When we brought together DoubleClick and the Google Analytics 360 Suite under Google Marketing Platform, we knew we had to make some changes to our websites, blogs and social media channels too. Now, the resources you’ve been reading and visiting over the years have been updated to reflect our new brand, so you can find the latest news, tips and more on our advertising and analytics solutions in one spot. First, you should know that we’ve moved our content and product information to marketingplatform.google.com. You’ll also find product sign-in links there. (Those bookmarks you have for the old DoubleClick and Google Analytics websites should automatically redirect you.) We’ve also launched new and improved blogs, with information for our product users and enterprise customers. We’ll be regularly updating them with product news and digital marketing insights. Bookmark us. Of course, you can also connect with Google Marketing Platform on social: Twitter: Follow @GMktgPlatform LinkedIn: Follow Google Marketing Platform for updates YouTube: Subscribe for new videos You’ll find customer stories, major product announcements, research, reports and other advertising and analytics content intended for large enterprises. And don’t worry: We haven’t changed the Google Analytics social channels. We will continue to bring you product news and tips on Google+, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook. We hope you like our new home. Thanks for visiting, and come back soon! Posted by Karen Budell, Google Analytics team source http://analytics.googleblog.com/2018/07/new-brand-new-home-mktg.html via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/new-brand-new-home-where-to-find-google-marketing-platform-online/
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One website, many audiences. It’s a common challenge for every marketer who must define primary demographics, prioritize content, and extend messaging. Convince & Convert knows that practitioners of all experience levels require underlying principles, as well as specific examples, to be successful. We decided to follow up from our first look at Social Media Lessons from the Best American Hospitals and extend our research to identify digital best practices that can be used across industries. How better to educate ourselves and others, then by examining the top universities in America? How We Identified the Best University WebsitesFor this report, Convince & Convert reviewed the top 50 universities in the United States, based on undergraduate enrollment size, in order to see how the largest schools represented themselves through their primary online presence. We established a 100-point scoring system and analyzed each university’s website against both quantitative and qualitative criteria. Quantitative Score: Using tools from Google, BuzzSumo, and Pingdom, we tested for four parameters—Mobile Site Friendliness, Number of Backlinks, Number of Social Shares of Website Content, and Homepage Load Time—and assigned each college a maximum of 40 points. Qualitative Score: From the Quantitative results, Convince & Convert narrowed down the list of schools from 50 to 25. We then evaluated those institutes’ websites on an additional five criteria—Clarity of Brand/Identity, Ease of Use for Students, Ease of Use for Parents, Ease of Use for Alumni and Donors, and Ease of Use for Faculty and Staff—for a maximum of 60 points. Universities Leading the WayTotal scores across the top 25 schools ranged from a high of 90 points down to a low of 38; considering these were the largest schools in the country by enrollment size, we found it intriguing to see this rather wide variance in digital performance. University of California Berkeley received the highest score, with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Michigan each trailing by a difference of less than 4 points. Top 5 Factors for University Website SuccessBy looking at both the desktop and mobile versions of the top 25 university websites, Convince & Convert identified five best website practices. 1. Site Navigation Each college had their own way of designing and displaying website navigation, but the ones that were most successful kept it simple. Menu items were labeled concisely, in common terms that would be understood by the broadest audience. In addition, limiting the number of top- and sub-level navigation choices made it easier for website visitors to follow their own specific path toward content they are most interested in. #ProTip: Look at your site #analytics in terms of visitor behavior to identify successful paths toward high-demand content as well as potential dead-ends or blockages. #UX 2. Mobile Experience While all of the college websites we reviewed were viewable on mobile devices, many of them were clearly migrated over from their original desktop versions with little consideration for on-the-go users. We found the best mobile experiences came from universities who designed for small-screen readability, minimized bandwidth-heavy imagery, and prioritized which content to display. Just because your website is viewable on mobile doesn’t mean it’s functional on mobile. Test your site on handheld devices in real-world situations to maximize usability. #mobileux 3. Relationship Building Convince & Convert was surprised to see how many universities treat their website homepage like a news portal rather than an institute of higher learning. It’s certainly understandable to want to highlight current updates, but this approach illuminates a potentially damaging attitude. A university earns its students, faculty, and donors through long-term relationship building, but if the first impression a potential student receives is not “how may we help you develop your future?” but “hey, look how awesome we are so you should come here,” it’s easy to turn a first visit into a last visit. Consider your website homepage from a first-date point of view. Are you talking only about yourself, or are you genuinely showing you’re interested in your visitor? Long-lasting relationships are not built on selfishness. 4. Branding It’s essential for any business, including one in higher education, to definitively show a USP (unique selling point). However, Convince & Convert’s research concludes that—beyond a few notable exceptions—most university websites simply don’t do well at differentiating what’s unique about their school. Branding needs to stand out, intrigue, and inspire your audience in order to win customers. Learn to live and breathe your value proposition. If your business can’t clearly communicate what makes you unique, why should your potential customers care? 5. Calls to Action A university beneficially contributes to the education and development of numerous individuals, but it is still a business at its core. As such, it’s critical to maximize the inflow of monetary streams and provide as seamless a process as possible for potential and existing clients. The most successful schools in our report made their audience calls to action very clear. “Students, Alumni, and Donors” sections were prominently labeled, with easy paths to transactional closure. To maximize results, a business must focus on the most profitable actions. Follow the #ParetoPrinciple (aka 80/20 Rule). Put Best Practices To Work The best website practices Convince & Convert discovered are important because the learnings we share in this paper go beyond the higher education vertical. Any large organization responsible for communicating with diverse, sizeable audiences can learn from our results and apply them for improved audience reach. Do you have some best website practices from your specific industry? We’d love for you to share them with us. Download The Best Websites Among America’s Top Universities for more insights. The post 25 Best University Websites for 2018 appeared first on Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting. source https://www.convinceandconvert.com/baer-facts/25-best-university-websites-for-2018/ via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/25-best-university-websites-for-2018/ Facebook’s chief legal officer Colin Stretch has announced he’ll be out by the end of the year. In the inevitable Facebook post explaining why he’s moving on, Stretch writes that after he and his wife made a decision to move back to DC from California “a few years ago… we knew it would be difficult for me to remain in this role indefinitely”. “As Facebook embraces the broader responsibility Mark [Zuckerberg] has discussed in recent months, I’ve concluded that the company and the Legal team need sustained leadership in Menlo Park,” he adds, saying he’ll stay to the end of the year to help with the transition. Facebook has had a very awkward two years so far as politically charged scandals go. First revelations about the massive Kremlin-fueled election interference which it totally missed. Then the massive Cambridge Analytica data misuse debacle which Facebook also claims to have totally missed, even though it (still apparently) employs one of the academics whose quiz app was the vehicle used to suck out people’s data. Since then a bunch of follow-on admissions have flowed from the company confirming that access to user data on its platform wasn’t as locked down as it’s historically liked to claim — albeit, despite masses of evidence to the contrary. Nor, perhaps, as the FTC might have expected give a 2011 privacy settlement with the company. The regulator has now opened a fresh investigation. Meanwhile Facebook is carrying out a retrospective app audit — a not so tacit admission about its abject lack of enforcement of its own developer policy. And yet there have not — at least publicly — been any heads rolling at Facebook despite all this failure. Most likely because, as founder Mark Zuckerberg recently told Recode’s Kara Swisher during a podcast interview: “I designed the platform, so if someone’s going to get fired for this, it should be me.” Of course Zuckerberg isn’t going to fire himself. Not when he doesn’t have to. Given the structure of the company he’s sitting pretty on his CEO throne, no matter how tarnished that crown now is. Instead of firing himself — let’s not forget his 2016 attempts to dismiss the notion of Facebook-enabled election interference as a “pretty crazy idea” — Zuckerberg once again fired up his multi-year apology tour for privacy and data-related screw ups, rolling this through 2017 and 2018, as fresh scandals rocked the company’s reputation. And raised the specter of regulation to control damaging activity on the platform that the company has spectacularly failed to control. Though you’d be hard pressed to read any of this scandalabra just by looking at the company’s earnings and stock price. Perhaps because investors view any regulation as likely to cement Facebook’s dominance, rather than upset the apple cart in a way that could allow a younger model to come in and disrupt its grip on consumers’ eyeballs. Even so, 2018 has seen Zuckerberg, if not literally dragged but politically compelled to appear in front of US and EU lawmakers — where he faced a barrage of questions; some dumb, others cutting to the heart of the company’s contradictions and its contradictory claims. Last year Facebook’s chief legal officer Colin Stretch was also in the Senate, alongside reps from Google and Twitter, fielding awkward questions about Russian election interference and the spread of extremist content on the platform. There Stretch made an unfortunate slip of the tongue during his introductory remarks — seemingly saying “keeping people unsafe on Facebook is critical to our mission” before quickly correcting himself to stress he’d meant to say “keeping people safe”. As Freudian slips go it’s a doozy. But it’s certainly not a great time for Facebook to be losing its general counsel. Not with so much ongoing political and legal risk. Although if Zuckerberg isn’t going to go then perhaps other Facebook veterans will feel compelled to leave on his behalf. With the usual departing platitudes, Stretch writes: “This has not been an easy decision. Companies are made up of people, and the people here are talented, caring, and most of all committed to doing the right thing. Even now, eight-and-a-half years after I started, I often stop myself and ask how I got so lucky to be a part of this.” “There is never a ‘right time’ for a transition like this, but the team and the company boast incredible talent and will navigate this well,” he adds. In March it also emerged that Facebook would likely be parting ways with its long-time chief security officer, Alex Stamos, this summer — after the New York Times reported on internal disagreements between the CSO and other execs, saying Stamos had wanted Facebook to be more public about the misuse of its platform by nation states. This week BuzzFeed News obtained an internal memo sent by Stamos in March, days after he had confirmed his plans to leave the company, in which he writes: “I was the Chief Security Officer during the 2016 election season, and I deserve as much blame (or more) as any other exec at the company.” Though he demurs on confirming whether he has actually quit for real at that point — but does admit to having had “passionate discussions with other execs”, including, seemingly, about Facebook’s approach to sharing public data on Russian disinformation. “The world has changed from underneath us in many ways. One change has been the thrusting of private tech companies into the struggle between nation-states,” he writes on this. “Traditionally, the standard has been to report malicious activity by adversary nations to US law enforcement. We are moving into a world where the major platforms are going to be expected to provide our findings, attribution and data directly to the public, making us a visible participant in the battle between cyberwarfare titans.” “This is an uncomfortable transition, and have not always agree with the compromises we have struck in the process. That being said, I believe my colleagues have all approached the process in good faith, and together we have sorted through legitimate equities that needed to be weighed,” Stamos adds. Stamos goes on to implore colleagues to make major changes “to win back the world’s trust” — including rethinking the metrics Facebook fixes itself to as a business; being more adversarial in its thinking when building products and processes; and — in what looks very much like a swipe at the company’s use of dark pattern design in its consent flows — re-engineering how it gathers user data to be more honest and minimize (rather than maximize) data collection. On that it’s worth noting that privacy by design is a core plank of Europe’s new data protection framework, GDPR — which Stamos is seemingly describing at one point in the memo, without giving it a literal name-check. “We need to build a user experience that conveys honesty and respect, not one optimized to get people to click yes to giving us more access. We need to intentionally not collect data where possible, and to keep it only as long as we are using it to serve people,” he writes [emphasis his]. “We need to find and stop adversaries who will be copying the playbook they saw in 2016. We need to listen to people (including internally) when they tell us a feature is creepy or point out a negative impact we are having in the world. We need to deprioritze short-term growth and revenue and to explain to Wall Street why that is ok. We need to be willing to pick sides when there are clear moral or humanitarian issues. And we need to be open, honest and transparent about challenges and what we are doing to fix them.” source https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/25/facebooks-chief-legal-officer-to-leave-this-year/ via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/facebooks-chief-legal-officer-to-leave-this-year/ Less than three seconds. That’s the average amount of time you have to capture a subscriber’s attention in his or her crowded inbox, according to a study from marketing company Movable Ink. Talk about a short window. So what’s an easy way to make an impact and stand out? Include an email preheader in each message you send. What Is an Email Preheader?When viewing a message in your inbox, an email preheader — also known as the Johnson Box or preview text — is a snippet of text shown next to or underneath the subject line. Typically, they are 50 to 100 characters or about 6 to 11 words. But they may display differently depending on which device or which Internet Service Provider (ISP) like Gmail or Yahoo! they are opened on. Below you can see an email preheader on a desktop inbox, and another email preheader on a mobile inbox. Why is an email preheader important?When written well, an email preheader is a powerful tool to improve your engagement. Unfortunately, though, many email marketers don’t take advantage of the preheader. They spend lots of time crafting the perfect subject line, but barely think twice about the preheader text. So they leave it blank, or fill it out with some generic information. In fact, here are a handful of common preheaders I found in my inbox. “Click here if you are having trouble viewing this message” “You are part of an email list, you can unsubscribe here” “This message contains images, please enable images” None of these necessarily make your subscriber want to scream ” I have to open this message!” So what kind of preheader will make your subscriber click open? 4 Ways to Write an Effective Email PreheaderBelow are four ways to write an email preheader that will skyrocket your open rates. #1: Sum up the content insideAdd more context to your subject line with your preheader text. In it, give a short summary of what the reader can expect to find inside the message. This may further entice your subscriber to click on the message so they can read the full content. Example: Google Home Subject line: Lauren, welcome to your Google Home Mini Email preheader: 3 ways to get the most out of your new Mini #2: Request an actionUse the email preheader to make your readers take an action. Tell them what you want them to do! Do you want them to open the message? Do you want them to click on a link? Fill out your survey? Let them know what you want them to do and why you want them to do it. Example: Ulta Beauty Subject Line: Take a look at your ultimate rewards statement, Lauren! Email preheader: Check out these beautiful offers, too. Open to see all the ways beauty loves you back! #3: Use FOMOThe “fear of missing out” or FOMO is a powerful pscyhological trigger. If you want a subscriber to take advantage of a special offer or deal — such as free shipping or a discount code — tell them about it in the preheader. They’ll be tempted to open right away if they know the offer is exclusive or a limited-time. And you want them to open right away! Chances are, if they don’t open when they see the message for the first time, they won’t come back the next day or next week to do it. Example: Michaels Craft Store Subject line: Last Day: Summer Cyber Sale! An Online Bonus Coupon and Free Shipping, no minimum Email preheader: Drop-What-You’re-Doing Doorbusters and Deals. Don’t miss out! #4: Get creativeYour subscribers want to do business with people they know, like, and trust — as opposed to a faceless corporation. Humanize your preheader text to increase connection and engagement with your subscriber. Use the small block of text to show your company is likeable and relatable, and your subscribers will be more likely to open the message. Example: PECO Subject line: PECO can help you keep cool for less this summer Email preheader: Rising temperatures make it harder to stay cool and comfortable inside. But don’t sweat it! How to add a preheader in AWeberWith recent updates to AWeber’s Drag and Drop Email Builder, adding an email preheader to your message is now easier than ever! All it takes is just the click of a single button. From within the message editor directly under “message properties”, you can simply add the text you wish to display with your subject line when the message is sent. If you want to personalize your email preheader for your subscriber to include their name, email address, or any other of their subscriber information, you can do so as well! You can accomplish this using personalization snippets within the ‘message preheader’ text box directly. Ready to write fantastic email preheaders that grab a subscriber’s attention in less than three seconds? Then create your FREE AWeber account today. The post The Easiest Way to Skyrocket Your Open Rates appeared first on Email Marketing Tips. source https://blog.aweber.com/email-marketing/email-preheader.htm via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/the-easiest-way-to-skyrocket-your-open-rates/ As we pass the midway mark of 2018, it’s clear that mobile technology is prevalent in our world today. In the past, I’ve told you to keep an eye out for the top marketing trends of 2018. But now I want to take that one step further and narrow that focus specifically to mobile trends. As a business owner, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of modern marketing trends to be successful. This guide is beneficial for marketers, app developers, and anyone else who wants to improve their business. While I’m not saying you need to apply these trends to your own marketing, it’s important you’re aware of the new technology that’s available and surrounding you. Who knows, maybe you’ll decide to change your strategy based on this information. I used research from previous years as well as some recent technological developments to come up with this list. These are the top 14 mobile trends dominating the year so far. I expect these to continue trending upward as we close out 2018. 1. Artificial intelligence (AI)Artificial intelligence has penetrated our mobile world. We’re getting one step closer to mobile devices morphing into robots and taking over the planet. Obviously, I’m kidding. While that day has yet to come, we are seeing advancements in mobile AI. You may be familiar with some of these:
All of these are examples of AI that may even be installed on your mobile devices right now. In addition to these popular forms of AI, mobile apps are now using software such as voice recognition to encourage hands-free use and ultimately optimize the customer experience. AI software is used to help developers and marketers learn more about the user. Businesses are trying to get more revenue by using this information to create relevant advertisements that target specific audiences. 2. Location-based technologyYour smartphones and tablets are tracking your location. That’s not a secret. Mobile applications are also tracking your location, with your permission. Each time you download a new app, it requests your permission to use your location. Here’s an example of this from Nexonia: Each time you download a new app, you’ll get a notification similar to the one seen above. You may not even be able to use some apps to their full potential without giving them access to your location. For example, think about a ride-sharing app such as Uber. They need your exact location to connect you with a driver. But have you noticed an increase in apps requesting your location even if you don’t think it’s required to use the primary function of the app? That’s because 7 out of 10 apps on your smartphone share your data with third parties. They do this to enhance their marketing campaigns. If a business knows where a user is, it can send them targeted ads based on the location. An example of this is when an app uses geofencing technology. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you own a restaurant and have a mobile app. If an app user walks within a few blocks of your location, they’ll receive a notification about your lunch special. So far in 2018, we’ve seen an increase in this strategy, and we’ll continue to see it used in the future. 3. Augmented realityAugmented reality takes something that’s real and modifies it. One of the best examples of this is the face filter options on Snapchat. Recently, Instagram implemented this feature as well: Other mobile apps use this strategy to generate revenue. Remember when everyone was going crazy about Pokemon Go? The entire premise of that game was based on augmented reality on a mobile device. I found some mind-blowing statistics about the game and how successful it was:
Those numbers speak for themselves. Based on the success of apps such as Pokemon Go, Snapchat, and Instagram, more businesses have been trying to incorporate augmented reality into their mobile technology. This will help them create brand awareness, app downloads, engagement, and revenue. 4. Syncing wearable technology with mobile devicesWearable technology has become increasingly popular in 2018. I’m referring to things such as fitness bracelets, smartwatches, healthcare monitors, and glasses. They all can be paired with mobile apps. Take Fitbit as an example. All the movements of a person wearing it can be tracked through an app. Users can check their heart rates and how many miles they walked in a day, among other things. By syncing with mobile devices, these apps can be used socially as well. People can compare their progress with their friends and make it a competition. As a result, it encourages the usage of the technology and increases engagement. By the end of 2019, experts estimate that more than 125 million units of wearable technology will be shipped. That compares to just 50 million units shipped in 2015. The reason for the popularity of this technology is its ability to pair with mobile devices. 5. Revenue from mobile applicationsMobile apps are making a killing. Just look at the jump from 2016 to 2017 in terms of global app revenue: There was a substantial increase in revenue through both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. This trend isn’t slowing down. Mobile apps will continue to thrive. Experts believe that by 2020 the global revenue from mobile apps will be $190 billion. That’s triple the numbers we saw last year (2017). 6. Mobile devices syncing with homesMobile apps are being developed to help improve consumers’ experiences within their own homes. You can find businesses that sync your home air conditioning and heating with an app. That way, you can control temperatures whether you’re home or not. Instead of going to a central thermostat in the house, you can reach into your pocket and set everything on your phone. Home security has been integrated with mobile technology as well. There are apps that have a video camera synced with your doorbell so you can see who is at your front door when the bell rings. Home security cameras on the inside and outside of your home can all be controlled and monitored from mobile devices. There are even smart refrigerators that connect with mobile devices. This technology gives you the ability to see inside your refrigerator while you’re at the grocery store so you can see what you need to buy. 7. Enhanced mobile securitySaying that security is important would be an understatement. With big companies having security breaches, consumers have become increasingly aware of the potential dangers of giving away their personal information. Many people don’t like the risks of providing sensitive information to businesses, especially through mobile apps. In fact, security and distrust are two of the top reasons why mobile users don’t feel comfortable using mobile payment applications. Furthermore, 56% of American consumers say they believe mobile payments will increase their chances of becoming a fraud or theft victim. Only 5% of people think these types of payment methods reduce those chances. But as previously discussed, mobile app revenue is on the rise. While some consumers are reluctant to pay via mobile, others are not. Businesses are recognizing these perceptions and improving their mobile security. They want their customers to feel as comfortable as possible when paying using mobile devices. 8. Small business mobile appsNot long ago, mobile applications were just for the big players. But now everyone is developing them. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business or how small your company may be, you can probably benefit from mobile app development. Last year, more than half of small business owners in the United States said they had plans to develop a mobile app. Midway through 2018, those apps should be in development and launching soon, if they haven’t already. Why are they building apps? Fifty-five percent of small business owners are using mobile apps to increase sales revenue. Apps also improve the user experience and help businesses stay competitive in a market that’s always changing. You can’t afford to fall behind, so you need to stay up to date with the latest technology. 9. Increased mobile paymentsAs mobile security improves and global app revenue rises, we’ll see an increase in mobile payments as well. Among them are:
Just look at the jump in the number of payment apps users we’ve seen over the last three years: These numbers are continuing to rise in 2018. Again, this relates to mobile security. There is a direct correlation between how comfortable people feel making mobile payments and the increase in mobile payment popularity. 10. Transportation appsFor quite some time, we’ve seen apps for train tickets, local bus schedules, etc. Ride-sharing apps, such as Lyft and Uber, have been dominating for years now as well. Even car sharing apps, such as Zipcar or Turo, are nothing new. But new apps are bringing transportation to a whole new level. I’m talking about Bird and Lime Bike. Users can locate a scooter or bicycle from their mobile devices. When they approach the transport, they can unlock it using cameras on their smartphones. Users get charged for the length of time they used the bike or scooter. When they’re done, they can leave it anywhere. Note that it’s relevant to our discussion about location-based services and mobile payments. These new types of transportation are also integrated with mobile technology. Bird raised $15 million earlier this year from investors. They are seeking an additional $100 million. It’s safe to say they predict this will be a major part of the future in this industry. 11. Virtual realityVirtual reality is not quite the same as augmented reality. You’ll need more than just a smartphone to experience virtual reality. Typically, a helmet or some type of goggles get used simultaneously with your mobile device. This technology may even come with a joystick or controller. It’s estimated that the global valuation for the virtual reality market will exceed $26 billion by the year 2022. This won’t happen overnight. We’re already seeing virtual reality advancements in 2018, and I expect those trends to continue as we move forward. 12. Hybrid appsMobile app development can be expensive. Business owners have weighed the pros and cons of native and hybrid app development. While both have their upsides, native development is more expensive. Furthermore, native apps can be built only for one platform at a time. This is a problem for smaller businesses with smaller budgets for app development. If you want to have your app available on both iOS and Android devices, you’d need to go through development twice, which is no easy task. Some businesses can’t afford that. But hybrid apps make this possible. It gives people the opportunity to launch their apps on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store simultaneously for a fraction of the cost. That’s another reason why more mobile apps are available for download, which contributes to the rising global app revenue as well. 13. Personal mobile devices in the workplaceResearch indicates 87% of businesses depend on their employees to access work resources from their personal mobile devices. This is a big change from what we’ve seen in the past when businesses were trying to prevent this. The concept is known as BYOD, or bring your own device. In 2016, 78% of companies that disallowed BYOD said it was due to security concerns. But as I’ve already discussed, mobile security is improving, so now businesses are adapting and changing their policies. Research shows there is a 34% increase in productivity when employees are allowed to use their personal mobile devices for work, which makes sense. They are used to handling these devices on a daily basis. It’s easier for them to navigate and stay organized. This also helps businesses cut back on costs since they don’t need to pay for new hardware. 14. Biometrics advancementsBiometrics are used to enhance security for mobile devices. Examples of biometrics include:
Your current device may have some of these features installed. We’ll see a lot more of this moving forward. For example, let’s say you’ve got an iPhone that was released in the last couple of years. You’re used to the fingerprint feature to unlock the device. But now the new iPhone X has facial recognition software. Other apps are using biometrics as well. For example, you may be required to use your fingerprint to make a mobile payment through some platforms. ConclusionTechnology is constantly evolving. Just compare your current smartphone to the phone you had five or ten years ago. As we continue through 2018, we’ll see several different trends. Older mobile technology will be improved, and newer technology will be introduced. The idea is to understand how consumers react to these changes. They are the ones who shape these trends. Identify the upward trends, and adapt accordingly to meet the needs of your mobile customers. How is your company using the latest mobile trends to make improvements and target mobile consumers? source https://www.quicksprout.com/2018/07/25/14-mobile-trends-that-are-dominating-2018/ via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/14-mobile-trends-that-are-dominating-2018/ By Amanda Byrne, CX Design Specialist, Oracle Have you ever wondered if there was a better place to grab a burger or a quicker way to get somewhere you frequent? Ten years ago, information like that wasn’t nearly as easy to come by as it is today. Now, we can post our question in a forum or on social media and have instant access to a network of thousands of our peers. Personally, this is how I learn about go-to restaurants when I travel, find a new pediatrician for my kids, and locate just the right hotel for the family vacation. We spend about one-third of our life at work, so why wouldn’t we apply these same methods of learning when it comes to the tools we use to get our jobs done? It’s not hard to imagine: Your company invests in a new technology. You’ve completed the online training but are in the middle of a project when a question comes up. Instead of calling someone or emailing and waiting for a reply, you hop into the community for a quick search. It’s not surprising that someone has already asked that exact question. Better yet, several people have offered up solutions that answer your question, and you are back to work. Having a digital space where you can interact with peers, ask questions, and share best practices can radically enhance learning and your user experience. That’s why we recently shared how self-service can equal great customer service. Don’t Just Take Our Word for It Zendesk Research found that “as many as 67 percent of consumers prefer helping themselves to speaking with a customer service agent.” Community and peer-to-peer interaction can play as big of a role in a successful self-service model as a knowledge base. In fact, Aberdeen reports that savvy high-tech companies with well-oiled online communities see 3.1 times greater customer satisfaction rates. The self-service and peer-to-peer community interactions aren’t the only benefit either. Another study by Aberdeen found that 17.5 percent of learning something new applied to relational learning – which happens during collaborations and using social networks and communities. The research is clear; there are big benefits to joining digital communities. We hear our customers ask for more and better learning options, and so we’ve raised the bar. Oracle LaunchPad, our new free learning tool, has its own community forum where you can ask questions, search for answers, and share your best practices! Check out all of Oracle’s communities – there are already more than 450K active users there. What are you waiting for? Join the conversation today! source https://blogs.oracle.com/marketingcloud/it-takes-a-village-why-self-service-learning-is-so-effective via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/it-takes-a-village-why-self-service-learning-is-so-effective/ Over in our Killers and Poets Facebook group, we’ve been talking about a quote from my friend Susan Garrett. Susan is a multiple worldwide champion in the sport of dog agility. She’s also a brilliant animal trainer and runs an incredibly successful business. Different versions of this quote have inspired many of her friends and The post Become a Writing Champion by Turning the Hard Stuff into a Game appeared first on Copyblogger. source https://www.copyblogger.com/writing-games-roundtable/ via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/become-a-writing-champion-by-turning-the-hard-stuff-into-a-game/ Search is complicated. Trust is complicated. Both of these are absolutely necessary for a local business or brand to place on the first page of search results. A business can’t just build a website, optimize it for search and wait for consumers to find it. The good ‘ol days are long gone. Webmasters, SEOs and […] The post How to Ensure Search Engines and Consumers Trust a Local Business Website appeared first on Search Engine People Blog. via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/how-to-ensure-search-engines-and-consumers-trust-a-local-business-website/ Since the inception and rise of digital marketing, marketers have been keeping a watchful eye on Google — the ruler of the kingdom of search. From research project to technology giant, over the last two decades Google has cemented itself as the dominating force in internet search. And while there are other rising contenders in the space, as of June 2018, Google owned 72.21% of all desktop searches. And the domination continues if you look at mobile, with Google owning a whopping 90.20% of searches. Of course, Google’s market (and marketing) domination isn’t because of their speed to market in the late 90s, but rather the company’s dedication and investment in evolving the platform. And some of the latest evolutionary tweaks and new features are hitting soon — or have just recently arrived. What are those changes and how will they affect your marketing plan? Below, we break down the latest and greatest game-changing updates from Google, what they mean for marketers, and how marketers can adapt. #1 – HTTPS Warnings are In-EffectWhile we’ve been talking about this for a while now (just see our Security as SEO post from August 2017), Google Chrome’s non-HTTPS pop-up warning went live in July 2018. Instead of serving non-HTTPS pages with just an information icon in the URL bar, Google will now serve users with a warning and potentially a pop-up alerting them that the website they’re on isn’t using a secure connection. Image credit: Google Of course, this shift towards site security isn’t new. In fact, back in January of 2016, Google announced that they were indexing HTTPS pages over HTTP pages, signaling to marketers that the security of your site will soon impact your rankings. The past algorithm changes coupled with the new warnings in Google Chrome means that leaving your site with an unsecure HTTP connection will likely cause traffic loss both organically and direct, as well as losing those hard-fought rankings. To make sure that your site doesn’t take a hit to traffic or rankings, make sure you’ve upgraded to HTTPS. As an extra measure, check Google Search Console’s Security Issues tool to check for other potential security threats. The Key Takeaways
#2 – Need for SpeedOver the last several years, Google has altered its algorithm to prioritize the user experience. Back in 2010, Google announced that desktop page speed was a ranking factor as poor load times create a bad user experience, which is something we covered in an interview with former Developer Programs Tech Lead Maile Ohye. Their latest update, which went into effect July 9, 2018, continues that trend as the algorithm will also account for mobile page speed as well. But what pages are affected and how will it affect you? According to Google, only the slowest pages will be affected. And to help you see if that includes you, they’ve launched their PageSpeed Insights tool where you can see how fast your pages load on mobile and how you can improve your load times. With this new change, you need to make sure that your mobile page speed is up to par by entering your site URL into the PageSpeed Insights tool. Then, download your free report to see what improvements you can make to your site. For example, the report may recommend that you optimize or compress your images to reduce the data consumption needed to load the page. Or, the report may suggest that you leverage caching. Whatever suggestions are made, implement them as soon as possible to ensure that your mobile rankings don’t suffer. The Key Takeaways
#3 – No More AdWordsThat’s right, AdWords is no more. Instead, Google is merging all of their advertising products under one brand umbrella: Google Ads. Why the change? Google says it’s to reduce the complexity associated with digital advertising. They want simpler products that make it easier to advertise on their platforms. And they’re rebranding shows their commitment to simplicity. Google Ads isn’t just a rebranding, though. They’ve also announced new products, all focused on automation, including:
Through automation, Google hopes to introduce products that reduce the complex nature of digital advertising and instead create optimized ads with an easy user experience. When it comes to your own campaigns, log into the new Google Ads platform and explore their new product offerings that leverage features like automation and machine learning. If you’re feeling extra adventurous, test out one of those new product offerings to see if Google is successful in creating easy-to-use ads that produce hard-to-achieve results. The Key Takeaways
#4 – Introducing: Smart CampaignsPaid search advertising is a complicated business. From ad creative and copy to setting the right bid and objective, there are a lot of moving parts that impact the effectiveness of your ads. Well, Google wants to change that. To continue their commitment to simplified digital advertising mentioned above, Google Ads is launching a new advertising type: Smart Campaigns. Smart Campaigns are automated ads that take care of ad creative and delivery based on the products, services, and goals that advertisers set. Through automation and machine learning Smart Campaigns will show ads to the right audiences using signals like behavior, location, devices, and others. If you’ve ever struggled with your paid search campaigns or they just suck up too much of your time, this news is music to your ears. An automated ad campaign with the ability to optimize on the fly means you can create your Smart Campaign, monitor the performance, and watch Google make optimizations on your behalf. And this new ad type works. Google’s Small Business Ads Lead, Kim Spalding, says that Smart Campaigns are three times more effective at reaching a target audience than AdWords Express campaigns. So, give Smart Campaigns a try. You just might find more success than with traditional Google Ads products. And as always, be thoughtful about your goals and KPIs to determine if Smart Campaigns works for your business. Furthermore, we’d never recommend “setting and forgetting.” You need to monitor and ensure that the automated suggestions being served up are a right fit for your product/service, industry, and audience. The Key Takeaways
#5 – There’s More Data to LoveWith GDPR in effect in the EU, Google and other software vendors have made changes to ensure their compliance (they also love letting us know that they’ve updated their privacy policy). But more importantly, GDPR stipulated new regulations around data retention, stating that companies cannot store data longer than necessary. As a result, Google, Mixpanel, and other analytics tools updated the amount of data is tracked and saved on their platforms. And a few months ago Google updated their data retention controls to 14 months, 26 months, 38 months, and 50 months with no options lasting longer than 50 months. This is a big change as Google Analytics previously tracked data for the entire history of the site. Luckily, the latest announcement from Google is a data increase, not decrease. Previously, Google Search Console’s search analytics only tracked the past 90 days. However, Google Data Studio (Google’s really cool and free dashboard builder), the search analytics API, and the Google Search Console beta now have 16 months of historical search analytics data. With more data to analyze, this update allows marketers to better track historical trends and patterns in their search rankings and performance. If you want to see your expanded search analytics data, the update is currently live in Google Data Studio, the search analytics API, and the beta Google Search Console Search Performance report. Not sure how to access the beta? Click on the link in the upper left-hand corner of the Google Search Console menu circled in red below: The Key Takeaways
Up Your Google GameWith the most popular internet browsers and the No. 1 site in the world, marketers need to stay up to date on new updates in Google in order to make sure that their content, ads, and site are being served effectively. This latest round of updates means marketers need to make sure their sites are secure and load fast on mobile devices. In addition, Google has introduced new ad products and data to help you make the most of your digital advertising and search performance. For more digital marketing news, subscribe to our YouTube channel or visit our digital marketing news archive for weekly news updates. The post Google Game Changers: 5 Recent Updates and How They Affect Marketers appeared first on Online Marketing Blog – TopRank®. source http://www.toprankblog.com/2018/07/google-updates-impact-marketers/ via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/google-game-changers-5-recent-updates-and-how-they-affect-marketers/ How To Improve Test Coverage For Your Android App Using Mockito And Espresso How To Improve Test Coverage For Your Android App Using Mockito And EspressoVivek Maskara2018-07-25T14:00:04+02:002018-07-25T17:27:43+00:00 In app development, a variety of use cases and interactions come up as one iterates the code. The app might need to fetch data from a server, interact with the device’s sensors, access local storage or render complex user interfaces. The important thing to consider while writing tests is the units of responsibility that emerge as you design the new feature. The unit test should cover all possible interactions with the unit, including standard interactions and exceptional scenarios. In this article, we will cover the fundamentals of testing and frameworks such as Mockito and Espresso, which developers can use to write unit tests. I will also briefly discuss how to write testable code. I’ll also explain how to get started with local and instrumented tests in Android. Recommended reading: How To Set Up An Automated Testing System Using Android Phones (A Case Study) Fundamentals Of TestingA typical unit test contains three phases.
If the observed behavior is consistent with the expectations, the unit test passes; otherwise, it fails, indicating that there is a problem somewhere in the system under test. These three unit test phases are also known as arrange, act and assert, or simply AAA. The app should ideally include three categories of tests: small, medium and large.
Note: An instrumentation test is a type of integration test. These are tests that run on an Android device or emulator. These tests have access to instrumentation information, such as the context of the app under test. Use this approach to run unit tests that have Android dependencies that mock objects cannot easily satisfy. Nope, we can’t do any magic tricks, but we have articles, books and webinars featuring techniques we all can use to improve our work. Smashing Members get a seasoned selection of magic front-end tricks — e.g. live designing sessions and perf audits, too. Just sayin’! Writing small tests allows you to address failures quickly, but it’s difficult to gain confidence that a passing test will allow your app to work. It’s important to have tests from all categories in the app, although the proportion of each category can vary from app to app. A good unit test should be easy to write, readable, reliable and fast. Here’s a brief introduction to Mockito and Espresso, which make testing Android apps easier. MockitoThere are various mocking frameworks, but the most popular of them all is Mockito:
Its fluent API separates pre-test preparation from post-test validation. Should the test fail, Mockito makes it clear to see where our expectations differ from reality! The library has everything you need to write complete tests. EspressoEspresso helps you write concise, beautiful and reliable Android UI tests. The code snippet below shows an example of an Espresso test. We will take up the same example later in this tutorial when we talk in detail about instrumentation tests.
Espresso tests state expectations, interactions and assertions clearly, without the distraction of boilerplate content, custom infrastructure or messy implementation details getting in the way. Whenever your test invokes
These checks ensure that the test results are reliable. Writing Testable CodeUnit testing Android apps is difficult and sometimes impossible. A good design, and only a good design, can make unit testing easier. Here are some of the concepts that are important for writing testable code. Avoid Mixing Object Graph Construction With Application LogicIn a test, you want to instantiate the class under test and apply some stimulus to the class and assert that the expected behavior was observed. Make sure that the class under test doesn’t instantiate other objects and that those objects do not instantiate more objects and so on. In order to have a testable code base, your application should have two kinds of classes:
Constructors Should Not Do Any WorkThe most common operation you will do in tests is the instantiation of object graphs. So, make it easy on yourself, and make the constructors do no work other than assigning all of the dependencies into the fields. Doing work in the constructor not only will affect the direct tests of the class, but will also affect related tests that try to instantiate your class indirectly. Avoid Static Methods Wherever PossibleThe key to testing is the presence of places where you can divert the normal execution flow. Seams are needed so that you can isolate the unit of test. If you build an application with nothing but static methods, you will have a procedural application. How much a static method will hurt from a testing point of view depends on where it is in your application call graph. A leaf method such as Avoid Mixing Of ConcernsA class should be responsible for dealing with just one entity. Inside a class, a method should be responsible for doing just one thing. For example,
In the next few sections, we will be using examples from a really simple application that I built for this tutorial. The app has an Writing Local Unit TestsUnit tests can be run locally on your development machine without a device or an emulator. This testing approach is efficient because it avoids the overhead of having to load the target app and unit test code onto a physical device or emulator every time your test is run. In addition to Mockito, you will also need to configure the testing dependencies for your project to use the standard APIs provided by the JUnit 4 framework. Setting Up The Development EnvironmentStart by adding a dependency on JUnit4 in your project. The dependency is of the type
We will also need the Mockito library to make interaction with Android dependencies easier.
Make sure to sync the project after adding the dependency. Android Studio should have created the folder structure for unit tests by default. If not, make sure the following directory structure exists:
Creating Your First Unit TestSuppose you want to test the
We will start by creating a
Similarly, you’ll need to mock all dependencies required to construct the instance of the
Here’s how it can be done:
Now you are done setting up your test class. Let’s add a test to this class that verifies the functionality of the
The test uses a
Running Your Unit TestsIn order to run the unit tests, you need to make sure that Gradle is synchronized. In order to run a test, click on the green play icon in the IDE. making sure that Gradle is synchronized When the unit tests are run, successfully or otherwise, you should see this in the “Run” menu at the bottom of the screen: You are done with your first unit test! Writing Instrumentation TestsInstrumentation tests are most suited for checking values of UI components when an activity is run. For instance, in the example above, we want to make sure that the Setting Up The Development EnvironmentAdd a dependency on Espresso:
Instrumentation tests are created in an
If you want to test a simple activity, create your test class in the same package as your activity. Creating Your First Instrumentation TestLet’s start by creating a simple activity that takes a name as input and, on the click of a button, displays the user name. The code for the activity above is quite simple:
To create a test for the
Next, add an
Now that you are done setting up the test class, let’s add a test that verifies that the user name is displayed by clicking the “Set User Name” button.
The test above is quite simple to follow. It first simulates some text being typed in the The final test class looks like this:
Running Your Instrumentation TestsJust like for unit tests, click on the green play button in the IDE to run the test. Upon a click of the play button, the test version of the app will be installed on the emulator or device, and the test will run automatically on it. Intrumentation Testing Using Dagger, Mockito, And EspressoEspresso is one of the most popular UI testing frameworks, with good documentation and community support. Mockito ensures that objects perform the actions that are expected of them. Mockito also works well with dependency-injection libraries such as Dagger. Mocking the dependencies allows us to test a scenario in isolation.
With Dagger in the picture, we will have to set up a few things before we write instrumentation tests. Setting Up Dagger In The ApplicationWe will quickly set up the basic modules and components required for Dagger. If you are not
Create a component in the
The
The
Create a method that returns the already built component, and then inject this component into
Setting Up Dagger In The Test ApplicationIn order to mock responses from the server, we need to create a new
As you can see in the example above, we’ve used Mockito to mock
Next, you need to update the
Running The TestAll tests with the new
The test will run successfully when you click on the green play button in the IDE. That’s it! You have successfully set up Dagger and run tests using Espresso and Mockito. ConclusionWe’ve highlighted that the most important aspect of improving code coverage is to write testable code. Frameworks such as Espresso and Mockito provide easy-to-use APIs that make writing tests for various scenarios easier. Tests should be run in isolation, and mocking the dependencies gives us an opportunity to ensure that objects perform the actions that are expected of them. A variety of Android testing tools are available, and, as the ecosystem matures, the process of setting up a testable environment and writing tests will become easier. Writing unit tests requires some discipline, concentration and extra effort. By creating and running unit tests against your code, you can easily verify that the logic of individual units is correct. Running unit tests after every build helps you to quickly catch and fix software regressions introduced by code changes to your app. Google’s testing blog discusses the advantages of unit testing.
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source https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/07/improving-test-coverage-android-app-mockito-espresso/ via DerekPackard.com https://derekpackard.com/how-to-improve-test-coverage-for-your-android-app-using-mockito-and-espresso-5/ |
Derek PackardDerek Packard has been producing compelling videos for over 25 years. In fact when Derek started shooting award winning video, editing required an air conditioned room and equipment costing a million dollars. Today his laptop provides better tools. At one point, over 20% of Fortune 500 companies owned at least one training series Derek had produced for experts like Ken Blanchard and Zig Ziglar. After working with corporate and government clients in California for many years, Derek compiled numerous national awards for his work. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |