blogging | Internet Marketing Blog

Huffington Post follows Forbes into branded blogging

The Huffington Post UK is launching branded blogs at the start of next year, mirroring a service already offered by its US counterpart and Forbes.

The US version of Huffington Post already offers brands the chance to blog, providing a new form of advertising to clients like BMW.

by Vikki Chowney 15 December 2011 11:30am 1 comment

SAY Media acquires ReadWriteWeb

Yesterday ReadWriteWeb, a popular technology blog founded by Richard MacManus in 2003, announced that it is being acquired by digital publishing upstart SAY Media.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but according to TechCrunch's sources, the deal was under $5m.

SAY Media has been active on the acquisition scene, having snapped up web properties including Dogster, Remodelista, a digital agency called Sideshow and publishing platform company Six Apart.

The apparent strategy; instead of simply building an ad network for new media, SAY Media wants to consolidate the market and own the properties it sells against.

by Patricio Robles 15 December 2011 09:34am 0 comments

How to optimise headlines using the 65 character rule

I’m currently developing some wireframes as we pave the way for a revamp of this blog later this year. There are lots of things to think about. One of those things is typography. Closely related to that is optimal headline length.

I always try to write headlines that fit on one line, though I don’t always succeed. Nevertheless, short headlines beat longer ones for lots of reasons. As such I’d like to introduce the 65 character rule. Actually it’s 65 or less, to be precise.

Here’s why...

by Chris Lake 27 October 2011 13:00pm 15 comments

Google's Blogger refresh: too little, too late

It's easy to forget that more than a decade ago, when 'blog' was still a nascent buzzword, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams launched a service that would help propel blogging into the mainstream.

That service, Blogger, was acquired by Google in 2003, and a year later, Williams left to pursue new opportunities.

by Patricio Robles 01 September 2011 14:10pm 10 comments

25 reasons why you should be blogging

Blogging has never been so popular, particularly among the online marketing community. But why should you take it up? Here are 25 good reasons…

by Kevin Gibbons 21 April 2011 10:41am 20 comments

Social media lessons from Oman: Best Burger threatens legal action over bad review

Earlier this week, Best Burger in Oman almost did a "Benihana", by threatening to sue a blogger for writing a somewhat negative review of their restaurant.

But what Best Burger didn't know was that the blogger it was planning to sue is also a legal researcher by profession. Luckily for both parties in the end, the restaurant decided to do the right thing by withdrawing legal action, and thinking constructively about how the menu could be improved.

However, many companies in the Middle East still fail to recognise the tremendous opportunities borne out of negative feedback, and how it can be used to improve the business and build stronger long-term customer relationships.

by Aliya Zaidi 20 April 2011 09:36am 3 comments

The HuffPo's lesson: know why you're doing what you're doing

After being bought by AOL for $315m, it's safe to call The Huffington Post one of the most successful new media ventures to date.

The HuffPo's rapid rise and nine-figure acquisition is all the more incredible because of the fact that much of the HuffPo's content is created by unpaid contributors.

Lured by the promise of being able to write for a massive audience, experienced and often-recognizable individuals helped Arianna Huffington build the HuffPo into what it is today.

by Patricio Robles 04 April 2011 14:03pm 3 comments

Seven ways to be a blog content king

I’m sure you’ve already read a lot of articles advising you about the power of blogs. They provide fresh, content that search engines love, that you can farm out through social channels and use to engage and amuse your audience, share links, grow your network… the list goes on.

The problem is, you really aren’t sure how to go about it. First and foremost, running a successful blog requires a lot of hard work on your part, and maybe you just don’t feel you have enough interesting content to fill page after page.

The biggest mistake made is often the assumption that a blog is simply another promotional channel for your business.

by Matt Owen 24 March 2011 09:58am 7 comments

The anatomy of an ideal guest blogger

At Econsultancy we’ve always tried to share the knowledge of our community, which is far greater than our own collective brain.

We used to do this primarily through a weekly interview with an in-house e-commerce professional, where we’d try to ask the kinds of questions that would lead to some revealing answers. We’ve always greatly preferred actionable insight, rather than exclusive company news.

A few years ago we published the first post on this blog and shortly thereafter started to invite industry experts to contribute articles. The Econsultancy brand is heavily aligned to ‘learning’, and what better way to learn that to share first-hand insight from guest bloggers who are insanely knowledgeable in their field?

by Chris Lake 14 February 2011 13:59pm 6 comments

AOL and The Huffington Post: you've got fail?

Yesterday's surprise announcement that AOL is buying The Huffington Post for $315m sent shockwaves through the blogosphere.

The deal is not only one of the biggest in the consumer internet space in the past several years, it's one of the biggest online publishing acquisitions ever involving a 'blog'.

by Patricio Robles 08 February 2011 09:12am 5 comments