BrandChamp, an ambassador marketing software (SaaS) company, has acquired CrewFire, a popular ambassador marketing software. [Read more…]

I’ve now used both ChatGPT and Google Bard, which are two distinct AI tools. Which do you think is better, ChatGPT or Google Bard? Well, both have their own unique qualities and features. I asked both ChatGPT and Google Bard the same questions, and here are the differences between the two. I’ll let you decide which is better, ChatGPT or Google Bard. [Read more…]

Microsoft is shutting down the Microsoft Teams Free Classic version on April 12, 2023. This is just over one month’s notice of the shut down, which is not a lot of time for most users to decide if they want to upgrade or not. [Read more…]

Bluehost has launched its new commerce solutions that make it easier for their customers to launch online stores using WordPress. Bluehost is adding YITH plugins and WooCommerce. YITH is an independent developer of WooCommerce plugins. WooCommerce runs using the WordPress content management system. [Read more…]

The global CMS (Content Management System) market share will reach $123.5 billion in revenue by 2026. There are a lot of players out there, some with a larger market share than others. If you haven’t heard of a CMS, it’s what’s used to build and create websites. The CMSs that I personally think of off the top of my head are WordPress, Duda, Wix, Squarespace, and the “other website builders”, such as website builders provided by domain name registrars and free ones like the Google Business Profile “site builder”. So which one should you use? Which CMS is the best? Let’s take a look, as I honestly think it depends on your needs. [Read more…]

In the last Quarter of 2019, I launched the Digital Marketing with Bill Hartzer Podcast. It can be found on most of the popular podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Deezer, Podcast Addict, and, of course, right here. Initially I’ve been uploading these podcasts to our YouTube Channel, so you can see the videos there. I’ll continue to upload future digital marketing podcasts there. [Read more…]

A company called Web Host Agents continues to send businesses an invoice for web hosting services. The problem is that the invoice is fake, and Web Host Agents doesn’t currently host the company’s website. It’s a fake invoice, a sales tactic that’s being disguised. One of my clients received such an invoice recently in the mail. They asked me if it’s a scam or not–to which I promptly replied, telling them that it is. Let’s take a look at the invoice, which does look convincing.

I first reported this back in April 2019, and more than a year later they are still sending these fake invoices. [Read more…]

In this episode of the Digital Marketing with Bill Hartzer podcast, I spoke with Mark Traphagen from SEO Clarity. We discussed Schema Markup for Websites, as well as Schema Markup and On Page SEO tools. Tools mentioned include SEO Clarity’s Schema.Dev Chrome Plugin, SEO Clarity Essentials, and SEO Clarity’s Spark Chrome Plugin. [Read more…]

Adobe will remove the Adobe Flash Player from its website after December 2020. This means that we are essentially seeing the EOL End of Life of the Flash Player. If your website was originally build in Flash and it requires the Flash Player in order to view it, then it’s time to think about redesigning your website. [Read more…]

As you might be aware, Avast shut down Jumpshot, and its shutdown affected several keyword research tools that relied on that data. I uncovered some interesting information regarding keyword search volume data while looking at data from some of the popular keyword tools. [Read more…]

The website Schema.org is down, currently showing a “500 Server Error”. A 500 Server Error could be the result of several different things, such as too much traffic for the server to handle, a Denial of Service Attack, or a misconfiguration on the web server or website itself. So, at this point it’s just speculation as to why Schema.org is down. [Read more…]

You might recall that a while back I wrote about Jumpshot being shut down back in January. Jumpshot provided a lot of click data to various tool providers that used that data in different ways. One of the ways the click data was used is in keyword research tools. SEOs have used keyword research tools for years, and we’ve relied on that keyword data. And, if Jumpshot data was relied on heavily by any keyword research tools, then their data would be affected. [Read more…]

By Bill Hartzer, April 7, 2020 at 6:29pm CST.

Starting sometime this month (April 2020) Microsoft will begin blocking any email that does not have SPF and DKIM alignment for email sent to Outlook 365 domains. What that means is that if you send an email from your domain name and you have not properly set up the proper email records on your domain name, people using Microsoft Outlook 365 won’t receive your email. To make sure that they do receive your email, you need to make sure that SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are properly set up on your domain name. [Read more…]

For at least the past 15 years, just about every single year that I have been posting on this blog, I make an April Fool’s post. Usually it’s on and around the 1st of April, and in the past it’s actually been, well, a few days before. However, this year, 2020, is very different. So, officially, I have cancelled April Fool’s 2020, at least my April Fool’s joke. I can’t tell you what it was going to be, as I actually don’t know. I’ve been too busy and pre-occupied with other details that I haven’t even thought about it. But, going along with tradition, I feel as if I need to make an April 1st post. [Read more…]

by Bill Hartzer, February 18, 2020 at 2:38pm CST

Hitwise, the internet data company that has helped global brands and agencies understand how consumers think, search, book, and buy online, is shutting down. In a statement published on their website, Hitwise posted that due to events outside of their control, Hitwise is winding down its operations. [Read more…]

Avast, a digital security products company, has announced that they are shutting down Jumpshot, a company that has provided “digital intelligence from within the Internet’s most valuable walled gardens”. There apparently were some questions about how and to whom the data that Jumpshot shared and sold. Some of the companies that utilized Jumpshot data were SEO tool providers, who then sold the data to SEOs, who used it for keyword research purposes, for example. [Read more…]

Certainly no one expected this.

A Sunday morning helicopter crash with NBA star Kobe Bryant aboard. TMZ, the entertainment news service that first broke the news of Kobe Bryant’s death, did not expect this either. The website is getting so much internet traffic that the TMZ website appears to be down, as well. [Read more…]

Looking for a new web host for your website? Or you’re going to move your website to another web host? Well, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has a list of four questions to ask when hiring a web host provider. The effort here is applauded. But, unfortunately, the FTC didn’t exactly get all the terminology right, which would lead to even more questions. Or a small business looking dumb in front of their web host provider. Here’s the graphic they put out, and here’s their tweet. [Read more…]