Website Magazine October 2014

6 Tips for Foolproof Social Media Design, Page 20

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THE MAGAZINE FOR WEBSITE SUCCESS OCTOBER 2014

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ANALYTICS INSIDE THIS ISSUE...

Making the Case for Mobile SEO Forward-Thinking Content Management Systems Six Powerful Plugins for WordPress Blogs

PLUS 0 TOP 5edia

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Resource Center FINELY FOCUSED INFORMATION FROM INDUSTRY SPONSORS Scan to visit our Resource Center at www.WebsiteMagazine.com/resources.

Website Magazine’s Resource Center presents whitepapers from our sponsors that provide information, specifics and metrics to help you make decisions for website success. Download free at www.WebsiteMagazine.com/resources.

Can Your CMS Handle Success?

A Practical Guide To Selecting A Content Management System To be successful today, an organization must keep up with Web-savvy digital natives who switch seamlessly between devices, channels, and their work and home personas. This eBook provides some insights and recommendations into how to select a CMS that can meet these demands.

Sponsored by Acquia

The Big Impact of Big Data On Affiliate Marketing

Managing an affiliate program without the benefit of Big Data intelligence is a losing game. Explore the ramifications of old school affiliate data management and dive into the incredible value that big data insights can deliver to affiliate marketing and your company’s bottom line.

Sponsored by Impact Radius

So You Think You Don’t Owe Sales Tax?

Often, companies that don’t collect and remit sales tax actually have more rigorous rules to follow for compliance.

Manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, resellers, and not-forprofit organizations may not expect to pay sales tax. The burden of proof is on the seller, however.

Sponsored by Avalara

Web Personalization 101: Create Personalized Marketing Experiences

Discover how real-time personalization tools allow you to craft highly relevant experiences for every type of buyer visiting your site. Learn how these tools automatically identify visitor behaviors, demographics, and firmographics as well as present personalized messages to each segment of your audience.

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What Platform Do you Need?

Lead management can get extremely complicated very fast. How do you know when, where and why to invest your time and money? This whitepaper reviews automation, campaign management, distribution, analytics, security, integration and more, to help you navigate to a solution that works for your bottom line.

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SEO 101: The Basics & Beyond

Most of your potential buyers are going to search online for information before making a purchase. In order to have a chance to make the sale, you have to be found and you have to be find-able.

Learn current SEO best practices that companies of all sizes can use to increase site visibility, the number of visitors coming to their sites and how to improve conversion rates.

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Download free at www.WebsiteMagazine.com/resources

Break Through With

ANALYTICS 24

Internet professionals can’t manage what they can’t measure - so those motivated to propel their enterprises forward better start measuring everything that affects the digital experience for users. Learn what businesses should be measuring and the best available methods and solutions for e-commerce merchants, information publishers and digital service providers to do so.

THIS MONTH IN WEBSITE MAGAZINE Explore Website Magazine’s

30 Canada’s New Anti-Spam Law CASL puts email marketing under direct fire; learn what you need to do to keep your messaging initiatives in the clear.

DEPARTMENTS 10

Forward-Thinking CMSs

Images, 32 Improve Increase Conversions

13

Web visitors respond to visual content, but don’t let these creative assets get in the way of conversion rate optimization.

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34

Back to Work with Product Feeds

Product feeds could dramatically lift affiliate program sales, yet many marketers are neglecting them altogether.

36 Powerful WordPress Plugins Check out some interesting plugins that have caught the virtual attention of the WordPress community and Website Magazine editors.

Enterprise Ready: Quiz Time: Are You a Social Media Superstar?

Top 50: Social Media Management Solutions

16

Small Business Lab: The New 4 Ps of Marketing

17 18

Mastering Search: The Case for Mobile SEO

E-Commerce Express: Alternative Payment Options

20

Design & Development:

40

Web Commentary:

Foolproof Social Media Design Drunk on Keynote Kool-Aid

37 Web Tech Watch

Discover 12 of the coolest solutions, services and digital tools that ‘Net pros have been discussing, sharing and testing.

38 7 Pre-Campaign Questions

Launching an online advertising campaign is a daunting task, but it can be more effective with proper planning.

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GET THE DIGITAL SCOOP Check out Website Magazine’s email newsletters covering e-commerce, search, SoLoMo, design and more at wsm.co/webscoop.

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From the

EDITOR The Magazine for Website Success

Break Through Insights on Analytics

CONNECT ON YOUR MOBILE Access the October 2014 issue online at

wsm.co/wmoct14

or by scanning the QR code below.

WEBMAG.CO Check out Website Magazine’s new virtual pinboard highlighting infographics, videos, events and more.

To take your website and digital presence to the next level, focusing on analytics will serve your enterprise well. It’s no longer enough just to track a few key performance indicators however. Today’s smartest brands are approaching digital analysis in some innovative ways and they are better positioned to break through and achieve greater success than ever before.

The industry is taking notice, as nearly $1 billion will be spent in 2014 on software and solutions for Internet professionals to gain insights into their website and application performance. It’s a major priority within enterprises to get these analytics initiatives right, and brands are doing anything they can to make it happen.

In this month’s feature story, Website Magazine readers will discover some unique ways to break through with analytics, gaining a clearer view into the user experience and how data can be used to drive substantial growth within their enterprises.

The October issue of Website Magazine also highlights an assortment of information designed to help your enterprise get on an accelerated track to Web success. Readers will find useful articles on choosing a content management system, mobile search engine optimization, social media design, e-commerce payments, as well as some of the most interesting new software solutions on the Web today. The Web’s most innovative social media solutions are also profiled in this month’s Top 50, featuring such notable vendors as Hootsuite, SproutSocial, and others, in advance of November 2014’s feature article on social media.

Be sure to read Website Magazine from cover to cover, as it’s filled with advice, best practices and insights from some of the top minds in Web business. Then, visit us on the ‘Net at www.WebsiteMagazine.com to continue your path toward digital success.

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Website Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 13, October 2014, (ISSN# 1942-0633) is published 12 times a year, January through December by Website Services, Inc., 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018. Periodicals Postage Paid at Des Plaines, IL and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Website Magazine, 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018.

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BRIEFS Email Reigns Supreme Email is still the king of B2C communication, as a new report from BlueHornet Networks reveals that 70 percent of consumers prefer communicating with brands via email rather than through direct mail or text messages. The study also emphasized the importance of optimizing email messages for mobile, as the findings showed 87 percent of consumers will delete or unsubscribe from an email list if the messaging does not display properly on mobile.

Instagram and Pinterest Get Down to Business The Web’s top visual social networks have beefed up their business offerings. While Pinterest unveiled a new analytics dashboard (wsm.co/metricspin), Instagram was busy releasing a suite of business tools for advertisers (wsm.co/grambiz).

NOW TRENDING:

Social

Social commerce has arrived. Twitter announced

WordPress Unveils Benny (Version 4.0) With nearly a quarter of all websites leveraging its platform, WordPress is one of the most used content management systems (CMS) on the Web, which is why ‘Net professionals will want to take note of the company’s latest update.

WordPress 4.0 includes a variety of revamped features, such as a new grid view in the Media Library and a new enlarged image-preview feature. In addition, WordPress’s plugin install experience has been updated. Now, users will no longer see plugins displayed in a list view but a more visually appealing multi-column card view.

it is officially testing a “Buy

button that enables COMMERCE Now” users to purchase from select merchants and musical artists directly from their tweet stream. While not widely available yet, many speculate that the feature will arrive in time for this year’s holiday shopping season. In addition, visual marketing platform Curalate launched a feature called Like2Buy (wsm.co/instashop14) that makes the Instagram feed shoppable. With the feature, brands and merchants can feature the Like2Buy link in their Instagram profile’s about section, enabling consumers to pull up a gallery of Instagram photos, featuring products for purchase.

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SlideShare Scratches its “Freemium” Model As of Aug. 20, SlideShare stopped all subscription fees – doing away with its “Freemium” model and making all of its tools and features free. Former PRO subscribers will still have access to their accounts and all the tools they did when they were paying for the service.

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BRIEFS Display Dominates the Web

The bulk of marketers’ advertising spend is going to display ads (63 percent), and that choice is paying off. In fact, a report from Neustar revealed that display ads drove 89 percent of actions in Q2 2014. Comparatively, social drove just 10.5 percent of actions. That said, social isn’t as costly as other forms of digital advertising, as the report showed that the price of social advertising came in 70 percent below the industry average. This is likely due to the growing use of efficient demand-side platforms to purchase social impressions.

MOBILE APP WATCH

Numerics Keep powerful business analytics within arm’s reach with the Numerics app. The app enables users to create unique dashboards that display a mix of website analytics, social media engagement data, sales funnel insights, customer support queues and more. The app connects with more than 20 services, including Basecamp, Chargify, Facebook, Flurry, GitHub, Google Analytics, PayPal, Salesforce and Zendesk.

Hyperlapse

276 Million Domains and Counting Five million domain names were added to the Internet in the first quarter of 2014 according to Verisign, which represents a growth rate of 1.7 percent over 2013’s fourth quarter. The addition of these domains has brought the total number of worldwide registered domain names to 276 million as of March 21, 2014. That said, new .com and .net registrations were down in the first quarter of 2014, which could be directly related to the increase in new gTLD acquisitions.

Following the launch of Bolt, Instagram has unveiled another new mobile app dubbed Hyperlapse. The iOS app features stabilization technology that enables users to capture high-quality timelapse videos even when in motion.

Quora Popular Q&A platform Quora has finally launched an iPad app, enabling inquisitive minds to ask (or answer) questions from the comfort of their couches. With the new app, Quora now offers a unified design across platforms. The app features a rich-text editor that enables users to easily format their writing, and is a good tool for content marketers, as well as industry influencers or brands that are trying to grow their authority on the Web.

MORE ‘NET NEWS

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Discover the top reasons why Apple rejects apps at wsm.co/appdenied

•

Facebook shuts down like-gate. Get the facts at wsm.co/gonegate

•

Groupon announces a new time-based deals option for local businesses that accept reservations or take appointments. Read more at wsm.co/grouponreserve .com

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Subject Line Email is one of, if not the most, effective channels for B2C communication. With the mass amounts of emails consumers receive today, however, it is vital that businesses try to grab recipients’ attention within the inbox using engaging subject lines. This is where the Subject Line app comes in handy, as it allows businesses to test subject lines for performance forecasts and possible delivery issues.

Stat

WATCH

Big Data Analytics Big data is far more than just a buzzword; it is a thriving industry growing at a remarkable pace. Unfortunately, most enterprises are struggling to keep up.

In fact, research from Experian Data Quality reveals that 94 percent of companies believe their customer and prospect data might be inaccurate in some way, while 83 percent of companies are struggling to link customer information across channels (wsm.co/bigdataprobs). Plus, enterprises that adopt mobile analytics are left with an even greater amount of data-driven insights, and the majority of this data is being wasted if enterprises aren’t leveraging it to identify business opportunities and predict probable outcomes.

“While most organizations have started big data programs and are investing in analytics, the majority of companies still struggle to collect accurate data and link customer information across channels to develop reliable data sources,” said Thomas Schutz, senior vice president and general manager for Experian Data Quality. “This lack of insight creates operational challenges as well as issues with business intelligence, personalization and customer engagement.”

Some enterprises, however, are finally beginning to take big data seriously, with Oracle research revealing that 36 percent plan to invest in data discovery tools to improve operations and 38 percent wanting to find new opportunities to better equip their marketing teams in 2014. Yet another way that enterprises are looking to tame the big analytics beast is by hiring data scientists, one of the most highly sought-after professions in tech today. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2015 there will be 4.4 million IT jobs globally to support big data.

2.5 quintillion More than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day through activities like social media posts, purchase transactions, cellphone GPS signals and more.

7 in 10

(ATKearney, April 2014)

Big data and analytics, cloud, mobile and social are each now used by 7 in 10 enterprises.

(IBM, Aug. 2014)

65 iPhones The average household creates enough data to fill 65 32gb iPhones per year. This number is expected to grow to 318 iPhones by 2020.

$32.4 billion

(EMC Corporation, April 2014)

The big data technology and services market is forecasted to grow at a 27 percent compound annual growth rate to $32.4 billion through 2017.

(IDC, Dec. 2013)

4 in 10

When it comes to using data to improve business performance, 4 in 10 retailers feel they are still ineffective.

(Looker, July 2014)

#1

Predictive analytics is the most popular area of interest among organizations planning to add to their big data analytics capabilities in 2014.

#

(Oracle, Feb. 2014)

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Enterprise

READY

This Way to the Future

Forward-Thinking Content Management Systems

By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor

Transitioning from one content management system (CMS) to another is never easy. So why would an enterprise make the switch? Simple: The market has evolved.

BIG LIST of FutureProof CMSs Your one-stop shop for the content solutions that can propel your enterprise forward -

wsm.co/moderncms

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Content management systems are the backbone of an information publisher’s digital presence, but the recent attention around content marketing has made publishers out of nearly every website owner, including e-commerce merchants and service providers.

As such, many conventional content management systems don’t provide everything modern marketers need to publish content, share content externally, and track performance and benefit from their distribution efforts - causing many enterprises to wonder if it’s time to look for a new CMS. This, according to Dennis Shiao, director of content marketing for DNN Corp., is just one of the major shifts in how the market has evolved. Content management systems have also evolved because of how consumers are accessing content. Mobile devices, according to the most recent Walker Sands Quarterly Mobile Traffic Report, account for 31 percent of all website traffic. Despite this, only 43 percent of marketers surveyed in Social Media Examiner’s 2014 Social Media Marketing Report have a mobile-optimized blog. While blogging is just one aspect of content marketing in the enterprise today, both businesses and content management systems need to adapt to consumers’ devices of choice or risk losing them to more digitally savvy competitors. .com

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Fortunately, there are some rather progressive content management systems on the market that are not only mobile-first systems, but also address other market shifts, prepare for future ones, as well as make the difficulties of transitioning from one CMS to another worth it.

Multi-Functional Many companies think a CMS should be singular in focus and function according to Sitecore VP of Product Marketing Mark Floisand. Due to this misconception, CMS providers like Sitecore see requests for information that are very specific to managing a company’s content.

This proves that when enterprises are shopping for a new CMS, they aren’t thinking about all the ways a CMS can provide a complete experience for both brands and end-users.

When enterprises shop for a traditional CMS that only has content editing and publishing features, they are short-changing themselves and not future-proofing their Web businesses. Leading many industry experts, like Coveo CEO Louis Tetu to half-joke, “Nobody wants to talk about content management systems anymore.”

Not only are there far more robust options that exist in single-connected platforms, but when marketers leverage a variety of different technology solutions to get all the functions they need to do their jobs effectively, they start to drown in tech. Managing the teams, campaigns, functions and vendors associated with each solution is time consuming and can be counterproductive.

Today’s content management systems, however,

M

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Enterprise

READY

are able to integrate or, in some cases, replace many of the acquisition, retention, analytics and optimization functions that disparate solutions provide marketers.

Take Sitecore for example.

The Core of a Site

CMS on the Move?

Prepare to migrate to a new content management system with these expert tips at

wsm.co/cmstips

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Sitecore offers a single-connected platform, which means all the different technologies marketers have for analysis, personalization and more, are included on one platform. For example, a car manufacturer using Sitecore would have access to customer relationship management-type data - like the websites a person has visited, the ads he did or did not click on and more.

The customer service data might also indicate the frequency with which a driver takes his car into service.

Based on that frequency, the content being delivered in the CMS would change when visited.

Couple that personalization with enterprise search solution Coveo for Sitecore, and a site’s entire layout could change based on what a user is looking for on the site. That feature is a characteristic of Coveo’s enterprise solution for Sitecore, but Coveo recently announced a free version that essentially allows partners and customers of Sitecore to implement significantly more advanced search user interface and relevance on Sitecore websites, according to Tetu.

The free version of Coveo for Sitecore was announced immediately after Sitecore announced version 8 of its platform. With the upgrades, its customers now have access to new automated test and optimization features that will automatically recommend content to implement, segments to target and optimal paths to conversion. All the users do is review and choose whether to ignore the data, go back to the previous version, etc.

Sitecore isn’t the only company in the CMS space to make updates this fall. DNN (formerly DotNetNuke) has been a mainstay in the CMS industry for more than 10 years and will soon be launching new versions of both its Evoq Content Web CMS commercial offering and its open source solution.

New Tricks DNN is addressing several major changes to the content landscape with its new Evoq Content version (scheduled for release in Nov. 2014). For starters, when DNN .com

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launched in the early 2000s, its primary end-user was the IT professional, but with the increasing use of content management systems across the enterprise, it will now make the user experience more marketer friendly – providing simpler navigation and making it easier for administrators to build a site from scratch, by utilizing drag-and-drop elements.

The dramatically improved user experience for nondevelopers will also include more access to analytics, which is what many traditional content management systems lack. The workaround for years has been to integrate with a third party such as Google Analytics, but DNN is building analytics capabilities directly into its solution so marketers can quickly access website performance data including page-specific metrics, such as page views, bounce rates, session length and more. What’s particularly useful about page-specific analytics is that marketers or information publishers do not need to leave a specific article, for example, to analyze its performance.

Perhaps most noteworthy for marketers is that Evoq Content 8.0 will feature a set of integrations for customer relationship management (CRM), marketing automation, storage services (like Dropbox) and more.

For the latter, many enterprises store a lot of assets on Dropbox for interdepartmental sharing or collaboration with freelance or remote workers or partners.

With this storage integration, companies are able to build in creative assets in a very convenient way by accessing the materials directly on DNN’s platform.

Another interesting integration is with marketing automation platform Marketo. With this integration, marketers will be able to connect their content to revenue. For example, DNN focuses on website and page analytics, while Marketo can monitor each individual customer’s browsing and search activity to determine where the user is in her path to purchase and what problems she is trying to solve – automatically triggering a sales call or delivering relevant content or offers.

Solutions, Not Systems The best-of-breed content management systems on the market today, are not just systems but more so solutions that address the current marketing landscape and work to stay ahead of new challenges and opportunities – making them worth the time and money it costs to transition to a new content management system (or solution).

Quiz

TIME

1)

What percentage of marketers has integrated their social media and traditional marketing activities? a. 83 percent b. 15 percent c. 35 percent d. 61 percent

Are You a Social Media

Superstar?

With billions of users, it’s no wonder 81 percent of small and medium-sized businesses are using social media (source: LinkedIn). Not all SMBs actively trying to acquire and retain customers on networks like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, however, are social media superstars – many are just following the crowd and failing to propel their companies forward.

It’s not enough to just be in the social game; social media superstars are those dominating it – analyzing and optimizing every post, pin, tweet and update to improve business results. Test your own social media superstardom in Website Magazine’s Quiz Time.

2)

What social media network do marketers want to learn the most about? a. Snapchat b. YouTube c. Instagram d. Google+

3)

How do nearly three out of four companies measure the business value of social marketing? a. Organic reach b. Conversions c. Engagement metrics (comments, responses and shares) d. They don’t track ROI

4)

In a sample of 200,000 websites, what two social networks drove the most website traffic (20 percent combined) from Sept. – Dec. 2013? a. Facebook and Pinterest b. Facebook and Twitter c. YouTube and Twitter d. Google+ and LinkedIn

5)

Which of these statements is true of social media marketers with more than two years’ experience: a. They spend the majority of their time marketing on Facebook and Twitter

To see how you scored on this month’s social media quiz, go to wsm.co/qtoct14 or scan the QR code on the left.

b. Their weekly time commitment for social media is greater (six or more hours a week) than those with less experience c. They report substantially better results compared to those with less experience d. All of these statements are true

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Top

50 Solutions to Manage

Modern Social Media Initiatives There’s no clear path to social media success for today’s digital enterprises.

Not only do they need to identify the purpose of social media for their businesses, but they also need to educate everyone (from the bottom to the top) on the right policies, commit to engaging in the channel for the long term, prepare for the potential of negativity, have a creative and dedicated team, be organized and be ready to offer support. Of course, measuring and reporting also comes into play.

It’s a whole new digital world, and fortunately, there are tools that make all of this a reality for the modern, socially minded enterprise.

In many ways, the case for greater social media within the enterprise has already been made: 28 percent of the global population is on social media currently and spending an average of more than two hours a day on their favorite networks.

While many believe the entirety of the social media world stops with Facebook and Twitter (or LinkedIn depending on your enterprise’s focus), there’s an enormously diverse virtual world out there.

Ever-popular with the millennial generation, Snapchat, a relative newcomer, has 400 million snaps sent between users every day. Also, YouTube, the second most popular search engine on the planet, has 100 hours of interactive and shareable video uploaded every minute. Moreover, according to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more U.S. adults between 18 and 34 than any cable network.

When it comes to measuring a social media strategy, however, it can be difficult. In order to help businesses understand the impact their social media efforts are having on engagement, shares or even just base impressions, it is vital they leverage the most powerful social media solutions available. This month’s edition of Website Magazine’s Top 50 features just that – solutions to manage and analyze a business’s social efforts, providing detailed reports to help businesses better understand the effectiveness of their campaigns.

The Social-Prise To help bring the power of social media – the collaboration, the engagement and the sharing - inside your business check out Website Magazine’s “Master List of Enterprise Social Platforms” at

wsm.co/socialprise

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ConstantContact.com Salesforce.com Bitly.com Hootsuite.com Bufferapp.com Klout.com Tweepi.com SproutSocial.com SocialOomph.com Vocus.com SimplyMeasured.com SocialBakers.com RavenTools.com Nimble.com Lithium.com SocialMention.com SocialBro.com Wildfireapp.com Curalate.com TweetReach.com AgoraPulse.com Sendible.com TailWindApp.com Sysomos.com Brandwatch.com Shoutlet.com Spredfast.com Piqora.com Sprinklr.com CrowdBooster.com HearsaySocial.com FalconSocial.com ViralHeat.com Trackur.com SocialFlow.com Bottlenose.com Engagor.com NetBase.com UnifiedSocial.com MarketMeSuite.com gremln.com Synthesio.com Postling.com ArgyleSocial.com VisibleTechnologies.com Expion.com Simplify360.com Engage121.com Digimind.com TweetDeck.com

Resource Center SERIES

FINELY FOCUSED INFORMATION FROM INDUSTRY SPONSORS Website Magazine’s Resource Center presents white papers and webinars from our sponsors that provide information, specifics and metrics to help you make decisions for website success. Download free at WebsiteMagazine.com/resources

Converting Website Visitors to Sales Opportunities Thursday, October 23rd, 2PM EDT / 11AM PDT FREE WEBINAR!

REGISTER NOW AT: http://wsm.co/ConvertingSales In today’s digital age, attracting buyers and driving traffic to your site is only half of the battle. It is crucial for today’s modern marketers to educate and nurture each visitor into opportunities for sales. But how can marketers effectively achieve this, when there is no way to identify who the visitors are or how to contact them? Discover how marketers can make the most of every visitor by capturing their information and tracking their actions to build a profile. Learn how to craft killer calls to action and explore the best practices for capturing information through the use of web forms, landing pages, surveys, offers, newsletters and website visitor tracking.

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• • • • •

The importance of capturing visitors information and how it can be achieved 3 top tips for creating killer calls to action How to reduce friction by creating a seamless experience for your visitors What to test and how to optimize A checklist for implementing capture best practices

Janelle Johnson Director, Demand Gen Marketing Act-On Software, Inc. Janelle is responsible for everything from email marketing, webinars and content creation to lead generation and nurturing.

She is a key player in the development of all processes for lead and pipeline cultivation and maturation, and driving tight alignment between the sales and marketing teams. Janelle has been named to SLMA’s “20 Women to Watch” list as well as the “50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management.”

Monica Mayk Marketing Director Market Connections Monica directs marketing and client outreach activities for Market Connections, overseeing promotional communications, public relations, events, content development, partnerships and online and e-mail marketing. Monica’s expertise includes brand development and management, creative direction, thought leadership, event marketing and business development.

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Small

BUSINESS LAB Shattering the

4 Ps OF MARKETING

By Deirdre Mills

For well over half a century McCarthy’s four Ps - product, price, promotion and place (wsm.co/mccarthyps) - have served as the foundation of the “marketing mix.”

A new generation of “Ps” has emerged however and it is changing how marketers approach their work of driving and deepening consumer engagement.

In order to meet the needs of today’s hyper-connected and digitally savvy customers, marketers are merging data science, brand storytelling and analytics in some highly compelling and creative ways. As a result, an entirely new generation of the four Ps of marketing has emerged (personalization, programmatic buying, proprietary solutions and partnerships) and they are heavily influencing how companies source/acquire platforms, software and applications.

PERSONALIZATION Personalization technologies, which enable marketers to acknowledge, address and accommodate differences between individual customers, is arguably the most important facet in the new era of marketing according to Adobe’s 2014 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey (wsm.co/digsurvey14).

This capability is of major importance because today’s consumers are in control – demanding unique experiences. Brand marketers and advertisers are now looking to platforms that can leverage behavioral and historical data in order to craft and deliver optimal messages for acquisition and retention. Explore six perfectly polished personalization solutions at wsm.co/6personalization.

PROGRAMMATIC BUYING Automated buying, bidding and placement technologies serve online ads in real-time to reach the right customer with the right ad message at the right moment. Bigname advertisers like American Express have adopted programmatic buying for all their digital advertising, but 16

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the majority of advertisers are still slow to fully adopt programmatic buying. Agencies and partners can help those advertisers understand the benefits of programmatic buying to both their brands and their customers.

It’s likely, however, that agencies will turn to a proprietary solution to significantly assist them in meeting the needs and expectations of ever-changing consumers.

PROPRIETARY SOLUTIONS Proprietary solutions can significantly assist a marketing organization in meeting the needs and expectations of its ever-changing consumer. Typically, marketers do not have the budget to create their own unique, in-house tools, such as analytics dashboards or customer relationship management platforms. However, marketers should be well-versed in evaluating these platforms and the providers that bring an original capability that aligns with brand marketing goals and value. With a one-ofa-kind proprietary technology that is unavailable to the competition, marketers can ensure that their brand is differentiated within the market, while also addressing consumer expectations. What’s more, a proprietary solution, whether an algorithm to predict customers’ next purchases or a mobile video delivery platform, needs to align with a company’s overall strategic brand imperative in order to to result in strong ROI.

PARTNERSHIPS Lastly, and implicitly included within the above three Ps, is the external strategic partnerships that marketers form with solution providers and vendors that help them keep up with best practices in the industry. For example, Facebook and Google’s acquisition of various video advertising companies demonstrates both the value of video and the importance of reaching audiences across devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones.

By creating campaigns that engage consumers in a variety of ways, marketers can create truly unique and tailored experiences. Brand marketers have learned they can’t do it alone. Limiting themselves to only in-house resources and technology for creating personalized marketing campaigns will hinder their ability to meet customer expectations and can prevent a holistic customer experience in which a consistent brand experience is delivered across all touch points, regardless of medium – whether in-store, online or on a mobile device.

Deirdre Mills leads product marketing for the SmartVideo Lifecycle Marketing Platform at SundaySky, where she drives product direction and market penetration efforts for the platform.

Mastering

SEARCH Making the Case for

MOBILE SEO

By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

When it comes to mobile, the social media and email channels are major referrers of website traffic, but search (both paid and organic) also plays a significant role - and it’s expected to grow dramatically in the years to come.

In the U.S., for example, mobile accounted for 34.2 percent of all paid search clicks in Dec. 2013 and should reach 42 percent by Dec. 2014 and 50 percent by Dec. 2015 (Marin Software - March 2014). While those percentages will likely vary by individual enterprise and industry, of course, a strong mobile search optimization initiative can yield positive results.

Many Web workers – and the brands that employ them – are confused however about the difference between mobile SEO and SEO for the desktop experience. The result is an under-optimized digital presence for millions of websites. It doesn’t have to be that way.

There are many things that make mobile search different from search via the desktop and when you know how they are different, you’re positioned to eliminate the barriers users have in discovering and accessing your website, your company and the content that leads them to conversion.

LOCATION DOMINANCE

Unlike PCs which are accessed from a fixed location, smartphones are used everywhere. According to Millward Brown research from Oct. 2013, smartphones are used at home 36 percent of the time, in a store 15 percent, while commuting 13 percent and in a restaurant 10 percent of the time. Consumers

SEO

NEWS TO

KNOW

Google introduced a new sitelinks search box that enables consumers to access website content directly from a website’s site-search pages. Learn how to mark up your website to provide this feature and functionality at wsm.co/slinksearch.

are obviously on the go (58 percent of smartphone use is via a mobile connection – not Wi-Fi) so companies must provide an experience that supports this behavior; and that means providing additional location-relevant information.

INTENT FOCUS

According to BIA/Kelsey (April 2014), 50 percent of mobile search queries have “local intent.” Compare that to the 20 percent of desktop searches that include local intent and it becomes clear that without a focus on mobile SEO, today’s brands will miss out on new and repeat business. Since search engines prioritize local results for users who are willing to share their locations, it is the responsibility of digital marketing teams to prioritize the content that’s delivered to users on mobile devices.

TAKING ACTION

There is no shortage of evidence that a mobile-focused search engine optimization initiative will provide dividends, and while there is a lot of overlap between optimization efforts for desktops and smartphones, there are some very specific guidelines brands must follow to make these efforts rewarding. The good news is that with a little planning, and some digital elbow grease, websites can increase their exposure to mobile users on the search results with relative ease.

Check out Website Magazine’s “Five Essential Mobile SEO Practices” at wsm.co/5mobileseo and discover how to raise awareness with actionoriented users on the go.

Bing released a new search feature that keeps the context of a search as a user progresses from one query to the next, leveraging the engine’s “conversational understanding” technology and merging it with its knowledge repository.

See more at wsm.co/bingconvo.

Surprisingly, Google dropped its Authorship project. The search engine indicated it will no longer show the information on results pages, indicating that the initiative was not as useful to its users and was sometimes distracting. Read more at wsm.co/adiosauthorship.

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E-Commerce

EXPRESS Gambling on Alternative

Payment Options

By Allison Howen, Associate Editor

Every detail of the checkout page has an impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions.

As such, merchants must always stay up-to-date on the latest technology and trends that affect conversions, including alternative payment solutions that may be worth the gamble.

The Safe Bet: PayPal

Merchants can speed up the mobile checkout process with PayPal’s new “One Touch” solution.

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PayPal has already proven to be a safe bet in the e-commerce industry, as the payment platform has more than 152 million active registered accounts and processes upward of 9.3 million payments every day. For merchants, PayPal offers a variety of solutions that enable both small and large e-commerce businesses to offer a speedy and secure checkout on both the traditional and mobile Web. For example, PayPal’s Standard and Pro plans enable merchants to accept the top payment options, from a basic PayPal account to credit and debit cards. Both plans accept PayPal Credit (previously called Bill Me Later), which is essentially a financing option that gives consumers the ability to check out quickly and pay for their purchases over time. Merchants are still paid up front when consumers choose PayPal Credit, and payments typically show up in the merchant’s PayPal account within minutes after an order is complete. According to the company, merchants who include PayPal Credit on their sites can boost sales by up to 18 percent.

More recently, PayPal launched its One Touch solution that Internet re.com

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tailers can integrate into their mobile apps to speed up the checkout process. Once implemented, consumers making purchases with PayPal are no longer required to enter any personal information, including user IDs or passwords.

Rather, PayPal information is stored within apps after consumers log in once on their device, enabling them to simply click “Buy” to complete future purchases.

The Hot Tip: Visa Checkout

Visa made an attempt to simplify the checkout in July 2014, when the popular credit card company launched its Visa Checkout payment option. If the concept sounds familiar, it’s because Visa Checkout is replacing the company’s previous V.me by Visa offering. The payment offering is similar in scope to PayPal as it enables consumers to create an account to streamline the checkout process on participating retailers’ websites.

Consumers simply connect their Visa Checkout accounts to a credit or debit card, and then enter their usernames and passwords to complete the payment process on websites with Visa Checkout functionality (early adopters include Pizza Hut, Old Navy/Gap, Karmaloop and Staples).

Merchants looking to join these popular retailers may also be interested to know that Visa Checkout can not only be implemented on their websites, but also in their native mobile apps through a mobile SDK for both iOS and Android. The mobile capabilities further establish Visa’s goal of bringing the simplicity and speed of the real-world “swipe” to online commerce.

The Gamble: Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a type of virtual currency that is slowly generating increasing attention from the general public. Despite the buzz, however, few know much about Bitcoin. Learn what

Visa Checkout is available at Gap.com – one of the payment solution’s early adopters.

Bitcoin is, what it isn’t and whether it will be the future of currency in this infographic at wsm.co/bitcoinbuzz.

While Bitcoin isn’t a widely accepted form of payment yet, it is a type of currency that merchants should keep on their radar. After all, some big-name companies have already started accepting Bitcoin, including WordPress.com, OKCupid and Overstock.com.

For merchants interested in betting on Bitcoin there are quite a few benefits, including the fact the Bitcoin is a global currency and typically doesn’t cost as much to process as other forms of payments - implementation isn’t too difficult either. For instance, merchants can leverage Bitcoin wallet platform Coinbase to start accepting Bitcoin. Coinbase doesn’t charge any fees for the first million dollars of Bitcoin payments processed. After that, merchants are charged just 1 percent to convert Bitcoin payments to cash. Comparatively, PayPal charges 2.9 percent plus $0.30 per transaction.

Believe it or not, Bitcoin isn’t the most-progressive payment solution on the market. Learn about the just-announced ApplePay at wsm.co/applepay101.

Rolling the Dice

When making the decision to implement new payment options onto an e-commerce site, it is important to take into consideration the preferences of your store’s unique customer base. In addition, Mark Lavelle, SVP of product and strategy at eBay Enterprise and Magento says that merchants should keep in mind that offering too many payment options can also pose a risk.

“You don’t want to distract them with too many options, you don’t want to distract them with too many steps – you don’t want to concern them about security,” said Lavelle.

Overstock.com offers a variety of alternative payment options, including Bitcoin.

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Design &

DEVELOPMENT 6 Tips for Foolproof

Social Media Design

By Allison Howen, Associate Editor

Brands spend a lot of time testing and optimizing their social media marketing strategies, yet many are still missing the mark when it comes to social design.

This is a costly mistake as design can have a significant impact on the success of social media initiatives. A brand’s social profile has one chance to make a good first impression on prospects, and a profile page that is not aesthetically pleasing or fails to convey the brand’s message may deter prospects from hitting “like” or “follow.”

Making things even more complicated is the fact that social networks are infamous for unveiling redesigns without much notice, resulting in brands scrambling to optimize their profiles after the fact, like for new image dimensions for cover photos or posts. To ensure that your brand maintains a visually appealing social presence, follow these six tips for foolproof social media design.

The Profile Page

A brand’s social profile page is the equivalent to a website landing page – the main directive of both is to deliver a lasting impression to prospects. To be successful, brands must create a social presence that is consistent, attractive and well-maintained.

Tip 1: Create Consistency

Since most brands have a presence on at least Facebook, Twitter and Google+, it is important to establish design consistency across these social networks, at a minimum.

Consistency, however, does not mean that brands need to implement identical designs across social networks.

While it is a good idea to stick with the same avatar/profile image (typically a logo works best), brands can switch up 20

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their cover photos based on each social network’s specific audience and their interests.

For six examples of cover photos that rock on all the major social networks including Facebook, Twitter and Google+, visit wsm.co/6covers.

Tip 2: Know the Right Size

Consistency unfortunately won’t go very far if a brand uses low-quality images within posts and profile areas. It’s important to know the precise sizes each social network requires for avatar and cover images. Here are the recommended sizes (at the time of writing) for images on Facebook, Twitter and Google+:

Avatar: 180 x 180 pixels (displays at 160 x 160) Cover Photo: 851 x 351 pixels

Avatar: 400 x 400 pixels (displays at 200 x 200) Header Photo: 1500 x 500 pixels

Avatar: 250 x 250 pixels

Cover Photo: 1080 x 608 pixels

Tip 3: Keep it Fresh

Brands must find the balance between maintaining consistency on social profiles and implementing the occasional refresh. Although this balance will be different for each brand, some enterprises might want to consider updating branded images during notable events, such as a change in seasons, the launch of a marketing campaign or a company-sponsored conference.

For instance, a youth clothing retailer could update its cover photo for back-to-school season and then again dur-

A. The Link Format appears when users paste a link while drafting a post.

ing holiday shopping to accurately represent seasonal merchandise and promotions. Further, while it is typically a good idea to stick with a logo for avatar images, brands can consider adding a seasonal element to their logos, such as a snowflake in December or a heart in February.

Individual Posts

Even when time is allocated to improving social design, many brands still overlook individual post design. This is an even costlier mistake, as posts are more visible on a dayto-day basis than social profiles. To optimize posts for the best performance, brands need to know their audiences’ preferences and be familiar with the guidelines of the social networks they are posting to.

Tip 4: Get Visual

We live in a visual world, which makes it unsurprising that visual content like images and videos tend to receive more engagement than text-based posts on social networks.

For example, Twitter revealed in March that tweets containing photos perform the best on the social network, with this type of content averaging a 35 percent boost in retweets. Comparatively, tweets that contain videos average a 28 percent boost, while tweets with quotes receive a 19 percent boost, tweets including a number receive a 17 percent boost and tweets with hashtags receive a 16 percent boost.

Similar engagement metrics can be seen on Facebook, which is why marketers rely heavily on image-based posts.

A 2014 Social Baker study found that images are the most common content posted on Facebook Pages, accounting for 75 percent of posts globally. Comparatively, links came in second place, accounting for just 10 percent of posts.

For a list of five Web-based image editing tools to help your brand create picture perfect content, go to wsm.co/editimages.

Tip 5: Follow Best Practices To achieve success with social, brands must follow the recommendations and best practices for each network.

Facebook, for instance, recently shed light on best practices when it comes to publishing posts that contain links. According to the social network, people prefer to click on links that are displayed in the link format (see image A) rather than links included in the caption of a photo. People prefer the link format because it provides an

additional description about the link, which makes it easier to decide if it is worth clicking. Because of this, Facebook started to prioritize content that uses the link format in the news feed, which means that brands using this format will have a larger reach.

Tip 6: Market to Locals

B. Wildcards inserted into a post will automatically fill in the appropriate content for each location.

Brands with brick-and-mortar locations also need to focus on designing posts that will grab the attention of local consumers. The best way to do this is by advertising, leveraging location-based hashtags in posts, including images featuring local content within posts or simply inserting local terms prominently within posts. There’s a solution that can help.

Multi-location brands can create one social message that is automatically tailored to each location (name, address, phone number, etc.) with the Geo-Modifier/Wildcard feature available in SIM Partners’ Velocity Social solution (see image B).

Be Prepared

Although there is no way of knowing when the next social media redesign will take place, brands can be prepared by optimizing the design of their current pages. This may be one reason Jay Hawkinson, SVP of emerging products at SIM Partners emphasizes the importance of having a dedicated social team.

“I think the mistake that a lot of brands make is not really having a team that is dedicated to just social,” said Hawkinson. “There are so many things going on, so having a team in place that can respond is really critical for any brand nowadays.”

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Break Through With

DIGITAL ANALYTICS

By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

In the hyper competitive digital landscape, the only way to thrive (not just survive) is to increase familiarity with, and reliance on, analytics. And the time is now to break through.

The market for Web analytics solutions and services has never been greater, expected to more than double in the coming years, from $1.33 billion in 2014 to $3.09 billion by 2019 (wsm.co/analytics2019).

Digital measurement and reporting is playing an evermore prominent role in the enterprise. According to a recent study by eMarketer, 85 percent of marketers worldwide are feeling the pressure to understand the business value of their marketing efforts. If your brand is ready to take the next step toward digital greatness, analytics is the only way to break through.

What is often so challenging about digital analytics is that it can be so incredibly varied in both scope and implementation. Anything can be measured (although many Web professionals don’t measure anything) and that presents some significant problems - namely the management of people, processes and, most importantly, profits. Fortunately, there are a vast number of opportunities (both technology and tactics) for every type of Internet business to get more out of their digital presence thanks to analytics.

Internet professionals cannot manage what they cannot measure, however, so those motivated to propel their enterprises forward and break through, better start measuring everything that affects the digital experience.

If you’ve spent any time owning or operating a Web business, you’ll recognize and be familiar with the vastness 24

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of information related to analytics. Breaking through, for our purposes here, really means finding new ways to understand the data that digital properties and virtual communities generate, in order to drive deeper engagement with those audiences and increase the revenue companies can secure. The following are some of the best available analytics solutions and approaches for e-commerce merchants, information publishers and digital service providers.

The Fundamentals of Analytics Even if websites and digital enterprises aren’t planning a major investment in analytics, they should still focus on the fundamentals - having a clear plan on what to measure of course (e.g. specific events like a link click or completed goals such as an actual sale or form lead), but perhaps more importantly, making sure it is being measured correctly.

One of the most common failures in analytics and digital measurement is the most easily fixed - not having the right tracking code in the right places. Most analytics platforms provide validation, but there are some standalone solutions that work well for a quick check. GA Checker, for example, “spiders” a site like a search engine and identifies which pages contain Google Analytics code and which ones do not.

Without confidence that digital information is being gathered correctly, what hope do Internet professionals have of obtaining an accurate view of performance and potential? Analytics initiatives can quickly seem wasteful if the fundamentals are ignored - take this step and put your brand on the right track to break through.

Visualize the Data Check out 10 of the tech world’s best data visualization dashboards including Chartbeat, Klipfolio, Domo and others at

wsm.co/topvisual

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Actionable E-Commerce Internet retailers have a vast amount of information at their disposal; data that can be used to accelerate their success and provide a better user experience. It can be surprising to see how just one view into data-driven activity can influence a fundamentally important metric like conversion and revenue, for example.

“Analytics in and of itself is often an intimidating term and can create this expectation of massive spreadsheets and deep analysis,” said Ed Stevens of Shopatron. “For me, the analytics making the difference are simple and actionable.”

Retailers/merchants with both an offline and online presence are turning to solutions such as Shopatron to help bridge the often massive analytics gap, providing a meaningful view into product performance, and improving operational efficiency along the way.

The company’s recently released “inventory lookup” tool, for example, essentially shows a retail customer whether or not a product is in stock. Shopatron, however, logs all the searches conducted on the website (storing the data on its servers) and makes the data available for review to store allocators and merchandisers. If you are in charge of putting product inventory in store (increasingly important with “Ship to Store” and “Pick Up In Store” gaining interest among retailers and consumers), it may be one of the most appealing solutions on the market today as it provides information on the products that people are searching for that previously could not be found - at least not for each location.

“If there is any reasonable number of searches, then you can go and stock that product,” said Stevens. “It’s basic, it’s obvious, and it’s a breakthrough.”

What Shopatron presents, as well as many of its competitors in the e-commerce software space, is a way to bridge the

STAT WATCH It’s time for retailers to get a handle on their digital measurement initiatives. A recent survey from business analytics software Looker (wsm.co/lookerdata) revealed that 66 percent believe the number one way to ensure a successful shopping season was to understand customer behavior when the aim was to drive sales and build loyalty. Four in ten, however, feel they are ineffective when it comes to using data to improve their business’s performance.

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gap between the offline and the online. There’s still, of course, a great deal of opportunity to break through on the Web itself thanks to the increasing sophistication of measurement and reporting tools like Google Analytics - particularly for those retailers that know analytics is how they must break through.

Google rolled out “Enhanced Ecommerce” in early Aug. 2014, offering online retailers deep insights about visitors’ behaviors. E-commerce enterprises now have access to a meaningful view into their website traffic, shifting to more of a product perspective instead of the traditional page perspective to which most have grown accustom. The revamped approach represents a significant and powerful shift in analytics, providing sellers with data about customer behavior and a method for measuring the effectiveness of merchandising activities.

The changes essentially introduce a series of funnelbased reports, greater support for Google Tag manager and the use of the Product ID dimension – giving Internet retailers the ability to see which products convert well and which are abandoned frequently, visualize where shoppers dropped out of the funnel, create richer user segments and more. With conversion rates often topping out at 3 percent, any change whatsoever in product strategy could result in massive revenue improvements over time. Website Magazine has assembled a hands-on guide for getting started with Google’s revamped analytics approach for e-commerce merchants at wsm.co/ecommanalytics.

Social Media Engagement Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn all drive traffic to websites (and, in some cases, a great deal of it). Nonetheless, it’s still not easy to prove the value that investing in the social channel provides.

Fortunately, social media workers are putting more emphasis on the value of these networks and their ability to drive conversions and are turning to some powerful tools to make it happen.

Popular social media management platform Hootsuite (ranked fourth in Website Magazine’s “Top 50 Social Media Management Solutions” on page 14), for example, is now providing its users with deeper audience insights thanks to the company’s recent acquisition of social analytics solution uberVU. The analytics technology will be combined with Hootsuite’s social management platform to provide enterprises with a better understanding of audience behavior, which ultimately should lead to the development of more meaningful social conversations. uberVU’s technology aims to help

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Google Analytics Dominates BuiltWith reports that of the top 10,000 websites, more than 70 percent currently use Google Analytics. While it is certainly a popular and powerful solution there are many viable alternatives ‘Net professional should consider.

Check out Website Magazine’s “Master List of Digital Analytics Solutions” at

wsm.co/danalytics

businesses identify key influencers, spot real-time spikes in engagement and recognize important mentions. In addition, the platform offers insights on audience sentiment, location and demographics.

The acquisition could help Hootsuite expand the functionality of its enterprise solution, as uberVU’s user base consists of more than 200 enterprise level customers including 3M, NBC, Heinz and Getty Images. Website Magazine readers will find many of the vendors included within Top 50 this month, which is available online at wsm.co/oct14top50, to offer competitive or at least supplementary analytics tools to measure performance and better inform their social media initiatives.

Content Marketing & Conversion The purpose of measuring website activity is to obtain both a quantitative and qualitative understanding of what influences performance. Increasingly, content is the source of influence, but what’s the best way to measure it?

Internet professionals, content marketers specifically, should focus primarily on reach, engagement and sentiment, as well as the key performance indicators (KPIs) of each. Measuring reach, for example, will yield metrics including unique visitors, whereas engagement might show a metric such as bounce rate or time on site. Sentiment on the

LOYALTY METRICS The ultimate aim is a loyal customer, a repeat client that just can’t get enough of the information you publish and the brand you present. To understand just how well your content is inspiring recurring activity, you need to ask the right questions. Discover five ways to make better use of content and increase loyalty metrics at wsm.co/loyalcontent.

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other hand, is a little more difficult to measure. Read more about three solutions enabling Internet professionals to know more about consumers’ attitudes, feelings and emotions about their companies and their products at wsm.co/feelings3.

So, what metrics are the right ones for enterprises to measure if the aim is to understand more about how users feel and react to a brand and the impact on revenue?

Ideally, the KPIs put in place will enable content marketers to compare channel performance to determine where traction is received, so they can stop creating content for non-productive channels, identify which content produced in the enterprise inspires the most engagement, and evaluate which have generated the most activity, spotting keyword and topic trends, for example, for future content production. More specifically, consider measuring content performance by revenue as well more granularly with metrics such as profit per customer.

Ultimately, what marketers should be after is an understanding of how their content satisfies the broader business objective. For example, if the aim is lead generation (in the case of a service provider), the number of form completions and downloads are effective. These metrics can be tracked through a CRM or marketing automation system and reveal how often visitors access gated content. Email and blog subscriptions (even though RSS has fallen out of favor somewhat, replaced by social media metrics) are also important channels to keep a digital eye on.

Many content marketing efforts can only, or rather should only, be measured indirectly. Many popular analytics solutions provide some means of tracking specific events, but it is important that marketers establish a monetary value for each content asset as well as action or event (e.g. a form lead is worth $25). Within Google Analytics for example, analysts can look at the page value data which assigns value to each page by corresponding how often it is viewed on the way toward a conversion. Powerful tools and accurate attribution will provide the force required to break through.

Revenue attribution is arguably the end-all, be-all of understanding how content performs, but there are some solutions that are enabling Internet professionals to compare their own efforts to that of their competitors and get a better view into what’s working and what’s not for others.

GinzaMetrics, for example, recently announced the availability of its new Audience Insights feature within its enterprise marketing strategy and SEO platform. Audience Insights provides users the information they need to stay ahead in the marketplace by automatically tracking the Web presence of their competitors. The feature will automatically discover and

report on activity on social networks, email marketing, offsite content and audience data for competitor sites.

As with other GinzaMetrics tools, Audience Insights is completely customizable, allowing the customer to rank competitors according to individual viewing and reporting needs. The intuitive dashboard uses a simple green check mark to easily identify the organization with the most traffic. In addition to the networks discovered automatically through the platform, customers can modify each network profile for their own site as well as for their competitors.

GinzaMetrics plans to release future versions of Audience Insights that will include trend tracking and views that include overall content campaigns.

With an understanding of how content is performing on its own website, as well as how competitors’ content is performing, an enterprise is closer than ever to breaking through. It’s far from the last step however. Internet professionals must eventually turn their attention to customers directly and do everything in their power to provide a satisfactory interaction…every time.

VIDEO ADVERTISING ANALYTICS While video consumption continues growing at a phenomenal rate, digital advertisers remain challenged to understand just how well these creative assets are influencing prospective users.

That could change by changing what is being measured.

Digital advertising company AdKnowledge recently partnered with Realeyes, an emotion analytics platform that measures how people feel and react when they watch video content.

AdKnowledge is able to offer its advertisers reporting on how audiences respond emotionally to the video campaigns it delivers across social, mobile, apps, games and sponsored content, enabling marketers to make better decisions to test creative, plan media spend and analyze performance.

Discover alternative solutions to measure this non-traditional digital experience at wsm.co/watchmetrics.

User Experience Measurement Imagine having a 360-degree view of a customer’s digital experience – everything from understanding what a user is doing on a website to, possibly, even why he or she is doing it.

ClickTale recently announced an integration with Adobe Analytics, which just might provide that coveted 360 view and, even more importantly, ways to monetize it. The integration enables companies to create revenue-generating customer experiences based on heatmaps and playback of anonymous user browsing sessions identified in Adobe Analytics segments.

“The ClickTale and Adobe Analytics integration has given us a much deeper understanding of how different customer segments experience and navigate our website,” said Ashish Braganza, director of global business intelligence, Lenovo. “It’s the perfect combination of segmentation and visualization.”

Website owners can now use the insights from ClickTale to test and deliver an optimal user experience for each audience defined in Adobe Analytics.

Customer Service Analytics The true measure of success for many enterprises is just how well their customers are being serviced, and there are an increasing number of solutions to make that happen.

Zendesk, for example, recently released an analytics tool for enterprises designed to measure and visualize the impact

of customer service interactions.

The customer service platform’s new Insights tool filters metrics by such categories as support channels, groups of agents and specific sets of customers; zoom into a worldwide map of support inquiries; and compare themselves to industry peers through the Zendesk Benchmark, which combines customer service data from more than 23,000 participating Zendesk customer accounts globally.

“Organizations today are facing a data deluge, and they want information that they can use to reshape their operations and customer relationships,” said Sam Boonin, Zendesk’s vice president of products. “With Insights, Zendesk does the heavy lifting to help support leaders apply their data and make business decisions that improve their relationships with customers.”

The Many Ways to Break Through Analytics is a tricky digital beast, and there is no onesize-fits-all program to tackle it. The way you measure, report and ultimately optimize is far different (and should be) from your competitors. The idea is to find opportunities to break through – to find the data points meaningful to improving the digital experience for both your unique customers and enterprise.

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Email

EXPERIENCE Express Consent

WHAT’S THE DEAL

WITH CANADA’S NEW ANTI-SPAM LAW?

By Derek Schou, Associate Editor

Email remains one of, if not the best, channel for companies to communicate with consumers.

As the practice has matured, however, so too have the rules and laws governing how businesses operate in this all-important channel.

Now, thanks to Canada’s new Anti-Spam Law (CASL), email marketing initiatives (which come in many different forms and functions for companies, from daily newsletters to triggered distributions), have come under fire. No longer can companies blast emails to every recipient in their database. Since its implementation on July 1, companies must now directly receive a consumer’s permission to click send.

There are many nuances of the new Canadian Anti-Spam Law that marketers should be aware of, but for the most part it comes down to consent and how that consent is obtained.

EXPRESS VS. IMPLIED CONSENT

Banned in Canada?

Get Website Magazine’s stepby-step guide to CASL compliance at wsm.co/caslsteps 30

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The CASL dictates that in order for businesses (no matter how big or small) to send commercial messages to consumers living within Canada’s borders (this includes senders from any country in the world), they must obtain “express consent.” They must also stop sending emails to those which they only have “implied consent.”

The difference between the two is that with implied consent companies do not actually have to obtain permission directly from consumers in order to email them. Instead, they can just assume that consumers who are not asking to be taken off the mailing list actually want to be on it. However, if companies continue to operate in this manner, they leave themselves open to a fine up to $10 million. Yes, $10 million. .com

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HOW TO OBTAIN EXPRESS CONSENT There are various ways that companies can receive express consent from their consumers to send communications.

The most obvious way is to simply ask, “Would you like to receive our newsletter?” with a “Yes” and a “No” option accompanying it. This simple question, which can be asked during the checkout process (or at any point in the customer journey), gives companies the legal clearance they need to send consumers emails. Another option is to provide space on a website that is outside of the conversion funnel that allows consumers to sign up for the brand messages/email on their own by willingly providing their email address.

Companies could include the copy, “To receive daily deals and coupons sign up for our newsletter” and if the customer signs up, they have their express consent to email them. Pretty simple, really.

One way companies must avoid obtaining express consent from consumers is by asking through email.

The CASL clearly states that an email asking for consent to send is illegal. Brands, therefore, must brainstorm other ways to obtain the consent they need, like including an unchecked box during the checkout process that buyers have to check to sign up for an email list.

Another important aspect of the CASL is that companies must provide a clear unsubscribe process for consumers. Whether companies include a call-toaction at the top of every email or a link at the bottom, there must be a clear and easy way for consumers to either completely opt-out of all emails or at least “optdown” (an example of this is allowing users to select weekly emails instead of daily). Most importantly, companies must follow through when consumers elect to opt-out of mailing lists.

LOOK AT THE GLASS HALF FULL While the CASL may ultimately impact the size of many brands’ email lists, there is a positive side to the law. With consumers having to give their express consent in order to be put on email lists, companies can be sure that their marketing efforts are reaching the most interested consumers. By giving their consent, consumers are indicating they are actively interested in a company, product or service, something implied consent cannot deliver.

Contact 773.628.2779 info@websitemagazine.com

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CORNER

IMPROVE YOUR PICTURES, IMPROVE YOUR CONVERSIONS

By Brian Lewis

Humans are highly visual creatures. In fact, a large part of our brain is devoted to visual processing, and scientific research abounds about how visual imagery helps us cut through the information clutter and process data more efficiently.

Armed with this knowledge, it’s no wonder that Web designers and digital marketers make ample use of visuals on websites. The power of visual imagery has a downside, however, that is often overlooked: Photos can kill conversions.

Photos serve many purposes

BRING PRODUCT PHOTOS TO LIFE Discover four ways to help customers “feel” your products online at wsm.co/images4 32

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Photos play a crucial role in informing, influencing, educating and reassuring customers throughout the buying process. Research has shown that images can improve the quality and speed of learning, aid information retention and convey subtle meanings – but only if they are relevant to the content and audience, and help clarify or add context.

The problem is many website images just don’t serve any purpose at all. As usability expert Jared Spool once wrote, “Graphics help when they improve the user’s experience. However, we’ve found not all graphics improve the experience. Some images just take up space or, in the worst case, confuse the user.”

Using images to direct attention Photos are a very effective way to draw attention toward something like a value proposition, a call-toaction or another key conversion element on a page. .com

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Regardless who the target audience is or the type of website operated, count on nearly all visitors to react to certain photos in similar ways. Here are two ways you can use this to your advantage: If a person in one of your photos is looking in a certain direction, your visitors will tend to look in that direction as well. Leverage this subconscious behavior by positioning photos of people so that they are looking toward your key products or call-to-action.

High contrast and bright colors draw attention. Use a photo with these qualities to make it the center of attention on the page, and then add your key message points or button inside the photo.

Keep in mind, however, that these principles can just as easily work against conversion goals. If a website contains high-contrast photos that serve no purpose other than to decorate the page, they are probably stealing attention away from the conversion action.

Additionally if there are photos of people on your site, be sure that their faces aren’t looking off-page or you’ll risk having your visitors look off-page as well.

Using images to make an emotional connection Research shows that people are innately attracted toward faces, and will react to faces on a Web page faster than anything else on the page. And photos of faces looking directly at the camera will have the greatest emotional impact on visitors.

However, there is a risk of this strategy working against you. It turns out that people have a pretty effec-

tive “fake-o-meter” in their brains that helps to evaluate the honesty of a photo. Stock photos that appear obviously posed and/or feature unnaturally beautiful people are filtered out as “fluff,” eliminating any chance of making an emotional connection - even if the subject in the photo is making eye contact with the visitor.

When the aim is to establish trust, build a relationship or set a mood with a photo, avoid low-cost stock imagery at all costs. Opt instead to take your own photos or purchase exclusive rights to an image that uniquely tells your story. And most of all, be sure the image placement is relevant, consistent with visitor expectations, and provides subtle details about your company, product or service that supplement the written word. If the photo doesn’t immediately communicate honest, relevant information that helps answer visitors’ questions and move them one step closer to conversion, then they will disengage. In the words of photographer and UX designer Andres Bohorquez, “If the image does a good job answering user questions and of transporting them into a realm where they can see themselves gaining benefits, the image is successful.”

Using images to sell products The right photos can mean the difference between a visitor simply viewing a product page and actually adding the item to his or her cart. When the goal of a page is to sell, using the right images can be far more powerful than even the most convincingly written product description. Photos can literally bridge the gap between a desire and an actual purchase by showing the visitor how this product will benefit his or her life.

If selling products, retailers should let the text be supplementary – focusing their efforts on showing the right images. Use multiple photos that can communicate a more complete story about the product than any visitor would be willing to read. Show the product in context, so that it is being used, worn, driven or otherwise enjoyed. Then show the product from different angles, highlighting any features that may be different than what would ordinarily be expected. Think of all the questions a visitor might have about the product and include a photo that answers each question.

Many people are still reluctant to buy certain products online because they can’t experience the

texture, smell, feel, quality, fit and overall experience of the product in the same way as if they were in a physical store, but there are technology solutions that bridge the online and offline worlds (see sidebar).

“

“

If the image does a good job answering user questions and of transporting them into a realm where they can see themselves gaining benefits, the image is successful.

Photos that kill (conversions, that is) Having just recommended that site owners include lots of large photos on their websites, a cautionary warning about file sizes and load speed must be given. A study by KISSMetrics indicates that a 1-second delay in page load can cause a 7 percent drop in conversions. Even without this research, the reality is obvious: People want what they want when they want it. If a user clicks to view a product page, it had better load quickly. And if they click to view an enlarged version, the large photo should display immediately, allow the user to pan and zoom smoothly and close quickly upon request.

Another photo no-no that can cause user frustration (thereby costing conversions) is when a product is depicted with other items and it’s not clear what is included in the price, and what are just visual accessories added in to enhance the appeal of the product.

A good photographer can add just enough blur to the background images to make the featured product stand out. If that doesn’t match the vision or brand, add a footnote or clear annotation that prominently advises visitors what is being sold.

What purpose do your photos play?

If your site is like most, it probably has some photos that are purely decorative. Now is the time to review your website’s photos and question the role of each.

Are they conveying the right emotion or answering the right questions given the stage of the visitor journey in which they are placed? Are they effective? Start thinking of website photos as an extension of your sales and marketing team, each playing a valuable role in driving business success, and you’ll stop using images as filler and start putting them to work enhancing usability and driving conversions.

Brian Lewis is director of optimization at SiteTuners, where he works with clients to diagnose conversion barriers, streamline conversion paths and support test-planning efforts.

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Affiliate

INSIDER

BACK TO WORK with Product Feeds

By Matt Swan, Client Strategist at Affiliate Window

To make an affiliate marketing initiative profitable, advertisers need to step outside traditional formats and channels and put product feeds to work.

Feeds are simply data files (typically in an XML format and developed by an advertiser) that enable affiliate publishers to present information about an advertiser or merchant’s product inventory within their own website or application. Rather than manually entering/updating information, data feeds contain all the details publishers require to keep sites current. So, what do you, as an advertiser or publisher, need to know to get started using this powerful format?

Feed Details in Focus

Product Feeds in M-Commerce Discover some challenges that publishers and advertisers must address to ensure product feeds contain information suited to mobile devices at

wsm.co/pfmobile

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Feed requirements often vary depending on the sector; and the more advertisers and affiliates who know about how they are being used, the better off they will be when their own data-feed initiatives begin.

There is a significant need for data feeds in the Internet retail space, for example, because there are often a vast number of products. Plus, the availability and pricing frequently change. Within a retail environment a product feed could contain details on the sizing and color of a piece of clothing or the specifications and universal product number of an electrical product.

The travel sector can also leverage data feeds. Since flight prices constantly change (along with availability), providing a product feed is essential to ensure the most accurate information is advertised across partner sites.

With out-of-date and unreliable product information, consumers are unlikely to book at all, much less return to a website or application with outdated information – which, obviously, is detrimental to the advertiser. .com

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As product feeds provide an opportunity for affiliate publishers to include advertiser content (via widgets or custom applications) on their own websites, they also have the ability to convince a consumer to purchase before they have ever clicked through to the advertiser’s site. This is exemplified well in the travel sector.

A consumer may visit a publisher’s site advertising holiday destinations, read reviews to compare the various travel options and formulate a decision.

With the publisher providing pricing and availability from a number of advertisers, the visitor is able to make up his or her mind on the publisher’s site. When the visitor clicks through to the advertiser’s site, he or she may have a higher inclination to purchase, increasing conversion rates in the process.

Similarly, in a retail environment if a publisher has a site that is dedicated to red handbags, he or she can optimize the feeds that have been provided by advertisers to promote numerous products across a range of advertisers. The consumer makes a lot of the purchasing decision while on the site, and clicks through to the advertiser only to purchase. Any advertiser that sells red handbags but does not have a product feed is losing out on potential sales.

Product feeds are supplied by advertisers and merchants to networks that provide these in their interface for publishers to download and configure before adding to their sites. There is no standardized format but there are often compulsory fields that must be populated. As feeds are seen as a technical aspect of an affiliate program, they are often overlooked (or poorly configured) by marketing managers. It is imperative that they are optimized with publishers in mind as poor feeds will result in poor conversions.

Put Those Feeds to Work Product feeds are one of the most neglected aspects of affiliate marketing. Make them work for your enterprise, however, and you will likely see a dramatic lift in program sales.

12 MONTHS OF WEB SUCCESS

Don’t wait, subscribe FREE at wsm.co/subscribe14 Join the largest audience of Internet professionals of any industry publication by claiming your FREE subscription to Website Magazine today.

Software

EVERYWHERE Extend WordPress with These

POWERFUL

PLUGINS

By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

One of the reasons that WordPress is so dominant in the digital publishing landscape is its “extensibility” - the system’s ability to include new functionality without recompiling or changing the original source code and structure.

Themes and plugins are two ways that WordPresspowered sites can extend the form and function of their software installation, and in this month’s Website Magazine Software Everywhere column we’re profiling a few of the most interesting and engaging themes and plugins that recently caught the attention of the WordPress community (and our own network of Internet professionals).

Think you have a theme or plugin worthy of note? Just drop a digital note to our team of editors (editors@websitemagazine.com) and you might just find your recommendation in one of our weekly WordPress Wednesday posts.

PressForward

wsm.co/pressforwardwp

The PressForward plugin for WordPress aggregates content from RSS feeds, so WP admins can publish curated content.

Aggregates content from RSS feeds, allowing WP admins to republish curated content (essentially, content collected from a variety of sources). It’s important to note that this plugin is not an auto-blogger per say, as WP admin users must choose what to republish manually.

Content can be flagged for review and discussion, and it’s possible to start comment threads (inside the WP administrative interface) about each item. For companies looking to capitalize on the content marketing trend without breaking their virtual backs, PressForward is worth a look.

Simple Author Box wsm.co/authorboxwp Provides a number of slick-looking visual improvements and customization options for those often mind36

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numbingly boring “About the Author” sections at the bottom of articles and posts. The plugin provides a variety of features including styling for avatars, the ability to use Web fonts from Google’s Font collection, icon-links for social networks and a whole lot more.

Zingaya

wsm.co/clicktocallwp Allows voice calls through any computer, right from a Web page. Whether for an e-commerce enterprise or a startup blogging community, the Zingaya plugin enables WordPress sites to embed a “Call” button on their websites. Visitors simply click the button and the call is immediately forwarded to a landline or mobile phone.

Optimizely

wsm.co/optimizelywp Enables users to configure their WordPress websites to use A/B testing service Optimizely. After setting up an account at Optimizely.com, users enter their project code in the plugin’s configuration page, and create an experiment within Optimizely’s visual interface (no coding or engineering required) to start testing.

SumoMe

wsm.co/sumomewp A collection of free apps designed specifically to help grow website traffic. The apps can be integrated through HTML or with SumoMe’s WordPress plugins. Apps for content sharing, list building, lead generation, image sharing, scroll boxes and more are currently available.

SumoMe even recently introduced an application for heatmaps which showcases where users are (or are not) clicking on a Web page.

New to the SumoMe plugin for WordPress, its heatmaps application shows where users are clicking on a Web page.

Web Tech Watch

for the Digital Digerati

By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief

New technologies are introduced on the Web every day. While some end up being huge successes, others are quickly deemed duds.

The following are a few of the coolest solutions, services and tools that the digerati (yes, that’s a thing - but don’t tell anyone) have been discussing, sharing among themselves and beta testing until their fingers have grown numb from clicking – and you get a sneak peek.

Polarr: A Web-based photo retouching tool that offers useful editing features, including adjustments for color temperature, exposure, contrast, distortions, watermarks and more.

Detectify: A SaaS-based website security scanner that audits more than 100 attack vectors, offering a mix of zero-day and signature-based scanning.

Armature: A wireframing extension for Adobe Illustrator, ideal for building user interfaces for mobile and desktop devices.

Imagga: An automated photo recognition technology that automates image annotation tasks, ideal for processing large volumes of images and photos.

Indifference: A desktop app that provides context on code reviews and pull requests, making the review process easier thanks to side-byside comparisons.

TestNest.co: An A/B testing tool for ap-

With AppMinded, businesses can find out any iOS App’s active keywords, track app store’s search rankings in real-time, and monitor and analyze the competition.

AppMind: An app store optimization solution, enabling users to search for any app’s active keywords, track search positions, monitor and analyze competitors and receive real-time notifications about rankings.

Netptun.io: A IFTTT-style platform that fixes server alerts automatically. If an alert occurs, developers can automatically run a resolution script or a diagnostic script to manage the potentially devastating issue.

Denote: A simple way to add a site search func-

plication (smartphone and tablet) meta-data including icons, screenshots, name, price and description.

tion to a website or mobile app. Denote offers analytics, custom search results (with inclusion/exclusion rules) and a developer API for those with advanced demands.

Infoactive.co: A platform to develop interactive infographics and data visualizations without the support of designers, programmers or data analysts.

SupportYard: A Web application that converts all inbound email requests (and replies) into support tickets, keeping them organized.

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Net

ADVERTISING

7

Essential Pre-Launch Questions for

ENGAGING DIGITAL

AD CAMPAIGNS

By Danielle Forget

Launching an online advertising campaign can be an incredibly daunting task. Coming up with ways to reach prospective customers without proper planning wastes time and money and can fail to produce the results brands expect and demand.

To ensure ad campaign effectiveness, here are seven questions every advertiser should ask before launch:

American Express clearly defines the goal of the campaign as the ad includes the copy, “Apply now” twice with a clear call-to-action for users to follow.

1

What is the goal of the campaign?

Having a direct call-to-action (CTA) is essential as it clearly defines the action prospective clients and users should take. For example, should a user sign up for a newsletter or an upcoming webinar? Perhaps browse a website to learn how a product or service works? Or maybe a brand has a current promotion and the objective is for consumers to purchase immediately. Whatever the CTA, it must be expressed clearly.

2

Who are the different segments being targeted?

The same marketing tactics aren’t going to work on everyone. Advertisers need to define the different segments they are trying to reach early in the launch process, and tailor messages for each specific audience. Beyond messaging, brands

Although consistent in terms of design aesthetics, Aldo creates separate ads for its distinct audience segments.

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need to deliver ads to appropriate websites, based on the intended audience’s interests, demographics and more.

3

What marketing mix suits the campaign?

The online marketing options available to digital enterprises can seem endless – social media promotions, search and display ads, webinars and sponsorships are just a few examples. What’s the right combination (and number) of these branded media options? Leverage too many and you may waste time and money, too few and opportunities and reach will be limited.

To get the optimal marketing mix, brand strategists must evaluate which channels carry the greatest potential to amplify their messages and understand where their users are spending the majority of their digital time. For example, GNC’s ‘Beat Average’ campaign was distributed through several channels simultaneously, including social media, display and video. What’s important is that despite the different channels GNC leveraged, the messaging stayed consistent throughout, with just slight variations based on the channel.

Get three examples of how brands are finding the right marketing mix for their customers at wsm.co/rightmix3.

4

How will users be converted after the first click?

When prospects click on an ad and are redirected to a landing page, what’s next?

GNC’s ‘Beat Average’ campaign was distributed through several channels simultaneously including social media, display and video.

A

Building a fully optimized landing page takes time and testing. The most important tips to keep in mind are to keep these assets relevant to the ad copy and present relevant information so consumers won’t be forced to leave to find the information they need. Driving clicks to a page with an entirely different message will disturb the flow of a users’ journey and lead to a higher bounce rate.

5

What’s the advertising budget and timeline?

6

What are competitors doing in their campaigns?

Failing to set limits makes tracking ROI very difficult, so advertisers need to establish a realistic budget and schedule. It’s important to have some idea of how long a campaign will run to avoid exhausting a message and wasting advertising dollars.

On the same token, if a campaign is seasonal or time sensitive in nature (e.g. an event or holiday promotion) be sure to highlight that urgency in the CTA and ad copy.

B

C This is especially true for campaigns looking to use humor.

If it doesn’t make sense to the person viewing the ad, it most likely won’t convert them into a customer. Try running ideas by friends and family to see if it still makes sense to someone with an outside perspective and different experiences in general.

A little planning goes a long way...

Kicking off a new digital ad campaign without a complete strategy is a disaster waiting to happen. It’s almost as if you’re marketing in the dark with no guidelines.

With a formal plan in place, your brand will stay on the right track and dramatically increase its campaign’s success rate.

Danielle Forget is the marketing coordinator for WhatRunsWhere.com, a competitive intelligence service for online advertising.

Stay ahead of the game by keeping a watchful eye on what competitors are doing. While their exact strategies should not be copied, let the efforts of others serve as inspiration and then find a way to improve upon it.

Be sure to analyze the campaigns of top-performing advertisers targeting the same audience, including what traffic sources are being used, what top ads look like and how landing pages are optimized.

7

Does the campaign make sense?

Sure, a campaign may make sense to an internal marketing team, but does it make sense to prospective customers? Since marketers have all the knowledge when it comes to their product or service, it is common to use terminology or references that may not be clear to an audience.

Slimfast does a remarkable job of matching their landing pages to that of their ads.

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Web

COMMENTARY

Drunk on Keynote Kool-Aid

By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor

The lights, the music and the smooth-talking and often-motivating CEO whose job it is to get an audience of current and prospective customers pumped for the festivities ahead – yes, it’s easy to get drunk on keynote Kool-Aid.

What's Next on the Digital Agenda?

See a list of must-attend tech events at webmag.co, Website Magazine’s digital pinboard for events, jobs, infographics, videos and more.

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All conferences have keynote presentations, but when tech companies host their own events – solely to update audiences on their platform’s latest bells and whistles, or the recent overhaul to their solutions – everything is turned up a notch. The keynote, for instance, is a bigger production, with singers, acrobats – you name it, really.

Not to mention that at the conference (world, symposium, appreciation event – whatever it’s called) itself, the swag is better, the lunches are yummier, the venues are nicer and the after-hours parties are over the top (in the best way possible), with no expense spared. Oracle, for example, has hosted everyone from Elton John and Billy Joel to Journey and Aerosmith at its appreciation event.

On the conference floors, technology partners also clamor for the attention of passers-by to explain their integrations with the host company or to sell attendees on some other add-on that’s only possible through their relationship with the host. Inside the meeting rooms, speakers are invited to show how their enterprises used platform A, B or C to improve their bottom lines. The tech companies sure do know how to treat their guests, and it can be dizzying for both newcomers and veterans alike who are eager to impress their employers with their now-extensive knowledge of the platform they are already using or are thinking of migrating to.

In order for business professionals, however, to leave these lavish events with more than just hangovers and branded items for their colleagues, kids or spouses, they must concentrate on asking tough questions. One may want to keep a journal of the frustrations they have with platform A, B or C over the year and bring those notes .com

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OCT OB ER 2014

to the event – making sure each of the items standing in the way of his or her digital success is addressed in some manor, whether it be from one of the many staff members available or through group sessions. Some savvier conference attendees even bring wish lists with them, to get the ear of employees who can either walk them through solving those needs or introduce them to new functionalities. If the wish list items are not satisfied, the platform user should demand a formal way to request those functionalities be included in future upgrades.

Although these events are meant to dazzle (and do they), that’s not to say there isn’t some real innovation being released. At Sitecore Symposium in Las Vegas this summer, Sitecore released a new feature (among more major platform upgrades) that marries the art and science of analytics, letting content writers take their “best guess” at how a test will perform, using a sliding scale to predict the outcome. Not only will content writers (an increasingly important role in every enterprise) learn what is resonating with their audiences, but Sitecore’s platform will start to learn from those users too. Additionally, brands can start to recognize those on their team that have a tendency to “guess better.”

At NetSuite’s SuiteWorld earlier this year, NetSuite announced a new user interface that was the work of three years of usability research with its customers, and just might set the bar for how business applications look and work moving forward.

The point is, as captivating as CEOs can be in their keynotes, or as mind-blowing as having a private Elton John concert would be, tech companies hold these (often) invite-only events to educate, sell and update current and prospective customers on their products.

They are working for you, so go ahead and enjoy everything they have to offer, but remember to do your due diligence when it comes to crossing off your grievances with the platform or asking for upgrades that matter to your Web success.

ad tar•get•ing

noun \ˈad ˈtär-gət-iŋ\

1. refers to the practice of advertisers attempting to reach (target) a specific, desired audience. example: a merchant selling web-related services may use advertising opportunities such as those provided by Website Magazine to reach an audience that is engaged in learning about web services.

Take out an ad on WebsiteMagazine.com!

If you want to reach a tech-savvy audience, advertise in the industry’s top publication. Our magazines can be found in waiting rooms all across corporate America. Over 50% of our subscribers are C-List executives, and overall, 84% of our subscribers influence purchases at their organizations.

Go beyond! Website Magazine offers the following advertising opportunities: • White paper hosting • Webinars • Video hosting • Listing on website • Job board advertising • Newsletters and eBlasts • Website advertising

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