"What is spam?" is a pertinent question when it comes to contemporary digital marketing. Email marketing – broadcasting eDM and eNewsletters to thousands of customer inboxes - is still one of the most effective channels for getting your business out there. With increasingly tight marketing budgets, email marketing is experiencing a sudden resurgence (thanks to how inexpensive it is); so, it’s a good time to stop and look at where the craft of creating a quality eDM and eNewsletter is, in the current consumer climate.

This article will self-destruct in ten seconds. Well, okay, a little longer than that. But it’s wise to remember that any “next big thing” is really only effective, if you can jump on the wave when there are only a few other surfers riding it with you. Once the wave is spotted, it will inevitably be overcrowded by all the other surfers – the amateurs who cannot spot good waves for themselves, and select, instead, on the basis of seeing what all the pro-surfers are doing. Ever tried to ride an overcrowded wave to shore? Me, neither. But I’ve been told it feels a little like jumping on an overcrowded marketing trend.

The humble website has undergone a variety of collective movements – through the initial race of design (as technology enabled increasingly cutting-edge graphics capabilities), to the more recent return of copywriting (as websites strived to humanise their brands). But there’s a new wave forming in the sea of online marketing, and it’s particularly powerful for SME businesses that can now enjoy a medium that, until recently, has been out of reach (above that line). Grab your surfboards! Let’s jump on video…. before everyone else does.

Launched a blog to help market your business? Here are some tips, tricks and online tools that can make the difference between blogging obscurity and online celebrity. Blogging has immense benefits for a whole range of online businesses, but with millions of blogs languishing forgotten after a few posts, having some inside knowledge can help immensely.

You already know how important good content is to a successful website. Search engines thrive on content. Social media loves to share content. Shame visitors don’t read content – at least not in the way you think.

Studies have shown that 80% of online readers skim web content, rather than reading in the same way as you would a novel or magazine article. Web surfing is a different activity – as much about clicking around than reading the words. Therefore, the best web content is structured to get the point across under these extremely difficult circumstances.

‘Tis nearly the season to be jolly, but if you run an online business, how jolly will you be if you don’t snag your share of the Christmas sales boom?

Every year, more customers turn to the internet for their Christmas shopping. The benefits are numerous;

• No queues
• No crowds
• Worldwide choice
• International delivery to distant family members
• 7 day, 24 hour shopping
• No piped Christmas music on an eternal loop!

If your online store can offer some of these benefits to customers, and can get that message out, you stand to increase your sales over the next few weeks.