From SEO to ccTLDs, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Digital Strategy acronyms that, as marketers, we need to deal with on a daily basis. But it shouldn’t be your job to worry about what all of these acronyms mean, because at the EOD, it’s CR and ROI that you really want to see improve (for an intelligible translation of that last sentence, see the glossary below).

In order to get ahead – and stay there – in today’s marketing world, it’s becoming more and more necessary that you and your team of salespeople, project managers, designers and developers know the jargon, and that they can teach it to your customers. Nothing drives a customer whose main concern is to run his or her business crazy faster than the challenge of trying to decipher what the web is supposed to be doing for them. It’s hard enough to work with the medium in the first place – especially if it’s a new process added to the brick-and-mortar store.

But – don’t worry – Bridgeline is here to help. Before you tie up your tongue trying to explain the meanings of so many, take a look at our list below. We’ve assembled a glossary of acronyms and their definitions that should help most anyone quickly explain what, exactly, they mean when they’re describing the CPA inside their CMS, how it relates to B2B versus B2C and which KPIs help prove their SEO and show a significant MoM, and YoY, increase in their BL.

Let Bridgeline DSG help you dig through the complex acronyms and endless jargon and improve your UX so you can get back to learning other important acronyms – like on FB.

DSG:

The Digital Strategy Group at Bridgeline Digital is a powerhouse team of marketing gurus with strong experience in journalism, advertising, DS and UX. From content strategies to intelligent marketing, the DSG teaches you to make sure your website works as well for the SEs as it does for your users – leading to increased CR and ROI.

DSG is the only acronym that you need. Follow the Jump to peruse a pretty impressive glossary of some of the acronyms you’re probably using every day. Now you can let everyone know what they actually mean…. (more…)

At Bridgeline, one of the prevailing lessons we’ve learned is that, despite increasing complexity and a plethora of choice ingredients, there’s a very basic recipe for digital marketing success that blends three major parts: the right team, the best tools and most effective technologies, all in appropriate proportions to produce strong, strategic results.

In this third installment of our series on “The 3T’s of Modern Marketing,” this post is focused on the technology your team (by now an undoubtedly well-oiled machine using near-perfectly appropriate tools) needs to be using to help insure consistent success of your digital strategies.

Does your business plan warrant an enterprise solution, custom- built and proprietary to it?

Is the ever-popular Open Source market/movement a good place for your needs?

Does your company’s main focus and process rest on a single function that would benefit from a self-hosted, self-supported and perpetually licensed solution – which would justify all the extra overhead? Or can you operate a spry, quick-moving business using a SaaS (sometimes called “Cloud”) hosting model and save on that extra hardware, IT and development cost?

Whichever sounds more appealing to you, there’s little doubt that you’re going to need to explain to someone – or a board of someones – exactly why you need it done just that way.  Bridgeline Digital recently published a whitepaper to help you make that assessment, and to come up with a truly informed answer. We’re also holding a webinar on Tuesday, March 27th, from 1:00 – 2:00 PM EST, to give you even more solid background information.

Our webinar will feature a Digital Marketing Expert panel that includes Joe Pulizzi (Content Marketing Evangelist and Founder of the Content Marketing Institute), Tony White (Founder & CEO of ARA Logica) and Brett Zucker (CTO of Bridgeline Digital).

To get in on this action, download the whitepaper, and then sign up for the webinar.

Read on for a sneak peek of what’s coming up… (more…)

At Bridgeline, we’ve learned that despite the increasing complexity, there’s a very basic recipe for digital success. A simple blend of three major ingredients: the right team, the best tools and most effective technologies – all in the right proportions – create more effective marketing strategies.

In a second installment of our Modern Marketing series, after our last post from a few days ago, today’s is focused on the tools your (now solid and sensible) team should have in their arsenal for digital success. It’s not enough to have the coolest CMS platform – although that helps a lot – or to run the most complex and multi-faceted analytics solution. In fact, it’s more about the integration of all of your tools, and how they work together to make your digital strategies work, than any one solution.

You’ve got to have a pretty clear idea of which tools are most appropriate to your goals and  make sure you’re using them correctly to make that happen. Bridgeline Digital just recently published a new whitepaper and will be holding a webinar to assist you in doing  just that.

Our webinar on Tuesday, March 27th from 1:00 – 2:00PM EST, will feature a Digital Marketing Experts including moderator Scott Liewehr (Web Content Management strategist, analyst and consultant and President of the Board of Directors at CMPros), Joe Pulizzi (Content Marketing Evangelist and Founder of the Content Marketing Institute), Tony White (Founder & CEO of ARS Logica) and Brett Zucker (CTO of Bridgeline Digital).

To get in on this action, download the whitepaper, and then sign up for the webinar.

Read on for a sneak peek of what you’re in for … (more…)

The explosions of mobile, social networking, wi-fi and constant connectivity has created a world  with more selection, more options, and more more than ever before. More than 3.5 billion pieces of information fly weekly across Facebook alone -  the world’s fastest growing social platform, but certainly not the only one.

This constantly expanding interactive landscape now covers the entire planet, and the world’s become much smaller because of it. Another outcome of the digital expansion: access. A path for you to get into the fracas has become a hot commodity. In 2010 alone, $8.5 billion (28%) of all money generated by marketing agencies was spent on digital services, according to AdAge. Other predictions show that marketers in the U.S. will increase that spending in 2012 by 3.7%.

80.8% of smartphone and tablet owners now research products regularly online. A whopping 41.4% of those make purchases from their devices regularly according to eMarketer – and sometimes they do both while in the store. It’s no surprise, then, that successful digital campaigns take full advantage of all of these trends.

At Bridgeline, we’ve learned that despite the increasing complexity, there’s a very basic recipe for digital success that blends three major ingredients: the right team, the best tools and most effective technologies, all in appropriate proportions.

To get a handle on the new marketing landscape, and to wrap your mind around exactly what’s going on, it might helpful to give your perspective an upgrade. Bridgeline Digital has published a new whitepaper to help you do just that, and we’re holding a webinar on March 27th, from 1:00 – 2:00 PM EST, to help foster that change, too.

Our webinar will feature a panel of Digital Marketing Experts including moderator Scott Liewehr (Web Content Management strategist, analyst and consultant and President of the Board of Directors at CMPros), Joe Pulizzi (Content Marketing Evangelist and Founder of the Content Marketing Institute), Tony White (Founder & CEO of ARS Logica) and Brett Zucker (CTO of Bridgeline Digital).

To get in on this action, download the whitepaper, and then sign up for the webinar.

Read on for a sneak peek of what’s to come… (more…)

Got a special service or demographic you want to target on your website? This happens frequently in business – a change in direction, a new partnership, even a special event you want your online visitors to focus on. Usually it’s something big enough to need more functionality than just a new page or posting, but not big enough to wipe out all of the SEO, design, content and other work you’ve done on your site by starting from scratch.

The answer to your quandary might be to build yourself a Microsite. A Microsite is a smaller, more simple website – a subset of your main website – that’s extremely focused for a specific reason. Usually Microsites are heavily optimized for a small set of specific keywords and phrases, are geo-targeted and meant for a particular demographic or to achieve a particular goal.

Think of Microsites as another channel in your digital marketing toolbox, somewhere between email marketing and SEO of your main site. Like email, a Microsite is targeted for a certain subset of your audience, complete with targeting and specific calls-to-action. And, like your main site, it’s a live website with a full complement of keywords and SEO, designed to attract a certain segment of online search for a specific purpose. (more…)

Download our new whitepaper & then register now for Tuesday’s webinar.

eCommerce has accelerated the creation and exponential growth of the web as the  largest marketplace in history. The rewards of global e-commerce are nearly endless – and by now you must realize that a global view for your online store is absolutely critical.

A company that can successfully expand and embrace a global market – with tactics to address internationalization (i18n) and localization (l10n) – immediately gets access to seven billion potential buyers, from hundreds of cultures. These aspects, however, if they’re to be done right, are anything but small tasks.

To get a jump on the competition, or to check your current process against solid, winning results, download our most recent whitepaper,” Key Factors to Consider When Going Global with Your eCommerce Initiatives,” and then plan to join us for a free, live webinar on the subject. (more…)