What media has the highest potential to create influence ? Blogs were found to be the third-most influential digital resource (31%) when making overall purchases, only behind retail sites (56%) and brand sites (34%). Source:  http://technoratimedia.com/report/2013-dir/executive-summary/

Search Engine Presence: if your SEO program is on auto pilot you are shrinking your online presence Let’s be clear, to qualify your site as having an existing online marketing program or internet marketing plan there must be - at a bare minimum - these characteristics: A key word phrase implemented on individual web pages You have an active blogging presence You are regularly posting in social media networks Your pages offer at least one connection opportunity to visitors You provide visitors opportunities to satisfy that “impulse buy” factor with your online store There are plenty of SEO tools and software programs out there that can help automate some of the aspects of your SEO program, freeing up your valuable time so you can focus more on other SEO-related tasks like content creation and blogger outreach that can’t (and shouldn’t) be automated. I’m all for finding new ways to be more efficient and maximize the return for my time, but site owners need to be careful ...

1. Consumers are saying that blogs are more influential in shaping opinion than Twitter, and when it comes to affecting purchase decisions, more important than Facebook. ( link to study ) 2.  Blogs are the third most important influence that affect consumer spending. ( link to study ) 3.  Eleven case studies in new marketing ideas that use blog to create businesses and gain online exposure. ( link to studies ) 4. Seve reason to help you formulate your blogging strategy. ( link to report ) 5. Ten tips to get your blog going, blogging 101, or enhance your existing blogging ( link to report )