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Social Media
Top 20 Viral Marketing Videos
September 18, 2012 • Sig Ueland
If you want to find brand videos having an impact, follow what's being shared. Here is a list of the top 20 shared marketing videos over the last thirty days. Included in this list are non-profit organizations, political campaign videos, and an education documentary. This information...
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Platforms & Apps
18 Gmail Productivity Plugins
September 11, 2012 • Sig Ueland
The right plugin can transform Gmail from a standard email program into a productivity powerhouse, capable of managing your communications and professional networks. Here is a list of productivity plugins for Gmail. There are plugins to schedule emails, track correspondence, manage so...
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Social Media
10 Brand Campaigns on Twitter
September 5, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Twitter is about what’s happening right now. For companies, Twitter can be an effective platform to reach and to interact with an audience. Here is a list of brand campaigns on Twitter. Some of these campaigns use Twitter to deliver rewards to customers. Other campaigns use Twitter to ...
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Platforms & Apps
17 Ecommerce Themes for OpenCart
August 20, 2012 • Sig Ueland
OpenCart is an open-source shopping cart system that is feature-rich and user-friendly, with a large variety of payment gateways and shipping method integrations. OpenCart features many high-quality ecommerce themes to ...
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Social Media
34 People to Follow on Google+
August 14, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Google+ is one year old. While the social network has not achieved the critical mass of Facebook or Twitter, Google+ hosts a large and engaged community that includes entrepreneurial giants, tech visionaries and social media super-stars. Here is a list of people to follow on Google+. E...
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Platforms & Apps
16 Responsive Ecommerce Themes on WordPress
August 6, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Responsive design allows a business to reach computers, tablets and smartphones from a single website. Here is a list of responsive themes on WordPress for ecommerce sites. Many of these themes are designed to be used with specific ecommerce plugins. All are premium themes, though r...
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Schools & Resources
16 New QR Code Campaigns in 2012
July 24, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Quick Response (QR) codes continue to appear in creative and inspired marketing promotions. Companies are finding new uses for the codes, as well as new ways to display them. Here is a list of new QR code campaigns in 2012. Some of the QR examples are remarkably inventive, such as Ema...
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Schools & Resources
16 New Ecommerce Books for Summer 2012
July 16, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Working on your summer reading list? Here is a list of new ecommerce and Internet-marketing books for summer 2012. There are new titles on social media, handcrafted Pinterest businesses, search engine optimization, and even a title on creating short product videos. This list was compil...
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Social Media
20 Top Brands on Socialcam
July 9, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Socialcam is a free video-sharing platform for iOS and Android. Socialcam creates fast and easy clip sharing in the same way that Instagram makes mobile photos instantly sharable. Brands are using the platform to share their stories, as well as deliver engaging entertainment. Here are ...
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Social Media
12 Resources for Custom Facebook Pages
July 3, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Facebook has a whole lot of people to introduce your brand to. It also has a variety of third-party resources to create custom tabs and pages to present your brand. Here is a list of resources to create custom tabs and pages for your brand. Many of these resources offer social apps to...
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SEO Tools
12 Free Google SEO Tools
June 13, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Before you spend any money on a search-engine-optimization campaign for your website, take advantage of Google’s free tools to optimize your site and increase its PageRank. And if you are just starting out with SEO, check out Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide PDF. Here ...
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Link Building
17 Tools to Analyze Your Links
June 6, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Monitoring your inbound links is a great way to gauge the progress of your website. Inbound links, or backlinks, give you a picture of who is taking an interest in your site. Compare your inbound links to those of your competing websites, and discover new relationships to build. Here ...
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Social Media
18 Tools to Develop Your Brand on Facebook
May 24, 2012 • Sig Ueland
If you’re look for a place to develop your brand, Facebook is the spot. With over 500 million daily active users, it’s a great platform on which to engage followers and promote yourself. It’s also an ideal environment to monitor how successful you are at engaging and promoting. Here is...
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Marketing & Advertising
23 Tools to Research Your Competition
May 16, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Sometimes the best way to improve your own business is by taking a hard look at your competitors. By understanding their most and least effective strategies, you can fine-tune your own marketing efforts. Here is a list of competitive research tools. There are tools to research your com...
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Social Media
20 Most-Shared Marketing Videos
May 7, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Online viewers share compelling content. A marketing video that makes an impact can go viral, whether the video is funny, sad, inspiring, or cheaply produced. Here is a list of the most-shared marketing videos, based on the amount of times content is shared on Facebook, Twitter and in ...
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Social Media
23 Twitter Chats for Small Businesses
April 16, 2012 • Sig Ueland
One of the best ways to harness Twitter is by participating in chats, scheduled hashtag discussions that focus on specific topics. Small businesses can utilize chats to develop a social media plan, discuss brand strategy, and take advantage of free legal advice. Here is a list of chats...
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Content Marketing
How Authors, Entertainers Are Selling Their Content Online; 9 Examples
March 28, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Whether through online video, audio, or ebooks, entertainers and authors are finding new access to audiences. In many cases, it's at the expense of established distribution channels. Here is a list of entertainers and authors who have found success in the shift to online media. Some e...
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Social Media
8 Innovative Brand Promotions Using Social Media
March 19, 2012 • Sig Ueland
With the growing number of social media outlets, businesses are developing innovative ways to promote their products, using new tools to engage customers. Here is a list of innovative brand promotions using a variety of social media: Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Spotif...
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Schools & Resources
15 New Ecommerce Books for March 2012
March 13, 2012 • Sig Ueland
The wide adoption of the tablet has created an explosion in ebook publishing. Here is a list of new ecommerce titles, including books on marketing, social media, and email lists. Nearly all of the books are available in digital format, while only one is available in hardcover. One-third...
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Social Media
3 New Facebook Marketing Tools: Timeline, Reach Generator, Premium
March 6, 2012 • Sig Ueland
At last week’s Facebook Marketing Conference, the social media giant unveiled three new marketing solutions to drive business growth using social technology: Timeline, Reach Generator and Premium. Here is a list of Facebook’s new marketing products. Access the conference videos to lear...
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Finance
15 Top Crowdfunding Projects on Kickstarter
February 23, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site to fund entrepreneurial projects in technology, design, film, art, and other creative fields. The video game project Double Fine Adventure has raised two million dollars from over sixty thousand backers, and the funding still has 19 days to go. Within ...
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Payments
6 New Mobile Payment Developments
February 16, 2012 • Sig Ueland
According to investment bank Barclays Capital, purchases made on smartphones and tablets hit $5.3 billion in the U.S. in 2011, up 83 percent from 2010. While mobile purchases are dramatically growing, how mobile consumers actually pay for those items is dramatically changing. Here is ...
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Social Media
14 Brands on Pinterest
February 8, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Business is booming on Pinterest. According to data from Monetate, a testing and personalization firm, from September to December 2011 estimated unique visitors to Pinterest.com increased by 429 percent. Total same-store referral traffic from Pinterest to five specialty apparel retailer...
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Social Media
Top 20 Brands on Google+ for Jan. 2012
January 24, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Google+ launched brand pages in November. Already many companies, groups and organizations have established large numbers of followers on the social network. To check Google+ brand page rankings, you can now use Zoomsphere, a statistics site for major social networks. Track followers, ...
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Social Media
6 Innovative Ecommerce Uses of YouTube
January 18, 2012 • Sig Ueland
With over 3 billion videos viewed every day, YouTube is a great place for online merchants to find customers. However, there are many different ways to engage those customers. Here is a list of innovative uses of YouTube by ecommerce merchants. Some provide product information; others...
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Design & Development
220 Million Top-Level Domains: A Breakdown
January 13, 2012 • Sig Ueland
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began accepting applications for new custom top-level domains (TLDs) on January 12. While the new TLDs are cost-prohibitive to small businesses — $185,000 each — the domain landscape is about to change dramatically. The applica...
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Content Marketing
12 Sites for Ebook Publishing
December 30, 2011 • Sig Ueland
Ebook sales will be $9.7 billion in 2016, more than three times this year’s $3.2 billion in sales, according to a recent report by Juniper Research. Online publishers and ebook distributors offer a growing opportunity to authors and small publishers, as well as affiliate marketers. He...
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Platforms & Apps
13 Timekeeping Apps for Small Businesses
December 21, 2011 • Sig Ueland
Time is a precious commodity, particularly for entrepreneurial small-business owners that have to manage it themselves. Whether for billing or keeping yourself accountable, there are a number of mobile apps to measure your time. Here is a list of mobile apps to manage time. There are t...
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Shipping & Fulfillment
38 Fees and Surcharges from FedEx and UPS
December 16, 2011 • Sig Ueland
When comparing shipping rates from FedEx and UPS, don’t forget to include fees and surcharges. Each shipper has an extensive list of additional costs. So rather than just comparing ‘standard rates,’ determine your shipping needs and then calculate the fees. Here is a list of 2012 fees...
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Social Media
21 Twitter ‘Brand Pages’
December 14, 2011 • Sig Ueland
Twitter has launched "brand pages" as part of its recent redesign. Brand pages feature large customizable header images and highlight a top tweet with an embedded photo or video. Twitter is launching brand pages with 21 marketers: American Express, Best Buy, Bing, Chevrolet, Coca-Cola,...