Boxsaver: The online discount grocer saving people major cash

Boxsaver: The online discount grocer saving people major cash 

Despite increased pressures on people’s wallets due to the cost of living crisis, major supermarkets are still charging a premium for the nation’s favourite food brands. Those who are loyal to specific brands are now having to shell out even more for groceries – or are they? 

Online discount grocer Boxsaver compares the cost of best-loved brands on a daily basis – showing just how must the cost of your food shop faves vary between supermarkets. These brands include Heinz, Walkers, Bisto, Coca Cola and Cadbury’s – to name a few. The daily comparisons show differences between Aldi, Asda, B&M, Ocado, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose – with Boxsaver selling the same items for less. 

The small business did a price comparison using data from an identical basket of products – including cereal, condiments and cooking ingredients. On the Boxsaver website, this basket of goods came to just £28.64. The UK’s four major supermarkets had prices ranging from £37.85 to £42.75 – showing savings of at least £9.21 for the same basket of goods. 

Plus, you can now get an exclusive 15% off with code MAGPIE15.

Boxsaver CEO Peter Bohn said: 

“It’s unfair on shoppers that the brands they love are being priced so highly when food prices are increasing across the board. The fact the prices vary so much goes to show supermarkets don’t have to charge so much. 

“When you look at the comparisons on our website, it is very eye-opening. In some cases, eye-watering! It’s worth noting, Waitrose doesn’t always come out as the most expensive as people might expect. Some of the products we sell are at least £1 more at Asda and Tesco. 

“People are also often surprised we can beat the prices of discounters like Aldi and B&M.” 

AldiBoxsaver shares price comparisons daily, with the prices shown taken directly from other supermarket websites. The website also promises to beat these prices – including any loyalty card discounts and reward schemes. 

The Boxsaver website allows shoppers to see the ‘next cheapest’ and the ‘most expensive’ price for the same item on its ‘shop all’ page as well as full price comparisons with all eight supermarkets on each individual product page. 

Boxsaver also offers free delivery across mainland Great Britain for orders over £25 which also beats all other supermarket providers’ doorstep delivery offers. 

Use code Magpie15 for 15% off!

Peter said:  

“Reward schemes are incentivising customers but only on certain products. Shoppers pay for them on others. We think people would much rather keep their hard-earned money in their pocket and pay less for every single item and that’s what Boxsaver aims to achieve. 

“Of course, Boxsaver only sells premium brands, and a lot of people can’t afford them. However, we know most people would prefer to buy premium brands if they could, and the supermarkets know that too – and they charge them for it. 

“So many more shoppers would be able to afford premium brands if they were reasonably priced. We prove that is possible.” 

Consumer champion Helen Dewdney a.k.a. The Complaining Cow, says: 

“A 49% difference in price between a possible price and what Sainsbury’s charges is outrageous. What possible reason can it have for this disparity? If supermarkets were only increasing prices in line with inflation, surely this would not be the case? 

“Yet again it would appear that supermarkets are not treating customers fairly. It shows that consumers have to use a variety of means to ensure that they are getting the best prices during the cost of living crisis.” 

 Use code MAGPIE15 for 15% off!

The post Boxsaver: The online discount grocer saving people major cash appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Original source: https://www.moneymagpie.com/make-money/boxsaver-the-online-discount-grocer-saving-people-major-cash

The Power of Virtual Board Rooms: Redefining Corporate Meetings

Home Business Magazine Online

In today’s fast-paced business environment, corporate meetings play a significant role in an organization’s decision-making process. Nevertheless, face-to-face meetings can be expensive, time-consuming, and often require significant travel. With the advancements in technology and the need for flexibility and efficiency, virtual board rooms have become a more popular option for organizations. These virtual meeting rooms have the potential to transform how organizations hold their meetings and make decisions. In this article, we delve into the power of virtual board portal and how they are redefining corporate meetings.

Transforming Business with the Boardroom Portal

Virtual boardrooms are transforming the way that corporations approach meetings and team collaboration in the fast-paced business world. As organizations seek to optimize their operations and boost productivity, virtual boardrooms have emerged as a leading solution. These digital meeting rooms provide a range of benefits, allowing board members to participate in meetings from any location and facilitating real-time collaboration and document sharing.

  • Virtual meeting rooms offer a significant advantage in terms of meeting efficiency. Traditional board meetings require expensive travel and take up a lot of time, while virtual meetings can be scheduled easily and quickly without the need for travel. Board management software enables board members to attend meetings from anywhere in the world, making it simple to coordinate schedules and ensure that all members are present for crucial discussions.
  • Virtual meeting rooms bring the added advantage of seamless document and presentation sharing in real-time. All board members can easily access and collaborate on materials with ease, saving valuable time and improving the quality of discussions and decision-making.
  • The use of virtual meeting rooms allows for advanced security measures to be implemented to safeguard sensitive information. Board members can have peace of mind knowing that their meetings are secure, and their confidential information is kept private.

Clear rules and protocols for virtual meeting rooms are crucial for maximizing their potential. It is important to establish rules for document sharing, meetings, and security so that all members of the organization clearly understand their roles and responsibilities.

A Comprehensive Look at Boardroom Software Features

Corporate solutions like the board portal offer the necessary tools to automate business processes, particularly those related to discussions on the future of the company. These software solutions have a range of features that help to optimize and streamline these processes.

  • With the e-signature feature in the board portal platform, you can quickly review and sign documents from anywhere, without the need to be physically present at your desk. This eliminates the need for physical approval and accelerates the process.
  • Many business process automation tools include paperless documentation as a key feature. Independent researchers have identified this function as essential for modern business growth and effective management practices.
  • Standalone file storage is important in situations where internet access is unreliable. With this feature, your documents are saved offline on your device, and any changes made to them without internet access will be synced once you’re back online.
  • The board portal is not limited to the board of directors only, but is also available to other administrative staff, enabling them to conduct high-quality meetings. Department heads can use the tool to effectively solve problems that may arise during their meetings. All the available features, including creating different votes, supporting documents, electronic signatures, and more, are accessible to them.
  • The activity monitoring function is an essential part of the board portal, which allows you to oversee every alteration made to your documents. This feature prevents unauthorized deletions and safeguards your files from human error, providing you with peace of mind.

As we can see, basic board programs offer a vast array of features that continue to improve with time. According to technology and corporate solution experts, there will be better solutions in the future, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and other technologies that will revolutionize the conduct of business.

Navigating the Responsibilities of Board Portal Administration

Despite being a user-friendly tool, there are still a few things administrators of board portal software should keep in mind. These tips can help ensure that the application is used effectively and efficiently, without any hiccups.

  • Developing effective security policies that integrate the entire security process of your organization is critical. You can either create new policies from scratch or adapt existing ones to suit your needs. Depending on the size of your company, you can choose to implement role-based or individual restriction policies. Moreover, it’s important to establish access regulations for different documents and files. The security policy should be among your top priorities once the secure board portals are implemented.
  • The effective use of board portal software requires guidance for employees, and developers usually offer a built-in feature to help with this. Companies can hire a lecturer for online classes, provided by the developer, either for free or for a small fee to teach employees how to use the application properly. This feature can help minimize errors and prevent the administrator’s efforts from being wasted.
  • To set up a board portal, it’s crucial to organize and digitize all the company’s documents, even though it can be a time-consuming process. However, it’s essential to complete it as soon as possible because the future optimization of the company depends on it.

After installation, the virtual boardroom is essentially self-sufficient. Ensure proper documentation and security policies are in place within the company, and external security is managed by the directors. There is no need to configure encryption or advanced protection against external attacks, as the application takes care of this.

The post The Power of Virtual Board Rooms: Redefining Corporate Meetings appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/management/technology-management/power-virtual-board-rooms-redefining-corporate-meetings/

How to harness DSA wins in Performance Max

Dynamic search ads (DSA) have been a staple in Google Ads and Microsoft Ads management for years.

This powerhouse campaign type/setting enhances advertisers’ ability to use their organic search strength to inform their PPC campaigns. 

By allowing Google to crawl their site and find the right landing page for a user’s query, advertisers can leverage well-optimized content and turn it into compelling headlines. 

DSAs

One of the reasons DSA was so powerful is that it could function with feed-specific pages or a full index of the site, allowing advertisers to target specific categories effectively. 

DSA was particularly popular in industries such as:

  • Automotive. 
  • Travel. 
  • Real estate.
  • Ecommerce.
  • Any business with numerous landing pages to cover their products or services. 

Essentially, it allowed brands to focus on core objectives rather than having to factor in every single landing page and budget for each one.

DSA also played a significant role in discovering keyword concepts for other campaigns. Advertisers could bid on these exact concepts with exact match, or leverage predictive AI with broad match. 

However, dynamic search ads appear to be phased out in favor of Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. 

Advertisers have noted a decline in DSA performance for the past few months (namely, a lack of serving) and accounts running all campaigns have seen PMax ramp up.

Declined PSA performance
April 2023 performance comparing a PMax campaign with branded terms filtered out, DSA, traditional branded campaign, and Spanish campaign.

Performance Max supports every ad type within Google:

  • Search: Ads serving on the SERP/SERE (search engine result page/search engine result experience).
  • Display: Visual ads serving on third-party sites.
  • YouTube: Video ads serving on youtube or display spots depending on the format.
  • Discover: Part visual and part text ads serving on Google Discover.
  • Local ads: Google Business Profile-oriented ads serving on the map section of the SERP/SERE.
  • Shopping: Product listing ads that serve on the SERP/SERE, youtube, and display spots.

Advertisers are actively forging the rules of engagement for PMax, which represent an operational shift for those accustomed to running dynamic search ads. 

First and foremost, this means accounting for the visual placements (display, video, discover), which hold top-of-funnel value and cheaper auction prices. 

Yet, it also means adjusting expectations for PPC campaigns. Many think of PPC campaigns as transactional; if it doesn’t lead to a sale, it’s a waste. 

However, with top-of-funnel visual placements being baked into accounts, the criteria for success must also shift. 

This post aims to prepare advertisers and their SEO counterparts who rely on DSA as part of their SEO strategy to harness what they gained from DSA within PMax. 

Although no official statement about phasing out DSA has come from Google, the recommendations to upgrade DSA indicate a potential shift. 

It’s crucial to note that this post was written when both dynamic search ads and PMax could run simultaneously. 

If this changes, the article will be updated accordingly to reflect the new rules of engagement.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

<input type="hidden" name="utmMedium" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmCampaign" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmSource" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmContent" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="pageLink" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="ipAddress" value="“>

Processing…Please wait.

See terms.

function getCookie(cname) {
let name = cname + “=”;
let decodedCookie = decodeURIComponent(document.cookie);
let ca = decodedCookie.split(‘;’);
for(let i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
let c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0) == ' ') {
c = c.substring(1);
}
if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
return c.substring(name.length, c.length);
}
}
return "";
}
document.getElementById('munchkinCookieInline').value = getCookie('_mkto_trk');

What we lose in transitioning from DSA to Performance Max

Before discussing what we are gaining in the transition, it’s important to understand the losses and how to mitigate them. 

First and foremost is the idea of exclusions on the site itself. A big part of the DSA setup was adding rules for site exclusions (home page, blog, etc.).

While Performance Max allows for the use of feeds and URL expansion, it doesn’t provide the ability to exclude specific parts of the site. 

This means certain categories may trigger DSA components within Performance Max, resulting in serving ads you don’t want to allocate budget to.

To counteract this, including audience signals for search terms reflecting the desired categories and adding negatives within Performance Max becomes crucial. 

While not everyone has this yet, the “Where/When Ads Showed” insights report can help advertisers know which placements to exclude at the account level. 

easier information processing
Budgeting for DSA used to mean purely transactional search.

Since budget can now go to the other campaign types, it’s critical to keep an eagle eye on metrics like interaction rate (click-through rate or CTR for anything that has a visual component) and average CPC (cost per click) to ensure budget isn’t being disproportionately allocated to top of the funnel. 

We’re losing the clear answer with impression share (which would tell us if we were losing due to budget or rank). Using these proxies will be critical in ensuring proper budget. 

Gains in the transition to Performance Max

Transitioning from DSA to Performance Max offers several significant gains. One of the key benefits is the ability to control all assets used, not just the descriptions. 

While a good SEO strategy could heavily influence headlines, there was no guarantee of having the desired headlines in DSA. 

With Performance Max, although you won’t know the exact combination served to each person, you can ensure that each campaign includes the correct creative.

Source: Google Marketing Live 2023
Source: Google Marketing Live 2023

Furthermore, Performance Max allows for the discovery of additional audiences that might have been overlooked due to the emphasis on visual creative. 

As PPC and SEO move toward a more visual content future along with consumers demanding easier information processing, Performance Max enables advertisers to find the best landing page and category for a user’s query or interest and prepare it with visual content that speaks to their preferences.

While the phasing out of dynamic search ads may not have an official statement from Google yet, the writing is on the wall.

Ginny Marvin Slack
Ask Me Anything with Ginny Marvin on the Paid Search Association Slack

The biggest collaboration area is visual content and getting more comfortable with PPC and SEO being responsible for the top of funnel. 

Additionally, for those who don’t want to give up DSA, Microsoft has a strong DSA offering with essentially the same rules of engagement as Google’s.

If PMax isn’t delivering the results you need, be empowered to test Microsoft’s DSA solution.  

The post How to harness DSA wins in Performance Max appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/dsa-wins-performance-max-428883

Twitter didn’t just block unregistered users, it blocked Google Search

In the past few days, Google Search has dropped over half of the indexed URLs from Twitter from the Google Search index. This was done after Twitter added a “feature” on Friday afternoon only to display tweets to signed-in and registered users; also, the throttling going on at Twitter right now is probably not helping.

Last I checked, it looks like Twitter went from 471 million tweets indexed by Google to 180 million tweets indexed by Google. That is a 62% drop in index saturation by Google of Twitter.com.

Index count dropping. On Friday, right shortly after Twitter blocked unregistered users from seeing public tweets, I took a screenshot of a site command in Google Search for Twitter. While we all know Google site commands are by far not accurate, the downward trend of indexed URLs is very clear.

Here is that screenshot showing 471 million results in Google’s index from Twitter.com:

Alphabet Inc.

I did the same site command right before writing this story and I now see 180 million results in Google’s index from Twitter.com:

Censorship of Twitter

Don’t trust the site command? Glenn Gabe shared a screenshot on Twitter of third-party tool, Semrush, showing Twitter’s visibility dropping in Google Search:

Elon Musk

Firehose. Let’s not forget that Google Search can still show new tweets from Twitter in Google Search. Google has a long-standing deal with Twitter for its firehose. That is why when you do some Google Searches, you can still see the Twitter carousel for some queries.

Here is what that can look like:

Glenn Gabe

Old tweets. But the old tweets seem to be dropping out and gradually finding its way out of the core Google web search index. So that means less visibility for Twitter in Google Search, it means less access to searchers and journalists finding content on Twitter and I guess overall less ad impressions for Twitter’s platform.

Why we care. If you have a brand that relies a lot on Twitter and the visibility those tweets get in Google Search, that may be impacted, especially if that visibility is from older tweets. Also, some older tweets that may have ranked well in Google Search, may no longer be ranking too well right now.

It is unclear if Twitter will reverse course on this decision or decide to use the supported markup for paywalled content, which should help the content stay indexed by Google Search.

Right now, Twitter seems to be a bit of a mess, for many reasons.

The post Twitter didn’t just block unregistered users, it blocked Google Search appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/twitter-didnt-just-block-unregistered-users-it-blocked-google-search-428943

Universal Analytics is officially replaced by Google Analytics 4

Well, it’s finally happening – the dreaded Universal Analytics sunset has started.

Here in the United States, UA is still processing data, but we were greeted by an ominous message when we logged into our account this morning:

  • “This property is scheduled to stop processing data very soon. Once this goes into effect, you’ll need a Google Analytics 4 property to measure website performance.”

This warning started appearing on UA at around 7am EST, once again reminding marketers that they must migrate to Google Analytics 4 to maintain their website measurement.

Analytics

Why we care. Today’s forced migration to GA4 is a historic transitional moment in digital marketing. Advertisers now have no choice but to use GA4 if they to track the performance of their websites and campaigns – unless they want to find an analytics alternative outside of Google of course.

How it works. Google has advised that today’s UA shutdown is being rolled out in stages which is why some marketers may still be able to access certain data. However, all properties that are still functioning are in a queue to be deleted, which will be happening on a rolling bases.

What has Google said? Google has been warning marketers that they need to migrate over to GA4 for more than a year. On Twitter and via a statement on the Analytics Help Center, Google said:

  • “Today, we begin shutting down Universal Analytics as we welcome you to Google Analytics 4.
  • “This will not happen overnight, so some Universal Analytics properties may continue to process data.
  • “However, all properties have now been added to the queue, and those that have not completed the upgrade will Jumpstart on a rolling basis.”
  • Google Analytics 4 is our next-generation measurement solution, and it has replaced Universal Analytics.”
  • “Standard Universal Analytics properties have stopped processing new data. To maintain your website measurement, you’ll need a Google Analytics 4 property.
  • “We strongly encourage you to make the switch to Google Analytics 4 as soon as possible. If you use Universal Analytics data in your Google Ads account, make sure you migrate your Universal Analytics property’s Google Ads links to your Google Analytics 4 property.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

<input type="hidden" name="utmMedium" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmCampaign" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmSource" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmContent" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="pageLink" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="ipAddress" value="“>

Processing…Please wait.

See terms.

function getCookie(cname) {
let name = cname + “=”;
let decodedCookie = decodeURIComponent(document.cookie);
let ca = decodedCookie.split(‘;’);
for(let i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
let c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0) == ' ') {
c = c.substring(1);
}
if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
return c.substring(name.length, c.length);
}
}
return "";
}
document.getElementById('munchkinCookieInline').value = getCookie('_mkto_trk');

Timeline. The shutdown of Universal Analytics is being rolled out the following stages, with the final phase set for July 2023:

  • March 2023: Google automatically created a GA4 property for marketers who didn’t opt out of the automatic property creation option. Where possible, existing site tags were used.
  • July 2023: UA stops processing hits, including standard properties in accounts that also contain 360 properties. Marketers still have access to previously processed data in their UA property until July 2024.
  • July 2024: All marketers, even those with 360 properties, will no longer have access to the UA user interface and API.

Deep dive: For more information on how to migrate to GA4, read Google’s ‘Learn how to make the switch‘ guide.

The post Universal Analytics is officially replaced by Google Analytics 4 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/universal-analytics-replaced-google-analytics-4-428912

Universal Analytics dies aged 11: ‘Be brave and be strong’

Universal Analytics, a platform beloved (or at least tolerated) by marketers, died today (July 1) after 11 years.

Although the digital marketing industry had been warned that Google was preparing to turn off its life support, the news has still somehow come as a shock to many.

Heartbroken marketers across the world have been flooding Twitter to pay their respects, with some even holding their own funerals.

Analytics
Big data
Business Finance
desktop web
director , product management

Google Analytics was born in November 2005 after Urchin was acquired by Google and became a free service.

Seven years later, the search engine welcomed Universal Analytics into the world – a service that would go on to revolutionise the digital marketing industry.

The platform went on to grow from strength to strength and quickly became the most used web analytics service on Earth thanks to its many key benefits such as offline conversions and flexible session and campaign timeout settings.

Sadly, in March 2022, Google broke the hearts of advertisers in every corner of the globe when it announced that Universal Analytics would be departing our lives forever.

Russell Ketchum, director, product management at Google, fought back tears as he broke the jaw-dropping news:

  • “Universal Analytics was built for a generation of online measurement that was anchored in the desktop web, independent sessions and more easily observable data from cookies.”
  • “This measurement methodology is quickly becoming obsolete.”

Universal Analytics will be remembered for its user-friendly interface, easily accessible, up-to-date, accurate data, as well as its glorious reporting.

UA leaves behind Google Analytics 4, a replacement tool that marketers just seem to absolutely adore.

Share your stories, memories and the fun times you had with our departed friend by tweeting us @searchengineland.

Rest in peace, Universal Analytics. You were good to us.

Universal Analytics: 2012-2023.

The post Universal Analytics dies aged 11: ‘Be brave and be strong’ appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/universal-analytics-dieobituary-428924

Major Brand Sponsors & Breweries Connect at Pride Beer Dabbler 2023

Home Business Magazine Online

Throughout June Pride Month, parades and festivals nationwide brought so many people together to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Pride Beer Dabbler was one major Twin Cities event that attracted a huge crowd and proved to be an excellent brand marketing opportunity. Taking place in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Pride Beer Dabbler gave attendees the chance to sample unlimited pours from 90+ breweries, cideries, and more.

Just like at all Beer Dabblers, breweries based in Minneapolis and Saint Paul were really popular with the swarms of attendees. Lines were long at the booths for InBound BrewCo., Lakes & Legends Brewing Company, Urban Growler Brewing Company, and Wabasha Brewing Company. Other top booths were for locales based in the Twin Cities metro area, such as Lakeville Brewing Company (of Lakeville), Ineffable Brewing Co. (of Burnsville), Lift Bridge Brewing Co. (of Stillwater), and Waconia Brewing Company (of Waconia).

Pride Beer Dabbler 2
Waconia Brewing had a festive and fun booth for Pride Month.

Beer and cider lovers had such a great time flitting from booth to booth to sample special Pride Month brews and pick up fun branded swag. Brewery representatives were also able to tell attendees all about their establishment and promote new products. DJ Shannon Blowtorch helped create an electrifying atmosphere with her tunes, and attendees were also seen happily playing games of giant beer pong and corn hole.

Whenever anyone got hungry, they could pop by food trucks for popular vendors like El Burrito Mercado. There were also booths for sponsors like All Solar Energy, Little Growlers Treats, Paradise Popcorn, and Sota Clothing. Attendees also checked out booths for QUEERSPACE Collective, Open Arms of Minnesota, and Brewing Change Collaborative.

Pride Beer Dabbler 3
Beer enthusiasts had a blast trying new brews.

Pride Beer Dabbler was made possible by other renowned sponsors, including yelp, Minnesota Lottery, Inver Grove Brewing Co., Star Tribune newspaper, Dabbler Depot, Can Can Wonderland, Verist THC-infused seltzer, and J’s Kombucha.

If you work for a brewery or lifestyle company and want to grow your brand awareness in the Twin Cities market, I recommend sponsoring next year’s Pride Beer Dabbler. It will help you connect with a ton of new consumers who may become loyal customers of your brand.

The post Major Brand Sponsors & Breweries Connect at Pride Beer Dabbler 2023 appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/lifestyles/brand-sponsors-breweries-connect-pride-beer-dabbler-2023/

13 of the funniest reactions to GA4: The roast of Google Analytics 4

Marketers haven’t had the easiest time migrating from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4.

Some advertisers are so frustrated with the new tool, that they’ve even been holding funerals for UA in the hope that Google might get the message and make a sudden U-turn.

Search Engine Land recently ran a poll to find out how the industry is coping and to give marketers an opportunity to get their voices heard – and the feedback was interesting to say the least.

The enforced switchover is a historic transitional moment in digital marketing history, and we know it’s a big adjustment. But if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. So with that in mind, we’ve put together a list of the funniest reactions we received to Google’s enforced GA4 switchover. Enjoy!

Short and sweet. Some marketers were able to summarise their experiences with GA4 in just a few words.

  • “Mad! Mad! Mad!
  • “Total cr*p!”
  • “GA4 = LAME!”
  • “One word (in fact two words): BS!”
  • “What a Waste of our time.”
  • GA4 UI team should be fired

“Google should be ashamed!” Marketers certainly know how to articulate their frustrations. They also know how to dish out some pretty epic one liners. We’re so glad we won’t be answering calls on the GA4 customer service desk on Monday.

  • “Did they find the software in a Christmas cracker? The biggest pile of sh*t I have ever seen. Unusable for scenario of casual small business owner with a simple question about their stats. I can only conclude that Google deliberately wanted to obfuscate people’s access to their own website data. If it doesn’t get better, considering removing from many customers’ sites because it is just pointless drag on speed stats.”
  • “GA4 is potentially the worst product update ever from a pure usability perspective, and Google should be ashamed of its current state.”
  • “Google trying to do tableau for dummies is not working on either level.”
  • “Simply Put, GA4 Sucks. It is a pain in the a*s to use (NOT USABLE) requires much more time than previous version lacks the same visual impact as GA3 it is junk.”

Mind games. What if Google secretly designed GA4 with a hidden agenda; to get marketers to stop using its own tools and turn to its competition instead? Makes sense. Kinda. Well, not really.

  • “This might be the least user-friendly product Google has ever produced. Almost like they don’t want people to use it.”

I’m outta here! A fantastic solution if you’re not a fan of GA4; turn on your Out Of Office, go on vacation and wait for all of this to blow over. Of course, it probably won’t. But definitely a great short-term option.

  • “I have been dreading the arrival of this date so much that I booked a trip out of town. LOL. My hope is that by the time I return from vacation, Google will have changed their mind, and Universal Analytics will continue to exist.”

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

<input type="hidden" name="utmMedium" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmCampaign" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmSource" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmContent" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="pageLink" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="ipAddress" value="“>

Processing…Please wait.

See terms.

function getCookie(cname) {
let name = cname + “=”;
let decodedCookie = decodeURIComponent(document.cookie);
let ca = decodedCookie.split(‘;’);
for(let i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
let c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0) == ' ') {
c = c.substring(1);
}
if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
return c.substring(name.length, c.length);
}
}
return "";
}
document.getElementById('munchkinCookieInline').value = getCookie('_mkto_trk');

You can’t make me. Alternatively, if you’re not in a position to take a vacation right now, just close your eyes, pretend GA4 isn’t happening and do nothing. What could possibly go wrong?

  • “Our marketing department doesn’t have the faintest idea how to follow complex directions. And most of them are out of the office for the next two weeks. So IT kicked the project over to our business insights department, who swiftly said, “We don’t have anything to do with Google Analytics anymore. Talk to Marketing. Now it looks like the project is mine. I’m a one-person department. I’m not gonna do sh*t. That’s my GA4-adjacent sob story.”

Why we care: We’re all in the same boat right now. After 11 years of relying so heavily on Universal Analytics, migrating over to GA4 is a daunting task. But unfortunately, we don’t have a choice (unless you want to consider a GA4 alternative). So we might as well get our heads down and try to figure it all out. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a laugh along the way.

The post 13 of the funniest reactions to GA4: The roast of Google Analytics 4 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/funniest-reactions-ga4-roast-google-analytics-428932

9 GA4 training courses to help confused marketers

Marketers have been pulling their hair out trying to get to grips with Google Analytics 4 – fortunately, we’ve got some good news.

There are a bunch of incredible courses and resources available that’ll boost your confidence and understanding of how to use the new platform.

Here, we’ve compiled a list of 9 Google Analytics 4 training courses that you may want to consider.

1. Marketing Land

Cost: $249

Level: Advanced

Duration: Two days

Search Engine Land’s former ‘Search Marketer of the Year’, Colleen Harris, is running this SMX Masterclass course online live on August 16 and 17. “The Marketing Land course is designed to give people practical applications of GA4,” Harris said. “It’s also looking at GA4 under the theme of ‘I got through July now what do I do?’ So much of GA4 this last year has just been getting things set up now it’s time to go back and say ‘how can I get more out of this tool?’”

Harris will be covering the following topics:

  • How to compare Universal GA and GA4 data after the move to GA4
  • Understanding how to build audiences to use within advertising plus a deep dive into the advertising reporting in GA4
  • Best practices for custom reporting and libraries
  • Differences between custom events, parameters and dimensions
  • How to leverage GTM for custom events and parameters

2. Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Cost: $600

Level: Three learning levels – principles, intermediate and advanced

Duration: One day

This course, put together by The Chartered Institute of Marketing, is available both in-person and online. It sets out to teach marketers how to implement GA4 and show them the advantages this system has over its predecessor, Universal Analytics.

Key features of the course include:

  • Insights powered by artificial intelligence (AI) 
  • Deeper audience integration with Google Ads 
  • Customer lifecycle-framed reporting 
  • Customer-centric data measurements  
  • New navigation and reporting 
  • Enhanced e-commerce reporting 
  • Customise reports
  • Using explore reports

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

<input type="hidden" name="utmMedium" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmCampaign" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmSource" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="utmContent" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="pageLink" value="“>
<input type="hidden" name="ipAddress" value="“>

Processing…Please wait.

See terms.

function getCookie(cname) {
let name = cname + “=”;
let decodedCookie = decodeURIComponent(document.cookie);
let ca = decodedCookie.split(‘;’);
for(let i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
let c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0) == ' ') {
c = c.substring(1);
}
if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
return c.substring(name.length, c.length);
}
}
return "";
}
document.getElementById('munchkinCookieInline').value = getCookie('_mkto_trk');

3. Google Analytics 4 Kickstarter

Cost: $2,500 (for any team size)

Level: Beginner to intermediate

Duration: Six hours in total, spread across two three-hour sessions on different days

Delivered to you and your team live online, no experience is necessary for Measure Lab’s GA4 course – although there are more advanced courses available. The course comprises four modules designed to help marketers get up to speed with Google’s new analytics tool.

The course covers the following topics:

  • How GA4 works 
  • Account structure and setup
  • Using the interface 
  • Key metric definitions
  • Tracking your campaigns 
  • Standard acquisition reports 
  • Attribution modelling 
  • Advanced marketing reports
  • Reporting identities 
  • Event and page reporting 
  • Event customisation 
  • Funnels and user flows 
  • Building and using Audiences 
  • Exploration techniques
  • Segments 
  • Activation 

4. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for SEO

Cost: $49.99

Level: Beginner to intermediate

Duration: 10 videos

SEO consultant Joe Hall created this all inclusive GA4 course specifically to help SEOs. In the course, Hall details each step to getting your website set up on GA4, as well as how to build various custom reports for organic traffic.

The course covers the following topics:

  • Setting things up
  • Events and conversions
  • Collections and library
  • How to create an organic traffic report
  • How to create an organic landing pages report
  • How to create an organic conversions report
  • How to create a referring search engines report
  • How to create an organic sessions GEO map report
  • How to create an organic traffic dashboard
  • GA4 Organic Traffic Report Creation Cheat-Sheet [PDF]

5. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Complete Course

Cost: $225

Level: Intermediate to advanced

Duration: 7 HD video lessons to watch at your own pace

Love Data’s practical and comprehensive course was created to help marketers master GA4 and give them a much needed confidence boost. The lessons teach you how to build GA4 reports and use them to improve the performance of your website and/or campaign.

This course covers the following topics:

  • How to use the default reports and customize them to meet your needs.
  • Correctly track inbound marketing campaigns and report on their performance.
  • Create custom audiences for in-depth analysis, reporting, and remarketing.
  • The major differences between GA4 and Universal Analytics.
  • Using conversion and e-commerce reports to measure and optimize conversions.
  • Understanding how your marketing channels work together to drive conversions.
  • Configuring GA4 to collect meaningful and accurate data

6. Google Analytics 4: Implementation and Configuration

Cost: $635

Level: Intermediate

Duration: One day

Available in person and online, Jellyfish’s GA4 course was designed for marketers who already have some knowledge of GA4, such how reports are created and data is collected. It teaches all marketers need to know about setting up GA4, configuring and auditing properties and how the new platform differs from UA. Marketers will also have their newfound knowledge put to the test with hands-on, in-platform exercises.

This course covers the following topics:

  • Introduction to GA4 & Considerations
  • Planning a GA4 Implementation
  • Initial GA4 Set-up
  • Enhanced Measurement
  • Event & Ecommerce Configuration
  • Custom Definition Set-up
  • GA4 Property Settings
  • GA4 Product Integrations

7. Become Great at Google Analytics 4

Cost: $299

Level: Intermediate

Duration: 5 hours 9 minutes

Created by Charles Farina, Head of Innovation at Adswerve, this course aims to teach marketers everything they need to know to get started with GA4. Farina discusses an array of topics from data integrations to funnels to pathing reports. Upon completion, marketers are awarded a certificate.

Key features of the course include:

  • Understanding why GA4 is the future of Google Analytics and why getting started now is important
  • Learning about the new event-driven data model GA4 uses and how it is similar or different to other analytics solutions
  • Developing an implementation plan for dual-tagging or migration of your existing Google Analytics properties
  • Ability to leverage enterprise features that were previously only available in Google Analytics 360 including the BigQuery integration, funnels, and unsampled data

8. Bespoke GA4 Training Solutions for every business

Cost: From $1,620

Level: Beginner to intermediate to advanced

Duration: One day

Optix Digital Academy offers bespoke training days, which can be delivered in-person and online, to suit your business’ needs. Marketers are invited to submit a brief detailing specific areas they need assistance with ahead of the course, and an outline of the training day is then agreed between the company and your business.

This course covers the following topics:

  • Introduction to GA4
  • GA4 & GTM
  • Setting up GA4
  • GA4 Interface
  • E-commerce in GA4
  • Events & conversion tracking
  • Reports
  • Explore
  • Advertising
  • Developer Support

9. Google Analytics 4 for Beginners – New Google Analytics

Cost: $70

Level: Beginner

Duration: Two-hours on demand video

This Udemy course is available on mobile and TV, and was created for people starting their careers in digital marketing. A certificate is awarded upon completion with students graduating with new skills in being able to analyze website and campaign performance.

This course covers the following topics:

  • What is Google Analytics 4 and how it works02:31
  • GA4 Data Model
  • Creating a GA4 property
  • Upgrading from Google Analytics to Google Analytics 4
  • Overview of Google Analytics reports
  • Understanding Acquisition Reports
  • Campaign Tracking
  • Campaign Builder
  • Engagement Reports
  • Active Users and Stickiness
  • Retention Reports
  • Analysis Hub Overview
  • Exploration Analysis

Why we care. One of the most common complaints we saw when reviewing the answers to our GA4 readiness poll was that marketers don’t think Google has provided enough resources with regards to using the new analytics system. If you’re in this boat and are struggling with GA4, it’s essential you brush up on your knowledge so that you can continue to monitor the performance of your campaigns or else you won’t be able to accurately report your successes back to clients.

What’s the problem with GA4? Marketing Land course creator Colleen Harris told Search Engine Land that there are a lot of differences between UA and GA4, and marketers are finding the changes challenging. “There are a lot of new features in GA4 and workflow updates,” she explained. “This is also a time where most digital marketers are already trying to do so much with little time, and this is one more big thing.”

Harris added that the attribution changes within GA4 are currently posing the biggest issue to marketers. “Folks are used to getting a lot of data about the users and the reality of marketing is that we all will be getting less data and have to the same with it,” she continued.

Has Google not provided enough help? Marketers have complained that Google has not given them enough tools and resources to get their heads around GA4. However, Harris tells Search Engine Land that Google has done the best it can given the deadlines it had to meet and the large volume of people they were working with. She said: “All those UA codes come with every level of knowledge and skills, so trying to educate so many people at so many different levels is a feat.”

Why should marketers invest in GA4 training? Marketers need access to data behind their campaigns to monitor performance, create reports and make adjustments for improved ROI. So it’s essential that advertisers gain confidence in using GA4. “Data is going to flow and GA4 isn’t going to go away, so the more you stay away from it the harder it is to become comfortable with it,” said Harris.

In addition to needing to know the essentials, GA4 comes with a lot of benefits that could make a huge difference to your campaign. “The conversions path report is one of the best parts of GA4 that lets you start to understand the early, mid and late touch point before the conversions happen,” added Harris. “It opens up a lot in terms of understanding activity before the conversions.”

Deep dive: For free information and resources on how to us GA4, read the ‘Google Analytics 4 account training guide and support‘ guide.

The post 9 GA4 training courses to help confused marketers appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/ga4-training-courses-help-confused-marketers-428935