Marketing

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers published a list of proposed generic top level domains on Wednesday, including such brand-specific Web suffixes such as ".jpmorgan," ".walmart" and ".microsoft," as well as more generic terms such as ".book" and ".love." ICANN, the nonprofit We...

Text messages are intimate, to-the-point, and readable, and they bring marketing messages straight to where people spend much of their time -- their phones. Texting, it turns out, is more than just a series of LOLs or smiley faces between friends. Increasingly, it's also a savvy and effective market...

Yelp reported a net loss in its first quarter as a publicly traded company after aggressive expansion abroad led to a sharp increase in costs. The site, which provides online reviews of local businesses, released its earnings on Wednesday for its first ever fiscal quarter after filing its IPO. Yelp ...

Would it surprise you if I said the upcoming CTIA Wireless 2012 show will be very different from those in the past? I've been going to these wireless shows for more years than I can remember. Every few years, the show -- and in fact the entire industry -- changes. This is a great showplace for wha...

Books and e-books are becoming the No. 1 sales and marketing tool for many small and mid-sized businesses. Large companies have successfully used them for years, but they were much more expensive and took much longer to produce. Now print on demand and e-books are transforming the space, allowing ev...

OPINION

RIM's Slow Crawl Toward the Fast Lane

Research In Motion has said it will offer app makers a prototype of the next smartphone in the BlackBerry 10 line at an upcoming conference in May. Good news, but is it too little, too late? The phone will not be ready to roll into the market till late 2012. RIM ruled during the last decade, but it ...

EXPERT ADVICE

10 Tips for Smooth Landings

Effective landing pages are an essential component of successful online marketing campaigns and are probably the single biggest factor in determining whether or not you will convert a Web visitor into a prospect who is willing to provide contact information. Landing pages are custom-designed single ...

Following a stellar 2011 holiday season, and with U.S. retail sales having exceeded expectations in February, etailers have many reasons for optimism in 2012 and beyond. By any measure, e-commerce will continue to grow -- Goldman Sachs most recently predicted that global retail Web sales will reach ...

The Internet has become the world's largest shopping mall, and the market is continuing to grow. Q4 2011 U.S. retail ecommerce sales were up 14 percent compared with 2010, reaching nearly $50 billion for the quarter, ComScore recently reported. Total U.S. e-commerce sales are projected to reach $2...

Facebook introduced a long-expected development on Wednesday: Timeline for Pages -- that is, Timeline for brands. It is similar in look and feel and function to the feature that was pushed out to user profiles last fall. However, the implications of Timeline for Pages are much greater for brands, bo...

FCC Action Zaps Robocalls

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has put in place tougher restrictions regarding prerecorded telemarketing calls, aka "robocalls." In a 3-0 vote, the commissioners agreed on four ways to limit the automated marketing calls, which often irritate users of residential and cellphone lines. The...

Content Intent, Part 3

The dissemination of content throughout the Web has forced companies and marketing firms to rethink how they advertise. The swell of venues that are housing content has dueling effects: It increases the potential reach of an advertisement but also dilutes the customer pool for the original publisher...

Content Intent, Part 2

It can be a little tricky talking about how and why media outlets allow, and indeed encourage, the diffusion of their content throughout the Web. For starters, people tend to be tightlipped about this strategy. No one from CNN, Fox News, MSNBC or Viacom agreed to speak on the record for this article...

Content Intent, Part 1

As far as exclusive interviews go, you could do a lot worse than getting Herman Cain, and a lot worse than getting him on Nov. 28. That was, after all, the day that a woman unleashed accusations of a 13-year affair with Cain, the third racy allegation levied against Cain in a matter of weeks. And th...

EXPERT ADVICE

The Data-Driven Digital Revolution

Traditionally, online advertising was viewed primarily as a direct-response vehicle. However, the growing use of data to define and deliver audience targeting means it now can have an impact on all levels of the purchasing funnel -- from fostering awareness to reaching consumers at the ideal interse...

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