4 Ways to Tweet as a Visual Brand

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Companies that rely on a visual or photographic web presence often find it difficult to convey their media on Twitter. Take, for instance, apparel brands that need… read more

Olapic’s Crowd-Sourced Photo Campaigns Becoming a Sports Trend

Crowd-sourced social photo sharing appears to be the latest community engagement trend among professional sports teams, largely powered by the online startup Olapic.

Olapic’s service allows organizations to quickly and easily enable fans, readers or other types of audiences to submit photos of their own experiences at a game or… read more

10 Hot Web Startups Changing the Face of Retail

Macala Wright is the publisher of FashionablyMarketing.Me, one of the leading fashion and retail industry business websites. She is a retail consultant and business strategist who specializes in marketing consulting for fashion, luxury and lifestyle brands. You can follower her on Twitter at @InsideFMM or @Macala.

In 2010, branded content was… read more

Donald Trump, Deion Sanders and Apolo Ohno Star in Century 21′s Super Bowl Ad [VIDEO]

Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks.

Century 21 has enlisted a team of celebrities for its first-ever Super Bowl commercial.

Reality TV star and business mogul Donald Trump, Pro Football Hall of Fame member Deion Sanders and Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno… read more

How Social Media Changed ESPN Audio’s Super Bowl Week

Social and mobile technologies aren’t just important for guerilla marketing campaigns and grassroots outreach.

They’re also changing how the world’s biggest broadcast media companies do business.

Mashable recently spoke with top executives and personalities from the sports behemoth ESPN during the company’s biggest week of the year for Super Bowl… read more

GE’s Beth Comstock: Social Media Redefines the Focus Group

Mashable’s Davos coverage is presented by BMW i, a new concept dedicated to providing mobility solutions for the urban environment.

GE’s Chief Marketing Officer Beth Comstock sat down with Mashable founder and CEO Pete Cashmore to talk about her role leading business… read more

5 iPhone Twitter Apps that Do More Than Just Tweet

Leo Widrich is the co-founder of Buffer, a new way to publish tweets and Facebook posts at better times for more impact. He writes more about social media tips and tools on the Buffer blog. Follow him on Twitter @LeoWid or subscribe to his Facebook updates.

When Twitter recently launched the… read more

Atari Assemble! Super-Team of Veteran Developers Embrace Mobile Gaming

The good old 8-bit band is getting back together. Seamus Blackley, the co-creator of Microsoft’s Xbox, has assembled a super team of Atari’s original programmers to form a game studio meant to re-revolutionize the gaming industry.

Blackley grabbed 11 of Atari‘s game creators to form Innovative Leisure, a gaming company focused… read more

Manage Your Money to Avoid Freelancing Failures

Business is always about monetizing one component from among a host of other important things. The reason behind every business is to make money or generate revenues. Given the inherent focus on revenues, when launching a business or a site, it is critical to understand how to manage finances, which… read more

How To Use Custom Post Types To Organize Online Marketing Campaigns

Custom post types add a level of flexibility to WordPress that makes this open-source Web development platform more useful on many levels. Whenever I have been faced with a Web-based task, especially one that involves organizing information, the first thing I do is examine WordPress to determine if it can… read more

Ask Freelance Switch: Building an Agency and Freelancing Internationally

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at growing into an agency and freelancing internationally. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to… read more

Email Marketing Best Practices

Email Marketing Best Practices is a post from: Free Email Templates

Email Marketing Best Practices

With the kind of fierce competition that is being experienced on the online market, every website owner has been forced to find more effective ways of keeping their clients hooked to their sites. However, this is not… read more

Why Context Is King in the Future of Digital Marketing

Jonathan Gardner is director of communications at ad company Vibrant Media. He has spent his career as an innovator at the nexus of media and technology, having worked in communications leadership roles and as a journalist around the world.

An avalanche of devices, platforms, channels, and information is crushing consumers as they go… read more

Google Kicks Off Super Bowl XLVI with Social Blitz

Google is suiting up for Super Bowl XLVI this Sunday by launching a set of football-focused features and services to help you get your game on.

Game Day with Google is a site offered through Google’s Inside Search. The specially-built site is… read more

HBO and Miso Bring “Game of Thrones” Fans to the Second Screen

HBO is partnering with Miso to bring Game of Thrones fans an awesome second screen experience.

Miso launched its new SideShow platform at the end of 2011. The idea is to allow fans or networks to create customizable, synchronized content to go alongside what airs on TV. This can include trivia,… read more

8 Things You Should Know Before Building a Mobile App

Seth Porges is a magazine editor and the creator of Cloth, an iOS fashion app for iPhone and iPod Touch. His Twitter handle is @sethporges.

App appeal is obvious. The barrier to entry? So low! The upshot of producing the next Angry Birds or beer-chug simulator? So high! Heck, with just… read more

Old Spice’s Terry Crews Crashes a Bounce Ad [VIDEO]

In the latest evolution of Old Spice‘s “what will they do next?” social media ad campaign, spokesman Terry Crews literally crashes an ad for Bounce.

The brand chose Crews, a former NFL player perhaps best known as Julius, the father on Chris Rock’s Everybody Hates Chris, to personify its… read more

Social Media Has Turned Super Bowl XLVI Teams’ Marketing Upside Down

The explosive growth of social media over the past four years has drastically changed how the Giants and Patriots market themselves and connect with fans compared to the two teams’ most recent Super Bowl trips.

“It’s a whole new world compared to last time,” Nilay Shah, the Giants’ director of digital… read more

Groundhog Phil Says ‘WTF’ to Groundhog Day [INTERVIEW]

In a hard-hitting interview (sarcasm), I dug up some exclusive responses from Groundhog Day‘s world famous critter, Punxsutawney Phil.

Twitter account @GroundhogPhil, which has 4,400 followers, reveals how he really feels about the Feb. 2 holiday and even trash talks fellow Twitter animals, including Bronx Zoo Cobra and NYT Sexy… read more

What to Do When Your Website Gets Hacked

Dallas Lawrence is the chief global digital strategist for Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s leading public relations and communications firms. He is a Mashable contributor on emerging media trends, online reputation management and digital issue advocacy. You can connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.

If an individual or activist group broke… read more

Steve Jobs Mocked in Ad for Android Tablet [VIDEO]

Steve Jobs, sporting a halo and wings, extols the virtues of an Android tablet in a Taiwanese ad that’s getting attention in the U.S. for its disrespectful treatment of the late Apple cofounder.

The 20-second ad, which hit YouTube this week, features Taiwanese comedian and impersonator Ah-Ken. Clad in… read more

Start Your Own Email Newsletter the Easy Way with TinyLetter

Most of us have sent emails to multiple people at once, whether a holiday email to family or a marketing newsletter to fans and customers. Many of us have gotten emails with dozens of addresses at the top where the sender sent the email to their whole list by just… read more

Email Guidelines

Email Guidelines is a post from: Free Email Templates

Email Guidelines

Granted, the social media hit the World like a Big Bang. Anyone who is anyone is now a chronic blogger, and anyone who is not in it looks like a dead man walking. This may very well be, but one… read more

How to make your type more appealing on the web

Source

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Instagram Users Snap Spectacular Shots at Sailing’s Toughest Event [PICS]

1.

An AbuDhabi highway shot by Liam Goslett, a 19-year-old photographer from Toronto whose Tumblr blog is called Liam… read more

Super Bowl Viewers Will Check Phones 10 Times During the Game [STUDY]

Nearly half of Super Bowl XLVI viewers will check their mobile device as many as 10 times during the game, and almost a third of viewers under age 45 will watch the game “with device in hand.”

More than 80% of viewers say they’ll use their mobile device during the… read more

Best of Tuts+ in January 2012

Each month, we bring together a selection of the best tutorials and articles from across the whole Tuts+ network. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favourite site, or would like to start learning something completely new, this is the best place to start!

Psdtuts+ — Photoshop Tutorials

Create… read more

What Humans Want: More Domestic Robots [STUDY]

People would like to have their own Rosie the Robot — think The Jetsons — and would even borrow money to buy a robot that could complete domestic chores.

A survey from the marketing analytics firm Persuadable Research shows that 68%… read more

RIM Backtracks After Twitter Users Hijack Hashtag

Like McDonald’s before it, RIM has found there’s a reason open-ended Twitter campaigns are called “bashtags.”

The trouble started on New Year’s Eve, when the brand sponsored Dick Clark’s show and ran a billboard in New York’s Times Square: “Let’s #BeBold in 2012.” RIM claims it received more than 35,000… read more

4 Inspiring Examples of Digital Storytelling

Layla Revis is vice president of digital influence at Ogilvy PR Worldwide. Her specialties include international affairs, tourism and multicultural marketing.

In 2011, Sundance Film Festival created The New Frontier Story Lab, an initiative created to foster the development of a new style of media production. As media began to depart… read more

Finding Work on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter

I love a good infographic, and this one created by Jobvite (view full infographic post or view it at full size) is really cool. It shows how Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter help people find work.

This research looks at how people are using social media to look for and find… read more

Polling App Makes Blog Feedback Painless

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Quipol

Quick Pitch: Quipol is a web application that makes creating and embedding polls on blogs easy.

Genius… read more

Giants? Patriots? Mobile and Social to Win Super Bowl XLVI

The New York Giants and New England Patriots face off for gridiron glory this Sunday in Super Bowl XLVI. But the game’s real winners could be social networks and mobile technologies — as well as the marketers who best leverage those platforms.

A look back at how fans engaged with… read more

Top 5 Common Business Misconceptions On Online Marketing

Top 5 Common Business Misconceptions On Online Marketing

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6 Ways to Give Your App a Leg Up on the Competition

Paul Baldwin is the chief marketing officer of Outfit7 Inc., a subsidiary of Out Fit 7 Ltd, the leading entertainment app developer. Paul has more than 17 years of experience developing, marketing and monetizing digital entertainment content.

Spend a few minutes browsing through both the Android and Apple app stores and… read more

Android Users Most Likely to Use Phones While in the Bathroom

Can’t part with your phone even when you’re in the bathroom? You’re in good company. About 75% of Americans admit they use their phones in the bathroom, according to a new study.

A report by marketing agency 11mark found that three in four people are texting, emailing and even talking on… read more

Turn Your Facebook Timeline Into a Movie

A browser tool launched Monday transforms content from your Facebook Timeline into a fast-paced movie.

In what will surely incite a roller coaster of flashbacks, Timeline Movie Maker from marketing agency Definition 6 lets you become a filmmaker with the click of a button. Definition 6 collaborated with Facebook.

After Movie Maker… read more

The Swarm: Short Horror Film Made Entirely on Phones [VIDEO]

Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks.

The Swarm is all about shallow breathing, heavy petting and Xperia smartphones. The short horror film, shot entirely on Sony’s Xperia Arc S phones, follows a group of (mostly) horny teenagers in London who come face… read more

Who’s Winning? The Most-Shared Super Bowl Ads So Far

We’ve just entered the Year of the Dragon, but Super Bowl 2012 is shaping up to be the Year of the Dog.

No less than five of the ads featured in Unruly‘s list of Super Bowl ads with the most traction star dogs, including the early favorite — Volkswagen’s “The… read more

How You Should Use Google+ for Your Business

Chris Brogan is the author of the new book, Google+ for Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything.

As a Google+ skeptic (heck, I’m skeptical of all new social media) I was interested to learn more, so I sat down and watched this video where Michael Stelzner of Socialmediaexaminer.com interviewed… read more

5 Ways for Photographers to use an iPad to Jumpstart their Business

1. Editing On-the-Go

The iPad is never going to replace a desktop computer for photo editing. However, it does come in handy when you are looking to quickly edit a few pictures. I recently traveled home for the holidays. My parents wanted a picture for their Christmas card. I was able to… read more

The Psychology Of Color In Design

Have you ever wondered why you seem to be getting hungrier while waiting to place your order at a fast food place or why you eat faster than any human should ingest that poison? Have you ever heard of a “power tie” in business?

There are things that excite the human… read more

Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers [INFOGRAPHIC]

Pinterest, a two-year-old social bookmarking site that lets users collect and share things they like on the web, is driving increasingly significant amounts of traffic to retailers’ websites.

The service enables users to create online bulletin boards, or “pinboards,” for popular categories such as home decor, food and wedding inspiration. Members… read more

How To Avoid Hiring The Wrong Person For Your Startup

Chris Rickborn is the COO and co-founder for Unrabble, a cloud-computing hiring software company that helps busy startups make great hires.

In a startup, hiring a new employee can be a business-changing event. The smaller the organization, the more impact each employee has on its ultimate success.

Don’t get me wrong… read more

Tweet Your Best Shot to Make NBA’s Curry Your Voicemail Assistant

How would you like to put an NBA star to work as your own personal phone operator?

That’s more or less the idea behind a Twitter-driven contest by Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry. Curry has called for fans to tweet him video clips their best moves from the game H-O-R-S-E,… read more

Tech Companies Ramping Up the Green Jobs [INFOGRAPHIC]

If you’re looking for a new job, but you’re also a friend of the environment, there could be a perfect position for you in the tech sector. More than ever before, tech companies are committed to sustainability — they’re developing greener devices, increasing the life cycle of products and developing… read more

Before IPO, Facebook Takes the Fight Against Clickjacking to the Courts

Facebook is turning to the courts to fight the “clickjacking” scourge which sometimes plagues the social networking site. The news comes as rumors are circulating that Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO) could be happening as early as this week, with a possible offering of up to $10 billion in shares.

If… read more

7 Lead Generation Trends For 2012 — What You Need to Do Right Now [SPONSORED]

This post is brought to you by HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company based in Cambridge, MA, that makes a full platform of marketing software, including marketing automation tools. For more information on sponsored posts, read here.

You decide. Is this 2012 AD or is it 0008 FB — the eighth… read more

Interview with Freelance Marketer Danny Iny

Want to boost your profile? Add additional income streams to your freelancing business? Release your own self published book? It’s time to have a chat with author and freelance marketer Danny Iny.

He quit school at the age of fifteen to start his first freelance web design business. The only… read more

5 Ways to Get Ahead of the Competition at SXSW 2012

Mark Gilbreath is the co-founder and CEO of LiquidSpace, the mobile application that helps anyone find a great space to work now.

Approaching SXSW for the first time last year, we were not quite sure what to expect. I offered advice on what I know best — staying productive amidst the… read more

Cable Networks Embrace Social TV, Creating New Social Apps

As the mid-TV season continues to roll out, cable networks like FX and USA are doubling down on social TV campaigns and show integrations.

Using mobile apps and tablet apps, social networks such as Facebook and check-in services like GetGlue and Miso, cablers are focusing on connecting fans with show… read more

7 Ways to Follow ‘The Hunger Games’ Movie on Social Media

1. Capitol Couture

The newly launched Capitol Couture blog is dedicated to the styles featured in the upcoming film…. read more

7 Key Tips for Leveraging Big Data

Dan Kimball is the Chief Marketing Officer of Kontagent, and an advisory board member for AppNation. Follow Dan on Twitter at @dmkimball05.

One of my company’s clients, the CEO of a top social and mobile game publisher, recently commented: “When you’re learning how to ski, you learn pretty quickly that… read more

Ferris Bueller at the Super Bowl? Online Tease Leaves Few Clues [VIDEO]

We haven’t heard much from Ferris Bueller since 1986, but apparently he’s taken some time off to do a Super Bowl ad.

This 10-second teaser shows Bueller star Matthew Broderick asking “How can I handle work on a day like today?” and then cues a snippet of “Oh Yeah,” the… read more

Make Time for YOU – Part Two

It’s the beginning of the year and things are slow. You are hustling to get work and the work that comes your way you don’t feel you can turn down. By the time summer rolls around, you have been working your butt off and let things—like life outside of… read more

9 Steps to Starting Your Freelance Web Design Business

So, you want to be a freelance web designer? Ah, the glamor of it all.

Your own boss, answering only to the call of your creative muse… get up, feel inspired, do some work, go for a walk, laugh knowingly with other freelancers who have also discovered The Secret… read more

Creative Uses for QR Codes

Nowadays we look around and all over the places see QR codes embedded into the ads, buildings, billboards, newspapers, cups, clothes and even into the roads.

The usage of QR (Quick Response) codes in promotional marketing is a great idea and just one more awesome way to engage people… read more

Macworld Enters 3rd Year Post-Apple; Is it Still Relevant?

The annual Macworld exposition begins on Thursday in San Francisco, and for the twenty-eighth consecutive year will bring together Apple fans, users and developers. But this installment adds a new twist — and a new name.

It’s now billed as Macworld | iWorld, which better captures “the essence of what… read more

10 Tips for Building a Strong Online Community Around Your Startup

Megan Berry is Senior Marketing Manager for Klout, the standard for online influence. She also blogs at The Huffington Post and Brazen Careerist. You can follow her on Twitter as @meganberry.

Building a community around your startup can be one of the cheapest ways to create momentum for your product. A… read more

Boxee With Live TV Is a Cord Cutter’s Dream [REVIEW]

Home

The home screen in Boxee 1.5 now has a new “Live TV” option when the Live TV dongle… read more

McDonald’s Follows Twitter Fiasco With Another Hashtag Campaign

McDonald’s — whose last Twitter campaign, themed #McDstories, became a magnet for criticism of the brand — launched another hashtag campaign on Wednesday. The new drive is called #littlethings.

The fast food giant introduced the talking point with the following tweet, which hit at 11:42 EST: “No line at the bank,… read more

Risultati eccezionali per Apple nel Q1 2012. Ma per i soliti detrattori: “è solo marketing senza sostanza”

“Non riesco a capire come ci siano tante persone così ottuse che acquistino prodotti Apple”. E’ uno dei tanti messaggi che circolano su Twitter da qualche ora dopo che Apple ha reso noti i risultati relativi al Q1 2012 (ottobre-dicembre 2011).

Già, non si riesce a capire e a credere…. read more

Super Bowl Ads Will Get a Second Life on Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC]

If you were a Super Bowl viewer in 1984 who left the room during Apple’s famous “1984″ ad introducing the Mac, you would have soon discovered you made a massive mistake.

In those days before YouTube, if you missed a Super Bowl ad, you really missed it. That was especially true… read more

What Successful Products Teach Us About Web Design

Web design is a craft that is constantly evolving and yet also sometimes sabotaged. The moment a design is released, a new version is born. In the beginning, like a baby, it seems vulnerable and weak, but in time it grows up and becomes self-sufficient. Redesigning a website for its… read more

What Should You Do Before Launching a (Successful) Blog

In the past few years, the Internet has developed more and more, encompassing new online presences everyday; this can make one think about this amazing trend and when it will present a lower growth ratio. It is practically impossible to state exactly how many websites are being created each year… read more

Web App Makes Paying with Nine Credit Cards Okay

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Splitable

Quick Pitch: Splitable lets you divide the cost of anything with anyone online.

Genius Idea: Think of… read more

4 Things RIM’s New CEO Can Do to Fix the Company

Research in Motion, better known as RIM, used to be one of the most dominating smartphone makers in the world. But it’s seen its market share — and reputation — flounder of late. So it wasn’t that surprising that the company finally did what many investors were asking for: get… read more

21 Essential Community Management Resources

Today is Community Manager Appreciation Day, and we have plenty of resources for those who are managing their own communities.

With a bevy of social spaces to choose from, creating a potent and tight-knit community around a product or brand can seem daunting, even for those experienced in the social… read more

How to Register Your New Business Name

You’ve brainstormed, polled your family and friends and conducted some kind of focus group testing. You’ve come up with a cool domain name. Finally, you’ve crossed one of the trickiest hurdles for any new business — finding the right name for your new brand.

But not so fast. Before you… read more

The Most-Shared 2012 Super Bowl Ad Teasers So Far [VIDEOS]

With the Super Bowl less than two weeks away, advertisers are following one of two plays: Remain completely mum about what they’re going to do, or attempt to maximize that $3.5 million ad spend with teaser videos on YouTube.

Actually, there’s a third option as well: Run a contest with consumer-generated… read more

How Sites Like Contently Aim to Help Freelancers Find Work

I had never heard of the freelance-writing online marketplace Contently until I stumbled across this piece of info from the Wall Street Journal:

Freelance-writing marketplace Contently has raised a $2 million Series A round led by Lightbank. Co-founder Shane Snow said he started the company to help resolve some of… read more

One Hello World: The Soundtrack to Your Voicemails

If you think your voicemail inbox is intimidating when it’s full, try filtering through hundreds of voicemails on a regular basis. One Hello World is a collection of voicemails from strangers, revealing personal aspirations, deep secrets and confessions — all set to original score. Consider it the audio version of… read more

11 Ways to get Free Marketing for Your Photography

One of the challenges of charging for your photography is figuring out how to get clients. You’ve got the technical know-how, but what about the business and marketing side? Strapped for cash and looking for ways to generate buzz about your photography? No problem. Marketing doesn’t have to cost much… read more

6 Things to Know Before Starting a Business

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

An entrepreneur’s life can be a real roller coaster. Having started a few businesses in my career, I thought it would be useful to highlight some of… read more

Super Bowl XLVI Gets a Social Media Command Center

Super Bowl XLVI host city Indianapolis has concocted a new way to deal with the madness that comes with managing the world’s biggest annual sporting event. The solution? The Super Bowl’s first-ever social media command center.

A team of strategists, analysts and techies will monitor the digital fan conversation via… read more

CoTweet Gone: Here Are 7 Great Alternatives

The popular social media management application CoTweet will no longer exist after Feb. 15, but we’ve found 7 free or low-cost alternatives that’ll take its place.

What happened to the free Co-Tweet? The service’s parent company, ExactTarget, announced in a blog post this week that it will soon re-christen CoTweet… read more

GO App Lets You Anonymously Share Photos, Videos or Comments [PICS]

If you’ve ever wanted to post a photograph, video or brief comment without your real name or online moniker attached to the content, a fresh mobile app now gives you that option.

GO, which rolled out Friday for Android and in November for iPhone, allows you to capture, share and discover… read more

StyleSeat Is OpenTable for Beauty Appointments

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: StyleSeat

Quick Pitch: Find and book beauty salon appointments online.

Genius Idea: Robust marketing tools that bring salon… read more

Why 2012 Is the Year of Mobile Advertising

Ernie Cormier is the CEO and president of Nexage, the leading mobile advertising exchange. You can follow Nexage on Twitter @Nexage and read Nexage’s blog here.

Mobile advertising is coming of age. In many ways, it has been driven by the sheer force of the consumer’s insatiable appetite for all… read more

How Kodak Squandered Every Single Digital Opportunity It Had

Kodak has finally formalized what had been expected for years — it’s gone bankrupt. In the past 15 years, digital technology changed photography dramatically, and Kodak, a former heavyweight in the analog film business, got left behind.

That’s the story of Kodak in the broadest of strokes, though it doesn’t capture… read more

Samsung Super Bowl Ad Going for Apple Tackle [VIDEO]

Samsung, which tweaked Apple fanboys and iPhone-mania with a well-received ad last November, will go after the tech behemoth again in an upcoming Super Bowl ad.

Samsung’s first Super Bowl ad will build on the creative concept of that ad, according to a report by The Huffington Post. The… read more

3 Rules to Freelance Consulting Success

When my father left his industry to become a consultant, he was as much of a business rookie as any of the new freelancers who visit this site. Since we’re talking about the early 1980s, business advice for solo practitioners wasn’t as plentiful as it is today.

So, my dad… read more

50 Inspiring Logo Designs

A logo is an essential part of branding your website and marketing it offline and online. Some logo designs feature simple, beautiful typography whilst others more are fun and colourful. However, all logos should be memorable and able to integrate with your website design effortlessly.

One of the best ways of… read more

Pinterest for Brands: 5 Hot Tips

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

We’ve all been hearing a lot about Pinterest lately, so you’re probably wondering whether you should take the plunge and create a profile for your company. We… read more

What’s Next for Digital Coupons?

Jeff Hudson is co-founder of Grocery Coupon Network, one of the leading coupon communities on the web. By aggregating the best digital grocery coupons and special offers from local and national brands, the company provides a reliable source for those looking to save money and time.

Couponing had seen unprecedented growth… read more

Today’s Kodak Moment: Bankruptcy

Eastman Kodak company, one of the Pioneers in both analog and digital photography, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday. Despite holding onto patents estimated at $2 billion in value, the company never managed to capitalize on the digital photography field it helped create.

Kodak has been in trouble for… read more

Internet Users to Congress: We Hate SOPA

With major websites such as Wikipedia and Reddit down Wednesday in protest of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), millions of social media users took to the Internet to express their own opinion on the two bills. And they don’t like them one bit.

In a tweet… read more

Teach What You Know: How to Make a Living on Skillshare

Nate Cooper is an independent academic and co-organizer of Reboot Workshop, an un-conference for nontraditional workers.

Skillshare is a platform for instructor-led, in-person classes. You can search for classes to take or propose to teach a class topic.

As the name implies, Skillshare is a community of experts and entrepreneurs; therefore,… read more

Apple Announces iBooks 2, iBooks Author And iTunes U App

In what could be described as an extremely fitting venue for an education announcement, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Apple announced today a range of tools designed to help people in education with their studies, namely an updated version of iBooks, iBooks 2, which is designed to integrate more… read more

SOPA: What You Need to Know

Did you happen to see the Google logo on the search engine’s homepage yesterday? If not, here’s what it looked like:

Did you try to look something up on Wikipedia only to see a black screen? You can thank SOPA for both of those blackouts.

SOPA, which stands for Stop Online… read more

5 SEO Trends Writers Should Target in 2012

Freelance writers need to deal with web content all the time, as more and more of publishing goes online.

Although the basic principles of good writing don’t change in the online realm, there are certain differences that writers should be aware of. One of the most important aspects of online… read more

How To Build a Customer Base

Every business wants customers that bring a lot of website traffic and profits. A strong customer base is the foundation of a successful business. Whether you’re marketing for a blog or for a huge brand, every business needs to focus on its customers. Rome was not built in a day,… read more

How Celebrity Appearances at CES Backfired [INFOGRAPHIC]

By now, you can easily name the celebrities who attended the Consumer Electronics Show last week. But don’t be surprised if you’re struggling to remember which brands they represented.

An overwhelming 85% of social media mentions about those celebrities did not reference the gadgets or companies they were promoting at CES,… read more

How to Grow Your Business With Mobile Paid Search

Jamie Turner’s most recent book is Go Mobile, co-authored with Jeanne Hopkins, VP of marketing at HubSpot. He is also the founder of the 60 Second Marketer and a popular mobile marketing speaker at events and corporations around the globe.

Many business owners are trying to figure out how to use… read more

Printed Web: Print Design Inspired Websites

It seems things are changing for website design. The minimalist style adopted by many websites is slowly being evolved into something a little more engaging. One of the main sources of inspiration for this change in the way website content is displayed has been print design, particularly newspapers and magazines…. read more

Facebook Stats Analysis: Is Fan Page Growth Slowing?

Jim Tobin is president of Ignite Social Media, a leading social media agency, where he works with clients including Microsoft, Samsung, Chrysler, Verizon and more implementing social media marketing strategies. He is also author of the book Social Media is a Cocktail Party. Follow him on Twitter @jtobin.

We saw as early as April… read more

6 Tips for Handling Breaking Crises on Twitter

Dallas Lawrence is the chief global digital strategist for Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s leading public relations and communications firms. He is a Mashable contributor on emerging media trends, online reputation management and digital issue advocacy. You can connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.

If the past year has taught us… read more

Katy Perry Goes Virtual in New Sims Game

Katy Perry in The Sims

Players can download Perry’s likeness and stage props.

Click here to view this gallery.

Any online… read more

5 Ways Businesses Can Use Social Media as a Tool for Progress

Riley Gibson is the CEO and co-founder of Napkin Labs, a startup that helps companies discover insights from their fans, followers and customers. Follow Riley on Twitter or check out the company blog.

It seems like everyone talks about the value of social media, but very few businesses take full advantage… read more