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Google Home begins voice monetization. Adds transcriptions in podcasts
Google has been rolling out ads in a way that could land them with a fourth fine by either the FTC or the EU.
On a more positive note, the company is also making podcasts more discoverable, enabling marketers to use podcasts more aggressively.
Local ads in Google Home voice results?
Big G has quietly started monetizing its smart speaker and smart display devices. Local-Services ads were spotted in voice search results for local queries.
But here’s the interesting thing: It is not yet disclosing the fact that some of the results are ads.
Looks like the company is calling for a fourth fine.
In the Google Home results for the query “Plumber”, the results with the Guaranteed tag (green badge) are Local Services ads. Businesses cannot get that badge without being a Local Services advertiser.
There is no “ad” or “sponsored” disclosure to the users. That particular aspect will probably have to change if they are to avoid FTC scrutiny and possibly a fine.
Zoom In
These are the first glimpses of Big G’s plan to generate revenue from its growing base of smart speaker users. As a local business owner, this might be an interesting way to advertise your business on Google Home while it’s still new and doesn’t have much competition from other local marketers.
Search podcasts using auto transcriptions
The Podcasts app is now automatically transcribing podcasts, allowing users to search for particular episodes without having to remember the name of the podcast or the episode title.
These transcripts are popping up as metadata within some podcast episodes’ web page sources, although not within the app itself.
Android Police broke the news about how the transcripts can be found. As of yet, the criteria for indexing and transcribing podcasts or episodes has not been revealed.
Zoom In
For marketers looking to launch podcasts, discoverability has always been a challenge. This new functionality can help you attract new audiences and make it easier for existing ones to find the podcasts they are looking for. All in all, this could make podcasts an even more important part of your content marketing strategy.
Looking to sponsor a podcast? This might mean that your ads get more listens, without having to buy airtime on more episodes.
SPONSORED
Fast Lane To Five-Figures With ClickDealer SmartLink!
Imagine launching a test batch of traffic to a dating offer and going to sleep.
You wake up the next day and find your campaign in the green with a bunch of creatives you haven’t seen before and offers you didn’t even know existed in the rotation.
You launch a different geo from another source and go out to get some coffee only to come back to another green campaign and notice the improved ROI on the first one.
WHAT THE AFF is going on? Most likely, it’s ClickDealer SmartLink doing its job.
When a network that’s been in business for 7 years rolls out a smartlink in its primary vertical, that’s what a regular campaign feels like.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve just made your first deposit to a traffic source or bought your 100th Facebook ad account – the link does the heavy lifting. Here are a few reasons why:
- Optimization algorithms switching out thousands of direct offers and custom creatives to create a perfect funnel for your traffic.
- Payout bumps and individual deals based on the performance of the users you send.
- Detailed reporting that segments your traffic based on device/geo/carrier/etc and shows you the eCPM breakdown.
The cherry on top – getting approved doesn’t take nearly as long as you’re used to with other major affiliate networks, and the minimum payment threshold is $100!
It’s easy to get in and get out… but why would you want to get out once you see what ClickDealer SmartLink can do with your traffic?
E-COMMERCE
Complete product testing strategy. Customer journey mapping. PayPal updates about buyer refunds
Is your e-commerce business entirely reliant on FB? Well, the following strategy might help you to diversify. Big report on customer journey as well.
Meanwhile, PayPal updated its Policy recently, and it’s not good news this time.
Testing products with Search Ads
A massive portion of e-commerce entrepreneurs nowadays use FB Ads to test products. If you want to go against the grain and diversify, here is a thorough step by step guide by Nik Armenis on how to test products with Google Search Ads.
Let’s drive straight into it:
Requirements to start
- Have a general store with different collections or a niche store with sub-collections.
- Products within the collection must use relatively similar search terms/keywords.
- Keywords must have solid search volume: 1K searches per month at least.
- Ideally, products are in an uptrend on Trends.
The 10 steps testing strategy:
- Do your keyword research in Keyword Planner. Go for longer tail and less competitive keywords.
- Select 10 – 15 of the most relevant keywords.
- Use the Keyword Search and Volume Forecast tools to get a rough bid and budget estimate.
- Compile a list of Negative Keywords you want to exclude: Amazon, cheap, second hand, job etc.
- Create your campaign and select the campaign’s settings: Search Network only. $10-$25/day budget. For the bidding, select Maximise Clicks if your account is new. Otherwise, if you feel more confident, go for manual bidding.
- If you want to get started quick just create one ad group, but to properly test you should do 2 or more ad groups and split test. You should add a group of 5 -10 similar keywords into an ad group. Eg, one ad group for broad match, another for phrase match or exact match.
- Create your ads. Testing at least 3 different variations is recommended. If you’re short on time just test 1 or 2.
- Let it run for 4 – 7 days before making any changes and then harvest that data.
- After this period, start optimizing by removing unprofitable keywords.
- Scale by increasing your budget by 20% every second day to the best performing keywords.
- Finish line.
All of this looks pretty easy, but the hard part is executing it correctly.
Still, it seems to be a very good strategy to diversify if your current business relies entirely on Facebook. Having all your eggs in one basket is rarely a good idea!
Plus, once you find the right products, you can then move over and scale them on Facebook.
Nik Armenis actually suggests having FB Dynamic Products Ads and Display Network retargeting campaigns set up too. Plus, a good back end funnel.
Cusomer journey mapping
Where does the consumers’ shopping journey begin? How does it evolve? Most importantly, where does it end?
Episerver made a survey to answer all these questions and more. They analyzed all the reasons that push a consumer to visit a branded website and found out what they expect to find there.
This can be quite useful to us marketers because it can help you build your entire shop around your customers’ needs and desires.
PayPal fee refund when a customer asks for returns? No more
Chances are that if you do e-commerce, you probably use PayPal to process customers’ payments. Until now, when customers asked for refunds, PayPal kindly refunded the transaction fee too (Except for the $0.30 cent fixed fee.)
Unfortunately, with the last Policy Update, they’re ousting that generosity, starting May 7, 2019:
“We’re changing how we treat refunds. If you refund (partially or fully) a transaction to a buyer or a donation to a donor, there are no fees to make the refund, but the fees you originally paid as the seller will not be returned to you.”
That’s all. It’s a small update, but it adds yet another pain in your…. Here’s hoping that none of your customers ask for refunds!
FROM THE CREW
Already planned your summer vacation?
It’s that time of the year.
Everybody is busy planning for the summer holidays and you still don’t even have a destination in mind. Besides, you prefer to spend your holiday budget on campaigns… You damned greedy marketer!
No need to worry! In either case, The Crew has your back. We’ve got the perfect plan in place for you!
Plus, if you’re a good guy/gal, the trip expenses will be on us. Yep, you read that right!
All you have to do is spread the WHAT THE AFF word with our referral system, and we’ll pay for you to fly over to Vienna. And all the trip expenses.
The city of Mozart, Beethoven, and Sigmund Freud.
But, more importantly, the city where WTAFF was born and where a part of The Crew works and lives. You can visit our headquarter from where we’re planning to conquer the world, and we’ll also have a few beers together talking about geeky stuff!
Or maybe you don’t care about holidays and you’re all about conferences?We’ve got you covered there as well!
Again, help us promote via our tell-a-friend links and you can get a ticket to your preferred marketing conferences! This includes conferences such as the Affiliate World Conferences or Affiliate Summit, and you can go to whichever one you want!
Just hold fire there for a second. Before you head straight to the referral system to get some of these generous gifts, take a minute to read this:
The WTAFF Crew has caught the GaryVee sickness and we’re now on almost all leading social networks. It would be really great if you could give us a ‘Like/Follow, Comment and Share’ on these social media platforms.
Here are the links to our pages:
- LinkedIn (We have just started here, so some love would be highly appreciated)
Every time you share one of our updates we’ll have a beer to celebrate!
PS: You can even use your social media following/network to share your link and get that trip or conference ticket.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Get your dream job!
Do you want to make a good living but never leave your bed? Who doesn’t, right? Well, we might have just found you your dream job.
Need details?
- Company: NASA
- Total Vacancies: 24
- Pay: $18.5k
- Skills needed: Lying down
Think you fit the job profile? Unfortunately, there’s the catch!
You can’t get out of bed for 60 days.
You’ll be lying down at an incline for the entire time, with your feet above your head to reduce the blood flow to the extremities. This mimics the effects of being in space. You gotta eat, read, watch TV, poo, you gotta do it all while lying down!
You might also get spun around in a centrifuge as it happens in an artificial gravity chamber, which might force your blood back into the extremities.
Yeah, it might lead to numbness and muscle deterioration but hey, a good wage is still a good wage.
Nothing that you haven’t done before.
Apply here right away and don’t miss the chance!
We wish you all the luck in the world. You might need it.
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