One of the most trusted sources of marketing research and information is MarketingSherpa. I've been a subscriber for many years and always look forward to the reports on Search Marketing, Email Marketing and B2B Marketing. Last year MarketingSherpa started conducting research and publishing a Benchmark Report on social media marketing.

The new Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report was recently released and I've had a few days to take a look and will provide a review for our readers.

As you can expect, this guide is a "meaty" 250 plus pages of research, charts & tables, examples and well written advice. Over 2,000 marketers participated in the survey covering a myriad of topics ranging from strategy to forecasting & budgeting to integration with other marketing channels to specific research on social applications such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

MarketingSherpa emphasizes strategy with this edition and has coined an acronym similar to a phrase we've often used here on Online Marketing Blog, "Social Media Roadmap".

What MarketingSherpa introduces in this report is "ROAD" Map, which stands for Research, Objectives, Actions and Devices.  The ROAD Map guide along with determining what phase a company is in with it's social media maturity, helps determine next steps, planning and execution.

Based on my personal experience with a variety of companies

Free Marketing Techniques 

Remember the old saying, "It takes money to make money?" Well this is true in many circumstances, but not necessarily true on the Internet. If you are going to buy real estate, you will need some money to make money. If you are selling things on the Internet, you do not need money to make money! This is one of the main reasons the Internet has opened up opportunities for so many people. It has leveled the playing field, so to speak, and we are going to show you how you can utilize some "free" techniques to earn money online.

Not everyone coming into Internet marketing understands how to market products online, how to use search engines effectively, and how to ultimately earn money! We are completely aware of this and so have created a resource that anyone can use to earn their first dollar or even their first $1000s online.

The techniques that you are about to learn do not require any outlay of money, but they will cost you some of your time. Time is money right? Well, this is very true when it comes to Internet marketing. When you take advantage of any of the techniques within this tutorial, you will not only be using your time wisely, you will also be learning the concepts of Internet marketing without risking any of your cash.

Articles

Article Marketing

Ever heard

As more companies, marketers and industry professionals flood the web with content, the value of those with a true understanding of content marketing keeps going up. More noise increases the value of signal. If your content marketing defines you as that source of signal, you'll consistently be found, referenced and chosen ahead of competitors. With 6 in 10 marketers spending more on content marketing in 2010, now, more than ever, is the time to find where content fits within your marketing strategy.

Some statistics from Technorati's 2009 state of the blogosphere back up the efficacy of content marketing:

• 15% of bloggers say they are paid to give speeches on the topics they blog about
• 71% of all respondents who maintain blogs for a business – their own or one they work for – report that they have increased their visibility within their industries through their blogs
• 56% say that their blog has helped their

Security experts who either weren't inclined to do Google any favors or actually wanted to cause a little mischief now have good reason to help the search giant out.  Google's implemented a rewards system for finding bugs in Chromium.

People who report an eligible bug should receive at least $500 from Google by way of thanks.  Particularly clever discoveries may even net individuals $1,337 (which is, aside from being a nice sum of money, a sort of joke likely to amuse Google's target audience).

As for some eligibility specifics, the key is to be the first person to report a bug through the Chromium bug tracker.  Bugs present in Chrome, but not the Chromium open source project, are eligible.  Would-be winners just can't have worked on the code, be under 18, or live in countries like Iran and North Korea.

This is a clever way for Google to receive a lot of help.  The company's got plenty of money, after all - its market cap is in the neighborhood of $170 billion - but this approach will allow it to receive aid from many experts without adding hundreds of people to the payroll.

More information about the rewards program is available on the Chromium Blog.  Good luck if you decide to take part.

Introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization techniques have been around for years, and successful marketers have been able to achieve top rankings for specific keywords.  You can drive significant traffic to your website if you get a top ranking within the "natural" search engine results and it costs you absolutely nothing.  This is why there is so much competition in the natural listings within the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. 

How can you get a chunk of the SEO pie?  Maybe you're just starting out with your first website, how can you get your site listed in the search engines and compete with the BIG boys that have thousands of listings throughout the Internet?

Getting a top listing under a keyword or phrase that is relevant to your web page can really increase the exposure that your page receives.  Bottom line is that you can get a lot of highly relevant traffic, and we all know that relevant traffic means...more money in your pocket!

We also need to make sure that it is understood that SEO is not something that we as webmasters or Internet Marketers have full control over.  You can make your page very targeted and use all of the best SEO techniques that you want and still not get listed. SEO is a game of chance, but this tutorial will give you an upper hand and provide you with as much "control" as possible.   There are many factors and variables that are taken into consideration when a search engine ranks y