Beware. You could be paying good money for website optimization services from an agency that just learned last month how to run a test. The truth is that conversion rate optimization (CRO) is hard. Here are nine mistakes to avoid.

Metrics such as shares and retweets are the easiest obvious to gather, but they may be the most deceptive when evaluating if your content is making a difference. Never confuse social media distribution with content effectiveness. 

Joe and Robert talk about research on machines replacing marketers, Viacom’s new branded content agency, and Facebook’s Canvas as the next branded content hit. Plus rants and raves on Chick-Fil-A and LinkedIn groups and example of week.

Fellow content marketer, we’re like junkies, aren’t we? We’re desperate for new stories and angles to tell our company’s tales. How do we get our fix when our go-to sources dry up? Your potential new sources are hidden in plain sight.

Read this BEFORE you hire a content strategist. Experts from the Intelligent Content Conference share the skills you should consider and the questions you should ask to find the right help and best fit for your brand’s content program.

At one point, I didn’t have enough ideas to produce new, engaging, and relevant content. I’m sure you can relate. I created an idea-generation tool kit. Now, I want to share over 13 of the tools to help you when your ideas have dried up.

Audiences can’t actually see big ideas like “ambition,” “authenticity,” and “honor.” In movies, screenwriters create a frame to visualize those concepts. For brands, it’s a content marketer who can lead the charge to frame the company.

Moz’s Rand Fishkin predicts that search engines will soon become even smarter than their engineers. Find out how these shifts are likely to impact your search rankings and get tips to prepare your content for the rise of sentient SEO.

Content marketing, native advertising, and branded content have productive uses. But how are they related? Do you know which to use? We propose a new model – a spectrum of how to operationalize these content-focused marketing terms.

Joe and Robert talk about two critical changes by Google (ad displays and accelerated mobile pages), the new world where a publisher sells cars and TV networks sell native advertising, plus rants, raves, and example of week.

By understanding how Google incorporates user metrics to influence ranking results, you can take steps to ensure that your content attracts searchers to click on your page and stay on your site. Here are 7 ways to boost your rankings.

In a recent Twitter chat, I connected with members of the content marketing community who shared how they embrace Agile marketing to produce impactful, audience-focused resources consistently. Now, I share our insight with you.