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With an April 15 tax deadline looming, now is the time for businesses to address their tax responsibilities. Here are five tips to help make this a painless - and possibly profitable - experience.

The jury will be out for some time on just how much money can be made directly from social media. But retailers rooted in stores, catalogs and the web have worked diligently to explore ways they can squeeze incremental revenue from this emerging channel.

Cross-channel retail integration can mean many different things to many different people. It can refer to integrating a brand across a variety of channels, such as retail store, website and catalog, for example, which Brent Niemuth discusses in "The Integrated Shopper," beginning on page 13. Niemuth explains that for consumers to really connect with a brand, they must have the same brand experience online, in-store or with its catalog.

Sales tax collection responsibility is an issue that no online retailer wants to hear about for the first time during a state tax audit. In almost every state, the party responsible for payment of a sales tax isn't the company that's made the sale. Ultimate responsibility lies instead with consumers making purchases. When a seller has sales tax nexus in a state, its role is limited to collection and remittance of the tax. If a seller doesn't have sales tax nexus, it has no obligation to collect tax. The consumer in this case is obligated to self-assess a “use tax.”

Making changes to a website doesn’t have to mean spending a lot of money or months overhauling the site and operating platform. Tweaks can be made to increase sales and improve site performance and customer satisfaction that don’t cost a lot, and can be implemented in a matter of weeks. Consider the following three strategies:

For most multichannel retailers, developing marketing plans and budgets for 2010 is a daunting task. After two years of tough economic climates that meant sales reductions and downsizing for many, now’s the time to build a plan for another — perhaps better, yet uncertain — year.

These days, decisions on all sorts of purchases go through many consumers’ personal “boards of buyers,” sort of a shopping version of the id, ego and superego. This imaginary board consists of the assorted moods we’ve all developed this year to stomach the economic bad and keep afloat financially.

Online businesses must understand the kind of security measures and warning signs consumers increasingly look for on the web today. Here are six tips to help you see things through their eyes and plan your own security strategy accordingly:

With more than 41 million subscribers in its nearly seven-year existence, professional networking site LinkedIn is grabbing the social media headlines these days right along with Facebook and Twitter. In his keynote presentation at last week's DM Days New York Conference & Expo, Mike Gamson, LinkedIn's vice president of corporate solutions, revealed some of the secrets to his company's success, as well as tactics other direct marketers can use to make Web 2.0 more than just a buzzword.

An interview with Jason Blake, founder and president of The Pond Guy, a catalog/multichannel marketer of supplies for the maintenance of ponds, lakes and water features.