Can Google Stop Pop Up Ads?
Is there still a need to stop pop up ads?
Popups have been annoying users since the dawn of the internet, maybe even before that. Many of us thought that the publisher's process to stop pop up ads would be natural. We thought that when designing for user experience became a priority for the web, that it meant the death of the pop up. As many readers of Forbes will be familiar with the example below, the death of the pop up was greatly exaggerated.
Just as the first wave of viagra promoting insanity boxes finally began to vanish from the internet, they were replaced by the second generation of popups. These popups were more aesthetically pleasing, and they let go of the contrasting colors and often blinking text. The new pop ups focused on being a normal advertisement but they blocked you from the content you were looking for.
This article isn’t just about how horrible pop ups are or how to stop pop up ads. It is about why pop ups were created in the first place. How have pop ups have evolved with the web? And what will come next to fill the void when popups leave?
Pop up ads are not evil. They are simply a bad solution to a problem that every website owner has. This article is about what happens after we stop pop up ads.
Why businesses need to use pop up ads.
Popup ads have been used by websites to help grow their email list, promote their services, or in any way imaginable to monetize the content that brought you to their site. The worst popups actually will get in the way of a user who is trying to buy a product on the site, by distracting them and trying to get them to look at a different product. This is something you still see commonly on Shopify websites that are run by small businesses who don’t have experience in customer experience design.
It’s not easy to get a user who has come to read an article to give you their email address for repeated interaction. Forcing them to give you their email address to view the content is actually a viable strategy to achieve that result in the short term.
The problem is that it's similar to forcing someone to give you their wallet by pointing a gun. The user has two choices, they can give in to your demand or they can run away. The gated content exchange also doesn’t look at the relationship from a long-term perspective. Just because you have someone’s email, does that mean they really want you to email them? What do you think the difference is in rates of fake email address and spam reports from emails gathered through forced popups vs freely given email addresses?
The response to the pop up
Popup blockers like AD Blocker have grown like crazy in an effort to stop pop up ads.
- Ad blocking estimated to cost publishers nearly $22 billion during 2015.
- There are now 198 million active adblock users around the world.
- Ad blocking grew by 41% globally in the last 12 months.
- US ad blocking grew by 48% to reach 45 million active users in 12 months up to June 2015.
- UK ad blocking grew by 82% to reach 12 million active users in 12 months up to June 2015.
This is a disaster for publishers. These blockers are installed to block intrusive and unwelcome advertisement, but they also block out all the good faith efforts that marketers are making to present a well designed and relevant ad experience to the users.
Newspaper publishers are trying to figure out how to make their businesses viable online. These blocked ads can make the difference between continuing to exist or failing completely. In the end the website visitor wants the content of those websites and they do not want them to go out of business. The email exchange just needs to reflect the relationship both parties want to have.
Proposed Solution - Google punishing websites
Google is now going to be ranking websites based on how those websites use of obstructive popups. Google calls pop ups "interstitials". They will actually not penalize websites for using them for very specific reasons, like age verification for alcohol brands. This is great because it may make browsing the web better for the end user, and it may also reduce the number of users installing ad blocking software. (This is probably the long term reason Google is doing this)
There will still be really great ways to remind the user to give you an email address if they enjoy your content. Products like HelloSign lead to users who sign up and are excited to hear from you! The main difference is that the website owner must actually take the time to think about their customers. What emails they will be sending to their list? Why would a customer want to receive these emails?
Websites will then sell the idea of joining an email list for a certain benefit. Which is much better than exchanging an email address just to view the content of the page you are already on.
Confession: this article was written by a former pop up ad creator and abuser.
Google Amp - What it means for your website
What is Google AMP?
Google Amp is a new project designed to speed up the internet for Mobile users. AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, probably because the acronym for Mobile Acceleration Project (Google MAP) was already taken.
How does AMP work?
AMP displays versions of your page to Google without any extra formatting, and in a way that greatly reduces their time to download by stripping out all but the most essential information.
When will the Amp update Happen?
Even though AMP has been around since last October, AMP is important for your search engine rankings NOW because Google has begun to adjust your position in the rankings for Mobile viewers based on Amp.
Does AMP effect me?
Amp pages are not important for every web site. Amp is not even important for all pages within a site. But if you are a news publisher or have an active blog it is important that those pages are AMP compatible.
Does Google AMP block ads?
According to Matt Cutts of Google AMP does not effect well behaved ads. Which could be great for everyone, both readers and publishers if websites are rewarded for having quality ads.
What should I do now?
WordPress has already released an easy to use plugin to convert your pages to amplified ones. Shopify and HubSpot have not commented on a AMP update to their systems, but business that want to get ahead of the AMP curve have options to do their own upgrades. Contact Harness if you have questions about upgrading your site.
Conclusion - What does AMP look like?
Google will be displaying AMP pages with a lighting bolt logo, so keep an eye out for it while you are browsing on your phone to see what you think of AMP pages and decide if you like the update. Do you want to see what AMP pages look like right now? To see the AMP version of this page just click our link for our Google AMP example.
5 Animated HubSpot CTA Buttons
HubSpot CTA: Doesn't Need To Be Sad and Boring
Default HubSpot CTA button styles can be pretty limiting, but they don’t have to be!
HubSpot CTA button code can be adjusted to do almost anything. This makes it really easy to bring a professional looking design to your HubSpot pages.
Take a look at these 5 Hubspot CTA’s with Rollover Effects, CSS Transitions, Hover Animations and unique styles. These buttons are all done with pure CSS. Which means there are even more fun possibilities when we look at HubSpot CTA image buttons.
If you see a button that you wish could be a CTA on your site, leave a comment and we will try and HubSpotify it for you and add it to our list.
Additional Design Resource: Adding Custom Styles to my CTA
Hover Square HubSpot CTA
See the Pen HubSpot Hover Effect Button by Joe Henriod (@joehenriod) on CodePen.
Pro Tip: HubSpot Techniques.
You may want to delete the “background-color: #0fc;" or change it to have it match your site.
Do not write your button text in the text editor. Hit the Source Code button “<>”, and then cut and paste this code. If you need to change the CTA text, make your edits in this mode or Hubspot will strip important information when you save.
If you wish to change the color of your link text, make that the last change you do. You can edit the color with the normal “Text Color” button in the Design panel. Your colors get set back to black every time you make a change in the Custom CSS panel, so you will need to do this again if you made any changes to the css.
The Fancy Click CTA
See the Pen Fancy Click Hubspot CTA by Joe Henriod (@joehenriod) on CodePen.
Pro Tip: HubSpot Techniques.
You may need to adjust or completely eliminate: “margin-top: 6%” so that the button is where you want it on the page. This line puts extra padding above the button.
Do not write your button text in the text editor. Hit the Source Code button “<>”, and then cut and paste this code. If you need to change the CTA text, make your edits in this mode or Hubspot will strip important information when you save.
If you wish to change the color of your link text, make that the last change you do. You can edit the color with the normal “Text Color” button in the Design panel. Your colors get set back to black every time you make a change in the Custom CSS panel, so you will need to do this again if you made any changes to the css.
Animated Transition with Text Reveal Hubspot CTA
See the Pen Animated Transition with Text Reveal Hubspot CTA by Joe Henriod (@joehenriod) on CodePen.
Pro Tip: HubSpot Techniques.
Do not write your button text in the text editor. Hit the Source Code button “<>”, and then cut and paste this code. If you need to change the CTA text, make your edits in this mode or Hubspot will strip important information when you save.
If you wish to change the color of your link text, make that the last change you do. You can edit the color with the normal “Text Color” button in the Design panel. Your colors get set back to black every time you make a change in the Custom CSS panel, so you will need to do this again if you made any changes to the css.
Hubspot Rollover and Click Effect CTA
See the Pen Hubspot Rollover and Click Effect CTA by Joe Henriod (@joehenriod) on CodePen.
Pro Tip: HubSpot Techniques.
Do not write your button text in the text editor. Hit the Source Code button “<>”, and then cut and paste this code. If you need to change the CTA text, make your edits in this mode or Hubspot will strip important information when you save.
If you wish to change the color of your link text, make that the last change you do. You can edit the color with the normal “Text Color” button in the Design panel. Your colors get set back to black every time you make a change in the Custom CSS panel, so you will need to do this again if you made any changes to the css.
Hubspot Red Pill vs Blue Pill inset click CTA
See the Pen Hubspot Red Pill - Blue Pill inset click buttons by Joe Henriod (@joehenriod) on CodePen.
Pro Tip: HubSpot Techniques.
Do not write your button text in the text editor. Hit the Source Code button “<>”, and then cut and paste this code. If you need to change the CTA text, make your edits in this mode or Hubspot will strip important information when you save.
If you wish to change the color of your link text, make that the last change you do. You can edit the color with the normal “Text Color” button in the Design panel. Your colors get set back to black every time you make a change in the Custom CSS panel, so you will need to do this again if you made any changes to the css.
Remember to leave a comment with your favorite button - so we can HubSpotify it for you!
Climbing Gym Marketing: How to Get Climbers Offline and Into Your Gym
Climbing Gym Marketing and social media marketing is easy, right? Put up a Facebook page, pin a few items on Pinterest, or put pictures of your facility on Instagram, and anyone who sees your social media presence will come right in. While social media marketing isn't quite that easy, it is a relatively simple way to create an opportunity to interact with potential members. It's the personal interaction that will ultimately get your online followers off the internet and into your climbing gym. Here are a few ways you can use social media to convert followers into loyal members.
Pin it to Win it
If you have a Pinterest site with followers, your pins are being "liked" and repinned, you might be wondering how to turn this into more members for your facility. Try a "pin it to win it" contest. Pinterest contests are a great way to get potential members to interact with your pins, and make the decision to join your gym.
Facebook Challenge Groups
Challenge groups on Facebook have become really popular, and they are a great way to get and keep people engaged for a predetermined time period. Offer a 30-day climbing challenge to encourage people to come into your gym to complete challenge tasks. You can assign point values for tasks, and the points go towards entries to win prizes.
Cross Promote On Instagram
Instagram is a great way to showcase your gym and its features, as well as show how much fun members are having while there. It's also a great way to team up with other local businesses to generate more traffic for everyone, and increase your membership. By joining forces with other businesses, you are getting your gym noticed by people who are already spending money elsewhere. Cross promote with a local sporting goods stores, health food markets, yoga studios, or massage parlors to catch the interest of people who are already interested in health and fitness, and may be more likely to take action, and join your gym.
Social media marketing offers limitless opportunity when it comes to being creative in your marketing. Contact us for more ways to use it to build your business.
Climbing Gym Marketing: Giving Incentive for Customers to Come in and Come Back
It's easy to get people excited about the idea of climbing, but getting those excited people in the door of your gym is another story. How do you take someone who might be interested and actually convince them to come in? How do you get the person who came in for a group outing or party to return?
Social media is a key of course to getting the word out about your gym. Definitely have an active presence online. An active presence doesn't just involve posting those great photos of your climbing walls. It's important to respond to people who reference your business. Be sure to comment on location-tagged pictures and thank people for coming in. Interacting with customers can go a long way towards loyalty by showing that there are people behind your business, people who truly appreciate loyal customers. Your responses can also include special offers if they choose to come back. A response to a great photo tagged at your gym might read: "Great pic! Thanks so much for coming in today! Here's a link to a coupon for $5 off your next visit!"
Online contests are a fun way to take people's competitive nature and turn that into a marketing opportunity. A photo contest will not only bring customers into the gym to take the necessary photo, but a great prize for the winner will encourage lots of entries.
It's also a great idea to reward repeat and return guests. Advertise blocks of passes at a reduced rate. These blocks guarantee a number of paid visits and the customer gets a discount, so it's a great situation for all involved. Consider also automatically entering climbers in a monthly drawing for a free private lesson. Repeat visits would give them a greater chance of winning, and if they do win that private lesson they'll definitely be back to practice their new skills.
For more ideas on building your customer base contact us or check out our blog.
3 Outdoor Brands To Inspire Your Inbound Marketing Strategies
The most successful companies today aren't creating siloed marketing strategies. They're combining inbound and outbound marketing to get the best of both worlds. This one-two punch gets your business in front of your target audience and then earns their full attention by providing them with the valuable information they want. Inbound marketing is especially important for niche areas, like the outdoor sports industry, which is packed with enthusiasts and experts. These customers frequently make purchase decisions based on a first-hand experience and trusted advice from other practitioners. They're loyal customers who are unlikely to be sold by advertising alone.
To support marketing dollars going toward paid ads and print promotions, forward-thinking companies are also providing their target audiences with valuable information to educate and inspire. That way, customers feel more confident buying from brands they can trust after performing their own due diligence. Here are three examples of brands that are embracing inbound strategies to offer buyers more value and stay ahead of the competition:
Therm-a-Rest - Engages Enthusiasts with Social Media
Therm-a-Rest has a healthy mix of written and visual assets on its website to offer a behind-the-scenes look at its camping mattress technology. In addition, it has strong social media presences on Twitter and Instagram that go a step further to engage its audience. How? The company posts pictures of rustic campsites and tents perched alongside striking landscapes. It offers camping tips and asks followers to write in with their favorite destinations.
http://www.cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/blog/rickshaw-south-dispatch-3-no-fools-errand/
These kinds of posts establish Therm-a-Rest as an authority in outdoor adventures, but also give customers a reason to follow the brand organically. Prospects and customers want to be a part of the conversation and they want to stay connected with the company.
BioLite Energy - Content for Every Stage of the Sales Funnel
BioLite Energy is a newcomer to the outdoors scene. It's a startup that produces wood-fired stoves for biofuel and off-the-grid cooking. The company has a mature marketing plan, however, and a blog that's rich with content to addresses readers at every stage of the sales funnel.
- Traffic: 5 Reasons to explore your own backyard
- Engagement: What's your food philosophy?
- Lead Generation: Inside the Technology
- Conversion: A wildlife Biologist Puts the SolarPanel 5+ To the Test
- Loyalty: Backpacking in the Moravia Woods with BioLite (A user story)
This is how inbound marketing works. You grab readers' attention with general-interest material and then follow up with educational pieces that show how products work and why they're the right solution.
Patagonia - Storytelling to Inspire Loyalty
In the past couple of years, the outdoor clothing company has gained attention for its serious approach to sustainability. It all started with a full-page ad placed in The New York Times on Black Friday. The Worn Wear program asked customers not to replace used Patagonia gear with new items, and instead, promised free repairs in order to extend their lives. To support this campaign and recognize patrons equally dedicated to wasting less and getting outside more, Patagonia now publishes stories that follow them on their adventures. It's an inspiring series that puts the customer in the spotlight, and it also establishes a narrative where the brand can easily talk about its focus on high-quality materials and environmentally friendly practices. Altogether, these messages generate a lot of interest in the brand and foster hard-core loyalty among users.
It's an inspiring series that puts the customer in the spotlight, and it also establishes a narrative where the brand can easily talk about its focus on high-quality materials and environmentally friendly practices. Altogether, these messages generate a lot of interest in the brand and foster hard-core loyalty among users. To be successful in a marketplace where consumers research first and buy later, companies can't afford to leave marketing opportunities on the table. Inbound strategies give businesses the chance to nurture prospects with the right information at the right time - until they're ready to make an educated decision about what to purchase.
Are you ready to take your marketing to the next level? Contact us to learn more about the best-in-class strategies we build for our clients to harness the power of both outbound and inbound marketing.
Business Lessons Learned From Climbing
When I started climbing, business was the last thing on my mind. I was going to live the dirtbag climber’s life and travel the world existing only to climb peaks and rocks. I did for a while, and that was incredible. As time wore on, though, I started to crave some stability and grew tired of the financial stress of a jobless, van life existence. When I entered the business world, I quickly realized that climbing had given me a unique perspective to navigate. Here are a few crossover ideas that climbing brought to me for the business world.
The risk is inherent, and foolish risk will end you
The risk is ever present in climbing. Being successful means accepting the risk and moving forward in spite of it. To leave it here would be an oversimplification of the process. A large part of the draw to climbing is learning to mitigate much of the risk while seeking the most rewarding climbs. If you climb something for the sake of taking the risk, you will get bitten and usually sooner rather than later.
Risk taking in business should be the same way. Too many flash-in-the-pan CEOs have written books and given talks espousing huge risk without discussing their efforts to mitigate that risk. You need to have your market research dialed, your business plan polished, and (most importantly concerning today’s marketplace) your marketing campaign together to get the word out about your product or service. I have seen too many businesses approach new concepts or markets with an “if you build it, they will come” attitude toward their marketing.
The willingness to venture beyond the norm is rewarded
The roadside attractions in climbing seem to have a siren call. The crowds flock to them, and the experience becomes diluted with competition to get on the route and find space on the way up. I have never found venturing out into the backcountry for a climb to be less rewarding than staying by the road. Yes, it is a lot more work to get there and in the beginning, you will ask yourself why you did not just do something easier. Once you settle into the task, you begin to notice the benefits… better views, a feeling of belonging, ownership of the area you are in.
Falling into the trap of providing product or service that is on par with the rest of your industry is understandable but unacceptable. Going beyond the norm for the quality of service and product will differentiate you from the rest. The extra effort will pay off quickly.
Technology will never replace knowledge
Climbing equipment has come a long way from the days of soft iron pitons and hobnailed boots. Modern equipment allows rank beginners to ascend pitches of rock that were unimaginable in the 50’s or 60’s. However, no matter how much the technology improves, if a climber does not know his way around the mountains, and the basics of ropework, his career is going to be a short one.
Technology has fundamentally changed every aspect of the business world. No one can deny that. What it has not done is replace the need for knowledge. Knowing your market, your product, your competition, and your customer will not ever be replaced.
Moreover, technology has not replaced the need for human interaction. People still buy from people even in the age of technology. No matter how fantastic your digital advertising campaign is, people are going to attach themselves to brands that have a unique mission and are represented by solid people.
The view from the top is amazing, but you cannot stay forever
The summit is a major motivator in climbing. Rightfully so. It is a symbol of accomplishment, and for some, it is a symbol of conquest. Stand on top, breathe in the thin air, simultaneously feel powerful and small all at the same time. It is a time to reflect on the path that was taken and take in the view of the surrounding summits. The feeling is fleeting, though, and the inevitability that you must come back down gnaws at the back of your mind. The longer you stay put on top, the more danger you face. Storms, frostbite, exhaustion, darkness, all of these await those who try to linger.
You seek to be at the top of our game in business as well. To stand at the top and see your competitors. Stagnation is a fatal flaw in business as well. Success in business depends on understanding that once you have gained the top in one area, it is time to look toward your next goal, start training, set milestones, and take the first step.
You seek to be at the top of our game in business as well. To stand at the top and see your competitors. Stagnation is a fatal flaw in business as well. Success in business depends on understanding that once you have gained the top in one area, it is time to look toward your next goal, start training, set milestones, and take the first step.
Featured Exhibitor One Wheel: Outdoor Retailer 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNqOU4jx62I
Onewheel launched on Kickstarter in January 2014, and since then they have kept rolling!
Onewheel cruises at up to 12 miles per hour, and is a board that you can take anywhere. It's fun on the beach, mountain trails, or just cruising down the street.
Onewheel is a self balancing electronic skateboard. It has lights to illuminate the ground while your cruising at night, and even connects to your phone to let you know the battery level.
To learn more visit Onewheel's booth at 39066.
Harness Consulting
Featured Exhibitor So iLL: Outdoor Retailer 2016
https://vimeo.com/27502746
At the intersection of Fashion, Art, and Climbing sits So iLL. This climbing brand creates products that will grip you as much as you grip them. Daniel Chancellor created the brand 12 years ago, starting with 6 people, a bunch of product and a van.
They have come a long way since then. With 33,000 followers and climbing on Instagram, they are a must watch for anyone with an interest in indoor climbing.
Visit So iLL's booth at 2035 to learn more.