Google Announces over 900 Million Androids, But Cost Per Click Declines |  |
- Google Announces over 900 Million Androids, But Cost Per Click Declines
- Connie Certusi of Sage: Our Goal is to Automate Small Business Tasks
- New Gmail Tabs Cause Marketers Grief, Get Mixed Reviews From Users
- Doing it Gangnam Style: Create Viral Content Successfully
- Sales Are Flying High
- Microsoft Drops Price of Surface RT Tablet Amid Disappointing Earnings
| Google Announces over 900 Million Androids, But Cost Per Click Declines Posted: 19 Jul 2013 07:03 PM PDT
It’s earnings call time, and this week’s call with Google shows the Mountain View, California tech giant just keeps getting bigger. While futuristic toys like Google Glass tend to get a lot of press, the real story at Google is about more mundane computing, on the Web and using mobile devices. The company missed analysts’ earnings expectations by over $1.00 per share, but few seem upset. After all, the company announced $14 billion in revenue, up 19% from a year ago. Highlights included:
Google chief executive officer Larry Page spoke about the fast adoption of mobile devices. He noted in the call that we are now in an environment with multiple operating systems and multiple devices, and that those mean “tremendous opportunity” for Google. ”With more devices, more information and more activity online than ever, the potential to improve people's lives is immense: Getting you the right information just when you need it; Creating the tools to make everyone more effective at home and at work; and helping you share and remember the moments that matter in life,” he added. Page posted his remarks on Google+ — of course. Not all the news was so positive. One negative was the declining cost per click — a decline of 6%. While bad news for Google, it’s good news for advertisers. Larry Kim, Founder and CFO of Wordstream, notes that one possible reason for the declining cost per click is that AdWords Enhanced Campaigns really work. Enhanced Campaigns make it easier for advertisers to advertise on mobile devices. Kim said, “We're seeing ridiculously huge performance improvements and reductions in CPC for our small and medium sized business clients – these are businesses that didn't previously have a mobile strategy in place because in the old system, dealing with mobile was such a hassle. It’s worth pointing out that all the doomsday scenarios published by Adobe, Marin, Kenshoo, Covario (etc.) all work with large advertisers which is roughly half of Google’s ad revenues. I’ve always been more bullish on Enhanced Campaigns because I believe that they greatly simplfy mobile search for the vast majority of smaller, less sophisticated Google Advertisers. Could more SMBs be killing it with ECs resulting in lower CPC?” The post Google Announces over 900 Million Androids, But Cost Per Click Declines appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Connie Certusi of Sage: Our Goal is to Automate Small Business Tasks Posted: 19 Jul 2013 01:35 PM PDT
The goal was to update small business owners and managers on what Sage is doing for small businesses. The purpose of these interviews is to hear from leaders who provide products and services you may not know of, to listen to their philosophies and to hear the latest developments coming down the pike. We conducted it as a Google Hangout, and videoed it. Connie kicked it off by explaining that she has been with Sage for 17 years and says she has been "focused on small businesses all of these years. I absolutely love this market. I think it's a dynamic market. It's been a long time at Sage. It's been a lot of fun." As she notes, one of Sage’s key goals is to automate small business tasks, and doing that is part of her job. Below are some highlights from that interview, paraphrased in places. For the full interview, you can scroll down to the bottom and watch the Hangout video – about 25 minutes long. Question: What does small business mean to Sage? Sage is a global organization that provides business management software, services and solutions to small businesses – 6 million across the globe. It is our goal … to provide solutions to … small businesses that help them to better automate their daily tasks, their administrative tasks related to accounting, related to payroll, related to inventory management. And ultimately we want to free up some time so they can focus on other things like growing their business, or finding new customers or maybe just get them home at a decent hour so they can spend some time with their friends and family. So we service small businesses with tools to help make them successful. Question: Sage recently conducted a Reinvention of Small Business study. What were some of the key findings? [49% of small businesses cited investing in technology as the major change or improvement over the last five years.] A lot of the small businesses that have survived the downturn in the economy, a lot of them are doing it because they are getting smarter about running their businesses and they are using technology to do that. A lot of [small business people] are working more. When we ask them how many hours they are working … 37% said they are putting in 11 or more hours every week in their small business on both the weekends as well as during the week. And … 43% said they are taking less vacation time. There’s an apprehension to hire…. They’re getting more done with less. They’re putting in more hours. When [small businesses were] asked “have you thought about giving up?” a resounding 76 percent said “No”. I think it's the spirit of businesses in the U.S. quite frankly. Even though they've gone through some tough times, 56 percent still feel like they're living the American dream. Question: What is The Sage Listening Tour that Sage is about to kick off? We are just getting started on the Sage Listens RV Relay. We have an RV that is going around to 16 cities around the U.S. A number of Sage executives and employees are traveling on this RV and meeting with small and medium sized businesses. Not only do we want to meet with the small businesses and understand their journey … what keeps them up at night… and [take that information back to Sage].. but we want to shop locally on this tour. We are buying gas from small business customers, we are staying at hotels where we can of small business customers, we are eating at [small business-owned restaurants]. We want them to know that we are championing them in the community. [The Shop Local Challenge is where we] are asking everyone to shop local at least one day a week. Make a concerted effort to find a small business in your area … to shop local at least one day a week. We are putting out the Challenge to our employees to do the same across the United States. Question: What’s the impact of shopping local in the community? There are tremendous impacts for shopping local … locally owned businesses … give back more to the community. They do this in a number of ways. Obviously if these locally-owned businesses are thriving they are hiring employees from that community. They are also [giving back] to the community from a charity perspective … they sell more products, they are paying more taxes that goes back into the local infrastructure. It’s a domino effect … as to the impact they can have on the community. Question: What products does Sage offer small businesses and for what size of small business? We have a number of accounting, ERP, payroll, HR solutions … that focus … all the way from the entrepreneur/ single-employee space going all the way up to the 500-employee space. We've got cloud solutions … Sage One … that is a full-cloud online accounting solution that targets the 0 to 9 employee space. From Sage One you can then move into Sage 50 … [it] spans up to the 25 to 50 employee space. You can move up to Sage 100 … then Sage 300 … a number of solutions that help the small business really not only when they are first forming but as they continue to grow and their needs are changing. The following resources were mentioned in this Hangout interview: Sage Listens Tour (Hashtag for Twitter: #SageListens and #SageShopsLocal) The post Connie Certusi of Sage: Our Goal is to Automate Small Business Tasks appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| New Gmail Tabs Cause Marketers Grief, Get Mixed Reviews From Users Posted: 19 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT
Google unveiled Gmail Tabs this week and like anything new on the Web today, the initial reviews are mixed. Some people love the new compartmentalized look to their Inbox. Others are furiously scrambling to remove the Gmail tabs and return to the Gmail look they are familiar with. And marketers — well many of them are decidedly unhappy as they discover what the tabs will mean to their marketing messages and transactional e-commerce messages.
If you haven’t opened your Gmail recently, when you do you’ll notice a major change. Three Gmail tabs will top the first message in your Inbox: Primary, Social, and Promotions. You can add others or delete these to return to the traditional look by navigating to Inbox Settings inside Gmail. A Look At The New Gmail Tab SettingsHere’s a brief explanation of what you can expect to find in each of these Gmail tabs. (Note: These tabs are not the same as the Categories which you already probably use to organize your emails.): Primary: These are inter-personal messages from your regular contacts. Or they could be messages that don’t fit the other tabs you’ve set. Social: Very simply, these are messages you receive through social networks. They could include updates on new Twitter followers, direct messages you’ve received, and other updates from social media sites like Facebook, Google Plus, and others. Promotions: These messages, at least at first glance, are marketing messages. Based on my initial use of the new Gmail tabs, they are generally messages from sites where you’ve signed up for updates. Google will automatically pre-sort messages and place them under what it believes to be the appropriate tab. You can also add tabs for Updates (messages from sites like PayPal) and Forums (pretty self-explanatory). How It Could Affect Your BusinessIf your business relies on e-commerce, this new tabbed layout could mean that abandoned shopping messages and other order communications will not immediately be seen by customers. This could lead to lower customer satisfaction and missed sales opportunities. And for those that do email marketing, they will find their messages likely pushed to the Promotions tab. Only time will tell whether or not people actually read the filtered messages in the Promotions and Social tabs. Some fear those messages may get buried. Some of the Issues PredictedThere’s already some buzz on the Web about how these new tabs (particularly Promotions) could impact businesses.
Some Simple AdviceBut rather than wait to see what the new Gmail Tabs will do to your email marketing campaigns, instead be proactive. Digital marketing expert Michelle Gamble from Marketing Angels suggests contacting your customers now. Tell your subscribers that the email updates you send them may be going to their Promotions tab. Tell them if they still want to see those emails regularly they need to either visit the tab or mark the email “not promotions” for the future. Watch Google’s brief visual tour of the new Gmail Tabs below: The post New Gmail Tabs Cause Marketers Grief, Get Mixed Reviews From Users appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Doing it Gangnam Style: Create Viral Content Successfully Posted: 19 Jul 2013 08:00 AM PDT
Having a piece of content go viral is a dream for most marketers. It's the ultimate reward because viral content, after all, means something was so popular that it snowballed into more shares, clicks, visibility, etc. and a few extra sales are bound to come from it all. Unfortunately, creating viral content isn't easy. When people think of the term "viral," funny YouTube videos come to mind. Unless it makes sense for your company to create another Gangnam style video, this type of popularity seems out of reach for many. While it is difficult to create viral content, it isn't impossible. There are a few things marketers and content writers can do to work together and create something that has all the features of something that could go viral. Top 5 Ways to Help You Create Viral ContentNo matter what industry or what type of company you run, there are a few different steps you can take to help give your content a chance to go viral. Step #1: Understand Your Audience and Why and Where They Share Content Going viral is all about having your audience share your content, so it helps to know why they do. In general, people share content because it offers great information, but because it hits some sort of an emotional cord, whether that be confusion, humor, sadness, etc. (Step 3 below discusses this more in-depth and how to create content with these emotions in mind). Follow the trends of your audience and in your industry by looking at your database, social accounts and even talking to customer service to determine where your industry is most likely to share content. Step #2: Figure Out What You Want to Communicate Through Your Content Before you sit down to write your content, you're going to want to know exactly what you want to communicate to make sure that your vision doesn't get lost as you throw in all the viral features. Make sure that your content is relevant and something you want representing your company. If a piece of content goes viral, this could be what your company is "known for" in the future. Step #3: Create Your Content With Certain "Triggers of Fascination" in Mind Founder of My Web Presenters Neil Davidson explained on Kissmetrics that there are seven triggers of fascination for people:
People share what they are fascinated in and these are some of the things that get people fascinated. Try to have your content center around something that evokes one of these emotions and it will be more likely to go viral. Step #4: Don't Forget to Use Visuals as Much as Possible This might be an obvious point, but it's one worth mentioning because it is so important. Content that utilizes a lot of photos and videos has a better chance of going viral. It is the headline and the photo that will catch the attention of readers first, so don't expect a piece of content with one small picture to go viral. Step #5: Look at Your Results and Try, Try Again There is a chance that the first time you try to create viral content it isn't going to work. In fact, that's almost a certainty. It takes a long, long time to create a piece of viral content, so you always want to look at your results and try again. If you didn't get as many social shares as you have in the past, evaluate what you did differently and try something else. Creating viral content is all about experimenting. It's important to realize that even if your content doesn't go viral, you're at least writing content that has the features of something that could go viral. In other words, keep doing what you're doing and you have a chance. After a while, utilizing some of the above tips should help your content gain a little bit more traction if nothing else, and that's never a bad thing. Have you produced content that’s gone viral and, if so, what did you do to make it happen? Psy, Gangnam Style Photo via Shutterstock The post Doing it Gangnam Style: Create Viral Content Successfully appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Posted: 19 Jul 2013 05:00 AM PDT
Just when you think you can’t do another sales graph cartoon, one pops up and proves you wrong. This one came to me while I was doodling during a phone call. I drew a kite flying in the sky, then the line curving down and then it hit me. Throw in an X and Y axis and that’s a sales graph! The caption took another day or two, but I was so excited with the initial idea that I knew something good would come. The post Sales Are Flying High appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Microsoft Drops Price of Surface RT Tablet Amid Disappointing Earnings Posted: 19 Jul 2013 02:30 AM PDT Microsoft yesterday announced disappointing earnings. The software giant took a charge of $900 Million on its Surface RT tablets, and announced it would offer a $150 per tablet discount. So if you’re in the market for a tablet, you can now get $150 off the price. Before the price drop the Surface RT cost $499. The 32 GB version (without the keyboard touch cover) is now being advertised around the Web at $349. For instance, Staples and the Official Microsoft Store have it at the $349 sale price. Amy Hood, Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer, said Microsoft hopes the $150 discount will make the tablets more attractive to consumers and “accelerate RT adoption.” The price drop does not affect the higher-end Surface Pro tablet, which starts at around $900. The Surface RT runs the RT version of the Windows operating system, while the Surface Pro tablet runs the full Windows 8 operating system. Windows RT differs in a number of ways from regular Windows 8. The main thing to keep in mind is that it’s more limited. Software that works on earlier Windows versions won’t work on Windows RT. That means, the Surface RT won’t be quite as useful to business users who may require a tablet capable of being a desktop or laptop substitute. For business users, the Surface Pro offers more functionality. With the snap-on keyboard the Pro tablet can truly substitute for a larger computer. Still, at a price just under $350, the Surface RT is competitively priced with other tablets of similar size. So if you aren’t too worried about using a lot of software programs on a tablet — and mainly want it for email, social networking and Web browsing — the discounted surface RT could be a good bet. Microsoft has unsold inventory of Surface RT tablets that it needs to move. VentureBeat writes, “While it's easy to view this as Microsoft losing faith in the Surface RT, the price reduction is also a necessary step to clear out stock and make room for newer models. At its Worldwide Partner Conference this week, Microsoft noted that Surface upgrades are on the way this year….” But don’t hold your breath waiting for discounts on the Surface Pro. BusinessInsider quotes a Microsoft representative as saying Microsoft doesn’t have the same backed-up inventory with the Pro tablet. The post Microsoft Drops Price of Surface RT Tablet Amid Disappointing Earnings appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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