Sports Card Strategy Show

Most people running Google Ads campaigns don't realize this, but there are some simple ways to optimize your campaigns to target people that are more likely to engage with your product or service, not simply click your ad. One I've written about, spoken about and implemented religiously, is setting up Google Analytics Goals, and linking Google Analytics with Adwords to import the GA Goals as Conversions in Adwords, then selecting the "optimize for conversions" instead of "clicks" in Google Ads. But that was a few years back, and Google is actually making it easier for smart and savvy marketers to set up a similar type of situation. Google is calling these "Smart Lists." Smart Lists uses Machine Learning. A Smart List is an audience that Google Analytics creates for you automatically. Using advanced machine learning, Analytics predicts which of your website visitors are most likely to convert in the future and adds them to an audience that you can then re-engage with Google Ads. Analytics generates your Smart List using insights about your visitors and their activity on your site. Your list updates on a daily basis, so that visitors are automatically added and removed based on the latest available signals. This enables you to show ads to your highest potential customers, which can result in more conversions without an increase in budget. This video shows you how to get started setting up Google Analytics Smart Lists to drive more conversions via your Google Ads Campaigns.

Stats and Data are meaningless if there's not a takeaway. We all love data, but can get easily caught up in it if there's not a "next action" associated with it. This is why I love Google's new metric, "Relative Mobile Conversion Rate." It is simple, and it uses a percentage breakdown to tell marketers and small business owners responsible for their website, when and what to do to increase their mobile conversions. This is obviously in response to data that shows mobile traffic share is increasing about 25% - 35% for "the average website" year over year. So if you're wondering how to make your mobile website convert better, and start with real data to examine your situation, watch this video.

So this was a super interesting one, that after using Google Analytics (well, practically living in it) for 12 years, that was new to me. The story goes that we had just inherited a new client (common for us) and were doing our initial data due diligence. We noticed a huge spike in web traffic over a several month period of time, and could not attribute the traffic to any referral source. So we dug deeper into Geography, and found that the new spike was due to traffic coming from Boardman, Oregon. Looking at the fact that all Boardman, Oregon traffic was spending 00:01 on the site, and had a 90% bounce rate, we knew it was bot/spider related, and not some interest in our clients' business in a new city. As it turns out, we were right, and this is actually a more common issue in Google Analytics than many realize. I'm calling it The Boardman, Oregon Issue. This video shows how to filter out bot and spider traffic from Google Analytics (aka how to fix The Boardman, Oregon Issue). This is important, because the first step to using data to drive results, is having accurate data. :)

Alexa Skill Development is a skill set that is becoming more and more recognized in the mainstream. I recently met a community college professor at a speaking engagement in Nashville who is trying to build a Voice Design / Voice Development program at his school. PHENOMENAL. This will happen. SOON. And as it happens, project managers at digital agencies and Q/A testers will need to test the crap out of voice apps like Alexa Skills. Some people will have devices, and others will test using the Amazon Developer Console. But this video shows you how to test using only your web browser - for free - using a tool called Echoism.io. You're welcome! Happy Alexa Skill Testing!

As the world of voice apps continuously changes, one of the latest ways you'll want to consider garnering awareness for your business is to build what's called a "How To Video Action" on Google Assistant. This is a voice-activated way that users can bring up VIDEO content on their devices, like Google Hub, and phones with the Google Assistant app loaded on it. Picture your audience at home or their offices with a Google Hub (device with a screen) and them needing to know how to do something (how to build a holiday wreath, or how to fix their hot water heater). They can say "Hey Google, open home improvement tips" for example, and your businesses' How To Video can appear. This video shows you a step by step process of not only how to build these voice-based applications, called Google Actions, but also how to name them so they're most likely to be found organically via an "opening invocation." This process has recently been referred to by Google Actions marketers as "whitelabeling." Here's what you'll need to get started: 1. A Google Account. 2. YouTube video content that you've created for your brand, of the "How To (do something)" variety. 3. A desire to reach your target audience in new ways that the data is showing you should (i.e.,, voice-based multimodal apps). The step-by-step process is outlined here by Google, but my video walks you through a real life scenario that is very helpful.

Before I get into defining Alexa Presentation Language (APL), I have to define "Multimodal Voice App." What the heck is a multimodal voice app? By now, we're all somewhat familiar with what we can ask Alexa to do. Some of us way more familiar than others. And by now, we should at least have some level of familiarity with what "Alexa Skills" are. They're simply applications built on top of Alexa, the same way mobile applications are built for the iOS App Store or Android Google Play Store. So yes, it's possible to build a voice-based application that does all of the things (and more) that/than a web-app or mobile app does. It's also possible to fully integrate these voice-based apps (for Amazon Alexa - they're called "Skills" and for Google Assistant they're called "Actions" into preexisting web-apps and mobile apps. For example, imagine signing up for a subscription service on a website, being able to then view it on your mobile app, but also being able to ask Alexa to bring up premium content on your Echo device or any Alexa enabled device. With me? Great. Okay, now consider the fact that Amazon has not only Alexa-abled cars, headphones, etc. but they're also selling tens of millions of devices with screens. The Echo Show and Echo Show 5 are super popular, and the Spot still exists, as well as Amazon Fire app that is also Alexa-enabled. So voice-based apps that are designed for more than one type of device (i.e. Echo and Echo Show and/or Echo Auto and Amazon Fire) are called Multimodal Voice-based apps. They're voice activated and voice navigated, but they also have visuals. Okay, now that we've cleared that up, let's talk about Alexa Presentation Language (APL). This is how the Alexa Skills Kit (for developers) allows you to design for multimodal Alexa Skills. This video shows you some cool features about designing and testing using the APL Authoring Tool and my Echo Show 5 Device.

What's up everybody? I'm going to show you something I've been really excited to do myself. This is how to create an animated GIF (I pronounce it JIF like the peanut butter), then add it to Instagram Stories, so that anyone can stick it to their stories on Insta.  This is complete branding arbitrage, because it costs NOTHING.   1. You just create a GIPHY.com account, apply to have it verified (which is easy - this video explains it) - https://giphy.com/apply/ 2. Create the frames for your GIFs using Canva and download them as transparent PNGs.  3. Upload them into GifMaker.me ... Download them as an animated GIF file.  4. Upload them to your GIPHY.com account and add tags. The tags are important, because these are the search phrases that users will type in to find your GIFs on Instagram.  Why is this branding arbitrage?  1. Because the data says user attention is HIGH on Instagram Stories. 2. The cost of putting your logo into Instagram Stories via these GIFs is ZERO Dollars and ZERO cents. 3. You can do as many as you want, with as many keywords as you want.  So get creative, or contact us if you need help - paul@datadriven.design

The first step towards creating your Alexa Skill or Alexa Flash Briefing for your brand, start-up or small business, is to create an Amazon Alexa Developer Account.  It's one of the easiest possible steps in the entire experience of building Alexa Skills, but it still feels good to get started and know that you're in the right place.   First, go to https://developer.amazon.com. It will redirect you to a log-in page. Here is where you click the "Create an Account" button.  After filling out your username and password, you will be sent a one-time password (OTP) to your email account. After entering in your one-time password, you'll fill out your Developer Account's profile information and agree to the Terms and Conditions.  Your account has been created. Now to start building Alexa Skills, visit the Third Tab from the left, called "Alexa" and click "Alexa Skills Kit." You will then be taken to your Amazon Alexa Developer Dashboard, where you can click "Create Skill" and get started building your Alexa Skills!

I sat down for an awesome podcast interview with my good friend Brynn Plummer, VP of Community Relations and Inclusion at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.  We had a great conversation about Voice Technology, and how businesses will be expected to have Alexa Skills and Google Actions in the next 24-36 months.  We hit on how Entrepreneurs can get resources in Nashville, and how the Nashville Entrepreneur Center is playing a critical role in the Nashville Business Community.

I want businesses to know that you don't need to have an Alexa Skill or a Google Action that does everything for you. You need it to just be integrated with / enhancing your current experience. Michael Antaran, CEO of CARROT Wellness, explains how CARROT started simple, and then integrated Voice based apps like an Alexa Skill to enhance the experience and increase user engagement. "When we started, we made CARROT a mobile app that rewards you financially for walking. It's free, it's easy. There's no simpler instructions then the doctor saying saying you need more exercise, you need to walk more. Everybody knows how to walk. Then when you get into Mindfulness and Meditation, it gets into the Voice space of things. So we integrate CARROT with our Alexa server so that without even opening CARROT, your information from our app can become part of your own Flash Briefing for the day. So it fits it in there between your own Flash Briefing of what you like, so you know what you need to walk today. You can also ask Alexa about your CARROT rewards and history, and it will dynamically adjust and provide the right information for you. SO if you're on a 10-day streak of making your goal, so the CARROT Alexa Skill will tell you that. "You're currently on a 10-day streak, make it 11, and you'll get into the top 10% of people."