Google AdWords is the industry standard for PPC marketing. For the virtue of your ads showing up on Google's own products like YouTube and Gmail alone, it's an enormous trove of potential business. And when your business can pop up on millions of sites and reach over 90% of internet users, it's hard to imagine what your options are if, for example, you're suddenly banned by the site, or you simply want to use another method.

If that's the case, you have to get a little creative — and that's not necessarily a bad thing. These strategies can be used by anyone looking to optimize their PPC marketing strategy, whether or not you're relying on Google.

Use Alternative Ad Networks

AdWords may be standard, but there are other options out there. Even if your industry doesn't fall under the purview of restricted sectors, there are plenty of valid reasons to expand your online advertising platform considerations. You can find lower cost per click (CPC) rates, expand your reach or even narrow your reach if that's your goal. It's possible to get too many clicks in AdWords if the clicks are low in quality. The broader your industry, the higher your chances of low conversion rates but high costs. The more specific your niche, the more likely it is that fewer clicks will lead to higher conversion rates.

Studio by UXPin, which specializes in free UX design resources for designers and product teams, has released its 2019 Top Web Design Trends free eBook that includes 63 examples analyzed from major names such as Google, Nike, and Spotify, among others.

The eBook covers color, subtle branding, split screen design, data visualization, layering with interactivity, and more. Each trend comes with an explanation that elaborates on what the style looks and feels like, whether the trend is beneficial, and how you can adapt it into your own work.

Download your copy of the free eBook here.

In case you missed it, discover 2019’s top logo design trends to inspire you for the year, presented in one infographic.

[via Studio by UXPin]

At CES, IBM today announced its first commercial quantum computer for use outside of the lab. The 20-qubit system combines into a single package the quantum and classical computing parts it takes to use a machine like this for research and business applications. That package, the IBM Q system, is still huge, of course, but it includes everything a company would need to get started with its quantum computing experiments, including all the machinery necessary to cool the quantum computing hardware.

While IBM describes it as the first fully integrated universal quantum computing system designed for scientific and commercial use, it’s worth stressing that a 20-qubit machine is nowhere near powerful enough for most of the commercial applications that people envision for a quantum computer with more qubits — and qubits that are useful for more than 100 microseconds. It’s no surprise then, that IBM stresses that this is a first attempt and that the systems are “designed to one day tackle problems that are currently seen as too complex and exponential in nature for classical systems to handle.” Right now, we’re not quite there yet, but the company also notes that these systems are upgradable (and easy to maintain).

“The IBM Q System One is a major step forward in the commercialization of quantum computing,” said Arvind Krishna, senior vice president of Hybrid Cloud and director of IBM Research. “This new system is critical in expanding quantum computing beyond the walls of the research lab as we work to develop practical quantum applications for business and science.”

More than anything, though, IBM seems to be proud of the design of the Q systems. In a move that harkens back to Cray’s supercomputers with its expensive couches, IBM worked with design studios Map Project Office and Universal Design Studio, as well Goppion, the company that has built, among other things, the display cases that house the U.K.’s crown jewels and the Mona Lisa. IBM clearly thinks of the Q system as a piece of art and, indeed, the final result is quite stunning. It’s a nine-foot-tall and nine-foot-wide airtight box, with the quantum computing chandelier hanging in the middle, with all of the parts neatly hidden away.

If you want to buy yourself a quantum computer, you’ll have to work with IBM, though. It won’t be available with free two-day shipping on Amazon anytime soon.

##Anker Soundcroe Liberty Total Wireless Earphones - $79.99

AirPods got a lot of grief when Apple first announced them, but we have to admit, as always, they got the last laugh. Having little white sticks dangling freely from your ears doesn’t look quite as ridiculous as we all imagined it would. Even if it did, it wouldn’t matter. It turns out the freedom offered by completely wireless earphones feels real good. There’s still one glaring issue though: The price.

$159.00 is a lot to pay for any earbuds. Even noise-cancelling wireless buds with a special chip that shaves two seconds off the bluetooth pairing time. The Soundcore Liberty Wireless Earphones may not have that, but they also cost just over half what Apple’s product does. That’s $79.00 saved by opting to spend the extra seconds it takes to pair these buds the normal way. Other than that, these do everything their more expensive alternatives do, some arguably better.

Anker has become the go-to solution for expensive sound at affordable prices, and the Soundcore Liberty earphones are no different. The sound quality is crystal clear, and the in-canal style might even fit your ear better, which would make for an immense improvement in clarity over Apple’s less flexible design. On the other end of the buds, dual mics make for excellent noise canceling, which is essential if your commute involves loud subway trains. The battery life easily rivals its competitors, with the earbuds lasting five hours on their own and an extra 15 when the carrying case has a full charge. You won’t even notice you didn’t spend an extra $79.00 for a brand.

Come to that, neither will anyone else. If the reason you buy Apple products is because they’re status symbols, we’ll let you in on a little secret. Nobody wants to get close enough to your ears to notice what brand is written on your earphones. Get the white version of these and you’ll be indistinguishable from your expensive brand-name earbud-wearing peers. If you’re tired of paying almost double for a logo, the Anker Soundcore Liberty True Wireless Earphones are the way to go.

Do you have clear goals for your business website in 2019?

Many business owners set vague objectives, like “we want a prettier website” or “we want to start using video” – but those are features, not goals. Don’t feel bad if you find yourself in the same boat. It’s incredibly common.

Coming up with goals for your website can feel weird. After all, it’s just where you write posts for your blog, right? It doesn’t actually do anything. Wrong.

Your website should be one of your largest sources of leads and sales. It should be a representative of your brand and improve customer satisfaction. If you’re just using it as a place to share a few articles or list promotions, you definitely need to set some goals.

Here’s how:

When done right, personal branding can be one of the best ways to get in front of new customers, keep your current customers engaged and, ultimately, grow your business. Here are a four creative tactics to take your personal brand to the next level in 2019.

1. Blogging

One of my key pieces of advice for anyone seeking new business opportunities is to start a blog. When I started blogging, I had no idea how much it could help me promote all of the other aspects of my business. Having a blog served as a great way to give my audience a behind-the-scenes look at my business and share my expertise.

Whether you decide to blog once per week or once a month, it’s important to have a schedule and be consistent. If you’re new to personal blogging, here are a few platforms to consider:

• Medium: Medium is a great place to share long-form posts. Built-in social sharing features and a large, active community make this one of my favorite personal blogging platforms.

Apple has recently released a software update that supposedly was going to fix the patent dispute with Qualcomm in most of its iPhone devices. The problem is that it seems that this upgrade wasn’t necessarily ready, and it’s now causing some serious problems.

A tech blog called Techspot has been witness of many iPhone users that have been reporting problems with the latest iOS 12.1.2 upgrade. Its known that some devices have even been bricked, but now it seems that there are more problems. Complaints come from several social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. Some users report that their iPhones are no longer able to use LTE, others can’t send or receive data while on LTE. Messages aren’t being sent, and voice calls are also being a problem. To top it off, this problem also seems to affect Wi-Fi connections.

Most reported cases have come from North America, but we also find complaints coming from India, Europe, South America, and well anywhere you can think of finding an iPhone. The best thing to do at this moment is to wait for iOS 12.1.3. If you’re in China, you might want to get a new smartphone. Just in case you don’t want to have problems at work.

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In order to create a great customer experience, we need to be able to measure our current ones in order to understand where improvement is needed. Furthermore, once enhancements are made, they need to be monitored for continual improvement.

Measuring the customer experience is definitely not as simple as measuring the results of a single tactic such as a website, email marketing campaign or in-store sales. The big challenge with measuring customer experience is that it needs to take into account all of your touch points. The opportunity is worth it, though, as it can show you how small improvements in specific points in the journey can make a huge difference.

But where should you start? In my experience working with many clients looking to improve their customer experience, once a measurement effort is able to launch, no matter how small, it makes a huge difference in the long-term success of the effort. This article explains four things to do to get started in measuring your customer experience that will set you up for success.

1. Pick an achievable first goal.

You can’t do everything all at once. In fact, even if you have the time and resources, it’s advisable to start relatively small and achieve some early learnings and quick wins.

Have you been a good SEO all year long? If you’ve been following Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and creating super helpful, unique content, the search engine might give you the greatest gift of all: organic results.

But before you wait by the tree for those improved rankings, put down your cookies and milk. You might not see your website on the search engine results pages (SERPs) if you have been naughty this year!

Here’s six things that could put your URL on Google’s penalty list:

1. Copying a Page Verbatim, Without Permission

This one seems like a no-brainer, but Google won’t be putting you at the top of its ranking tree this holiday if you are stealing like a big, ol’ Grinch!

Even just copying a few lines from another page shows the search engine that your content isn’t unique. Your copied content is likely taken from a source that’s already ranking (because that’s how you found it!), and you certainly won’t be adding more value than the original source by regurgitating what was already said.

Captiv8, a company offering tools for brands to manage influencer marketing campaigns, has released its 2018 Fraud Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report. The goal is to give marketers the data they need to spot fake followers — and thus, to separate the influencers with a real following from those who only offer the illusion of engagement.

The report argues that that this a problem with a real financial impact (it’s something that Instagram is working to crack down on), with $2.1 billion spent on influencer marketing on Instagram in 2017 and 11 percent of the engagement coming from fraudulent accounts.

“For influencer marketing to truly deliver on its transformative potential, marketers need a more concrete and reliable way to identify fake followers and engagement, compare their performance to industry benchmarks, and determine the real reach and impact of social media spend,” Captiv8 says.

So the company looked at a range of marketing categories (pets, parenting, beauty, fashion, entertainment, travel, gaming, fitness, food and traditional celebrity) and randomly selected 5,000 Instagram influencer accounts in each one, pulling engagement from August to November of this year.

The idea is to establish a baseline for standard activity, so that marketers can spot potential red flags. Of course, everyone with a significant social media audience is going to have some fake followers, but Captiv8 suggests that some categories have a higher rate of fraud than others — fashion was the worst, with an average of 14 percent of fake activity per account, compared to traditional celebrity, where the average was just 4 percent.

One of the many hats PR engineers wear is storyteller. Between juggling data, gathering insights and managing relationships, how can PR pros find time for inspiration? How do we stay up to date with the latest industry ideas on persuasive storytelling.

I’ve gathered a few sites and blogs that keep me sharp and inspired. Sign up for their newsletters or follow them on social media. You may not have time to read every article, but you’ll do great if what you consume gives you one or two takeaways a week.

Here are five sites that’ll sharpen your storytelling:

1. Copyblogger

This blog tells how to streamline your content creation, measure success and write authentic, branded stories. From how to spice up bland text to “The 5Things Every (Great) Marketing Story Needs,” Copyblogger prints words that work. The best part? The content is free of overused jargon. It’s straight-forward, quality content about … content!

tech2 News Staff Dec 25, 2018 12:50 PM IST

First launched in 2016, the Google Duo app has now crossed the one billion mark on Play Store.

According to a recent report by Android Police, "Duo hit 500 million downloads just six months ago, so another 500 million in that time span is pretty impressive". This sudden popularity of the app can be attributed to the recent rollout of Google Duo to iPad, Android Tablet, Chromebook, and Smart Displays.

Earlier this year, Google also announced that it is shutting down its WhatsApp an iMessage-competitor app Allo in March 2019, and will instead focus on the Google Duo app. On a side note, in case you want to safe keep some or all of your conversation from the Allo app, here's how you can download all of your existing conversation histories from the app.

It’s been an interesting year for Apple Watch apps. In the spring it seemed as if the Watch had lost its sparkle, with many big-name apps either languishing or being pulled from the Watch altogether. The problem wasn’t that Apple Watch apps are a bad idea, though. 

Far from it, as our selection here demonstrates. It was that sometimes, apps were designed to answer the wrong question: “could we make a Watch app?” but not “should we?”

Now, the Apple Watch is onto its fourth generation, and the aptly-named Apple Watch 4 is proving pretty popular - so that's why you're probably here checking out the new apps. In fact, it's one of the best smartwatch options out there, and now we're at the fourth generation it's becoming a particularly accomplished smart option for your wrist.

Our favourite apps, the apps that are still here after a bumpy year, both should and could have been made. They exist because they’re useful, or because they’re entertaining, or because they make your life that little bit better. 

In this round-up you’ll find apps for podcasting and procrastinating, for getting fit and getting stuff done, for messing around and for sorting stuff out.