This day in search marketing history: March 5

Matt Cutts confirms Vince, calls it a ‘minor change’

In 2009, Google’s Matt Cutts created a video to answer many questions about a recent “brand push” in the search results that SEOs and webmasters had noticed, starting in late February.

Cutts confirmed the “minor change,” adding that Google’s ranking algorithm may be factoring trust, quality, PageRank, and other metrics for more generic queries. Cutts said it did not impact long-tail queries.

A Googler named Vince created this change, which is how the Vince Update got its name.

Read all about it in Google’s Vince Update Produces Big Brand Rankings; Google Calls It A Trust “Change”

Also on this day

Google to switch completely over to mobile-first indexing by September 2020

2020: Google said 70% of sites shown in search had already been switched over.

Google Ads significantly streamlines attribution reporting

2020: It was also dropping “Search” from the name.

Several WordPress SEO plugins are on the fritz

2020: Google Analytics Dashboard for WP, Yoast SEO and Rank Math all had issues.

SEOs on Google e-commerce category recommendation: ‘I’ll stop doing it when it stops working.’

2019: Though Google’s John Mueller suggested webmasters not put content in e-commerce category page footers, SEOs valued performance more highly.

More ‘shoppable ads’ coming to Google Images

2019: The sponsored images highlighted products that, when moused over, revealed brand, price and other details.

Maximize Clicks in Bing Ads now available globally

2019: The strategy automatically set bids to increase click volume. There were some manual control options.

Report: 51% of website hacks related to SEO spam

2019: These hacks target websites in order to try to manipulate the success of a site’s SEO campaign and boost its rankings in Google and other search engines.

Voice gaining on mobile browser as top choice for smartphone-based search

2019: Since 2018, voice had become more users’ first choice for mobile search.

Yelp adds ‘Verified Licenses’ for local providers to lineup of paid products

2019: Yelp manually checks that the business has a license and is in good standing.

Google selling Zagat to restaurant recommendations site The Infatuation

2018: Google no longer needed Zagat.

Google is extending Search capabilities to iMessage and other browser apps on iOS

2018: New extensions brought the search engine into more apps on iOS.

Bing has confirmed support for JSON-LD formatted Schema.org markup

2018: Though not yet available in the toolset, buildout of verification support within Bing Webmaster Tools was in progress.

Google’s “One True Answer” problem — when featured snippets go bad

2017: It was a problem because sometimes these answers were terribly wrong.

Google: The Mobile Friendly Update Ranking Factor Will Be Real Time & On A Page-By-Page Basis

2015: Google’s Gary Illyes answered some questions around this new ranking factor at SMX West.

Google May Discontinue Its AJAX Crawlable Guidelines

2015: Gary Illyes indicated Google would be decommissioning its guidelines.

Official: Google Compare For Auto Insurance Launches

2015: Rolling out in California to start, Google was getting into the car insurance business with lead generation.

What’s The Most Searched Thing On Google? Turns Out It’s “Google”

2015: Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes said the most searched term on Google is “Google” itself during an SMX West session.

Google Search Now Serving Up Cocktail Recipes With Drink Ingredients & Directions

2015: The new cocktail recipe search feature worked on both desktop and mobile for a number of cocktails.

Bing Listens: New Site Serves As A Suggestion Box For Bing Users

2015: Bing was looking for feedback from its users, launching a virtual suggestion box.

Spotted: Google Knowledge Graph Ad Tests New Google Shopping PLA Display

2014: This appeared to be the first instance of Google Shopping powering Knowledge Graph ads.

Go Deep: Product Listing Ad Campaigns That Just Focus On Top Sellers Get Short Changed [Study]

2014: A significant amount of PLA revenue came from single-conversion SKUs and those conversions had a higher return on ad spend.

Xbox One Gets Bing Web Search

2014: When you searched with “Xbox Bing,” you would receive results from the Bing marketplace as well as relevant items from the web.

BrightEdge Uses SEO Patents As “Sword,” Sues Searchmetrics

2014: BrightEdge sued rival Searchmetrics using multiple SEO patents that were granted last year.

Google’s Cutts: We Don’t Ban Sites Critical Of Google, But Here Is Why We Do Penalize Sites…

2013: Matt Cutts answers “Does Google use a set standard for manually removing webspam?”

Google’s Matt Cutts Awarded Patent On Detecting Hidden Text & Hidden Links

2013: A new Google patent was awarded, named Systems and methods for detecting hidden text and hidden links.

Google Maps App For iPhone Upgrade Adds Local Icons, Google Contacts & More Countries

2013: The changes included improved search for local venues, integration with your contacts and the addition of new countries. 

Web Spam Archive Tool Saves Google’s Live Spam For More Than Just Recent Results

2013: This tool allowed users to flip through more than 2,000 examples.

Flush With New Cash, Structured Data Engine FindTheBest Ready To Make Its Move

2013: Company created a “data platform” that could manage enormous amounts of data, synthesize and present that information in a user-friendly way.

Google “Search Plus Your World” To Launch Beyond US? Likely, As Secure Search Set To Expand

2012: It also meant that search marketers could expect the percentage of “(not provided)” data to greatly increase.

Google Sent Over 700,000 Messages Via Webmaster Tools In Past Two Months

2012: That was more than the total number of messages Google sent in 2011 and almost more than what Google had sent since launching Google Webmaster Tools message center.

Keeping Up With Google: Bing Launches New “Search Quality Insights” Series

2012: Bing announced its “Search Quality Insights” series to provide a more behind-the-scenes look at its search engine. 

Google Enables Cross-Platform Local Search (As Carrot To Relinquish Your Privacy)

2012: Google was enabling people to gain access to PC search histories on their mobile browsers (Android, iPhone). 

Google Faces “Innovator’s Dilemma” As It Prepares Response To Siri

2012: Google delivered a mobile-optimized version of its PC experience. Siri is more task oriented and “transactional” than Google Voice Actions.

Bing & Yahoo Soon To Support Canonical Tag

2010: Bing said canonical tag support should be in place by the end of March or early April. Yahoo said they were rolling out support of the tag, but cautioned that Yahoo will only use it “as a hint”.

Bing, Yahoo Discussing Future Of Yahoo Site Explorer

2010: Yahoo and Bing were in the midst of discussions to decide the future of Yahoo’s popular Site Explorer SEO tool.

Bing Maps Rolls Out Its Largest Image Update

2010: New aerial and Bird’s Eye imagery across many countries on several continents.

Yahoo Updates Desktop Search Marketing Tool

2010: Upgrades to bulk editing, campaign transfer, keyword research and more.

Yahoo Gains AT&T, Loses T-Mobile Search Deal

2010: T-Mobile swapped Yahoo for Google as the default search engine on the T-Mobile portal.

Google Touts Wisdom Of Crowds For Financial Help

2009: Google announced TipJar, a place where people could submit answers to the question, “How can I save money?”

Inquisitor Debuts On iPhone

2009: A very nifty search tool from Yahoo for the iPhone.

Why Do Lawyers From Utah Hate Search Ads?

2009: Utah, for the third time, was trying to regulate keyword advertising by proposing new law.

Google Adds Page Load Time To Quality Score Algorithm

2008: If your destination URL was a very slow loading page, then Google would give you a poor “load time grade.”

Oops! Google’s SSL Certificate Throwing Out Scary Warnings

2008: Google: “some web pages containing the AdWords Conversion Tracking code snippet presented visitors with a browser message indicating a Google server certificate had expired.”

Google Debuts “Search Within A Site” Search Box Feature

2008: Google: “This feature will now occur when we detect a high probability that a user wants more refined search results within a specific site.”

Matt Cutts & The Search Community Interview

2008: Questions included how Cutts became the face of Google for webmasters, how other Googlers were aiding him, and the struggle in demonstrating that he was not the final answer at Google for SEOs.

Google Analytics Benchmarking Feature, Data Sharing & Audio Ad Charting

2008: Users could now compare their site’s performance to industry benchmarks, though only if they agreed to share their data to help produce such aggregate benchmarks.

Yahoo Celebrates Its 13th Birthday; Will There Be A 14th?

2008: Spoiler alert: yes.

Obit: A West Coast Digerati Deadpools Ask.com

2008: Goodbye, Ask.com.

Pew: Cellphones More Important To Users Than Internet, TV, Email

2008: And an increasing number of consumers were using their mobile phones for things other than voice communications, including accessing mobile internet content.

Google Testing Yellow Background Color Behind AdWords Ads?

2007: Those ads typically had a light blue background color.

Google Rises To UK’s 2nd Biggest Ad Earner

2007: Google UK had earned $1.6 billion (£825 million) in 2006, putting them ahead of Channel 4 but behind ITV

Local Shopping Search Stalks E-Commerce

2007: A number of companies were seeking to make the online-offline shopping connection.

Pandia Offers Custom Search For Search Information

2007: Pandia offered a free custom search called the Search Engine Detective, a meta search engine which let you do specialized searches for anything search engine related.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

< March 4 | Search Marketing History | March 6 >

The post This day in search marketing history: March 5 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/search-marketing-history-march-5-393889

Brave Search adds AI Summarizer feature

Brave Search has introduced Summarizer, a new AI-powered feature with similarities to Google’s featured snippets and Perspectives SERP features. It’s also like what BingGPT is doing, generating answers to questions in near real-time.

Summarizer provides concise answers (generally two or three sentences), with one or multiple citations, to user search queries.

Brave’s Summarizer answers are based on search results found on the web. This is a key point Brave called out in their announcement:

  • “Unlike a purely generative AI model, which is prone to spout unsubstantiated assertions, we trained our large language models (LLMs) to process multiple sources of information present on the Web. This produces a more concise, accurate answer, expressed in coherent language.

What it looks like. Here’s an example of a search for [how many days until Christmas]:

artificial intelligence

Brave’s Summarizer tells me:

  • “There are 305 days until Christmas 2023. This means there are 43.57 weeks, 7320.0 hours, and 10.89 months until then!”

This answer also includes three original sources (which I’ve annotated in red). Those numbered citations aren’t clickable. Hovering over them will tell you the website this information came from. Searchers will have to click on the websites below the summaries.

Interestingly, Brave doesn’t simply pull the information from the top 3 organic search results. Citation 0 was in 10th position; Citation 1 was 4th position; and Citation 2 was the top organic result.

Summaries are shown for 17% of queries. Brave said that using web results helps Summarizer provide real-time, up-to-date information to searchers. But Brave also noted that summaries are only being generated for about 17% of queries – though Brave plans to grow that number “in the near future.”

Brave’s result snippets also get summaries. Brave Search will also be highlighting (i.e., bolding) answers as opposed to bolding keywords on searches. Brave said:

  • “…our AI models are also able to replace the already query-dependent snippets (result descriptions) with a summarized version of those snippets, highlighting the answer when possible. This can be viewed as a summary of a single source (such as a press article), as opposed to the main summary where multiple sources are considered and aggregated to create a more comprehensive answer. The summary at the top of the results page and these special descriptions co-occur, so users will see the overarching summary as well as snippets with highlighted answers.”

Here’s a before and after on a query for [what happened in east Palestine ohio]:

Brave

So instead of just bolding keywords from the search query, Brave is trying to actually provide full answers in result snippets. And as Brave notes, queries can trigger both these summarized snippets, as well as the Summarizer.

Why we care. Although privacy-focused search engine Brave trails far behind Google and Microsoft Bing, it may be worth your time to explore Brave’s Summarizer, to test examples of how it works on various queries. While this particular feature won’t change any of your search strategies, as Google and Bing evolve their AI chat features, Brave may provide some inspiration to the larger search engines.

Available now. Brave Summarizer is available today for all users on desktop and mobile. Users can opt out under Search settings.

Now at 22 million queries per day. As of last April, Brave said it passed 12 million queries per day. Now they are seeing 22 million queries per day.

While that’s solid growth, for comparison, we know DuckDuckGo dropped below 100 million queries per day in April 2022 and was unable to get back above that mark again before they stopped publicly sharing their traffic data. And for an even bigger comparison, an estimated 8.5 billion searches are conducted on Google every day. So that means Google sees more queries in a day than Brave will likely see in a year.

The post Brave Search adds AI Summarizer feature appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/brave-search-summarizer-ai-feature-393859

This day in search marketing history: March 4

Sheryl Sandberg named Facebook Chief Operating Officer

In 2008, Facebook announced Sheryl Sandberg as its new Chief Operating Officer.

At the time, Sandberg was Google’s vice president of global online sales and operations, responsible for online sales of its advertising and publishing products. Sandberg joined Google in 2001.

Sandberg would join Facebook on March 24, 2008 and be responsible for helping the company scale its operations and expand its presence globally.

Why the change?

“For me that is part of the excitement,” Sandberg said. “I’ve loved being part of the process of helping to build Google. The opportunity to help another young company to grow into a global leader is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Sandberg would remain COO of Facebook, later Meta, for 14 years. She announced her departure in June 2022 and officially transitioned out of her COO role by August.

Read all about it in Facebook’s New Chief Operating Officer, Ex-Google VP, Sandberg.

Also on this day

Google launches new Google Analytics 4 home page

2022: Google said “the Home page surfaces information that’s relevant to you based on your behavior in Analytics.” 

Google and Bing halt all ad sales in Russia

2022: The platforms already had suspended ads from Russian state media. As the conflict in Ukraine intensified, they were stopping all ads from serving to Russia-based users.

Microsoft Advertising’s Ad Creator extracts site images for use in ads

2022: Ad Creator and its built-in photo editor could help advertisers that didn’t have access to a design team save time.

Google My Business report shows how people found your business

2021: You could now see device and platform breakdown in your Google My Business performance reports.

Google Ads mobile app adds custom and performance insights notifications

2021: The updates could help advertisers keep tabs on the metrics that are important to them and notify them of significant performance changes.

Microsoft Bing updates search results interface to make it more visually immersive

2021: Microsoft Bing updated recipe results, similar-looking items, expandable carousels, infographic panels and local answers design.

Most local SEOs making at least $60,000

2020: Half of those responding to a survey said they had been working in the industry for more than a decade and 11% had been working in local SEO for 20 years or more.

Video: Ginny Marvin, our Editor-in-Chief, on the Periodic Tables of PPC

2020: Marvin also discussed her career, PPC versus SEO, natural language in search and some controversial topics in Google Ads.

Google My Business boosts visibility of business offers in Google Posts

2019: Google allowed up to 10 unique offers in the local listing carousel.

Google Ads API now out of beta, v0 will sunset April 30

2019: The production-ready v1 of the Google Ads API was available and ready for use.  

Google lobs invective at EU Copyright Directive

2019: Google’s SVP of Global Affairs Kent Walker urged changes in language ahead of ratification.

Google Agrees To Complicated Worldwide “Right To Be Forgotten” Censorship Plan

2016: Google would ensure those within a country where a RTBF request was granted could not find censored content, regardless of what Google edition they used.

Google Posts is now experimenting with Business Cards in search results

2016: Experimental feature allowed local businesses to promote specific content, which could be shared directly from the “card carousel.”

Google Adds 19 Animal Sounds To Search

2016: Searching for [animal noises] would bring up a carousel of animals with a speaker icon next to each one to listen to the sounds/noises that specific animal makes.

Google’s Candidate Cards Being Tested For Businesses?

2016: A local business was spotted using the equivalent of Candidate Cards to add content directly into Google’s search results.

Search In Pics: Google AMP, SMX & Androidify Station

2016: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more.

How Google Made It A Little Harder To Reach Google.com From Outside The US

2015: Google said the change was meant to help local searchers, but did the Right To Be Forgotten play a role?

Google Tests Search Results Listings Without Descriptions

2015: Google tested how searchers would react to not seeing a snippet description in the search results.

Google Launches AdWords App For Android

2015: This was the first time Google had launched a native app for monitoring and managing AdWords campaigns.

YP Launches New Local Search Marketplace For National Advertisers

2015: YP built ypSearch Marketplace, a paid-search, bidded marketplace that tapped into the company’s 80 million monthly users.

Bing Saves, Search Bookmarking Feature, Now Public Beta

2014: The feature let searchers save URLs and searches to their personal Bing/Microsoft account, in order to build an index of their own saved searches.

New Video Shows Microsoft “Assistant” Cortana In Action

2014: Cortana was intended to help users discover and search for information as well as providing Google Now like personalization and “predictive search” capabilities.

Microsoft Says Goodbye To “Scroogled” Ad Campaign

2013: Microsoft’s “Scroogled” ad campaign, which attacked Google over paid inclusion in shopping and Gmail over privacy, was coming to an end.

Google Test: Auto-Completing Search Queries

2011: This auto-completion was happening on long-tail terms where Google Suggest had stopped giving suggestions.

PPC Data On “Farmer” Shows Traffic Quality Improvement

2011:  Revenue-per-click was showing a modest improvement.

Google Shows Your Latest Tweet As Search Snippet … In 10 Seconds

2011: Google was showing a user’s latest tweet as the snippet. It was even keeping links from the tweet active in the snippet.

Google Hotpot Places A Bet On Las Vegas

2011:  The company announced a local marketing campaign aimed at upping usage of Google Places and Hotpot. Google gave away 10,000 free Las Vegas Monorail tickets.

Google Releases First AdWords API Upgrade Of 2011

2011: Features included the ability to run reports across clients, better filtering, improved geo-targeting, and the ability to deploy and measure “experiments,” or A/B split testing.

Google, Microsoft Cooperate To Invalidate Broad Online Mapping Patent

2011: Google and Microsoft joined forces to fight a common foe: a small company in Texas that held a potentially sweeping mapping patent.

Bing Travel & Kayak Announce Partnership

2011: The two travel search engines announced a formal partnership to provide searchers with more comprehensive results.

Blekko Offers New Linkroll Widget & More Publisher Tools

2011: The Live Link Roll was a widget that displayed a site’s most recent inbound links “as they happen in realtime.”

CBS Buys Clicker Video Search Guide; Lanzone Becomes CBS Interactive Prez

2011: Clicker raised roughly $19 million from investors.

Big Trends (Hint: Mobile) Emerging In Online Advertising’s Next Frontiers

2011: The concept of “local” as a meaningful way to segment audiences was gradually becoming obsolete.

Google Wants Feedback On Buzz

2010: Google was asking for user feedback and ideas for its Google Buzz product, and had set up an ideas forum using Google Moderator.

How Wikipedia Turned PPC / Paid Search Into SEM

2010: How small changes snowballed into an entirely new meaning. Related: Does SEM = SEO + CPC Still Add Up?

Eye Tracking Study: Users Largely Blind To Real-Time Results In Search

2010: 73% had never heard of real-time results before participating this study.

Google Testing (Annoying) Expandable Ads

2009: Expandable ads are those annoying banners/graphics that expand and cover up the actual page content.

Google Spending Millions On Newspaper Ads To Notify Authors And Publishers Of Book Lawsuit Settlement

2009: Google planned to spend up to $8 million on newspaper and print magazine advertising to alert copyright holders about the settlement.

Google Health Makes It Easier To Share Medical Records

2009: Two new tools would help users share their medical information with trusted friends, family members, or medical providers.

Google Shakes Things Up By Adding Earthquake OneBox

2009: Google added an Earthquake OneBox result for a search on [earthquake].

New Coupon & Deals Search Engine Launches

2009: Offers.com entered an already crowded space of coupons/deals sites.

Google Tests Additional Search Box Within Search Results

2008: Google’s “Search Within A Site” search box feature.

Google: Not American’s Most Admired Company (But Almost)

2008: Google ranked at number four while Microsoft ranked at 16. Yahoo did not make the list.

Yahoo onePlace: Think Of It As MyYahoo For Mobile

2008: Yahoo announced a new mobile application called “onePlace” that appeared to be an elegant, highly customizable mobile bookmarking system and RSS reader.

IAC Cuts 8% Of Ask.com & Kills Search Engine

2008: Ask.com was being refocused to build out an engine that answered questions tailored to women searching on health and entertainment.

YADAC: Yet Another Debate About Cloaking Happens Again

2008: Some cloaking history plus an honest plea to get past this stupid, stupid issue.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

< March 3 | Search Marketing History | March 5 >

The post This day in search marketing history: March 4 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/search-marketing-history-march-4-393842

Business Storage in Calgary: 6 Tips to Store Your Items for Maximum Space

Home Business Magazine Online

Do you dread working in your cramped office? Are things all over the place, disorganized and distracting? It’s no way to spend your days, considering you most likely spend most hours in the office.

One of the causes of cramped offices is the lack of adequate space. The solution is working on your office storage. Below are some tips to guide you on business storage for the maximum use of space.

1. Invest in Storage Solutions

The lack of proper storage solutions makes you place items haphazardly without order. There are storage solutions that can make the process easier and more organized.

Storage boxes are great storage solutions. They come in various sizes and shapes, and you’re sure to find the ideal one for the items you want to store. It’s best to label them for easy retrieval of what you need.

If your office space isn’t large enough to store all your items, consider investing in business storage in Calgary. There are units for sale and for lease. Choose one big enough to store what you have while factoring in the need for storage space in the future.

2. Reduce Aisle Spaces

Warehouses are one of the solutions some businesses have adopted, especially those handling many goods at once. These warehouses use aisles of racking systems for storage.

The disadvantage of this arrangement style is that there tends to be a lot of space between the aisles, which wastes floor space. Therefore, it’d help to reduce the width between the storage isles.

Knowing the square footage of your warehouse or storage room will help you know the width to adopt. Be sure to factor in traffic flow and room for box retrieval from the aisles.

3. Adopt Vertical Storage

Most businesses adopt horizontal storage, leaving vertical spaces empty. Don’t fall victim to the same. Instead, maximize your vertical storage.

Do this by building shelves on your walls, leaving enough space in between for storage. Alternatively, adopt stacking as a storage solution. You’ll place storage boxes on top of each other, utilizing the ceiling height to the maximum.

As you adopt vertical storage, it’s crucial to set up ladders for accessing the boxes and shelves at the top. You want to avoid accidents during retrieval.

business storage
Depositphotos

4. Add a Mezzanine Floor

In some situations, your office floor space might be small, and you can’t seek off-site storage solutions. In this case, it’d help to add a mezzanine floor. This floor adds more storage space to your business.

By definition, a mezzanine floor is one between two floors. It’s an ideal storage solution, especially with a tall ceiling height. All you require to do is find a suitable height to build it. It doesn’t have to be half the ceiling height; you can have it in a corner. The choice highly depends on preference.

As you adopt a mezzanine floor, ensure you consider its load-bearing capacity. It should be able to hold the weight of the items you’ll store on it. Ensure you add enough columns and beams of the right size. It’d help to have a qualified contractor build this floor for you.

5. Use Under-Utilized Spaces

Like in most homes, there are spaces you aren’t using. These can double as storage space instead of them lying bare.

These spaces differ from office to office but include the area below the staircase, countertops, bottom of storage shelves, and area around the office refrigerator.

It helps to add shelves in these spaces, whose length depends on the available space. Where adding shelves isn’t an option, adopt vertical stacking.

6. Reduce the Size of Your Furniture

Businesses invest in many resources like furniture to provide a conducive environment for workers to fulfill their responsibilities. This furniture includes working desks, office, and lounge chairs.

Although functional, office furniture may occupy a lot of space, especially larger and bulkier kinds. It’s best to reduce the size of the furniture to maximize space. Evaluate each and identify the right size, considering the needs of your workers. Your workers can give you valuable feedback on what works for them in their daily routines.

After reducing the size of the furniture, you’ll have a lot of business storage space.

Conclusion

Business storage is crucial in not only keeping company documents and assets safe but also making the office look presentable to clients. With this in mind, the discussion above gives tips to maximize space for better business storage. Implement these tips to improve your storage system.

The post Business Storage in Calgary: 6 Tips to Store Your Items for Maximum Space appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/businesses/success-tips/business-storage-calgary-6-tips-store-items-maximum-space/

Grow Your Financial Services Firm with These 6 Proven Strategies

Home Business Magazine Online

The success of all businesses, big or small, depends on how well they can manage and distribute their finances across all departments. Some business owners are well equipped with financial management skills while others aren’t, and this is an opportunity you should utilize.

As a financial advisor, your primary focus is to help entrepreneurs and individuals alike manage their finances to achieve their lifelong goals and objectives. However, you must also concentrate on your firm’s future to stay in business long.

You can do this by implementing effective strategies that’ll help you grow your firm and reach new markets. That said, here are six proven financial advisor tips and techniques to help you grow your financial services firm:

1. Analyze Your Client’s Journey

Analyzing your client’s journey is one of the most effective financial service strategies you should implement. This is because each customer has different goals, which you must note, along with their savings, investment plan, and other areas they may need advice on.

Analyzing their journey will also help you make your business customer-friendly and have a greater chance of retaining existing customers. It allows you to personalize services for each client, increasing satisfaction.

2. Optimize Your Service Website

Another effective strategy is optimizing your service website to streamline your customer experience. Because most things are done online, clients will likely spend more time on your website than at your physical address requesting services and making payments. You must ensure it’s accessible and easy to use with a friendly user interface. Regardless, you must still make your physical location as hospitable as possible for visiting clients.

Your website may be your top priority marketing asset, and its speed, clarity, and landing pages must be ideal for engaging your visitors. Ensure that your site’s layout, colors, content, and customer interactions are user-friendly and appealing, as these will affect user experience.

Business Person working at financial services firm
Depositphotos

3. Automate Your Processes

Now that you’ve created a functional website, chances are more leads will keep flowing, and you’ll need the right tools to make your work easier and more efficient.

Process automation will ensure everything runs smoothly, from invoice processing to trading, reporting, rebalancing, and interactions with clients and within your team. However, it’s vital to note there are some things, like client experience, that you can’t automate. Automating other workflows gives you enough time to improve your client’s experience and provide exceptional services.

4. Build an Active Online Marketing Strategy

Creating an online presence is crucial to generating more leads and reaching a broader customer base. However, you must be active and interact with your online audience across all platforms and channels. Some of the online marketing channels you may want to consider are as follows:

  • Social media marketing: Most consumers search for products and services on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Therefore, consider opening a business account on the relevant platforms to market your services.
  • Email marketing: Another marketing strategy to utilize is email marketing through regular newsletters. It gives an exceptional return on investment (ROI), as many people use emails to communicate.
  • Pay-per-click marketing: Pay-per-click (PPC) is another marketing strategy you may want to consider. Setting up and launching a campaign is relatively easy, and you can manage your spending. You typically pay every time a visitor clicks on your ad. PPC marketing has a relatively high conversion rate, especially if your ads are correctly targeted to the appropriate audience and bear a resonating message.

You can use these online marketing strategies to grow your financial services. You can also invest in mobile marketing, educational videos, and content marketing.

5. Focus on a Specific Market Niche

Marketing your services is one of the battles you’ll encounter as a financial advisor, especially when you want to expand your business. Offering a range of financial services like bookkeeping, business broker, and tax preparation services is an excellent way to reach broader markets but not a perfect strategy for differentiation.

Therefore, identifying and carving out your niche is a good strategy for growing your firm. It helps you differentiate yourself better from competitors and focus on providing financial services you’re well conversant with.

6. Consider SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps you tailor your website to get higher rankings in search engines whenever a visitor uses specific keywords to make a query. It’s an excellent approach to driving organic traffic to your site.

Remember, most online experiences start on the search engine, and you’d want to capitalize on this to ensure anyone searching for financial service providers finds your site. It’s also worthwhile to focus on local SEO to get a significant share of the customers in your area of operation.

Conclusion

A financial services firm can bring you reasonable profits with the right strategies. However, it’s good to note that success may not always come overnight. It usually takes several months or years of hard work to build a sizable customer base that can generate constant revenue. With determination and diligence, you’ll surely bring your dreams to reality.

The post Grow Your Financial Services Firm with These 6 Proven Strategies appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/growing-a-business/how-to-guides-growing-a-business/grow-financial-services-firm-6-proven-strategies/

Why do customer relationships matter now more than ever? by Cynthia Ramsaran

Home Business

Research has shown time and time again that existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products of yours and spend 31% more with you when compared to new customers. So how are you fostering these relationships and delivering repeatable and measurable revenue?

In this session, marketing experts will share how you can build customer relationships that not only scale but drive revenue for 2023 and beyond.

Register today for “3 Ways to Strengthen Customer Relationships and Drive Revenue,” presented by Sendoso.

Click here to view more Search Engine Land webinars.

The post Why do customer relationships matter now more than ever? appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/why-do-customer-relationships-matter-now-more-than-ever-393811

Why investing in children’s books could be better than gold

Reading Time: 3 mins

So, you’ve taken Marie Kondo’s advice and started decluttering your home in the hopes of doing the same for other areas of your life. Perhaps you’ve come across some cherished children’s books in the process, thanked them for their service and gently placed them on the ‘donate’ pile.

Before delivering them to your charity of choice, however, you might do well to sift through them one last time. According to a recent report by HomeProtect, certain first edition children’s books are so sought-after they’re bringing heaps of cash for their owners. A hidden gold mine indeed!

“This is the area of collecting most likely to be overlooked, when clearing out a store room,” remarks antiques expert, David Harper. “A children’s book worth hundreds or thousands of pounds, may have an old price ticket inside the cover of just a couple of pounds. It could be that it’s a bit thumbed and looks valueless, so it’s likely to be thrown away or given to a local charity, only later to be discovered by an eagle-eyed collector.”

Here’s a quick guide to making money from your old children’s books and maybe even starting a little investment business on the side.

 

Condition is king

Before we spill the beans on which titles you should be looking out for, let’s talk a few practicalities.

If you have one of the most sought-after children’s books of the past century on your shelf, but it’s falling apart, sadly it probably has no value beyond your own sentiments.

In order to make money from classic children’s books, they need to be in almost pristine condition and preferably still have their original dust jacket.

“It’s worth noting that the condition and completeness of the book is paramount, as any damage or missing pages can decrease value significantly,” reads the report on HomeProtect’s website.

Harper suggests before deciding whether a children’s book goes on the ‘donate’ or ‘sell for loads of cash’ pile, you need to go through a methodical inspection. Turn to the inside cover and look for the edition as well as the date. After this, do a quick Google search to see whether the book is in demand on sites such as eBay.

 

Which Children’s Book titles to look out for?

If, however, you happen to have a well-preserved first edition of any of the following titles, you can skip that last step and go straight to selling:

  • The Gruffalo (1999)
  • Where the Wild Things Are (1963)
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969)
  • The Velveteen Rabbit (1922)
  • The Giving Tree (1964)
  • Histoire de Babar (1931)
  • The Polar Express (1985)
  • The Little Engine that Could (1930)
  • The Cat in the Hat (1957)
  • The Tiger who Came to Tea (1968)

 

How much you can make

According to HomeProtect, first edition copies of classic children’s books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Velveteen Rabbit can fetch between £5,000 and £10,000 at auction.

The first edition of The Gruffalo saw an incredible 200% increase in value between 2004 and 2016 – that’s significantly more than the value increase of gold and property over the same period.

A quick search on Barnaby’s reveals that first edition Winnie the Pooh can fetch close to £4,000, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire can sell for as much as £2,000 and James and the Giant Peach can bring in close to £3,000!

 

Where to sell your valuable children’s books?

If you need to make a quick buck of the books, your best bet will probably be to list them on eBay. Before doing this, it’s important that you place the appropriate value on them. A quick and easy way of doing this, is conducting a search on AbeBooks.com. Just note that it’s important to find copies that match the book in your possession as accurately as possible. Search carefully and avoid spelling mistakes.

If, however, you think you might have some really special books in your possession and want to get the best possible price for them, it might be best to approach an auction house, such as ValueMyStuff or Chiswick.

 

*This is not financial or investment advice. Remember to do your own research and speak to a professional advisor before parting with any money.

The post Why investing in children’s books could be better than gold appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Original source: https://www.moneymagpie.com/make-money/why-investing-in-childrens-books-could-be-better-than-gold

Dinah Jean-Philippe Discusses Making the World a Better Place: How Non-Profits Can Save the Planet

Home Business Magazine Online

Non-profits are organizations that exist to do good in the world. They may focus on causes such as environmental protection, poverty alleviation, animal rights, and more. Non-profits have a vast potential to positively impact our planet by addressing some of its most pressing issues.

Dinah Jean-Philippe in Miami, Fl, says that from providing access to clean water and sanitation services in developing countries to advocating for animal rights or helping preserve endangered species, non-profit organizations can play an invaluable role in making the world a whole better place. In this article, we will explore how non-profits can save the planet and why it is so vital for us all to support their mission.

1. Advocate for Sustainability 

One of the essential things non-profits can do is advocate for sustainability. This means working to promote environmentally friendly practices both within the organization and out in the community. This can be done in various ways, such as hosting educational events, partnering with local businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, or even promoting sustainable living on social media.

2. Act as a Voice for Animals 

Dinah Jean-Philippe says there are so many animals that are mistreated every day, and it’s important that someone speaks up for them. Non-profits can help by raising awareness about animal cruelty and working to pass laws and regulations that protect animals. They can also support rescue organizations and sanctuaries caring for abused and neglected animals.

3. Preserve Our Natural Resources 

Non-profits can play a vital role in preserving our natural resources by working to clean up pollution, fighting against deforestation, and protecting endangered species. This is important work because it helps ensure that future generations can enjoy our planet’s beauty.

4. Educate Others About Environmental Issues 

A big part of saving the planet is educating others about environmental issues. Non-profits can help by hosting workshops and seminars, distributing educational materials, and even talking to people about why taking care of our planet is essential. The more people are aware of the issues, the more likely they are to make changes to help make a difference.

5. Support Sustainable Businesses 

A meaningful way to ensure that we care for the planet is by supporting sustainable businesses. This means patronizing companies that use recycled materials, renewable energy, or sustainable practices in some way. It also means donating money to non-profits that are working to promote sustainability. Every little bit helps!

How to Support Non-Profits

It is essential to support non-profits in today’s society associated with the charitable and compassionate mission they share. Many of these non-profit organizations can successfully assist their target communities with the right resources. As such, there are various ways individuals can show their support for non-profits. One of the best and most direct ways to assist is through donations. Monetary funds help these institutions carry out various programs and initiatives to benefit others. Donations also allow for necessary improvements within an organization’s infrastructure and staff, which is vital in achieving its objectives.

In addition to making donations, another means to support a non-profit is by volunteering or serving on its board of directors. Dedicating time helps ensure that missions are fulfilled efficiently while being cost-effective. An individual using this option can directly provide assistance which aids both internal and external operations. This can open doors for more comprehensive efforts from volunteers regarding helping with marketing campaigns or conducting fundraising events because it leads them to experience various aspects of operating a non-profit, such as a strategy development, financial management, and successful communication purposes between key stakeholders.

When to Support Non-Profits

Dinah Jean-Philippe says non-profits are always in need of support. Depending on the specific organization and its mission, there may be times when additional resources are needed more than others. For example, after a natural disaster crisis, charities typically require more assistance to help those affected by the tragedy after a natural disaster or emergency. Holidays are also crucial for non-profits since many organizations rely on donations to meet their goals. By dedicating time and resources during these periods, individuals can ensure that those in need are provided the necessary support.

In addition to providing short-term assistance, it is also essential to provide long-term help. Engaging with non-profits periodically throughout the year will give them the necessary resources to carry out important initiatives and projects. This support is especially vital for less visible causes, such as food insecurity or environmental protection, since it ensures that these initiatives receive the attention and resources needed to make a lasting difference.

Conclusion

Dinah Jean-Philippe says although we may not be able to make drastic changes to our planet all at once, there are still many small ways that each of us can help. By using renewable energy, reducing waste and emissions, educating others, and supporting sustainable businesses and non-profits, we can all do our part in taking care of the environment. Together, we can help create a more sustainable future for generations to come.

The post Dinah Jean-Philippe Discusses Making the World a Better Place: How Non-Profits Can Save the Planet appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Original source: https://homebusinessmag.com/businesses/go-green/dinah-jean-philippe-discusses-making-world-better-place-non-profits-save-planet/

Pinterest is experimenting a new premium video ad format

Pinterest is currently conducting alpha testing of a new ad offering that enables companies to reach customers from a more prominent location within the mobile app.

The new format, tentatively named the “Premiere Spotlight” ad, gives advertisers access to a premium placement on the Pinterest app’s search page for a 24-hour period. As a result, they can reach Pinterest users while they utilize one of the app’s critical features: searching for pins, inspiration, and concepts.

Early testing. The latest version of the Pinterest mobile app features the new ad style with a Kohl’s promotion. The ad includes a brief video with overlaid text and a button that directs users to Kohl’s website, which opens within the Pinterest app, rather than a separate tab.

Pinterest users can then view the retailer’s product recommendations, search for additional items, add them to their shopping cart, and complete the purchase, just as they would if they visited Kohl’s website directly.

advertising format

How it works. As an alpha test, the pricing for the ad is not presently available as it may alter before a more widespread release. Pinterest will probably select specific brands and creative types for this feature. Additionally, all ads will employ Pinterest’s maximum-width video format.

Pinterest did not say when the new ad format would be available more broadly.

What Pinterest says.

“We’re constantly looking for ways for advertisers to reach the people who come to Pinterest with commercial intent,” a spokesperson said. “As we continue to build a suite of products to drive performance across the full funnel, we’re exploring a new takeover feature that showcases a brand in a new premium, exclusive placement.”

Keeping up with demand. In recent years, Pinterest has been adjusting to the increasing demand for video content from both advertisers and users. Initially a platform for sharing image-based collections, the company transitioned to video with the introduction of Idea Pins in 2021, which provides creators with a TikTok-like experience. In 2022, the platform allowed marketers to transform their Idea Pins into advertisements. Additionally, Pinterest expanded its short-form video offerings this year by partnering with Condé Nast to produce 160 exclusive videos for the site featuring top brands such as Vogue and Architectural Digest.

In its Q4 earnings call the previous month, Pinterest stated that it had increased its video content supply by 30% compared to the previous quarter. The company noted that providing high-quality content would enhance user engagement, especially among Gen Z.

Why we care. Pinterest has a user base of over 450 million people, and the platform is particularly popular among women and younger demographics. The new advertising format allows advertisers to occupy a prime position on the search page, which is a key feature of the app. Furthermore, Pinterest’s emphasis on high-quality video content aligns with the trend of increased demand for video advertising.

The post Pinterest is experimenting a new premium video ad format appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/pinterest-is-experimenting-a-new-premium-video-ad-format-393867

LinkedIn launches collaborative articles for users to share insights and advice

LinkedIn has introduced Collaborative Articles, what it is calling an all-new way to share knowledge. I’d highly dispute that, as this really feels like an elevated take on classic roundup articles designed to feature the “wisdom of the crowd.”

Why we care. LinkedIn is touting this as a way to grow your following, boost your reputation and help the community. All those are potentially true – but the big thing to also watch will be “collaboration spam.” I fully expect some people will try to boost their visibility by “collaborating” on as many of these articles as often as possible.

What is a LinkedIn Collaborative Article? Here’s how LinkedIn describes them:

  • “Collaborative articles are a new type of article, published by LinkedIn with insights from the LinkedIn community. These articles begin as AI-powered conversation starters, developed with our editorial team, but they aren’t complete without perspectives from experts like you. We’re inviting you to share your own ideas, examples, and personal experiences directly into sections of the articles, so our members can learn from you.”

LinkedIn said you can either search or browse for articles. Collaborative articles will also show up in your feed or as pop-up notifications in the coming weeks. Here’s what the notification looks like:

artificial intelligence

How it works. Let’s walk through an example. You can start by going to any LinkedIn Skill Page, such as Social Media.

Right now, there is post to a Collaborative article on how to measure the ROI of influencer marketing campaigns. Clicking on that post opens up the actual article, How do you measure ROI of your influencer marketing campaigns?

You’ll see a note under the headline: “Help unlock community knowledge with us. Add your insights into this AI-powered collaborative article.” Along with LinkedIn’s explainer about Collaborative articles.

Community websites

Scroll down in this article and you’ll see multiple prompts to “Share an example”.

Employment websites

When you click to share an example, a field will appear that gives you some prompts to get you started (“One thing I’ve found…”; “Actually I disagree with…”; “An example I’ve seen…”).

Home Business

The minimum response is 125 characters. The maximum response is 750 characters.

LinkedIn seems to show only one contribution by default. You’ll have to hit Load more to see other contributions. Presumably, the contribution that gets the most “Insightful” reactions will get that featured slot.

New badge. As a reward for sharing their knowledge, perspectives and experience, LinkedIn members can earn a new Community Top Voice badge for their skill areas. The badge could appear on your LinkedIn profile and next to your article contributions.

Not available to everyone. LinkedIn said it plans to expand access in the coming months. I got an early access invite today, so check your email to see if you might have gotten early access.

Dig deeper. You can read LinkedIn’s announcement: Unlocking nearly 10 billion years worth of knowledge to help you tackle everyday work problems.

The post LinkedIn launches collaborative articles for users to share insights and advice appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Original source: https://searchengineland.com/linkedin-collaborative-articles-launched-393866