Visual branding is the most effective way to create a powerful online presence. If you don’t believe me, check out this article on why visuals are important in marketing: When half of the human brain …
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This white paper takes a current view of market risk management, its growing complexity and how it can be transformative to institutions as the industry is widely recognising what are the right approaches to addressing evolving risks.
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Bill’s guests are Nancy Pelosi, Dr. David Katz, and Jay Leno. (Originally aired 4/24/20)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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If you have a website, you need to know what bots are and how they can find your site, as well as what they can do (either intentionally or indirectly) to cause frustration to your online marketing efforts. Blocking bots may be a necessity to protect your site’s speed, users, and security.
Let’s talk about what bots are and how you can put up some defenses to start protecting your website.
Before we dive into the details of what they can do and how you can stop them, we need to take a step back and explore what a bot is.
A bot is a software script that performs a data task over and over again. It’s that repetition and data interaction that makes them a fellow member of the online world we interact with.
Some of the other names you hear bots associated with help explain what bots are and how they work. Think of terms like spiders, crawlers, or web bots.
There are a couple of misconceptions we can set aside right away.
Even though the term is short for robots, bots are not robots in the form of metal, gears, and computers. They are bits of script, as we discussed, that run continuously over the data of websites or other online platforms.
Also, they are not necessarily maliciously driven by a hacker or person with ill intent. Sometimes they’re neutral or even useful, such as bots used by search engines to index websites.
As we mentioned above, bots are generally bits of software script that repeat a task over and over again. An outside person, either friend or foe, may deploy these to accomplish a specific task.
However, bots are getting “smarter,” so to speak, and some are created with artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning technology. Some examples of these are chatbots for e-commerce that brands can use to learn from human interaction and deliver a better customer
service experience for their audience.
Here’s an example of an e-commerce chatbot on the ModCloth website:
As we’ve said, bots can be useful, such as indexing for a search engine or improving customer experiences.
They can also be malicious and cause trouble for your website or other web presence. Some bots are intended to crawl websites and steal data like passwords, identifiable information, or personal data. They can also deploy malicious attacks on websites, computers, and other places. Some get sophisticated, unfurling a series of steps to cause chaos for another user or organization.
They can also be used to surge interactions online. This may come in the form of flooding a page or forum with comments, driving up purchases or popularity of something to stir up interest, bumping up social media interaction to improve views, or other ways to “game the system.”
These are often the ways you may start to see bot activity on your website.
Do you need to block bots on your website? Here are some signs and how to check.
There are some signs that bots have been to your website, and those may be the first place to start. Here are a few to look for:
If you have a gut reaction that you need a bot blocker, you can do a deeper dive to determine whether bots are a problem for your website and whether it’s worth investing time to block bots.
Here are a few places to explore:
Trying to block bots from coming to your website can feel a little like trying to put up an invisible shield around your site to ward off invaders.
While it’s not quite so fanciful, taking steps to keep bots from invading and causing chaos on your website is about being proactive and putting processes into place ahead of any problems.
It starts with understanding the enemy, removing any current problems, and then preparing for future attacks. Here are some steps you can take:
If you’re reading this far, you probably have some concerns about bots and want to know more about how to block website bots. Before jumping in, though, it’s always good to consider what’s happening on your website.
Are you having a significant problem with bots, or are you just noticing some increased activity?
Further, consider what the impact has been or could be on your online marketing efforts. As we mentioned above, some bots are good, and some are bad. Some are just neutral.
For instance, you might have a bump in activity on your website on a given day or a given page for no apparent reason. You can’t link them to a specific marketing campaign that promoted that page and caused a spike. The surge in activity may have come from a bot.
If the surge was short-lived and you haven’t seen any other issues, it may be worth looking into but may not warrant extreme or rushed reactions.
On the other hand, if you’ve found your e-commerce site was hacked, or if parts of your website have been infected and are no longer functioning properly, you probably want to act quickly to batten up the hatches and clean up your website. If that’s the case, you may want to jump to the later steps here and start taking immediate action.
Once you realize that web bots have been bothering your website, you’ll need to go on a bit of an investigation to find out where they’re coming from.
I listed above some places that can help you explore whether bots are attacking your website. They can also help you figure out the origin of those bots.
For example, in Google Analytics, your web server access logs, or any log-in attempt emails, you may be able to see data related to those visiting your site. You can check for a pattern or a series of the same IP address repeatedly.
Now it’s time to decide what to do.
If you’ve already suffered an attack, you’ll need to take steps to clean up the problem and patch any vulnerabilities in your site to avoid further problems.
If you’ve been seeing bot activity but haven’t been attacked, you should focus your plan on looking for vulnerabilities that could be exploited in the future and tighten them up now.
Keep your website and all its integrations up to date with the latest releases. Whichever website CRM provider you use, ensure you’re staying current with that platform’s releases. For instance, if you use WordPress, you need to ensure that your theme and plugins have the latest updates.
Staying up to date has its advantages. First, bots may use older versions to gain access. Further, platforms are motivated to provide secure products to their customers. The latest updates may come with increased security features and bot blocker options.
One way to block bots from interacting with parts of your websites (such as sign-ups, contact pages, and purchase options) is to ensure that only humans can perform those actions.
CAPTCHA forces the user to perform a challenge or other action to prove they’re not a bot. Unless a bot has the correct action written into their script, they won’t finish this task and move on.
Here is an example of a CAPTCHA you’ve probably seen before:
Especially if your website is a few years old, you may have installed many API integrations and other connections to other web platforms. If you’ve permitted that integration to connect with and share data with your website, APIs could be an area of vulnerability.
Conduct an audit of every API, plugin, connection, or other integration:
If you have questions, reach out to the platform owner and make sure they are secure.
This is not foolproof, but another way to close up some ways bots can access your website is by blocking older versions of browsers from accessing your website. You might achieve this by requiring users to use new versions of browsers to view your website.
TechRepublic encourages using this method as most human users will be forced to update to a newer browser version.
This requires accessing and updating the .htaccess file of your website, so unless you are experienced with coding, we recommend engaging with a web developer for this.
If you’re struggling to stay up to date with the bots coming to your website or feel like the problem may be bigger than you want to control, you can turn to a professional to start digging deeper into bots that may be heading to your website.
If you notice a specific bot that keeps arriving at your website and causing problems, such as offensive comments or attempts to gain unauthorized access, you can block that IP address from gaining access to your website in the future.
Many web hosts, such as GoDaddy, provide detailed information about how to accomplish this task. However, you should know that this is only a patch. It can stop a rather insidious attack in its tracks, but many hackers or malicious bot launchers have ways of coming in from other IP addresses, so the solution may not hold long-term.
Also, Hubspot reminds us that blocking an IP address means blocking all access from any person or bot from that IP address, so weigh the pros and cons before making a decision.
For a long-term solution, you may choose to pay for a bot blocker service. Although there are many different options, they all promise you a bit of peace of mind as their integrated solution stays on your website, comparing visitors with their information to watch for and alert you of any problems. A few options include:
Bot blocking isn’t a one-and-done situation. You will need to continue to monitor your website for any problems.
You can watch for any of the problems discussed above and take steps to close up any holes. You may want to add this to your calendar to check in monthly or quarterly.
You can also keep an ear out for public data breaches. If you hear of any wide-scale attacks, take a look at your website and look for signs of any bot activity.
As AI in marketing continues to grow, our discussion of blocking bots, as well as adding them to our marketing stack, will likely increase as well. Bots can be helpful in our digital work and can support our digital marketing strategy.
They can also be malicious and attack your website at any time. The best way to block bots is to stay vigilant and keep your web presence up to date and cleaned up.
Don’t let vulnerabilities like outdated plugins or open access ports linger, inviting opportunistic bots. Monitor as you go and consider hiring an outside third party if the problem or the risks start getting bigger than you want to handle.
What’s the first step you’re going to take to block bots?
With more than a billion unique monthly visitors, Bing is a hugely popular search engine. Sure, it’s nowhere near as popular as the world’s biggest search engine, Google, but it’s an impressive and powerful platform in its own right.
In fact, if you’re running a paid ads campaign, it could be a mistake to ignore Bing and all the possibilities it can offer you.
With that in mind, let me show you why it might be worth launching a Bing PPC ad campaign.
Depending on what you’re selling and who you’re targeting, Bing could be the missing piece of the puzzle for your marketing strategy. Here’s why.
First, Bing has a 6.7 percent market share, making it the world’s second-largest search engine. That might not sound like much, but there’s huge growth potential here.
Next, over 1 billion people use Windows 10. Since Microsoft owns Bing, they direct a lot of traffic to their own search engine through Cortana and the search bar at the bottom of the computer screen. That’s some easy, reliable traffic right there!
Finally, according to a Wordstream study, the average click-through rate (CTR) for Bing Ads is 1.25 percent, while it’s only 0.86 percent for Google Ads.
Seems like it’s worth paying attention, right?
Ready to get started? Great. It’s simple to set up your first campaign, so let me walk you through the steps.
To start, you need a Microsoft Advertising account since Bing Ads is now a part of Microsoft advertising. It’s free to sign up, and you can use an existing email address to do so.
First, head over to Microsoft Advertising, and click “Sign Up Now” to register.
On the next page, click “Create One” to set up a new Microsoft Advertising account.
You can either use an existing email address or create a new one to run your account.
Next, simply follow the onscreen instructions. You’ll need to input some basic details like your name and your business location. Agree to the Terms of Service and create your account.
Are you creating a Bing Ad from scratch? Move on to step 3. If you’ve already got a Google Ads campaign you want to run on Bing, this step is for you.
First, go to your top menu, select “Import,” then select “Import from Google Ads.” Then, just sign in to Google. Go to “Choose Accounts,” select the account you want to import an ad from, and hit “Next.”
If you’re happy to import your Google Ad with no changes, name the imported campaign and click “Start Import” or hit “Customize Report” to tweak things like your bids and bid strategies.
Want to import multiple Google Ads simultaneously? You can import up to 10 at one time, and the steps are pretty much the same.
Once you’ve imported your desired campaigns, double-check all the details to ensure they’ve moved over correctly, paying particular attention to your targeting settings, bids, and budgets.
Make any adjustments as necessary, and you’re good to go.
Before you create your campaign, you need to choose your target keywords. Unless you choose the “right” keywords for your campaign, your ad won’t reach the right people.
How do you find the perfect keywords? Well, you need to run some keyword research. Microsoft advertising has a built-in keyword planner to help you do just that.
First, sign in to your account. Select “Tools” from the top menu and scroll down to “Keyword Planner.” You can then enter details like your business name, location, and service, and the keyword planner will show you suggested keywords to bid on.
To improve the search results, input any keywords you know you want to use and note down any negative keywords you want to exclude from the results.
You can also check for search volumes, trends, and cost estimates to help focus your keyword research.
How do you know which keywords to go with? Stick with keywords connected to “commercial intent.” These are the keywords people generally use when they’re ready to buy a product or sign up with a service, so it makes sense to target them in your Bing Ads campaign.
Say you sell wine. A phrase you might use is “buy wine” because, unsurprisingly, most people using this search term want to actually buy wine. When you search for this keyword and related suggestions, this list appears:
While all the columns matter, pay close attention to the CTR and cost-per-click (CPC) columns. The higher the CTR, the more people click through the ad. Balance this against how much the average click actually costs you to determine which keywords might be best for your campaign and your ad budget.
There’s no need to limit yourself to Microsoft’s keyword planning tool. You can also check out Ubersuggest for other keyword ideas and use your findings to inform your ad.
Once you’ve set up your account and completed your keyword research, it’s time to create your first Bing Ad. If you didn’t import any campaigns in step two, or if you’re creating a new Bing Ads campaign, this step is for you.
First, go to your “Campaigns” page and then click the “Create Campaign” button in the middle of your screen.
Then, set your goal. Your goal could be, for example, conversions to your website, a dynamic search ad, or selling products from your catalog. The setup wizard walks you through the different options available.
Next, simply follow the onscreen instructions to complete your Bing Ads campaign. Once you hit “Save,” your ad will go live.
Before you finish setting up your Bing Ad, you can go ahead and set customized parameters to maximize your chances of reaching the right audience. For example, you could choose which times you want to show your ad or which age groups you want to see your ad.
Setting up custom parameters ensures you’re getting the most from your Bing Ads.
It’s all well and good setting up a Bing Ads campaign, but you also need to ensure it’s bringing you the desired results! To assess the effectiveness of your campaign, you need to track two metrics: conversion rate and CPC.
Checking your conversion rate tells you how many people are taking the desired action through your ads, and assessing your CPC shows if you’re overspending on your ad budget.
How do you track these metrics? Well, let’s start with conversion rates. You can easily track conversions by simply clicking on the “Campaigns” tab and checking out the number in the “Conv.” column.
From here, you can tell how many conversions you’re getting per campaign. You’ll notice you can track everything from impressions to your CTR from this tab, so you can quickly track whichever metrics you deem the most important, all from one page.
Similarly, then, you can view your CPC from the “Campaigns” tab. Check how much you’re spending per single click and confirm it’s in line with your expectations and marketing budget.
If you’re spending too much, consider bidding on different keywords or amending your campaign somehow.
A successful Bing Ads campaign is about more than just keyword research and metrics tracking. To get the most from your campaign and maximize your ROI, follow these tips.
Whether these ads work for you really depends on what you’re selling and who you’re selling it to. For example, slightly older and wealthier audiences may prefer Bing to Google, so if you’re selling, say, wine boxes aimed at middle-class Americans aged 45+, Bing could be perfect for you.
The best way to know if Bing’s worth your time? Build a customer profile. Identify who you’re targeting and what they respond to best.
Do you already use a tool like Google Analytics? Check your demographics data. If you trend towards a younger audience, you might not get the results you’re looking for from Bing Ads.
If you’re already running high-performing Google Ads campaigns, it makes sense to import them into Bing Ads. While you can, of course, simply set up entirely new campaigns, you’ll save time and effort by just importing your successful campaigns.
Not sure which Google Ads campaigns to import? Think about which ones are most likely to appeal to the demographic you’re targeting on Bing Ads and work from there. You can always remove these campaigns and import others later.
One final point here: Just remember to double-check that everything moved over seamlessly from Google Ads to Bing before you go live.
To get the most from your Bing Ads, you must ensure they’re reaching the right audience. How do you measure this? By pulling multiple analytics reports.
For example, you could track segments including:
Say you discover you get the most conversions from mobile devices on weekends before 5 p.m. Focus on ensuring your ads appear most frequently at this time to maximize your conversions. You’ll get the most ROI from your budget this way!
You’ll find all the tracking tools you need on the “Campaigns” page.
To track your conversions accurately, you need to set up the “Universal Event Tracking” (UET) tag. Why? This tag allows you to see exactly what users do after they click on your ad and visit your site.
In other words, if you want to know whether someone bounces from your landing page immediately or actually commits to a purchase, you need a UET tag.
It’s easy to set up. First, go to your “Campaigns” page, click “Conversion Tracking,” then “UET tags.” Give it a name to help you identify it. In the description box, enter your URL or website name. Save the tag you’ve just created.
Next, copy the code and paste it into the pages of your website you wish to track. WordPress plugins can help here.
Finally, add some conversion goals to your tag, whether it’s tracking how long someone spends on your website, purchases they make, and so on.
The Microsoft support page has more guidance on how to run UET tags if you’re new to them.
Your quality score reveals how your Bing Ad stacks up against competitors’ ads. It’s based on three things: your CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Here’s what the scores mean:
In short, a low-quality score means your ads won’t appear as often as they should, whereas a high-quality score means you’ve got a competitive keyword and CTR, so your ad appears more often.
To view your score, click the “Keywords” tab on the “Campaigns” page and check out the “Qual. score” column. Check it frequently to confirm your ads are performing well.
While Bing Ads aren’t for everyone, they’re definitely worth a closer look. For many businesses, they offer a cost-effective alternative to Google Ads, while others might find it’s best to run PPC campaigns across both platforms.
The only way to know is to try them out for yourself! It’s simple to set up a campaign, so consider importing a high-performing Google Ads campaign and seeing how it goes.
Have you set up your first Bing Ads campaign yet? How are you finding it?
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CERN (https://www.home.cern) | Database Engineer | Geneva, Switzerland | ONSITE
You will be working within the Electrical Power Converter Group, responsible for the
power converters for the whole CERN accelerator complex, and the Converter Controls
Software Section, which develops and supports the power converters control software and
databases for the SY-EPC Group. These range in power from a few Watts to 150MW and are
used to drive current through the magnets in the accelerators, transfer lines and experiments.
The magnets guide and focus the particle beams, so precise control of the currents is critical.
Your job would entail:
– Designing & maintaining relational Oracle databases;
– Expertise of Python and its popular libraries;
– Some experience in developing UIs using HTML, CSS and JavaScript;
– The ability to understand and speak French or the undertaking to acquire it rapidly;
– Experience with ASP.NET, VB.NET, Visual Studio, and C# would be an advantage.
Please apply here: https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/CERN/743999747852919-databa…
(There is more detailed information about the job vacancy on the link above)
SEEKING WORK | Remote | Part-Time 2days/week
I am a freelance full-stack web developer with over six years of experience delivering software. I have worked for clients all around the world in many different industries. I have delivered solutions for solo founders, startups, digital agencies and big companies, such as Apple. I have background in computer science and am able to create everything from small business websites to custom web applications.
Technologies: JavaScript, ES6+, React.js, Next.js, Gatsby, Apollo, GraphQL, Redux, Node.js, Express, data visualizations (D3.js, Mapbox, Leaflet), WordPress, React Native, Bootstrap, Material UI, Webpack, PostgreSQL, AWS, Heroku, Firebase, TypeScript, headless CMS (Contentful, Prismic, Strapi), and more.
I am available for part-time engagements 2 days/week.
Location: Europe
Remote: Yes
Willing to relocate: Not at the moment
Résumé/CV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ngTkTVeDaakyFxEmPyyqyMuKxD6…
Email: mail[at]andrejgajdos.com
Personal Website: https://andrejgajdos.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrejgajdos
Github: https://github.com/AndrejGajdos
There’s no shortage of amazing images online, but that doesn’t mean you’re always going to find the original. So many images you find on blogs and other websites originated from somewhere else. While it may not seem like a big deal, it seriously pays to know how to find the original. Here’s how to find … Continue reading How to Find Image Sources For Proper Attribution or Research
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