Category: SmallWebBusiness

SmallWebBusiness

Google Just Revamped the Google Analytics Mobile App

Google released an update for the Google Analytics app on both Android and iOS, which improves access to a full overview of data and real-time business data, and lets you go deeper into reports with segments, customize your mobile dashboard, and share insights with others.

Reports are simplified with a new format for small screens and enable users to track specific metrics that aren’t there by default by letting them modify a report quickly and saving it to the mobile dashboard.

Items can be shared via email, social media, messaging, or anything else your device supports. Here’s a quick walkthrough:

Images via Google

April 22, 2016
Alphabet (Google) Earnings Not As Good As Expected

Google parent Alphabet just announced its financial results for the first quarter with revenue up 17% year-over-year at $20.35 billion. Non-GAAP earnings per share were lower than expected at $7.50 (versus $7.96), and the stock is on the way down as a result. It quickly fell by as much as 8%.

Aggregate cost per click fell 9% year-over-year.

CFO Ruth Porat commented, “Our Q1 results represent a tremendous start to the year with 17% revenue growth year on year and 23% growth on a constant currency basis. We’re thoughtfully pursuing big bets and building exciting new technologies, in Google and our Other Bets, that position us well for long term growth.”

Here are some of the other numbers:

See the full report here.

April 21, 2016
GoDaddy Launches Over 40 New Features Across All Product Lines

GoDaddy announced its new product update for Spring 2016 with over 40 new features that span across all of its products. Updates are aimed at helping entrepreneurs start, grow, and successfully run their own business ventures and become more competitive.

“At GoDaddy, we’re completely dedicated to the growth and success of the small businesses that power the global economy,” said Chief Product Officer Steven Aldrich. “Our responsibility in helping them achieve that success is to provide them with the best products and services to empower them, so we’re constantly looking at ways we can add to our services, or improve existing ones. The updates we’re announcing today are really just the tip of the iceberg, and customers can expect to see a more regular cadence of updates in the future, all designed with their success in mind.”

“Recent research commissioned by GoDaddy found that 59 percent of small businesses still don’t have their own website,” the company adds. “Of those intending to build a website, only one in five had bought a domain name. The improvements to GoDaddy’s offerings give small business owners more choices for naming, web design help, SEO and a wide variety of tools that enable them to get up and running easily.”

There are new top-level domains to choose from including: .CN, .PET, .BET, .PRO, .CAR, .CARS, .AUTO, .CLOUD, .FAMILY, .IST, .ISTANBUL, and .STORE.

Other domain updates include the availability of v2.0 of the Domain Investor app, which is now available in 10 new languages, new security measures (transfer risk mitigation), and improvements to domain name availability search (new international search capabilities).

For Website Builder, there are three new starter themes for businesses and new built-in SEO features. They’re also providing SEO services and a customer dashboard for tracking SEO activity.

There’s a new WordPress-based design and build service.

For hosting, there are new cloud servers and cloud applications as well as new data center selection functionality and a rewards point program for Pro members.

GoDaddy Email Marketing now has a new “second send” functionality for resending messages, new Online Store integration, and free trials for Online Store customers.

Also new is version 1 of integrated encryption and archiving for Office 365.

More details on all the new stuff here.

Image via GoDaddy (Facebook)

April 20, 2016
IBM Closes Aperto Acquisition

IBM announced in February that it had signed an agreement to acquire Berlin-based digital agency Aperto, which would join the IBM Interactive Experience (IBM iX) team to support IBM’s growth in Europe’s largest economy.

IBM announced on Tuesday that it has closed the deal.

“Together, IBM iX and Aperto will provide companies with engaging experiences through a combination of digital, creative and design skills,” IBM says. “New and existing clients will now benefit from an expanded expertise in strategy, analytics, mobile and technology innovation.”

“Experience design has become an essential element in business strategy as company’s in all industries seek to deliver more consumer-like experiences,” said Paul Papas, Global Leader, IBM iX. “We look forward to working with Aperto to drive real results for our clients in pursuit of digital reinvention.”

The company calls the acquisition its latest strategic move to “enhance the experience design prowess” of IBM iX. It follows recently announced plans to acquire Salesforce partner Bluewolf and acquisitions of Resource/Ammirati and ecx.io.

Aperto has over 300 employees who will join IBM iX. Its clients include Airbus, Volkswagen, and Siemens.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

April 19, 2016
Netflix Earnings Out, 81 Million Members Reported

Netflix just reported its earnings for Q1, and announced that it has surpassed 81 million members. That’s up from 75 million on January 1, just after the prior quarter closed.

Revenue for the quarter was $1.96 billion. Earnings per share (GAAP) was $0.06, which is better than expected, though the company disappointed on its Q2 guidance, quickly sending stock down.

“As a reminder, the guidance we provide is our actual internal forecast at the time we report. For the second quarter, we expect to add 2.5 million members with 0.5 million in the US and 2.0 million internationally (versus prior year 2.4 million),” said the company’s letter to shareholders. “In the US, our Q2 net adds forecast of 0.5 million is inline with prior years (0.5, 0.6, 0.6, and 0.9 million from 20122015), taking into account a modest impact from the beginning of ungrandfathering.”

That’s of course in reference to the highly publicized price change.

Here’s a quick look at the company’s numbers for Q1:

Checking in on Netflix’s DVD business, it ended the quarter with 4.7 million members and $72 million in contribution profit.

April 18, 2016
Google Releases AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement

Google announced the release of its new “AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement”. This helps educate publishers on how to help their audience become more familiar with their brand, best practices for designing user journeys, and developing resonating content that’s easy to consume.

“In a world where people are making split decisions about what to consume, it’s increasingly challenging but critical for publishers to figure out how to effectively engage their audiences on their sites,” says Google’s Jay Castro. “To help lay the foundation to a winning engagement strategy, we’ve created the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement.”

“This guide help you drive toward your goals for growing your site – from defining your brand voice to tips to make your site’s content easy to consume,” Castro adds. “Don’t waste another moment developing web pages that leave you with little opportunity to engage with your audience.”

When it comes to helping your audience become familiar with your brand, the guide discusses defining your voice, being consistent, and relating to users’ interests. For designing user journeys, it talks about creating a “moments map,” making it easy for users to reach your desired outcome (in as few steps as possible), and creating clearly defined, interactive calls to action.

You can download the free guide here. It’s 21 pages long.

Image via Google

April 18, 2016
LinkedIn Students App Launched To Help Soon-To-Be College Grads Get Jobs

LinkedIn just announced the launch of a new app called LinkedIn Students, which is designed specifically to help students who are soon to be college graduates find jobs. The app makes use of LinkedIn’s database of 400 million professionals.

According to the company, it helps students discover jobs that are ” a best fit for graduates with your major, companies that tend to hire from your school and the careers paths of recent alumni with similar degrees.”

“Think of it as your personal job exploration guide, providing tailored jobs related recommendations based on real data from the career paths of hundreds of millions of successful professionals,” says LinkedIn’s Ada Yu. “You can use these insights to discover and explore career opportunities you hadn’t considered or even known were possible!”

You can see an overview of the app here or you can just go download if from the App Store or Google Play if you’re in the U.S. It’s unclear when it will become available for other regions.

Image via LinkedIn

April 18, 2016