Have you noticed something different while scrolling through your Pinterest lately? Like a pin from someone or a company who you don’t follow? Well, if you haven’t heard, that’s because Pinterest recently rolled out its first paid advertisements, “promoted pins.”

Have you ever tried to write a blog offering internet marketing tips when your head feels like a balloon, your ears feel like you have earmuffs on, and you’re so stuffed up you’re having to breathe through your mouth and make sure you know where the closest box of tissue is? That’s exactly how I feel today and writing is not coming easy. Which got me thinking about content curation - a phrase you might have heard or read about recently, and something we’ve been learning a lot about ourselves and will be adding into our internet marketing strategy. Starting today.

There is no one right strategy for marketing online.  Common sense will tell you that, even if you don’t know anything about the internet. But - and here it is - there are only a few small differences between most of the successful internet marketing strategies.  If you want to take advantage of the power and the cost effectiveness of internet marketing then you need a great strategy, and unless you’re one of the experts arguing over the little things then I will say this to you:

Interns are great! Who doesn’t love free labor and the ability to influence a young professional’s path in the working world? The problem with interns, however, is that they’re not traditional employees and only around for a short period of time. Some businesses get so caught up in having extra hands on deck that they give them the wrong kind of responsibilities.

Link building services can be a mess sometimes. Trying to scourer the web for quality links without falling into black hat schemes or trying to acquire bogus links can be a challenge.

So many people out there are looking for the quick, cheap and easy fix. Most small business owners understand that in their industry the quick, cheap fix doesn’t always end up as the easy fix. It usually means going back and doing the job again, purchasing better quality or even in the long run, losing business. In essence, the job takes longer, costs more money and is harder on everyone.

As the ongoing “keyword not provided” issue is getting a lot of attention and Google is withholding more and more information from marketers, you might be asking if it makes sense to even think about how to add keywords to a website. Will keywords continue to be useful moving forward? Will we have any shot at knowing what is working and what isn’t as we head into 2014 and try to sort out what online marketing looks like?

Ever regretted a picture you uploaded to Facebook? Or a tweet you tweeted on Twitter?

Well, you’re not the only one and California legislators have taken note. Under Bill 568, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and similar social media platforms will soon be legally required to remove content or information posted by the user, if they request them to do so.

Before you get really excited, there’s a catch here. That magic digital “eraser button” is only available for minors. Dang it, right? I guess adults will have to remain responsible with their online posting.

It comes as no surprise that Google has released yet another algorithm update. This time it’s named after a more dynamic species, the Hummingbird, and rightfully so, because its aim is to provide you, as the searcher, more dynamic results.

Here’s the big question many small business owners are asking, why is social media important to their internet marketing strategy? Most people think that social media is a place where all the crazy teenagers post party pictures, tell people their problems or gossip about ex-boyfriends for attention. Yes, this is true, but have you thought about what social media could do for you as an adult businessman or woman? Have you thought about how many of your customers are on social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn? Have you decided that since you’re not techie enough that you’re going to stay out of the online social sphere?