Facebook Ads Will Now Target Non-Members on Third-Party Sites

 

Facebook wants to dominate advertising on the Internet.

The social network has revealed it will begin showing ads to non-members across the Web. Until now, only Facebook users could see advertising from the social network on third-party websites or apps courtesy of Facebook’s Audience Network.

Facebook ads and business platform vice-president Andrew Bosworth, in a blog post, said Facebook will now help publishers’ and marketers’ ads be visible to anyone who visits websites and applications that are part of its ad network.

Although it may not seem like a big deal, as the Wall Street Journal points out, it could mean Facebook will soon be able to sell and place a significantly higher number of video and display ads across the Web.

“Publishers and app developers have some users who aren’t Facebook users,” Bosworth told the Wall Street Journal. “We think we can do a better job powering those ads.”

According to the report, Facebook will use cookie tracking combined with its buttons and plugins as well as other data to detect non-members on the third-party websites. From there, Facebook will get fancy with ad targeting, using algorithmic patterns to guess what types of ads particular Web surfers would be interested in seeing.

Bosworth, in his blog post, said all ads will be reviewed against Facebook’s standards to “ensure they are as respectful of people’s experience as possible.”

“For example, we don’t permit ads that include sound unless you interact with them and we prohibit deceptive ads and ads for unsafe products and services. We’ve developed technology to determine when someone clicks on an ad on a mobile device by accident, so you don’t get taken to a website or app you didn’t mean to visit,” he wrote.

“We also offer everyone controls over the ads they see, including tools to opt out of online interest-based advertising. If you have an account, you can do this directly from your Facebook settings, and we honor your choice wherever you use Facebook.”

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There is an option for Facebook users to opt out of seeing ads on apps and websites not offered by Facebook, based on ad preferences. Simply visit Facebook settings or tapping the AdChoices icon next to an Audience Network ad.

Is SEO Dead? Not Even Close: Here’s Why

 

“SEO is no longer just a job title, it has become part of everyone’s job description.” – Rand Fishkin

You’ve heard it touted a million times before; SEO is dead. But how can these sorts of headlines be justified in any sort of manner when SEO is a $65-billion industry?

Despite these egregious headlines, SEO has become increasingly more important nearly every year since its inception; and 2016 is no different.

In a recent study conducted by Borrell Associates, it was uncovered that organizations will spend upward of $65 billion on SEO efforts this year. This is nearly three times the forecasted amount put forth in 2008.

What’s even more jaw-dropping, however, is that the SEO industry is not even close to reaching stagnation; that same report predicts that SEO investments will jump a staggering $15 billion in the next four years. This means that by 2020, the SEO industry will be worth nearly $80 billion.
Additionally, in a survey of 357 marketers, a staggering 94 percent of respondents report that SEO budgets will increase or, at the minimum, stay the same over the course of the next year.

These statistics give a crystal clear picture of the overall health of the SEO industry. If you have been wary about bumping up your search engine optimization budget, rest assured that it is a safe investment, granted you gain the results you are after.

Since we now know the industry is set to swell over the next several years, let’s take a look at the factors that will ultimately contribute to this massive aggrandizement, so you can best understand how and where to spend your marketing resources.

Causation of SEO Amplification

The monetary boom SEO will see over the next several years does not have a single root that can be pinpointed; there are many contributing factors.

The first is a rise in the number of search users. According to a 2015 report from the International Telecommunications Union, the number of Internet users has skyrocketed from 738 million in 2000 to 3.2 billion in 2015. This means that Internet penetration now reaches 43 percent of the entire global population. This figure is set to massively increase over the next several years as companies like Facebook and Google enact initiatives to spread internet access the world over. This, in conjunction with the explosion of mobile usage in India and other developing nations, will provide connections to countless more individuals across the globe.

The next element is the rise in the number of search queries. The proliferation of digital connectivity will naturally bring more searches due to the elevated number of Internet users; mobile ubiquity again plays an integral role here. Additionally, as older generations come to pass and those who have grown up with, or were born into, technology at their fingertips will continue to rely on search engines to provide answers of every nature. As search engines and technology continue to become more refined, expedient and convenient, users will find themselves taking to sites like Google more often than ever before.

Next on the chopping block is the decline of traditional advertising. It has been noted by various studies and media outlets that traditional ads are dying. This decay will begin to leave businesses with fewer options for customer acquisition. This will inevitably force many to dive headlong into inbound marketing to supplement the losses from the forgotten and ineffective relics of the advertising world.
Due to all of the aforementioned circumstances, and dozens more, search engine optimization continues to become increasingly more sophisticated and polished in terms of tactics and best practices. Strategies like keyword stuffing, haphazard link building, and other black hat SEO tactics have largely fallen to the wayside. Furthermore, the increased amount of comprehensive and in-depth data that can be drawn from such campaigns makes SEO incredibly valuable for this reason alone.
One of the biggest factors to consider is the inflated number of devices that users have to search through. Outside of actually heading to massive engines such as Google, Bing, YouTube and others, on a laptop or mobile device, users are now gaining access to search with various gadgets such as Amazon’s Alexa. The variety of digital assistants that have recently come into play give users new ways to search online. Things like Google speech-to-text, Cortana, Siri, and many others are contributing a larger number of queries to search engines as time goes on. These serve as way for users to search the online universe from offline. As devices such as these continue to rise in prominence, so will the value in SEO campaigns.

While the exponential rate at which technology advances makes it challenging to peer just a few years into the future, it is more than likely that SEO won’t be going anywhere anytime soon; in fact, just the opposite is glaringly true. SEO is becoming more important with each passing month and year. Users now rely heavily on search engines. And, because of this, SEO is raking in more money as an industry. At this point in time, your best bet for driving traffic, acquiring customers, and achieving other business-focused goals lies in gaining an intimate understanding of SEO, employing the most powerful tools at your disposal, and ignoring those silly headlines that try to convince you that SEO’s reign is officially over; that stuff is hogwash. Your business deserves to thrive, and as such, your SEO needs to follow suit.

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3 Components of a Perfect Mobile App Spec

 

 

If you’ve been reading up on developing a mobile app, whether you’re planning to try to build it yourself or hire a developer to build it for you, the first step is always to write your idea down. Sure, easy enough, if you have an idea just write it down. Then you get the blank white sheet of paper in front of you and the process may seem a little daunting. So here’s a guide to help you outline your perfect mobile app spec. This spec can be used to help get an accurate cost estimate from a developer, to get funding from an investor, or to work as a framework for building the mobile app yourself.

 

Mobile App Wireframes

The wireframe is a visual of the idea you have in your head. It will help you determine how many screens you might be thinking about. Start thinking about how it will function and what features you’ll need.

If you Google “mobile app wireframe tools” you’ll see there are many options to help you develop a wireframe. We like Just in Mind for wireframes; it’s $29 per user per month, no commitment. Many tools also have free 30-day trials. Or you could keep it simple and just hand draw in something like this:



We actually used a template like this for a children’s activity at our local library and they did a great job with the drawings! So if they can do it, you can do it. You can Google “mobile app wireframe examples” under images for inspiration.
The reason creating wireframes is part of a perfect spec is:
1. It helps you really develop your idea and how it will work on paper;
2. It gives a better picture to anyone you’re working with so you can do your best to ensure everyone is on the same page. When you’re not on the same page it can affect cost estimates both up and down.

 

Concept Overview

Write a couple paragraphs that describe the app concept. This can accompany the wireframe in a separate document. I recommend just a Word document. You can use these questions to help you develop the content:
• Who are you?
• How did you come up with this project concept?
• What problems will the app solve?
• What is the app?
• Who is the target audience for your app — who will download it?
• What do you hope to accomplish from developing the app?
• What is the business model for the app?
• Which mobile devices do you want to support? iPhone? iPad? Android? Windows?
• Do you have any preference if this app is built hybrid or natively? Hybrid apps can be finished faster at a lower cost but native apps typically perform more smoothly and quickly throughout the lifecycle of the app.
If you’re hiring a developer to help you with the app, consider:
• What are your turnaround time expectations?
• What are your cost expectations?

 

Your List of Must Haves

These are things that may not be easily visible from the wireframe and they can help reiterate what is in your concept overview. They can be shared in a third, separate document. Here are some examples:

 

Must Have

• Be available on Android
• A back-end control panel
• The ability to capture users’ e-mails
• Users can add personal profiles

 

Nice to Have

• In-app analytics
• Connection to social media accounts
• Push notification functionality
• A design like example app

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I hope this will give your blank white paper a little more direction when someone asks you to write down your idea. The most important thing this will do is give you an outline to start really thinking through the details of your project. You may want to get feedback from friends, family and industry experts before diving in with both feet – and this can be a written plan that will put your thoughts on paper and give them a visual to follow. Best of luck and happy apping!

Paying for Interested, Not Accidental Visitors




 

Businesses advertise online. A lot.

But a vast majority of businesses don’t advertise well. At least, not as well as they could.
Usually, the trouble is a hard focus on getting traffic to a website, when instead, they should focus on conversions.

If you’ve invested in bringing traffic to your site, you’ve either brought interested visitors, or accidental visitors. Which is it? Your conversion rate will tell you the answer. You can’t just invest in driving traffic, you must also invest in converting that traffic.


Conversion optimization is typically two things:
1. Targeting the right customers.

2. Optimizing your site for conversions.

Optimizing your site for conversions is its own beast, and it ought to come before anything else. You don’t want traffic if your site isn’t ready.

But if you’ve already optimized your site for conversions, it’s time to get serious about the traffic you bring in.

When targeting the right traffic audience for your website, there are three general phases: creating customer personas, mapping the customer journey and serving up your optimized content.


Creating Customer Personas
If you’ve spent any time with a marketer, you’ve probably heard about personas. These are the fake people that companies invent to serve as a sort of “template” for their typical customer. Your marketing efforts target specific personas (and, hopefully, so does your website).

The more detailed and in-depth the personas a company creates, the more accurately it can target customers. When you know what the customer is like, you can map his/her journey from finding your site to converting into a lead or a sale.

Basic demographics like age, gender and geography can tell quite a lot. But these are very broad and the “story” you invent for their journey could be completely wrong. Details like income (can they afford you?), interests (what else do they like?), in-market affinity (what are they shopping for?) and more can help you create the right path.

Psychographics and emotional demographics help you go even further. Psychographics are your customers’ attitudes, aspirations and other psychological criteria. These play into broader demographic details nicely and can really start to tell you how they will turn into a customer.
Emotional demographics are usually very temporary conditions in which your customer would make a purchase. Snickers’ ads are a perfectly-honed example. Their emotional demographic is “hungry and angry (a.k.a. hangry).” This is the perfect time for their product, a candy bar of significant sugar and protein density. Their candy bar will temporarily relieve the temporary symptoms, and the company plays this message beautifully.

Personas are as important as anything when laying out your initial strategy. When you know your customer personas well, you can begin to engage them smartly. The importance cannot be overstated.


How to Use Google Analytics to Get Started
Set your segment to a specific traffic source instead of all traffic to see your current organic search strengths and weaknesses.

Note: Organic traffic is important to look at, of course, but for any business investing in advertising, paid traffic is actually much more important—the primary reason being that it is paid traffic. Specific budgets are dedicated to paid traffic, and it’s more directly attributable to the conversion of said traffic and your content. In other words: its ROI is clearer.

In Google Analytics Reporting, under Audience, you’ll find:

• Demographics: Age, Gender. You can see your basics: age and gender. These things mean different things depending on your industry.

• Interests: Affinity Categories, In-Market Segments; Other Categories for additional insights. Here you can get a sense of the personality and interests of your current traffic.

• Geo: Location. Use this to figure out where your conversions come from and if you’re attracting the right local customers or not.

• Mobile: Overview (Mobile, Tablet vs. Desktop). Look at conversions by device category. If mobile devices produce fewer visits but show a higher rate of conversion, you can infer that more effort to reach visitors on mobile phones would be worth your company’s time and money.

Google has adopted a mobile-first attitude and has been making subtle changes to reflect that. (Not all websites will reflect that mobile has taken over desktop, but in general, it has.)


Under Acquisition, you’ll find:

• Search Engine Optimization: Queries This requires connection to Google Search Console—if you haven’t done that yet, go ahead and do it.

• AdWords: Keywords: These will give you a sense of the types of queries users are typing when they click your paid ads. It’s a pretty good hint of what they’re truly interested in when they view your landing page content.

• Campaigns: Paid Keywords. This can give you some more insight on interests, especially if you don’t use Google AdWords for your PPC. If you haven’t already explored alternative online advertising networks, it may be worth your while.


Under Behavior…
• See Site Content: All Pages. Sort by Bounce Rate to see which pages have the lowest bounce rate.
These should help springboard you to creating your customer personas and should also help you prioritize your efforts when it comes to targeting with digital marketing. Remember, you know your own customers better than anyone, but objective data is important to consider. If objective data doesn’t match your ideal customers, you’ll need to make some adjustments…


Mapping the Customer Journey
Ignoring your existing content for a second, how does your highly-detailed persona go from discovery to customer? What are the steps along the way? What is high-funnel? Mid-funnel? Low-funnel?

If you can answer these questions, then you know what content you need to create.

Of course, that’s easier said than done…

And since “content” can actually take many forms, your content strategy should take into
consideration your methods of getting that content seen. Will you buy paid ads? Are you leaning on search engine optimization? Is social media your biggest traffic driver? And how about e-mail, that best-converting channel of all?

Think like a chef in a nice restaurant. You need a good appetizer, a delectable main course, and of course, you should always offer a dessert. But restaurant patrons don’t just stand in the kitchen with their hands out – you need to plate that food appropriately, serve it at the right time, and make sure it’s fresh.


Serving Up Your Content
With so many channels to choose and so many ad networks out there, digital marketing can feel like you’re trying to build a car from a warehouse full of parts. It’s daunting to say the least.

Having your customer personas will help you narrow your focus, and help you understand what you need to build. Most companies can’t afford all the options. You have to be choosy.

When you choose the paid ad route, you have to be as sharp as possible. If you’re not careful, you’ll spend a lot of money on entirely the wrong customers.

• Personas inform your keyword research, which in turn influences your content, which becomes (for many customers) the first impression of your company.

• Ad copy matters a great deal — not just for keeping bids optimized, but for improving conversion rates, too. Proper expectation setting begins with the ad copy.

Google tries to provide the most relevant possible search results when someone is looking for something. If you offer what someone is looking for, it’s your job to provide the most relevant possible content. You do that by determining what content they need for that stage of the journey.
When you get your content to a customer seeking what you offer, at the time when they seek it, at the appropriate stage in their buying cycle, your conversion rates will improve dramatically. You’ll also develop brand awareness and build your authority as the right company for the job.

It’s not about being at the right place at the right time – it’s about being in the right place ALL the time. So create the right content, and put it in the right place. If you do this, all your advertising dollars will be put toward bringing interested traffic instead of accidental traffic.

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Lawsuit Accuses Facebook of Scanning Private Messages to Boost Page Likes

 

Facebook has been slapped with a lawsuit for allegedly scanning users’ private messages.
The lawsuit, which was filed in a Northern California District court, accuses Facebook of breaching federal privacy laws by scanning and logging URLs sent through the social network’s private messaging system in a bid to get more likes for pages on its site.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs accuse Facebook of scanning the content of their private messages. If there is a link to a webpage in that message, the social networking firm then treats it as a ‘like’ of the page as well, the filing adds.

“Facebook uses this data regarding ‘likes’ to compile user profiles, which it then uses to deliver targeted advertising to its users,” the complaint reads.

The complaint goes on to say that the “messaging function is designed to allow users to communicate privately with other users,” and adds that “Facebook’s practice of scanning the content of these messages violates the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act.”

The certification of the complaint by the court means the plaintiffs cannot receive any monetary damages, although the court could ban Facebook from carrying out such scans in the future. The plaintiffs have until June 8 to file any amended complaints.

Facebook, of course, is pleased to not be on the hook for any payouts.

“We agree with the court’s finding that the alleged conduct did not result in any actual harm and that it would be inappropriate to allow plaintiffs to seek damages on a class-wide basis,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “The remaining claims relate to historical practices that are entirely lawful, and we look forward to resolving those claims on the merits.”

Facebook has said it discontinued its scanning and logging practices some years back.

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Why You Don’t Have to Nofollow Good Links in Your Content

 

 

Nofollow is a tool that was introduced in 2005 by Google’s Matt Cutts and Blogger’s Jason Shellen. The idea was that the tag could be used for the purpose of decreasing spam on blogs by instructing search engines that a hyperlink would have no bearing or affect on the ranking of the link’s target.
In other words, nofollow was designed for use in links that the site owner did not want influencing Google’s index. Unfortunately, nofollow is nearing 10 years old, yet bloggers, webmasters and content marketers alike have misused it for nearly every one of those 10 years. Read on to learn more.


Nofollow’s Original Purpose
At its inception, nofollow looked like it would be an effective way to fight spam. It was great at keeping unhelpful links (the ones that didn’t reflect the site in a positive light or add to its importance) at bay while also allowing a site to rise through the rankings of multiple search engines on the basis of good links.

In its original inception, nofollow was introduced as a means of controlling abusive tactics from sneaky websites that sought to increase their personal search ranking through links posted onto external sites with high DA scores. This creates a problem, however, when you pause to consider that the content curation for these sites rests solely on the shoulders of the site’s editorial team.

Since editorial staff has no control over external sites that feature user-generated content and blog posts, it stands to reason that the content of those sites would be nofollowed almost immediately in an effort to regain control over content and search engine ranking.

Originally, nofollow was introduced as a way for editorial staff of high-quality websites to stop their site from being dragged down the indexes as a result of having links to poor-quality sites foisted upon them by external users. In this way, the original purpose of nofollow was to be an editor’s tool that allowed for reclamation of power back and the ability to mitigate ranking damage caused by unscrupulous sites.

It all went wrong in the nofollow world, however, when people began to express a great deal of concern over “authority sites” — what they were, how they worked and which sites earned the title.
As the importance of “authority sites” began to rise in the eyes of content publishers everywhere, editors and webmasters began thinking twice about how they linked to external pages and, in an effort to protect their site’s ranking, these same content publishers began dropping nofollows in order to protect themselves from the aforementioned “guilty by association” index dives.


Why You Don’t Have to Nofollow
There is a dangerous side to using the nofollow tag on good links. When Google sees a site with all nofollow links, it assumes that the site is comprised entirely of user-generated content or, alternately, that all of the site’s content is ad-based. Because neither of these scenarios generally produces a site that boasts good content, a site that is perceived like this by Google is likely to be ranked down.
Additionally, dropping the nofollow tag everywhere means that your site will sabotage organic links. Although it is understandable for a site to want to suppress low-quality external links, the issue of the nofollow tag gains a whole new face when it becomes such that reputable, high DA sites are being marked “poor” sites and webmasters are being advised by Google to nofollow them.

This is where the double-edged sword of the nofollow culture enters the equation: in an attempt to make their sites rank higher, those who lean heavily on the nofollow tag may actually find themselves sneaking down Google’s indexes.

In a 2013 interview, Matt Cutts cleared up some nofollow myths for the tag’s many users. By pointing out that nofollow is a helpful tool for times when it is necessary to link to outside sites, he also clarified that many users would be better off using no index more often than nofollow. For example, if a user has pages within a site that the user intends to place nofollow tags next to, it actually makes more sense to simply use the no index tool to ensure that the pages are not indexed in Google at all.


The Verdict on the Nofollow Case
Nofollow has been confusing webmasters for years but the verdict is in: you don’t have to nofollow good links in your content.

As Cutts points out, using nofollow links inherently means that PageRank won’t be able to discover a link, which also means that PageRank computation and indexing won’t apply to that site. Because of that, it’s best to forge the nofollow tag on internal links within your site.

Although nofollow was originally a helpful tool that used its powers for good rather than evil, it has become the metaphorical monster in the closet and it’s time to rein it in. Through the atmosphere of fear and doubt that has surrounded the nofollow tag for the last ten years, nofollow has taken on a distinctly “big brother” feel. By doing away with the practice of needlessly nofollowing good links in content, webmasters can begin to reclaim the Internet, one post at a time.

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Pay-Per-Click Advertising – How to Get Started

 

When you have a website that you want people to visit and buy from, it needs to be visible on search engines like Google. One of the fastest and easiest ways of expanding your website’s reach is Google AdWords; it’s a tool that offers marketers results and rewards instantly. The other big advantage is that the results are highly measurable, which means that you can keep on tweaking your marketing strategy to get improvements.


Google AdWords
When users search with Google, the results are ranked by Google according to its assessments defined by its search algorithms that take into account various SEO elements such as the search criteria, content, page titles, headers and backlinks from reliable websites, internal links and more. Sponsored links or advertisements generated by Google AdWords appear on the right-hand side of the page and also on the top. Advertisers need to bid on selected keywords and those who pay the highest get their websites to appear the highest, achieving more exposure.


A Great Way of Advertising
The reason this kind of advertising works out for advertisers is because they can target customers specifically looking for certain products or services by using the search box on Google. The payment to Google needs to be made only when customers see the advertisement and click on it, which is why this model of advertising is known popularly as pay-per-click or PPC. Businesses that get their advertisement placement right with keywords that accurately describe their activities can now easily get prospects for sales conversions or sign-ups, or any other desired outcome.


Full Control over Campaigns
Advertisers get absolute control over managing their Google AdWords accounts and measuring the campaigns. This kind of targeted advertising is far more versatile than advertising in the print or television media because advertisers only pay for customers that click on the links whereas in other mass media, they end up paying for everybody but only a few really see it. With Google AdWords, you have the advantage of launching a campaign, conducting a result analysis, and making suitable adjustments. There is no need for you to commit yourself to a long agreement, and also, there is no minimum expenditure criterion. These facilities ensure that first-time advertisers can start in a very small way and pick up skills as they go along.


Bidding and Selection of Keywords
To keep the entire process simple and easy to execute, it is recommended that automatic bidding be used when advertisers are starting out. Setting up a daily budget for the campaign is preferable so you do not spend too much on advertising. An Internet marketing company can help you set the ideal advertisement budget. It is also possible to set a maximum rate for cost-per-click so the system does not spend more than what is desired per keyword.
Google makes available its own keyword tool free of charge that you can use to research the keywords online. The intention of every advertiser is to refine and classify the applicable keywords into groups that are closely-themed with different advertising copy, landing pages and bids. Doing this makes the monitoring easier and also ensures that you are not competing with yourself as far as bids for keywords are concerned.


Selecting Effective Keywords
The best way of choosing keywords is to conduct searches to see what works best. There is little point in using the name of your business as the keyword —searchers normally try to locate products and services in a generic manner. Investigate what your competitors are doing on AdWords so that instead of battling with them for the same words, you can think of creative alternatives that will get you the desired results.

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Try to focus on the unique selling points of your business so that you can frame alternative keywords that are not being used by your competitors and, hence, it is possible for you to get the top rank for a far lower cost.