Best Practices in Technology Marketing
Get the latest research, best practices, and editorial points of view about the best ways to reach and influence IT professionals.

Confused about when and how to link? Our panel of SEO gurus dishes the straight dirt on the best practices for inbound linking.

For anyone with a website, linking can be a confounding process. Part science, part art, questions of when to link and how to do so are not easily answered. Indeed, the practice of linking is a field unto itself within the often confusing world of SEO.

After a recent review of iMedia's own linking policy (something all websites should do from time to time), we formulated a series of seven questions for a panel of linking experts. Here are their answers, as well as some additional free resources they were gracious enough to provide. Read what some experts have to say about SEO link building on iMedia Connection.

Posted on September 5th, 2008 l Permalink l Digg l del.icio.us

Tags: Linking Practices, PageRank, Search, Search Strategies, SEO, Web,

	Technology Market Trends
Learn about trends and best practices in technology marketing and the dynamics that shape them. Go beyond the 4Ps and explore integration (how online, print, and events work together to accomplish marketing goals), the importance of managing, not just generating, qualified leads, and the influence of new media types including video, in the marketing mix of the future.

Google has hit an all-time high in market share, commanding 67.25% of all U.S. searches in March, according to Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence company. That was up from 64.13% in March 2007. Yahoo Search, MSN Search and Ask.com last month had shares Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

Posted on April 8th, 2008 l Permalink l Digg l del.icio.us

Tags: Linking Practices, PageRank, Search, Search Strategies, SEO, Web,

	Technology Purchase Process
CMP's purchase process studies take an in-depth look at how companies' IT organizations are architected, where the influence and authority resides, and identifies other dynamics that are integral to the buying process.

Kerry Smith is president of the Event Marketing Institute, a think tank that follows trends in event marketing through research, analysis and education. BtoB asked Smith to talk about expected developments in the events industry. BtoB: What do you see as the biggest trends this year? Smith: There's going to be a focus on a couple of things: First, experience mapping—recognition that when you're doing an event [you] understand who you are trying to engage. Often times, it's multiple people. How are you creating an experience around your event that will allow those people to find the appropriate channels to engage with you? You're going to talk differently to a CTO than to a CFO. Another area is portfolio analysis. At company after company, they are looking across their entire spectrum of events, and cleaning out the closet [and asking] `Which ones are working for us, which ones are not, which ones are we not sure of?' They're going to start adjusting the dials accordingly. And then there's this whole area of measuring everything—improving performance. There are no standards for measuring events, [and there are] different objectives for every company. As one marketer told us... Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

Posted on January 14th, 2008 l Permalink l Digg l del.icio.us

Tags: Linking Practices, PageRank, Search, Search Strategies, SEO, Web,

	Trends in Media Usage
Every year, CMP studies the media consumption habits of each of its audiences. The way technology decision makers interact with different types of media shapes the way that marketers can reach them during critical points in the technology purchase cycle.

Research Outlines Marketing Best Practices Based on Consumption Patterns of Blogs, Video, RSS and Online Networks The study, The Rise of B2B Applications-Based Media, reveals that the usage of emerging media among IT decision-makers has increased considerably over the past year, with video and blogs experiencing the most increased usage for work-related information. This latest study is part of TechWeb's ongoing Business Technology Media Engagement Research series. Key study highlights include: -- Increased Usage of Emerging Media Applications: business technology decision makers are utilizing emerging media applications more frequently to obtain work-related information, as compared to last year. -- More Growth Expected: business technology decision makers currently using emerging media intend to consume even more in the coming year - even those who are not currently using emerging media applications. -- Engagement with Emerging Media Leads to Action: when business technology decision makers interact with emerging media, they continue to look for related information. For more information on this research, email Scott Vaughan.

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 l Permalink l Digg l del.icio.us

Tags: Linking Practices, PageRank, Search, Search Strategies, SEO, Web,

	Understanding Technology Audiences
What are the top issues facing technology executives today? Learn what's top of mind for those in control of IT budgets.

This year's "EE Times Salary Survey," answered by almost 1,600 respondents, reveals that the median salary for EEs in the United States has increased slightly, to $108,800, from last year's $104,300. That compares with European respondents' median of just over $61,000, and that of Japanese engineers, coming in at $65,400. American engineers, with annual compensation nearly 40 percent higher than their closest competitors, have reason to be satisfied with their current lot monetarily, but they have reservations about foreign competition. In the first installment of "The State of the Engineer," back in August, we explored these very immigration issues affecting foreign engineers in the United States. Here, Part II discusses how salary disparities, competition and globalization weigh on the engineer's mind. It also includes an "online exclusive" that explores further, more intricate aspects of the immigration issue. Read the complete article on EE Times online.

Posted on October 29th, 2007 l Permalink l Digg l del.icio.us

Tags: Linking Practices, PageRank, Search, Search Strategies, SEO, Web,