It helped. One of the most popular posts ever on this blog was The Social Media Email Signature , in which I noted that "In the old days, email signatures pretty much just mirrored business card information (which is still the case for most people).A growing number of Web 2.0-savvy executives, however, are breaking out of the old mold and creatively integrating social networking into their email sign-off." It clearly struck a cord, and traffic-wise, it didn't hurt that Guy Kawasaki tweeted the post. In fact. In Outlook, it's a bit more work but not terribly difficult. Click "New." MORE >>

One example of a company executing this combination well is Aquent , a marketing temporary help agency based in Boston. Though social media is all the rage, email marketing also remains strong, with 85% of companies planning to increase spending in this area in the second half of 2009 according to a recent study. Email in many cases is taking budget dollars away from other channels because it remains reasonably effective, highly measurable and relatively inexpensive. Combining social media with email marketing holds tremendous potential, as the tools are complementary. MORE >>

The importance of search engine optimization—helping websites stand out in an increasingly cluttered online world amid rapid growth in global search volume —combined with the fact that search is one of the few growing areas in an otherwise brutal economy has led to an influx of new providers in the space. Here are seven characteristics to help avoid hiring one of those types for your next SEO project. If you're shopping for SEO services, hopefully this list will help you avoid hiring the wrong person or firm. Nothing wrong with that, competition is good! Bottom line? Price. MORE >>

Setting up PPC Campaigns 101, Part 1 by Search Engine Watch The prolific and always helpful Ron Jones steps through the basics of setting up a search marketing campaign, from sorting keywords into ad groups to identifying negative keywords to use. Another noteworthy post from the PPC Hero blog is 5 Tips on Passing the Google Adwords Qualified Professional Exam , in which Amber provides tips to help "pass the exam with flying colors," such as reviewing the materials in the AdWords learning center, ad text policies and how to calculate ROI for e-commerce campaigns. MORE >>

Many marketers have figured out that David Meerman Scott was right in The New Rules of Marketing and PR : buyers are interested in information that helps them solve problems, not marketing brochures. Those marketers are now writing insightful, helpful thought-leadership content. For example, this article on IT service catalog software was originally published in a help desk trade publication, then later republished on the vendor's website. Last week I asked the question: will content marketing kill trade publications ? Conversation Aggregation. Research. Not possible. MORE >>