Marketing Day: Paid search trends, the future of local discovery & more

Here’s our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web.

From Marketing Land:

• Paid search trends from Merkle’s Q1 report
  May 1, 2017 by Ginny Marvin
  Shopping ads are becoming more important for retailers, the new text ad format isn’t driving CTR increases, and more findings.
• Google’s Chrome will add new ‘Not secure’ warnings later this year
  May 1, 2017 by Barry Schwartz
  Have a search box or form on your website that runs over HTTP? You might want to switch your pages over to HTTPS by October.
• The future of local discovery
  May 1, 2017 by Brian Smith
  Columnist Brian Smith discusses some of the recent developments and technology that will impact local search, both in the short term and the long term.
• Keyword tiering: A systematic way to juggle your AdWords priorities
  May 1, 2017 by Jacob Baadsgaard
  Columnist Jacob Baadsgaard explains how assigning paid search keywords into different tiers based on performance allows search marketers to quickly make adjustments that can have a huge impact on their business.
• How to unlock marketing’s creative side for martech success
  May 1, 2017 by Scott Vaughan
  Marketing technology is essential to achieving business outcomes, but many marketers feel intimidated or put off by it. Columnist Scott Vaughan argues that to truly maximize martech’s business impact, we need to make it more more accessible, creative and even fun for marketers.
• What your paid search KPI says about you
  May 1, 2017 by Andy Taylor
  Every advertiser measures success based on key performance indicators (KPIs) that they deem relevant. Columnist Andy Taylor asks, What do your chosen KPIs say about your priorities?
• 10 experts advise how to powerfully pair growth marketing with SaaS product development
  May 1, 2017 by Ben Jacobson
  Contributor Ben Jacobson taps 10 software gurus to reveal how SaaS marketers can bake marketing right into their products.
• Why your explainer video matters to your B2B customers
  May 1, 2017 by Alexander Kesler
  Explainer videos are an essential asset for B2B marketers. Columnist Alexander Kesler shares tips for crafting powerful explainer videos that will bring your brand higher conversions.

Online Marketing News From Around The Web:

Affiliate Marketing

• 20 Ways to Motivate Stagnant Affiliates to Activate, Affiliate Marketing Blog
• Compliance Council Updates Retailer Affiliate Agreement Guide, The PMA

Analytics

• How to Conquer Analytics Dashboard Fatigue, CMS Wire

Blogs & Blogging

• 6 Things You Must Do Before You Ever Accept Guest Posts, Search Engine Journal
• Tools for Creating Great Visual Content for Your Blog, Problogger

Business Issues

• Google is testing a job search feature that could rival LinkedIn and Facebook, Quartz
• I’m Facebook’s Head Of People – Here’s What We’re Hiring For Right Now (And Why), Fast Company
• The UK wants new laws impose serious fines on Google, Twitter, and Facebook for hate speech, Quartz
• Twitter Teams Up With Bloomberg for Streaming News, Wall Street Journal

Content Marketing

• 21 Experts Share Their Best Tip to Create Content Your Audience Will Love, Content Marketing Institute
• 4 Ways to Beat Your Competition With The Power of Content Marketing, Jeff Bullas
• 5 Important Visual Lessons From Designers for Content Marketers, Content Marketing Institute
• Boost Your Brand: How to Create Content for Awareness, Distilled
• Interactive Content Basics Every Content Marketer Needs, Heidi Cohen

Conversion Optimization

• How to Manufacture Urgency to Blow through Conversion Roadblocks, Kiss Metrics
• The 7 Things You Must Know about the Psychology of Calls to Action, Search Engine Journal

Copywriting, Design & Usability

• Essential Small Business Website Features, Compukol
• Is WordPress Still the Best?, The Blog Tyrant
• The past, present, and future of design in Silicon Valley, TechCrunch

Domaining

• Ask Yoast: Give a division a separate domain?, Yoast

E-Commerce

• Amazon celebrates its Oscars with free Prime accounts for people who live in Manchester-by-the-Sea, The Verge
• How Amazon is disrupting grocery, Retail Dive
• In An Ecommerce World, Retailers And CPGs Learn To Love Their Stores, AdExchanger
• Tips from Our E-commerce Users for National Small Business Week, MailChimp Blog

Email Marketing

• 9 Ways to Make Your Email Copy Conversational, Movable Ink Blog
• Best Times to Write Marketing Emails to Avoid Mistakes, MarketingProfs
• Get Started with Email Automation, AWeber Communications
• Inbox Equilibrium: How small businesses are making an impact in customer’s inboxes, MarketingSherpa Blog

General Internet Marketing

• Publishers warm to Google plan for Chrome ad-blocker, Financial Times
• The Three-Pronged Approach to Modern Marketing, Social Media Explorer

Internet Marketing Industry

• Seismic, an Oracle Marketing AppCloud Partner, Launches Application to Expand Marketing Teams’ Impact on the Bottom Line, Seismic
• SintecMedia and Lotame Bring Audience Targeting to Broadcast TV, PR Newswire

MarTech

• Ad Tech Transparency And The Question of Market Manipulation, AdExchanger
• How AI & Machine Learning Will Impact Paid Advertising, PPC Hero
• Marketing Machines: Is Machine Learning Helping Marketers or Making Us Obsolete?, Unbounce

Other Items

• Alexa learns to talk like a human with whispers, pauses & emotion, TechCrunch
• NPR, the AP and local newspapers are beginning to experiment with Amazon Echo, Poynter Online

Social Media

• “Facebook Rewards” QR codes dangle discounts for offline purchases, TechCrunch
• 15 Inspiring & Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips, Top Rank Marketing Blog
• 5 Key Elements of the Perfect Facebook Ad, The Buffer Blog
• Facebook created a new data network to lessen impact on user traffic, VentureBeat
• Facebook’s Connected TV Ambition Meets a Reluctant Industry, AdAge
• How to Recruit Social Influencers Without Spending a Fortune, The AdStage Blog
• How to Set Up a Facebook Messenger Ad, Social Media Examiner
• Jump into National Small Business Week by Learning a New Skill, Facebook for Business
• Snapchat Waves Goodbye to White Border Around Older Photos From Memories, Adweek
• Social Media Etiquette for Our Hyper-Partisan Era, CMS Wire
• Social Media Is the New Television, Adweek
• Why There Is No Best Time to Post on Social Media – Here’s Why, Stone Temple

Video

• 5 Digital Video Trends to Watch for at This Year’s NewFronts, Adweek
• Marketers Need to Answer These 3 Questions Before Launching a Video Strategy, Adweek
• The emergence (and challenges) of video ads in performance marketing, Tune
• Twitch issues call for content for TwitchCon 2017 as livestreaming goes beyond games, VentureBeat

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.