Marketing Resources for Internet Businesses

  • Neil Patel of KISSMetrics on Successful Web App Analytics | Carsonified
    Watch Neil's video on important metrics for your web application business.
  • 10 Tips for Google AdWords
    Improve your AdWords PPC management by following these ten important tips from an SEM expert.
  • Startup Essentials from Sun
    Sun has been a long favorite of ours as a great hardware platform, because of their commitmenet to open source. They are working the startup arena these days, and have created a service to help …
  • Promote your Product or Service for Free on Spartina.com
    If you are serving Internet small businesses, consider reaching them through Spartina.com content articles. It’s free publicity.
  • Business Models on the Web Podcast
    An indepth and excellent look at the variety of models for successful Internet businesses. If you are just beginning to create your internet business, this is well worth looking at. We also have …
  • Marketing Metrics
    From the CEO of one of our favorite web apps, Freshbooks, Mke gives a presentation (there's video and a script on this link) talking about something dear to our hearts and our bottom …
  • Product Management
    In the podcast from the FBFund Incubator summer, you get some great insights into managing your product development in the early stages. Dan points out the key ingredient is starting with a …
  • Know Your Users
    It's not often that we get to hear good news from people who had a web startup that didn't take off. However, Marcelo gives some great insight despite the fact that he's shutting down his site. …
  • Business Models on the Web
    Here’s an in-depth look at business models, with a good focus on the internet businesses, which have their own unique revenue and cost implications. There’s also a fabulous podcast of …
  • Do You Accept Online Payments?
    If you still need convincing that you should accept on-line payments, this is a great article to read. Whether you are running a business or are a self-employed consultant, there are not only …
  • Costs of Customer Acquisition
    Here's a really helpful and insightful article on understanding the real costs of acquiring customers, which is a key component of the financial picture for startups. Josh begins by identifying …
  • Keyword Tracking Tool
    Part of any good marketing strategy is to hone in on the keywords that will bring you the revenue you want. Keyword spy works in two ways. One is to help you see what your competitors think are …
  • User Interface Redesign
    How often should you redesign your user interface? And, how do you get your users to move with you? Jakob's article addresses this issue very clearly and succinctly. Take a look at it …
  • Co-registration for Marketing
    Co-registration is a mechanis where you pay on a per-name basis to have one of your marketing pieces such as newsletter subsription etc presented to another organization's Website visitors. While …
  • Early-stage Marketing
    Here are the slides from the marketing presentation at the FB Fund incubator summer camp. Presenting their insights on how to get marketing buzz for early stage start-ups, are Jeremiah Owyang, …
  • Startonomics 2009 Videos
    The Startonomoics conference was held in LA this year (2009) and a great set of videos are available for those of you who didn't make it. The focus on startups was enhanced by presentations from …
  • Customers First at Amazon
    Normally we would just post the YouTube video. But I think it's worth while to also see the comments that this particular video generated. Amazon and Jeff are a great success, and as such, …
  • Landing Page
    The landing page is a critical element in your website conversion. Whether it is your home page, or a page that you direct people do on your paid and unpaid ads, people have expectations about …
  • About Product Launch
    Don't launch your product. Can you believe that? Here's a fascinating article that makes a very convincing case about the downsides of doing a marketing launch prior to really having your product …
  • Quantcast
    The key to building a successful Internet business is to know your traffic. Here’s a neat website that will reveal your performance in an easy to read graphical format. Free to use, and you …
  • Making Content Search Engine Friendly
    Make sure that people can find your site by keeping Search Engine Optimization in mind.
  • Optimism was Winning at Affiliate Summit West 2009 in Vegas
    A report from Spartina Founder David Hehman about the 2009 Affiliate Summit.
  • Making Good Use of Google Tools
    To create a more focused understanding about the market for your new business, take advantage of some web tools by Google.
  • Google Analytics Tips
    Use the reports on Google Analytics to make smarter marketing decisions based on real traffic.
  • Low cost usability testing - UserTesting.com
    A great way to find out how your website is seen by users, and fix what is not working. Very affordable.
  • YouTube - SEO Best Practices
  • Entrepreneur Inside Tips
    Here's a great collection of articles that any entrepreneur can benefit from, covering topics from marketing to strategy. They are free and all downloadable.
  • Affiliate Marketing
    For a tech startup, an easy source of revenue can often be using affiliate channels. It does take some work to find them, get them signed up, and pick the ones who reach your target audience. …
  • Customer Development not Product Development
    In this article we hear more from someone who agrees with Steve Blank's approach to product development, which is, abandon it and track customer development. As in Steve's article, this direct …
  • What Not To Do: Product Development
    Here's a long blog entry that reviews the typical product development model and points out that it is a thing of the past. It's not often worth while reading about things that don't work. But in …
  • Increase Revenue
    Another on-line service with unique algorithms, this project is aimed at helping publishers make the most of their advertising by determining what, where, and when to place your ads.
  • Optimizing Ad Revenue
    If your website is a publishing website, this service could help you over the top. They use real-time technology and people to help you optimize the ad revenue for your business. They use internal …
  • Home Page Checklist
    As an Internet Entrepreneur, you already know that your business success depends on creating a killer product on a shoestring budget, and then watch it take off. However, there is no shortcut to …
  • Product Review: Email Marketing with Vertical Response
    Features and benefits of Vertical Response email marketing.
  • Marketing Tips for Startups
    When you get going with your startup, what are the key things to do in order to get your name out there? This blog has a great starter list, with the must-dos, including name, website, twitter, …
  • Twitter for Searches
    You can love Twitter or hate it; use it or ignore it. But you can't deny that it is a current rage that is taking social communication technology into a new direction. In this blog, there is a …
  • Designing a Website
    If you are a start-up, this slide show has some interesting points. From a talk Jeffrey gave at the February 2009 Startup2Startup dinner, the opening slides are a bit unintelligible, but …
  • Conducting Low-Cost Market Research
    Dave's Blog has great ideas for growing your business. In this article, he puts his spotlight on market research that you can do without investing tons of money. There is no question that you do …
  • Beware of Scams Promoting SEO
    The emphasis on good SEO (search engine optimization) for a money-making website is huge. Along with that comes the unsavory side— everyone jumps on the bandwagon …
  • Social Media Marketing - 6 Tips to Succeed in Social Media

    Social Media marketing is becoming a key to success for your Internet business. Find out how to make it work. Startup Nation has a series of articles on this theme and each article addresses …

  • Top 5 Marketing Tools for Early-Stage Companies
    Early-stage companies need great marketing to make it to the next level. However, it does take time to work out your plan. Check these ideas out.
  • Twitter Link Tracking Metrics - How Far Does a Twitter Tweet Go?
    This article gives us to good pieces of information. First, it is true that being mentioned via Twitter drives traffic to your site. And second, there are tools out there to help you measure just …
  • It's Time to Go Online - Here's How
    If you are a retailer and don’t yet have an Internet presence, it’s well worth checking the facts: this is the time to do it.
  • Best of 2008 - SEO Tools, Part 1
    This blog entry points to some great tools that you can use to check on the SEO viability of your website. There’s no such thing as too much checking ,when it comes …
  • Tips for Creating Effective e-Newsletters
    E-newsletters can be a great source of new business, as long as your newsletters get read. Here’s a look at what makes them work, or what sends them right to the trash.
  • How to Build a Small-Business Web Site, Part 1: Nuts and Bolts
    As many as half of the small businesses now in operation have no Web sites, a figure that should spur more business owners to action, especially in today’s economic environment. There are …
  • The Value of Design
    Some interesting points to consider when designing your website.
  • Buying & Selling eContent 2009
    Sponsored by KMWorld Magazine, this conference is focused on buying and selling E-content.
  • Linked in SEO Guide
    Here’s some great advice about how to use LinkedIn to enhance your SEO ratings. In addition to the tips he mentions, remember that you can add Keywords when listing …
  • There is no Secret Sauce.
    “There is no secret sauce.” What a great title. In this free e-book, Adam Metz offers a strategic guide to the social web. This is a great and timely offer as we are heading into a …
  • Five Rules for High Impact Web Analytics Dashboards
    If you are building your dashboard, this article may help you streamline the effort and get the data you really need to manage your Internet business.
  • A Sharp Hue: Understanding the Google Analytics Dashboard
    The most commonly used dashboard, Google Analytics can be useless if you can’t figure out how to use all the info. Here’s a good insight article.
  • Marketing Metrics: What to Measure in Marketing Part II - Website Metrics
    Website metrics can be a mystery or a miracle, depending on how much time you put into understanding them. Too many numbers is not the answer. This article strips out the mystery.
  • Making Dashboards More Productive - Google Analytics Dashboard Case Study
    It’s all about the numbers, and you don’t know the numbers until you create an adequate dashboard to reveal them. Here’s some help.
  • Website Analytics Dashboard
    Internet businesses are all about traffic, and the way to know your traffic is to build a website analytics dashboard.
  • Online Advertising
    Here’s a service for both publishers and advertisers, enabling you set up a system for getting the word out about products.
  • About Affiliate Marketing
    One of the leaders in Affiliate Marketing, Commission Junction makes an effort to educate advertisers about how this kind of marketing works.
  • Pluck On Demand Website Content and Social Media for Any Site
    A great way to easily add content and social interaction to your website without the cost of development. You get to tailor the selection of articles will appear, and voila, they are laid out to …
  • How to Make the Web More Social
    With social networking growing, it is important to consider how to integrate this into your own website, in order to build community and expand your reach. Google’s Joe Kraus offers his …
  • Usability Testing
    A major part of product development is to get the website in front of users in a cost efffective way. Here’s a solution.
  • Microsoft BizSpark Embraces Startups With Free Software, Services
    Here’s a case of buyer beware, except you are not the buyer, but the recipient of a give-away. As Tech Crunch’s article points out, Microsoft is willing to give away the software for …
  • Defining Branding
    The brand is the customer experience.

    And that’s all it is. It’s not primarily a story, or a logo, or a style, or even a value proposition. Primarily the brand is just what …

  • Affiliate Summit - The Premiere Affiliate Marketing Conference
    Affiliate Summit West is the largest Affiliate Summit, the premier affiliate marketing conference, of the year. This three day conference includes an exhibit hall with affiliate merchants, …
  • YouTube - 4.1.7 Dave McClure - Startup Metrics for Pirates: AARRR!
    An excellent video to simplify metrics, and point out how to look at just 5 important measurements. Also see the slide show by the same title.
  • Dave McClure on Metrics
    Metrics can be complicated or simple; here’s one way to simplify it.
  • 5 Steps to a Successful E-Commerce Web Site
    Internet commerce is growing at a record pace. And, thanks to more experienced online shoppers with broadband access (fast Internet connections) and sales of inexpensive computers, the future is …
  • The Big Conference Launch: How to Stand Out from the Crowd
    What is good Public Relations? In addition to writing press releases, and giving good demos, this article looks at PR from a wholistic point, especially for new start-ups trying to garner some …
  • Creating an Information Portal
    Webvanta allows you to create a information portal using an interview process, and cuts the costs of getting a web product up and running.
  • The Rebuilding and Scaling of YellowPages.com
    Here’s a good luck at sizing your product.
  • How to price your web application
    Pricing is key to success… too low and you spin your wheels, too high and you are priced out of your market. Here’s an article aimed toward the on-line arena.
  • Open Innovation
    A resource from Harvard Business School
  • Business Plans that Work
    People try and skip the business plan step, which is a sure path to confusion. Here’s a way to make it work.
  • The Four Steps to the Epiphany
    The essential “how to” book for anyone bringing a product to market, writing a business plan, marketing plan or sales plan.
  • An Introduction to SEO Best Practices - Search Engine Watch
    A good starting point for understanding Search Engine Optimization considerations for your website.
  • Web Apps 101: Your Three Point Success Plan
    Before you build your product, you must know who you are aiming it at, and where it is positioned. Here’s a great article.
  • Interview: Marissa Mayer, Product Manager, Google - Good Experience
    Here’s a look at the way how Google approaches product development.
  • Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
  • Google Analytics
  • 42 Rules of Marketing
  • Impact Marketing Group
    Strategic Marketing Communications Consulting Small Business
  • Marketing Overview
    Good marketing decisions depend on knowing how to get the most revenue for your marketing dollar.
  • Global marketplace for logo design, business card design, graphic design and website design | crowdSPRING
    A novel use of social media, Crowdspring is a meeting place for creatives, where people don’t just bid on a project, but submit the design as well. It’s an interesting idea. I am a …
  • Understanding Website Metrics
    A helpful transcript to begin to make sense of the wonderful numbers you now can see because you made an intelligent dashboard for yourself.
  • Beginners guide to affiliate programs
    Here’s a good starting place to familiarize yourself with affiliate programs, if you are publisher of information in a niche market.
  • Affiliate Marketing: Advertisers and Publishers
    A good revenue stream is the world of affiliate programs, which are definitely worth the investment of time.
  • Mashup Camp
    O’Reilly is going grass-roots, with a free Mashup Camp for the community, complete with the logo “Learn- Hack- Compete.”
  • Metrics 2.0 : Data-Driven Business & Market Intelligence
    Keeping an eye on the metrics of your website are essential. This website keeps you up to date with the latest.
  • Feature Richness and User Engagement
    A great analysis of features essential for a good on-line product.
  • SuggestionBox.com - Customer Feedback Management Solution
    With a customer relationship solution like SuggestionBox.com, you have the tools to improve your business by leveraging powerful management, communication, collaboration and marketing features. …
  • Out of the Gate Product Development
    Do you spend time planning on paper, or deploy and modify as you go along?
  • Speller
    A neat on-line tool (currently free (as of Sept 2008) for checking your websites or blogs and offering spelling corrections.
  • The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
  • VerticalIcon.com
    VerticalIcon provides PowerPoint Templates, MS Word Templates, Presentations, Logos, Icons, Backgrounds. VerticalIcon offers a web-based application for generating marketing materials that can …
  • Seth's Blog
    Seth writes the most popular marketing web blog.
  • Seth's Blog: Free KnockKnock ebook now available
    All about on-line marketing opportunities.
  • Seth's Blog: Who's There? the new ebook (free for now)
    An ebook that guides you through understanding the implications of creating a great blog.
  • Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner: Marissa Mayer, Google - Don't Kill Projects; Morph Them
    Morphing is a powerful alternative to killing a project, and something every entrepreneur needs to know how to do.
  • How to Be Heard
    Great article on positioning your product, from an expert marketing associate of Spartina.
  • Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
    The classic on positioning, which is a make-or-break part of your marketing strategy.
  • TechCrunch50
    They will launch 50 companies over three days, September 8-10. In addition to 50 great new products, there is a line up of speakers and a panel of expert advisors to spark lively discussion and …
  • Positioning Your Product
    Positioning is more of an art than a science, and is usually an iterative process, as you refine your positioning based on market feedback. Here are some basics:
  • Press Release Basics
    Never underestimate the power of a great press release to drive traffic and build brand recognition.
  • Harold and the Purple Crayon
    What better way to begin to understand creative product development than with a classic children’s story.
  • The Perfect Positioning Process
    An overview diagram that presents a summary of the “positioning” process, and gives you a clear track to follow.
  • Startup Metrics
    We have longed encouraged Internet startup entrepreneurs to create a set of metrics right at the start. This way you can track the health and growth of your company. In this indepth article, David …
  • YouTube - 16 Million Facebook users in 10 weeks
    Ever wonder how a business grows in an unprecedented fashion? Here’s an inside look.
  • SyncDev: Synchronous Development
    Spartina Preferred Vendor, SyncDev offers help for the process of product development.