If you haven’t started Inbound Marketing as a strategy for your business - Here are 75 stats that will convince you that this is the direction you can’t ignore anymore!

SEO

• 61% of global Internet users research products online. (Interconnected World: Shopping and Personal Finance, 2012)
• 44% of online shoppers begin by using a search engine. (Interconnected World: Shopping and Personal Finance, 2012)
• 70% of the links search users click on are organic, not paid. (Marketing Sherpa, February 2007)
• 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results. (MarketShareHitsLink.com, October 2010)
• Businesses with websites of 401-1000 pages get 6x more leads than those with 51-100 pages. (HubSpot Lead Generation Lessons from 4,000 Businesses, 2011)

There's a lot to be learned by studying your online B2B leads.  Software Advice did just that when they tracked and analyzed over 6,000,000 unique visitors.  Review their findings and determine what can be applied to your business.

Conversion rates for B2B online leads are highest at the beginning of the year.  In part because companies are starting a new fiscal year, budgets are unspent and focus is put on new initiatives according to a recent analysis by Software Advice.

Conversion rates drop in the summer during prime vacation season.  And again in December as the holidays roll around.

How This Applies To Your Business:  Put special emphasis on responding quickly to leads generated online during the beginning of the year as your chances of success are statistically much greater!

This may be an answer to what every entrepreneur wants - Shopify Ecommerce Website Software is having a contest and is giving away $500,000 in case and prizes!

If you are just starting your online business, you might want to consider using Shopify.  This contest has already started but there is still time to enter.  Winners are determined by those that sell the most in a two month period between October 1st, 2013 to May 31st, 2014. 

Go here to learn more:  http://www.shopify.com/build-a-business

Seems they have partnered with some talented entrepreneurs themselves:

Daymond John:  Owner of FUBU apparel, a $6 Billion dollar company he created and regular investor on ABC's SharkTank.

Mark Cuban:  Past founder - owner of Broadcast.com, current owner of the Dallas Mavericks and investor on ABC's SharkTank.

Gary Vaynerchuk: Who took his family liquor store from $3 million to $45 million.

Lil Jon, Arianna Huffington and Tina Eisenberg to name a few more.

Prizes are $50,000 in cash and a meeting with one of these mentors in NYC!  

Past winners include  GoldieBlox / Debbie Sterling,   Fresh-Tops / Nella Chunky and DODOcase / Patrick & Craig.  Each with (I assume) Shopify ecommerce sites. 

If you are considering starting or upgrading your ecommerce site - Shopify may be your answer.  

Just remember - There is a lot more that goes into a successful site other than the shopping cart.  Branding, ease of use, building traffic, etc.  Seems that the Shopify site is trying to help though.  It's worth a look!

My first blog about 10 Tips to Successful Packaging Design was so popular, I knew I had come up with 10 more. Judging by the questions I still get from entrepreneurs bringing their products to market (or rebranding their existing product packaging) they are still confused on where to start or what is best for them.

How does it happen? Was it because of missing information or expertise?

There are 4 reasons why...