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Google Data Studio now connects to Search Console

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Build more flexible reports and combine Search Console data with other data sources. The post Google Data Studio now connects to Search Console appeared first on Search Engine Land. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Pinterest’s Lens app turns your phone’s camera into a search bar

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Pinterest is bringing search to the real world. On Wednesday the social-network-slash-search-engine introduced Lens, a mobile app that uses the phone’s camera to recognize physical objects and pull related items on Pinterest. The company announced other new features that extend search beyond the... Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Pinterest users can now jump to other products within an image

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Pinterest is looking to continually decrease the friction from finding something they’re interested in and drilling further into newer products and ideas, and it now has another product to try to close that gap. The company today said it’s launching a new feature that allows users to find and jump to additional products within a photo they’re currently viewing. So, for… Read More

The NBA is creating its own eSports league for the basketball game NBA 2K

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The rise in popularity of eSports has mainly been focused around leagues that play games like League of Legends, Dota and Counter-Strike – all games that aren’t actually sports-related. But eSports games that are modeled after actual sports are also extremely popular – for example the Madden NFL and FIFA soccer franchises are some of the most popular games made for Xbox… Read More

Amazon’s Tap speaker gets a hands-free update in defiance of its name

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Amazon’s Tap set itself apart from its Echo brethren with better sound – positioned more as a Bluetooth speaker with Alexa functionality than an Alexa device that happened to have a speaker built in when it was introduced last year. The other key difference was right there in the name, requiring users to tap the microphone to enable voice functionality. A new over-the-air… Read More

GM’s Maven car sharing service makes its way to Atlanta

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GM’s Maven car-sharing service has now launched in Atlanta, its 17th North American city, where it’ll offer a fleet of 50 cars spread across 20 pick-up locations. Maven launched in January 2016, and began a rapid series of expansions that took it to locations across the U.S. throughout last year. It allows users to rent GM vehicles on-demand for short periods, similar to how Zipcar… Read More

Snap will spend $1 billion on Amazon cloud services, amended filing shows

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In addition to the $2 billion Snap committed to spending on Google cloud infrastructure over the next five years, the company also revealed today in an amended filing that it expects to spend $1 billion on Amazon’s cloud services over the same time frame. However, the company clarified that it may choose to build its own infrastructure in the future. Snap’s agreement with Amazon has… Read More

Apple’s next iPhone might cost more than $1000 thanks to OLED displays

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iPhone rumor season is upon us — as if it ever ends — and the latest claims that the next iPhone will cost upwards of $1000 (at least, for the most expensive model). To be clear, that isn’t a huge deal considering that the top-of-the-line iPhone currently costs more than $900. Still, Fast Company reports that Apple may be switching from LCD displays to an OLED display,… Read More

Twitter says product changes are driving growth, not just the President’s usage

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Twitter’s advertising business is stalling, but the company is trying to focus on some flashes of improvement among the service — which it’s attributing to product changes, and not just to major events like presidential debates or the President’s usage of Twitter. There were some questions as to whether President Donald Trump’s usage of Twitter would be something… Read More

AdWords Converted Clicks sunsets for good in March

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The old metric will vanish completely as Conversions measurement fully takes over. The post AdWords Converted Clicks sunsets for good in March appeared first on Search Engine Land. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Live Content is Rising in Popularity

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Live Content is Rising in Popularity written by Guest Post read more at Duct Tape Marketing At the beginning of 2016, everybody was talking about how big video will be and how important it will become for every small, medium business or even enterprise. And as we can see, the video has become a big challenge for many brands out there that try to get some results with their content marketing strategy. But what the specialist didn’t say is what type of video will rise. We can have documentary videos, movie videos, ad videos, presentation videos, review videos or vlogs. Social media cannot be compared to the television or radio. People use social media because they want something different from this platform. They are tired of prepared shows and videos. They are tired of directed shows that they can’t pause whenever they want. The consumer wants to have the power of getting into the conversation and wants to be part of the experience. This is why social media gained a lot of attraction. The consumer has the power. And this is what the top social brands thought about when they started creating live video experiences. Or as Zipeng Zhen (art director and graphic designer) said in an interview on Flipsnack : Good editorial design expresses the content without overshadowing it. Now change the word “editorial design” in this quote with “live video” and you will get the definition of it: Good live video expresses the content without overshadowing it. In this article I will show you how you can create live videos that your community can engage with, can help you spare time and resources and helps you get in front of your audience at the same time. We will talk about Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Snapchat Stories. Facebook Live Once upon a time you could only update statuses and upload photos on Facebook. Then the video part appeared and now we have Facebook Live videos. Facebook launched the Facebook Live service in August 2015 for verified public persons through the iOS Mentions app. But back in December, Live was available to selected people on their personal profile and then to everybody. Creating a Facebook Live video is really easy. To broadcast directly on your profile, tap Status and then click the Live Video icon. What you need to do next is writing a description in the status update (This is your Facebook Live video title). This title is what will others will see in a notification. But let’s say that this video is a different type of your audience, so before click the “Go Live” button you can easily choose the audience you want to broadcast to. The camera can be pointed at yourself or outward to capture your surroundings. And now you are ready! Facebook is giving away some tips on what you should do to have more people watch your video and other best practices such as: Announce the people ahead of time when you will start to broadcast. You can create a visual with the specific date and hour and also what topics you will broadcast about. Connection is an important factor in Facebook Live, so make sure that you have a strong signal before going live. Great description before going live. This is the way that you can capture fans’ attention and tell them what your Live is about. Talk with your viewers . Ask them to subscribe and follow you, so they can receive notifications when you broadcast and also just talk with them. Respond live to their comments. Say hello to your commenters. Melanie Cohn, Social Media Manager at Dunkin’ Donuts said about Facebook Live: During our first Facebook Live session, we garnered great engagement and thousands of views, comments and likes in just a matter of minutes. Within 13 minutes, we had 21,000 viewers, which proves the stickiness of live video and wanting to know what’s next.We saw one of our highest average view times ever on our Live video compared to pre-recorded video. This demonstrates the stickiness of live video. Source And other brands started using Facebook Live to have a direct connection with their community too. Why? Because while they are broadcasting people are jumping into the video and start commenting, asking a question and suggesting things to create. And this is a great opportunity to get in touch with your community. But Facebook is not the only platform where you can create live video content on. Instagram Stories and Live With more than 600 million monthly active users, Instagram is one of the biggest mobile platform for businesses and advertisers and recently they launched Instagram Stories. A feature on which you can create videos and photos that stay updated for only 24 hours. Some may say that is a copycat from Snapchat but I still believe that they are only adapting to the market. Instagram Stories After 2 months from they launch, they have more than 100 million users actively using Instagram Stories . With this feature on Instagram, you have everything you want from a visual mobile platform: from creating, editing and uploading videos and photos, sending private messages, advertising and now creating content that disappears in 24 hours. This is a great opportunity for the brands who don’t have time and resources to create content for other platforms, so with a good phone and a strong internet connection, you can do magic on Instagram. But you should rely on 2 important things: your community and creativity. What type of content can you create with Instagram Stories? From behind the scene stories, to short Q A with your community or tips and tricks for limited sales. I designed a SlideShare presentation for you to make it easier to understand what you can create with the help of Instagram Stories. Instagram Live And let’s not forget about the latest news about Instagram Live. You just have just swipe right on your Instagram feed to open the camera, tap the “Start Live Video” button and start sharing for up to an hour. Your followers can get a notification when you go live so they can tune in. When you are live, you can easily pin a comment for everyone to see or turn comments off altogether. And when you’re done, your live story immediately disappears from the app. But there is another app that has a huge impact on social media – Snapchat Snapchat I still believe that Instagram and Snapchat are the King and Queen of visual marketing strategy. Even if the rumors say that they are in a direct conflict, I’m definitely sure that these 2 platforms are on top of everything that is visually combined with mobile. Or like Gary Vaynerchuk like to say: Instagram and Snapchat are the king and queen of attention And yes, Snapchat is a big player in this game and I can prove this to you with these stats: more than 60% of U.S. 13 to 34-year-old smartphone users are Snapchatters more than 7 billion video views per day over   100 million daily active snap chatters Marketers and business owners are talking a lot about how to be transparent with your audience and community. But talking without doing is something that we don’t need to hear about anymore. So now we have a bunch of tools that can make us more personal with our brand and can get us closer to our community. And Snapchat is one of these tools. Also, Snapchat introduced us to the power of vertical videos that are rising in popularity year to year. This platform has everything it needs to make the user snap every day: from private chat to Snapchat Stories and Memories and to its journalistic side – Discover. Oh, and I almost forgot about the business part, such as Snap Ads. These are an awesome way to catch the attention of your ideal audience. What is Snap Ad? A 10-second full-screen vertical video ad that appears between Stories. Advertisers can offer the Snapchat users the choice to swipe up if they want to view more in-depth content like a long form video, an article, an app or a mobile website. For example, Shopify purchased Snap Ads to promote their annual “Year in Music”. Spotify’s Snap Ads popped up on Discover channel, highlighting a different music genre every day. The results? Spotify got 26 million views and 30% increase a subscriber intent. You can also create geofilters: on-demand geofilters which start with a price of $5 each and Sponsored Geofilters which can cost from hundred to thousands of dollars. And guess what? Millennials are in love in Snapchat. So why not start growing your audience right now and make your brand part of their life using this app. Conclusion Today is not about creating the perfect content, it’s about creating real content that your audience can engage with. If you are transparent and authentic with your community, it will help you get an emotional connection that will help your brand get closer to the user. I presented you the top 3 social networks on which you can use live content to engage with your audience and create a bridge between your brand and your customers. Remember that there is no universal road to success! Why am I saying this? Because I believe that every brand and business has its own context and you need to experiment, test and measure your impact. It’s about your execution and the results you want to have. About the Author Robert is the Visual Marketer and Brand Evangelist at Bannersnack, a professional banner design app. He writes regularly on his blog about marketing, social media, and content marketing. Passionate about visual marketing, Instagram, and the future of digital marketing communication.

Shopify CEO attempts to defend continued hosting of Breitbart’s online store

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Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke penned an open letter in response to the ongoing barrage of communication being received by himself and other Shopify employees about their continued decision to host the online store of Breitbart, the right-wing publication which regularly publishes racist and sexist headlines and content. Lütke’s argument generally rests on a “free speech”… Read More

How to Use Single Keyword Ad Groups in AdWords

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Improving your Quality Score, increasing your clickthrough rate (CTR), reducing your ad spend without compromising results… these are all top-of-mind for PPC marketers using AdWords. Recently, we increased our CTR by 28.1%, improving our Quality Score from 5.56 to 7.95 (out of 10). How’d we do it? Through single keyword ad groups, a little-known tactic that smart marketers are using to maximize their PPC spend. First, what is Quality Score? Quality Score is one of the most important metrics within your AdWords account as it has a significant impact on the cost per conversion you pay. Image Source When Wordstream analyzed over 30,000 accounts , they found that increasing your Quality Score by even just 1 point could result in a 16% decrease in your cost per conversion. So, what is Quality Score? At a high level, it’s made up of 3 distinct factors: Expected CTR. Landing page experience. Ad relevance. A significant amount of research has been conducted on the weight of these factors in the Quality Score algorithm. Wordstream once found that CTR and Quality Score were directly correlative. Similarly, AdEspresso found that increasing ad relevance and CTR drives down the cost per click (CPC), likely signalling a Quality Score improvement. Image Source Adalysis recently found that ad relevance and CTR make up 61% of the Quality Score algorithm. Image Source What are single keyword ad groups? Single keyword ad groups are, as the name suggests, ad groups with just one keyword in them. At the moment, you likely have several keywords per ad group. In fact, until recently, Google suggested that you add 10-20 keywords per ad group. But the problem with doing this is that it’s very difficult to write ads that are highly relevant to all of the keywords within your ad group. That’s what is holding you back from achieving the high Quality Score you’re looking for. For example, you can see below that there are several different keywords that trigger one ad… You will notice that the ad is not actually all that relevant to all of the keywords. It would be impossible to write an ad that is highly specific to all of those keywords. To show you how this translates, here is Google’s search results page for the term “women’s red dresses”. You will see that the only advertiser that has written a highly specific ad is Asda, who has the search term (“women’s red dresses”) right in the headline and in the display URL, making it appear the most relevant. With single keyword ad groups, there is only one keyword that can trigger your ads, so you don’t have to create generic, vague ads. Instead, you can actually include the keyword that people are searching for within your ad copy, improving ad relevance, just like Asda. The impact is that your increased ad relevancy triggers a CTR increase and, eventually, a Quality Score increase. How Single Keyword Ad Groups Improve Quality Score At Clicteq , we recently conducted a study that looked into the impact of implementing single keyword ad groups. We paired this with an ad copy testing strategy, as well. We found that single keyword ad groups increased CTR by 28.1% over the two month test period. They were also instrumental in improving Quality Score from an impression weighted average of 5.56 to 7.95 (out of 10). The graph below shows the improvement in CTR from 3.85% to 4.93%. The research was carried out on an AdWords account in the education sector. During the test period, the average position of the ads stayed constant at 2.4, which would suggest the improvement in CTR came from implementing the single keyword ad groups. There were also no changes to the ad extensions or keyword set, which could result in an increase in CTR, polluting the data. Ensuring Data Reliability With PPC, testing works a little differently. The main issue with ensuring that test results are reliable is the fact that search results are never static… they are all dynamic. For example, if you search for something and then refresh the page, you will find that there are different ads. Most advertisers have their ads showing in 50-80% of searches, depending on their budget. Most advertisers have several different ad copy variations, too. So you are likely to have 40 or so different ads in a pool. Then your ad will be selected by Google to show in some select searches along with ~10 other ads. So, you tend to get some pollution and you have to work with an average . The key things to take into account are: The average position, which makes the biggest difference to CTR. The number of extensions shown. How to Implement Single Keyword Ad Groups Before we get into how to create single keyword ad groups, it is worth noting that you may not want to put every single keyword into a single keyword ad group. Creating single keyword ad groups is very time-consuming as you have to create two tailored ad copy variations for each of your keywords. Instead, you should consider applying the 80/20 rule. This states that 80% of the output of any given campaign is achieved through 20% of the input. In the case of AdWords, you are likely to find that 80% of your conversions are generated by your top 20% of keywords. So you will want to focus your efforts on those keywords and add them to their own single keyword ad groups first. The 4 Step Single Keyword Ad Group Process Now, on to the step-by-step process. Step 1: Search Terms Report Go into your AdWords account and navigate to the Search Terms report by clicking on the Keywords tab. Step 2: Prioritize You need to order your Search Terms report by the number of conversions. You can do this by clicking on the conversion column header as shown below. Once you have done this, you will now want to add all the top performing keywords to their own single keyword ad groups. Step 3: All Match Types You will want to add the keyword in all three match types (i.e. exact match, phrase match and broad match modifier) to the single keyword ad group. Step 4: Create Specific Ads The final stage is to create ads that are highly specific to your keywords. Here is an example for a training course provider that is selling “3D studio max training”. You can see that the advertiser here has included the exact keyword in the headline and the display URL. The rest of the ad talks about the USP and brings attention to the call to action, which urges visitors to “learn more now”. Copyright Warning You have to be very careful here if the keyword you’re targeting includes the brand name of a competitor. You need to make sure that you do not include the brand name within the copy of your ad. Otherwise you are likely to get into trouble for copyright infringement. How to Improve the Performance of Single Keyword Ad Groups Creating the highest performing single keyword ad group is an iterative process that requires you test different ad copy variations, just like any other PPC strategy. The only way to see which USP and call to action resonates with your audience most is to run a test to see which improves CTR and ad relevance most. Wordstream analyzed data from 30,000 people and found that only 1 advert in 100 has a CTR 6x higher than the average. It also found that only 1 in 20 ads have a CTR 3x higher than the average. Image Source What can be drawn from this analysis is that to achieve CTRs that are 3x the average, you will need to test 20 different ad copy variations (on average) before you find the right one. When we improved our Quality Score from 5.56 to 7.95, we tested 24 ads in the process. Most people skip a strategic testing process. They end up testing random, insignificant changes to their ads, which results in very little improvement, and they give up. Start by Testing Wide The trick is to start wide, making significant changes to your ad copy. Change your offer or USP… don’t make small changes, like testing title case vs. sentence case yet. Note: Testing single keyword ad groups can take longer than the alternative. But you will likely notice an improvement even before you begin testing. Choose your 3-4 strongest USPs and test each one to see which one performs best with your audience. Here is a good example of a wide USP test. Ad Copy 1: This focused on the advertiser’s strong customer satisfaction rating. Ad Copy 2: This focused on their 18 month class retake offer. When testing, your ads should look something like this… Calculating the Validity of Your Results To determine when your ad copy tests have enough data and have finished, you need to make a quick calculation to determine if there is statistical significance. There are several different ways in which this can be done, both manually and automatically. For Smaller Accounts If you have a smaller AdWords account with a few hundred ads, then manually will be the best option for you. Perry Marshall has created a tool, Splittester , which allows you to enter the number of clicks and the CTR for ad copy 1 and ad copy 2. It will then tell you the confidence with which you can determine if one ad is a winner. It will then tell you the probability that your ads will have a different long-term response rate. Act with certainty because changes to your USP generally have a large impact on your CTR. For Larger Accounts If you have a larger AdWords account with thousands or even tens of thousands of ads, then using a tool such as Adalysis that will automatically do this analysis for you and create reports is a better option. Archiving Test Information To keep track of all of your tests that you have run, it is a smart idea to pause (vs. delete) the previous ad copy variations so that the ad test data will be stored within AdWords. This will ensure that you don’t end up testing the same offer twice on large scale accounts. Changes can also be seen within the Change Log in your account. This can be accessed by clicking View Change History, as shown below. Now, Start Testing Narrow Once you have done 5-10 wide tests, you should be able to determine which offer resonates best with your audience and attracts the highest CTR. The next step is to focus on smaller changes. Note that these will not have such large impacts on your CTR. Here are some factors you can consider testing… Displaying trademarks within the ad copy. Utilizing seasonal headlines. Capitalizing the first letter of every word. Using different punctuation. Using localized keywords. Using dynamic keyword insertion. Using synonyms of words. The list goes on and on. In fact, these are the types of alternations people make most often to AdWords ads, hoping for huge CTR payoffs. Conclusion Single keyword ad groups are an incredibly effective method for increasing both your ad relevance and CTR, which are two of the most important factors in the Quality Score algorithm, making up over 60%. And when Quality Score improves, your CPC decreases. Here are the five basic steps to follow if you want to set up single keyword ad groups… Find your top performing keywords. Add the keywords in all three match types to single keyword ad groups. Create specific, targeted ads for each single keyword ad group. Start by testing wide, making significant changes to your ad copy (e.g. your offer, USP). Then start testing smaller, more minor factors (e.g. punctuation, capitalization). The post How to Use Single Keyword Ad Groups in AdWords appeared first on CXL .

Jack Dorsey says he’ll continue running both Square and Twitter

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As Twitter’s growth continues to stall and increasingly become an issue, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s double-time running both Twitter and Square has become a big question mark — and Dorsey says he’s staying the course. “This focus, and this team, allows me and gives me a lot of confidence I can continue to focus on the meaningful things at both companies and we have… Read More

Entrepreneurs: Software and Apps I Use

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[NOTE: This post continues a series exploring the topic of entrepreneurship . While my focus has and will continue to be on Facebook ads, I have plenty to share about what I’ve learned while building my business.] I’ve spent more than five years building my business. Five years experimenting, failing, trying again, and finding success. It’s a constant evolution, and the tools I use tend to be fluid. In the beginning, I was scared of spending money. I cut corners and paid the bare minimum for the most critical services. In fact, almost exactly four years ago, I wrote this post about how I spent only $2,500 on my business during the first year. Reading that post is kind of embarrassing now. You can tell I was even a little proud of how thrifty I was ( I spent only $750 on Facebook ads — what was I doing?? ) . That thriftiness held back my progress. It’s easy to say that now, but I also remember the stress from those days. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know how to start a business. I didn’t know how to create a product. I had a family to feed, and I was afraid to take risks. And that may be where you are, too. So I get it. My approach to paying for software is much different these days. If I need it, I pay for it. Unless it’s ridiculously expensive, I don’t give it a whole lot of thought. If it makes my business better, it will pay for itself. These are the tools that I use. They aren’t necessarily recommendations. They are what I use right now. But I’m always looking for the best possible tool that will not only help me today, but tomorrow. [SIDE NOTE: No affiliate links of any kind here. The main thought is to be helpful and transparent without making you wonder whether a commission influences my willingness to list a tool.] Website Tools My website is the center of my business universe. While I could go on and on about the various plugins and whatnot that I use, let’s cover only the most important items… Genesis Framework: I’ve used the Genesis Framework WordPress theme for more than four years now. I obviously like it enough to have stuck with it this long! I don’t have any complaints. I actually own the full license to all Genesis child themes, but I’ve stuck with the same one for the past two years or so. However, this goes back to me doing things that aren’t my expertise. I now have someone on staff who will make these decisions going forward. Is a redesign in the future? Stay tuned… Synthesis Hosting: There was a time when my website crashed a lot. It would be down for hours at a time. It took too long to load. And it shouldn’t be a surprise that I used one of those cut-rate hosting solutions in the beginning. I’m sure that would be fine for most websites. But I was quickly getting a few thousand visitors per day, and that solution wasn’t cutting it. Synthesis is from Copyblogger , the same company behind Genesis Framework. Synthesis isn’t cheap, but you can’t put a pricetag on website stability. Memberium: When I created my first membership site, it was hosted on Customer Hub, software created by Infusionsoft. I hated it, and I moved my community swiftly. Maybe too swiftly. I then moved to Paid Memberships Pro. It was fine. But I had several issues with it, and the integration with Infusionsoft wasn’t what I wanted. That took me to Memberium . All new webinar registrants, training program students, and Power Hitters Club – Basic members get their private content on powerhittersclub.com, which uses Memberium to show the right content to the right users. My Power Hitters Club – Elite community will eventually be moved there as well, but that migration has been quite a chore. In other words, moving isn’t easy. Make sure you pick the right membership software in the beginning. I don’t know if Memberium is the best, but it’s portable. Users get access based on usernames, passwords, and tags associated with their accounts on Infusionsoft. Appointmentcore: I’ve used several appointment scheduling solutions that allow people to purchase and schedule a one-on-one with me. Appointmentcore has been by far the best choice. There are three primary reasons. First, it is again integrated with Infusionsoft. So once someone schedules an appointment, they can be tagged and fall into a campaign sequence. Second, it is integrated with GoToMeeting. In the past, I held these via Skype. Now, Appointmentcore automatically generates a meeting for each appointment. Third, it is integrated with my Google Calendar. As a result, any appointment added shows up on my calendar. And if I add anything to my calendar, Appointmentcore spots the conflict and won’t allow anyone to schedule during that time. Automation Tools When my business was small, automation didn’t seem as important. I handled most things manually. But as volume has increased, automation becomes critical — otherwise, my work becomes overwhelming or results suffer. Zapier: Zapier is freaking great. But the problem is, I know I’m only scratching the surface with what it can do. It integrates with dozens of software. You can set up “Zaps” so that if one thing happens within one application, Zapier makes sure that an action is then executed on another. An example of this is I have Zaps that connect Infusionsoft and GoToWebinar. Someone may register for a webinar on my website via an Infusionsoft form. When they do that, Infusionsoft adds a tag. Zapier spots the new tag and then automatically registers them for the related webinar in GoToWebinar. Zapier also integrates with Facebook Lead Ad forms. So when someone registers for something via one of these forms, Zapier can automatically send them to Infusionsoft and GoToWebinar. As I said, this is only scratching the surface. But even so, this tool has been extremely helpful for my business. Infusionsoft: Infusionsoft is a difficult topic for me. It’s been the source of a whole lot of pain and frustration over the past few years. Still. It’s a very advanced CRM tool. It’s sophisticated. It’s complicated. It’s incredibly deep. And therein lies the source of frustration. I know there are limitless things I can do with this tool. I do more today than I did a year ago. But we’re still nowhere close to realizing the potential of Infusionsoft . I probably know more than most people about how to use Infusionsoft. And yet, I still don’t know crap. And I don’t have the time or patience to figure it out. This, ultimately, is the issue with Infusionsoft. In order to get the most out of it, you need to hire someone — a true expert — to do it for you. Driftrock Flow: This is related to the Facebook ads side of things, but Driftrock Flow is an important tool for audience syncing. By default, data Custom Audiences are static. They are as current as the time you created the audience. Unless you use a third party, tool, of course. Flow keeps my Custom Audiences synced every three hours. Of course, there are plenty of tools that do this. Flow just happens to be the one that I use. Stripe: This may not fall neatly under the “Automation” heading, but Stripe is tied in with Infusionsoft. It’s what I use as my payment gateway. When you purchase something on my website, it’s done through Stripe . In the past, I used PowerPay and Authorize.net for this. Those two tools make me feel like I’m stuck in 2005 when I access their dashboards. Stripe is modern and easy to use. I love it. Media Tools I create images, videos, webinars, and podcasts. Here are the tools I need for each task… Photoshop: I’m not a designer, but I find Photoshop to be a relatively easy tool to use — at least for my purposes. It’s probably too heavy for what I truly need — creating feature images and screen grabs — but I’m comfortable with it. Wirecast: I use Wirecast to stream webinars to my private Facebook groups, rather than using GoToWebinar. So instead of requiring members of my PHC – Elite private community to install software or click a unique link to access webinars, I simply stream the slides directly to the Facebook group they are in anyway. Take a look at this blog post for details on how I use Wirecast to stream webinars. Blue Jeans: I could use Blue Jeans for streaming webinars as well, but I’m using both of these tools right now to find a winner. Blue Jeans is great for streaming interviews and including multiple cameras. I’ve live-streamed the video of my podcasts to PHC – Elite with Blue Jeans. GoToWebinar: Due to Wirecast and Blue Jeans, you’d think that GoToWebinar would now be obsolete for me. Not the case. I still use it for large webinars. So while I may stream small webinars to private Facebook groups, I still use GoToWebinar for my list building webinars. Otherwise, I’d need to require those who signed up for a webinar to join a Facebook group. People in my private communities are already in a Facebook group. This is also valuable because it comes with GoToMeeting, which I use for team meetings, podcast interviews, and my one-on-one appointments (see Appointmentcore). I know. There are other webinar applications out there. But this is what I use, and I’m comfortable with it. Screenflow: Brought to you by Telestream (the same company behind Wirecast), Screenflow is software for screen video audio editing. When I stream my webinars live, I also save a recording that is later embedded in the members’ area. Screenflow gives me a good, high-quality recording (GoToWebinar, in particular, provides lower quality recordings). I also use Screenflow for recording screen share videos and even my podcasts. Vimeo Pro: Okay. So you know that I record videos and webinars with Screenflow. So how do I embed them on my membership site? Vimeo Pro , of course. The nice thing about Vimeo Pro is that it allows me to control these things: Which sites the video can be embedded on Whether or not the video can be downloaded Add a logo overlay Some other stuff I like Vimeo Pro a lot, but only for videos that will only be embedded on my membership sites. If I want broader distribution, I go with Facebook videos or YouTube. Libsyn: I’ve hosted a podcast for about five years now (The Social Media Pubcast). For much of this time, episodes have been hosted on Libsyn , which also distributes episodes to iTunes and Stitcher. An added benefit of Libsyn is that I can also add episodes “for download only.” In other words, these are episodes that would not be sent to iTunes, but I could embed on one of my websites. I use this for providing audio versions of webinars. Customer Service Tools Customer service covers more than people who are unhappy or are asking questions about products. It also includes people who simply have questions about Facebook ads. Those questions have gone up, and I needed ways to handle them! ZenDesk: Back in the day, a tool to manage customer service questions wasn’t necessary. But now, it’s required. Any email sent to info@jonloomer.com, any private message or wall post to my Facebook page gets directed to ZenDesk . A ticket is created and can be assigned to various members of my team. I then have a history of correspondence for each user. Agorapulse: I’ve used Agorapulse for years now (I’m on the “Large” plan). While I originally used it for metrics analysis, I now use it for responding to comments on my posts and ads. Facebook doesn’t provide the easiest way to manage comments on posts and ads, so it’s nice to have a third party tool like Agorapulse to sort it out for me. Your Turn This is a sampling of the most important tools that I use. Any others that are critical to your business? Let me know in the comments below! Free Webinar for Entrepreneurs I host a free webinar for entrepreneurs. It focuses on lessons I learned while starting my business. You can learn more about the details of the webinar here , or simply register below… The post Entrepreneurs: Software and Apps I Use appeared first on Jon Loomer Digital .

The future of Twitter is as a protected essential public utility

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This week’s blog post is thanks to my close friend and persistent colleague Sally Falkow  of Meritus Media .  Sally sent me a series of questions about what I think the the future of Twitter will be in light of a fourth quarter revenue miss based on analysts’ expectation . SF: What’s your take on the future of Twitter? CA:  Twitter isn’t going anywhere. It’s become an International dial tone, like the internet itself, like your phone service or your AM, FM, and Ham Radio spectrum. Twitter will become protected some way or another becoming, effectively, a protected essential public utility. Twitter is an essential commodity that benefits the State Department, Open Source Intelligence (NSA, NRO, CIA, FBI), and Corporate Intelligence (NASDAQ, DOW, etc). There’s too much good, free, intel — remember the Real Time Web ? It’s still a thing! After all this time — and now, with amazingly powerful tools like Palantir’s Gotham and Metropolis — it’s still one of the most amazing sources of International, filterless, geolocated pulsepoint providing real time access to “stupid people” organizing protests (instead of using secure channels), and so forth. So, they really can’t lose it. It’s seriously way too valuable. Maybe In-Q-Tel (IQT) can buy it. It’s also a super-valuable communications channel for our current President and he would consider any attack on Twitter as a personal attack on his 24.6M followers. And if Trump is really a billionaire, maybe his dynasty can buy it. Or maybe it can be nationalized by an Executive Order. SF: This announcement of a big Twitter loss in the last Quarter has raised doubts CA: Maybe this is a play for a leveraged buyout. Maybe someone has discovered that Twitter is the #1 channel for @realDonaldTrump and @potus to communicate directly to and with the world. More valuable than CNN, MSNBC, and possible FOX News — at least when it comes to total eyeballs. Don’t forget that volatility doesn’t necessarily mean vulnerability, it could just mean corporate raiding. SF: Will it last or go the way of MySpace? CA: Facebook, Insta, and Snapchat can’t do the same thing that Twitter can do, all these years later. And I don’t see another one coming up. Know why? Because Millennials and Gen Z like their small little chat apps a lot more than they like their live outloud and share with the world model of Twitter. Bieber could leave Insta but he would never leave Twitter — I mean, 91.7M followers! SF: If it does go away how will that affect brands who do customer service on Twitter? CA: Facebook and Instagram — and maybe also Snapchat and Pinterest — are better investments for brands. Their advertising offerings seem to be more effective. And then there’s YouTube, too, right? So, aside from the fact that the Twitter handle has become a de facto internationally-recognized contact number second only to the URL, there are other sexier and stickier channels that people devote a lot more time too. But everyone knows that they can actually get liked, retweeted, and responded to by their favorite brands and celebrities and influencers — or somebody repping them — and that’s rarely the case on Facebook. SF: And the public who have grown used to a fast response via Twitter? CA: Not going to happen. It can’t. It’s too useful to despots, strongmen, warlords, intelligence agencies, and authoritarians. And too useful for Wall Street, as we have seen as a direct result of Trump’s filterless chastising of anyone and everyone who displeases him. SF: Or those who use it as a news source? CA: Yeah, the real time web just isn’t the same on Google or Facebook or anywhere else. Twitter really does still have the pulse. I feel like normal consumers use Twitter less as a news source, outside of celebrity news, than actual media outlets and so forth, although the app and the web interface is evolving to become a better and better filter with a much improved algorithm. I asked Sally for her permission to share this here first, but her article will be published later this week with a little more analysis (and I assume the input of more experts than just me). So, be sure to check out Sally Falkow’s blog, The Proactive Report , later this week in order to get a much bigger picture than I can offer. Be sure to check Sally out on Twitter, @sallyfalkow , LinkedIn , SlideShare , Facebook , and even Google+ . If you want more of me, you can read my stuff at Biznology , my website, my company site, Gerris Corp , and sometimes on Socialmedia.biz and Business2Community . Like this post? Sign up for our emails here. The post The future of Twitter is as a protected essential public utility appeared first on Biznology .

Nest Cams now know what a door looks like and can monitor them automatically

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Nest is shipping a new build of the Nest app this morning, and with it comes a few new tricks. Most notably, they’re bubbling up some more computer vision smarts. With this update, Nest Aware (the company’s paid service that starts at $10 a month and lets you record footage instead of just streaming it live) will try to automatically detect doors within its view and suggest… Read More

11 Headline Ideas For Your Autoresponder Sequence You Can Plug In And Use Today

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The post 11 Headline Ideas For Your Autoresponder Sequence You Can Plug In And Use Today appeared first on ClickFunnels . Headlines represent arguably the most important aspect of any email marketing campaign. They’re easy to screw up as you can only work with so few words at once. Thankfully we’ve outlined 11 headline ideas that you can plug in to any autoresponder series to keep your leads hungry and asking for more.   If you put one hundred master copywriters in a room and asked them “what is the most important aspects of any given sales pitch or marketing message,” chances are they’d all have the same answer. Headlines. Take it from marketing revolutionary and millionaire mastermind David Ogilvy, who noted that five times as many readers will read a headline versus any body copy . For marketing messages, you can almost view your headline or subject line as 80% of the work, with the body and other elements representing the final 20%. Sounds like hyperbole, doesn’t it? However, the numbers don’t lie regarding how much headlines can ultimately make or break any marketing campaign. For starters, consider the following regarding email subject lines: Approximately 70% of readers report emails as spam based on subject line alone (on the flip side, 35% of recipients will open emails based one solely the headline) According to MailChimp, today’s readers are savvy to subject lines : anything perceived as cheesy or overly “salesy” will have a lower rate of engagement (think: “Buy Now! Deals! Deals! Deals!”) From length to localization, even the smallest details of your subject lines can have a significant impact on open and click-through rates The importance of a proper headline cannot be overstated. After all, juicy headlines will hook readers from the word “go;” however, flat headlines will cause our messages to get ignored entirely (or perhaps worse: end up in the spam folder). This is especially crucial when creating email autoresponders , which are vital to any sales funnel but extremely easy to overlook. But what if there was a repository of proven headline strategies based on previously successful marketing campaigns you could simply plug in to your next series? Well, you’re in luck. Remember first and foremost the ultimate goals of your headlines in terms of your autoresponders. When you keep these principles in mind, you’ll find that your headlines are much less daunting to craft. The purpose of your headlines should be to do a combination of the following: Grab the attention of your audience at a glance Pique their curiosity and encourage them to read more Show that you’re paying attention to your readers’ wants and needs Don’t let your autoresponders get stuck in the trash. Bear in mind that some of these will perform better than others based on your industry. It always pays to do some competitive analysis to see what your neighbors are up to; however, consider any of the following as fair game.  “Hey ____.”   While it’s easy to overthink your autoresponder headlines, remember that sometimes simplicity is key. After all, shorter headlines tend to have a high open rate versus those which drones on and on. Likewise, lengthy subject lines can get cut off by mobile devices if you’re not careful. There’s plenty of power in a simple greeting message: saying “hey” to your customer not only makes you seem more human but also makes your email seem like less of a sales pitch. Also, personalization is a surefire way to encourage engagement . “My favorite trick. You should try it, too.” Your messages aren’t all about you or your brand: they’re about your audience and what they need. “You” is one of the sweetest words your leads could possibly hope to hear. After all, subject lines containing “you” typically get more opens and click-throughs, although it’s not a strategy you should abuse. In short, this subject line also works to pique your readers’ curiosity and gets them asking questions. What’s the trick? Is it simple? Why is it your favorite? They’ll find out when they click. This simple subject line is loaded with implications, including the fact that you’re sharing valuable information with your audience and have other tricks up your sleeve (therefore positioning yourself as an expert and resource). When using such a subject line, however, make sure that whatever is in the body copy delivers on the subject line (an awesome trick, in this case). “I was broke until I learned this.” Marketers should always strive to give tidbits of information and education to their base. Additionally, empathizing with your audience’s struggles works to create an emotional connection that tugs at your leads’ heartstrings. Talking about money or status, for example, is a huge psychological trigger that helps your readers relate to you and understand that you were once in their shoes. With this message, potential riches are only a click away in the eyes of your readers. Photo Credits: Kopywriting Kourse “This one’s just for you.” Your audience wants to feel special , plain and simple. This subject line ticks the box of exclusivity marketing , implying that the information you’re providing is only out there for your subscribers. Such a headline is short, sweet and makes your reader feel like a million bucks. Whether the information or offer is truly being exclusive is moot: what matters is making your subscribers feel like they’re part of your inner circle. “The clock is ticking, _____.” Urgency represents one of the top triggers is marketing that drives your readers to act sooner rather than later. This subject line not only sparks interest in whatever you’re offering but also creates a subtle fear of loss which can be an incredibly powerful motivator. After all, your prospects could be receiving hundreds of emails per day: think about how such a subject line could help you stand out from the crowd. Amplify your urgency copy by linking your emails to a landing page with a countdown timer for an added sense of rushing your reader to convert. You can create landing page like this with the help of ClickFunnels. All you need to is to go to your funnel, create a new step, design your landing page and drag and drop the countdown timer element. It’s that easy! “Only ____ spots left. Do you have yours?” Beyond urgency, scarcity can also be used to drive engagement as your readers are forced to decide on the spot. Limited time offers are a tried-and-tested means of getting users to act. Additionally, the question posed at the tail of this subject line represents a sort of invitation which further entices the reader to get on the ground floor of your offer. “This works about 90% of this time.” Another important aspect of headlines is including numerical values, which are easy for the brain to process in an instant. This headline not only gets your reader asking questions but sets relatively realistic expectations for your offer or information. Not all systems or strategies are going to work 100% of the time: your prospects know this. However, 90% of the time is damn good and worth considering, isn’t it? “How I stopped worrying and saved my business.” If you have opt-ins, chances are they want some sort of problem solved. In the case of this example, it’s monetary woes which plague just about everyone starting out in the business world. Don’t neglect power words such as “worrying” and “saved” which spark immediate emotional images. Since you must be incredibly economical with your copy, make every word count. “Does this sound like you, _____?” Questions go a long way regarding headlines. Regardless of the content of such a message, your reader is naturally curious as to what you’re talking about. Feel free to pose such questions to your base if you have a relatively short, non-offer related message or simply want to pick their brains. “Did you hear the big news?” Sometimes you need to break some news if you want to catch your readers’ attention. While your goal shouldn’t be to trick your prospects, there are tons of angles you can take with this one. From a steep offer to a newsjacking piece which touches on current events, strive to be creative with the direction of your deals and body copy.   Photo Credits: Creative Content Company  “____, you’re missing out.” Nobody wants to feel like they’re on the outside looking in. As noted earlier, fear of loss can drive your leads in just about any direction. This subject line encourages your reader to want to be part of the crowd while simultaneously piquing their curiosity. Such a headline would be the ideal of a free informational offer or hack to help them out.  What Headlines Perform Best for Your Funnel? There are millions of examples out there regarding headlines that make your readers act. The 11 outlined above can easily be plugged into just about any sales funnel in any industry if you’re looking for results. Whether you feel like you’re in a creative dry spell or simply need some inspiration, review the list above again and start brainstorming. If you’re still feeling iffy about creating your own headlines or you do not have the time or budget to hire a copywriter, then give Funnel Scripts a try! So, what types of headlines are you using your autoresponders? What are the some of your personal favorites you’ve seen pop up in your inbox? Let us know! Thanks for reading 11 Headline Ideas For Your Autoresponder Sequence You Can Plug In And Use Today which appeared first on ClickFunnels .

SearchCap: Google fun facts, how to hire SEOs & SEO analysis

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Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. The post SearchCap: Google fun facts, how to hire SEOs & SEO analysis appeared first on Search Engine Land. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

7 reasons why Facebook will autoplay sound despite complaints

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If you’re freaking out about Facebook starting to autoplay videos with sound by default, at least it won’t pause or play on top of music you’re already listening to through apps like Spotify. Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch today that sound will not autoplay on Facebook videos if you’re already listening to something on your device. You’ll have to tap the sound… Read More
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