Google is flagging some websites for being too slow and a client helping adults with disabilities opens its third location.
What you need to know about “The Dress”
The dress of many colors was a random bit of viral content that spread throughout the planet. I received responses from Australia, Africa, Europe and Asia when I asked people using super-cool new social network Plague how far the issue had spread.
As an organization leader, you should understand that this started late Wednesday night and saturated the Internet by Thursday afternoon. Smart marketers offered “dress-free” zones and “explainer” articles for their communities.
You missed the opportunity if you didn’t publish then because everything was over by midday Friday. That’s the speed needed for social media.
Is your site unusually slow? Google is testing a red slow label in the search results that will warn searchers before they click over to your web site.Google has been warning organizations about this issue for years. This is only a test and not released widespread yet, but some version of it WILL come soon.
This is really big news. Google remains an advertising company because ads generate essentially all of the companies profits. But mobile-only advertising means that Google now has a major initiative that doesn’t use computers.
That means your mobile website, local listings and phones need to be ready for calls now, even if you don’t take advantage of this program.
We are so proud of SPARC. The org supports adults with disabilities in Northern Virginia. There was only one SPARC location when we began working with them. They just opened in their third town and have expanded their services. Please reach out to them or me if you want to help or are interested in their services.
“Only focusing on links is probably going to cause more problems for your web site…” That’s what Google Webmaster Trends analyst John Mueller said online Friday, February 13, during a Google training session.
With so much information online about search engine optimization, we keep a big library of comments made by the search companies and trusted sources. John is another Google proponent of natural link building through amazing content. See his YouTube video here: http://bit.ly/1a0O6iL:
Most Pinterest clones sell things now so the big company getting involved shouldn’t be a surprise. Their 70 million monthly visitors are going to be a web savvy shopping group for retailers. This Re/Code article says that Pinterest might use Stripe for its credit card processing.
That’s a smart choice. We use Stripe on www.BibleClock.org and love the simplicity and market rates with no equipment to buy. “
Pinterest has a $5 billion market valuation, which doesn’t make financial sense if it’s only an advertising platform. Look for the company to charge retailers a percentage of sales like Amazon.
We’re over the moon about Moms Clean Air Force’s success on Facebook. They do a fantastic job representing more than 410,000 members who are concerned about air pollution and climate change. The org made an early decision to build a Facebook community. That choice is paying off handsomely now as they consistently rank among the top advocacy organizations in the world for messaging about environmental issues.
You already know that more of your website visitors are arriving via mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Even if you don’t study your website’s analytics, you surely know that your own activity is increasingly done on devices other than a computer. The website may remain the hub of your digital presence, but social media, email and your presence on other websites are all important components of your organization’s marketing.
Old school mobile advertising
We routinely see data showing client websites receive up to half of their visitors via mobile devices. That’s true on specialty sites receiving few visitors and sites that receive thousands of visitors every day.
Up to half and growing is an important number.
Google is meeting the trend by creating “call-only” advertising campaigns that should be part of every local retailer and service company’s strategy moving forward. The mobile feature launches with the ability for your agency to start scripting messages and landing pages directly for mobile. And that means you can save significant amounts of advertising expenses by optimizing a mobile-only ad campaign.
Mobile advertising has been available for years, but mobile-only is a giant step for the world’s leading search engine company. Remember that almost all Google profit comes from advertising so Google mobile advertising is not a casual test. The company says that “70% of mobile searchers call a business directly from search results.”
If only a fraction of that number is accurate, your organization needs to be using this new feature fast. Talk with us about call-only advertising if you’re a client or think you should be one.
