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Monday, December 03 2018
Why Online Reviews are Essential for Insurance Agents (and How to Get More)

Why Online Reviews are Essential for Insurance Agents (and How to Get More)

In our new digital world, the research is clear, online reviews have become essential for today's insurance agent. More and more clients begin their search for insurance products online. In a hyper-competitive market, even those who are referred by current customers are likely to check out your online reputation before even committing to a conversation.

What do consumers see when they look for you online? Are they viewing multiple, current, five-star reviews with helpful comments? If not, keep reading.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 08:27 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, April 08 2018
Top Voice Search Ranking Factors Analyzed

There are many factors that influence a sites ranking on voice search results. To figure out which factor is most important, Backlinko conducted an extensive analysis.

Here are the findings: 

  1. Page speed is crucial. Most of the results were from fast loading pages.
  2. Domain authority is of absolute importance.
  3. Content that ranks well on the desktop also ranks well on voice search. 
  4. Surprisingly, Schema is not that important factor as only 36% of sites that ranked well on voice search results were using schema. 
  5. 41% of Voice search results came from featured snippets. 
  6. HTTPS is an absolute must.

This research debunked the myth that Schema is of absolute importance. And also made it clear that page speed is CRUCIAL. All the results that listed well on voice search were almost 2 times faster than traditional pages.

Google’s reliance on domains with high authority for providing voice search results comes from the tendency that they “may” provide higher accuracy as compared to domain’s with less authority. But it is possible that they will come up with a more sophisticated approach for the same in near future. 

The research also shed some light on the importance of long-form content. People speak more words that they type, so it's natural that pages that use comprehensive content will reign supreme in this area. 

However, you don’t have to specifically optimize your site’s content for voice search, writing in-depth content will suffice the need. 

On a side note, the virtual assistants are on the rise. So the marketers who are willing to offer their clients with latest digital marketing should take these platform seriously.
 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 11:22 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, March 21 2018
Google Launches Two New Tools To Highlight The Importance Of Page Speed On Mobiles

From past few years, Google is consistently pushing the website owners to improve their mobile site experience. They have launched multiple algorithms, guidelines, and tools for the same purpose. 

Recently, at Mobile World Congress, they launched two new tools, a new Mobile Scorecard and a Conversion Impact Calculator. 

The mobile scorecard provides data on the chrome user experience so that you can compare the speed of multiple websites on mobile devices.  

The mobile scorecard pulls data from chrome to compare the speed of multiple sites on mobile. That’s the same data that Google uses in the Page Speed Insights tool

Google said that a site should load within 5 seconds on 3g connections and 3 seconds on 4G connection.

The impact calculator gives a rough idea of how much revenue a business is losing because of slow page load speed. It might seem a bit exaggerated but still useful.

And if you are in need of mobile website design or redesign services, please don’t hesitate to connect with us.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 11:17 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, February 18 2018
Important Google Adwords Updates For February 2018

•    The Dynamic search ads allow you to target the entire website or domain name so that you can target a broad audience. However, Google has made some significant changes to it and the changes will go live soon. To know exactly how it will affect you, click.

•    Google allowed the advertiser to spend as much as twice the daily budget simply to get more money from their pocket. But how advertisers are responding to it and does it really changed anything within AdWords … find out.

•    Google and Facebook get biggest slice of advertising cake. A recent study revealed that 1/4 (61%) of the global advertising spend goes to Google and Facebook. However, the number may drop soon as people are starting to allocate their ad budget to different platforms. 

•    Google officially removed the Adwords Review extension and all the performance data will be deleted by Feb 2018.

•    Last year we saw shocking reports that YouTube ads were running alongside some inappropriate videos. It scared the advertiser because it would cause more harm than good. Addressing the issue, YouTube has now made it mandatory for the YouTubers to have at least 1000 subscribers and 4000h watch time if they want to monetize their content.

•    Re-marketing is one of the best marketing weapons in your arsenal. Here’s a great tutorial on how to utilize it to the fullest.

•    What is Doubleclick adoptive re-marketing and how does it work. Find out.

•    Manually selecting placements to run display ads may seem like a good option, but it is not the right solution to click frauds. Also, it makes you miss the flexibility of automated placements.

•    Re-marketing is good but only if done in a balanced manner. Many advertisers overdo it and as a result, annoy the users. Although Google can’t tell advertisers to stop targeting a particular user, they may give the power to the users to block re-marketing ads coming from a specific advertiser.
 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 02:06 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Monday, February 05 2018
Page Speed Will Officially Be A Ranking Factor In Google From July 2018

It’s 2018 and if your web page takes more than 10 seconds to load, then you are far behind! Nobody likes to wait for minutes just for your page to load — they will simply hit the back button. According to a study, 53% of the users will abandon the site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load! So it came as no surprise when Google announced that site speed will be a ranking factor within the mobile search results from July 2018. 

However, Google assured that only a small percentage of the sites will be affected by it since the majority of the site loads faster than 10 seconds. Also, there will be exceptions to websites which provide relevant and high-quality content to users. Those websites can still rank well in the search engine result pages because the intent of the search query is still a strong factor.

If you are not sure about your site’s speed, you can use the Google’s “Test My Site” tool. This tool uses a standard 3G connection to replicate what most people are using to surf the web using mobiles. It not only tells you about your site speed but also gives suggestions on how you can improve.
 

What About AMP?

Google's announcement stated that it "applies the same standard to all pages, regardless of the technology used to build the page”, which means AMP gets no special advantage except that by its very nature it will pass all of these speed standards with flying colors. However, that doesn't mean that you get an automatic pass if you're using AMP because you need to be sure that everything is set up properly. If you need any help with mobile optimization, we can assist. Just reach out to us and we will be able assist you further.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 02:03 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, September 13 2017
Google's Q&A For Local Search Could Be The Next Big Thing

Google started rolling out Questions and Answers (Q&A) feature for local search in the
beginning of August. As with all the testing, it was initially available, exclusively for
Android users via the Google Maps App, but eventually, they made it available to
everyone searching from a mobile device using either Safari or Chrome browsers.

The main motto behind introducing the Q&A into local search is to get the most
updated and relevant data about businesses and places. Q&A has always been one of the
best sources to get fresh content. Amazon has already tested it and employing it the
way it should be.

Here’s what it looks like on mobile device.

 

However, the fear of spamming is real! The competitors, or even just a single angry employee can ruin the entire Q&A section. Also, if a business has the authority to edit it, then it’s going to be as genuine and real as the “testimonials and reviews” that they put on their own website.

Here's what Google says:

"To make sure “Questions & answers” contains the most accurate and useful local info possible, business owners can add frequently asked questions and answers as well. In addition, when you (a customer) ask a question about a place, we notify the business owner and other in-the-know users to see if they have knowledgeable answers to contribute. When your question is answered, we notify you too."

Let’s see how Google is going to tackle these issues. Meanwhile, you might want to start writing content for the Q&A section. Reason being, Google has just launched it and is hungry for content (data), they will hardly filter it out and will most likely accept just about anything you post. You can actually benefit from the desperation of Google and ignorance of your competitors. 

Remember, the early bird gets the worm!
 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 04:19 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, September 13 2017
Youtube Launches

YouTube, has introduced a “Breaking News” section on its homepage, it shows a collection of videos pertaining worldwide news and events. The feature appears on both mobile, as well as desktop.

Barcelona attack being the very recent major incident happened across the world, the Breaking News section was showing the videos related to it. The section shows region-specific videos displayed in horizontal scrollable format, the section includes options like ‘Recommended’, ‘Watch It Again’, and ‘Recently Uploaded’.

If users do not wish to see the Breaking News section, they can remove it from their homepage, by clicking on ‘X’ if using a desktop or ‘Not Interested’ if using mobile.

Still, it is not clear if the ‘Breaking News’ will appear daily or only when some major incident occurs. The feature is live on live on the iOS and Android YouTube apps, as well as the desktop site.
 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 10:58 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Monday, January 18 2016

Yahoo search is going to add new features for mobile users & will also roll out a search algorithm update. Yahoo mobile users will witness the following changes this year. 

Integration of Twitter 
Celebrity searches will return with top tweets that are related to the celebrity. 

Brand new image search
You will experience a new way of discovering pictures of your favourite celebrities. Click on the photo of a celebrity and then you can explore trending content that is linked with that celebrity. 

Improved search experience
Latest news and happenings can be seen right on the search engine result page. Also, the search algorithms have been updated. So now you will see most recent and popular stories at the top of the news result thread. 

AMP compatibility
News in Yahoo search is now compatible with Accelerated Mobile Pages. So get ready to experience faster mobile browsing. 

It's good that Yahoo finally launched some updates, but we don’t understand why many of their updates are celebrity focused. Maybe their brilliant CEO has some mind blowing future plans, but as of now.... the updates are not interesting and useful. But still, it's very big and pleasing news for Yahoo mobile users (if there are any).

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 10:47 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Friday, January 15 2016

2015 brought some of the biggest changes and updates in digital marketing. Be it the launch of mobile friendly algorithm, several Phantom Quality updates, 28th Panda Update in July, death of Google Plus, Google as a subsidiary of Alphabet or the RankBrain, 2015 was jaw dropping from every aspect.

As predicted, Mobile remained the focal area of Google in every facet. Not only has Google declared that a mobile optimized website is essential to rank higher, but it also launched AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) which took their mobile obsession one step further.

Overall we can say that 2016 is shaping up as a year of immense opportunity for website owners. But before we step into the future let’s have a look at what we got right & where we went wrong in 2015.

RECAP OF 2015

1.    Google and HTTPS
Google continues to push site owners to get HTTPS. They are not only displaying “Unsecured Connection Warning” in Chrome but also sending “Google Console Warnings”. Those warnings cover several practice error issues with SSL/TLS. Ignoring this will result into zero HTTPS boost for you.

2.    Facebook Modification 
Facebook worked tirelessly & as predicted they made a direct play for search, unleashed Atlas targeting to a great extent, expanded into Mobile Payments and upgraded their messaging functionality. All these changes resulted into an enormous boost, both in their overall usage numbers & stock price. So far, Facebook played really well & it seems like they are going to shine in 2016 too.

3.    Wearables Becoming Popular
Apple created a lot of Buzz when they launched Apple watch back in 2015. SEO & digital marketers' happiness was different from that of Apple enthusiasts. They were happy because now wearable gadgets are coming in fashion and it will unlock a whole new world of opportunities as they can provide us with real time data. However, the Apple watch wasn't a hit. But at-least they tried!

4.    SEO Code of Ethics
Everyone thought that the SEO code of ethics will formalize in 2014. Then we thought that it will arise in 2015. But it never happened. And that’s good, because it would have done more harm than good. If you'd like to know why? Click here.

5.    Mobile-Optimized Content
Site owners who were quick to react relished immense benefit by optimizing their website for mobiles. Google Mobile-Friendly Update also encouraged Mobile content, which was a win-win for everyone. 

6.    Google Algorithmic Updates
Google owned the stage by launching algorithmic updates back-to-back. They rolled out a brand new Panda update, Mobile-Friendly Update, Multiple Phantom quality updates and is about to launch a penguin update in upcoming days.

NOW LET'S LOOK AT WHAT DOES 2016 HAVE IN STORE

1.    Structured Data will become a Ranking Factor 
Structured data is going to play a big role in 2016. Google will also focus on Rich Snippets, Knowledge Panels & Featured Snippets. They are about to publish guidelines on “How to get Featured Snippets”. Basically, Google is trying to say that we haven’t made structured data a ranking signal yet, but we will do it eventually! So it's better that you get on-board already.

In case you are thinking what type of Structured Data will be good,  you can go with JSON-LD, as Google is really fond of it.

2.    2016 will bring more updates to Local Search
Google revamped Local Search to a great extent. The removal of Google plus from the equation, enabling users to easily set the city location, shrinking the local pack from 7 to 3 results & increased number of ads totally changed the local SEO.  But they are not done yet.

Google will continue to push home services ads & move SMBs to a pay-to-play model. Be ready to witness more of this kind of ads.

3.    Increased focus on User Experience
Providing a great user experience is Google's paramount goal and they are just trying to serve their goal by pushing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), mobile-friendly content, HTTPS, and page speed. If you want to rank higher in 2016, take a mobile-first design approach.

4.    Improvement in the digital assistant space & wearables
2016 seems to be really good for digital assistant space. While Cortana & Siri are getting better & better, there's one player that will join the game and bring variety to it. And that is none other than Facebook's highly ambitious project “M”. Unlike Cortana & Siri it will be backed by both human/digital assistance making it unique among others.

Also, we can expect to see a lot of wearable gadgets in 2016. Thus, we recommend you should at-least be aware of wearable SEO, so when needed you can employ and reap the benefits of being aware and prepared.

Beacons will become more popular overtime and they will make it easy for you to connect with your existing customers. Also, you can expect new players such as Yext & their Xone beacons to enlarge nationally, as a medium to track offline customers online & then target them with re-marketing ads.

5.    Virtual Reality Monetization
Samsung gear VR was one of the top Christmas items of 2015. It comes at a minimal price of $99, thus making it affordable to masses. Also since we all know that Facebook acquired Oculus Rift, we can expect to see more advancements in the VR space.

It is estimated that the VR revenues will go up to 1 billion dollars in the coming year and will escalate to 4.4 billion dollars by 2019. So the company which will provide the best VR gear will reign supreme and will get to have the biggest piece of the 1 billion dollar cake.

6.    The downfall of Yahoo
Yahoo is still going through hard times and it seems like they will have to sell their search units to someone else. However, they have made deals with Google and Bing, but they are not getting fruitful results and the company is still struggling to survive on various aspects.

Many investors are now losing patience and blaming Marissa Mayer for not having a clear vision. Many experts are predicting that Yahoo may sell their assets to AT&T while some are claiming that Google will be the best bet.

7.    Google will roll out major algorithms which will make site audit tougher
Google will roll out both Panda & Penguin updates in 2016. They can be rolled out at the same time and that will be a major issue for website owners who keep getting hit (negatively) by these algorithms.

Till 2015, it was a bit easy to identify the issues which got you penalized, but since Google's expectations from a website are growing, they are making more complex algorithms. So for SEOs it will be tough to identify the exact cause of penalty in 2016. If you are an SEO expert, it's better to understand how to correctly audit a site & surface all website issues.

Final Takeaway

Your actions, predictions, and preparations will decide whether this year will be great or worse for you. We recommend that you gather as much information as you can and closely monitor any updates thathave the potential to influence the digital marketing space. That way you can achieve your goals in 2016.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 10:41 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, January 12 2016
What's New In Local Search for Jan 2016 - Top 20 Updates

The top 20 updates for local search in 2016

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 09:52 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, January 12 2016

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project will roll out by February 2016. It means you have less than 20 days to prepare. So let’s have a quick look at what you should be doing:

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 08:14 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, May 27 2015
Then, This Happened

The mobile-friendly update began on April 21st. Fourteen days later, Google announced that more Google searches now take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries, including the US and Japan.

Google Adwords has adapted over the years to be more accommodating to mobile search, and to help advertisers measure cross device conversions.

This month, Google introduced several new products and innovations that allow you to “measure every moment that matters,” understand the full impact of your PPC campaigns and make better decisions for your business. Click here to read more. 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 04:27 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Thursday, May 21 2015
Mobilegeddon Update

The impact of Google’s Mobile-Friendly Update, as measured by MozCast (a weather report showing turbulence in the Google algorithm—the hotter and stormier the weather, the more Google’s rankings changed) was, in the short-term, much smaller than expected. 

Though the impact of the mobile-friendly update may be less than apocalyptic, in a blog called “How Far Did the Sky Fall,” Dr. Peter Meyers, Moz Marketing Scientist, wrote: “Google’s push toward mobile-first design and their clear public stance on this issue strongly signal that mobile-friendly sites are going to have an advantage over time.” 

If your website is not mobile-friendly, we advise you to move very quickly in that direction! 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 10:25 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, May 17 2015
Google Won't Like This

Sharing a link on Facebook mobile isn’t easy. It’s a clumsy process that sends Facebook users to Google, a competitor for mobile advertising dollars. 

Now, Facebook is testing an “Add a Link” button that, according to this article, “gives users fewer reasons to leave the Facebook app, reduces the clicks needed to share content and diminishes the chances that the user will end up at Google. Instead of the four or five steps that might be required to find, copy and paste a link in a post, users can now add links with a single tap. Facebook is betting that the easier it is to share links, the more links a user will open and post and the more the social network will know about that user’s interests.” 

Facebook’s objectives: 1. Take traffic from Google and 2. Learn more about users’ interests, which will help advertisers better target their campaigns. 

Let us know if you’d like more information about advertising on Facebook or other social media platforms. 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 04:23 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, April 14 2015
They're Calling it

Last month, we reported on the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm Update that will begin this month. Many in the industry are calling this update “Mobilegeddon.” Sounds ominous! It is a fact that starting April 21st, Google will be expanding its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal

In a recent study, 44% of Fortune 500 web sites failed the mobile-friendly test and are at risk of being penalized in search results when that update rolls out on April 21st. 

You can do better than those Fortune 500 companies! Take steps now to make sure your website is mobile friendly. Click here for Google’s guide on Mobile-Friendly Websites. 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 12:43 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, April 07 2015
Wearable Technology is Big News Because...

Online preorders for Apple’s first smartwatch began on April 10th at 12:01 a.m. PT and sold out in under six hours. Nearly one million U.S. consumers preordered Apple Watch, though some of those buyers are attempting to cash in on the high demand and short supply—an eBay search for Apple Watch, as of this writing, returns over 1,600 results!

Users won’t be able to run a Google search on the tiny watch screen. But in the future...who knows? Click here for more details about the first generation Apple Watch

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 12:41 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Monday, March 23 2015
The Mobile Countdown

From Google’s Webmaster Central Blog: “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.” In other words, make the necessary changes to your website or risk losing rankings.

Search Engine Land reports that the algorithm runs on a page by page basis, “So if you have 10 web pages on your web site and 5 of them are mobile-friendly and 5 are not, then only the pages that are mobile-friendly will benefit...Many websites have sub-sections or specialized pages that would be hard to make mobile-friendly, so webmasters do not need to fret about going 100% mobile-friendly by April 21st.” 

Click here to read Google’s Mobile Friendly Websites guide. 

Click here to check if YOUR website is Mobile Friendly or not.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 10:36 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, March 15 2015
A Marketer's Dream Come True

A new Facebook insights product called “Topic Data” will soon be available to a select group of marketers. Topic Data will show marketers what audiences are saying on Facebook about events, brands, subjects and activities. 

According to WSJ: Facebook for the first time is promising insights companies can use to develop products or decide which audiences to target. A business marketing a hair-de-frizzing product might use Topic Data to see demographic information about people discussing humidity’s effects on their hair. The company might use that information to improve marketing campaigns on Facebook or TV, or to identify potential customers they hadn’t previously considered. 

Facebook plans to “Iterate on Topic Data thoughtfully and deliberately, and look to expand its availability at a later date.” 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 02:39 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Thursday, January 22 2015
Mobile Friendly Means...What?

Statcounter.com reports that mobile internet usage in the US grew by 73% in 2014, to reach 24.4% in August and mobile usage has overtaken desktop in several countries. Your website has to be user friendly, and in 2015, that means mobile friendly too. 

A website that is mobile friendly

  • Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash 
  • Uses text that is readable without zooming 
  • Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom 
  • Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped 

Additionally, Google recommends making it easy for users to directly connect with you by simply tapping a phone number (click to call). 

InsuranceWebDesigns offerss responsive mobile websites. Not an InsuranceWebDesigns client? Try out Easy Online Mobile!

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 09:18 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, December 09 2014
Lessons from Cyber Monday 2014

From a 2005 New York Times article: “The name Cyber Monday grew out of the observation that millions of otherwise productive working Americans, fresh off a Thanksgiving weekend of window shopping, were returning to high-speed Internet connections at work Monday and buying what they liked.” December 1, 2014 marked the tenth anniversary of Cyber Monday.

According to internetretailer.com: “One universal trend emerged on Cyber Monday and throughout the holiday weekend: Consumers are browsing and buying more online with their mobile devices.” According to Custora, Mobile Shopping (ecommerce orders made on mobile devices) accounted for 21.9 percent of Cyber Monday orders. Email marketing drove 23.9 percent of orders.

The lessons are clear—make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Take the mobile-friendly test here. And, set up an email marketing campaign!

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 01:43 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Thursday, December 04 2014
Do Your Local Listings Sync Up?

The sign on your business is in disrepair. Packages delivered to your business are blocking your doorway. What do you do? You repair the sign and you move the boxes. You make sure your business is easy to find.

The same care is required for your local online presence. You won’t rank well if you have conflicting information on any one of the thousands of sites where Google and other search engines gather local listings data. And, consumers are confused when they see discrepancies—they’re likely to go to a competitor whose listings are clean and consistent.

Give us a call and we’ll tell you more about local listings management.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 04:40 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, November 19 2014
See What Google's Done Now

Great news for businesses that have more than just one location.

As explained by Search Engine Journal: "Google has made an up-date to AdWords location extensions that allows numerous locations to display in mobile search ads. When several business locations are nearby, users may see as much as three locations in an ad. The extensions can display the street address and distance from the user's current location. Users can click to call or get directions for each location."

Click on this link to read more about location extensions.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 01:13 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, October 15 2014
Game On!

In February 2013, Facebook announced plans to buy Atlas, Microsoft's ad tracking and serving business. When, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that the corporation had "no plans" to create a network to serve Facebook ads on third-party webpages. (Source: Inside Facebook).

Facebook now has a plan for Atlas and it does involve serving PPC ads on third-party web sites.

According to this Wall Street Journal article, "Atlas is aiming squarely at Google's DoubleClick, the dominant ad-serving, management and tracking tool for agencies and advertisers.".

Visit this site to get more information about Atlas and its potential to "connect online campaigns to actual offline sales, ultimately proving the real impact that digital campaigns have in driving incremental reach and new sales.".

Visit here to review Ello, a new-ish social media platform that's being called the "anti-Facebook" given that it's ad-free and doesn't provide user data to third parties.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 09:44 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, May 20 2014
What Do Customers Know?

According to a recent study by Bunnyfoot (a usability and user experience design firm), an estimated one-third of people who use Google Search don’t recognize the difference between a paid ad and an organic result. In other words, a significant number of people think the item at the top of the page is there because it’s the best match for their search query. 

After hundreds of tests over the past decade, the team at Bunnyfoot concluded that, “... it is very difficult to predict what customers’ knowledge or understanding is. When you do the tests, you are often humbled and surprised with how far off your assumptions are.” This is a good reminder that it’s unwise to assume you know what your customers are thinking.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 09:03 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, May 18 2014
Instant Attraction (Because you May Not Get a Second Chance)

Online marketing is a great and necessary investment, but so is your website. 

According to a study by Missouri University of Science and Technology, it takes users less than two-tenths of a second to form a first impression of a website. 

With so little time to make a good first impression, it’s important that your website:

  • Has a crystal clear call to action.
  • Is uncluttered and easy to navigate.
  • Includes “real” images that genuinely represent your company (keep the stock images to a minimum).
  • Is mobile-friendly.
  • Provides useful information (i.e., load it up with quality content).

Make sure your website is a place where people want to spend time. And remember, the majority of first-time visitors to a website leave without completing a conversion. Click here to find out how PPC retargeting can bring people back to your website. 

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 09:01 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, April 06 2014
Where Would You Click?

In March, Google made a number of changes to its search results layout. Jon Wiley, Lead Designer for Google Search, summarized the modifications in his Google+ post:

We’ve increased the size of result titles, removed the underlines, and evened out all the line heights. This improves readability and creates an overall cleaner look. We’ve also brought over our new ad labels from mobile, making the multi-device experience more consistent.

Previously, ads were placed over a shaded background and now, they are differentiated by a small yellow “Ad” button. People who cover industry news can’t seem to agree whether the new layout makes ads more obvious, or less obvious. Many believe the ads now blend in with organic search results and more people will click on them—an advantage, perhaps, for advertisers with well-structured PPC campaigns.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 09:44 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, January 14 2014
Google Goes for a Ride

A study by J.D. Power discovered that in 2012, 47 percent of vehicle owners indicated they used a downloaded app on their smart device for navigation in their car or truck, compared with 37 percent in 2011. Notably, 46 percent of owners indicate they "definitely would not" or "probably would not" repurchase a factory-installed navigation system if their smartphone navigation could be displayed on a central screen in their car.

Who wants to pay for an old style navigation system when we have smartphones with free map service? And a pricey built-in DVD package when we have hand-held devices to keep passengers (i.e., whining kids) occupied during car trips? Car manufacturers are on the losing end of these advances in technology; they've seen the future and they want a piece of it.

In June 2012, BMW, GM, Mercedes, Jaguar, Audi, Land Rover, Toyota, Chrysler and Honda coordinated with Apple to incorporate "eyes free" Siri-compatibility into their automobiles. Using a voice command button on the steering wheel, Siri Eyes Free enables the driver to make and receive calls, select and play music, audibly send and receive text messages, access Maps and get directions, audibly receive notifications, set reminders and more, all without looking away from the road.

This month, Google, along with technology and auto industry leaders, announced the "Open Automotive Alliance" (OAA). The OAA is committed to bringing the Android platform to cars, with the goal of making technology in the car safer, more seamless and more intuitive for everyone.

Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA said, "The car is the ultimate mobile computer. With onboard supercomputing chips, futuristic cars of our dreams will no longer be science fiction. The OAA will enable the car industry to bring these amazing cars to market faster.".

The first cars with Android integration are expected to be delivered by the end of 2014.

Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 11:10 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, December 19 2012

 The Google Maps app is once again on the iPhone.

Posted by: admin AT 02:47 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Thursday, December 13 2012
 88% of searches are still done on desktops. Growth in search, however, is being driven by mobile phones and tablets.
Posted by: admin AT 07:40 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Thursday, October 18 2012
 First impressions are everything. You probably want to impress upon your customers and prospects that you are professional, skilled in your industry, detail-oriented and ahead of the curve. 
Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 11:11 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Thursday, October 11 2012
We Have Tons of New Features Available in the Site Builder System...
I am creating a webinar series to teach you how to use our incredibly powerful site builder system.
And I need YOUR input!
Posted by: Andrea Shepherd AT 07:33 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Tuesday, September 11 2012

System Update 4.40 - Fully Deployed

All systems now include some new and exciting features!

Button component

Add link buttons to your pages. NOTE: buttons style may change when you view your site with different web browsers.


Linked list component

Use the updated link list component to easily create linked lists with sections. The links component also supports the button styles and has a horizontal display setting.


Design

  • New layouts
  • New Google fonts

Misc updates

  • Mailing list default font setting
  • IPAD text editor
  • Default styles for accordion and tabs content areas
  • ReCaptchaTM setting - enhanced form spam protection

Overlay/popup window

Use the new overlay/popup component to display site content in a popup/overlay window on your website.
  • add text, images, components
  • open on page load
  • delayed open
  • click link to open
To create a popup/overlay box edit any page. Click the add button and choose the popup overlay component from the design/layout menu.
 

Mobile website

It is now easier to setup your website for mobile devices. With the new mobile content options enabled, your main website pages are adjusted to fit better on mobile devices.
 
The mobile adjustments do not guarantee that all pages will fit on mobile, but it can help your site work better on mobile devices. Your content is adjusted by stacking page sections instead of displaying them side by side. Other multi-column areas are displayed vertically as well.
 
To enable main website mobile display, go to the mobile settings area.
Posted by: admin AT 09:03 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Wednesday, August 29 2012

System Update 4.40

We are currently updating all systems to include some new and exciting features!

Button component

Add link buttons to your pages. NOTE: buttons style may change when you view your site with different web browsers.


Linked list component

Use the updated link list component to easily create linked lists with sections. The links component also supports the button styles and has a horizontal display setting.


Design

  • New layouts
  • New Google fonts

Misc updates

  • Mailing list default font setting
  • IPAD text editor
  • Default styles for accordion and tabs content areas
  • ReCaptchaTM setting - enhanced form spam protection

Overlay/popup window

Use the new overlay/popup component to display site content in a popup/overlay window on your website.
  • add text, images, components
  • open on page load
  • delayed open
  • click link to open
To create a popup/overlay box edit any page. Click the add button and choose the popup overlay component from the design/layout menu.
 

Mobile website

It is now easier to setup your website for mobile devices. With the new mobile content options enabled, your main website pages are adjusted to fit better on mobile devices.
 
The mobile adjustments do not guarantee that all pages will fit on mobile, but it can help your site work better on mobile devices. Your content is adjusted by stacking page sections instead of displaying them side by side. Other multi-column areas are displayed vertically as well.
 
To enable main website mobile display, go to the mobile settings area.
Posted by: admin AT 01:30 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, June 17 2012
Based on the sales of smartphones and tablets, mobile marketing has a bright future and is definitely something to consider when devising your marketing strategy.
Posted by: admin AT 10:46 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
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