bit daunting and she was a bit overwhelmed by technology of this nature. I laughed about this because I know she is wrong. You really can teach an old dog a new trick. Well maybe not my dog, but it ... Read More
Tips for Getting Your WordPress Podcast Started
I’ve always been a fan of blogging and social media, however I’ve lately found myself drawn in by the growth of WordPress podcast sites. I’ll admit that I was a bit anti-podcasting at first. I wasn’t sure it would stick and I really didn’t see the value of it. And then something changed. I was invited to be a guest on a number of WordPress podcast shows and I realized this new type of marketing had something to offer. Podcasting can have a reach that is unique and unlike that of blogging, ... Read More
Make Better Decisions With Custom Google Analytics Dashboards
If you own a website or blog, you most likely have a Google Analytics account and you are tracking data. I encounter a lot of website owners who are in this state. It the starting point of a beautiful world of data - if you are actually using it. The question is not if you have Google Analytics installed. The real question: Are you actually reviewing your Google Analytics data and are you using the data to make better business decisions? Unfortunately I talk to a large number of website ... Read More
Building a Marketing Strategy Based on Data
Having access to accurate marketing data is powerful. It helps you make better business decisions because you have a clearer picture of your business, your target market, and your ability to attract new customers. With real data you have power. This is because you are creating a marketing strategy based on something tangible and not based on a passing idea or a whim. This month I had an opportunity to speak at WordCamp Chicago. While we were in the Q&A part of my presentation, I was ... Read More
Come Join Us on ShareaSale and Expand Your Affiliate Revenue
I’m going to let you in on a secret. When I launched our company five years ago, one of the consulting roles I played was that of an affiliate marketing coach. Yep, I admit it. I helped teach people to use affiliate marketing to make money on the internet. First and foremost, let me say this – affiliate marketing has gotten a bad rap over the years. When done right (legally and ethically), affiliate marketing is a great tool for both affiliates (those promoting a product) and merchants (those ... Read More
Friday’s Marketing Roundup: Good Reads for April 11th
Greetings from CaboPress! This week's marketing roundup comes to you from sunny Mexico. I am down at the ever so beautiful Fiesta Americana Grand Los Cabos. My journey south started Wednesday as I flew into Dallas, Texas to see Genesis colleague and friend Carrie Dils. I was gifted with a great day with Carrie, which is a huge treat for me because we live on opposite sides of the country. On Thursday I departed Dallas and flew into Cabo to attend an event called CaboPress that was arranged ... Read More
Friday’s Marketing Roundup: Good Reads for April 4th
Happy Friday! We're back again with a quick update on this week's interesting articles on WordPress, website design, usability, SEO and social media. This week there were some great articles to read and digest, but if you ask me, I think the WordPress podcasts stole the show. It seems everyone is jumping into podcasting and this week there have been some fabulous folks chatting about design, usability, and best practices in WordPress businesses. Podcasts are becoming an important part ... Read More
Friday’s Marketing Roundup: Good Reads for March 14th
Happy Friday! We're back again with a quick update on this week's interesting articles on WordPress, SEO, social media, and usability. It's been a bit of an action packed week, so I have a few more links that normal. The WPwatercooler continued to mix up education and entertainment for online viewers on Monday and two days later Sucuri further educated and protected the world of CMS with an excellent article on recent brute force attacks. On Thursday Carrie Dils launched out a new Genesis ... Read More
Friday’s Marketing Roundup: Good Reads for February 28th
Happy Friday! We're back again with a quick update on this week's interesting articles on WordPress, SEO, social media, and usability. What I love about this week's content is the ongoing presence of Sucuri and WP Engine. I'm a fan of both of these companies, but not for their solid product and service offering. These companies and their respective teams take a genuine interest in our WordPress community and they consistently play an active role on social media and in person at conferences. ... Read More
Friday’s Marketing Roundup: Good Reads for January 24th
Last week the world of WordPress was busy talking about acquisitions and funding announcements. This week we were all discussing the bomb Matt Cutts dropped on guest blog posting. Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company. - Matt Cutts on January 20th While I could see ... Read More
Friday’s Marketing Roundup: Good Reads for January 10th
Happy Friday and happy 2014! We're looking forward to another exciting year in the land of internet marketing. With all the changes that occurred last year, 2014 looks like it will be an adventure. This week was a busy news week. Product updates were released for Genesis and Gravity Forms, while a new WordPress app framework called AppPresser arrived. On the search side of things, Google shakes up the blogger community by wiping away many of those pretty author images in search and Yahoo ... Read More
Friday’s Marketing Roundup: Good Reads for December 20th
Happy Friday! It seems everyone is settling down the for the holidays and the internet is slowing to a crawl. Before you head off to that holiday event, take a moment and check out our list of interesting blog posts, news and articles. Our content this week includes a variety of articles from best practices to reviews of SEO changes in 2013. I think my favorite posts are those that talk about my beloved WordPress community. Carrie Dils writes a raw post about her year in 2013 and Matt ... Read More
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