After years and years of money losses, strong criticism and even lawsuit threats, the marketing industry has finally found who’s to blame for ad-blocking – itself. At least that’s what the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) posted yesterday admitting that the industry had “messed up” with its hunt for data and profits.

“Looking back now, our scraping of dimes may have cost us dollars in consumer loyalty” wrote Scott Cunningham, senior VP-technology and ad operations at the IAB, in a long-awaited self-critical text. The post hints that marketers finally seem to acknowledge what’s driving users to install ad blockers en masse – a greedy monetization of the Web that has sacrificed the user experience just for profit.

Selling products online? Offering your services on the Web? Trying to stand out in the digital jungle we call the Internet? Then you’ll definitely want to keep an eye on your reputation – you know, the things people call behind your back. A good reputation can open unimaginable doors for your business. A bad reputation can shut them tight, for good and in your face.

People are already used to research companies before purchasing their products or hiring their services. That’s especially true for small businesses, which many times are virtually unknown to customers. If this is your case, then knowing how to handle your reputation online is crucial. Here are some tips to do it.

We already warned you a couple of days ago – people are already thinking about Christmas. We know, October isn’t here yet but people are evidently getting more anxious about their Holiday shopping! Or perhaps they love to plan way ahead of time. Be it as it may, there’s someone that should already be prepared by now – you.

It’s not just a Pinterest thing. A recent report from from marketing software company SteelHouse says that almost 48 percent of the people surveyed are done with their Christmas shopping before Cyber Monday. And if that isn’t shocking enough, check this – 25 percent of them said they start buying gifts before Halloween!

With such numbers, it shouldn’t be surprising that many businesses are already preparing for the Holiday season – and some are already pushing Christmas content and promos! The competition is fierce out there, so there are some things you should be doing right now (and some that you should have done already but that’s OK, there’s still time to catch up). Here are some of them!

If a friend of yours told you that he is already picking Christmas presents, chances are you’d think he’s insane. It’s September! Who would think about that now? Many people, apparently. Or that’s what Pinterest is saying, at least. According to a recent blog post, Pinners are already searching and pinning gift sets and stocking stuffers – and marketers should be aiming at them as of today.

Even if you’re new into this whole digital marketing thing, you’ve probably already read and heard about brand stories and how more and more businesses are using them to get customers. Telling stories has been one of the greatest staples in marketing for years, and it’s more important in the Internet era than it ever was. Why? Because a story can connect you with your potential customers on a deeper level, establishing a relationship that will be mutually beneficial.

Naturally, since marketers have been suggesting big and small businesses to get on board with the “tell a story” method to market their products for a while now, the marketing landscape is filled with them. Showing how products impact consumers and can improve their lives is so widely spread that it’s become common sense by now. That didn’t happen just because – there are a few strong reasons why everybody is doing it. And why you should as well.

What a wonderful world it’d be if we could put a blog online, write content for it and sit back to see how people start visiting one after the other! But you and I know that that’s a sci-fi scenario that nothing have to do with the daily hard-working of a blogger working for marketing. So, that brings up the question – how do you do to actually have people coming over to your site? How do you make your content reach your audience and go beyond?

As always, there aren’t magical solutions (and, in fact, we’re very far from magic here – only hard efforts will do!). After posting comes the really hard part: the promotion. Fortunately, there are certain guides and tips that have worked very well in the past and from which you can benefit. Here are 5 of the most useful ones.

I believe there won’t be a single person that can deny that the homepage is the most important page on any site. It’s most likely the first thing a person sees from your site, it’s your front door, your professional card, if you will. So, you shouldn’t be surprised by how obsessive people can get when designing their business homepages – everything’s gotta be perfect, eye-catching, spectacular.

But how can you translate those terms into a single page on your site? It’s a matter of colors, of shapes, buttons, forms, text? How do you do it? It’s hard to tell since there isn’t a mathematical formula for it but there certainly are a few secrets that can optimize your homepage to make it more engaging and, ultimately, to increase revenue. Enough chit chat – the introduction is gone, here come the secrets!

In a time where Content is king has become almost a natural law in digital marketing, having a blog is something everyone will encourage you to do. In fact, most marketers already understand it as a must, a basic you simply can’t overlook and upon which you’ll base almost your entire content strategy. There’s a lot of truth to that. But there’s something else those marketers aren’t telling you – perhaps it’s best if you don’t have a blog.

How can that be? Well, it really depends. A blog can be great for your business for a lot of reasons but doing it wrong can do more harm than good. How can you know if your business is ready for a blog, then? Easy. Just read the reasons why you should start a blog and why you shouldn’t and think about where you’re standing.