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  • Google Analytics Update Begins Filtering Bot Traffic

    Google Analytics has recently rolled out an update that will hopefully give some clarity to the traffic that your website may or may not be getting. This new update represents the first large scale effort to weed out traffic that may be coming from the most widely known bots and spiders on the web.

    The update lets Google pull out data from those bots that are present on the IAB’s International Bots and Spiders list. This list is not available to the public, but it is a well known resource that businesses have used to identify potential sources of illegitimate traffic.

    This update is still in the early stages, so not all Analytics accounts will have access to the feature, but it can be found in the view settings. Those who have been updated will see an option to “Exclude hits from known bots and spiders”. Once this option has been enabled, Google will begin gradually filtering out traffic from these known sources.

    This is a minor change as far as Analytics go, but it could end up having a huge impact on how you make decisions regarding your website. If you have been experiencing high levels of traffic but low conversion rates and interaction, that could mean your traffic is comprised largely of various bots and spiders, although it could mean you have some other website issues.

    This update to Google Analytics will not get rid of all traffic from non-human sources, but it is a good tool to help webmasters get a sense of their true levels of traffic. Much like traffic that comes from employees is not helpful for the bottom line, the bot traffic is an online issue that has resulted in over delivery of “traffic” for many years. This new change may end up making some websites look bad in the short run, but it can help accurately guide web strategy going forward. Good luck and thanks for reading!

  • Google Launches “Google My Business”

    Google is finally having an official launch for their new local business tools that used to be shared between Google Places & Google Plus. The new service, which is known as “Google My Business” is a new initiative to bring together the previous local business services that have been providing mixed results for SEO professionals and small business owners alike.

    What Has Changed?

    It used to be that local business listings could be created either within Google Places, or from the Google Plus Local Business area. Both of these programs provided a very similar, but different enough that they served their own purpose, experience for managing business listings. However, the two continued to converge until a Google Places listing was nearly indistinguishable from Google Plus page of a similar nature. This new “My Business” platform is a way to bring the two together once and for all, and finally stop the confusion for creating local listings through Google.

    Is Google My Business Better?

    There have been rumblings of updates to the local listing services offered by Google for months, and my first impression is that the new interface does provide a nice mix of the previous two services. I see a clean presentation of listing analytics, review management, site analytics (if they are connected), and YouTube data, all near a Google Plus posting box. A business really could manage their entire Google Plus presence from this single location.

    However, the new program is still getting off the ground, and it definitely shows. I encountered many 404 errors and clicked links to nowhere as I tried to move between listings and different accounts. As this change moves across all existing listings I am sure there are going to be more kinks than an old garden hose.

    The Future for Google Local

    There are new features such as an improved bulk upload option for those who will be managing multiple locations. I have not had a change to use it yet, but if it works with the same process and clean approach as for individual listings, I will consider this update to be a welcome change. If you are managing listings for clients, or have a listing for your business, check out the shiny new options that is “Google My Business“.

  • Google Release Panda 4.0 Update

    Google Release Panda 4.0 Update

    Earlier this week, Google decided to mix up their search and release a major update to the Panda search algorithm. There have been numerous Panda updates since its release that made some minor changes and impacted some sites, but this is a major change to the algorithm that has had an immediate and harsh affect on some very large companies.

    If you want to see ground zero for this announcement, you can check out the Twitter account of the (in)famous Matt Cutts. In normal online marketing fashion, most of the SEO and web design world has begun to freak out about this change. Here are some of the breaking news articles that were released shortly thereafter:

    Forbes

    And the list goes on. More interesting than the actual update, is the huge impact it is having on some very well known websites. Here is an article that outlines the websites that have been impacted the most positively or negatively by the algorithm update. The list is large, but here are some of the highlights:

    Ebay has lost 33% of its traffic as a result of the update

    Ask.com has lost 50% of traffic

    The company information site, Glassdoor has had its visits double since the update

    Discount site CouponCabin has had traffic increase by 250%, while rival deal site RetailMeNot has seen traffic fall by 33%

    The dust is still settling from this change, so there are surely many more sites that have benefited and been potentially ruined by this updated. It is surprising that auction giant Ebay was just one of many well known sites seen as “spammy” by this update.

    What does it mean for you?

    As is the case with many of these updates, the rich will get richer, the spam artists will have to find a new gimmick, and there will be collateral damage to a number of sites that did not deserve to lose their rankings. The key to finding out how it will affect you and your business is to find out which of these you are, and how to shift gears if you are in a bad position.

    • The rich get richer: If you have been doing everything right so far and you have maintained or increased your rankings, then you should simply maintain course. Anyone who has managed to stay in Google’s good graces through the last year of SEO changes with Hummingbird, the anti-guest blog stance, and now the Panda 4.0 update, should be proud. However, it is important to continue along the straight and narrow course if you want continued success.
    • Spammers: This algorithm update is primarily geared towards pushing spammy or low quality content down the rankings or off the search index altogether. It seems like this change will be much harder for Black Hat SEOs to recover from since it is not your run of the mill update that makes one tactic less useful. This is a concentrated  effort by Google to punish any site that has been participating in spammy practices.
    • Collateral Damage: Unfortunately there will be a number of innocent sites hurt by this update. They may have been playing by the rules, but for whatever reason they have dropped in the search results. If this is your website, it is imperative that you launch a campaign to get your website recognized as a reliable source in your industry so you can begin to recover. Look in to expanding your social presence, using structured data on your website, and tightening up your link structure just to get started.
  • Avoiding Black Hat SEO for 2014

    Avoiding Black Hat SEO for 2014

    If you read our previous post about New Year’s Resolutions for your website, you saw some black hat SEO tactics that we want you to avoid. However, what exactly is black hat SEO? It’s what is considered the unethical and easy way to increase the search ranking of a page. Why is it unethical? To know why it is unethical you need to know what the intention of a search engine is. The goal of a search engine is to sift through the trillions of web pages to find quality links to websites that relate to your search. Black hat SEO uses techniques that increase a pages ranking by trying to deceive the search engine. So it increases the page ranking without actually being a quality link. Black hat SEO also violates a search engines rules and regulations.

    Some of the techniques that a black hat SEO may include:

    • Hidden text. Websites with text that is either off screen or the same color as the background.
    • Keyword stuffing. Stuffing the website full of long lists of keywords that relate to your website.
    • Using link farms. This is building a network of sites that link to one another for an easy increase in page ranking.

    While this shows results for the website trying to increase it’s page ranking, it can be frustrating for the user and completely goes against the goals of the search engine.

    While getting caught doing black hat SEO won’t land you any jail time, it will put you in some hot water with the search engines. Sites that use black hat techniques will eventually get banned for their unethical practices so this type of SEO while effective is only temporary.

    More Than a Slap on the Wrist, Real Life Black Hats Revealed

    • In 2006, BMW got caught spamdexing in an effort to send users to their website. When discovered, they were given the worst punishment for SEO, they were removed from the Google index.
    • Back in 2011, JC Penny came under fire after a New York Times article investigated how JC Penny did so well in search results. It was later found that JC Penny was using thousands of unrelated websites to link to the JC Penny website. After Google was alerted, JC Penny was no longer showing up in searches that it had previously been ranked first. When JC Penny was contacted by the times they claimed they were unaware of the links and terminated their relationship with their SEO firm, SearchDex.
    • In early December, Google discovered a link network: Anglo Rank. Soon after, it was confirmed that Anglo Rank was penalized as well as those involved. It seems like in the past year, Google has been increasing its efforts to eliminate black hat SEO. With 2013 drawing to a close it is looking like 2014 will be an even better year for SEO.

    -By Evan Wright

  • Video Ads & The Future of Facebook

    Video Ads & The Future of Facebook

    Auto play for your convenience?

    If you have been browsing the Facebook newsfeed recently you may have noticed some subtle changes to the way videos now function on this main page. Videos will begin playing on their own, albeit without sound, as the user scrolls past them. In between status updates and links to the newest internet meme, some videos will now start functioning with this auto-run feature. If this has happened to you do not assume that you have a virus of browser error, this is merely preparation for the new Facebook video ads that will begin making their way onto your screen.

    The first official video ad for the film “Divergent” should be on screen for a select number of profiles sometime today. This move by Facebook has not been quick or without much consideration. The video ads and their environment have been in the works for months, and this single ad is the first real application of this feature at work. There is some debate on the usefulness of this new tool and the implications for advertisers and user alike.

    A major update or a major pain?

    The first concern falls on advertisers. Content for these new video advertisements must be remade, so that advertisers cannot simply port over existing commercials or ads and have them automatically play. This will increase costs for advertisers just on the production end.

    The upfront cost is estimated to be substantial as well. Earlier this year, Adage reported that Facebook was asking $1 million for a 15 second ad to be displayed on profiles for a day, a pretty penny when you consider that Superbowl advertisements run at a similar cost level per second and can potentially reach a broader audience.

    The second concern falls on the user. Advertisements online have begun to reach the level of the infomercial, with many of us counting the seconds before we can skip the remainder of an advertisement for a YouTube video. An auto-play function for what used to be a static ad could end up generating substantial backlash for Facebook and the advertisers alike.

    Facebook says that the ad will stop playing once the user scrolls past it, but what if the ad is located close to a post the user wants to stop and read? No doubt that the relevancy of the content surrounding the ad will factor in to the cost of placing the ad. A friend posting about an upcoming movie may now be accompanied with an advertisement playing the trailer for that exact film. The implications are interesting, but have the potential to become a headache for users. These ads will also be coming to mobile as well. Facebook says they will not affect data plans, with the ads downloading from wi-fi when available, but they will may end up causing issues for some users. Here is a link to the official statement from Facebook.

    Will it work?

    Effective marketing has become much more difficult over the last few years. Facebook ads in the same vein as Vine videos may be a way to drive customer interaction, but it could also alienate users who see this new effort as an invasion of their online safe zone, by taking away the control for some of the ads. What is next? An advertisement for Tide shows up on my profile if I post a picture of me in a dirty shirt? Or maybe cat pictures will now be accompanied with a plug for Friskies cat food. Facebook must tread lightly here, the social network with “special offers” may not be as friendly as they think.

  • Apple Acquires Topsy, A Twitter Insight Tool

    Apple Acquires Topsy, A Twitter Insight Tool

    It was announced on December 2nd that Apple has acquired Topsy, a social analytics firm, for over $200 million. The Topsy platform allows users to view the content of any tweet that has been written since 2006. This information can be used to draw conclusions about the relevance of certain issues in the digital realm. Although tweets about cute cat videos and Miley Cyrus have no doubt been popular, Topsy has had a big impact on real issues such as politics.

    Topsy made the news during the 2012 presidential election when it was used to help measure candidates popularity on Twitter. Topsy is a large partner of Twitter that creates products that sift through the hundreds of billions of Tweets, and allows users to find out what has really been trending on Twitter for the last few years.

    In addition to tracking tweets, Topsy has expanded to allow trends to be viewed based on links and photo shares as well. This has helped researches to see the true impact and reach of content that has gone viral over the last few years. With an opportunity to gain control of a powerful consumer insight tool, Apple decided to acquire Topsy to learn more about what consumers are really interested in.

    This is not Apples first purchase of what they refer to as “bolt-on” companies. Apple often has acquired small hardware companies and integrated the new technologies provided by those companies into their new products. While another “bolt-on” company purchase is not unusual for Apple, Apple is not known for its ventures in social media. Apples last attempt at social media was with it’s music sharing service, Ping, which was shut down when it failed to gain traction with consumers.

    While Apple has yet to comment on what it intends to do with Topsy, many have speculated its usefulness in Apple services such as Siri and the iTunes online media store. Topsy could be useful in helping to provide purchase recommendations to customers on the iTunes online media store.

    -By Evan Wright

  • Using Customer Lifetime Value to Grow Your Business

    Using Customer Lifetime Value to Grow Your Business

    Customer Lifetime Value, or CLV, is a way to measure the value of a customer over the entire relationship they have with your business. Many companies, and especially online companies, primarily focus on customer metrics such as the click-thru rate or average order amount. However, the CLV gives a much clearer picture of the long term revenue potential for your customer base. It is vital to know how to use this information. It allows you to find out which customers are truly the most valuable for your business, and determine how to keep them as loyal customers for a long period of time. Here are some questions to ask when you are looking at your company CLV:

    1. Are you paying enough to acquire customers from each channel of marketing?
    2. Are you acquiring the best kinds of customers?
    3. Are you spending too much/little on social media for customers?

    Customer Lifetime Value ends up being a dollar amount that is associated with any customer relationship that is long-term; it shows how much that relationship is worth over a certain period of time. If your company is not yielding this dollar amount in revenue, it could be a signal that you are spending too much money on acquiring or retaining customers, often times spending the money in the wrong places.

    Customer Lifetime Value can determine where exactly to spend your money. For most businesses, it is smart of them to spend their money in multiple areas such as marketing, production, sales, and customer support. With Customer Lifetime Value, you not only find the dollar amount that should be spent on each customer, but also which ones are your best customers, how you can better serve those customers with your products, determine how much service you need to give to these customers to keep them, and which types of customers your sales people should be spending the most time on.

    Harvard has designed a calculation tool for determining the lifetime value of a customer based on a number of different factors. These include the average purchase amount, the number of purchases a customer makes per year, the advertising costs to reach this customer annually, and some other tools such as the profit margin for your business and the customer retention rate. All of these can factor into making the CLV of your customer base positive or negative.

    By using this tool and others like it you could find out a number of things about your business. For example, you may have customers that spend a lot of money in their first purchase, but a low retention rates means you do not have a sustainable base of loyal customers. Conversely, you may find that your customers do not contribute much to the bottom line initially, but over time their loyalty builds and they spend more with your company. Technical tools such as this can show you how effective your advertising has been, when customers are likely to increase your profits, and how valuable a single customer really can be. Check out our services to find out how to refine your online marketing process, increase your CLV and ultimately grow your business.

  • Take-Aways From Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian

    Take-Aways From Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian

    Hundreds of people, young and old, crowded a University of Minnesota auditorium last Thursday. Why? To hear a 30-year old talk about his philosophies. Alexis Ohanian is an entrepreneur and open-internet activist, best known for co-creating reddit.

    For those who are unfamiliar with reddit, it is a social news platform, where visitors choose the content they see. The content is entirely user generated. If you have an interest, chances are that there’s a reddit community that exists around it. You know those memes you see on Facebook? They’re probably from reddit. This month alone, reddit had 15 million unique visitors.

    As a reddit addict, I thought I would go and hear about my favorite website. What I got instead was an eye-opening presentation on entrepreneurship in a digital age. Here’s what I learned:

    “I have a great idea!” – Everyone

    Good ideas are a dime a dozen. What matters is execution; acting on those ideas.

    Don’t know anything about coding? Learn. It’s the most valuable skill of this century.

    The Internet has changed the way we do just about everything. Clearly, it’s not going away any time soon. We don’t even know where it will take us yet. Ohanian thinks that as we’re discovering this new territory, we’re building it right underneath our feet. The digital world is changing, and those of us who were “raised” with the Internet will be the ones who shape it. Anyone who has the passion and drive can make big changes in the global community, and it’s all because of the Internet.

    You don’t need anyone’s permission to build and innovate. Don’t do what you’re supposed to do. Don’t do anything for anyone else. Try something different. If you can build something that people like, that’s all that matters. When Ohanian started reddit as an undergraduate, he had no idea what he was doing. He had no reason to be meeting with companies like Google and Yahoo, but he followed his passion and created “the front page of the internet.”

    Alexis Ohanian delivers his vision with passion and humor. Hearing him speak could make anyone want to get out and start something great. What are you waiting for?

     

    Alexis is on a 70-college, 150-stop bus tour for his new book, Without Their Permission. Ohanian, the embodiment of dorm-room tech entrepreneurs, is changing the world, without asking permission.

  • Social Media in Action: Success & Failure in the Digital Realm

    Social Media in Action: Success & Failure in the Digital Realm

    Social media is not a fad or a trend, it is a necessary tool for business. Social media is increasingly the primary means of communication among Fortune 500 companies, which makes you wonder: why aren’t more small or mid-sized businesses taking advantage of this simple, inexpensive tool to grow their brand?

    Social media is being used by large corporations to a great extent, with 70% on Facebook and 77% utilizing Twitter. Their online presences are growing vigorously and we don’t expect any drop-offs in the near future.

    Some of the top companies engaging their customers through social media are Ford, HP, T-Mobile, Zappos.com, Coca Cola and Starbucks. Starbucks, which tops the list at more than 4.5 million followers on Twitter, can easily reach a large population with minimal effort.

    Starbucks: #ComeTogether

    Just recently, the CEO of Starbucks released an Instagram video starting the #ComeTogether campaign. This campaign urged patrons to sign a petition to end the government shut down. The petition reached more than one million signatures the first day. With more than 30,000 likes on Instagram, 180,000+ “likes” on Facebook, and “Starbucks” frequently trending on Twitter, the #ComeTogether campaign exemplifies the power of social media and its ability to rouse followers.

    Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ CEO, added another aspect to this campaign using the “Pay it Forward” concept. The idea was to encourage customers to buy another person’s drink, and, in return, they would be rewarded with a free coffee. This act of humility is significant in this stand-still time.

    Coca-Cola: Roll Out Happiness

    Another example of Social Media being used effectively by huge corporations is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is arguably the most influential company in the world, given its amazing brand image and social involvement across the globe. One of its most recent campaigns was titled “Roll Out Happiness.”

    Coca-Cola made a Youtube video to promote the “Roll Out Happiness” campaign, which was shot in a gray, slow-moving area in Amsterdam. It starts with the word “gray” appearing in many different languages, and then goes on to show a large town square and a Coke truck laying down on the grass. Eventually, people start to move towards the grass and see the Coke machine that says: “To enjoy happiness, take off your shoes.” The video shows different people “enjoying happiness” while drinking a bottle of Coke.

    When considering the success that companies like Starbucks and Coca-Cola have had through social media, it’s important to remember that big brand names usually have large followings, even if they don’t actively engage their audiences. That’s why it’s important to remind yourself that your strategy shouldn’t merely be about increasing your audience but rather attracting users who genuinely benefit from what you have to offer.

    Naked Juice: The Potential for Backlash

    When a brand breaks its promises or doesn’t hold true to its values, the customers let them know how they feel. The easiest way to give public feedback, of course, is through social media.

    Naked Juice found this out the hard way. In the not-too-distant past, Naked Juice was labeled as “All Natural.” That was its brand image and the quality that set it apart from other beverages. In early 2013, a class action lawsuit exposed the company for lying about its all-natural status, and the company’s loyal patrons quickly turned against it. Take a look at any of Naked Juice’s Facebook posts and you’ll see it littered with comments about GMOs and the lawsuit.
    Although cases like Naked Juice’s are rare, they are important to keep in mind. If your company makes a big mistake, the social media backlash could ruin your brand image.

    Typically, however, you won’t encounter any problems, and you’ll find that having discussions with your customers is not only a lot of fun but can also be very informative.

    Every business approaches social media from a different angle. If you or your company does something unique, send us a tweet (@DigitalParc) and let us know what it is!

  • Using Social Bookmarking to Grow Your Business

    Using Social Bookmarking to Grow Your Business

    Social bookmarking has grown in popularity over the last few years for both avid online content readers, and marketers looking to grow their online presence. However, it seems that this important online marketing tool has managed to hide in plain site for numerous business owners. It is important to know the differences between social media, social news, social bookmarking, and the impact that all of them can have on your business.

    Social bookmarking is commonly interchanged with social media. Unless you have been living under a digital rock, you are familiar with the common social media websites and their function. The giant websites such as Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter allow user to share many different types of content. Some emerging websites include Vine and Instagram, which allow users to share pictures and short videos.

    Social bookmarking can involve social media, but this process is much more than sending a tweet or uploading your thoughts on a recent home-made meal to a Facebook status. Social bookmarking allows a user to share something they have seen, whether it is a blog post, news article, picture, or even an entire website, to a directory which makes this content easier for other users to locate. One great example of this is StumbleUpon, which allows users to share any content for other user to stumble on to during their browsing session.

    Those who engage in social bookmarking can directly share the content with another user, or make it more likely that someone they do not know will happen upon the shared content. This type of promotion can be very useful for bringing in new customers who did not know they needed your product or service in the first place.

    Social bookmarking has another component that allows news worthy content to be shared on a massive scale. Websites such as Digg and Reddit are a type of social bookmarking site which allow any user to share a link to interesting content they have found or created. Since these sites are used on a very large scale, many happenings in the news will be shared on the site and then discussed by users.

    This type of social news can serve as a content engine for a business. You may have just released a groundbreaking new product into the market. You can share the product via traditional and social news, then let the marketplace do your work for you. Articles reviewing and discussing the product, with links back to your website can all spawn from a simple share through a social bookmarking or social news website.

    The purpose of social bookmarking is to make the information of the internet easier to digest. If a user were to try to wade through all of the available information it would be a daunting task. You have created great content on your website, make sure that you share it and get it out there for the world to see! By utilizing a social bookmarking strategy, you can make sure that like-minded individuals will share your content with one another, and give your content valuable exposure to a difficult to reach audience. A good social media strategy may be easy to start, but it is difficult to master. To find out about some agency services that will aid you in your social bookmarking strategy, follow this link to our social media services page and get a free consultation!