Build your own CrUX dashboard on Google Data Studio to see visual stats on origin performance
After the latest announcement of changes to Google Ads, the introduction of responsive ads, better video and YouTube advertising, cross-device reporting functionality, and the lastest broad-core Google algorithm update, it seems Google has had a busy quarter.
Today, Google developers have announced the introduction of Custom site performance reports with the CrUX Dashboard (Chrome UX report).
Google has repeatedly stressed the importance of user experience on site. Optimizing mobile page speed has been number 1 priority - and they've stressed that sites and pages that are under-performing or give less than a satisfactory user experience will be penalized. Afterall, they don't want to be directing users to sites that are slow, have low-quality content and full of ads and poor navigation.
Before your site is negatively…
Are you tapping into Customer Psychology for your marketing?
Kahneman popularised System 1 and System 2 decision-making in his book, "thinking fast and slow" - but how can marketers use this Scientific theory in their marketing?
Last year I was faced with a fairly every day dilemma, my partner and I were going through the process of buying an IKEA kitchen at home, I'd dropped and smashed my iPhone screen, rendering it unusable (I replaced it with a much cheaper android phone)and I wanted to go on holiday to Italy (Turin). The dilemma was: Did I need an iPhone? Could I hold off on the holiday to Italy? The kitchen was the biggest decision, it was over £4000 in cost - it took time to research what we wanted and plan the whole thing with IKEA. Arranging delivery, getting the whole thing installed. It's a major project and being without a kitchen…
Don't make your customers wait for your site to load
As desirable of a quality patience is, it is the last thing you should expect from clients visiting your website. Just making them wait one second extra can drastically reduce customer satisfaction and cause conversions to nosedive. If that’s not enough, since 2010, Google has taken site speed into consideration in its ranking algorithm.
Nothing reeks of unprofessionalism more than trying to find a company and their website is too slow or does not load properly. Research shows that for every extra second of loading time you lose 10-15% of web visitors. For most SMEs that equates to millions in lost revenue. This is something any business focused on CRO needs to keep in mind.
This comprehensive guide with eight steps you can take to decrease your load time may help you speed things up.
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Create a strategic plan for getting the most out of your content marketing, including the best tools to use
With 91% of B2B and 86% B2C marketers currently using content marketing, there is no doubt that content accounts for a large part of most marketing strategies today. With 70% of marketers able to show how it has helped to increase engagement and leads, it seems obvious why everyone is investing so heavily in content creation and resources. But if you’re managing or are part of a small business, there isn’t always an endless pot of money for your marketing budget and factors such as time and resources can be limited. So how can you overcome these challenges and still create some killer content?
What I will be looking to cover is exactly this. I will go through the steps you need to take to create a strategic plan for getting…
Chart of the Day: Which are the most important skills for you to develop for your future career
In a previous article, I reviewed the most important marketing skills based on the recently published research from The IDM and Smart Insights. In this follow-up I'll drill down to look at specific skills gaps.
This first chart is helpful since it highlights the main categories of transferable generic skills which are most important to career progression. This is based on marketers who rated these as very or extremely important. You can see that these include many of the skills topics that we focus on at Smart Insights include strategy and planning, data and insight and, of course, digital marketing. As we say, we look to help our members 'Plan, Manage and Optimize' their digital marketing.
The second chart drills down to show more specific skills. You…
It’s official - too much time spent on social media is bad for your mental health
Following a blog post in December 2017, in which Facebook acknowledged spending too much time on the platform could lead to negative effects on health, it has now gone one step further to demonstrate its commitment to halt the spread of neurotic D-FOMO (Digital Fear of Missing Out).
In conjunction with mental health experts and organizations, Facebook and Instagram have introduced tools that restrict the amount of time people spend on apps. Users can monitor just how long they've spent scrolling and swiping away the hours, set a reminder for when they've reached their allocated time, and limit notifications.
The tools can be accessed via the settings page on either app by tapping "Your Activity" on Instagram or "Your Time on Facebook" on Facebook.
However, some say the gesture simply doesn't go far enough.
"It’s not going to really…
How are promoted posts used on LinkedIn?
If you have responsibility for promoting your company on LinkedIn, you may be wondering where your priorities lie. Your personal profile lets you share what your company does to your first-degree connections, but what about everyone else? How do you spread the word to a wider audience? It may be tempting to invest time in your LinkedIn company page whose updates can be followed by anyone regardless of their connection to you.
In my newest Quick Win, I show you how to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile and become a thought leader in your industry.
Unfortunately, unless you’re willing to invest a significant amount of money in sponsored ads, your LinkedIn company page will be pretty much invisible to your target audience. To see what I mean, go into your LinkedIn feed and see where the status updates are coming from. What you’ll…
Three keys to evolving with Facebook advertising changes
It’s the World Series of baseball and the monkey bars of the school playground. Facebook Ads is the battleground everyone is clamouring to dominate — probably because it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get right.
To start with, Facebook as a platform is designed to change. The more data it consumes, the quicker it adapts and adjusts according to the behaviours of its users. That means advertising best practices also change often, and marketers must stay up-to-date every time Facebook releases new features or reconfigures its algorithm.
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Built into this evolution is a vocabulary that also keeps changing. Marketers need to know what Facebook means by phrases such as audience networks, lookalike audiences, and cost per thousand. There's a steep learning curve, but…
How old are the top ranking pages and what does this mean for your business?
One very common question everyone wants to know is 'how do I get my website ranking on Google?' Marketing agencies are probably used to hearing this question and responding with the same answers that there's not a 100% chance of ranking on Google even if you do everything right.
Ranking first on Google organically may not be as successful as you once thought when you've got 3-4 search ads taking space at the top. So what does it take for higher chances of potentially ranking based on Google?
Only 22% of pages that currently rank in the top 10 were created within 1 year, with the majority of pages being 3 years and older.
These strategies on this infographic by The Website Group are guaranteed to revolutionize your marketing.
Courtesy of: The Website Group…
Chart of the Day: Having the right talent is the most important factor for organizational growth
As marketing technology evolves and more of its tasks are automated, it is only natural for people to fear that the tech they use could compromise their own value. After all, isn’t it better to place as many responsibilities in the hands of machines, which can work faster than humans, without the need to pause due to fatigue or sickness, and to a higher degree of detail?
The answer from US CMOs is ‘no’. A survey of over 300 US marketers who were asked what they believe is the most important factor for the future organic growth of their organization showed a great emphasis on the human element. Data capture and analysis is a growing factor for many companies, though it has some way to go…
