Blogging is hard work. You must consistently create and publish great content. Today's post is about saving yourself time and stress by implementing a simple editorial calendar. Sure, it's going to require a little work up front, but - trust me - you'll thank me once you're up and running. The Editorial Calendar - what is it? In case you're not sure, an editorial calendar is a content plan that is laid over a publishing schedule. How do I create one? I'm an Excel junkie, so I tend to go old school when setting up an editorial calendar. Sweet. Painful. Tragic. Unnecessary. Panic sets in. MORE >>

Designing online communities for business is a subtle blend of creating the right business model, a clear understanding and service of member needs and a usable interface that enables professionals to focus on engagement. Too often, however, the design of professional communities draw inspiration from consumer communities and try to mirror the user experience they experience on non-work based social applications. One of the main reasons why online communities for business often fail to provide a meaningful user experience is a lack of understanding about best practice design for professionals. MORE >>

Summary: Pegasystems purchased Chordiant last week, adding a sophisticated cross-channel decision engine to its stable. It's been hard for independent decision engines to survive, even though it seems an independent product should make it easier for marketers to unify their customer treatments. Business process technology vendor Pegasystems announced on Monday that it was purchasing Chordiant , which offers a central decision engine for customer interactions. This type of simulation allows business managers, rather than technicians, to directly assess the impact of alternative business rules. MORE >>

I wrote recently about our decision to expose our pricing publicly on our website. It was one of the most commented-on posts ever on this blog, as it seems to have connected with a number of people in the same situation. The intersection of theory and reality in the world of social media always spurs some interesting debates. We all agree that transparency is great and noble. what about the realities of having a broad set of products that range in price by a factor of over 10x? What about low-end competitors who compete aggressively on price? Why do Marketers Upgrade? We believe it will. MORE >>

We're pleased to present a guest post by Steven Woods , CTO of Eloqua and author of Digital Body Language, who shares his thoughts on where communication is headed -- and how marketers can prepare. Over time, the way in which communication happens has gone through some very interesting transitions. Each of them resulted in profound changes in information flow, and with that, significant changes in the discipline of marketing. We’re about to see the evolution of a fifth form of communication, and it will have an equally interesting effect on our lives. MORE >>