Behavioral Targeting – Glossary What is Behavioral Targeting? Behavioral targeting is a technique used by online publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns through information collected on an individual’s Web-browsing behavior, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made, to select which advertisements to display to that individual. The technique helps deliver online advertisements to the users who will be the most interested in them. Behavioral data can also be combined with other user information such as purchase history to create a more complete user profile. How Does Behavioral Targeting Work? When a user visits a website a cookie is placed onto the computer. Benefits of Behavioral Targeting Proponents of behavioral targeting believe that it is beneficial for the user and the online property. Advertisers are also able to benefit because users will be more engaged in targeted advertisements. Behavioral Targeting Discussion Behavioral Targeting Resources
3 Mobile Apps that Put Visual Content Creation in Your Pocket Content Creation has changed. Everyone is a potential content creator – with a smartphone in their pocket. Especially Visual Content. These 3 Mobile Apps give you the ability to create killer visual content – by producing awesome images, in real-time, on-the-go. Just two years ago we were reliant on high-end programs like photoshop (or paying a designer) to create beautiful visual content to post across social media channels. Times have changed. Now you, your team (and your clients!) So let’s take a look at some of the apps I am using right now to easily create content using image & text combinations. Think you don’t have the time or creativity to create amazing visual content? 3 Killer Apps for Visual Content Creation #1 WordSwag App You may have heard me sing the praises (obsessively) of WordSwag App in the last few weeks. It literally lets you take any tip, text or quote, add a source and boom – you have a savvy-designed, shareable piece of visual content. Here is WordSwag on Instagram:
12 Things You Need to Do for Semantic Search Semantic search. You’ve heard of it, you’ve researched it and you’re probably wondering what to do about it. Black hat, white hat, and everything in between could soon be a thing of the past, as semantic search forces the industry to revert back to the question: What does the user want? It’s a simple concept, but one that has been lost in a whirlwind of advice, speculation, and see-what-sticks techniques. Semantic search gives the industry a chance to go back to basics and provide information rather than force it. Let’s take a look at how to embrace semantics. Think Like a User Simply put, if you’re going to optimize for the user, you need to think like the user. (Screenshot taken 31/10/2014 on Google.co.uk) Take the above example. SEJ SUMMIT. This could mean you’re providing information about your delivery service, the logistics of your business, and what’s happening in the industry. Understand the Graph (Screenshot taken on 31/10/2014 on Google.co.uk) Make Use of Local Mind Your Markup
The Shift to Visual Social Media - 6 Tips for Business [Infographic] Our focus has shifted from Social Media to VISUAL Social Media. We are drawn to “visual content” online in more ways than ever before. The opportunity this provides for business is massive. But there are some key concepts and strategies that you need to know in order to leverage the power of this shift towards using visual content in social media. This post highlights our latest infographic, featuring: the shift to visual social media and how it developedwhat this means for your business or brand online6 simple strategies for leveraging the power of visual marketing strategies for greater reach and engagement The Shift to VISUAL SOCIAL MEDIA There is no denying that a massive shift has happened in the way we communicate online, especially with Social Media. What began with websites, became dynamic websites or “blogs”. We also made the shift from Tell to Show. What Does This Shift Mean For Your Business or Brand? How Can Your Business Leverage the Power of Visual Social Media? #6 Mix it Up
How To Generate 20,000 Monthly Visitors Through Long-Tail Search Do you want more search visitors? Search engines aren’t the only source of targeted visitors, but effectively targeting long-tail keywords in your content can greatly increase your monthly search visitors. I’ve generated 173,336 qualified visitors from long-tail keyword phrases in the past year – a 91% increase. Your long-tail keywords may not rank in Google’s top 10 results, and it’s true that 60% of all organic clicks go to the top 3 search results, but that still leaves 40% up for grabs. If you consistently publish in-depth content around long-tail keywords, you’ll see an increase in search traffic, attract paying customers, and grow your brand. Now you know the potential impact of long-tail key phrases on your site growth, let’s dive in and learn how to sustain that organic traffic. In this article, we’ll cover these four topics: How to research long-tail keywordsCase studies on long-tail keywordsRanking elements for long-tail keywordsTools to help you pick the right long-tail keywords 1.
Visual Social Media Smackdown - 5 Things You're Doing that You Need to Stop You’ve heard all the tips and strategies for visual social media. But now it’s time for “what NOT to do”. It’s time for a visual social media smackdown. In this post I share 5 things you may be doing that you need to stop doing. Like… right now. The rise and rise of visual content has been huge, and we can select from a virtual smorgasbord of opportunities to create, share and benefit from visual content. However, with new “things” there is a period like the Wild West…. where anything goes. Then it’s time to throw out your lasso and reign in the behaviours that are a little unruly… things we maybe know we shouldn’t be doing but we keep doing them anyway. Here are 5 things you maybe doing with your visual content that you need to stop. Let The Visual Social Media Smackdown Commence… #1 Say No to Google Images Let’s get one thing straight. I know… it looks like one, feels like one, allows easy downloads like one.. but it’s not one. A copyright smackdown. Are we agreed? No. Seriously you don’t!
How to Optimize Your Content for Google's Featured Snippet Box In the past few years Google have been refining the way that it displays results to users. In particular, Google has been increasing the number of Featured Snippets that it displays for queries. What's a Featured Snippet? And more importantly, what do you have to do to appear there? Well, that's what I set out to explore. What is a Featured Snippet? A Featured Snippet is shown in some search engine results pages (SERPs), usually when a question-based query is being searched for. Here's an example for the query, "how to make bread": The Featured Snippet is the box at the top that displays the direct instructions that have been pulled from the tasteofhome.com webpage. Why Should You Care About Featured Snippets? One of the first conclusions that a lot of people involved with SEO jumped to was that featured snippets would have a hugely negative impact on the amount of people that actually click through to the pages within the results. How Do You Rank in the Featured Snippet Section?
19 Visual Social Media Secrets from the Pros [SlideShare] Is your brand telling visual stories? Are you empowering your fans to create and share visual content for you? Brands who create and curate visual content are seeing wider reach, more shares and traffic to their real or virtual doorstep. We asked 19 Visual Social Media Experts for the secrets behind their success online using visual content… Visual Social Media is hot right now. We rounded up some of the world’s top thought leaders, developers, experts, designers, bloggers, Pinterest and Instagram Influencers and photographers and asked them to reveal their secrets. The result? They responded with insightful and innovative visual social media advice. This advice has helped to grow personal brands, bestselling books, the world’s top blogs, Start-Up companies that are literally shaping the future of the visual web, and some of the world’s largest Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram communities. And it all happened organically, using their visual content secrets. Here is what they said: #9 Sue B.
How to Optimize Your Content for Google's Featured Snippet Box In the past few years Google have been refining the way that it displays results to users. In particular, Google has been increasing the number of Featured Snippets that it displays for queries. What's a Featured Snippet? And more importantly, what do you have to do to appear there? Well, that's what I set out to explore. What is a Featured Snippet? A Featured Snippet is shown in some search engine results pages (SERPs), usually when a question-based query is being searched for. Here's an example for the query, "how to make bread": The Featured Snippet is the box at the top that displays the direct instructions that have been pulled from the tasteofhome.com webpage. Why Should You Care About Featured Snippets? One of the first conclusions that a lot of people involved with SEO jumped to was that featured snippets would have a hugely negative impact on the amount of people that actually click through to the pages within the results. How Do You Rank in the Featured Snippet Section?
5 Photo Sharing Apps That Aren't Instagram Photo sharing apps are huge right now. Ever since Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram for 1 billion dollars back in 2012, photo sharing and collaboration has been at the top of developer’s hit lists. Obviously, Instagram is the most popular, and you are probably already on it. But if you are looking for something new, or for something that has more of a focus and theme, check out a couple of the options listed below. 1. 2. 3. With Cirqle 2.0 releasing soon, Cirqle plans to differentiate themselves from the crowd by offering an offline mode that uses Bluetooth to share content with others in your area. 4. While it is unlike the rest on the list, Snapchat is continuing to grow into more of a social app as new features are added allowing for things like My Story, which publishes your photos (or videos) for all of your friends to see for a 24 hour period. 5. *Photos courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
7 Ways to Increase Your Form Field Conversion Rate (by Up to 672%) Pop quiz: How do you generate leads? Answer: By placing a high-converting lead generation form in a landing page. From there, you begin to nurture the leads—persuading them to buy your product. A SalesForce study found that “companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50 percent more sales-ready leads at 33 percent lower cost.” The gateway between your site and the visitor is the lead generation form. But how do you ensure that your lead generation form is optimized for the user? That’s a big challenge for Internet marketers. This is the second most important goal of B2B companies: to generate leads. So let’s dive in and learn how to optimize a lead generation form, so that you can capture the majority of visitors to your site. Download this cheat sheet of 7 ways to increase your form field conversion rate. 1. Everything we do on a landing page is to increase engagement and to get the right people to trust us. Engaged time usually peaks above-the-fold. 2. Let’s see a real world example:
5 Ideas for Your Library's Pinterest Account Tags: Is your Pinterest account in need of a refresh or new ideas? Or perhaps you're just getting started in the Pinterest world and need some (p)inspiration? Under Lauren's supervision, the ARVRLS has 61 boards and 1,600 followers. "In general, we aspire to be entertaining, engaging, and educational, just like the library itself." Here are some of the key tips Lauren shared during our webinar: 1. Lauren showed us the ARVRLS' Play Date and Lego My Lego boards, which are based on the library's current programs. 2. Pinterest has a feature called Place Pins, which allow you to associate what you pin to a mapped location. 3. Featuring your boards on Facebook opens up your Pinterest collections to people who might not be avid Pinterest users. 4. Lauren talked about a few ways she uses Pinterest for staff development. 5. Pinterest allows you to create "group" boards where you can invite multiple people to pin on a board. Bonus Tip: Weed Your Boards Pinterest Resources for Libraries
The ultimate content marketing strategy The idea of using content to help drive ecommerce sales can sometimes feel daunting. Today’s digital landscape is a 24-hour news cycle, with social media platforms that never sleep. Content is constantly created and published. So the question often arises, “If I want to take on content marketing for my business, where do I begin?” In this post, I will address how to build the ultimate content marketing strategy and make the process organized and smooth. First, begin with your company’s mission, its culture, its core values, and your goals for the business. The easiest way to generate ideas for content is to simply look at the questions your shoppers ask you — via customer support, comments on product pages, and general interactions. Next, identify opportunities for communicating with your audience. Once you’ve located your audience, it’s time to build your team to execute your strategy. The advantage of social media marketing is to build a unique bond with your customers.
10 Social Media Marketing Tips for Libraries There are now so many social media platforms available for libraries to participate in, but it’s sometimes difficult to get a handle on how these channels can best be used for marketing library services. If you’re considering leveraging social media to promote your library, here are some strategies I’ve found helpful: 1.) Just because you CAN sign up with every social media channel out there doesn’t mean you SHOULD. 2.) You don’t have to create all original content for your blog, tweets, or Facebook statuses, and actually it’s a better idea not to do so. 3.) Create a consistent presence on all of the social media platforms you’re using for your library. 4.) No one wants to see a one-way conversation. 5.) A great way to market the library is to let everyone know about all of the events you have going on. 6.) New platforms such as Pinterest, the digital pinboard application or the Instagram mobile social network are becoming increasingly popular. 7.) 8.) 9.)