It was 1983 – a groundbreaking year. Ronald Reagan was president. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. Compact discs made their debut. More than 125 million viewers watched the last episode of MASH. And a gallon of gas cost $1.24 – about $2.25 in today’s economy. And amidst all these milestones, Scott... More »Intuit: 30 Years of Simplifying the Business of Life (Infographic)

Did you know: Companies that blog have 55% more traffic to their websites? Content marketing is fast becoming a regular marketing tool (marketers now spend 25% of their marketing budget on content marketing). And it’s having a huge impact on how consumers view and interact with companies: 68% of consumers spend time reading content from... More »The State of Content Marketing 2013 [Infographic]

Is your business on LinkedIn? Do you have your company page set up to function as effectively as it could? We asked Viveka von Rosen, author of “LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour Day” to give us a few insider’s tips about how business owners can make LinkedIn work for them. Here’s what she told us: ShortStack:... More »Q&A with Viveka von Rosen, aka the “LinkedIn Expert”

I bet you don’t need me to tell you that until your new website is live that you’re losing out on potential business. The cliché is true – time is money. And the big secret to getting the most out of your website is quite a simple one. You need to keep the momentum going... More »A Little Known Way to Get the Most Out of Your Web Design Project Before It Even Starts

Innovation is not a differentiator anymore; Innovation stickiness is. Connected customers in the information age with a ‘web of voices’ expect Innovation to be both faster and surer. For businesses, Innovation is not only about differentiating from competitors but more importantly about gaining value stickiness from customers – immediately and consistently. Time-to-market has a younger... More »Innovation Is Not A Differentiator Anymore; Innovation Stickiness Is

Official analytics have been a long-awaited feature among Twitter users. For years, unofficial Twitter analytics tools, such as TweetStats, have been popping up. While it was possible to piece together a picture of your Twitter efforts by combining lots of tools, it could be a hassle. Well, for those who missed the news last week,... More »Official Twitter Analytics Rolling Out To Users

In a recent post for The Atlantic, Derek Thompson investigates what drives people to read content online. As a writer for a popular news site, it’s of interest to Thompson to find out what people are clicking on and why when navigating through the endless amount of web content available. Though it sounds like a boring study of... More »Popular Content Doesn’t Always Equal Good – Here’s How It Could

Recently I read an article about Coca-Cola’s new can that can be split in half so consumers can “share happiness.” Over the years, Coca-Cola has had big campaigns, all focused around its brand promise of fun, freedom and refreshment. Most don’t realize that Coca-Cola is the reason we think of Santa Claus as a jolly... More »Commit to Delivering on Your Brand Promise… or Commit to Fighting Relative Sameness

Facebook launched Fan Pages way back in 2007. Since then, there’s been a lot of confusion about whether businesses should use: a Fan Page, or a Profile to promote themselves on Facebook. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses have chosen #2 — a Profile. In fact, I’m betting you — yes, you — have at least 5 to 10 Facebook... More »Facebook Profile Or Fan Page — Which Should I Use For My Business?

For years, merchants have been contractually barred from adding a surcharge for credit and debit card customers, even though they must pay a fee for these purchases themselves. While credit card processing fees may seem insignificant, accounting for a mere 3-4% of the sale, the addition of a per-transaction fee up to $0.20 can add... More »New Credit Card Surcharge Rules Mean Big Changes for Small Businesses

Boston based Inbound marketing software company, HubSpot, Inc. announced yesterday the company’s Social Inbox dashboard tool will be capable of integrating with all LinkedIn company pages as of June 17, 2013.  The company’s announcement makes them one of the first official software companies to take on the initiative. The announcement also means content on Social... More »HubSpot’s Social Inbox Leads the Way with LinkedIn Integration

“The universe is made of stories, not of atoms,” poet Muriel Rukeyser famously said. A seemingly ludicrous suggestion in a world where we seek proof that a + b=c. But in truth, our natural instinct to find a correlation between ‘a’ and ‘b’, is precisely why storytelling appeals to us, and indeed, sits at the... More »The Art of Storytelling in Business