Yesterday, I wrote a piece for International Business Times focusing on the growth of US online retailers in the EU market. Some of the figures are worth repeating to set up our discussion here today. US e-retailers had collective sales of $26.1 billion in 2011 up from $20.6 billion a year earlier. The 2011 numbers accounted for 25% of sales in that year for the Top 400 online retailers in Europe, growing from 23.4% from the previous year.

As if you didn't need any more reasons to start using Pinterest for your business: the latest news on the Pinterest front is that the new social media star has surpassed Twitter in generation of referral traffic, as reported by TechCrunch. This is an incredibly huge piece of news, mainly because Twitter has long been the giant among social networking sites in sharing links and generating huge referral traffic back to original sites. Well, not anymore – Pinterest is taking the crown from Twitter, and placing it on its own image-laden head.

With the announcement about the new iPad officially made, and the well-sought details regarding its attractive new specs and features finally revealed to the eagerly-awaiting public, it only makes sense for everyone to continue their speculations into what Apple will next be introducing to its many offerings of mobile device-related services.

Philadelphia SmartCEO magazine announced today the 2012 SmartCXO Award honorees, including both Mr. Todd Bailey, Vice President of Digital Strategy of WebiMax and Mr. Kevin O’Brien, Vice President and Principal of WebiMax.  Read more

I really appreciated this recent article on TechCrunch that detailed five main reasons for which companies experience failure in their Facebook marketing endeavors. The fact of the matter is that Facebook marketing possesses a world of potential in profitability – but only if it is used correctly, and consistently.

Today's post continues from yesterday's piece on the subject. Once an organization understands the message their presence would send in their new environment, they can make strategic business decisions and take actions considering the communication value they hold.  Such actions send specific messages to the various publics in the new context, and it is the job of the decision-makers to strategically engage in actions that send the desired messages.

At the Facebook Marketing Conference that was live-streamed on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, Facebook unveiled some interesting and important new marketing solutions for businesses both big and small. There are several key points from the conference that TechCrunch decided to highlight in a recent article. Overall, the general goal that Facebook seems to be striving towards is creating a more streamlined ad experience that would improve the user experiences of its site, and force businesses to develop more creative SEO and social media marketing campaigns that feature engaging content.

Technology!  It's exciting!  It's eye opening!  It may be hurting your brand!  Technology is moving at…modern-day computer speeds; it's getting faster with each passing moment.  Yesterday, I wrote upon Apple's newest iPad and analyst forecasts of mobile devices killing the 'PC star.'

I've touched on the fact before that conducting business in international markets forces much change on a company. From adapting to new political and economic structures to understanding different legal systems and how they all impact your business model, the way you run your business from top to bottom simply changes; you adjust it according to the local context. This is a must, but the key is realizing this before the transition abroad, whether you are a manufacturer or an SEO company establishing this understanding early is best.

What kind of personality traits are involved in your brand's marketing?  Of course, inanimate sentiments don't have direct personalities as we understand people to behold.  However, the way in which brands market and leverage specific online implementations affects consumers in the same manner.

Disclaimer: This is elementary knowledge, purposed for beginners and optimization shoppers, not industry cohorts though industry contributions in comments would augment the information.

Aloha, readers, from the snow-capped terrains of rocky-mountainous Colorado.  I was jeeping my way through the western country and missed the latter portion of the week in online marketing.  Okay.   I admit.  I snuck some peeks in on my Android.  I can't stay away.  Let's see what treats online marketers left for us on the trail.

We have touched on Google+, its worth, applicability, and where it will likely go in the future a good amount lately, and most recently in a blog post by JWersits. Google+ is firmly carving out its own dimension within social media and will not likely look like the archetypal social media platform that we've come accustomed to seeing (not that one true standard exists, but a site that allows users to share and engage with each other in the basic ways that Facebook and others offer). With that said, it will most-likely continue to grow and increase its relevance for personal users and businesses alike, especially given its relevance for Google Search Plus Your World results.

A week ago I wrote on businesses that use Pinterest as a great social media and SEO marketing tool for their products and services, citing several great examples. However, you don't need to be a for-profit organization to take advantage of the promotional services that Pinterest provides. There are more than a few non-profits that are jumping onto the social media site to spread the message about their organizations, inspiring others while bringing well-needed attention to their causes. And the attention is definitely coming, if you can take recent articles by Mashable and The Huffington Post on non-profits' Pinterest boards as evidence.

When it comes to social media and SEO, I've discussed two major players so far: Twitter and the up-and-coming Pinterest. Here is yet one more: Foursquare. This is primarily a mobile app for smartphones, but it can be so much more for businesses that know how to utilize it for promotional and marketing activity. Foursquare trades on the currency of fun, but the app and social media tool can produce tangibly profitable results if businesses use it in just the right way.

With Google's new privacy changes rolling out today, March 1, push pack from users, analysts, and now regulation authorities has been firm. On Tuesday, though, the resistance gained traction in Europe as well. Negative feedback in Europe came in the form of statements from the National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties (CNIL), the French data protection authority. The agency issued a letter to Larry Page, Google's co-founder and CEO, contending that the policy changes cloud the actual ways the company uses private user information. This data is of course what Google uses to sell targeted advertising, one of the primary revenue-generators for the company and areas of competition between them and Facebook.

Facebook announced yesterday that adverts will appear on the 425m mobile devices used to access the social network.  The move follows the roll-out of adverts on users' news feeds, which began in early January. This means that brands you’ve endorsed by hitting the ‘like’ button will now be able to push deals and other updates right into the news feeds that show your friends' updates, photos and links.  Read more

Social media may be great for your personal life, but its benefits may not be as great for your work life. According to new research reported on Philly.com, a quick review of a job candidate's Facebook page can predict future job success.  Read more

Research out from Google this past week sheds light on the most recent behavior regarding mobile search and activity. Google conducted a small survey of 1,000 individuals in the US, UK, France, Spain, Germany, and Japan. We have discussed here on this blog before about the explosion of smartphone use and by extension general internet usage and search on smartphones. Now, Google reports that mobile search is just shy of 100% in terms of adoption with smartphone users, with the majority searching at least one time per week. For a look across the studied countries, Japan showed the highest usage of search engines on smartphones in general at 99% of users, followed by the UK and Spain at 96%, then the US and France showed 95% usage, and 92% for Germany.

There many marketers out there who may have heard about Tumblr, but are struggling to grasp its true worth regarding search engine optimization. This unique form microblogging site actually contains a great deal of SEO potential that, if utilized properly, can really help boost a business or a brand. If you need any examples, just take a good long look The New York Times and its recently launched Tumblr blog, titled "The Lively Morgue" as reported by Mashable.

Are you winning with your PR pitches or missing the mark, like an inexperienced pitcher from the California penal league?  Remember Rick 'Wild Thing' Vaughn from Major League?   You may know him from his present-day role as Charlie Sheen (but I digress).  Rick had the 'heat' behind his hurls, but his approach needed tweaking.  A customized pair of Clark-Kent glasses and a music-filled montage of highlights later, Vaughn comes around, rallying the once-trailing Indians behind him.

By now it is likely that you have read tons of articles and literature on the importance of social media in search engine optimization, as well as in a brand's general advertising initiatives. Even with all of this information, it may hard to truly visualize just how essential social media is to a company's marketing strategy. You may still be wondering, is it really worth investing your precious time and money into something that seems like an esoteric, new-fangled fad?

Is your brand producing at a faster and better pace?  It seems to be a growing trend, especially in the tech-related industries.  Apple understands the rate of competition.  As Reuters reports, the Apple brand is hosting an event next week, showing its faster and better iPad tablet to the world.  Apple's event is invite only, including reporters Apple asks to see and "touch" the brand's latest creation.

I don't' have a high-def monitor; is it me or does your homepage look a bit dusty?  Is it time for a spring clean?  When was the last time you considered giving your brand's online face-page a scrub down?  If you've been following search engine optimization tips over the years, it's likely you've introduced, attended to, neglected, and eighty-sixed a number of implementations.

Since the launch of the iPhone, Apple has enjoyed a large percentage of the US smartphone market continually setting new heights in the sale of the product in this market. Just this past quarter, they sold 37 million iPhones, which is over twice the number a year prior. Like much of Apple's products, the iPhone has garnered a great deal of attention from consumers and media alike and has cultivated a dedicated fan-base.

Facebook on Wednesday is set to stage its biggest-ever ad event, where it's expected to unveil an ad platform overhaul just two months before its IPO. The company's future might depend on how well advertisers are able to parlay the dominant social network's 845 million users into building buzz and branding — and more sales. Read more

While 90 million users have logged onto Google+ since its June launch, not many are spending much time there, according to research by comScore. In Take on Tech, WebiMax founder and CEO Ken Wisnefski talks about the platform's future possibilities.  Hear more