HubSpot launches a free new tool to help you evaluate and improve the effectiveness of your entire marketing program.
Since 2006, HubSpot's award-winning free tool, Website Grader, has graded more than 4 million websites. Website Grader has given marketers advice on how to improve many aspects of their websites and encouraged millions to bring their website presence to the next level, all for free. But now the time has come to replace Website Grader! A lot has changed since 2006, and these days, marketing is about much more than just your website.
Content Marketing Now
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What happens when the world's largest advertising business tries to sell productivity software on the side? Beware the Googlighting Stranger. Even if you don't remember Moonlighting the 80s sitcom with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard, you'll find this a pretty devasting put down of Google's somewhat haphazard approach to productivity applications. Those of us who loved the late Google Notebook understand completely. 
Social Media Week NYC 2012 Recap, Digital PR & Social MediaBusiness InsiderSocial Media has experienced many changes in just a few short years of its existence. ![The Power of Inbound Marketing [infographic] | Content Marketing Now | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/KWfVoxL-xwoodT1pzjh4Zjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
There is a symbiosis between content and traffic to your website. Nobody is coming to your web site because your services are so great. Most people don’t care about that, but if you offer quality content, that can drive traffic, which can build leads and eventually translate to sales and that my friends is why you are in business. Check it out. It’s a beautiful thing: 
Kelly Outsourcing and Consulting Group has embraced content marketing in a big way. “We don't do any [b2b] brand advertising at all,” said Todd Wheatland, VP-head of thought leadership and marketing at Kelly OCG.
Instead, the company spends about 60% of its b2b marketing budget on the creation, distribution and promotion of its content, which is designed to provide useful information to executives about staffing and outsourcing. “I realized a few years ago, when content marketing was a sexy new term, that we had really been doing it for about 10 years or more,” Wheatland said. Kelly OCG is not alone. Custom content is a $41 billion business, according to the Custom Content Council. Research firm Outsell Inc. estimates marketers spend $67 billion annually on their websites, the heart of most content marketing. The rise of content marketing, which can include custom publications, email newsletters, video and white papers, is changing how marketing departments are constituted and how marketers communicate their messages. B2b marketers, which usually have complex stories to tell customers and prospects, are likely to engage in content marketing. For instance, a HiveFire study found that 82% of b2b marketers used content marketing, and the longer their sales cycle, the more likely companies were to use the approach. 
When it comes to content marketing and SMM, what factors determine whether an article gets re-tweeted or not? According to HP Labs, we are now able to predict article popularity on Twitter through a variety of factors.
This shows an important evolution in the way we approach both the analysis and marketing of tweets and they way they travel. In the past, there had been primary focus on who was tweeting and re-tweeting as opposed to what had been tweeted. Traditional thinking was based on influence – the more influential the user doing the tweeting, the more it will spread. While this type of approach still remains an important factor, new research has also highlighted that content itself matters. Researchers have analyzed 40,000 articles tweeted throughout a week back in August 2011, collecting information on the website/agency that authored each article, which outlet was first to tweet the article, and they also categorized the article based on information presented, along with the emotion of the language within the article. Based on these variables, data has showed that there are some articles that tend to be more tweetable than others. 
Shani shares information on the business of blogging and current blogging trends. Discover how much money bloggers make and learn more about the opportunities brands now offer bloggers. Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.. 
Everywhere you look there is social media. It seems that every week there is a new social site launched. To make matters worse, for every social site launched, there seems to be two or more services created to measure, track and monitor that service. We have started to hear about the emergence of Content Strategy as a role, an occupation and as an industry but in order for a strategy to be enacted we must use tactics. If there are tactics then logically there must also be a Content Tactician (which there is, but I mean more in the sense of application of tactics at a low level). Content Strategy as with all strategies is best employed at a very high level, the so-called ‘helicopter view’ or 10,000 metre viewpoint. This applies equally for anything with ‘strategy’ tacked onto the end - business, warfare, information, software development, learning and education, communications, football (any game in fact), agriculture, and so on. From up high it’s easy to gain a great insight into how it all fits together. We can see the lines between a, b, and c. We can envisage how they will move together, and what the flow will be which enables us to predict short and long term outcomes, and align our resources towards achieving the required goals. 
QueryClick (blog)Social Media Impact On E-Commerce Called OverratedInvestor's Business DailyBy DOUG TSURUOKA, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 05:11 PM ET Facebook, Twitter and other social media will be an unstoppable force in e-commerce, prodding... 
One of the real underutilized opportunities these days is to use your online presence to drive local offline sales. In order to do this you must think beyond the content aspects of your website and start to think about ways to tap local buying behavior and enable local buying tools. The heart and soul of this kind of thinking is the tried and true call to action. Marketers have been using the simple act now, buy now, call now language to get prospects to take all manner of action since the dawn of advertising. 
When I first heard the term, Inbound Marketing, and began to read and research everything I could about it, I heard many amusing and educational stories. The first story was the graphic means used by Hubspot, the company ... 
Chicago! I love Chicago. Being a full-blooded Italian, I have some very interesting "family" from the area, but don't think that is appropriate for this post. :-) Coffee and Chicago, on the other hand... ![Building a Brand for Gen Y [CONVO] | Social Media Today | Content Marketing Now | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/eE2nqG4uvpTNoooPWvFm4zl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
A brand is much more than its name. A great brand will trigger an emotional reaction and, perhaps, a sense of belonging. In social media domains, it should create a motivation to share. |
Infographic from CopyBlogger Gives You Both Inspiration and Practical Tips I love visuals that communicate complex ideas simply. This is a perfect example. And, I can relate to the need to cook up great blog ideas. Enjoy. 
There's a strange but effective content marketing strategy employed by such notable content marketing giants as HubSpot and Social Media Examiner. Via jaynalocke 
About Pages really aren't that complicated. So why are most of them so horrible? Quick ... read this, then go fix yours.
Follow these 5 must-have guidelines for a successful relationship with the inbound marketing agency you select. If inbound marketing is an important part of your 2012 marketing strategy, you have two options. You can handle it entirely through your internal resources. Or, you can supplement your staff with an inbound marketing agency. Since inbound marketing is a very big part of what we do for our clients, I want to offer an objective view on how a marketing executive should engage an inbound marketing agency to ensure it’s a mutually successful relationship. I’m making only one assumption. And, that is that the inbound marketing agency you select has the capabilities you need. 
in this week’s Web-writing video, Heather takes the notorious mullet into another dimension altogether, asking: does your site suffer from “content mullet” syndrome? (RT @heatherlloyd: New post: Does your site suffer from "content mullet" syndrome?
Want to build a great website? Not everyone gets their best info from infographics -- scientists say the right-brained react best. So if you can stand infographics and want to optimize your website, check this out. ![Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers [INFOGRAPHIC] | Content Marketing Now | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/oTVN9LpKCEBIHMQcAl0LFzl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
Pinterest is driving increasingly significant amounts of traffic to retailers' websites. 
What makes up the 'meat' of an effective content strategy? Digital Strategist Mark Smicklas decided to illustrate what he believes is crucial with this amazing infographic inspired by the American Classic. 
Two years after the debut of the iPad, most newspaper publishers still are fretting and fumbling over what to do about it. Even though the iPad 2 was one of most popular items at Christmas and the third-generation version of the product is likely to turn up well before Santa returns this year, many newspapers have yet to develop their very first app. Of the publishers who took the plunge, most were so unclear on the concept that they shouldn't have bothered. But publishers have to start doing better, because iPad owners, who represent the vast bulk of the tablet computing market, look an awful lot like newspaper readers. 
How to use content marketing effectively and strategically: Podcast 42... Are you spending an inordinate amount of time marketing your business online but not seeing the results you want? My aim here is to show you that online content marketing doesn’t have to be time consuming to be successful; in fact, the more strategic you are in your approach the better return on investment you can see. 
The third wave of media is here. Here's what you have to do to transform your marketing content along with it. 
Content - A SevenStep Road Map for Your Content Marketing (7 step road map for creating content marketing.)... |
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