Google is at it again! Just when you thought you had all of your Google Ad campaigns up to date and optimized for maximum performance, Google giggles and says, “I appreciate your hard work and I will reward you with more ad space”. Some might argue that it is more work, but Google just like Twitter, has found out that their limited number of characters has also limited the user experience. In 2016, Google increased ad sizes and saw a 20% increase in clicks. (SOURCE) Google is making a change again.
On August 1, Google made one of several updates for 2018 to its broad core algorithm. EEK! This left many professionals in the digital world wondering: What does this mean for my web presence? What did Google change? What is the “fix”?
If you missed the announcement, here's Google's official acknowledgment of the update:
This week we released a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. Our guidance about such updates remains the same as in March, as we covered here: https://t.co/uPlEdSLHoX
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) August 1, 2018
Year after year, opportunities in the STEM fields are continuing to capture more college students across the country. Unemployment is low, earnings are high and the demand for graduates is even higher. In fact, between 2017 and 2027, STEM jobs in the United States are projected to grow 13 percent, compared to all other jobs which are projected to grow only 9 percent[1].
We are spending more time than ever on social media. In fact, we’re spending approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes per day scrolling through our news feeds.[1]
This is a lot of time.
This is a lot of time your business can spend connecting with your target audience; building trust, asking what they want to see more of from you and keeping them up-to-speed on your ever-growing brand.
Assuming, (since it’s 2018 and Facebook is officially 14 year’s old!) that you have your Facebook strategy down, right? What about Instagram? There are currently 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram (up from 800 million in September 2017!) and that number is continuing to grow.[2][3]
So, how can your business grow it’s Instagram following? By following these 4 easy steps.
Image credit: Pixabay
Social media affords many promotional opportunities, PPC drives a lot of traffic, and on-page SEO yields organic search rankings that keep on giving— but to this day, nothing bolsters an eCommerce strategy quite like email marketing. That’s exactly why yearly spending on email marketing in the US alone is expected to hit 350 million dollars by 2019.
But like any marketing medium, you won’t get much out of it if you don’t think it through and plan it out with specific goals in mind. Whether the intention is to build loyalty in new customers, keep old ones happy, promote new products or establish industry authority, you have to approach things carefully and analytically.
To that end, here’s how I recommend you go about devising a great email campaign that will truly back up your broader eCommerce efforts.
According to Google’s Consumer Barometer Survey (The Connected Consumer Survey)[1], when someone needs information the first place they look is the internet. This could be for news, information on a product or service that they need or want, and research on about anything imaginable. Heck, I go to the internet for EVERYTHING! In fact, over 74% of people in the U.S. go to the internet daily[2]. That’s over 242,645,260 people each day![3] So, it makes perfect sense based on how people are engaging with the internet that all businesses need to be online and have a digital marketing strategy. If you don’t have a digital marketing strategy, I assure you that you have been left in the dust. However, you can get yourself up-to-speed fairly quickly, and it’s really not that difficult to dip your toes into the online marketing world. Now, there are some initial steps to making sure you are ready to market yourself online, so check this article out here first. Once you are ready, here are 7 things to consider before you launch a digital campaign.
It’s no surprise that media consumption of the modern American has been changing for quite some time. Even Television, one of the last remaining holdouts from the shifting tides of traditional media, has been affected over the past decade. More than half of adults 18-49 in the US are either light viewers of TV or do not subscribe to a traditional TV service at all [1]. But an audience shift like this doesn’t necessarily mean that TV content is going away anytime soon. The access of the internet has blown open the doors of not only where people get their entertainment, but also the kind of content they are consuming.
I am fortunate to work for a local media organization that produces fantastic content on a daily basis. For a fifth straight year, The Columbus Dispatch (and our website, www.dispatch.com), was named the best large newspaper in Ohio by the Ohio Associated Press Media. For the second year, Columbus Monthly was nominated for the General Excellence Award by the City and Regional Magazine Association. There are countless more awards and points of recognition for our 10+ publications.
It is no surprise that mobile activity continues to climb and account for more time spent online than any other device. In fact, 40% of people say that they prefer to complete their entire shopping journey on mobile. However, businesses are still seeing more conversions taking place on desktops than they do on mobile. Why is this? Not because of the smaller size screen as you may think. It is because the experience is not great for the consumer.
