check out this post on New Amazon Echo Speaker Unveiled With Late October UK Release Date
Amazon has unveiled not one, but three brand-new Echo devices at a special event held at its HQ in Seattle.
The three new gadgets are the new Amazon Echo now at a lower price, the Smart home-controlling Echo Plus and a small quirky Echo Spot which contains a small circular display.
Leading the event is the brand-new Amazon Echo. This sequel to the popular voice-activated speaker now comes with a new design, improved audio and a cheaper price.
Amazon
According to Amazon the new Echo boasts improved sound quality over the original with sound processing by Dolby. It also comes with Amazon’s second generation far-field microphone technology which should make it even easier to talk to in big or noisy rooms.
Then of course there’s the design. Amazon’s taken a leaf out of Google’s book and like the Google Home, now offers the Echo with a range of different covers.
Amazon
It costs £89.99, is available to order now and will be released in the UK on the 31 October 2017.
Next up is the Echo Plus. This features the same design as the original Echo but comes with two major improvements.
Amazon
Firstly, it now has the same audio improvements as the Echo including both a dedicated tweeter and woofer and audio processing by Dolby.
The second feature is arguably the more exciting. Echo Plus is actually a smart home hub, which means that it is compatible with hundreds of smart home products straight out of the box.
You simply tell Echo Plus to discover what’s in your house and it will search for, and then connect to everything that’s compatible without you having to go through each individual product.
For the added convenience and slightly bigger audio Amazon’s charging £139.99 for the Echo Plus and it too will release in the UK on the 31 October.
Last but not least is the Echo Spot. This doesn’t have a UK release date but it’s sure to be a hit in the US.
Amazon
It’s essentially a tiny version of Amazon’s larger Show speaker, with a small circular display that can show information, requests. It also has a camera that means it can double as a nursery camera.
Finally Amazon announced that the Echo Show would be launching in the UK on the 16 November for £199.99.
Amazon
Make user-generated content your brand’s secret weapon
See details of post Make user-generated content your brand’s secret weapon below
Your customers’ own words are more important to your brand than any marketing tagline you can write. More than 90 percent of consumers say they trust recommendations from others — even people they don’t know! — over branded content.
Google Singapore Top Contributor Summit
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Top Contributors are those unpaid, volunteers that answer questions in the Google support forums on behalf of paid Google employees. To reward them, Google gives them freebies and also hosts Top Contributor summits around the world for them.
Bing Ads announces new Editor features for ad extensions
See details of post Bing Ads announces new Editor features for ad extensions below
Bing Ads announced on Thursday some new features in Editor related to ad extension management.
These new features are now available for the Windows version of Bing Ads Editor, and they will soon be available for the Mac version.
Ad extension scheduling
Advertisers can control when their ad extensions are shown in Editor, including by date, day of the week and time of day. There’s also support for times to be based on either the advertiser’s time zone or the searcher’s time zone.
These scheduling options allow advertisers to run ad extensions only during appropriate times and help enhance relevance. For example, a restaurant may want to have callout extensions enabled for the morning to highlight breakfast items, and then schedule them to turn off when breakfast stops serving and turn on callouts for dinner promotion.
The new scheduling options displayed when extensions are highlighted in Editor:
Clicking Edit in the Ad Schedule section of the editing pane brings up a scheduling window:
Shared Library support for call and location extensions
New Amazon Echo Speaker Unveiled With Late October UK Release Date
check out this post on New Amazon Echo Speaker Unveiled With Late October UK Release Date
Amazon has unveiled not one, but three brand-new Echo devices at a special event held at its HQ in Seattle.
The three new gadgets are the new Amazon Echo now at a lower price, the Smart home-controlling Echo Plus and a small quirky Echo Spot which contains a small circular display.
Leading the event is the brand-new Amazon Echo. This sequel to the popular voice-activated speaker now comes with a new design, improved audio and a cheaper price.
Amazon
According to Amazon the new Echo boasts improved sound quality over the original with sound processing by Dolby. It also comes with Amazon’s second generation far-field microphone technology which should make it even easier to talk to in big or noisy rooms.
Then of course there’s the design. Amazon’s taken a leaf out of Google’s book and like the Google Home, now offers the Echo with a range of different covers.
Amazon
It costs £89.99, is available to order now and will be released in the UK on the 31 October 2017.
Next up is the Echo Plus. This features the same design as the original Echo but comes with two major improvements.
Amazon
Firstly, it now has the same audio improvements as the Echo including both a dedicated tweeter and woofer and audio processing by Dolby.
The second feature is arguably the more exciting. Echo Plus is actually a smart home hub, which means that it is compatible with hundreds of smart home products straight out of the box.
You simply tell Echo Plus to discover what’s in your house and it will search for, and then connect to everything that’s compatible without you having to go through each individual product.
For the added convenience and slightly bigger audio Amazon’s charging £139.99 for the Echo Plus and it too will release in the UK on the 31 October.
Last but not least is the Echo Spot. This doesn’t have a UK release date but it’s sure to be a hit in the US.
Amazon
It’s essentially a tiny version of Amazon’s larger Show speaker, with a small circular display that can show information, requests. It also has a camera that means it can double as a nursery camera.
Finally Amazon announced that the Echo Show would be launching in the UK on the 16 November for £199.99.
Amazon
Bug drops Sitelinks Searchbox from Google search results
How LucidChart Used Kissmetrics to Drive Growth
this is a note on How LucidChart Used Kissmetrics to Drive Growth.
Be sure to digest the entire essay and view the main source
LucidChart, a SaaS-based diagramming application with over 9 million users, wanted to make sure their site was more than just pretty to look at. They wanted to ensure that it was leading users down the path to purchase. This is how they used Kissmetrics to leverage the behavioral data their users were leaving behind and increased conversions by 30%.
The initial step LucidChart took was to dive deep into data to better understand and evaluate the customer journey across their site. They learned what users were doing, where they were going and where they were dropping off across their site. Using insights from Kissmetrics they found key areas in the journey where they could drive efficiency and which pages they wanted to test a redesign.
After creating the new pages LucidChart used the Kissmetrics Funnel Report in correlation with the A/B Test Report to determine the effectiveness variation of the new pages both as a stand alone and part of the customer journey. Until they locked in on the best performing pages and process to drive conversions.
Funnel Report
Growth and marketing teams use our Funnel Report to see where dropoffs occur before conversion. This report is entirely customizable and can be used to track any conversion path you’d like. Furthermore, you can segment the data based on lead source, location, referring links, etc.
Used for illustration purposes. This is not LucidChart’s data.
LucidChart was able to track different segments across the customer journey and compare one another as well as use the A/B Test report to test the new design against the old.
A/B Test Report
With this report, you’ll create your test in an A/B testing tool, such as Optimizely, and track the results in Kissmetrics.
All data is imported from A/B testing tool and stored in Kissmetrics. Note: this is not LucidChart’s data.
What makes this Kissmetrics report unique is that you’ll be able to see how a test impacts any part of your funnel. Want to see if a new headline on your homepage leads to more purchases? Or see how a test in the middle of the funnel impacts the bottom line? Get your answer in just a few clicks in Kissmetrics. Having both reports coordinated in the same tool allowed LucidChart to measure the effectiveness of the new pages’ impact on the customer funnel with the old pages.
The Results
The outcome? By combining the power of the Kissmetrics A/B Test Report with the Funnel Report, LucidChart discovered that 2 pages in particular, their new homepage and new product page, were driving a huge 30% increase in conversions.
“Insights from Kissmetrics drove a 30% lift in our conversions. All of our key customer behavior data lives in Kissmetrics, for both our product and website, so we can quickly identify and take action on any roadblocks across our growth cycle. Kissmetrics is essential to Lucid Software’s growth efforts.”
Spencer Mann, VP of Growth at Lucid Software
Every time a prospect visits your site or uses your product they’re leaving a digital trail of their behavior – showing what they’re doing, where they get stuck, what they like, don’t like and why. There’s tremendous value in that data and it’s critical for driving growth.
Kissmetrics enables you to capture and leverage all that behavioral data to increase conversions, acquisitions and retention.
About Kissmetrics
SearchCap: Happy birthday Google, EU Google Shopping changes & SEO tips
See details of post SearchCap: Happy birthday Google, EU Google Shopping changes & SEO tips below
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
- CSEs will compete head-on with Google Shopping in EU search results
Sep 27, 2017 by Ginny MarvinTo provide “equal treatment” in the ad auction, Google Shopping will operate as a separate business unit bidding against Comparison Shopping Engines
- Google’s latest Easter Egg is a video game that shows up with searches for ‘snake’ & ‘play snake’
Sep 27, 2017 by Amy GesenhuesAnnounced in conjunction with Google’s 19th birthday surprise spinner doodle, the digital game can be played on both desktop and mobile.
- SEO content strategy: How to grow visits by 300% in one year
Sep 27, 2017 by Andrew DennisCreating great content isn’t enough to achieve great SEO results in and of itself. As columnist Andrew Dennis demonstrates, there is a lot that goes into a truly effective content strategy.
- Google marks its 19th birthday with a ‘Google birthday surprise spinner’ doodle
Sep 27, 2017 by Amy GesenhuesThe spinner leads to searches for 19 different Easter egg games and quizzes launched during Google’s 19 years.
- Why going global is essential to your business
Sep 26, 2017 by Chris ShermanThere are 7.5 billion people in the world. Are you reaching all of your potential customers with your search marketing campaign?
- Alphabet to create separate business unit in Europe to run Google Shopping
Sep 26, 2017 by Greg SterlingEffort is attempt to comply with European antitrust decision; would force Google to bid against rivals in the AdWords auction as a standalone entity.
- The non-developer’s guide to reducing WordPress load times up to 2 seconds (with data)
Sep 27, 2017 by Tom DemersWondering where to start with page speed improvements? Columnist Tom Demers shares how he tackled page speed improvements on several WordPress sites without (much) input from a developer.
- Updated for 2017! Enterprise Paid Media Campaign Management Platforms
Sep 27, 2017 by Digital Marketing DepotThe paid media marketing landscape has become increasingly complex, as the speed of search engine algorithms and development changes accelerates and marketers demand more integrated channel capabilities. Automating paid media campaign management through an enterprise platform can improve efficiency and productivity. MarTech Today’s “Enterprise Paid Media Campaign Management Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide” examines the market […]
Recent Headlines From Marketing Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:
Search News From Around The Web:
Industry
Local & Maps
Link Building
Science Should Never Become Boring… Here’s Why
check out this post on Science Should Never Become Boring… Here’s Why
As you might expect, ‘athlete’ and ‘firefighter’ are two of the most sought after jobs for children. But it wasn’t a surprise to me to find ‘astronaut’ and ‘scientist’ holding their own in the top ten as well. Why not? Defying gravity, even zero gravity, must be one of the most exciting scientific developments of our time, and children everywhere want to be a part of it.
So, why is it that that in recent years 47% of young people think that science subjects are for those who are ‘boring’, with a further 55% of online conversation describing STEM as ‘too difficult’? What about the role physics has played in making space travel real? Or the scientific research which has allowed pilots to fly across the world at up to 39,000 feet? Science certainly isn’t boring and I’m fascinated to know why one in two schoolchildren think it is.
Answering a question like this is not straightforward, and no one answer can solve it. But I think one way to address the issue is by encouraging schoolchildren to understand science away from their textbooks. I was lucky – Mr Davies, my primary school teacher, was nothing short of legendary in the classroom. He loved doing the sort of exploding volcano experiments that left red stains on the ceilings, and got us jumping out of our seats from the start of the lesson.
Photo Credit: Jonathan Birch/Statoil
It was these kinds of lessons that put me on the path to where I am today: presenting science live at events, on the TV, and on the radio. Doing what I do gives me the chance to convey to the next generation that science is not only important, but fun.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves – not all science is volcano-exploding-awe-inspiring amusement. Some elements of STEM subjects can be tremendously pure, complex and difficult to convey. But, even these subjects can be explained to children in interesting ways. I’m not expecting every lab technician in Britain to charge towards their nearest school test-tube in hand; but when scientists can explain things in a way that we can all relate to, it’s great to try and make the link.
One way, for example, of presenting science to young people is as an explainer of everything we see. Science can answer a simple question, like why on earth your voice sounds different on video, or a more exciting one, like exploring how fireworks explode. Beyond this, science is about answering the most complex questions young people will face, so let’s do everything we can to make it engaging.
Explaining real-world phenomena, big or small, in terms of science is what I love, and that’s why I am working with Statoil and the Science Museum on this year’s Young Imagineers competition. Steph McGovern, Jill Tully, Lopa Patel and I are inviting 7-14 year olds to design the future, under the title ‘what invention would you create to make tomorrow’s world a better place’. We’re looking for a huge mix: everything from teleporters to biscuit dunkers welcome! Entries can be submitted here.
The ten most creative entries will be shortlisted and the entrants will get a chance to develop their invention with a top developer. Then, they’ll be invited to showcase their entry to us with a live audience in an exclusive day of events at the Science Museum, on the 18th of November. The winner will get an even bigger prize – their invention will be created and displayed inside the Science Museum for everyone to see.
More Google Algorithm & Search Results Shuffling
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Yea, yea, yea, more of the same. Google is updating their search results, it is in flux, search results are shuffling around. But I only try to report it when the signals all seem to be higher than the normal day to day shuffles. I always see people complaining about changes in Google but when it reaches certain levels, that is when I decide to cover it.
The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread has a spike in complaints from webmasters and SEOs about ranking shuffles and the automated tracking tools also show huge changes. Here are some comments from the threads:
This week was the worst week we have seen from google since panda 4. With all other updates we gained traffic but this one hit us with >50%. Sales form google organics, adwords and Shopping ads are off by 95%.
We have seen the same. We’ve grown massively over the past few months and this week we have lost ranking from positions 2/3 to 5/6. Its impacted us dramatically.
I’ve noted some interesting changes in the SERPs this week. Too early to say what’s up, and it’ll have to settle before making a better assessment.
For info sites, I’ve seen recent good results by moving away from keyword structured pages to answer based content. Those pages got a jump in SERP inclusion.
I know a lot of people take these types of tools with a pinch of salt, but Algoroo and moz and showing big movements today in the US. In my experience, the UK usually follows. Hopefully its a reversal of what happened last week – because we’ve definitely been hit with something.
It is hard to say if this is related to the September 20th update or another Google update or unrelated at all. Google has not commented on anything this week, of course.
Here are some charts from the automated tools.
SERPMetrics:
Algoroo:
SEMRush:
Mozcast:
RankRanger:
Accuranker:
