For many, a home office sounds like the ultimate work fantasy. Visions of working in pajamas, spending more time with family, scheduling your own time–what could be better?

Unfortunately, all those images are exactly that–fantasy.

When the line between home and work gets blurred, things can get a little complicated. There are several obstacles that make working from home more difficult than it seems at first, and it actually requires a lot of discipline to make sure you’re staying at the top of your game when you’re not in an office.

Fortunately, we have a few guidelines to help you do just that. We consulted a few experts and self-employed sources to find out how you can maximize your home office situation.

Continue reading . . .

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that teenagers, an $85 billion market, spend more time during the day interacting with media than in the classroom or sleeping. 

And as media use explodes, teens are supplanting traditional platforms like broadcast and print with online media sources that didn’t exist a decade ago.

Chicago-based firm Teenage Research Unlimited Inc., or TRU, found that teens now spend 19 hours per week surfing the Internet, the equivalent of a part-time job. This eclipses television viewing by more than four hours. 

Notably, almost half of online time is spent scouring social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

This dramatic shift in media behavior has forced media companies and advertisers to reevaluate their strategies for reaching teens.

Continue reading . . .

The majority of UK retailers are failing to exploit the opportunity to integrate social media as a means to increase sales and generate loyalty, according to a new study from dotCommerce.

The ecommerce solutions company reveals that while 42% of retailers have some kind of social media presence, just 12% are using more than one social media channel and only 32% of retailers with a Twitter or Facebook account promote these on their website.

Larger retailers are more likely to have a Twitter or Facebook account, however, when it comes to blogs, smaller companies are leading the way as 10% have a blog, compared to only 6% of bigger ecommerce players.

Continue reading . . .

• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Marketing Book
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Social Media Marketing For Dummies
• Internet Marketing From The Real Experts

For Wes Garnett, launching his own human resources firm a few years ago meant leaving the days of delegating responsibility as a corporate executive for the do-it-all life of small-businessman.

And along the way, Garnett learned that while he knew human resources forward, backward and sideways, there was plenty he needed to learn about the basics of running a business — from keeping the computers running to handling his own administrative duties.

“It made me become extremely independent and learn a lot of what it takes to manage a business,” said Garnett, who runs W. Garnett & Associates from his Aurora home.

Despite those initial hiccups with e-mail and voice mail and other day-to-day office tasks, Garnett said he prefers the pace of working from his home to his days in an office.

“I like the fact that I can work at my own pace. I don’t mind being basically by myself, in fact I would prefer that as opposed to an office setting,” he said.

According to a report released last week by the United States Census Bureau, Garnett is part of a growing number of job seekers who have found they don’t need to leave their house to find work.

The study said the number of people who worked at home increased by nearly 2 million, from about 9.5 million in 1999 to about 11.3 million in 2005. And, the study said, nearly half of home-based workers have college degrees and make around $75,000 annually.

Continue reading . . .

• How to Start a Home-Based Photography Business
• The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site
• Start A Cake Business Today
• Start & Run a Home-Based Food Business
• Home-Based Business For Dummies
• Crafty Superstar: Make Crafts on the Side, Earn Extra Cash, and Basically Have It All
• How to Start a Home-Based Wedding Planning Business
• How to Start a Successful Home-Based Freelance Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation Business
• Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business
• 101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Photographer Kristen Steele uses public parks and borrowed studios as backdrops for her customers’ portraits.

She would like to set up a small studio in her home where clients could come, but Nashville law prohibits it in a residential neighborhood.

As the recession wears on, Steele, a 23-year-old Web designer by day, is among a growing number of people who’ve become living room entrepreneurs, handling enterprises out of their homes.

A movement is afoot in the city to loosen the laws regarding home businesses, particularly as it relates to allowing customers on site.

Few businesses are allowed to have customers in residential areas. Day cares, schools, churches and historic bed and breakfasts are among those who can get approval through a special exception by the Board of Zoning and Appeals.

Planning Department Executive Director Rick Bernhardt has said he wants to broaden Metro’s home occupation ordinance, and two councilmen are working on proposals that would do that.

Continue reading . . .

• How to Start a Home-Based Photography Business
• The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site
• Start A Cake Business Today
• Start & Run a Home-Based Food Business
• Home-Based Business For Dummies
• Crafty Superstar: Make Crafts on the Side, Earn Extra Cash, and Basically Have It All
• How to Start a Home-Based Wedding Planning Business
• How to Start a Successful Home-Based Freelance Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation Business
• Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business
• 101 Businesses You Can Start With Less Than One Thousand Dollars: For Stay-at-Home Moms & Dads

Google Inc. is getting more social.

The Internet giant, which has faltered in its attempts to break into the booming social networking business, is making another bid to counter the growing influence of Silicon Valley rival Facebook Inc. and San Francisco upstart Twitter Inc.

Google on Tuesday rolled out a new service dubbed Buzz that it says will make it easier and quicker to share information, photos and videos with friends on its popular Internet e-mail service Gmail. Buzz will also be available on smart phones, taking advantage of GPS location to fetch information about nearby businesses and wireless hot spots.

It marks perhaps the company’s boldest effort yet to take on the runaway leaders in social networking, which are increasingly challenging Google for the time and attention of Web surfers.

Social networking continued to gain momentum last year with nearly four out of five Internet users visiting a social networking site on a monthly basis, according to the marketing research firm ComScore. Facebook and Twitter propelled much of the growth.

Continue reading . . .

I was recently reading about a fascinating corner of the world — the psychology behind restaurant menus.

Much like the world of SEO, there are gurus and consultants out there with a ton of tricks up their sleeves, ready to help the big and the little guys alike. In fact, the parallels abound — the really big contenders, the 3-star restaurants with the celebrity chefs — they do their own menus, study the psychology behind them, and put everything into them. Just like big corporations have in-house SEO teams, top chefs take a direct hand in their menu preparation.

Restaurant menus are a psychological exercise. People make decisions about what to order for lunch or dinner based on the way the text is laid out, the fonts that are chosen, whether or not there’s a dollar sign present, what kind of cents (if any) are used in the price — a whole series of decisions.

So — what can restaurant menus teach us about SEO?

Continue reading . . .

When the Internet came about to connect billions of users from all over the world, a business opportunity was born based on the insatiable appetite of consumers.  When people go online, it’s information that they’re seeking above all else.

Some information comes in the form of free content on websites, or through emails getting passed from one person to the next.  But if you want to profit selling information online, then you’ll want to position yourself as a virtual expert in your niche and capitalize on the problems of others where you provide a solution to their needs.

Some people profit selling information online in eBook form.  Others sell personalized consultations for thousands of dollars.  Some have made their living writing valuable content and giving it away with hyperlinks that take the reader to an information product they can buy, giving the author of the freebie a cut of the profits.

The key to profiting from the sale of information online is to build trust with your audience.  Unfortunately, when a customer stops by your website, you can’t shake their hand and smile while you convince them to upgrade their purchase.  But you can write compelling sales copy that shatters their doubts and fears and convinces them to trust you.

At that point in the transaction, if you want to profit from selling information online for your long-term strategy, then you’ll want to make sure that what you deliver goes above and beyond their expectations so that they’ll continue buying from you in the future.

Some people wonder what the potential is to profit from selling information online.  The answer is simple – there are no limits, no ceilings, and no barrier between you and your success.

You can launch information products for sale online for next to nothing.  You can do it on a 100% free option if you promoted it through a free Wordpress blog using article directories and sig files with PayPal as your paying option, or you can take a more legitimate approach and use fee-based tools like your own domain, a shopping cart set up through ClickBank, and strategic banner ad placement.

If you want to know how to profit selling information products online, then you need to look at the successful marketers who have paved the way for you.  Learn about list building, social networking, and testing your efforts for good measure.  There are unlimited opportunities for people who want to market info products online, and a constant influx of hungry buyers permeating the marketplace in search of solutions to their own needs.

• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Marketing Book
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Social Media Marketing For Dummies
• Internet Marketing From The Real Experts

It is widely expected that the amount of money invested by businesses into the paid search market will grow significantly over the next 12 months. This means that the need for campaigns to deliver an ever-increasing return on investment (ROI) is greater than ever. Digital marketing community Econsultancy has posted its predictions for the paid search market in the next 12 months.

•    High keyword prices will force marketers to try new strategies

According to research carried out in the US, two-thirds of marketers see their biggest challenge in the paid search market as high prices for keywords. Despite the growth of paid searches beginning to slow down, advertisers are continually pumping more money into the industry, and as a result, keyword prices are becoming more expensive.

Because of this, marketers will need to focus on careful keyword management, testing, and targeting, in order to increase the ROI on their campaigns. Quality Score optimising will become a priority; this will bring costs down whilst simultaneously driving conversions up.

Geographic and demographic targeting will also be more widely used this year, with these strategies reaching out to national advertisers and retailers.

Continue reading . . .

• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Marketing Book
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Social Media Marketing For Dummies
• Internet Marketing From The Real Experts

This is the year mobile marketing goes mainstream.

Or so we’re told.

“We now think 2010 will be an inflection point [for mobile advertising], as the prevalence of iPhones and Android phones makes this technology more mainstream,” a recent report from J.P. Morgan concluded.

Mary Meeker, the famed Morgan Stanley Internet analyst, is now trumpeting the mobile Web. “We believe more users will likely connect to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within five years,” she wrote in a recent research report.

As mobile marketing grows, however, it’s likely that consumer marketers will account for the lion’s share of this spending as they try to reach young consumers. Industry observers predict that b-to-b marketers will approach mobile marketing cautiously, experimenting with a variety of techniques, including SMS text marketing, iPhone applications, mobile display advertising and mobile marketing at trade shows and conferences.

Continue reading . . .

• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Marketing Book
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Social Media Marketing For Dummies
• Internet Marketing From The Real Experts

If  you’re a marketer who has steered clear of Twitter, your (non)strategy may be paying off! It’s possible that this Twitter thing may just take care of itself.

In the middle of last year, Twitter’s growth slowed from 7.8 million new users a month to 6.2 million, according to a recent study from RJ Metrics. That report also found that only 17 percent of Twitter users updated their accounts in December — an all-time low. An earlier study by the Nielsen Co. revealed 60 percent of Twitter users do not return from one month to the next. Taking that into account, it’s tempting to conclude that Twitter is following in the footsteps of another social-media ghost town, Second Life.

In fairness, the raw data may be deceptive. Twitter’s proponents argue that its numbers appear low because so many people access Twitter via ways other than its Web site. But some marketers are ready to write the microblogging service off. “I’m not a big fan of Twitter,” says Joel Ewanick, group vp of marketing for Hyundai. “My Twitter meter has gone down.” Ewanick says he finds Facebook, which has copied most of Twitter’s best features, to be a superior platform. “[Twitter has] become the butt of a joke. You start seeing in popular culture people making fun of Twitter.” Geoff Cottrill, CMO for Converse, seconded that.

“Twitter is a little bit overrated,” he says. “There will be a new media toy that will replace it in a year or two.” Meanwhile, according to VentureBlog, Procter & Gamble execs recently told venture capitalists that they didn’t think Twitter was “particularly relevant to what they’re doing on the brand-building and advertising side” and that “they do not believe that Twitter will ever approach what they get out of a Google or Facebook.”

Continue reading . . .

• 99 Ways To Make Money Using Twitter
• Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
• The Twitter Book
• Twitter Marketing For Dummies
• Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods
• Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets
• Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online
• All a Twitter: A Personal and Professional Guide to Social Networking with Twitter
• Twitter Marketing: Promote Yourself and Your Business on Earth’s Hottest Social Network

Banner ads, nearly given up for dead, are showing new life thanks to developments in the display ad business that could close the gap between ad spending on search and display ads.

Despite the plethora of banner inventory, marketers have been earmarking more of their Web budgets to search since it has better return on investment. Research firm eMarketer estimates that U.S. advertisers spent $11 billion on search ads in 2009, compared with less than $5 billion on display ads.

But the rise of automated, real-time exchanges — which collect data used to fine-tune ads based on targeted audiences — are showing returns that rival search, according to some marketers.

Continue reading . . .

• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Marketing Book
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Social Media Marketing For Dummies
• Internet Marketing From The Real Experts

Statistics show that video improves visibility and drives more customer action online than plain web sites. For example, according to TurnHere and industry research, viewers engage more after watching a video, with clicks for more information increasing by 30% to 40% and phone inquiries by 16% to 20%. You don’t need the budget of Scorsese to make video work either. And for the aspiring filmmaker in each of us new classes of video cameras (such as the popular Flip or Kodak Z-series) make it easy to shoot and share.

And whether you choose to do-it-yourself or hire a pro, marketing your business with online video doesn’t end with the production. Remember, videos need to be seen. Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your video marketing:

1. Aim for authentic, actionable content: Be authentic. Be personal. After all, this is your chance to tell your business’s story and show what really makes you different. Keep the video short and informational in nature — since customers are jaded by typical sales pitches. Creating authentic video that captures the human element behind any business allows customers to connect on a personal level. And don’t forget to incorporate a call to action. Build trust and then give viewers a reason and a way to call you, visit your website, or stop by your store. Be sure to include some measurable action path — for example, a unique URL, discount code, or phone number to call. You’ll encourage viewers to engage with you, and be able to measure the results of your video.

Continue reading . . .

• Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business
• YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day
• YouTube for Business: Online Video Marketing for Any Business
• YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts
• How to Make Money with YouTube: Earn Cash, Market Yourself, Reach Your Customers, and Grow Your Business on the World’s Most Popular Video-Sharing Site
• Marketing with Digital Video: How to Create a Winning Video for Your Small Business or Non-Profit
• The Youtube Advertising & Marketing Machine: Make Online Videos That Can Make Your Internet Company Or Business, Cash From Your Computer!

Another year has sailed away and here we are feeling the freshness of 2010 and ready to face its challenges. Yet another ordeal for marketers to build up the best marketing strategies, in order to give this year an excellent start.

For small businesses the focus is on adopting the most economical and effective marketing policies. It is difficult for brands to overlook the web when making such plans. The mantra for 2010 marketing is to use off-line campaigns in conjunction with web-based marketing.

Here are few of the expected trends in web-based marketing for helping the early bird catch the worm:

Trend: Blending offline and online campaigns
Web properties will be optimized due to the demand of users for more content-specific search. Special effort needs to be made to promote the content, including the building of blogs, social media marketing, search engine optimization and email. These web properties will be utilized within an overall campaign that include offline media as well (e.g. snail mail, profiles, print advertisements, TV, radio etc.).

Advantage: The main advantage is cost effectiveness that can be achieved by moving more campaigns online from offline.

Strategy to be adopted: For consumer brands the strategy should be of developing strong relationships with the consumers by bringing the communication to a personal level. As a marketer you should continue to integrate social media with email marketing to ensure that brands, projects and products are cross-marketed to its maximum.

Continue reading . . .

• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Marketing Book
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Social Media Marketing For Dummies
• Internet Marketing From The Real Experts

When New Orleans takes on Indianapolis at the Super Bowl on Sunday, Brandon Nohara will be sprawled in front of his big-screen TV like millions of others across the nation, drinking beer as friends pack into his apartment.

But Nohara, a marketing analyst for the Bay Area online retailer CafePress, will also be on the job.

He’ll be simultaneously watching the game, listening to his guests and monitoring his laptop, on the hunt for the trendiest phrases of the day, in an effort to win a very different contest: the battle of the search engine keywords.

Nationwide, his competitors will be doing the same — either manually, like Nohara, or with computer programs. They’ll be bidding on terms they think large numbers of fans will be entering into search engines such as Google or Bing during the game and its aftermath.

Continue reading . . .

• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Marketing Book
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Social Media Marketing For Dummies
• Internet Marketing From The Real Experts

What does your search engine say about you? Well, if it’s Bing, you’re probably an early adopter, but you also visit, shop and ultimately make purchases from Walmart more than other search-engine users. Google searchers, on the other hand, are partial to Target and Amazon, and Yahoo searchers have a strong preference for wireless service from AT&T and Sprint.

Those are just a few of the tidbits uncovered by a group of WPP agencies in a survey of 17,000 people that found distinct profiles and purchasing habits among partisans of the top-three search providers. The study, being released next week, was conducted by Wunderman (an agency partner of Microsoft), along with BrandAsset Consulting, Zaaz and Compete. It is intended to determine the profile of search-engine-brand loyalists and identify how search engines are changing consumer behavior and helping to build brands.

The findings indicate that the search engine consumers use to find a brand’s website may influence not only the perception they have of that brand but, more important for marketers, the decisions they make while on those sites. The study found different degrees of consumer engagement, from visiting to purchasing, based on the search engine used and the brands and vertical categories studied — automotive, travel, retail and wireless.

Continue reading . . .

Facebook is taking full control of display ads on the world’s No. 1 social networking website, cutting short an exclusive deal that had allowed Microsoft Corp. to manage part of that business.

However, Microsoft — the exclusive provider of Web search on Facebook — will continue to sell text-based search ads on the website as the partners extended the arrangement beyond 2011, when it had been due to expire. A Facebook spokesman declined to say how long the deal has been extended.

Microsoft also said it will further integrate its Bing search engine into Facebook while expanding its reach beyond the United States.

Facebook, which counts nearly 400 million users, said its own display ads feature interactive aspects and can target viewers based on their personal information, making them better suited to its social networking service than Microsoft’s standard Web banner ads.

Continue reading . . .

• The Facebook Marketing Bible: The Guide To Marketing Your Brand, Company, Product, Or Service Inside Facebook
• Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Facebook Marketing: Leverage Social Media to Grow Your Business
• Facebook Marketing For Dummies
• The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff
• Facebook Marketing: Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign
• The Truth About Facebook – How to Use Facebook For Marketing and Advertising, and Much More – The Facts You Should Know
• Facebook Advanced 2.0: The Social Networking & Web Marketing Guide For Internet & Computer Guru’s Everywhere!

You’d think it’s impossible that anything – anything – could be getting as much hype as Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints.

Think again.

Super Bowl XLIV advertisers are giving the game itself a serious run on the hype-o-meter. Desperate to rebound from the recession — and sensing glimmers of hope for the economy — the nearly 40 advertisers that bought ad time in the CBS broadcast are serving up supersized self-promotion. There is almost nothing they aren’t trying to get the game’s massive audience to watch their Super Bowl ad — then click on the brand’s website and share the brand’s message on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.

“They’ve deputized an entire population via Twitter and Facebook to spread the news of these ads,” says Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “Folks do it absolutely for free. It’s astounding.”

Continue reading . . .

• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Marketing Book
• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Social Media Marketing For Dummies
• Internet Marketing From The Real Experts

Facebook is getting a facelift.

Celebrating its sixth anniversary, the social networking site is rolling out as many as 19 changes over the weekend, including redesigns to the top and left menu bars and a new application dashboard.

The tweaks are considered to be minor and are aimed at creating a more streamlined approach.

“Over the past few months, we’ve been testing several different designs of the home page to improve navigation to and discovery of commonly used features,” Jing Chen, a Facebook engineer, wrote on the Facebook Blog on Thursday.

Continue reading . . .

• The Facebook Marketing Bible: The Guide To Marketing Your Brand, Company, Product, Or Service Inside Facebook
• Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day
• Facebook Marketing: Leverage Social Media to Grow Your Business
• Facebook Marketing For Dummies
• The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff
• Facebook Marketing: Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign
• The Truth About Facebook – How to Use Facebook For Marketing and Advertising, and Much More – The Facts You Should Know
• Facebook Advanced 2.0: The Social Networking & Web Marketing Guide For Internet & Computer Guru’s Everywhere!

You have a fantastic product and a great Web site to promote it, but something is missing. Internet video marketing is quickly becoming a strong tool companies are using to attract leads or new customers through their Web sites.

Some of the reasons video is an excellent resource to enhance your Web site include:

1. Modern technology has created a demand for new ways to promote materials and services. Now potential clients are skimming the Web and popular sites like YouTube at the office, in restaurants, on the bus and anywhere else they might be, while using handheld computers, smart phones and other devices. Having quality video on your site allows potential clients to view your business, product or services quickly and easily. Plus, video helps to boost your Web site in the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings.

Continue reading . . .

• Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business
• YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day
• YouTube for Business: Online Video Marketing for Any Business
• YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts
• How to Make Money with YouTube: Earn Cash, Market Yourself, Reach Your Customers, and Grow Your Business on the World’s Most Popular Video-Sharing Site
• Marketing with Digital Video: How to Create a Winning Video for Your Small Business or Non-Profit
• The Youtube Advertising & Marketing Machine: Make Online Videos That Can Make Your Internet Company Or Business, Cash From Your Computer!

Constant Contact, Inc., a leading provider of email marketing, event marketing and online survey tools, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2009.

Constant Contact reported total revenue of $36.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, an increase of 43% compared to revenue of $25.5 million for the comparable period in 2008. Constant Contact ended the fourth quarter of 2009 with over 347,500 email marketing customers, an increase of 37% compared to the number of customers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2008.

“We are pleased that the company’s revenue was ahead of our expectations for the quarter, closing out a highly successful year for Constant Contact. While the economic environment for small businesses was very challenging in 2009, Constant Contact was able to grow revenue by 48% and add over 94,000 net new email marketing subscribers, both of which represent significant accomplishments,” said Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact.

Goodman added, “We continue to be optimistic about Constant Contact’s growth opportunity, as evidenced by our expectation for revenue growth in the low-to-mid 30% range in 2010. We have established a clear leadership position in email marketing for small businesses and organizations, and we are leading the industry in building out a suite of integrated solutions designed to help these organizations communicate effectively with their customers, clients, members and other constituents.”

Constant Contact reported an operating loss of $1.9 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, compared to an operating loss of $1.7 million for the comparable period in 2008. Constant Contact reported adjusted EBITDA of $2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $878,000 in the comparable period in 2008.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated by taking GAAP net income (loss), adding depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation, then subtracting interest and other income. Adjusted EBITDA margin is equal to adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue. A reconciliation of the most comparable GAAP financial measure to the non-GAAP measure used above is included with the financial tables at the end of this release.

Constant Contact reported a GAAP net loss of $1.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to a GAAP net loss of $1.6 million for the comparable period in 2008. Constant Contact reported a GAAP net loss per share of $0.06 for the fourth quarter of 2009, consistent with the comparable period in 2008.

Fourth quarter 2009 non-GAAP net loss per share was $0.01, compared to a non-GAAP net loss of $0.03 per share for the same period in 2008. Non-GAAP net income (loss) per share is a non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated by adding back stock-based compensation expense to GAAP net income (loss) and dividing this total by the weighted average shares outstanding. A reconciliation of the most comparable GAAP financial measure to the non-GAAP measure used above is included with the financial tables at the end of this release.

“In addition to generating significant revenue growth, Constant Contact continues to demonstrate the leverage inherent in its business model,” said Steven R. Wasserman, vice president and chief financial officer of Constant Contact. “Constant Contact expanded its adjusted EBITDA margin by 470 basis points to a record level of 9.2% for the full year 2009. We expect continued adjusted EBITDA margin expansion to drive non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.33 to $0.36 in 2010, which would represent year-over-year growth of 165% at the midpoint of our guidance range.”

Other Fourth Quarter and Recent Highlights

• Added approximately 23,300 net new email marketing customers, bringing total email marketing customers to over 347,500.
• In each month and quarter during the year, the monthly retention rate remained in its historical range of 97.8%, plus or minus 0.5% and the average email marketing invoice remained in the $33 range, plus or minus two dollars. The number of email marketing customers in the $15 and $30 revenue bands was at 78.7% for the quarter, 30 basis points out of the historical range of 80%, plus or minus one percent. This was a result of customers increasing their contact list sizes and moving into higher pricing tiers during the quarter.
• Increased average revenue per email marketing subscriber, ARPU, to $36.19, an increase of $0.60 from $35.59 during the third quarter. This represents an increase of $0.99 from the Company’s $35.20 ARPU for the fourth quarter of 2008.
• Launched Constant Contact Event Marketing during the fourth quarter. The product has enjoyed significant early success, as evidenced by the more than 5,000 customers using the product as of today, after only a few months of general availability.
• Ended the year with 625 employees in 15 states across the U.S., an increase of 169 employees during the course of 2009, and provided over 29,000 participant hours of classroom education and training to its employees.
• Ended the year with over 5,100 active channel partners and email marketing customers in over 140 countries and territories.
• Significantly added to its force of small business marketing experts. In 18 regions across the U.S., small businesses and organizations can now benefit from free, in-person educational seminars focused on helping them succeed by developing stronger customer relationships.
• As of today, over 11,000 users have downloaded the recently released QuickView for the iPhone, a mobile email marketing application that enables a small business to manage its contact list and view its campaigns anytime and from anywhere. Constant Contact QuickView for the iPhone is the first commercial product developed by Constant Contact Labs.
• The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing was selected by readers as a Top 10 book in Small Business Trends’ 2009 Small Business Book Awards.
• Expanded the breadth of the company’s leadership team in direct and channel sales. Jean-Paul Guilbault recently joined the Company as vice president of direct sales, after spending eight years at Intuit in leadership roles within its Small Business Telesales and Customer Care operations. In addition, Steve Johnson joined Constant Contact’s Global Market Development team as vice president, channel partners. Prior to that, Steve spent five years with Blackbaud/Kintera as vice president of partner programs.

Full Year 2009 Results

Total revenue was $129.1 million, an increase of 48 percent compared to revenue of $87.3 million for the full year 2008.

Loss from operations was $1.8 million, compared to a loss from operations of $4.5 million for the full year 2008. GAAP net loss was $1.3 million, as compared to a GAAP net loss of $2.1 million for the full year 2008. GAAP net loss per share was $0.04 as compared to a GAAP net loss of $0.07 per share for the full year 2008.

Adjusted EBITDA was $11.9 million, representing a full year adjusted EBITDA margin of 9.2% and an increase of 205% from adjusted EBITDA of $3.9 million for the full year 2008. Non-GAAP net income was $3.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, compared to $800,000, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the full year 2008.

Business Outlook

Based on information available as of February 4, 2010, Constant Contact is issuing guidance for the first quarter and full year 2010 as follows:

First Quarter 2010: The Company expects first quarter revenue to be in the range of $38.6 million to $38.9 million, adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $2.3 million to $2.6 million and non-GAAP net loss per share of $0.01 to breakeven based on basic weighted average shares outstanding of 28.4 million shares.

GAAP net loss is expected to be in the range of $1.9 million to $2.2 million and GAAP net loss per share to be in the range of $0.07 to $0.08. GAAP net loss per share includes an estimated stock-based compensation expense of $1.8 million.

Full Year 2010: The Company expects full year 2010 revenue to be in the range of $169 million to $173 million, adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $21.3 million to $22.0 million and non-GAAP net income per share to be in the range of $0.33 to $0.36 based on diluted weighted average shares outstanding of 29.9 million shares.

The Company expects full year GAAP net income to be in the range of $1.6 million to $2.4 million and GAAP net income per share to be in the range of $0.05 to $0.08. GAAP net income per share includes an estimated stock-based compensation expense of $7.9 million.

The company expects to incur approximately $0.01 per share of state income taxes for the full year 2010.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release contains the following non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per share, non-GAAP net loss, non-GAAP net loss per share and free cash flow. Constant Contact believes that these non-GAAP measures of financial results provide useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to Constant Contact’s financial condition and results of operations. The Company’s management uses these non-GAAP measures to compare the Company’s performance to that of prior periods for trend analyses, for purposes of determining executive and senior management incentive compensation, and for budgeting and planning purposes. These measures are used in monthly financial reports prepared for management and in monthly and quarterly financial reports presented to the Company’s board of directors. The Company believes that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing the Company’s financial measures with other software-as-a-service companies, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors.

Management of the Company does not consider these non-GAAP measures in isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The principal limitation of these non-GAAP financial measures is that they exclude significant expenses and income that are required by GAAP to be recorded in the Company’s financial statements. In addition, they are subject to inherent limitations as they reflect the exercise of judgments by management about which expenses and income are excluded or included in determining these non-GAAP financial measures. In order to compensate for these limitations, management of the Company presents non-GAAP financial measures in connection with GAAP results. Constant Contact urges investors to review the reconciliation of its non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures, which it includes in press releases announcing quarterly financial results, including this press release, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate the Company’s business.

About Constant Contact, Inc.

With more than 300,000 customers, Constant Contact, Inc. is a leading provider of email marketing, event marketing, and online surveys for small businesses, non-profits, and member associations. Founded in 1995, Constant Contact helps small organizations grow stronger customer relationships by delivering professional, low cost, easy-to-use online tools backed with award-winning support, education and personal coaching. Constant Contact is a publicly traded company (Nasdaq:CTCT) with offices located in Waltham, Mass., Loveland, Colo., and Delray, Fla.

The website that gave the term ‘six degrees of separation’ new meaning is celebrating its sixth birthday.

On February 4, 2004, Facebook was launched by a group of students at Harvard University. Today, it is the world’s largest social network, having outstripped rival MySpace some time in 2008. Most experts agree that 2009 was a breakthrough year for the social networking site: not only did it hit 150 million active users in January 2009 (the number is 350 million today), but found a much wider user base than the usual suspects of college students and young professionals.

And across the world, people are discovering that Facebook is not just a cool tool to help you stay in touch with friends you have no time to meet for a cup of coffee or to get back in touch with people you left behind in high school. Facebook’s potential as a powerful networking tool, and not just of the social kind, as a platform for marketing your company, product or yourself as an employee and for building PR bridges were realised fully in the last one year of its existence.

Continue reading . . .

• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly

2010 is the year social media and the Super Bowl are officially converging.

Everyone from the advertisers and the NFL to fans and athletes are getting in on the social media Super Bowl action like never before.

In fact, we’re seeing advertisers play up their controversial Super Bowl spots in social media channels, with online denizens weighing in with their candid thoughts. Of course there are also advertisers who are taking the straight and narrow path via their Facebook Fan Pages, offering fans the ability to share and and participate in Super Bowl-inspired Facebook activities.

Continue reading . . .

• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing on the Web: How to Use and Profit from Affiliate Marketing Programs

Forty years ago, there were only a handful of truly “global brands” and they were made up of only the biggest corporations — Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive, IBM, Shell. Then a rash of upstarts came along, such as Nike, Microsoft, Apple, and Honda, and pushed their brand reputation further than their actual sales footprint. But now that barriers to international trade have come down and the Internet has helped small and mid-sized companies compete on the global stage, building an international brand is a realistic goal for more and more businesses.

“Only in the last 10 years has global business become the benchmark for how you do business these days,” says Hayes Roth, chief marketing officer for Landor Associates, a strategic brand and design consultancy that has worked on international branding with such companies as BP, Panasonic, and KFC. “Thanks to the Internet it’s hard to keep your brand just localized. Once you’re on the Web, you’re accessible pretty much anywhere in the world. It doesn’t necessarily make you a global brand but you have to be mindful of the implications.”

Continue reading . . .

• Best Practice Cases in Branding
• How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding
• BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World
• Designing Brand Experience: Creating Powerful Integrated Brand Solutions
• Branding.com: On-Line Branding for Marketing Success
• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success

The author of numerous “how-to” books, Shaun Fawcett, has just released his latest book/ebook. This one is called “The Self-Bailout Strategy – How To Recession-Proof Yourself With Multiple Online Income Streams“. In this new book, Fawcett details exactly how he has been making his own income online for the past number of years and shows readers how they can do it too.

“I’ve been online for almost nine years now and have been making my entire living via various online channels for the past half-dozen years. When I saw how many people are suffering financially, as a result of the latest recession, I decided to share what I have been doing so that others can copy me and take control of their financial futures,” said Fawcett upon the release of his new book.

He claims that just about anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort can easily follow his step-by-step plan and set themselves up to start earning their own income online. His book contains what he calls the “7 Action Steps” that detail exactly what one needs to do to start earning income online from multiple sources.

“It took me a couple of years of trial and error false starts, but I eventually figured out the secret to earning a steady income online. The trick is that you need to set yourself up so that you can earn recurring income from multiple sources; you don’t want to put all of your eggs into one basket.” Fawcett goes on to say, “I believe that this is one of the only how-to books that details how to make an income online that is written by an ordinary webmaster like me, rather than by one of those hyped-up Internet marketing types who make outrageous and unrealistic claims that many people buy into, and later regret.”

Fawcett states that his book is crammed with little-known tips, tricks and resource links that will help fast-track readers on the path to earning their living online. He says that by using the info provided in his book, readers will learn how they can easily supplement their current income, and eventually completely replace it via multiple Internet-based income streams. He claims that his book is essential reading for anyone who wants to take charge of their own financial future and become less dependent on the uncertainty of traditional income sources.

Shaun Fawcett, M.B.A. is a Canadian-based writer, business consultant, journalist and publisher. He is webmaster of numerous writing-related websites which collectively attract more than six million visitors per year. He is also the author of more than a dozen successful “how-to” books and ebooks that are designed to simplify day-to-day writing tasks for business, home and educational writing.

“One day when I logged onto Facebook I immediately saw that one of my 90 friends had changed relationship status from ’Single’ to ‘In a Relationship’ When I looked closely I got a surprise: it was my 62-year-old mother.” This anecdote told by British publicist Alison Tyler is not an uncommon occurrence as a growing number of elderly people are discovering online social networks.

Women over 55 are the fastest growing age group on social networks right now. The 13 to 25-year-olds still make up the biggest group but that may change if trends continue. Online platforms are actively seeking out the older generation of surfers, according to Facebook marketing, and are trying to make it easier for them to keep in contact with their kids who often live far from home.

Continue reading . . .

• Twitter Rockstar
• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media)
• The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
• The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing on the Web: How to Use and Profit from Affiliate Marketing Programs