The email marketing metrics worth reporting
The email marketing metrics worth reporting each month, what each number really measures, and which figures quietly mislead the whole team.
Journal
Digital Marketing Blog.
Writing from the team on search, paid media, and the work of getting a brand off the ground. Everything we publish lives here.
141 articles · page 2 of 6
Social media advertising for people who hate it
Social media advertising explained: why it works differently from search, what decides results, how to test creative, and what to expect in month one.
Local link building that does not involve outreach emails
Local link building through things you already do: suppliers, sponsorship, trade bodies and local press, plus the links worth refusing entirely.
Ecommerce SEO: the problems only online shops have
Ecommerce SEO explained: why category pages beat product pages, how filters create duplicate addresses, and what to do with products you stop selling.
Ecommerce website development, decision by decision
Ecommerce website development decision by decision: platform choice, product data, checkout, speed, search, security and what you run after launch.
Writing content for AI search, not just readers
Content for AI search still has to read well for people. What changes in the writing, which pages to edit first, and what is a waste of effort.
Subject lines that earn the open
How to write email subject lines that earn the open: what to say, what to cut, how to test them, and the shortcuts that quietly cost you trust.
Paid search, and when it is the right channel
Paid search explained: what it does that other channels cannot, which businesses it suits, what it costs you in practice, and when to spend elsewhere.
Local SEO tools: what you need and what you can skip
Which local SEO tools earn their place, which free ones do most of the work, and the point at which paying for software starts making sense.
What to do when a Google algorithm update hits your traffic
A calm process for a Google algorithm update: telling one from a mistake, what to check first, what never to change, and how recovery actually happens.
Security basics every site owner needs
Website security in plain English: how sites really get attacked, the handful of habits that stop most of it, and a monthly routine you will keep.
Earning AI citations for your pages
AI citations are the sources an assistant names in its answer. How pages earn them, what quietly blocks them, and how to check whether yours appear.
What email open rates can and cannot tell you
Email open rates measure a loaded image, not a reader. What the number can honestly show, what it hides, and which figures to report instead.
Native advertising, and where it belongs
Native advertising explained: how it differs from display, why disclosure matters, what it is genuinely good at, and how to judge it honestly.
How to do local keyword research without guessing
Local keyword research using the words your customers already use: where to find them, how to judge them, and which ones are not worth a page.
Core web vitals explained for people who are not developers
Core web vitals in plain language: what the three measures mean, what usually causes a poor score, and how much they really matter next to everything else.
Website maintenance nobody budgets for
Website maintenance is the line most quotes leave out. Here is what the work covers, how often each job falls due, and what breaks when nobody owns it.
Conversational search changes the question
Conversational search turns keywords into full questions and follow ups. Here is what that really changes on your pages, and what it does not.
Deliverability: getting into the inbox at all
Email deliverability explained: why delivered does not mean the inbox, which records to set, how to clean a list, and how to diagnose a drop.
Display ads: what they are actually good for
Display ads explained: what they can and cannot do, why the reported results mislead, where the budget leaks, and when they belong in a plan.
Local SEO ranking factors, ordered by how much they matter
The local SEO ranking factors that decide map results, ordered by influence, with the ones you can change and the ones you simply cannot.
SEO content writing without sounding like a robot
SEO content that reads well: how to plan a page from the results, structure it for scanning, use keywords naturally, and know when the page is finished.
Cross platform apps against native ones
Cross platform apps against native ones in plain English: where each one wins, what the real costs are, and how to decide before anyone writes code.
Zero click searches and what still works
Zero click searches end on the results page. Which traffic you can afford to lose, what still earns a visit, and how to measure the change.