Tweet #HappyChineseNewYear 2016 around the world

Celebrate Chinese New Year wherever you are with a red packet emoji and your Year of the Monkey fortune tip.

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California Voters Will Have Their Say on Drug Prices

(MedPage Today) -- Measure would require state to bargain harder with drug companies

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3 Foolproof Ways to Ruin Your Conversion Rate

This is a guest contribution from Efrat Ravid.

How well is your website converting? Do you even keep track? Do you know what’s working on your site and what really isn’t?

Perhaps you have experienced a decrease in conversions, or maybe your conversion rate is not as high as you would like it to be. But why? You have done everything right, so far as you know, You’ve followed the formulas, you’ve created opt-ins, you’ve created your sales funne.. So, what could be the problem?

In an effort to resolve this issue, surely you and your designer have removed some pages, added others, implemented changes, and added new variables into the mix, and tested the lot. You have ended up spending loads of resources researching and optimizing colors, sizes, calls to action, content, and anything else to make that sale.

How much time have you wasted?

How to Ruin Your Conversion Rate

I can help you stop wasting time right now – the following three mistakes are foolproof ways to ruin your conversion rates and should be avoided:

Mistake #1: Forgetting About Mobile

The number of users accessing websites and doing in-app retail browsing from smart devices is constantly growing.

Before purchasing, 90% of mobile users research and compare prices. With such an overwhelming statistic, it is shocking to see such a small number of businesses that have answered the mobile call. There are still many e-commerce sites these days that do not offer responsive sites for mobile users (even with Google’s “mobile-friendly” algorithm update from earlier last year), hampering the customer experience and effectively killing conversions dead in their tracks.

Since the majority of online users today surf the web and shop via mobile devices, it is crucial to cater to this gold mine of lead prospects.

Takeaway: Either give your current site a responsive facelift, or start over from scratch and create a responsive site for your business.

You could even create a separate app that works on various devices, from Android and iOS mobile phones, to iPads and other tablets. Ensure that mobile users have a seamless and comfortable experience, even more than they would from the desktop version.

You can do this by keeping in mind mobile UX design best practices, such as having an easily navigable menu, clear visual hierarchy, and an uncluttered interface with easy-to-read text.

Mistake #2: Thinking Personal, Not Personalized

A major trend followed by today’s marketers is personalized messaging, and rightly so. Personalized content drives six times greater transaction rates than generic campaigns. Yet, despite these encouraging numbers, a laughable small number of businesses are using this first-class ticket to successful marketing:

Only 39% of retailers will personalize product recommendations via email.

An overwhelming 70% of brands are not using personalized marketing whatsoever.

This is a major oversight on the part of upper management, and it is one that will cost businesses and blogs dearly in terms of conversion, loyalty, and ultimately, ROI. By using personalized content, such as shopping cart reminders,or special discounts on items that have been placed in the shopping cart, marketers help move the customer forward in the conversion funnel.

Many times marketers personalize content based on their preferences rather than the customer’s.

Remember, marketing campaigns and website content are all about appealing to the customer. Design elements based on their behavior, motivations, and preferences.

Takeaway: Make sure to personalise your customer’s experience.

What looks good to a designer may not speak to the customer, and, as the saying goes ‘the customer is always right.’

It is also important to personalize your content according to different user behavioral patterns that can be categorized into six online shopping personas. The “Brand-Oriented” visitor, for example, will be attracted to the latest trends, so avant-garde cues should be used to speak to this type of shopper. To address the needs and concerns of the “Maximizer”, on the other hand, you’ll need to supply plenty of information in a useful and comprehensive manner.

Online store Zappos  provides a prime example of personalized messaging to fit the customer’s behavior. When a customer searches for an item or spends any significant amount of time browsing a certain selection on the site, Zappos will make relevant product suggestions for other items that customers who enjoyed the desired product could benefit from as well. In fact, 75% of consumers prefer receiving personalized messages and recommendations.

Mistake #3: Testing, Testing, is This Thing Even On?

Businesses are well aware of the tremendous value of conversion rate optimization.

CEOs, CMOs, and business owners alike have embraced the reality that optimizing customer interactions and experiences is the key to unlocking better conversion rates, and, in turn, better revenue – you too can have these kinds of experiences with your blog. Even with 68% of B2B companies using landing pages to increase lead generation and conversions, it is still very unclear which elements will succeed in bringing more conversions and which will fail. This is where testing can be an invaluable tool, and forgetting about it can be detrimental.

Testing is the number-one method for categorically determining the value of a specific element on a website. By performing A/B testing and tracking the efficacy of that element vis-a-vis how customers are interacting with it (determined by using heatmaps, for example), marketers glean insights to understand, respond, and improve conversions.

Takeaway: Always perform proper testing when making changes on a site or landing page. Track how actual visitors interact with the optimizations, because this is the only way to know with certainty if those changes are effective. Track, test and analyze everything, no matter how much the changes seem like an improvement without doing so, and how much it seems like extra work. It will save you time and headaches in the long run.

Before hastily optimizing landing pages or websites, remember these three fundamentals – forgetting about them is a sure-fire way to ruin conversion rates.

The post 3 Foolproof Ways to Ruin Your Conversion Rate appeared first on ProBlogger.

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Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately?

January has sped by, and I can’t believe we’re staring down February 2016 already! This year has felt like a brand new start to many of us, and we’re beginning to see the results of the new things we’re trying. I hope they’ve been positive results! Everything changes so often it can be hard to keep up – but I also encourage you not to be afraid to fail or make mistakes. Everything moves so quickly we’re absolutely bound to, but you remember what Thomas Edison said:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

If you’ve failed or something fell flat, then you’ve just found what not to do, which means you’re a step closer to getting it right. And when you keep refining, keep honing those skills then you’ll hit upon something that really works for you. And the more you try, the faster you’ll get there.

So go forth and fail!

80% of Facebook’s Ad Dollars Came from Mobile // Fast Company

All very nice for Zuck, but what does that mean for you? Well, more and more users are viewing on mobile (1.44 billion at the moment), so are all your ads set up for prime mobile viewing?

Sure, some of that may have come from Instagram ads (I know I’ve sure seen a whole lot more), but the fact remains the same – optimise your ads for mobile and see if that makes a difference.

5 Growth Hacks to Help You Grow Your Blog Business // Jeff Bullas

Food for thought there with number 4.

Getting 20,231 Views with One EPIC Roundup Post: A Step-by-Step Guide // Sumome

Epic indeed! What a post, what a response. If you’re planning an expert roundup post, you might wanna check this out for ideas first.

LinkedIn Driving Traffic to Publishers Again – Including Bloggers // Real Lawyers Have Blogs

Well this is interesting – for most of last year, LinkedIn prioritised the content posted directly to LinkedIn, but now has changed Pulse (the news aggregation app) to consider “universal links”. Which means if you’re sharing your blog posts on LinkedIn, there’s more of a chance people will see them now and click over to your blog. Yay!

How do You Measure Passion? Figuring the Value of Social Media Followers // NPR

It’s not just numbers, although it’s hard to quantify anything else. Companies are now springing up to do just that.

Heavy use of Social Media Linked to Sleep Problems // Psych Central

If you’re not sleeping, then you’re not making the best decisions. You can be the best blogger you can be if you’re not taking care of your health. In this case, less social  social media is definitely more.

Will You Like Facebook’s New Reactions? // BBC

They removed the “yay” because people didn’t understand it? Tell me this isn’t true…

The Hustler’s Guide to Getting Your First 1000 Email Subscribers with Content Marketing // Copymonk

The basics, but better. So much info packed into one post – and a downloadable checklist! It cannot be overstated – know who your target market is, and know where they hang out.

How to Write a Blog Post: The Definitive 10, 273 Word Guide // Be a Better Blogger

You’re going to need at least two cups of coffee for this one. And a notepad + pen.

How I got 1.7 Million Pin Views to My E-Commerce Pinterest Account in 2015 // Kissmetrics

If you’re on Pinterest, you need to read this. If you haven’t yet leveraged it, do so! It can be incredible for driving traffic to your blog, no matter the niche.

Have a great week!

Stacey Roberts is the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.net: a writer, blogger, and full-time word nerd balancing it all with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and more at Veggie Mama. Chat with her on Twitter @veggie_mama, follow on Pinterest for fun and useful tips, peek behind the curtain on Instagram, or be entertained on Facebook.

 

The post Reading Roundup: What’s New in Blogging Lately? appeared first on ProBlogger.

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Family struggles to find answers for boy with rare stiff skin syndrome

Compared with the developmental and emotional problems Jaiden suffered from the time he was born, the odd patch of skin that appeared on his right thigh when he was 7 seemed minor.

He noticed it first. It was about the size of a postage stamp and looked no different than the surrounding skin. But...

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D.C. Week: Senator Places Hold on Califf's FDA Nomination

(MedPage Today) -- Breast cancer drug gains approval for liposarcoma

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D.C. Week: Senator Places Hold on Califf's FDA Nomination

(MedPage Today) -- Breast cancer drug gains approval for liposarcoma

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Weekly Marketing Skinny • January 30, 2016

In the marketing spotlight this week:

♨ negative SEO;
♨ sitewide links;
♨ once indexed, stays indexed?
♨ now Facebook is just bragging...
♨ FB Reactions coming soon;
♨ LinkedIn hacks;
♨ Periscope goes GoPro;
♨ new Snapchat share option;
♨ Firefox push notifications;
♨ how to manage Twitter;
♨ ...and much more.

The post Weekly Marketing Skinny • January 30, 2016 appeared first on TrafficGenerationCafe.com.

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Mirror on the Cosmos: NASA's Next Big Telescope Takes Shape

After more than twenty years, the giant mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is essentially complete

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

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Mirror on the Cosmos: NASA's Next Big Telescope Takes Shape

After more than twenty years, the giant mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is essentially complete

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

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Drought-depleted Folsom Lake is rising, but it's still far from its level-best

Hopping from one rock to another, Sueann Arens led her two boxers one recent afternoon up and down the uneven slopes of Folsom Lake, which years of drought have stripped bare. Their daily walks along Sacramento's backyard reservoir had become a hike through the lake bed.

Well-worn trails threaded...

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Are we getting closer to understanding where the moon actually came from?

The moon may be the closest object to us in space, but scientists are still struggling to understand how it got there.

Most planetary researchers think the moon was created as the result of a collision between the Earth and a long-hypothesized protoplanet called Theia about 100 million years after...

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Swan song: humans implicated in huge Australian bird's demise

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The mystery behind the extinction of a huge flightless bird called Genyornis that flourished in the grasslands and woodlands of prehistoric Australia may have been solved, with burned eggshells as the clue and people as the culprits.

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Proton rocket blasts off with part of European space 'data highway'

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A Russian Proton rocket blasted off in Kazakhstan on Friday night to put into orbit both the first part of Europe's new space "data highway" and a Eutelsat communications satellite.

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