A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows significant death rate increases for white and Native American infants, infant boys and babies born at 37 weeks or earlier.

The US infant mortality rate rose last year. The CDC says it’s the largest increase in two decades

For as long as she can remember, Aria Mia Loberti has been a performer—prone to singing, dancing, and putting on one-woman shows during family gatherings. “I just didn’t think that I could ever be an actor—it never crossed my mind that it was an ...

Aria Mia Loberti Embraces All the Light We Cannot See

The Boiling Springs Fire Department said it has been called to a crash along I-85 in Greenville Wednesday morning. The Boiling Springs Fire Department said it has been called to a crash along I-85 in Greenville Wednesday morning. Guests are invited to ...

New books hitting the shelves at M Judson Booksellers

The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) will conduct a public involvement meeting from 4 until 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in Jonesboro, to discuss the proposed widening of Highway 91 from Highway 349 to Interstate 555.

Public invited to weigh in on proposed Hwy. 91 widening

Buffalo Sabres at Philadelphia Flyers 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, November 1 TNT,Max,MSG-B (Watch this game on Fubo) Dallas Stars at Calgary Flames 8:30 PM ET, Wednesday, November 1 ESPN+,BSSWX (Watch this game on Fubo) St. Louis Blues at Colorado Avalanche 9: ...

Today's NHL Games

LEWISTON, Maine (WMTW) - Funerals are being planned for those who were killed during mass shootings at two area businesses in Lewiston, Maine. Visiting hours for Thomas Conrad will be held on Wednesday from 3-6 p.m. at Plummer Funeral Home in Augusta. There will be a memorial service at Community Baptist Church in Sabattus on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Funerals being planned for those who lost their lives in Lewiston shootings

The band is under the direction of director Lee Mason and is made up of 65 members. Over its last three competitions, the Mighty Marching Rams have received superior ratings, however its style on the gridiron is what gets the crowd going at Rams football games.

The Carver HS Mighty Marching Rams band is irreplaceable

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - An investigation is underway in Georgetown County after an elementary school student allegedly pulled out a knife and threatened another student. At 7:45 a.m. on Wednesday, the Sampit Elementary School administration was told ...

District: Georgetown County elem. school student pulled out knife, made threat

Step2, the category leader in play kitchens, push cars, water tables, playhouses and climbers, is sharing their lineup of new and best-selling toys to help parents and gift givers get an early start on their holiday shopping.

Step2 Introduces New Toys for the Holiday Season

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – New York and Nashville researchers studied blood cell mutations in 9/11 first responders and determined some cells were cloning out of control and causing cardiovascular disease. Thanks to this research, an exercise ...

YOUR HEALTH: 9/11 first responders are still saving lives

Pinterest

pinterest

Collection Compositional Layout is a new layout framework in the UIKit framework of iOS that was introduced in iOS 13. It provides a powerful and flexible way to build custom collection views in a modular and composable manner. With Collection Compositional Layout, you can define custom layouts for your collection views by composing various layout elements, such as sections, items, and groups, in a way that best suits your needs. You can use Collection Compositional Layout to define layouts that support dynamic content and varying item sizes, and you can also easily modify the layout of your collection view on the fly. The framework also includes a number of built-in layout elements that can be used to create common collection view layouts, such as grid, list, and nested groups. To use Collection Compositional Layout in your iOS app, you need to create an instance of , and then define one or more objects that represent the layout for each section in your collection view. You can then set the property of your layout to your instance, and the layout will be automatically applied to your collection view. UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout NSCollectionLayoutSection collectionView UICollectionView Today, we will thoroughly examine how to create such a screen using Collection Compositional Layout Data Source Initially, it is necessary to include two typealiases and a sections enum. I would like to utilize to easily update the content and add new content if necessary DiffableDataSource typealias DataSource = UICollectionViewDiffableDataSource<Section, PictureModel>
typealias DataSourceSnapshot = NSDiffableDataSourceSnapshot<Section, PictureModel> enum Section: Int, CaseIterable {
    case carousel
    case widget
    case pinterest
} I set up the data source for a collection view. The function takes in two parameters: an and a boolean value "animatingDifferences". The function starts by deleting all the items in the data source's snapshot using the "deleteAllItems" method. Then, it appends all the cases of the to the snapshot's sections. [PictureModel] Section Next, the function appends a range of pictures to each section. Finally, the function applies the snapshot to the data source using . The "animatingDifferences" parameter determines whether changes to the collection view are animated or not. apply private func configureDataSource(pictures: [PictureModel], animatingDifferences: Bool) {
    snapshot.deleteAllItems()
    snapshot.appendSections(Section.allCases)
        
    snapshot.appendItems(pictures[20...29].map { $0 }, toSection: .carousel)
    snapshot.appendItems(pictures[10...19].map { $0 }, toSection: .widget)
    snapshot.appendItems(pictures[0...9].map { $0 }, toSection: .pinterest)

    dataSource.apply(snapshot, animatingDifferences: animatingDifferences)
} For more information how data source works you can find there: iOS Tutorial: Collection View and Diffable Data Source Carousel Section The first section is “Carousel-style” or “Multiple banner” private static func carouselBannerSection() -> NSCollectionLayoutSection {
    //1
    let itemSize = NSCollectionLayoutSize(
          widthDimension: .fractionalWidth(1),
          heightDimension: .fractionalHeight(1)
    )
    let item = NSCollectionLayoutItem(layoutSize: itemSize)

    //2
    let groupSize = NSCollectionLayoutSize(
          widthDimension: .fractionalWidth(1),
          heightDimension: .fractionalWidth(1)
    )
    let group = NSCollectionLayoutGroup.horizontal(
          layoutSize: groupSize,
          subitems: [item]
    )
    //3
    let section = NSCollectionLayoutSection(group: group)
    section.orthogonalScrollingBehavior = .continuousGroupLeadingBoundary
    //4
    section.visibleItemsInvalidationHandler = { (items, offset, environment) in
          items.forEach { item in
              let distanceFromCenter = abs((item.frame.midX - offset.x) - environment.container.contentSize.width / 2.0)
              let minScale: CGFloat = 0.8
              let maxScale: CGFloat = 1.0 - (distanceFromCenter / environment.container.contentSize.width
              let scale = max(maxScale, minScale)
              item.transform = CGAffineTransform(scaleX: scale, y: scale)
         }
    }
    return section
} Let’s define the size of an individual item, which will be used as the basis for building the rest of the layout. This item will take up the full width and height of the available space, with a width dimension of and a height dimension of . .fractionalWidth(1) .fractionalHeight(1) A group is created with the defined item size and set to be arranged horizontally using . This group takes up the full width of the available space with a width dimension of and a height dimension equal to its width with . NSCollectionLayoutGroup.horizontal .fractionalWidth(1) .fractionalWidth(1) The is then created using the defined group, and its orthogonal scrolling behavior is set to , which means that the section will continuously scroll in the horizontal direction. NSCollectionLayoutSection .continuousGroupLeadingBoundary The of the section is set to a closure that performs a scaling transformation on each item based on its distance from the center of the visible area. The amount of scaling is determined by the distance from the center, with items closer to the center being scaled up and items farther away being scaled down. The minimum and maximum scale values are defined as and respectively. visibleItemsInvalidationHandler minScale maxScale Widget section This section is implemented almost the same way as the previous one. The only differences are in the configuration of the group private static func widgetBannerSection() -> NSCollectionLayoutSection {
    let itemSize = NSCollectionLayoutSize(
        widthDimension: .fractionalWidth(1),
        heightDimension: .fractionalHeight(1)
    )
    let item = NSCollectionLayoutItem(layoutSize: itemSize)
    item.contentInsets = .init(top: 0, leading: 5, bottom: 0, trailing: 5)

    //1
    let groupSize = NSCollectionLayoutSize(
        widthDimension: .fractionalWidth(0.2),
        heightDimension: .fractionalWidth(0.3)
    )
    let group = NSCollectionLayoutGroup.horizontal(
        layoutSize: groupSize,
        subitems: [item]
    )
    let section = NSCollectionLayoutSection(group: group)
    //2
    let supplementaryItem = NSCollectionLayoutBoundarySupplementaryItem(
        layoutSize: .init(
            widthDimension: .fractionalWidth(1),
            heightDimension: .absolute(30)
        ),
        elementKind: UICollectionView.elementKindSectionHeader, 
        alignment: .top
    )
    supplementaryItem.contentInsets = .init(
        top: 0,
        leading: 5,
        bottom: 0,
        trailing: 5
    )
    section.boundarySupplementaryItems = [supplementaryItem]
    section.contentInsets = .init(top: 10, leading: 5, bottom: 10, trailing: 5)
    section.orthogonalScrollingBehavior = .continuous
    return section
} The group layout is defined by the object, which is horizontal and has a width and height defined as 20% and 30% of the collection view's width, respectively. The group consists of a single item, which is defined above. NSCollectionLayoutGroup Section has a header defined as a . The header is placed at the top of the section and has the same width as the section, with a height of 30 points. The header's content inset by 5 points from the leading and trailing edges. NSCollectionLayoutBoundarySupplementaryItem Pinterest section A Pinterest-style layout is a type of grid-based user interface design that arranges content into a series of evenly spaced columns, with variable-sized cells that contain images. The layout is commonly used in applications like photo sharing and social media platforms. The Pinterest-style layout gives the layout a more organic, less structured feel than traditional grid-based designs, and can help to break up the monotony of a page filled with equally sized cells. Сells in this section are presented in different ratios. So, models for that cells have to conform to the protocol that defines a single requirement, the property, which is a value. Ratioable ratio CGFloat protocol Ratioable {
    var ratio: CGFloat { get }
} An aspect ratio is the proportional relationship between the width and height of an object. The implementation of this section is slightly more complicated than the previous ones. Therefore, I will create a separate class for it. PinterestLayoutSection The private properties inside of this class are: private let numberOfColumns: Int
private let itemRatios: [Ratioable]
private let spacing: CGFloat
private let contentWidth: CGFloat In order to correctly calculate the size of the section, we must pass array of elements that stores the ratio for each future cell. Also we need to have a certain number of columns and full content width. [Ratioable] For ease of understanding the code, let's add computed and lazy properties. private var padding: CGFloat {
    spacing / 2
}
    
// 1
private var insets: NSDirectionalEdgeInsets {
    .init(
        top: padding, 
        leading: padding, 
        bottom: padding, 
        trailing: padding
    )
}

// 2
private lazy var frames: [CGRect] = {
    calculateFrames()
}()
    
// 3
private lazy var sectionHeight: CGFloat = {
    (frames
        .map(\.maxY)
        .max() ?? 0
    ) + insets.bottom
}()
    
// 4
private lazy var customLayoutGroup: NSCollectionLayoutGroup = {
    let layoutSize = NSCollectionLayoutSize(
        widthDimension: .fractionalWidth(1.0),
        heightDimension: .absolute(sectionHeight)
    )
    return NSCollectionLayoutGroup.custom(layoutSize: layoutSize) { _ in
        self.frames.map { .init(frame: $0) }
    }
}() Padding around cells equal to the distance between cells. The property is a lazy property that calculates the frames for each item in the section. frames The calculates the height of the entire section based on the maximum sectionHeight y-coordinate of all the items. The is a lazy property that calculates the layout group for the section. It specifies the size of the section and returns an array of layout items based on the calculated frames. The layout group is created using the method. customLayoutGroup NSCollectionLayoutGroup.custom The last but not the least. We need to define method. calculateFrames private func calculateFrames() -> [CGRect] {
    var contentHeight: CGFloat = 0
        
    // 1
    let columnWidth = (contentWidth - insets.leading - insets.trailing) / 
                        CGFloat(numberOfColumns)
        
    // 2
    let xOffset = (0..<numberOfColumns).map { CGFloat($0) * columnWidth }
    var currentColumn = 0
    var yOffset: [CGFloat] = .init(repeating: 0, count: numberOfColumns)
        
    // Total number of frames
    var frames = [CGRect]()
        
    // 3
    for index in 0..<itemRatios.count {
        let aspectRatio = itemRatios[index]
            
        // Сalculate the frame.
        let frame = CGRect(
            x: xOffset[currentColumn],
            y: yOffset[currentColumn],
            width: columnWidth,
            height: columnWidth / aspectRatio.ratio
        )
        // Total frame inset between cells and along edges
        .insetBy(dx: padding, dy: padding)
        // Additional top and left offset to account for padding
        .offsetBy(dx: 0, dy: insets.leading)
        // 4
        .setHeight(ratio: aspectRatio.ratio)
            
        frames.append(frame)
        
        // Сalculate the height
        let columnLowestPoint = frame.maxY
        contentHeight = max(contentHeight, columnLowestPoint)
        yOffset[currentColumn] = columnLowestPoint
        // 5
        currentColumn = yOffset.indexOfMinElement ?? 0
    }
    return frames
} The is responsible for calculating the frames for each item. First, the width of each column is calculated by subtracting the margin from the total width and dividing it by the number of columns. calculateFrames Sets up variables to store the x-coordinate offset for each column, the y-coordinate offset for each column, and an array of frames. The function uses a loop to iterate through the array, calculate the frame for each item based on its aspect ratio, and append it to the array. itemRatios frames The method updates the height to keep the correct aspect ratio. Use extension for it: private extension CGRect {
    func setHeight(ratio: CGFloat) -> CGRect {
        .init(x: minX, y: minY, width: width, height: width / ratio)
    }
} Adding the next element to the minimum height column. We can move sequentially, but then there is a chance that some columns will be much longer than others. For convenience, add the extension for . The computable property helps to find the index of the first minimum element in an array: Array private extension Array where Element: Comparable {
    var indexOfMinElement: Int? {
        guard count > 0 else { return nil }
        var min = first
        var index = 0
        indices.forEach { i in
            let currentItem = self[i]
            if let minumum = min, currentItem < minumum {
                min = currentItem
                index = i
            }
        }
        return index
    }
} The final step In order to connect all the sections together into one layout, we will create another class. . CustomCompositionalLayout final class CustomCompositionalLayout {
    static func layout(
        ratios: [Ratioable], 
        contentWidth: CGFloat
    ) -> UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout {
        .init { sectionIndex, enviroment in
            guard let section = Section(rawValue: sectionIndex)
            else { return nil }
            switch section {
            case .carousel :
                return carouselBannerSection()
            case .widget :
                return widgetBannerSection()
            case .pinterest:
                return pinterestSection(ratios: ratios, contentWidth: contentWidth)
            }
        }
    }
 } It has a static function named that takes in two parameters, and . layout ratios contentWidth Don't forget to add already implemented methods to this class. The sections that can be returned are: for the case carouselBannerSection .carousel for the case widgetBannerSection .widget for the case pinterestSection .pinterest The returned value is a object that has different sections depending on the value of . UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout sectionIndex Conclusion This example of screen layout is a unique and visually appealing way to display content in a collection view. It is achieved through the use of the and the custom aspect ratios of each item in the collection. UICollectionViewCompositionalLayout Implementing this layout can greatly enhance the user experience and bring a fresh and dynamic look to your app. With its ability to handle varying aspect ratios and adjust content dynamically, the layout offers a versatile and practical solution for displaying content in a collection view. Overall, the layout with Pinterest-style section is a valuable addition to any iOS developer's toolkit and can add a touch of creativity and design to your next app project. This article was inspired by . UICollectionView Custom Layout Tutorial: Pinterest The full implementation with network layer by MVVM pattern you can find on my . Github Feel free to put stars here and on github :)

Implementing 'UICollectionView Compositional' Layout with Pinterest Section 

A cutting-edge data science model can only be created if the impact is measured properly. Pinterest upgraded everyone's preferred impact measurement metric, CTR, after carefully analyzing the problems. Every Data person adores the CTR measure as it is: Simple to explain to leadership, product managers do not question it, and measuring it is straightforward: Divide the number of clicks by the total number of impressions. CTR data is easily available, so it will be easy to calculate, track, and analyze. And, as a bonus, lots of advertisers want to have high CTRs too. So, you’ve aligned your advertiser and user interests! So, just throw a lot of advanced machine learning at the problem to predict and maximize CTRs and you’re done, right? Not so fast! CTR Suffers From Some Serious Shortcomings. “CTR Is Not the Key to User Engagement.” CTR just reports on clicks on a certain item, regardless of whether it is relevant or not. Some may claim that the user clicked because the content or ad was relevant, however, this is not always the case; it could be due to positional bias, clickbait, or other factors. These flaws will be discussed in further depth below. CTR is only useful for measuring short-term gains without consideration of user engagement. As a result, we require a metric to track user engagement. “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time” - Abraham Lincoln Problem 1 - Positional Bias Ads higher up on the page are more likely to be clicked, but this does not imply that the user finds them more valuable. If you fail to take this into account, you can conclude that users prefer the ads at the top of the page when, in reality, they are just more inclined to pay attention to them. Problem 2 - CTR Promotes Clickbait Items having a high click-through rate (CTR) may be "clickbaity" — they entice the user to click without providing anything helpful, instead sending them to ad-loaded slideshows that generate revenue for the advertiser but annoy the user. Problem 3 - CTR Ignores Other Signals CTR doesn't imply positive interaction. The person may still despise that specific piece of content. Hide Ads or drop-offs are powerful hate signals that CTR does not take into account. Above is a Google Ads example to capture explicit user dislike feedback. No point in showing a strong dislike signal ad with high CTR; it will eventually put the user off the platform someday. Problem 4 - Some Things Are Not Meant to Be Clicked Ads that do not require a click, such as a video, brand awareness, or pitch ads, such as an Independence Day discount at a nearby store or a short video of a new car launch. Okay..! We have now listed the problems with CTR but what is the Solution? Going Beyond CTR They adjusted their ads measurement metric to address the difficulties with CTR mentioned previously. A metric that incorporates engagement and more accurately captures user experience. User Metric: Let's discuss the Numerator first - Weighted Engagement on Ads Instead of just looking at CTR, we look at a weighted average of different actions — Clicks, Hides (Stop ads), Watch Time (on Video Ads), and Saves, among others — on the ads. Consider two ads: B is clicked more often than A, but it is hidden by a lot more people. One can readily conclude that ad type A is superior to ad type B because it receives more engagement and fewer users hide or disconnect with it while CTR alone shows the opposite picture. Conclusion - If we choose the actions and weights carefully, we can address concerns 2, 3, and 4 with CTR. Coming to the Denominator - Weighted Engagement on Neighbouring Organic Content To address Problem 1 (Position Bias) - We need to dig a bit deeper and understand that the CTRs drop on ads and organic content as users scroll through. One can verify this hypothesis of positional bias issue with A/B testing on the platform as well. LEARNING (This stands true in the majority of businesses) - If an ad or Feed Content on the 10th Position of the carousel gets a similar CTR to one on the 1st position, this means the ad on the 10th position is better. To normalize the effect of positional bias on ads content, we compare the average engagement rate on ads to that of the organic content in the spots before and after. This is where the denominator comes in. Experimenting with Above setup and New Ads Measuring Metric From the above table, we can infer that Treatment has lower CTR than Control but a lot better on our Weighted Engagement metric. Conclusion I understand that digesting and practically applying this new metric can be difficult because CTR has been used to gauge ads and content relevance for a long time, but change brings growth. If your ads monetization model is purely dependent on CTR, you can place a higher weight on Clicks when taking weighted engagement scores, but deleting engagement aspects and relying solely on CTR would make users unhappy in the long run. NOTE: Reference A better clickthrough rate: How Pinterest upgraded everyone’s favorite engagement metric by Philip Apps Is there anything you would like to add? Please feel free to share your views and feedback in the comments section below. Connect, Follow or Endorse me on if you found this read useful. To learn more about me: visit LinkedIn Here This newsletter is now read by more than 4500+ subscribers. If you are building an AI or a data product or service, you are invited to become a sponsor of one of the future newsletter issues. Feel free to reach out to shauryauppal97@gmail.com for more details on sponsorships. I am nominated for the HackerNoon 2022 Noonies, Vote for me: https://www.noonies.tech/2022/programming/2022-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-data Connect 1:1 Meeting here: https://topmate.io/shaurya Data Science Book Recommendations: [1] The Book of Why [2] Naked Statistics Also published here

Is the Pinterest Way to Measure Ads the Right Way?

Pinterest is a social media platform that functions quite differently compared to the likes of Facebook and Instagram. On Pinterest, users upload images and videos, which are referred to as ‘pins’ and appear on users’ home feeds. The platform’s algorithm also ranks these pins based on users’ search queries based on their relevance. Users have the option of saving the pins that they like, which appear on Pinterest boards – pin collections that have been put together by different Pinterest users or ‘pinners’. While Pinterest emerged as a platform that users primarily used for personal purposes, over time, businesses recognized the platform’s marketing potential. Since then, Pinterest marketing has become an important social media undertaking for brands and influencers whose target audiences are active on the platform. The objective of marketing on Pinterest is simple – to make pins go viral with the end goal of making audiences aware of brands and their products and/or services. So, if you want your brand to grow on Pinterest, read on. In this post, we’ll take you through the top Pinterest marketing tips that you can put into practice for amazing results! Scrap that personal account and get started with a business account If your primary purpose of being active on Pinterest is to make your brand grow, then it would be in your best interest to switch to a business account from a personal account. When you make the jump to a business account on Pinterest, you can access a whole host of exclusive features such as: This is Pinterest’s very own advertising feature, which works similar to Facebook Ads and Google Ads. With this feature, you can create your Pinterest ads from scratch and showcase your brand in front of the entire Pinterest community, which, by the way, is huge. Using Pinterest Advertising can also drive sales, way more compared to other social media platforms. Pinterest Advertising: Is your Pinterest content managing to engage your target audience? Or is it barely making any impact? Do you need to put in more effort to understand your audience better? You can get detailed answers to all these questions by using the Pinterest Analytics feature. This is arguably the most important feature that a Pinterest business account will give you, and the best thing is that it’s completely free. Pinterest Analytics: The Pinterest Business Hub is a simplified interface that lets business users access different types of business-related information. For instance, you can access ad overview information through this feature, which will give you details regarding the status of your ad campaigns on the platform. Quite simply, it’s a business account overview that places all relevant business information at your fingertips. Pinterest Business Hub: For businesses, Pinterest Create is an incredibly handy feature for creating pins and scheduling them for publishing later. It also offers users a keyword tool that is helpful for optimizing pins, making them more discoverable. For brands on the platform looking for a boost on the organic traffic front, there’s no feature better than this. Pinterest Create: So, these are the four features that come free of cost with a Pinterest business account. However, you won’t get to access these features with a personal account. That’s why you should switch to a business account without further delay. Experimenting with pin types is essential Pinterest offers users various pin types, and each of them has certain unique benefits. The most commonly used types of pins on the platform include: Pinterest launched Idea pins back in 2021, and it’s Pinterest’s version of Stories, which has been a huge hit across platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram. However, there are certain differences between Stories and Idea pins. For starters, Idea pins aren’t temporary (Stories posts disappear after 24 hours). They can also be saved by users. All in all, this is the pin type you should use if your goal is to inspire your audience. Idea pins: Video pins are like your regular video posts on Facebook and Instagram, but with certain enhancements. One major difference between Pinterest video pins and Facebook and Instagram video posts is that you have the option of including a cover image. it’s similar to video thumbnails on YouTube, i.e. users can form expectations about your video pins based on your cover images. Video pins also allow you to include external links. If increasing brand engagement matters to you, you should make regular use of video pins. Video pins: This pin type is the original Pinterest pin that’s still relevant and popular after so many years. Nothing fancy here – just static images and the ability to include external URL links. However, despite the lack of fanciness, these pins can be incredibly effective if they’re well-thought-out. Standard pins: The trick to understanding the pin type that works for your brand is to experiment with all available pin types. You can use Pinterest Analytics to understand how your pins are faring in terms of your brand’s Pinterest growth. Focus on natural keyword inclusion By natural keyword inclusion, we mean including keywords that are relevant to your pins and including them naturally. Confusing? Let’s provide you with some clarity through an example. For instance, let’s say your brand deals in cakes, and you want to create a pin with the aim of driving traffic to your website, which is full of recipes. In such a scenario, you might want to include the keyword ‘cake recipes’ in your pin description. You might also have another keyword in mind such as ‘recipes for cakes’. To include both of them, you can either do it naturally, i.e. through proper sentences, or stuff them both in without any regard for grammar and sentence construction. Here’s what naturally including the keywords in the description could look like: ‘Visit the link for sumptuous cake recipes. Find countless recipes for cakes to experiment with.’ On the other hand, by unnaturally stuffing the keywords, you could end up with something like: ‘For more cake recipes and recipes for cakes, click on the link.’ The second example doesn’t sound natural, does it? So, this is the kind of keyword stuffing practice that you should steer clear of. For starters, it makes your descriptions awful to read. Then there’s the Pinterest algorithm, which seems to detest pins that have a high degree of keyword stuffing. Keep creating and maintaining posting frequency and consistency This is one of those Pinterest tips that you’ll see almost on every article that aims to enlighten readers about growing their brands on the platform. But the reason you’ll find this tip everywhere is that it really is effective. Apart from keeping your audience engaged, it will also increase the chances of your pins being seen and liked later. The main challenge with being creative on Pinterest is that the platform wants you to keep creating frequently and consistently. So, in case your creative juices run dry one fine day, you might find yourself struggling to come up with something that engages your audience. However, we’ve got a few tips for you that you can try out to achieve your peak pin posting frequency and consistency: Creating a pin design from scratch every time can become a tedious and time-consuming affair. That’s why you should consider using pin templates from time to time. Simply pick a template from a website – there are many websites that provide free Pinterest templates. Next, tweak the pre-existing design based on your preferences, and then add the content. Make the most of pin templates: There are moments when you’re brimming with creative energy. Instead of letting this energy go to waste, make use of it by creating content batches, i.e. as many pins as you possibly can at one go. This will ensure that you have enough pins up your sleeve to post, even on days when you aren’t at your creative best. Create batches of content when you’re feeling at your creative best: Pinterest has a scheduling tool, but it’s a bit limited as you can only use it to schedule posts up to a fortnight ahead. This is where other Pinterest scheduling tools can come to your aid. Some tools allow content scheduling up to multiple months in advance. Combining this with batch creation is a great way to make your Pinterest posting efficient. Use a scheduler: 5. Try using a growth tool If you’re new to Pinterest, you’ll find it hard to establish your brand and make it stand out from your competitors who are already well-established. The reason for this is simple – Pinterest has been around for quite some time, and the competition on the platform right now is incredibly fierce. Of course, you can’t simply rely on a growth tool to do everything for you. At the end of the day, your content has to be top-notch and optimized. However, what a growth tool can do is complement your efforts and drive results rapidly. Your sales, engagement and following will go through the roof.

How to Go Viral on Pinterest

Here are some tools that allow you to schedule Pinterest posts for the future Pinterest posts can be an awesome marketing tool and get a ton of reach. However, Pinterest’s native scheduler only allows you to schedule posts for up to 2 weeks in advance. Here are 4 tools that allow you to schedule Pinterest posts as far into the future as you’d like. Pinterest Scheduling Tools 1. OneUp OneUp is a social media scheduling tool that supports (both Personal and Business accounts), LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google Business Profiles, TikTok, and Stocktwits. Pinterest : OneUp has a Free Plan, so you can schedule Pinterest posts for free. Cost : 4.8/5 (290 reviews) Capterra reviews Connecting your Pinterest account When you sign up, you can connect your Pinterest account(s) from the Accounts page in OneUp. OneUp supports both Personal Pinterest accounts and Business Pinterest accounts. Then click “Create a post”: Then choose which Pinterest account and which Board you want to post to. If you have multiple accounts connected, you can post to multiple accounts at the same time: Just like when you create Pins on Pinterest itself, OneUp allows you to add Pin titles, descriptions, and destination links for your Pins: OneUp also has a Canva integration, so you can create an image in Canva and add it to your post without ever leaving OneUp. Then choose for it to either post once or automatically repeat at whatever interval you want, and then schedule your Pin or add it to your Drafts folder: OneUp’s website: www.oneupapp.io 2. Social Pilot Social Pilot is a social media scheduling tool that supports Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google Business Profiles, and Telegram. : Social Pilot starts at $50/month Cost : 4.4/5 (327 reviews) Capterra reviews 3. SocialBee SocialBee is a social media scheduling tool that supports Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google Business Profiles, and TikTok. : SocialBee starts at $19/month Cost : 4.5/5 (24 reviews) Capterra reviews 4. Loomly Loomly is a social media scheduling tool that supports LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google Business Profiles, Pinterest, YouTube, and WordPress. : Loomly starts at $35/month Cost : 4.7/5 (446 reviews) Capterra reviews

4 Tools to Schedule Pinterest Posts

Google’s potential rival to image-sharing platform Pinterest was quietly launched this summer. So, let’s take a closer look at the new app and explore where it sits in the already vast market of social media platforms. Named , the innovative new social media platform has emerged from development as a rival to Pinterest, drawing on Google’s unparalleled machine learning expertise. Initially the brainchild of CJ Adams, Keen came to fruition with help from his team at , Google’s in-house incubator that’s dedicated to developing experimental products. Together with Google’s team, Area 120 worked to create this cutting-edge curation platform. Keen Area 120 People and AI Research What is Keen? Available as an as well as on the web, Keen helps you compile and curate content from across the internet on any chosen topic. For example, if you’d like to know more about growing vegetables from home or grouting a bathroom then you create a ‘Keen’ on that topic. Within that Keen you can store links or images that you find useful before sharing your collection with loved ones or using it as a jumping-off point to find new content. Android app With this technology, Google joins the likes of Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter in being able to customise social media content to your needs. Until now, Pinterest has had a monopoly on the crafting side of the market but Keen presents itself as a serious rival. Whilst still in its early days, and yet to be tested by the masses, anything with Google’s machine learning abilities behind it must stand a chance. That isn’t to say that doesn’t have a lot of AI power. Plus, its already massive following of engaged users is a force to be reckoned with. Converting them to a new platform will likely prove hard for Keen. Pinterest What makes Keen stand out? The only thing that might draw loyal fans away is if Keen approaches curation platforms from a different angle. So, what can Keen do that Pinterest can’t? As an I belive Google’s state-of-the-art machine learning skills and access to Google Search makes it unique. Using this technology, it always presents new, relevant content. As opposed to Pinterest, Keen isn’t created for mindless scrolling. SEO expert Every time you use the app it builds on your interests to offer even better recommendations so the information you need is readily available. This aligns perfectly with Keen’s angle. According to , Keen’s aim is to create a place where you can nurture and grow your interests. Somewhere you can share with friends and “find things that will help in making this precious life count”. founder CJ Adams What is Google’s role in Keen? If Google’s goal is to encourage less scrolling time, this poses the question; how is it benefiting from Keen? Until now, Google has been unsuccessful in crossing over into social media channels. Apps such as Facebook and Instagram generate masses of data that in turn proves lucrative. So, it comes as no surprise that Google is obstinately eager to break into the industry. A content-driven platform like Keen could prove invaluable in harvesting information about users’ interests and hobbies. Whilst Keen sits separately from Google, it seems unlikely that the search engine behemoth isn’t collating the new information with existing data. In the end, only time will tell if Google’s latest foray into the world of social media will be a success. At the moment, Keen is only in its infancy and Area 120 projects have a habit of shutting down and being reintegrated into other Google products. In the meantime, let’s relish the fact that Google is utilising its machine learning systems to help foster greater engagement in activities, interests and hobbies.

About Keen: Google’s AI-powered Answer to Pinterest

You’ve done all that you can to get people to visit your site and buy your products. But somehow, it’s not working as well as you’d expected it to. Well, that’s what we’re here for. To help you via Pinterest. drive traffic to your website A lot of people out there don’t understand how amazing Pinterest is, nor do they know how to use it to help expand their business. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 15 Hashtag Campaigns That Maximized the Brands’ Reach How to Monetize Instagram to Earn a Fortune Which is why we are here to tell you how easy it is to get Pinterest to work to your advantage. Sound good? Let’s begin. Advantages of Driving Traffic from Pinterest Pinterest plays nice with most of the other social media platforms: Were you aware of the fact that Pinterest is and can be linked to other such as Twitter and Facebook? social media sites As soon as you go onto the homepage of Pinterest, you can use your Facebook account to sign up and log in to Pinterest. Pinterest also allows you to share your pins onto other social media sites. Plus, it gives you an upper hand when it comes to engaging with your followers. Pinterest provides you with endless inbound link opportunities. Sadly, it’s not easy to generate inbound links. And this is where Pinterest comes to the rescue. You can add a link in the description of your pin for your followers to copy, paste, and share it. This definitely helps with traffic generation. Pinterest is Targeted by Niche Believe it or not, Pinterest is the most niche-centred social media site out there. You can find almost any niche out there, may it be generic or hyper-specific. Whether you’re a dropshipping website or a crazy food blog, Pinterest has everyone covered. creating All that you have to do is add a — (#) to your search to you get what you want. Now, let’s see how you can drive traffic to your website with the help of Pinterest. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Monetize Instagram to Earn a Fortune How to Drive Traffic from Pinterest to Your Website Step 1: Create a Business Account You don’t have to create a new account. You can create a business account on Pinterest by converting your existing account to a business account. To do this, you will have to verify your website and your Pinterest account with Pinterest and you’re good to go. Once you’ve created a business account, you will have a certain edge over other accounts, such as the luxury to use Rich Pins. Rich pins are those pins that let you add your websites link directly in the description of the pin. They allow you to give real-time pricing for your products. Step 2: Spend Time on Copy Adding a description to your pins is applicable to all users. Pinners (Pinterest users) use this to provide good descriptions for their pins. You can use this to your advantage if you keep a few points in mind, you’ve got to make sure that your description is: Helpful Actionable Detailed Interesting HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 27 of the Most Effective Social Media Marketing Tools You Need in 2019 Step 3: Pin at the Right Time To stand out and make sure that your followers see your pins when they are posted, you need to do rapid testing. You’ll have to find the right time for when you should post your pins to be able to get satisfactory responses. There is always a right time for everything. Step 4: Create Pin-Worthy Images If you want to stand out and get a lot of pins, you’ve got to ensure that you use the right techniques to get your posts noticed. It’s rather simple really. All you’ve got to do is follow these 3 tips: . Stick with what others are doing, that’s what ends up working the best. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel . For instance, reds and pinks are shared more than green and blue hues. Images with certain colors are more commonly shared in your images. Include text Step 5: Write a Pin Description A pin description is one the best things that you can add. It allows you to tell your followers what your pin is about. And you can also add a link to your blog post in the description. But keep in mind that other Pinterest users can delete your description if they want when they pin your post to their boards. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Use Instagram Stories Stickers to Make Your Content More Influential Step 6: Add the “Pin It” Button on Your Blog Posts Adding the “Pin It” button to your blog posts can help your followers pin the post easily. It works a little differently from the other social media “share” buttons. You will have to add the “Pin It” button individually to each post. Step 7: Tag When Possible This is a lot like tagging your friend in a post that reminded you of them. If you repeatedly tag someone in your pins, there is a high chance that they will share your pin. Step 8: Use Keywords and Search Terms The entire concept of using keywords is to make sure that your post can be visible easily when searched for. Adding the right keywords and search terms to your pins can help you get more views and followers. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 21 Video Marketing Tools Every Marketer Should Know in 2019 Most Popular Niches on Pinterest As we’ve already covered, Pinterest caters to multiple niches. There is a niche for everyone on Pinterest. But there are some that are better than others due to the number followers. Let’s take a look at the most popular niches on Pinterest, along with the number of followers of each: Home decor 60.5 millionArt 54 millionTravel 52 millionPhotography 47.1 millionDIY and Crafts 45 millionDesign 44 millionTechnology 38 millionQuotes 35 millionFood and drinks 31 millionHumor 29 millionGardening 27.2 millionTattoos 27 millionAnimals 25 millionEducation 24 millionHair and beauty 21 millionHealth and fitness 21 millionArchitecture 20 millionHistory 20 millionCelebrities 16.5 millionKids and parenting16.5 million Men’s fashion 16.5 millionWeddings 16.5 millionWomen’s fashion 16.5 million Birthday’s 16.5 millionChristmas16.5 million Outdoors 16.5 million A niche is something that will help you take your business forward. Which is why it’s important to make sure that you post pins that are related to your business — which is your niche. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 10 of the Best Ways to Increase Social Media Engagement 9 Of The Biggest Benefits Of Social Influencer Marketing You Need To Know Now Wrapping Up Following all of these steps can help you increase the . And who would have thought that it would be with the help of something so calm, cute, and simple as Pinterest? traffic to your website This is something that people generally overlook, and now you’ve unlocked it. Pretty amazing, right? Don’t forget to let us know what you think in the comments below, and share the love. Originally published at Shanebarker.com . About The Author is the Founder and CEO of and . You can connect with him on , , , and . Shane Barker Content Solutions Gifographics Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Instagram

How to Skyrocket Your Pinterest Traffic with a Few Simple Strategies

Pinterest for Text

You would think Backstreet is back by the throngs of people cheering, babies crying, dogs barking, and nurses trying to wriggle out of the arms of frisky sailors. Something major has occurred and it can be categorized in no other way than life changing. Oh look, it’s more advertising. The was finally released because it was starting to look like we would need a worldwide effort to stop all the terrorism, hunger, and global warming that’s constantly plaguing the planet. Snapchat Ad Manager Or because they’re going broke. Not long after Instagram rolled out the ability to add URL links into your stories to more users, Snapchat fires right back with a variety of new self serve ad options. One would have to assume that some toy glasses that record snaps of your friends saying, “If I see those circles light up again, you’re going to be crapping those dumbass glasses” wasn’t really the best idea to move forward as a sustainable income model. With their stock price hovering around all time lows and equivalent to a carton of black market cigarettes, shareholders keep wondering why they’re calling themselves a camera company while not producing the obvious product here. An actual camera. There’s been talk of AR being introduced in but the user base is still feeling the sting of search functionality popping up on the platform six years after being released. It’s probably safe to assume we’ll all be enjoying Star Wars XXIII with our great grandchildren in AR from Tinder before they wow us again. Spectacles 2.0 Instagram on the other hand has to get more engagement besides their ad set options that can be run through Facebook’s Ads Manager. implemented three ways Using a hashtag in stories will take you directly to a feed, adding a location drops you right into the middle of the action, and also the aforementioned URL additions that open an in app browser directly from friends or brands you follow. Facebook, Instagram’s adoptive parent, decided it would be a fantastic idea to regurgitate their stories feature all over their other platform properties hoping everyone liked to be puked on. Kevin Weil, Instagram’s VP of Product even they would be stupid if they didn’t copy a good idea from Snapchat. Needless to say, we all have little profile picture ghost towns of Facebook stories and Messenger day running along our apps. flat out said The main thing in common between all this Instagram and Snapchat tickle fighting is the ability to provide actionable links and easier CTA’s across their social platforms. One more reason is for sometime now and Snapchat is just hemorrhaging money trying to decide what kind of company they actually are. I can yell all day about being Steve from Blue’s Clues but it’s still not going to get me a show on Nickelodeon and a big comfy chair. Facebook has been running out of advertising space Over on the other side we have Pinterest. The social platform that already added an for finding products and purchasing them in app. AR aspect with Pinterest Lens The platform where every pin is backlinked and essentially its own CTA. Want to see more pins like this? It’s your option to see more and not just thrown in your face because of a few related factors. The ONLY social media platform where every time they use it. 93% of users plan to make a purchase Don’t even worry about millennial usage because it’s about the same as Instagram and on top of that, the male demographic makes up . 40% of new users which is rising at 70% annual clip “Pinterest serves a clear purpose, letting users garner creative inspiration. They can also shop — illustrating why the platform is not only more advantageous for consumers, but also for brands. Pinterest accounts for 17% of social traffic to Retail brand sites.” Another important aspect to take into consideration is that Pinterest, opposed to other platforms plays nicely with YouTube. They let you have the ability to curate entire boards of videos with your YouTube pre-roll ads on top of your links inside of Pinterest itself. You know which other social platforms let you do that? Spoiler, it’s next to zero. Facebook mutates any YouTube post to look like roadkill and uses two different feed algorithms to kill reach based on where your video is linked. You would have to rip the video to use it on Snapchat or Instagram and then those pre rolls are worthless. They already know what kind of retail pull it has on certain industries and there’s no way they would ever let that ruin their market share and ad profits by it overlapping easily. The amount of time and creative effort advertising to consumers is cut dramatically if the audience is specifically coming with intent to purchase. Pinterest isn’t the first place you go to hang out and stay in touch with friends. It’s a place to collect, share, and learn more about what interests you. say it introduces them to new things, and 70% of people browse or save Pins to learn more on topics and products they’ve shown interest in. 84% of people on Pinterest When the key to humanizing your brand is reaching an emotional connection with the consumer, there’s no better place to start than inside a personal collection of what makes them feel the most human. While everyone else is in a Walmart parking lot with Instagram and Snapchat yelling “World Star!!!”, Pinterest will just be over here on it’s Scrooge McDuck 5% pile of all internet referral traffic actually innovating instead of seeing who wore it best.

Instagram & Snapchat are Crotch Punching Each Other While Pinterest is Counting all the Money

No matter if you’re just starting out with your first store, or are running a multi-million dollar enterprise, every eCommerce entrepreneur has one question that never leaves their mind: “How can I drive more traffic to my website?” After all, traffic is the lifeblood of your business. More traffic means more sales and without it, you're doomed to failure. So, whether you’re looking to attract your first customer or your 100,000, generating more traffic always needs to be a top priority. But generating traffic isn’t always easy. Sometimes it can involve a pretty steep learning curve and it’s not hard to waste time and money on strategies that don’t deliver results. As a business owner, you need resources that can guide you through the process at lightning speed. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 8 proven strategies that help you boost your traffic and scale your business with ease. Sounds good? Then let’s jump in! #1 Use paid social advertising One of the most effective ways to quickly boost your store’s traffic is to get savvy with running ads on social media platforms. The beauty of these platforms is that, unlike traditional advertising like newspapers where the readership is broad and undefined, social media advertising allows you to laser-target the people who are most likely to buy your product. Here are 3 social media platforms you can use to your advantage: Facebook Ads Source: TechCrunch Facebook is the daddy of online social media advertising. The platform and what’s more, users are spending an on the website. boasts 2.4 billion monthly users average of 35 minutes per day Facebook’s powerful advertising platform allows you to show ads to potential customers based on their interests, age, behavior, location and more. And while most probably know a bit about Facebook ads, too many are leaving piles of cash on the table by not leveraging one of Facebook’s most powerful features: . eCommerce entrepreneurs Dynamic retargeting ads Dynamic retargeting is incredibly useful becauseit lets you serve personalized ads to people who’ve already visited your site. It leverages your Facebook Pixel’s behavior data to automatically create and retarget highly relevant ads for your audience. How effective are these ads? The research suggests that visitors served these ads . convert at a 5x higher than regular traffic ads Another key consideration to keep in mind when running Facebook ads is which ad format you choose - Facebook lets you choose between video, static images or a carousel of images. In tests we ran, we found video to be the overwhelmingly obvious choice when it comes to creating winning ads for dropshipping. So, it’s worth investing the time yourself, hiring somebody else or using a software tool to help you create eye-catching video advertisements. (Hint: does that for you) Sales Source Instagram Ads Source: No Reach Instagram is Facebook’s baby brother, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s any less powerful at driving traffic to your store. Instagram boasts over 500 million monthly active users and is the platform of choice for millennials - that means it’s ideal if your target market is aged between 15-35. Running Instagram ads is done through Facebook’s business manager, so you’ll be able to view the same helpful metrics as your Facebook ads. Instagram is all about visual appeal, so make sure your ads are able to entice people’s eyes with a stellar creative. Pinterest Ads Source: MarketingWeek Pinterest is a goldmine that’s often overlooked by dropshippers. But that’s a shame because the statistics don’t lie - 93% of its users say they’ve while 54% have bought an item after first discovering it on the platform. That’s huge. used Pinterest to make a purchasing decision Pinterest is a hub for niche groups, especially for those with an interest in DIY, home decor, hand-made crafts, and fashion. These passionate groups make Pinterest ideal for selling tending, visually appealing products. Pinterest lets you promote your own pins, boosting them to the top of your defined audience’s search results, and letting you get your products seen. Promoted pins look extremely native (i.e not like an ad) and so can be very effective at grabbing attention and luring new visitors to your store. #2 Dive into influencer marketing Influencer marketing is a great way to gain traffic to your site by expanding your reach to a whole new set of potential customers. Influencers have buckets of trust and credibility with their audience, and so by partnering with them, you’re able to leverage that sell more products. Influencers are trendsetters who have an engaged audience on platforms like Instagram or Youtube. They’re incredibly valuable because consumers take their advice and recommendations very seriously. Especially when it comes to shopping since it’s typically honest, unbiased and reliable. In fact, as opposed to celebrity endorsements! And according to Nielsen a whopping value word of mouth recommendations over any other type of advertising.  Yes, that did say ninety-two-per-cent. 70% of millennials prefer recommendations from their peers 92% of consumers So how to start advertising with influencers? Well, begin by building a list of potential influencers whose message aligns with your brands - you can browse hashtags in your niche or use the Instagram search function. Then simply reach out and start a conversation - some common approaches are: Sending them a free product to review Offering them a discount code to share with their followers Offering then an affiliate link to put in their bio Exchange products for quality photography/content Discuss prices for paid promotions or shoutouts with links to your store #3 Optimize your search engine ranking Source: Backlinko.com If customers are searching for your online store but can’t find you, then you’re missing out on a huge amount of free traffic. In fact, . the top 3 sites that appear for a google search absorb 75% of all search traffic That’s where search engine optimization comes in. SEO is a set of techniques that help your online store rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) making your website more visible to people who are looking for your products. It’s easy to see why stores that rank well in the search engines, see massive growth in their profit margins - they’re no longer having to allocate a large portion of their marketing budget to paid ads to get site visitors. There’s a lot involved in optimizing your search engine ranking, but here are some of the basics that you can start implementing today to beat out your competition for the no.1 spot: Start a blog that adds value to your audience & add strategic keywords to your posts Include external links to experts in your industry Include keywords in all of your product descriptions & images Create a web of internal links so Google indexes your site Build links to your site from other reputable sites Optimize your website to run at top speed Focusing on SEO won’t bring the instant returns of paid advertising, it’s more of a marathon than a sprint. But if you put in consistent effort, starting with even a few little adjustments can make a big difference to your traffic over the long term. #4 Leverage the power of GoogleAds Source: Gorilla360.com While you’re waiting around to get ranked in the search engines, you can use to quickly capture the attention of high-intent traffic by buying ad space. Google Ads Google is a pay-per-click advertising method - so that means you’ll only get charged when somebody actually clicks on your ad or watches your video. And while you can spend money quickly using Google Ads, you don’t need a huge budget to get started - new accounts even come with up to $75 in advertising credit to get you off on the right foot. It’s completely up to you to decide how much to spend. There are several ways you can use Google Ads to boost your eCommerce store’s traffic: You can appear at the top of the search page in Google’s search results You can advertise video promotions on YouTube and target your audience based on interests or demographics You can advertise with display ads in Gmail, on websites or in mobile apps Use Google shopping ads to display your products on the search results page As with any form of paid advertising, it’s critical to be able to optimize the performance of your campaigns to get the best return on your money. Google Ads is quite intuitive, however, it can take a little bit of practice to get proficient with them. Google offers its designed to help you get the most from your ads (and digital marketing generally) - it’s well worth checking out. own course #5 Develop a referral program Source: Harrys.com Referral marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to spread your message, drive more traffic and generate more customers for your store. It’s so powerful because people trust recommendations from friends an insane amount. In fact, When referred by a friend, people are than if they’d found your store on their own. 4x more likely to make a purchase So, incentivize your customers and fans to share their favorite products with their family and friends and in return shower them with discounts or other benefits like free priority shipping, store credit or free gifts. A large part of Harry’s (pictured) success in growing into a 7-figure eCommerce business was down to their excellent referral program. Their pre-launch campaign encouraged people to refer their friends by email - the more leads they referred the more the rewards they got. Their friends also got 10% off their first purchase. It’s an excellent example of a win-win referral program that resulted in over 100,000 email sign-ups in the first week. #6 Draw in traffic with content marketing Source: Scotts Menswear Content marketing is about creating engaging, creative, informative and helpful material around the topics and issues that your customers care about. When you do this, you’ll not only attract customers to your business but you’ll win their trust too. And as any good marketer will tell you; trust equals sales. Your content can take many forms - it could be a podcast, it could be how-to guides, youtube videos or just good old fashioned blog posts. High-quality content positions your brand as an authority in your niche - just look at the blog over at (pictured) to get an idea of what we’re talking about here. Scotts Menswear doesn’t just please customers either - when executed correctly you can charm the search engines too which means you’ll get the traffic-boosting effects of better search rankings too. Use free tools like or to identify the best opportunities for your store to supercharge it’s search rankings. Content marketing Google’s keyword planner Keyword.io You can also supercharge your marketing efforts by combining content marketing with other tactics such as paid ads or influencer marketing. For example, instead of going straight for the hard sell by advertising a product, you can run some of your best content through Facebook ads to a highly targeted audience. Visitors will be introduced to your brand with content that interests them. That way they’ll much more likely to purchase when you hit them with a killer offer though a retargeting ad in two days’ time. Don’t think it’ll work or that it sounds like too much effort? Just remember that you’re reading your blog and engaging with our content right now! #7 Use Email to boost your traffic Source: SmatrMail Email marketing is one of the best ways to boost your store’s traffic. In fact, over say that email is their numero uno when it comes to driving customer acquisition, engagement, and retention. 80% of marketers Given that studies show that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an you can’t afford to be missing out on your slice of the pie. average return of $42 Like all things worth doing, email marketing takes a little bit of planning to get right. You have to make sure that every email landing in your recipient’s inbox is value-packed and worth opening. Start by choosing your email platform - and are both great apps that are free for beginners and integrate seamlessly into your . Then start collecting emails - use a pop-up on your store to capture visitors’ emails in exchange for a 15% discount code. Klaviyo Ominsend Shopify store Also, make sure that you out a couple of basic flows in place as part of your email strategy. A flow is a marketing automation that sends emails based on certain actions. Spend a half-day setting up the following: A welcome email for new subscribers Abandoned cart reminders for shoppers who didn’t complete their purchase An upsell offer for people who made a purchase A request for review following a purchase Once you’ve established a workable list, it’s time to start sending emails to drive traffic to your store. Writing emails can often be a sticking point for many entrepreneurs so here are our top tips to help you get it done quickly and effectively: Subject line This is the key to getting email traffic to your site - if people don’t open your email they’ll never click your links. Here’s a useful formula to ensure good open rates: [Number or Question + Adjective + Keywords + Promise] For example, “The 3 Sharpest Men’s Watches You’ll Love”  or “How can an awesome watch upgrade your style?” Call to action (CTA) Your CTA is the gateway to your site - remember the whole reason we’re sending emails is to get our recipients to take action. Link every photo and important piece of text to your site and come up with a compelling CTA that readers just can’t resist. Here’s a few to get you started: Shop now Act now Shop now. Get 40% off Don’t delay, save now Shop our bestsellers Yes! I want one Claim your coupon See you hand-selected deals Get 50% off now Get free shipping now Content & Visuals Keep your written content short, snappy and to the point - readers aren’t interested in hanging around much longer than a few seconds. Equally, make sure that your visual content is high-quality. We rely so much on our eyes when buying a physical product, so this is your chance to put your goods in the spotlight with some killer photography. In Summary Adding these 7 tactics to your marketing toolkit should help you drive a serious amount of traffic to your store. With more traffic, you have more opportunities to convert those casual browsers into paying customers and that means more profit for you. Learning how to drive traffic using the strategies outlined in this post won’t only drive more traffic to your store - but it’ll transform you into a better all-round marketer and make you a more effective digital entrepreneur. And that’s a wrap! Got any questions about how to increase website traffic for your online store or how to master any of the 7 techniques? Did we miss any effective traffic generating tips? Share your questions and thoughts in the comments below! Previously published at https://www.salesource.io/blog/how-to-drive-traffic-to-your-shopify-store

How You Can Drive Traffic To Your Shopify Store

announced new in its image search in August, just a day after Pinterest updated its app to make the visual search feature front-and-center. This summer’s activity comes a few months after Pinterest announced , which allows a user to take a photo of an object with their phone and see related objects in the search results. It also closely follows Google’s May announcement of , which uses machine to do a real-time visual search using your phone’s camera lens. Google badges Pinterest Lens Google Lens learning Although Google and Pinterest lead in visual search, other ecommerce-focused tech companies have developed visual search as part of their search functions as well. This July, announced its plan to unveil two AI-powered visual search features for its mobile app, which will be coming out later this year. And way back in 2014, added an image recognition feature as part of its mobile app. eBay Amazon So far, the overwhelmingly obvious use case of visual search is for general ecommerce purposes. Companies want users to be able to search for and eventually purchase products through visual search. Some examples include large tech companies like Google or Pinterest building their own visual search functions, as well as legacy retail companies like that turn to visual search API/services startups like or . West Elm Clarifai Slyce In a world where a picture is literally worth a thousand words, it’s easy to see how visual search could help a user find a new pair of boots or a new sofa, and how this translates into a new era of search for the consumer. Understandably, general ecommerce, especially fashion and decor, are leading the way. Ecommerce industries like these have the most diversity and visual detail in their products. shows that 39 percent of its visual search queries were for apparel and 31 percent were for home decor. A study by Slyce Beyond the general use cases that are already pretty familiar, other spaces could benefit from adopting visual search moving forward. Some of these include the discount clothing industry, brick-and-mortar retail, and the fine art market. Discount clothing outlets In May, launched its own visual search tool (“Search with Photo”) to help shoppers find furniture. Part of the behind the new feature is to help Wayfair capture more sales from discount furniture shoppers. These shoppers can now upload photos of high-end furniture onto Wayfair to see whether the online store offers a similar but cheaper alternative. Wayfair strategy Companies from the traditional discount clothing industry could also leverage visual search to help consumers find their products. Companies in this space range from retail chains like Designer Shoe Warehouse and Burlington Coat Factory to fast-fashion ecommerce companies like H&M and Forever 21. For the latter category, the products are famously known for being of high-fashion garments that arrive on the shelves faster than the upscale originals. Adopting visual search seems like a natural move to help consumers search for high fashion looks at low prices. duplications Brick-and-mortar retailers A for Google Lens released after Google I/O 2017 shows a real-time visual search of a user’s surroundings from their phone. The user points their phone at a storefront and a Google Maps result for the storefront comes up. The result contains information about the particular storefront, such as its name, customer satisfaction rating, hours, etc. — much like the current search results in Google Maps. promotional video The combination of visual search with a map has the potential to draw online consumers to physical storefronts offline. It goes beyond the aforementioned example of real-time point-and-shoot search and can be used to enhance how paid search currently operates. For example, a retail brand could to alert a shopper that one of its products is available at a store near them. It’s a way for retail brands to expand their omnichannel strategy to include both online and in-store pickups. It could also allow purely brick-and-mortar small businesses to draw more local foot traffic. align its paid search Fine art galleries Describing a piece of fine art with keywords can be quite difficult — certainly more of a challenge than describing a blouse or a coffeemaker with keywords. In May, visual search API/services startup launched a visual search tool with , a digital image licensing platform for the U.K. visual arts space. Artimage’s new visual search tool gives users the ability to comb through 15,000 images of artwork in less than to quickly find unexpected gems. Visii Artimage 350 milliseconds Artimage isn’t the only one in the fine arts space looking to incorporate visual search into its business. , an art marketplace startup based in London, has similar ambitions. In the future, it’s easy to imagine a company like , which catalogs over , adopting a visual search tool to help its users discover artwork based on certain visual or stylistic preferences. Artfinder Artsy 1,800 commercial galleries The future of search is becoming increasingly visual. The current visual search adoption has primarily been dominated by large tech companies for typical ecommerce user cases. However, these three spaces — discount clothing, brick-and-mortar retail, and fine art — could really benefit from adopting visual search as part of their businesses. That’s worth keeping an eye out for. This piece was originally published in VentureBeat .

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