Gmail's 'Undo Send' Option Officially Rolls Out

Every one of us has experienced an email blunder at some point whether it was accidentally hitting reply to all, sending a message to the wrong person or forgetting to attach a file. For example, I sent a cover letter to the wrong recruiter back when I was in college – which is likely one of the reasons why I did not hear back from that company. Now Gmail has rolled out a feature that lets you recall a message within 30 seconds of it being sent. Gmail originally launched the “Undo Send” feature in March 2009, but it was hidden as an experimental “Labs” feature.

“Previously a popular feature in Gmail Labs, and recently added to Inbox by Gmail, today we’re adding ‘Undo Send’ as a formal setting in Gmail on the web,” said Google in an announcement. Inbox is a mobile app for iOS and Android that keeps your email organized by highlighting important information and bundling similar messages.

In the web-based version of Gmail, you can activate the “Undo Send” option by tapping on the gear icon at the top right and selecting “Settings” from the drop-down menu. Under the general settings, make sure that ”Enable Undo Send” is check-marked. You will notice that the number of seconds can be changed between 5, 10, 20 or 30. I recommend setting up “Undo Send” for 30 seconds because 5 seconds does not seem like enough time. The “Undo Send” feature will remain activated for your account if you switched it on while it was still an experiment.

Unfortunately, “Undo Send” is not available for the Gmail mobile app. But Mashable reported Gmail is planning to roll out the “Undo Send” feature for the mobile app eventually.

Improve Conversions and Drive audience back

 

• Run a short PPC campaign to identify keywords that convert and to validate your business.
• Use the keyword data to develop an on-site search optimization strategy right from launch.
• Use a portion of your monthly marketing budget to invest in off-site SEO
• Launch a comprehensive PPC campaign to start attracting customers from launch date until natural traffic moves up.
• As your site moves up the organic rankings, tweak your budget allocation to reduce PPC spend and increase the spending on SEO and other organic marketing strategies.
• Remarket to past visitors to improve conversion and trigger repeat purchase.

Google Quality Update

Google Quality Update is the change to Google’s “core ranking algorithm in terms of how it processes quality signals”. This means that sites that have higher quality, according to Google’s new quality update, will start to show up higher on the SERPs.What’s interesting is the supposed coming of Knowledge-Based Trust being implemented into Google’s algorithms. Content based on verifiable facts could very well be one of the factors included in the new algorithms that contribute to a site’s “quality.” If you’ve seen a dip in rankings since earlier this month, it may mean something’s wrong with your website.

This quality update isn’t so much about punishing low-quality sites – although that is a side effect. It is rewarding quality content with higher rankings and then as a result of this, with more traffic. But as these sites with higher quality content are rising in the search results, it naturally means they are pushing other, less desirable content down further in the search results.While this update has been dubbed the “quality update”, you could also view it as being a reverse Panda. While Panda negatively impacted thin and low-quality content, this quality update seems to positively impact great quality content instead.As with all of Google’s core algo changes they make, this is confirmed by Google to be on a page by page level. This is good news for those who need to improve their content, as they can focus on the most important pages first.

Why Mobile Optimised Websites?

A mobile optimised website is a simplified version of a site, designed for smartphones and tablet devices for ease of navigation and readability.Mobile users need, no demand, a suitable experience on your site; it needs to be:

•     East to load
•     Easy to read
•     Easy to interact with

Users are more likely to convert on sites optimised for mobile devices; Bing Ads reported that the smartphone conversion rate was 23% for those not optimised for mobile and 60% for mobile optimised sites(5)… the stats speak for themselves right? If your site is not optimised for mobile you’re losing customers! 30% of users will abandon a purchase from your site if the shopping cart is not optimised for mobile. I’m part of that 30%.

Separate site for mobile screens

Typically a separate site served on an alternate URL, m.example.com for mobile users.

Pros:

•     A design that is fully optimised to work on smaller screens
•     You have the ability to adjust content to respond to top ranking mobile search queries or products purchased more often on mobile tan desktop
•     Faster load time for the user

Cons:

•     Cost and management time required to monitor and optimise two separate sites
•     SEO is managed seperately on a mobile site
•     Can lack flexibility to adapt to new screen sizes as they’re released

Responsive design 

A responsive design automatically adjusts to different viewing conditions, such as screen size and orientation.

Pros:

    Management time and costs are lower due to a single URL, sitemap that adapts to all device types automatically and updates apply to all device types

Cons:

    The site will require a complete overhaul in-terms of architecture and design – a one-off investment

NET NEUTRALITY

Hashtags

Hashtags help by tagging content to help social media users to search and filter it.

For example, if you want to find everything that’s been posted recently on the topic of social media on Twitter, then all you have to do is search for #socialmedia and you will see the results. People use this feature to follow news, sporting events, TV shows, brands, and more. It’s a way of taming the social media firehose so people can find valuable information when they need it.

So how does this help you as an entrepreneur, business, or brand? Here are five benefits:

• Using hashtags correctly makes you appear on-trend and tuned into current events. In other words, hashtags make you look relevant to your social media followers, and relevance is what makes them stick around.

• Hashtags can increase brand prominence and recognition for your campaigns. It’s something Coca-Cola does well, for example with the recent #shareacoke campaign.

• Using hashtags helps your audience to find your content, wherever you happen to post it.

• Using the same hashtags across multiple social media platforms and analyzing engagement gives a holistic picture of your reach.

• Using hashtags in a fun, quirky way can show your brand’s personality.

How to Use Hashtags Effectively

So how can you make hashtags work for you? Here are some tips to help you get the most from hashtag use.

Know what’s trending

If you want to be relevant, you need to use the hashtags that people are searching for. Check out the trending topics on Twitter (in the box on the right of your timeline). Pro tip: If you market your business globally, change the country to see what’s trending in different parts of the world. For cross-platform social media trends, use Social Mention, which will show you the top related hashtags for any search term. Find trending hashtags and use them in your content to improve your reach.

Avoid overuse

It’s worth noting that, except for Instagram (more on that in the next tip), you should limit your hashtag use to three. Too many hashtags can overwhelm your post, especially on Twitter with its 140-character limit.

Go beyond the suggested hashtags 

Google+ automatically suggests hashtags for your posts, but these aren’t always the best ones to use. Instead of automatically accepting the suggestions, use your information on trending topics to add new hashtags. And if you reshare content, consider adding up to three new hashtags to help even more people to find the content.

Use hashtag recycling (Instagram) 

Instagram is a hashtag user’s paradise because you can use pretty much as many hashtags as you want (well, up to 30, anyway). Not only that, but if you DON’T use hashtags, no-one will find your stuff.

Here’s a good Instagram strategy. In addition to the hashtags in your post, add up to five other hashtags in a comment. Later, you can delete those and add five new ones. This hashtag recycling strategy helps increase exposure for your Instagram post over time.

Search and filter

Hashtags are a great content marketing tool. At SEMrush, we look for SEO-related hashtags (such as #SEO, #SERP and others) to find new content in this niche and connect with the people who are sharing it.

Hashtags also work well for internal use, so you can easily filter posts and track their success. Some of those used by our team for this purpose include #semrushblog, #fun, #tipoftheday.

Roll your own hashtag

If you’re starting a campaign, don’t be afraid to use your own hashtag. If you have an idea, the first step is to check that no-one else is using it on Hashtags.org.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is a diverse and very powerful tool in all aspects of business today. When used in conjunction with your marketing program it is one of the strongest tools that a business can possess .Strong video marketing campaigns produce results across almost 70 percent of businesses today. Video marketing helps to generate needs and view conversation online and to bring awareness of your product to the public. The power of a strong video is a lasting impression in the minds of the public better utilizing marketing dollars as opposed to no video at all.70% of video viewers watch more than 3/4 th of the video. More than 80 % of senior executives watch more online video today than they did a year ago.Marketers believe that video marketing is effective for brand awareness and online engagement.Using video in the email subject line boosts open rates . Video plays a vital role in best ROI. Some of the  video marketing strategy should include the following

Publishing Schedule

 Just as you time your tweets and Facebook posts to run consistently, your video marketing plan should have legs, as well. Instead of posting one video about a new product, think of your campaign in terms of a series.

Short-Form Videos

Social media has revolutionized the way online users communicate with each other, with short, concise statements trumping longer forms of content. Micro-video apps shorten videos to less than ten seconds, making them ideal for sharing on sites like Twitter and Instagram.

Tutorials and Tips

 One way to connect with customers is by posting tutorials relevant to your line of work. While it may seem as though you will be giving away your secrets, you’ll actually establish yourself as a subject matter expert, leading viewers to want to learn more about your business.

Customer-Generated Content

An even better way to connect with customers is to put them behind the camera. User-generated content is more likely to generate a response than company-generated content. Instead of spending hours coming up with a script and producing a powerful video, invite your customers to create one of their own. Offer a prize for the best video showcasing customer use of your product and you’ll likely get an overwhelming response.