#Especially because a ton of the formatting dictates how much of my writing they actually read

[ninjaaa-go]

please, I’m begging you, just give me clear and thorough instructions. please

[sailoryooons]

heyy i just read carved, and i’m not sure if you’re still answering questions about it, but i just want to start by saying i love the world building!! it’s fantastic and so well written! i’m really into taehyung’s character lol alluring villains are simply the best! do you think there’s even a remote chance of him ever falling in love with someone (a vanir ohh)?? i feel like that would make every single one of us swoon hahaha

Hi!! I'm always happy to answer Carved - I'm not really writing it or anything right now BUT I know pretty much everything about the story from start to finish so I'm always happy to provide context (especially since who knows if I'll ever get around to writing the damn thing!!!)

I'm so glad you like it - it's definitely one of those right story, wrong timing things where I think.... it's one of my favorite ideas I've ever had and it's so cool, but I tried to tackle it at a time where I was super busy and just... dropped it and never figured out how to pick back up!

Carved spoilers beneath the cut

Taehyung is actually not capable of love in this! Part of his larger backstory unravels as the plot goes on, but he is fundamentally incapable of feeling love, even for his friends. In my outline for him, Taehyung is a descendant of Izanami and Yeomra, two different gods of death and essentially believes himself to be a god/above others.

Taehyung sees the rest of the world through the lens of someone who very much thinks he deserves power and the right to rule, which we kind of see reflected in the scenes where he asserts his control over the Vanir and even during the death matches, he's dictating what he wants to see and makes them basically change the entire format of the program because he wants to see something specific. The scenes where he also invades Reaper's space sort of has no regard for her as a person kind of show the way he thinks that despite Jungkook 'owning' her - Taehyung still feels like 1) she's vanir so he owns her 2) he paid for her so he still holds some sort of lordship over her.

Obviously, we don't get to see a ton of Taehyung because I didn't finish writing the series, but as the story develops, Taehyung really shows his hand and is revealed as the main antagonist, driven by his desire to unseat the current powers in Lythos because he thinks it's his right, and because he detests the fact that Jungkook is half-Vanir (he hides this well throughout the story at first).

He's a very fascinating character and as it relates to this plot, one of the smartest characters in the room and the most manipulative. A lot of character's in the story don't see him for the threat that he is because he hides it very well, and that ends up being a problem for them.

I hope this wasn't an annoying info dump hahaha

[berthastover]

3 Ways PPC Will Change in 2019 and 3 Ways You Can Prepare For It

2019 is here, and if you’re still running the same old ad campaigns from a year or two ago, it’s time to turn off cruise control.

 As much as we would all love PPC tactics (and SEO for that matter) to stay the same, they don’t. Platforms change, provide new features and updates, and even dictate the new direction of advertising.

PPC is changing dramatically. In the last year alone, Google dramatically shifted AdWords into Google Ads, bringing countless new updates and features along with it. To meet these new changes, complacency isn’t viable anymore. We can’t cruise to the finish line.

Here are three ways that PPC is going to change in the coming year and three ways to prepare for it for a first movers advantage.

 1. Less self-serving, more customer-serving

PPC advertising is a pretty self-serving venture when comparing the outcome for advertisers vs. consumers: you put out some ads with lead magnets in attempts to either convert traffic, build brand awareness, or generate some direct sales on your products or services.

While the customer does benefit in some cases, it’s usually not the main focus.

The main focus is on landing the sale. The lead. Generating another customer for your funnel. Putting together that lead magnet or landing page ASAP to get the customer to sign up for your eBook, webinar, or online course. Using XX conversion hacks to psychologically trick them into converting.

These tactics don’t just give the general “marketing” world a bad name, they also annoy people. A lot.

And I have bad news for advertisers: users aren’t susceptible to this anymore. Searchers and internet browsers alike crave value, not a snatch and grab of your information for further annoying marketing messages.

They want content and information that is valuable, not just a clickbait post designed to get their email. And your only hope in 2019 is to create better content and value. Don’t believe me?

Codeless tested multiple content services and surveyed marketing experts, all of which said the content didn’t provide enough value and that consumers wouldn’t resonate with it to purchase.

We get bombarded with enough of that junk in our daily lives via email:

  We simply don’t need more of it with PPC ads and subsequent content.

Now, study after study after study confirms that people are doing more research than ever before buying a product or paying for a service.

These studies conclude that nearly 90% of people research before buying. It’s no wonder that the DMA found that the average lead takes 7-13+ touches to generate a single viable lead.

So, what am I getting at here? The overall trend of PPC becoming less self-serving and more customer-serving to meet changing consumer actions. After all, customer satisfaction and solving customer problems is the lifeblood of continued sales and lifetime value.

I’ve already seen this trend come to fruition in 2018, too. The example I saw was nothing short of perfect, either. Let me show you.

 Recently I conducted the following search on Google’s search network. Here were the top four ads ranking for my keyword search. Make a mental note if you notice anything:

  The first three ads ranking for this search at basically the same: my CRM is the best, click here and buy! But take a look at the fourth-ranking ad:

  Top 40 CRM software ranked. Discover the leaders in CRM.

 If that isn’t customer-serving value, I don’t know what is.

 This ad perfectly matches searcher intent with a customer-centric ad that focuses on providing real, valuable, insightful research material. Instead of cramming their product down customer’s throats as “the best” (which we all know is BS), they provide instant value.

While I don’t have the PPC data to back it up, I’d be willing to bet $500 on red to say they got the majority of clicks. The lesson here is: provide value. While you’ve probably heard it before, it’s another thing to see it in practice, especially on PPC ads that cost money.

Another amazing PPC strategy for customer-centric value I saw was driving visits to a knowledge portal via remarketing to middle-of-the-funnel leads:

  Instead of trying to push sales messages, they sought to help the user understand their tool better, producing more value and success for each client.

On top of that, writing better PPC ads is a surefire way to be less self-serving.

Take a hard look at your current ads. Are they good? Are they asking for too much? What’s the tone? Are you measuring intent?

All of this can seem overwhelming, but it’s actually easy. How? By combining a few cool PPC tools.

 First, I like to plug my ad copy ideas into a grammar tool like Grammarly, because you can have the tool assess for goals, like specific tones, intent, audience, and more:

 (Image source)

 Pretty amazing right? You can create potentially hundreds of ad variations by changing the style, emotion, audience, and intent.

 Then, use Google’s new ad strength tool to measure how unique and impactful your ad will be:

  This is a surefire way to create new, better ads that are less self-serving.

 So, how else can you prepare for a customer-focused landscape with PPC? Here are a few ways:

Assess keyword intent: are you matching what the customer is expecting? Or are you just pushing product?

Value: are you trying to get them to convert on a dime? Or are you building up their trust in your brand by providing the right research tools at the right time?

Start focusing the content you offer users on PPC towards valuable information they want. According to State of Lead Gen 2018, these are the most valuable forms of content users are looking for:

(Image Source)

So, give it to ‘em!

Relationships: are you developing relationships with your PPC campaigns? As in, are you genuinely helping, connecting, and symbiotically growing with your potential customers?

Personality: are you putting your brand personality into your PPC campaigns and landing pages? Customers love to connect with genuine brands that solve pain points while sharing a unique voice and authentic personality. More interactive content like podcasts, videos, webinars, and long-form blog posts will entertain and inform users capture users in the middle of the funnel.

 2. Omnichannel strategies will win big

Multichannel has been around for a long time. But omnichannel is the new kid on the block with promising performance:

73% of people use multiple channels to shop and browse products/services online

According to the Harvard Business Review, omnichannel buyers produce higher order values and lifetime value.

78% of businesses aren’t providing a smooth experience from channel to channel

 What’s the difference between the two?

Multichannel is simply advertising on multiple channels, like Facebook and Google Ads. This is a very common tactic that is a great step for anyone using a single platform. Not only can you reach more people, but you can reach your target market in different formats.

The problem with multichannel is that by switching channels, your experience “resets.” This makes you prone to receiving marketing messages that you already have gotten before and aren’t matching your buying stage.

 For instance, this is an ad for a brand on Facebook:

  And look at how the ad experience doesn’t relate when searching on Google, despite me engaging heavily with the brand previously:

  My experience turns into a first-time click, even though I am deep in the funnel.

That’s not good.

 Omnichannel, on the other hand, takes multichannel to a new level. Omnichannel is a continued experience that happens on multiple platforms, picking up where the user left off.

For example, engaging with a lead magnet on Facebook and then showcasing an ad for a second, accompanying lead magnet on Google.

In terms of PPC, we can omnichannel to reach the same audience on multiple channels, pushing them down the funnel in an organized sequence.

Instead of solely relying on one channel to do one tactic, we can combine multiple for a smoother buying process. There are tons of ways to run omnichannel and cross-device advertisements now.

 For instance, here are a few that you could establish in just a few minutes of extra effort compared to a standard campaign:

Use Google Ads as the starting point. Using the Search Network, target middle of the funnel keywords to bring in relevant, qualified traffic. Next, with a Facebook Pixel installed, remarket those visitors with content related to the landing page they interacted with from the search network ad.

Use Facebook as your starting point and craft brand awareness ads to a new audience (or a lookalike). Build trust and authority, and then target them in Google’s search network using remarketing lists for search ads (RLSAs).

Or, use Facebook to capture emails for dirt cheap and then continue the same experience on an email campaign. This is a strategy that kids shoe brand Wee Squeak used, generating 600 emails with $90 on Facebook and then delivering drip campaigns to drive sales online.

 These are just great options in an almost infinite list of possibilities.

But, you get the point: don’t just use one channel.

Don’t feel limited to one or the other. We often see comparisons like “Which is Better: Google Ads or Facebook.”

Instead, we should be combining them for big wins.

 3. Mobile is everything now

For years we have been told about the incoming mobile takeover.

Even so, most mobile PPC campaigns aren’t mobile-optimized.

Ever search for something on Google, click the first ad on mobile and find a landing page that has one of the following issues:

Takes too long to load (past three seconds and you will suffer major traffic loss)

The user experience isn’t optimized for mobile

Converting is a pain due to long forms

The issues go on and on. PPC optimization goes way beyond just writing mobile ad types on Google Ads now.

It’s full-scale optimization for the mobile-index and more. If that means building a new mobile site, it means you have to build one. 51% of people use WordPress, and it’s free. You can’t wait any longer to be mobile ready and you have no excuse.

Whether you just started a blog, are running an ecommerce site with WordPress, or are a SaaS company, mobile experience must be front of mind.

 To keep up with the trends, focus first on mobile speed. If your site isn’t loading within the first three seconds of a click, you will be wasting time on anything else you do:

 (Image source)

 No amount of A/B testing and tweaking can outrun a slow site.

Use tools like Test My Site to see what elements you can eliminate or manage for a faster site.

Once you’ve improved speed, you can start to optimize campaigns to bit on mobile traffic. To do this, increase bids on mobile devices and decrease bids on desktop in your Google Ads campaign settings:

  This will ensure your traffic is only mobile device searchers even on search network campaigns.

Also, this will have a two-fold benefit:

Bringing in more mobile traffic

Ability to test for mobile as you will have a significant amount of traffic to test against! People often test too early with too little of traffic, leading to statistically insignificant tests.

 Mobile experiences for ads don’t have to be generic either. If your site isn’t well optimized for mobile, try something new.

Don’t be afraid to test new strategies. For instance, one of the most creative mobile PPC strategies I’ve ever seen was using a chatbot as the landing page in a PPC campaign:

  This campaign by Fran at Landbot generated a 100% increase in his conversion rates. That’s right, he set up a landing page on his website so that every PPC click on Google search directed people into a chatbot conversation.

Amazing!

Mobile is everything now. And it’s time for all digital marketing entrepreneurs to improve our mobile PPC.

 Conclusion

It’s tempting to sit back and let your 2018 campaigns go on autopilot in 2019. Especially if they are working.

And if they are working, there is no need to pause them.

But, PPC is changing right before our eyes. Google is constantly updating their platform and optimizing for the consumer, not the advertiser.

Google cares about pleasing consumers, and advertisers will need to adopt this strategy ASAP to remain relevant.

Omnichannel experiences are starting to crop up from Google Ads to Facebook Ads.

Google is continually putting stock into mobile development, too. No longer are the days of sub-par mobile ads for a quick call.

Now, mobile should be the center of your PPC strategy.

It’s time to get moving on your 2019 strategy and plan for these trends in advance.

  Author:

Adam Enfroy is a writer and manages strategic partnerships for BigCommerce. With 10+ years of digital marketing experience, he’s passionate about leveraging the right strategic partnerships, content, and software to scale digital growth. Adam lives in Austin, TX and writes about selling online courses and scaling your online influence on his blog, adamenfroy.com.

You can connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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The post 3 Ways PPC Will Change in 2019 and 3 Ways You Can Prepare For It appeared first on GetResponse Blog - Online Marketing Tips.

[eurolinguiste]

At the intermediate stage of language learning, one of the best ways to acquire new vocabulary is by reading in your target language.

As I’ve mentioned in many of my #clearthelist posts, extensive (and intensive) reading are both a significant part of my learning strategies for each of the languages that I’m studying. I primarily chose to work with physical books over ebooks, making notes in pencil after looking up each individual word. The process was rather tedious, but I hadn’t yet found a method that worked better for me.

Until now.

A few years back, I created a LingQ account, but I wasn’t ready to spend the time to learn how to use it, so I quickly forgot about it. I recently started watching Steve Kaufmann’s videos about his Korean language challenge and it reminded me to go back and give it another go.

I figured that because I love reading and because I was at the intermediate stage, that it would be the perfect way for me to continue moving forward.

And I was right.

LingQ is officially my new favorite learning tool. My language life is forever changed.

Using LingQ

When you first login to LingQ, it takes some time to adjust. The learning curve for using LingQ is steeper than some of the other apps I regularly use, but it’s worth putting in the time. The system has also had a few updates since I last tried it out, so it’s a little more intuitive than it was before, but there are still some things about the user experience that could be improved.

LingQ has a variety of features that help language learners develop the four core language skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing. There is a ton of content built into the system, but you can also import outside content if you so choose.

Through the platform, you can currently learn Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, English, German, Portuguese, Italian, Korean, Swedish, Dutch, Greek, Polish, and Esperanto. They also have several languages in beta including Arabic, Czech, Finnish, Hebrew, Latin, Norwegian, Romanian, Turkish, and Ukranian.

The Features of LingQ the I Adore

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, reading is one of my favorite strategies for learning new vocabulary at the intermediate stage (any beyond). Not only do books and other readings offer context for new words, but they offer it in a medium more easily digestible than other tools. Movies and television shows can be great for learning new vocabulary, but that’s only if you either have the patience to fast forward and rewind, or an ear good enough to pick things up quickly. Books allow you to work at your own pace.

To be completely honest, before I realized there was an import option, I thought that LingQ was okay. I thought it was a decent platform and something I could definitely use, but there are a lot of comparable tools out there that offer similar services.

But then I discovered the import option.

The import option is just incredible and totally sold me on LingQ. I was able to import the Spanish, French and Chinese ebooks I owned into LingQ and now my studying and reading are that much more efficient.

I will definitely purchase a lot more material in the digital format now that I have LingQ available to me as a resource.

Another feature that I love is the word count. As you work through readings with LingQ, it totals the number of words you know and the number of words that you need to study. For me, this is highly motivating. I can say, “wow, I already know 1,000 Spanish words and I only just started the language.” or “jeez, I really need to do some review, there are 700 LingQ’s for Chinese”. It’s pretty neat to have a ballpark figure for the total number of words you know in a language, so I enjoyed the tallies.

Finally, another excellent feature that won me away from working with print books is the review feature built into LingQ. But not in the way you might think.

Rather than having to highlight new words in my Kindle and then look them up later (or look them up immediately and then still have to take notes somewhere), I can instead save new vocabulary within LingQ itself. With LingQ, you can use a mix of or one of four review tools: Multiple Choice, Cloze, Cards or Dictation. I tried them out, but I still prefer Memrise. And that’s okay because LingQ allows me to export my list as an csv file and then import it into Memrise.

Exporting Your LingQ’s to Memrise

I absolutely love that I can take my word list and review it how I see fit. That the platform is flexible in a way that I can add in or take out what I need and use it in the way that is best for me as a language learner. For that, I definitely give them a 10/10.

Things That I Thought could Be Better

On the mobile app, you have to click every single word to make it a LingQ. This is a bit annoying, especially if there are a lot of new words on the page. This feature is redeemed a bit, however, by the fact that scrolling to the next page marks all the unchecked words as known.

I also noticed some loading or synching issues with the courses on my phone (the content wasn’t there) and ended up having to re-import some of the content. Their team was incredibly helpful though and everything ended up working out just fine, so I can’t fault them for this.

A Warning When Using Tools Such as This

While I love reading as a way to learn new words in context, there’s an important thing to remember here. And that’s the context.

If you aren’t careful you can get to into looking at the texts word by word rather than actually reading them. The way the tool functions, I found that if I wasn’t focusing on reading that I just looked at each word to evaluate whether I knew it or not and missed the story entirely.

This isn’t unique to LingQ, but it was something that I noticed I did a bit more than usual due to the nature of the platform. In fact, on some of the easier lessons, I ended up totally ignoring the known words and just reading the unmarked words. This kind of defeats the purpose of this tool, so I ended up having to go back and actually read.

Final Thoughts on LingQ

I’m sure you could guess based on the fact that I host the Language Reading Challenge that I love reading. And doing the things you love in your target language is not only a great way to better enjoy your studies, but to also be more efficient (two birds, one stone).

I absolutely plan on continuing to use LingQ as a regular part of my study routine and will definitely change the way I have been including reading as a part of my strategy now that I am a paid member (yes, I paid for my own subscription and no this isn’t a sponsored post!).

As I said, I love the versatility of LingQ and I especially love that it supports most of the languages that I’m learning. It’s definitely one of my new favorite learning tools. Highly recommended.

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The post A Review of LingQ appeared first on Eurolinguiste.