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Digital Throttle's Sean Finley Celebrates Milestone With Tennessee Knockout

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 22:19:07 GMT

Digital Throttle's Motorcycle Group President Sean Finley is also the co-creator of the longest running hard enduro competition in the United States - the Tennessee Knockout (TKO).

Ran for its fifteenth year this August, TKO is a premiere stop for the world's best hard enduro athletes. It's also a regular stop for the domestic US Hard Enduro regulars as well as a regular stop on the FIM Hard Enduro calendar.

The Red Bull-sponsored event consists of three days of racing at the iconic Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee and includes multiple amateur classes as well as an intense and unique format for the world's top global competitors. It is also the first event of its kind to feature a dedicated electric motorcycle division that continues to grow in popularity.

Finley's experience in event creation and promotion goes way back. He was instrumental in the acquisition and management of the indoor EnduroCross series in 2007, expanding the one-off event into a national series during his time as Publisher of Primedia/Source Interlink's motorcycle publications.

Digital Throttle Marine Division President Honored With "Women Making Waves" Recognition

sean.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Sean Robb) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 04:03:25 GMT

Marine Division President Vicki Norman Recognized for Contributions to Boating Industry

Digital Throttle Marine Division President Vicki Norman was recognized for her accomplishments after being featured in Boating Industry's Women Making Waves . The June issue of the boating magazine honors women working in the recreational boating world. The 26 finalists featured in the 2025 edition were nominated by their peers and selected by the publication.

Norman is a lifelong boating enthusiast with 31 years of experience in the industry. She is also a former competitive water skier, PWC endurance racer and licensed USCG captain.

Captain Vicki's marine marketing career began in the mid-'90s working for the leading print publications of the time; Powerboat, Trailer Boats, Watercraft World, Power and Motoryacht and later launching Speedboat and Sportboat. As a magazine publisher and USCG Captain, she was a also member of the boat test teams, testing more than 600 boats.

Norman joined Digital Throttle in 2013 and has been instrumental in developing the marine and RV divisions. Her professional experience coupled with her passion for the boating industry make her an ideal marketing partner who knows the industry and how to help you find your customers using all digital platforms.

2024 Digital Advertising Report

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 18:24:08 GMT

Google Chrome Keeps Cookies Alive

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 21:38:27 GMT

Breaking News: Cookies Remain

July 22 2024 - Breaking News : Google has decided to keep third-party cookies in it's popular Chrome browser. Read the full Blog Post announcement.

After four years of attempting to remove third-party cookies from it's Chrome Browser, Google today announced an "updated approach" with a "new experience in Chrome" that lets users select choices while they browse websites.

The advertising industry was very concerned about the end of advertising cookies, especially when you consider Chrome has a commanding 62% share of the browser market (65% on mobile web browser)

Impact: Digital Throttle has prepared it's online ad systems for the end of third-party cookies. Actually, we rarely if ever use third-party cookies for ad targeting as most our client are very niche and third-party cookies are designed for mass-market products. But, this change will help independent website publishers who rely on ad networks to purchase advertising and keep the revenue flowing.

Amazon "Buy Box" - Critical to Advertising

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 22:55:40 GMT

Check Amazon Buy Box Before Ads Start

What Is the Amazon Buy Box

The Buy Box features prominent "Add to Cart" and "Buy Now" buttons, crucial for driving sales. These buttons link directly to a seller’s product, boosting visibility and performance in the Amazon Marketplace. The Buy Box is highly competitive among sellers because it serves as a direct pathway for customer purchases, significantly enhancing product prominence and conversion rates. Winning the Buy Box is essential for maximizing sales potential and attracting new customers.

Why the Amazon Buy Box Matters

As an Amazon seller, it's essential to understand that over 75% of Amazon sales come through the Buy Box/Featured Offer. In 2023, Amazon reported that 28% of purchases are completed in 3 minutes or less, indicating that most shoppers prefer the convenience of the Buy Box over browsing other options. Winning the Buy Box not only streamlines the buying process for customers but also significantly boosts sales for the seller who secures it.

How to Check the Buy Box

As a new Amazon seller, to win the Buy Box in 2024, you need a Professional Seller account. To check Buy Box eligibility for your listings, go to Amazon Seller Central:

Steps 1-2 navigate to Manage Inventory,

Step 3 click Preferences, select "Featured Offer Eligible," and save changes.

This will show the status of each product in the Buy Box Eligible column. Ensuring high-quality products and excellent performance metrics is key to securing the Buy Box.

Factors Affecting Amazon Buy Box Eligibility

The most common factors that could impact your Buy Box eligibility are:

Price Competitiveness : If your price (including shipping) is higher than other sellers, you might lose the Buy Box. Consider competitive pricing strategies.
Seller Performance Metrics : Metrics such as Order Defect Rate (ODR), Cancellation Rate, and Late Shipment Rate significantly impact Buy Box eligibility. Ensure that these metrics are within Amazon's acceptable thresholds.
Inventory Levels : Running out of stock can cause you to lose the Buy Box. Maintaining adequate inventory levels is crucial.
Fulfillment Method : Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) often has a better chance of winning the Buy Box compared to Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) due to faster shipping and reliable service.
Shipping Time : Offering faster shipping options can help you win the Buy Box. Ensure your shipping times are competitive.
Customer Service: Providing excellent customer service can enhance your chances. This includes quick responses to customer inquiries and maintaining a high feedback score.
Product Condition : New products typically have a better chance of winning the Buy Box compared to used products.
Seller Rating and Feedback : Sellers with higher ratings and positive feedback are more likely to win the Buy Box. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive feedback.
Account Health : Ensure your account is in good standing without any policy violations.
Promotions and Discounts : Offering promotions, discounts, or participating in Amazon's deals can sometimes help you win the Buy Box.

Steps to Regain the Buy Box

Evaluate Your Pricing Strategy: Compare your prices with competitors and adjust if necessary.
Improve Seller Metrics: Work on reducing your ODR, cancellation rate, and late shipment rate.
Manage Inventory: Keep your inventory levels adequate to avoid stockouts.
Consider FBA: If you’re not already using FBA, consider switching to improve your chances.
Enhance Customer Service: Ensure you are responding to customer queries promptly and effectively.
Monitor Account Health: Regularly check your account health and resolve any issues promptly.

By addressing these factors, you can improve the chances of winning back the Buy Box.

AIMExpo 2024

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 19:53:21 GMT

Powersports Tradeshow Rocks

Congratulations to the Motorcycle Industry Council for organizing a fantastic AIMExpo in Las Vegas earlier this month. Our Cycle News booth was a busy place and we're so proud to meet in person with so many powersports clients.

Here is a great video from AIMExpo posted on YouTube:

Project Gopher for Reporting

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 18:43:05 GMT

Beta Release of Detailed Reporting

The team at Digital Throttle is always looking for ways to provide more detailed reporting and conversion metrics. Meet "Project Gopher" - our new way to dig into your campaign metrics (get it - gophers dig, this reporting also lets you dig into data!).

To test the the new Gopher Reporting:

Log into https://reporter.digitalthrottle.com
Replace the URL with this: https://reporter.digitalthrottle.com/customer/line

You will see new sections top open and "dig into". The very first section is where you can filter for specific ad types and campaign targets.

We will be providing much more information and training on "Project Gopher". But for now .... dig away!

Hypertech's Voices of the Industry- SEMA 2022

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Wed, 17 May 2023 19:38:01 GMT

Voices of the Industry- Bryan Robb, Founder of Digital Throttle

With the digital market changing so rapidly, it is most important that you take a step back and see what is going on in your industry. Listen to Bryan share his industry insights as well as how Digital Throttle was born.

The world of marketing is a fast-paced, ever-changing place. And if you're looking to grow your business and make sure you reach your target audience, you need to make sure that you have the right marketing strategy in place. Our team is made up of experts and vehicle enthusiast who know how to create effective marketing campaigns that will get results—and we'll work with you every step of the way so that together we can build a campaign that meets your needs and goals.

Race Track Business Expo

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 17:53:18 GMT

Digital Throttle President, Bryan Robb Speaks at Race Track Business Expo

Bryan Robb, Digital Throttle President was a guest panelists at the 2022 Race Track Business Expo on Wednesday 12-7-2022. The day-long conference, hosted at the Indianapolis Convention Center prior to the 2022 Performance Racing Expo (PRI) is a popular gathering of motorsports track owners, race organizers, team owners and motorsports industry leaders.

Bryan spoke at the panel about how to grow revenue through digital monetization. His key point was to look beyond your own website traffic and create digital ad impressions by extending your social media, YouTube and email efforts. In his closing remarks, Bryan emphasized that track owners and racing promoters needed to see themselves as mini-agencies, helping their sponsors extend their own online advertising efforts through association with their sponsorships.

ClickCease™ Ad Fraud Protection Service

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:21:06 GMT

Protect Your Ads- with Click Fraud Prevention

So, what is click fraud? Click fraud occurs when your AdWords ads or Facebook Ads are clicked on by competitors, accidental clicks, non-human users, or by automated computer systems that violate Google's policies. These clicks cost you money without any real – or true – interest from the consumer who clicked.

At Digital Throttle, we know clicks are important. Your website needs them. Your business needs them. And your clients need you to deliver them in the right way. We want to make sure you are saving money, improving your ad performance, and outsmarting your competitors which is why we use ClickCease™.

ClickCease™ is the only traffic policing solution built to outsmart click fraud. ClickCease™ stops fraudulent activity such as click spam and bot click fraud in real-time – blocking traffic and improving your ad performance.

How ClickCease Actually Works

When you use ClickCease™, your ads will be visible only to legitimate users.ClickCease™ works by sending harmful IPs to Google in real-time, so they can't even see your ads. It's a simple solution that ensures bots, competitors, or any harmful sources don't see your ads.

ClickCease™ will monitor your website and track each and every visitor that enters your site. This includes all paid traffic sources such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, Bing, and YouTube. ClickCease’s fraud detection algorithm is designed to analyze each visit, taking into account data points such as geolocation, click limit, VPN detection, and session behaviour.

The Fraudulent users will be instantly blocked before the user can click on your ad. Their IPs are sent to your Google Ads exclusion list and users are excluded on Facebook, preventing them from seeing and clicking on your ads.

Do you Need Click Fraud Protection?

The bottom line is that incorporating click fraud protection into your marketing plan will help reduce the number of clicks and impressions that are fraudulent while increasing the number of legitimate clicks and impressions you receive. As a result, it will help to improve both your ROI and Google's perception of your site. And in the end, those are two things you could really use.

Click fraud prevention is just one of many useful features within Digital Throttle. Our team wants to make sure we are offering you the best click fraud protection. When you advertise with us, we make sure to your ads are protected from click fraud.

Mobile Creative Best Practices

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 15:55:42 GMT

Creative Is Critical

A video is a powerful tool for any business. Creating videos for campaigns can be expensive and if you don't have the resources needed it can be very challenging. Mobile attention spans have changed everything. We must be able to use creativity to stand out, and quickly tell a story while allowing the viewer to immerse themselves in the videos.

Tips On Creating Successful Videos For Mobile

Today, we will be going to cover why using video on your social channels is important in today's digital world, what tools to use and why mobile-friendly videos are a necessity.

You can make a big difference in your videos by adding a little animation and creating the video in different sizes to appear in different places. These small changes will make your video more engaging, which will make your viewers more likely to share it and watch it again. Here are a few tips on how to get better creative:

Keep it Short. Between 6-10 seconds is the new sweet spot for mobile-friendly videos. However, a general rule of thumb would be to keep your video under 15 seconds.
Design for Sound Off. Most individuals are viewing videos on social media with the sound off, so if you optimize your video for silent viewing, your audience will likely watch it for longer.
Frame your visual story. Decide who you are trying to reach so you know how to speak to them.
Highlight your Brand Early. Be sure to show your brand within the first 3 seconds of the video. Show your products, logo, colors, or fonts to showcase your branding.
Showcase Service/Product. Use the majority of your ad to display your product or service. Use different product shots or tutorials to on how your product or service works.
Get Noticed. Use vivid contrasting colors, unique text, and quick cuts and movement. These are key to grabbing attending and keeping people enticed as they watch.
Create videos for all placements. It's important to create your videos for specific placements such as stories, newsfeeds, and reels. This allows you to reach more individuals which will allow for more interactions.

As the world becomes more distracted by technology, so too has the way people consume information. People love staring at a video while they're on their phone or tablet, caption or not. You should use videos in your marketing strategy. At Digital Throttle, we know that any business owner who has already figured out mobile-friendliness will agree: mobile is, and will continue to be critical to the future. At Digital Throttle, we're dedicated to making gorgeous, mobile-friendly videos for our clients. You don't have to sacrifice your creative vision for the sake of a crisp, easily-viewable video!

Holiday & Event Planning

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 18:54:18 GMT

Digital Throttle Planning Calendar

We have created a roadmap for you and your team for all of your marketing activities .Our calendar is organized by months and includes special events relating to automotive and motorsports events.

Whether you're responsible for marketing an event venue or regularly posting on social media, it's essential to stay organized and prepare in advance. Good marketing requires careful planning – as well as a marketing calendar. With the right resources, you can stay ahead of your customers and competitors and have a much better chance at success. If you need help with your planning process, check out our free 12-month marketing calendar for the upcoming year. Our calendar is filled with events and dates that might be relevant to your business!!

Getting Started with Your Own Marketing Calendar

A powerful marketing strategy is one that focuses on developing long-term objectives rather than short-term results. The best marketing calendars are based on powerful strategies so that you can bring traffic and leads to your website, and increase revenue. Here are a few steps to help you plan out your marketing calendar.

Start with the big-picture overview of the year. List out your end goals, break them down and work backward. What do you want to accomplish? What is your goal? Whether you plan for a full year in advance or just a few months, it's important to plan it out.
Create a list of all the activities, events, and promotions that need to take place in order to accomplish your goals and prioritize them.
Create an editorial calendar that includes dates, topics, and resources for each month of the year so all of your team members know what's coming up and when it’s due. Make sure all deadlines are included as well as other important tasks like copywriting or photo shoots if necessary!

Put it Into Gear

If and when you have a marketing calendar ready to go but need help putting that into action, our team can quickly and efficiently bring it to life.

The ideal campaign is planned out 30 days before the official start date. Then the ad assets and campaigns are set up on the various platforms 14 days in advance. Setting deadlines 30 and 14 days prior is important so that you are able to set up your assets in advance and make sure they're the best they can be. These deadlines would ensure we're able to measure the conversion data correctly.

SEO and SEM Differences Explained

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 16:36:02 GMT

SEO vs SEM – A Guide for Newbies

Marketers – both big and small – always need more customers. That's why many of us are always looking for opportunities to increase our customer base. While there's a lot you can do to make your website stand out from the rest, one of the easiest ways to do it is by getting onto the first page of Google's search.

Since we’re always looking for new prospects, it means we're also always working towards SEO. The bottom line is, SEO is a complex practice that requires a lot of time, money, and effort. But, with SEM though… you can jump the line and get right to the top of search results.

SEO Vs SEM

SEO and SEM are often confused or thought to be the same thing. However, it is important to know that they are completely different and the strategies behind each method are also different.

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. This is a process of ensuring your website is optimized for search engines. This can include keywords, meta tags, title tags and many other things that will help Google find your site and rank it high in their search results for relevant searches.

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing which is more about advertising on search engines (like Google Adwords). With this type of marketing, you bid on keywords so when someone searches for those words your ad will show up above theirs.

Search engine marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach a targeted audience no matter what size your business is. By using SEM properly, your message will attract people who are actively looking for your product or service.

SEM helps you get in front of the right people at the right time with the right message. It allows your business to reach new customers, increase brand awareness and drive conversions.

At Digital Throttle, we understand that there are two ways to implement your search campaigns, those who use search engine marketing to turbocharge their campaigns, and those who don't.

A few things we do to turbocharge your campaigns:

Target Conversions – Not Clicks

We optimize to cost per action (CPA), like purchase (eCommerce) or site engagement (branding).

We Maximize Ad Space

We utilize every possible option to ensure your ad stands out. See examples to the left.

We Fight Click Fraud

We include additional software to monitor and block users that are fraudulently clicking on your ads. Typically saves clients 10%.

Connected & Unified to All Campaigns

Your search campaigns are connected to all the ads we manage. Data is shared and enables retargeting across all platforms.

Strong Together

As a result of this, simultaneously implementing both SEO and SEM techniques can present a more comprehensive solution for clients and businesses in regard to their digital marketing. Neglecting SEM leads to diminishing returns in terms of results and in many cases the loss of revenue from those who aren't properly served. As digital marketers, it is our responsibility to ensure that we deliver the best possible solution for our clients. We must consider best practices for both SEO and SEM when developing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

Email Marketing Tips with ActiveCampaign

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 10:00:00 GMT

The Best Email Marketing Tips From ActiveCampaign

Email marketing is an old way to reach your customers, but experts say it's not dead as other forms of marketing like social media. As of 2021, it was reported that there are 3.9 billion email users. There are many reasons why email is still used by individuals everywhere and businesses can benefit from doing it themselves.

The ActiveCampaign webinar was the final webinar of the year. In this webinar, Jenny Prince from ActiveCampaign took us from the basics of how to grow your email list to the art of email campaigns. Here is a recap of the webinar.

Ideas to Grow your Email List

First and foremost you never want to purchase your email list for many reasons. You won't receive qualified candidates, you will increase the chances of getting marked as spam, and over time you will be reaching out to the wrong target audience.

A couple of things that you can do to generate and grow your email list are:

Get creative with Gated Content. (Whitepapers, webinars, demos, instruction sheets, and more)
Be sure to have a pop-up or opt-in section on your website
Collect e-mails through several channels including social media and YouTube list (Social media is a goldmine for sharing your email signup form)
Offer giveaway or prizes in return for their email addresses.

Designing Your Emails- What Customers Want to See

If you've ever tried to write an email, you know that it can be like the spinning wheel of death on your computer: it takes forever and goes nowhere. Here are five tips provided by ActiveCampan for designing a good HTML email.

1. Using Typography & Colors

Colors and fonts are great for getting people's attention and making emails look impressive. However you can go overboard, so you want to make sure you find the right balance for your company. Typography in email design has a considerable influence on aesthetics, user experience, and readability in a small space.

2. Responsiveness

It's important to have your emails be opened and viewed across all platforms from desktop to iPads and most importantly, mobile.

3. Implementing Customer Reviews and Testimonials

Adding in reviews and testimonials is a great way to build your brand's credibility and trust.

4. Interactive Elements

Micro-interactions are a massive trend in website design. It has finally reached the email design sphere as well.

5. Call To Action
Call-to-action buttons are one of the most important elements when designing an email. They are often the door to landing pages.

What NOT to

Now that we have discussed the things to grow your email list and provide you with how to design the list, let's cover what not to do. This might be common sense for most people, but believe it or not many people still make these mistakes.

No Personalization- Go beyond the name. Get creative and find ways to really reach your customers. This could include creating segmentation, personal anniversary dates, and even considering browsing history.
Poor Grammar- Proofreading is key! Make sure you take the extra time to review emails before blasting them out.
Too Stiff- Or to dry! Knowing your audience will help you figure out your tone in the message. Try to create and implement messages without being too rigid.
Too Long- Attention Spans are Short! - You roughly have between 5-10 seconds to capture the attention of your customer when reading an email. Make the best impression you can!

For those of you who might have missed this webinar, you can still register to view the full recording here.

WEBINAR RECORDING | DOWNLOAD ACTIVECAMPAIGN SLIDES

Google Delays Removal of Cookies Again

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 20:57:59 GMT

Google Announced Delay in Removal of Third-Party Cookies Through 2024

Google is continuing a trend that has seen the tech giant slow down on plans to massage the use of cookies - including those used for advertising - in its Chrome browser. Yep, that's right, this isn't De ja vu either. This is the second delay we have seen. Google previously said back in January of 2020 it would stop supporting third-party cookies in Chrome. However, last year that was delayed until 2023.

Google released the following statement on their blog: “After carefully considering feedback from users, privacy advocates, and other members of our community, we’ve decided to postpone the implementation of the change until the second half of 2024. This will provide businesses with more time to make any necessary changes to their sites and apps in a way that maintains customer privacy while they transition their content.

A Cookie-less World

Digital advertisers have long used third-party cookies to track users across the internet since the late 90's. This method has allowed for precise targeting, personalization, segmenting, and measurement of ad campaigns.

With this new protocol, advertisers can better target their ads based on browsing history and location, but not individualized information like names or email addresses. This allows users to see ads that are more relevant to them while still protecting their data from being shared with third parties like Facebook or Google.

Google delaying their plan to remove third-party user data can result in more advertisers not preparing for this switch. Many advertisers won't let go of third-party cookies until they have to. Regardless of the deadline, investing in the cookieless future sooner than later is a wise bet for all advertisers.

Automotive Specialty- Equipment Sales Make History

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 18:07:58 GMT

Automotive Specialty- Equipment Sales Make History

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) has released its annual report that shows specialty equipment, which includes automotive parts, reached an all-time high in 2021. Sales of specialty-equipment parts reached $50.9 billion in retail sales for the first time in history—up from $47.9 billion in 2020.

The report from the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) also states that consumers are spending more time working on their cars and trucks than they did in 2020. According to the report, 82% of specialty equipment consumers reported spending as much, if not more, time working on their personal vehicles in 2021 compared to the year prior.

The split of in-store versus online sales in 2021 was roughly 50/50 versus 54% online in 2020 and 45% online in 2019. This normalization is expected to continue in 2022.

Supply Chain Issues

The supply chains have been a big issue since the end of 2020, and continue to be a problem in 2022. SEMA reported that more than 90% of specialty equipment manufacturers, distributors, and retailers feel that their business has been impacted by supply-chain-related challenges. This is also softening expectations for 2022 sales.

Marketing During Supply Shortages

Businesses that rely on specialty equipment are some of the most vulnerable to supply chain interruptions. If you don't have the supplies you need, it's hard to continue operations and prepare for your customers' needs.

But what happens when you can't get enough supplies for your business? Fewer supplies mean fewer sales, which means less revenue—and that's not something any business can afford! It seems simple: no product = no marketing. But it's not that simple—and it has nothing to do with temporary shortage interruptions.

When you're faced with a temporary interruption like this one, it's easy to feel discouraged and think that you should stop marketing until things get back on track. However, marketing is more than just promoting products—it's also about building relationships with your customers. When you're able to communicate consistently with them over time, they'll come to trust and rely on your brand as an authority in its niche market.

Desktop vs Mobile Ad Revenue

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 18:19:41 GMT

Desktop vs Mobile | What's the Move?

In 2021 we saw record levels of on both mobile and desktop ad revenues. A recent report from IAB mentioned mobile revenue is growing by 37.4% YoY and desktop 30.7% YoY. There are a few factors that are contributing to this growth, including increased ownership of smartphones and tablets for daily use and the need for websites and businesses to provide quality experiences on those devices.

The growth in the number of mobile devices being used to access the internet is one of the main factors contributing to the increase in online sales. The fact that consumers are spending more time with all forms of digital media, particularly mobile when it comes to online shopping, means that businesses can now reach them anywhere, anytime. This has led to a surge in demand for products and services that can be purchased directly from a mobile device.

Another factor is that the shift to hybrid and remote work is here to stay. While mobile has been the leading app development platform over desktop, this pandemic has changed the landscape permanently. With so many individuals staying at home during the pandemic internet sales reached new heights.

What percentage of internet users are coming from mobile?

As of May 2022, 52.79% of the total web visits are currently mobile, compared to 47.21% coming from desktops. Of the mobile internet browsers, Apple’s Safari is proving to be the most popular choice among all mobile internet users in the US. The latest figures show that 53.23% of all US mobile users use Safari to browse the internet, with Google Chrome coming in second with 41.03 percent

The trend is clear: more and more people are using their phones and tablets for online browsing than ever before. And as more people get online through their smartphones or tablets, it’s important that your website be optimized for these devices.

While there are many similarities between desktop and mobile browsing experiences (for example, both have an address bar), there are also differences that can affect how your website performs on each device type:

Benefits of Desktop:

The option to have a wide range of digital ad formats
Bigger ad creatives
More versatility
Greater user experience

Benefits of Mobile

Instant Communication. (Majority of the time users always have a phone on or nearby at all times)
More engagement
Fewer Ad blockers
Great Targeting Solutions

Want to Increase your Desktop or Mobile Advertising?

When it comes to advertising, there is no "one size fits all" solution. The same goes for desktop vs mobile. Both have their own benefits and drawbacks, but for different reasons. Mobile has taken over the game as far as advertising goes because it's easier to reach customers on the go than ever before. Depending on your goals and needs, our team at Digital Throttle is happy to help you reach your audience on either desktop or mobile.

INCREASE YOUR ADVERISING

Understanding Core Web Vitals

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 17:25:09 GMT

Does your Website Give a Good Experience?

Think of your website as a house. Google wants to make sure that people who live there and come over for a visit will enjoy the experience. People should feel welcome, and not be annoyed by design quirks or bad experiences. Let's go through the questions that Google uses to understand how good your website is based on those 3 factors.

Our most recent webinar Digital Throttle teamed up with Duda, a professional website builder to learn about Core Web Vitals. Duda Expert, Russ Jeffery was able to give us a detailed insight into how Google ranks your website. This is such an important skill for SEOs to master and we're excited to share it with you!

What Google Measures to Score your Website

LPC- Largest Contentful Paint

The first factor is known as LPC or Largest Contentful Paint. Largest Contentful Paint is the first factor in determining how fast your website loads. The LPC is defined as the time it takes for the largest block of content to be painted on the user's screen. This means that you want to make sure that any text or images on your page are loaded before they're displayed, so there's never a time when your users are staring at an empty white screen. The LPC should be less than 2.5 seconds for an optimal user experience.

FID- First Input Delay

The second thing Google measures is First Input Delay (FID). FID is measured by how long it takes for the site to react to the first interaction. This could be a simple click on a button, for instance. Do you have any lags within your website or is it reactive? If you have any lags within your website then you need to look into improving your load times as this will impact the user experience. Google says the FID should be around 100ms or less.

CLS- Cumulative Layout Shift

The third thing Google measures is Cumulative Layout Shift. This is measuring the visual stability within your site. Is there movement on the screen while your page is loading? It can be a bad experience for users and slow their ability to interact with your site.

As a general rule of thumb, humans can lose interest after just a few seconds. How a website looks, feels and functions are all part of the experience. If you can get this right you'll see a better performance, increase engagement with your customers and build stronger relationships with your clients.

What About the Mobile Experience?

Mobile traffic is the biggest force on the web. In fact, mobile accounts for 60% of all internet traffic. If you recall, Google measures mobile and desktop traffic differently. Due to this shift in search behavior, it makes sense to optimize a site for each environment separately.

A few suggestions from Russ Jeffery, Duda expert to optimize your mobile site experience:

Implement Lazy Loading
Optimize your Images
Avoid Layout Shifts
Cookie Content Banners- Make sure they are not slowing down your site.

As the Web evolves, so does the demand for certain features. Duda's responsive sites make it easy for users to experience a website on any device. Even though there is a bit of a learning curve, anyone can use Duda's drag and drop site builder. The sites are mobile-friendly with a responsive design.

For those of you who might have missed this webinar, you can still register to view the full recording here.

VIEW THE FULL WEBINAR RECORDING | DOWNLOAD CWV SLIDES

Google Analytics : The Path is Foward

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 19:37:03 GMT

Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 has announced many new features and changes to come this year. Our question for you is... are you going to be ready?

Last month Digital Throttle hosted a webinar featuring Google Analytics guru, Clark Frye from Mountian Analytics to speak about the new changes coming with GA4. It will be the most advanced and powerful analytics platform on the market, with capabilities that make it easier than ever to learn about your customers' behavior. According to Google, here are some of the new features you can expect:

- A new property designed for the future of measurement. This will help collect both website and app data to better understand the customer journey.

- Uses events instead of session-based data

-3rd party cookies go away in Chrome in “late” 2023

Won’t impact GA, but look into server-side tracking

- Direct integrations with media platforms like YouTube and Twitter that help drive actions on your website or app!

With the new evolution of Google Analytics, you could be left wondering what path to take. But it's easy to navigate this change with a little preparation. Clark Frye, owner of Mountain Analytics gave us 4 tips to help you get started.

Step 1: Create a new GA4 Property within the existing GA Account
Step 2: Update your Admin Settings
Step 3: Enrich the GA4 Data
Step 4: Grab a coffee, lots of humility, and dig into further setup & reporting

There are plenty of reasons for you to want to make sure that Google Analytics is working for you and your company. To get a detailed look at this step-by-step process be sure to view Clark’s guide . You'll be better equipped to set it up, maintain it and fix any errors that may arise. Whether you're a new or veteran user of Google Analytics, reading this step-by-step guide will give you all the information that you need to know to get the most out of your analytics account.

At the end of the day, there are only a few roads that you can take. You can continue to do things the old way, and simply ignore the fact that your business model isn't going to work in the coming years—or you can take a hard look at where you're going and make some necessary changes.

For those of you who might have missed this webinar, you can still register to view the full recording here.

VIEW THE WEBIANR RECORDING

The Basics of Search Engine Optimization

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 22:40:02 GMT

The Basics of SEO

Our company is currently hosting a summer webinar series that will introduce you to an array of topics for digital marketing. Our most recent webinar focused on the basics of SEO with presenter and SEO expert, Pam Aungst. In the SEO Basics webinar, Pam dived into improving your SEO along with tips and best practices.

What is SEO

Search Engine Optimization is the process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural searches in search engines such as Google or Bing. The goal is to improve your website's position in search results. The higher a website is listed, the more people will see it.

Pam Aungst, SEO expert, mentioned in our webinar, “Search engines, unlike any other digital marketing channel, ring ‘high-intent-to buy’ users to your website. These users are specifically searching for your company's products and services because they want or need them now or soon!" Achieving your journey of search engines might sound easy, but with over 130 trillion individual pages on the web, it might take a little more thought to get there.

Implementing Strategy for SEO

There are a series of steps to follow and understand, when it comes to search engines. SEO Expert, Pam, mentioned, “Search engines need to perform 3-basic tasks to produce search results. These include discovering pages, collecting content, and sorting pages. You will want to make sure that your website is easily discovered, so your content gets indexed. Secondly, you want to convince search engines that your content is worthy of ranking high!

Here are just a few key-pointers Pam Aungst recommended for SEO strategy.

Use Meta and Header Tags
Implement SEO “helper” files
Make sure your site loads FAST
Add fresh new content
Build up social media “signals” on your content

How long does SEO take?

With most things in life, they do not happen overnight. It takes time to see a return on your investment. You must be prepared to invest several months to a year before seeing results. SEO expert, Pam mentioned you will need resources. It takes both time and money to do the web development, copywriting, and brand-building work that SEO requires.

If you are interested in learning more about the SEO basics, you can view the recording of our latest webinar with an SEO expert, Pam Aungst, below.

SEO Basics Webinar Recording

The Social Media Shift

reghan.stuart@digitalthrottle.com (Reghan Stuart) — Wed, 11 May 2022 18:11:36 GMT

Social Media in 2021

A report from IAB stated growth in 2021 Social media advertising revenues reached a total of $57.7 billion in 2021. That is an increase of $16.3 billion since 2020. A growing number of Americans use social media daily, and it’s not just one platform that they use. There are 17 social media platforms that have at least 300 million, active users, as of January 2022. Internet advertising is the number one form of advertising. If you are not promoting your business on social media, the question is, why not?

Social Media, Influencers & Content Creator

A recent study from IAB said, “The proliferation of influencers and content creators has been a catalyst for social media’s growth in usage and attention, which makes the channel an overall more attractive vehicle for brand advertising and partnerships.” As we move through a new era of social media, we see users who question brands and want to see transparency and authenticity. This is where influencers and content creators come in and can provide that for these brands. Social media goes way beyond curating ads, but they must provide value to the viewers. Social algorithms value shares and save’s over engagements such as “likes”. Another report from IAB found that 8-in-10 U.S. brands are now working with influencers and content creators.

Importance of Social Commerce

Consumer time spent on social media is continuing to grow. A popular trend we will likely notice is the continued rise of e-commerce within social media. Some individuals might know this as, social commerce. We live in a world where we can now shop directly from our phones, rather than going to a shopping center. Having the ability to share photos of your products through social media or influencers allows for the user to purchase directly from their phone is invaluable. Social commerce engages in different ways. One is it’s content-driven, allowing you to discover new goods or experiences. Secondly, it can create an experience such as live streams, groups, or even AR/VR gaming. Brands will continue to use this as an advantage to help grow and expand their reach. A new report from Accenture predicts that social commerce will grow three times as fast as traditional eCommerce, more than doubling from $492 billion in 2021 to $1.2 trillion in 2025.

Digital Advertising Takes New Heights in 2021

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 17:50:25 GMT

Digital Advertising Takes New Heights

It has been no shock to us the amount of growth we have seen in the digital world over the past year. Throughout the past year, the industry maximized marketing budgets across the nation. In 2020, we saw that most companies relied solely on digital advertising to be their main connection and communication with their isolated customers during the pandemic. In 2021 we only saw this pattern grow to a new level. A recent report from IAB stated, “Digital ad revenue increased 34.5% year over year- the highest growth since 2006!”

Digital Advertising on Platforms

What is the future of digital advertising on platforms and what can we expect for these next years based on the data from 2019-to-2021? In 2021 Digital videos and streaming had a 50.8% YoY growth rate. The growth seen in 2021, shows that live streaming is the future of digital videos. Digital video revenue totaled $39.5 billion in 2021. When it comes to social media, we saw strong growth in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, but what really surprised us was the newer platforms such as TikTok. One of the biggest game-changers we have seen since the pandemic is brands bringing in content creators and influencers to change the game dramatically on social media. IAB’s Brand Description Survey 2021 found that 8-in-10 U.S. brands are now working with influencers and content craters, and nearly half of them entered these partnerships for the first time since COVID-19. Revenue generated from social media in 2021 totaled to $57.7 billion, up 39.3% from 2020. What might have shocked us most, is that digital audio (including podcasting) saw the highest growth, by format with a YoY growth rate of %57.9 and totaling $4.9 billion.

Digital Advertising Grows Equally Over All Formats

Over the past few years, we have seen significant growth in ads being viewed primarily through our phones. A change worth noticing in 2021 was mobile advertising revenue reversed a three-year trend of deceleration. A report from IAB mentioned there's a consistent trend of ads being viewed on desktops, TVs, and phones. The report also stated, “It also may reflect the reality that many consumers allocated significant amounts of time-consuming internet-enabled experiences through desktop, CTV, console and other non-mobile formats, party due to consumers being confirmed to their homes in 2021." Companies have proven to us that digital advertising is where they are putting their dollars. It is important to focus and invest in these areas to help tell stories, create authentic content and maximize the digital industry.

New Reporting System

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 22:55:56 GMT

Quickly View Digital Advertising Results

After a year of development and thousands of programming hours, we're very pleased to introduce the new and improved Digital Throttle Reporting System! Watch our short 30-second video for a quick summary.

Any digital advertising client can now enjoy a modern and robust reporting system for all their digital campaigns. Our upgraded REPORTER site updates daily and allows advertising clients of any size to quickly view performance and detailed conversion results.

Some of the exciting features REPORTER offers:

View Performance and Conversion Data Across All Platforms and Easily Compare Results

View Trend Charts Quickly

Our Unique Conversion Reporting is Displayed in Both Summary and Detail View

View & Track Social Media Engagement Metrics from All Platforms such as Facebook®, Instagram®, LinkedIn®, TikTok® & SnapChat®

Report on YouTube® Video Views and View-Through Metrics

Measure Results by Specific Ad Creative

Receive Weekly, Bi-Monthly or Monthly Email Summaries

Complete Help Wiki

Accounting Summary to View Balances and Download Invoices

Custom Report Section Where We will Upload Any Custom Reports and Link to Custom Google Data Studio® Reports

Legacy Google Analytics Ending July 2023

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 18:14:23 GMT

Google Just Rocked the Digital World

We've been warning clients to be ready for the end of digital cookies in 2023. Well, Google just added to the digital chaos today.

On July 1, 2023 the legacy Google Analytics will be retired. Google Analytics will be replaced with Google Analytics 4 (aka "GA4"). Read the full blog post HERE .

What to Do?

We're recommending clients immediately add a "GA4 Property" to their legacy Google Analytics. This is a pretty easy step if you already have the legacy Google Analytics installed. See these instructions from Google HERE .

Why the Change?

The move to GA4 is driven by two main goals:

Comply with growing user-privacy rules (recall the Apple iOS changes last year)
Build better cross-platform and cross-device tracking and reporting

Don't Procrastinate!

While we have a 15 months to prepare and adjust to GA4 reports, the time to start learning is now. Upgrading to GA4 is the first step. Use these months to compare the differences between legacy Analytics and the new GA4.

Then after a few weeks, get your team to start learning and comparing. And if your legacy Google Analytics is chocked full of custom reports and views, you need to start preparing to transition even sooner.

How we Help

Every client we work with has the option to track digital advertising conversions. Part of the code we provide includes Google Analytics 4 code. So we already use GA4 as part of our "server side" conversion tracking.

We also present GA4 data now through interactive dashboards (see below). So in summary - we're already using GA4 and can help clients navigate this new platform.

Example of Website Traffic Report for Clients:

Resolutions for the New Year

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 20:48:08 GMT

New Year's Resolutions for 2022

2022 will be a challenge for all digital marketers. Many of our tools and techniques will need serious adjustment given the two big technical changes in the new year:

Apple introduced their new iOS14 operating system which has already had a big impact on social media advertising

Digital Cookies will be phased out toward the end of this calendar year, 2022

We've compiled a very short list of three things all digital marketers should complete to start off the new year and prepare for these two new ad-tech changes:

#1: Create a Google Analytics 4 ("GA4") Property for Your Website

We expect Google's new Analytics 4 setup will be the platform for many new reports and tracking used by your website and Google-related advertising. While GA4 is still technically in "beta", look for more uses in the coming months. If you have not yet setup a Google Analytics 4 Property please follow these instructions from Google .

#2: Verify & Claim Your Website Domain with Facebook

Facebook is actively rolling out changes to comply with iOS14 and minimize the tracking damage. Most Facebook solutions will first require you to verify and claim your domain. Please see this article from Facebook on how to verify your domain

#3: Get Serious About Building Email Lists

The end of digital cookies and mobile phone tracking means your "first party data" will be more important than ever. The term "first-party data" is a geek-speak term for using information you know about customers and site visitors to build target markets for your advertising. And emails are the most important type of first-party data!

We like this blog article discussing some obvious and out-of-the box ideas to build out a powerful email list on your websites.

Digital Advertising Growing Fast (Still)

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:44:13 GMT

eCommerce Advertising Fuels Digital Ads

According to a recent GroupM survey, Digital Advertising will account for nearly 65% of total advertising once we count up 2021 media spent. This is an increase from a 61% share in 2020.

The rise is attributed to smaller businesses shifting more and more to digital advertising. As companies rely even more on their own direct-to-consumer (B2C) sales, their use of digital advertising to promote direct purchases will continue to grow.

Another prediction - in 2022 social media advertising expenditures will exceed that of all television advertising.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year!

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 19:26:34 GMT

From the Team at Digital Throttle

Best Wishes for a healthy and relaxing Holiday. Goodbye 2021 and hello 2022! May the new year be a healthy, happy and successful year for you and your team.

Why the New Apple IOS 14.5 Matters

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 00:49:57 GMT

Why the New Apple IOS Update 14.5 Matters

The next few weeks those of us with Apple iPhones will start upgrading our operating systems. This new operating system, IOS 14.5, will have a notable impact to advertising and reporting.

This is a complicated topic and will have an impact on how we help our clients report and target ads. Fortunately, the digital advertising industry is pretty smart and will adapt. Our focus on niche markets is one key reason we expect our clients to avoid much of the expected downfall.

We predict larger advertisers seeking to place ads to demographic profiles will see a bigger problem. We typically target our ads to Facebook groups, types of vehicles and followers of certain Facebook pages.

We think this video from The Wall Street Journal does a great job explaining the new operating system in a funny way:

2021 Digital Ad Spending Expected to Grow

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 14:37:33 GMT

Forecast: Digital Ad Spending to Grow in 2021

The coronavirus pandemic has only accelerated declines in traditional media, with newspapers and magazines declining 26% and 25%, respectively in 2020.

According to a forecast by WARC , Digital Advertising will grow 10% in 2021, lead by social media and online video. Not surprising Travel and Tourism will lead the spending recovery, followed by alcohol brands.

Read the full survey here: https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/global-ad-market-will-take-years-to-recover-from-covid-19/44417

Google's Ad Suggestions are Now Automatic

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 21:55:34 GMT

Control Google's Auto Applied Recommendations

Google recently sent emails out to Ad Words clients advising that "auto applied recommendations" will be turned "on" by default. Please see the email you might have received:

For our clients, we prefer to manage all campaign settings. While Google may have good intentions, you may wish to have 100% control over the keywords and ads you pay for.

You can prevent these automatic suggestions from being applied to your current Google Search campaigns. See this help articl e for details or follow the steps on the image below inside your Google account:

Digital Advertising Expected to Rise 8% in 2020 - Counters Drop in Other Forms of Advertising

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 16:03:56 GMT

Total Ad Spend to Be Down 8% as Traditional Media Expected to Decline 30% in 2020

US Ad Spending is forecast to decline 8% in 2020, as compared to CY2019. Bucking the trend is Digital Advertising, expected to grow 6% this year. This estimate is from a survey of executives at advertising agencies and advertisers performed by the Internet Advertising Bureau .

As you can see from the graph above, while Digital is expected to grow 6%, a large drop of 30% in traditional media (magazines, linear TV, radio) is how we end up at down 8%.

Below is a deep-dive graphic for each type of advertising. Key points relating to Digital:

Paid Search +26%
Social Media +26%
Digital Display (banners) +15%
Digital Video (YouTube, video ads on websites) +18%
Connected TV's +19%
Digital Audio -5%
Podcasts - 8%

COVID-19 Delaying Google Creative Review

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 16:24:05 GMT

Plan on Delays Launching YouTube® Campaigns

COVID-19 continues to impact Google's manual review of YouTube and Google Display ads. We've not received official leadtime on obtaining approval, but we've had some campaigns wait over 7 business days as of this post.

For more details direct from Google, please use this LINK

Winter 2020 Newsletter

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:26:55 GMT

GET READY FOR ANOTHER DIGITAL DECADE

Welcome to the start of a new decade! As we look back on the last 10 years, the years 2010-2019 were certainly a digital “decade”. In just the last 10 years marketers have watched trends accelerate. For instance:

Mobile Smart Phone Use: 20% in 2010 and 71% in 2019
Social Media: 42% of the US population in 2010, it was 73% in 2019
Digital Time: 2.5 hrs per day in 2010 and 6.5 hrs per day in 2019
YouTube® Daily Use: 15 minutes in 2010 and 40 minutes in 2019

We could continue with a long list of statistics but most marketers will easily agree their marketing budgets in the next decade will be overwhelmingly digital-focused.

Maybe it’s not a coincidence Digital Throttle started in late 2009 - we’ve built our business on these trends.

Our goal then and now is to help you navigate so many powerful (but complicated) digital marketing options.

In This Issue

EDITORIAL IS NOT DEAD

Our industries have seen many enthusiast print magazines cease operations recently. We illustrate how marketers can still use content marketing through social media to “tell their story”.

IT'S A VIDEO WORLD

The fastest-growing digital advertising format is video. We show how videos can be used as targeted ads across websites, social media and YouTube®.

RETARGETING

Understand how to build a ‘list’ of people visiting your website. Use these lists to re-market your

products and promotions to your most likely customers.

Boosting Social Posts – Don’t Pay Full Retail

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 03:17:04 GMT

You’ve probably used Facebook(R) and Instagram(R) to announce new products. However, the number of “free” views is probably only 10% or less of your actual followers. Of course, you can pay to “boost” your post. But be warned, that’s basically paying full list price!

We can take one of your posts and convert it into a targeted ad….for almost half the price. Additionally, we will run the post as a sponsored post through one of our 19 publications. Running your post as a story under one of our publications provides that extra credibility you need to avoid typical ad clutter found on social media.

Here is a quick video showing a real-life example:

More Views and Clicks for Your YouTube Videos

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 02:55:09 GMT

If you also used a video to launch your new product, we can generate thousands of targeted views on YouTube(R). You only pay for each view and the video will also link directly to your website.

Quick Video:

Additionally, the views we acquire for you will be extremely targeted. We can even target specific videos on YouTube that match your product and markets.

Three Digital Advertising Trends You Need To Know

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 03:24:52 GMT

As summer comes to an end, the digital advertising world is buzzing over the release of Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report. While digital ads are becoming more popular, one trend stands above them all: More than a quarter of U.S. adults say they are constantly online. Here are three trends you need to know.

1. Consumers love watching videos

According to Meeker, U.S. Consumers say they around 28% of their daily video intake comes from digital videos. This is up three percent from 2017 and is expected to continue to rise. With most Americans spending over 6.3 hours online every day, Meeker says it’s important for digital ads to be visual. Online users are increasingly communicating via images. Over half of Twitter impressions now include an image, video or another form of media.

2. Number of Mobile Users on the Rise

Courtesy: Bond 2019

Meeker says around 3.8 billion people, or around half of the world, are online now. That’s only about a six percent rise from last year but only because most people are online now and own smartphones. But according to the report, the number of desktop users continues to decline while more people continue to go digital with their phones. It’s more important than ever to make sure your ads are mobile-friendly.

3. New Platforms Competing for Ad Spending

While Facebook and Google still lead the way with spending, there are smaller platforms that are starting to catch up with the tech giants.

Courtesy: Bond 2019

Meeker reports Amazon, Twitter and Pinterest saw six-times year-over-year growth since 2017 but Facebook and Google still see a steady increase in spending.

Digital Advertising On The Rise

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 16 May 2019 09:17:02 GMT

2018 was a big year for digital ad spending after the industry hit a major milestone and the rise of search ad spending continues to surprise.

A report from professional services network PwC details last year was the first time digital advertising exceeded $100 billion. Ad revenues were up 22% and researchers new formats and social media are driving digital ad growth with help from digital video ads.

A ccording to a new report from ad-buying group Magna, ad spending overall in the U.S. soared over $212 billion in 2018. That’s a 9.6% increase from 2017.

Search ad spending rose 22% to $53.5 billion. Magna says in the last couple of years, search ads have grown close to 20%. A Magna executive told the Wall Street Journal upgraded tools such as search-result displays have played a role in this surge.

We believe search ads are a successful way to reach consumers because it helps you find people actively looking for products and services similar to your own. We also provide Google and Bing search ad services. Please click here to see details.

Going Beyond The Click

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 09:44:27 GMT

We dive into what goes on “beyond the click.” Here is a quick rundown of what we look at to maximize the overall impact of your digital advertising.

Quality of the Click

The key metric we use for digital advertising success is how many clicks we send to an advertiser’s website. We make this a ratio, called the click through rate or “CTR”. It is simply clicks divided by the number of impressions (impressions are how many times an ad was rendered on a page.)

But not all clicks are the same. The person that clicks and quickly leaves the site is not as valuable as the person that clicks, visits several pages and ultimately goes to your dealer locator.

So how do we measure the quality of a site visit?

Conversions:

Our clients like using our conversion tracking because clicks don’t tell the whole story. The key thing with tracking is measuring specific actions such as a dealer locator page, rebate download, etc. Another additional piece is we can measure people that viewed the ad but didn’t click. We can also figure out which ads produced the best conversions.

Bounce Rate:

This is the percentage of users who visit your website from the landing page but leave the site before visiting other pages.

Time on Site:

The average time a user spends on your site after clicking on an ad. This number takes into account all the non-exits and non-bounces. Time-on-site numbers helps show a users interest in your product and company.

New Users:

With the help from Google Analytics, we are able to track all users that visit your site for the first time. New users turn into returning users once they visit your site more than once. We can also see how many times a user goes to your site.

Interesting Advertising Trends From 2018

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 09:50:16 GMT

As you get ready for 2019, we wanted to look back at 2018. It was another amazing year for digital advertising with several big changes in consumer use and the growth of social media.

Digital Media Usage

According to social media management platform Hootsuite, most of America is spending a good chunk of their day online. It’s reported over 286 million Americans are online with 230 million using social media. The number of hours people spend online didn’t change much from 2017, with most users spending around six hours on the internet. But in the last ten years that number has doubled. The digital report states around 86% of people are online every day and 50% view videos daily.

U.S. Ad Spending in 2018

American companies spent billions of dollars in 2018 with digital ad spending expected to rise above traditional media this year. A study from Emarketer.com estimated last year’s digital ad spending to add up at around $111 billion. The study also saw a rise in search ad spending totaling well above $40 billion. The marketing site projects digital ad spending will grow to $22 billion by 2021.

Social Media Continues to Grow

It was another year of growth for social media platforms. According to Hubspot.com, Facebook and Instagram continued their success in 2018 with Snapchat showing a decline in user-ship. As of last year, Facebook had over 1 billion daily active users while Instagram celebrate 1 billion monthly users June 2018. Social platform Snapchat took a hit in 2018 with shares dropping 52% at one point since the beginning of 2018. Company leaders also reported a decline in user activity.

The Digital Marketing Funnel

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 09:57:06 GMT

There are five key stages in the marketing funnel. Just a few important comments about the stages:

Top-Funnel (Awareness & Branding):

the goal here is to reach as many likely prospects for the best possible price. As you can see, the Awareness and Branding stages are the largest; meaning we’re trying to reach lots of people across targeted websites and social media platforms.

Key Strategy: Inspire curiosity and focus on product benefits. Entice the prospect to click to your website to get more details.

Mid-Funnel (Educating and Influencing):

So your prospect is curious and wants to know more. Your website needs to provide more details and additional information. Videos, PDF downloads and other information will help push the interested prospect “further down”.

Key Strategy: Use website retargeting so you can later target your site visitors with any type of digital ad. Don’t let site visitors become “unknown” traffic to your site!

Ready to Buy (Act):

Your prospect is ready to buy, but will be doing some shopping for pricing and alternative brands.

Key Strategy: This is where paid search is key. Be sure you protect against this person buying a competitive product and reinforce your benefits.

So What Ads to Run?

The above image shows where different digital ads are best used in the “Funnel”. To help explain each of the different ads, it’s best if you download our MEDIA KIT HERE

Display Ads – pages 6 – 9

Graphical Ads used to show your product in action.

Social Media Ads – page 12

“Advertorials” we write for you across our digital publications targeting different vehicles.

Retargeting – page 12

Free computer code you install to place “cookies” on devices visiting your website.

Paid Search – page 13

Paid text ads on Google and Bing that appear when users search for products, competitors and pricing.

CONCLUSION

Digital Advertising is a superior form of advertising for three simple reasons:

(1) Targeting: We could write a small book covering digital ad targeting and where we get all “geek speak”. But we’ll handle all the targeting options for you, once we know the product to promote.

(2) Reporting: You will know exactly where your money is being spent and the performance of each creative ad, website, social media location and keyword. We actually report daily these numbers (see page 15 of the Media Kit)

(3) Pay for Performance: You only pay for specific actions with Digital Ads. For upper-funnel, it’s cost per ad displayed. For lower funnel it’s cost per click. And digital doesn’t require long-term contracts or huge budgets. You can start with a small budget and change as needed.

Most Millennials Purchase Products After Viewing a Video, Study Shows

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 10:04:41 GMT

Millennials respond to video more than any other form of content and it usually leads them to purchasing products, according to a new study. Boston-based software company Brightcove surveyed over 4,000 consumers of all ages. 56% of the millennials questioned said they are more likely to engage with video content compared to other formats. That is up significantly compared to the rest of the people questioned, with only 45% choosing video as their top form of content.

Digital Throttle believes video advertising is an important and successful way to target vehicle enthusiasts. We make running video advertisements easy with Digital Throttle TV. Pre-roll video advertising is both a superior branding and response ad format. Your video pre-roll ads will be seen across our Digital Throttle TV video network and throughout our network of targeted vehicle sites. All of our social media ads include some form of video whether it’s a TV commercial or a web-only video made by us.

Here is a recent social media ad we ran on the Facebook page of our editorial site “UTV Videos.”

Users ages 18-34 surveyed also said it’s important for products to be shared through the video. Over half of the millennials surveyed said they engaged with a company after viewing their video on social media. The most startling number to come from the study was how many young consumers are purchasing products after viewing a video. 85% of millennials said they do compared to 76% for rest of consumers.

To learn more about video advertising, click here. Here’s a link to for social media advertising.

New Products and Services including Editorial Sites For Motorcycle and UTV Owners

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 11:20:28 GMT

It’s hard to believe 2018 is almost over. We’re already starting 2019 planning! Because we’re growing and adding so many digital advertising options, we’ve decided to highlight some of the new products and services we offer.

New Media Kit – Full of Ideas and Options

The time has come to roll out our annual media kit. It has everything to get you ready for 2019. We guide you through all the different ways to quickly target vehicle enthusiasts through a variety of online advertising formats. As your customers spend more time online, media usage trends continue to change. But luckily, we’ve got you covered and show you step by step how to reach your target audience.

Download the Media Kit HERE

Paid Search – Supercharge Your Display and Social Media Ads

Most online advertising is prospecting; displaying graphical ads to people on targeted websites. On the other hand, Search Advertising helps you find people actively looking for products and services similar to your own. When combined together, Search and Display Advertising are a powerful combination. With our unique online reporting you can view site and ad results anytime, from any device.

Social Advertising – Use our Editorial Sites to Reach Motorcycle and UTV Owners

In addition to CycleNews.com, our editorial sites at AmericanMotorcycle.net and UTVvideos.net offer advertisers an easy and effective way to reach millions. The sites and their related Facebook pages provide the latest on industry events, how-to videos and new products.

Our purpose for these titles is our fast-growing Social Media advertising where we advertise with editorial-like stories. Learn more about our Social Media Advertising, visit this PAGE:

https://www.digitalthrottle.com/ad-choices/social-media/

Facebook Pages:

https://www.facebook.com/americanmotorcycle/

https://www.facebook.com/utvvideos.net/

New Digital Advertising Options For Auto Enthusiasts

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 10:32:07 GMT

Introducing Our New Media Kit

Download the Media Kit HERE .

Paid Search – Supercharge Your Display and Social Media Ads

Most online advertising is prospecting; displaying graphical ads to people on targeted websites. On the other hand, Search Advertising helps you find people actively looking for products and services similar to your own. When combined together, Search and Display Advertising are a powerful combination. With our unique online reporter you can view site and ad results anytime, from any device.

New Editorial Sites for Boating and RV Enthusiasts

MotorhomeVideos.net and BoatingVideos.info offer advertisers an easy and effective way to reach millions of consumers. The sites and their related Facebook page provide the latest on industry events, how-to videos and new products. As RV and boating sales continue to rise, Digital Throttle is expecting crossover between existing audience segments and both industries.

Our purpose for these titles is our fast-growing Social Media advertising where we advertise with editorial-like stories. As RV and boating sales continue to rise, Digital Throttle is expecting crossover between existing audience segments and both industries.

Facebook Pages:

BoatingVideos

MotorhomeVideos

How Can We Help?

We’re eager to help you start planning for new products and 2019 promotions. Our team is ready to help with any ideas at any time.

#2 Automotive and #4 in Global Rankings!

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Sat, 05 Dec 2015 15:16:32 GMT

The October “Global Seller Trust Index” from Pixalate was just announced and Digital Throttle is the second-highest ranked automotive programmatic seller and fourth seller overall globally ! Pixalate ranks online networks across 7 segments involving trust, ad quality, and ad engagement.

We’re incredibly proud to receive an ‘A’ score across ALL categories. Not too bad for a bunch of “gearheads” who happen to sell online advertising. But actually, the real credit goes to the site partners we work with. We’re very particular about the sites we work with, only working with the highest-quality vehicle and motorsports websites. All the credit goes to the sites we work for.

To read more about the Global Seller Trust Index visit this page: Global Trust Report

To read details on our “report card”: please visit This Page

Feature YouTube Videos in your Banner Ads

bryan.robb@digitalthrottle.com (Bryan Robb) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 14:49:36 GMT

If you’ve invested in a product video, we’ve built an innovative banner ad that allows you to include the video into your banner ad. The 300×250 standard banner size includes a static image to display a message while the lower portion included your embedded YouTube&#174 video. The upper static image is “clickable” to your website. We’re also able to measure both clicks and video plays!

The video can be any length, as demonstrated on the ad from Edelbrock:

Here is an example of a shorter video that’s more branding and imagery:

dtlandingpage

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