Did you know that Google changes its search algorithm up to 500 times per year? Google is constantly trying to improve the search results so that they best fit what the searcher is looking for. What this means for marketers and owners of websites is that we need to constantly be monitoring what Google is up to.

Google algorithm changes are typically meant to reward sites that follow Google best practices and to penalize sites that take advantage of tactics that are not approved (known as “Black Hat” tactics). The algorithm changes can be simply adding a search engine result that displays information regarding an individual, penalizing link farms or devaluing sites that are “over-optimizing”.

Below are some of the latest and or most widely known algorithm changes and how they affected the search results:

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Penguin (Released April 24, 2012)

• Algorithm update intended to penalize sites that were “over-optimizing.” Over-optimization is the practice of keyword stuffing, link schemes, and other black hat tactics to push a site to the top of the rankings. The goal of Penguin was to reward sites that were not over-optimizing and push sites to the top of the rankings, while pushing over-optimized sites down.

Knowledge Graph (Released May 16, 2012)

• Knowledge Graph helps enable searchers to instantly get information that’s relevant to their search i.e.
• The searches are typically around the following that Google knows a lot about – places, people, cities, celebrities, buildings, will instantly show up in your results when searching for said items
• The search result will be a summary of the above with image results
  • Example: Google “Michael Jordan” and on the right hand side of the results will be a large image of Jordan along with a summary of his life, career, net worth, even height

It’s not everyday someone as talented as Hannah comes by. She’s a self-taught designer with a writing and development background, working on concepting, designing, and occasionally coding creative projects with us. Sitting down and creating layouts, making graphics, brainstorming design strategy, and designing how user interactions work is why she loves being a designer. And though she’s got quite a bit of experience working on some major brands and organizations—Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Progresso, Aveda, Save the Children—she’s always finding ways to improve her design and create a meaningful user experience.

Our 15-second interview with Hannah:

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Fried goat cheese.

What’s a book you could read over and over again?
Pride and Prejudice.

Retargeting is an alluring tactic for all digital marketers.  By simply placing a “cookie” on the website visitor, a company can market to that visitor after they have left their website.  Companies now know who has visited their site and can remarket to them once they have left their website. Through retargeting, the advertiser can reach very relevant and qualified consumers and the consumers, theoretically, will receive more relevant and attractive advertising. This is how retargeting should work as long as advertisers do not abuse their right to retarget.

Rules to respectful retargeting:

1. Do not stalk your consumer.
   Just because you can does not mean you should. Pay attention to frequency and cap delivery at 15-20 ads per month.
2. One size does not fit all.
   Neither does one message. You must segment your audience based on behaviors they exhibited on your website. Did they abandon their shopping cart or show interest in a specific product? Use this knowledge to retarget them with a message specific to their activity on your website.
3. Sometimes the answer is “no.”
   Not every person who lands on your website will want to return. They may have opted to purchase a competitor, delayed their shopping or need to purchase, or they may just simply not be interested. Respect this and remove them from your retargeting campaign.

By following these simple rules retargeting will be a valuable part of your media mix. Although retargeting is an effective and often cost efficient way to reach an interested audience, it may not always be the right solution. An advertiser must evaluate the campaign goals and perception of retargeting among the brand’s audience. For example, a more tech savvy audience may reject retargeting based on a shared mistrust of the technology, or a larger well-known brand may already have multi-channel marketing efforts in place and retargeting would simply over-saturate an already aware and active audience.

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The following post is a guest contribution from Trevor Hall, President and CEO
of the Creative Visions Foundation.

Creative Visions has partnered with Envisionit Media to tell our most important story: our own.

For the past six months, Creative Visions Foundation (CVF) has collaborated with Envisionit to help more people get involved with creative activism. We’re one of the world’s biggest supporters of creative activists around the globe — people who use media and the arts to raise awareness about pressing issues and incite positive action. Founded by Kathy and Amy Eldon, CVF was inspired by the life and creative spirit of Dan Eldon, an artist and Reuters photojournalist who lost his life in Somalia in 1992.

Since 1998, we’ve helped launch more than 100 creative activist projects, reached more than 80 million people through creative activism, and raised more than $11 million for our activists. Our members have changed political policy, shifted public opinion, and mobilized solutions in dire situations. We want people to know about the amazing things ignited by creative activism, and a little about what we do to make it happen.

Partnering with an agency like Envisionit who knows how to integrate a long-term strategy with Creative Visions’ deep capacity to create compelling content will bring awareness to the creative activist movement. We share a passionate love of stories that shape values and stir up action. We’re looking forward to an ever-growing union and a taking a stance: well-crafted stories paired with a strategic vision are essential to growth and change, and will shift the nature of the world as we know it. Make no small plans…

We’re thrilled to introduce Molly Hop, envisionit media’s new Digital Media Director. Molly has previously held leadership roles at agencies such as Starcom Media Vest Group, Critical Mass and Razorfish. She’s championed digital strategies and driven results for a variety of brands including General Motors, Mercedes Benz, Kellogg’s, Moen, and Best Buy.

Besides bringing wonderful experience and intelligence with her to envisionit, Molly just so happens to be quite funny and fun. It’s win-win!

A bit more about Ms. Hop:

Where are you from?
Holland, Michigan.

What do you do at envisionit?
As the Digital Media Director, I work with the web marketing team to develop strategies to drive traffic, create engagement, and promote the brand communication platform.

Tell us something you’ve enjoyed about working here so far.
I have enjoyed the people since day one. They are smart, friendly, witty, and passionate.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
My choice would be tons of crab legs, a baked potato heaped with butter, and apple pie for dessert. Yum.

What’s a book you could read over and over again?
My three favorite books are East of Eden, Pillars of the Earth, and Are you my Mom?

If you’re considering running paid search ads for your business, it’s important to take the time to ask yourself the right questions and do some research before diving in. This may be an obvious statement, but it’s important to stress given some dangerous assumptions that get made about paid search.

For example, a jelly bean store might assume that paid search for them means making sure their ads are seen every time someone searches online for “jelly beans.” But that searcher might be wondering how the delightful candy is made or when it was invented. Or they might be looking for t-shirts with jelly bean drawings on them or for online stores that sell and ship jelly beans in bulk. Does this jelly bean store want pay for a click on their ad from one of these online searchers? This is a question the store needs to answer before they spend their money on very broad paid search terms.

With that, here’s the general set of questions and research that needs to be carefully completed before you can find success in paid search engine advertising.

What’s the goal?
You’ve decided to invest in advertising your business online. There must be a reason behind this.

• Was it to drive overall brand awareness?
• Or to gauge interest in a soon-to-be launched product through email signups?
• Or to increase new sales (whatever a “sale” is for you)?

Whatever you answer, you should revisit it at every step along the way of this process to make sure your decisions align with this end goal.

Know who you’re targeting
This should be a pretty simple one, since you know your business best, but it’s not to be taken lightly. This is an important time to get reacquainted with your audience. If your goal was to increase sales for your business, then ask yourself what you know about your typical new prospect:

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