Millennials have learned to quickly adapt to the way mobile technology fundamentally changes the way simple tasks are performed; wireless cashless payments serve as a good case and point. Recently Facebook targeted the millennial generation with their own payment feature that works through their Messenger app. The app will allow Facebook friends to transfer money easily between bank accounts. According to Facebook, this service will become available to U.S. users within the next few months, and will expand internationally some time later.

Link building is a valuable practice for businesses looking to gain visibility online, yet as Google learns more about its users, its algorithms continue to evolve to make it more and more difficult to build the kinds of links that help grow businesses.   However, the fact that it's getting harder does not mean that link building is a wasted effort.  Consider the old adage, quality over quantity, as one high quality link can have a much larger impact on your business than many, lesser quality links.  Google wants to maintain its search engine dominance.  To that end, Google is looking for the right set of indicators to determine whether or not a page is a good search result.  So what does the future of link building hold?

During the holiday shopping season, it’s important for companies to pay attention to both how they are conducting business and what customers are saying about them. According to Statista, retail e-commerce sales during November and December of 2013 amounted to $46.55 billion, up from $42.29 billion in 2012. Studies also show that 80% of today’s consumers are influenced by online reviews, and with the busiest of all shopping seasons in full swing, it’s vital to keep a good reputation online. Below are a few reasons to properly monitor and protect your business’ online reputation this season.

One of the most commonly asked questions is “How do I increase conversions on my website?”

Email marketing is a great strategy to educate others about your business and nurture leads. Email marketing allows you to keep in touch with potential and existing customers by letting them know about news within your industry, business promotions and sales, and more. So why invest in an email marketing campaign? We'll let the statistics in the infographic below do the talking.

The way we share content continues to evolve and people are always looking for new and innovative ways to present thoughts and ideas. While video has been around for a while, it hasn't been extremely popular for SEO in the past. Previously, there was really no clear-cut way to optimize a video like you can for a blog post. However, in the past few years, more than 90 percent of marketers utilized video for content marketing. As a content medium, video can convey a lot more than words alone. It's no coincidence that marketers have started worrying less about technical SEO and more about user-experience.

Many of us use Wordpress for our daily, weekly, or monthly blog posts, but are you optimizing your content technically to the fullest extent? Wordpress has been the choice over Blogger for search engine optimization enthusiasts and serious bloggers for years because of the customization it allows. Unlike Blogger, Wordpress offers a variety of plugins to improve user experience and to truly tailor blog design, as well as content. One plugin that I use for every blog I post is called "Wordpress SEO By Yoast."

As mobile continues to expand, it's important for businesses to understand how mobile and social usage is changing engagement between brands and consumers during the holiday season if they want to be successful. More consumers (42%) plan to shop on their smartphones and tablets this year compared to just a year ago. Mobile retail sales reached $20.9 billion last year in 2012 and are estimated to reach a whopping $34.2 billion, with social engagement and mobile advertising playing a vital role in holiday consumerism.

With Google's increased scrutiny of link profiles, there is some debate on whether or not guest blogging is beneficial to businesses. However, if done moderately with the right partners, guest blogging can be extremely valuable. Guest blogging isn't only a link building tactic; it's also a great way to build your credibility, your community, and expand your customer base. When you decide to guest blog for someone, it's important to put your best foot forward to produce high quality content. After all of your hard work, you don't want the result to be posted just anywhere – which is why it's vital to find a guest blogging opportunity that fits your needs and will be the most successful.

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read a first paragraph, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest of a blog post. So if you've gotten to this point, you are part of the 80% of people who read the headline copy. Now, with the tips below, you can ensure your readers join the 20 percent who enjoy the entire blog post.