Saturday, August 30, 2014

Deck the Halls with App-Like Games

‘Tis the season to be online shopping. Gadgets, winter boots or ugly Christmas sweaters, whatever it is you fancy, it’s sure to be found somewhere on the web. For some, the task of online shopping can be an irritating and tiresome feat. But if you’re anything like me, you get a thrill out of finding the best deals and getting the biggest bang for your buck! However, the process of online deal hunting is not always an enjoyable one. That is why whenever I come across a page that finds a way to make my online shopping fun and entertaining, I take notice!

While waiting for valet to bring my car around after work (this process has been known to take up to 20 minutes sometimes!), my mind wanders to my holiday to-do list. My younger cousin, Samantha, is next on my gift list. Unsure what to get her; I start checking out different mobile shopping apps such as Victoria Secret’s junior apparel line, PINK Nation. Next thing I know, I had spent several minutes playing games, such as PINK-O, all while racking up points to put towards different items and prizes!

PINK takes their visitors on a short, but effective, conversion-focused journey. They engage their mobile visitors at a higher level, which as a result, gains them more online leads.

Games are an entertaining way to engage and convert prospects. From the look and feel to the overall messaging, PINK’s mobile app and landing experiences are perfectly tailored to appeal to their target audience.

Thanks to my stellar gaming skills and my exquisite fashion sense, my cousin’s gift was all squared away with time to spare — all before my car arrived. Now, that’s what I like to call savvy shopping!




Deck the Halls with App-Like Games

Best of 2013: Responsive design, content marketing, conversion paths & more

attachment-52b87d90e4b0e28da6ea1ab7

2013. Google called it "a year of transformation." Mashable declared it "the year of responsive web design." And then there was Google Enhanced Campaigns, which was mandated across all AdWords campaigns back in July. If you weren't ready for mobile, well, it didn't matter, because it happened.

With smartphone sales expected to reach 1.81 billion...and double by 2015...compelling, intelligent, and integrated digital campaigns, and thus experiences, will be mandatory.

Not optional.

We've been preaching brilliant post-click marketing since 2007. But this year, highly relevant, smart, user-centered creative really took a front seat that will carry through 2014 and beyond.

So, to wrap up the year with a nice bow, we wanted to share our "Best of 2013" — a collection of blog posts designed to inspire better digital experiences and help you provide more value (and conversions) in the new year.

Cheers!

Jessica 

9 Best Practices for Designing Responsive Landing Pages

Nine of our favorite best practices for designing stellar responsive landing pages. You can use these with or without a platform to ensure you are building landing pages that not only respond, but convert! Learn how to put the right content in the right place on the page for every user.

How to use conversion paths for a better digital experience

Humans click your ads and land on your pages. Seems obvious, but in our haste to put up an experience with the perfect layout, content & offer, we often forget to think about the human behind the click. Learn how to use user segmentation (aka conversion paths) for a better digital experience.

9 Ways to Drive More Leads From Your Content Marketing

Sure, you've used landing pages to 'gate' high value content such as white papers or ebooks, but there more creative ways to up-sell and cross-sell content to convert your audience's attention into business results. Discover nine ideas for innovative ways to drive more leads from your content marketing.

Three awesome [infographics]

Content marketing, landing pages and testing...these are three of our favorite things! Download these infographics.

Happy Holidays from ion!

Read our 2013 holiday blog post series — ionians cover best practices for testing, responsive design, user segmentation, marketing apps & more! Read the series.




Best of 2013: Responsive design, content marketing, conversion paths & more

What We Learned This Week

This week we learned why you don't piss off Bill Gates, people will pay more for a cooler than a smartwatch, and Tony didn't die at the end of "The Sopranos."
What We Learned This Week

Five SEO Tips for Global Marketers

If you want to boost your website traffic overseas, you need a localized strategy for each market. Here are five SEO tips to keep in mind during that localization process. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
Five SEO Tips for Global Marketers

Nokia to Bring Offline Navigation to Samsung Galaxy Devices

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Nokia may be abandoning Android on the hardware side, but the company isn't giving up on Android entirely.


Nokia is partnering with Samsung to bring its Here Maps app to Samsung Galaxy smartphones, the two companies announced in a blog post on Friday.



The free app includes maps for 200 countries, with support for driving and walking route guidance for 100 of those. When used with a data connection, it also includes real time traffic and transit schedules for dozens of countries


But the app's most impressive feature, and the one most likely to lure Google Maps users, is its robust offline capabilities. As with Here's Windows Phone counterpart, users can download maps for entire countries, or specific regions, for offline use. Read more...

More about Android, Samsung, Nokia, Tech, and Android Apps
Nokia to Bring Offline Navigation to Samsung Galaxy Devices

This Is Your Brain on Coffee

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You know you feel instantly better after you've downed your morning cup, but what is it about coffee that affects the mind in such a pleasant way?


AsapSCIENCE explains how caffeine stimulates adrenaline production and prevents your brain from reabsorbing dopamine, which in turn keeps you happy


But be careful, coffee addicts. Caffeine's adrenaline-stimulating properties affect your brain the say way cocaine does, but to a lesser degree. So, don't skip that morning cup, or you'll be in coffee withdrawal by lunchtime.


More about Youtube, Coffee, Food And Drink, Watercooler, and Videos


This Is Your Brain on Coffee

Maroon 5's Ballad With Gwen Stefani Is a Close Second to 'Stay With Me'

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"Stay With Me" singer Sam Smith has the Ballad of Year title locked down for 2014, but Maroon 5 and Gwen Stefani are sure trying their hardest to snag the runner-up spot with their emotional "My Heart Is Open" duet


The new ballad, co-written by "Chandelier" singer Sia, showcases No Doubt's Stefani and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine both yearning for love. Wrapped in slow-pounding piano sounds, the song crescendos with Levine's piercing falsetto.



"It's just a moment going seesaw, don't be afraid to give your heart to me," Stefani sings, "and if you do, I know that I won't let you down." Read more...

More about Music, Entertainment, Piano, Maroon 5, and Gwen Stefani
Maroon 5's Ballad With Gwen Stefani Is a Close Second to 'Stay With Me'

How to Develop Rapport With Influencers via Social Media

The influencers in your niche are probably receiving hundreds of friendly requests a day. The trick behind successful outreach is to stand out and catch the intended party's attention--and maintain it. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
How to Develop Rapport With Influencers via Social Media

What We Learned This Week

This week we learned why you don't piss off Bill Gates, people will pay more for a cooler than a smartwatch, and Tony didn't die at the end of "The Sopranos."
What We Learned This Week

7 Popular Travel Bloggers Share Their Best Blogging Tips

Travel bloggers share tips


The people behind seven popular travel blogs share their personal insights and best blogging tips in this post. Their stories and experiences showcase the path you can follow in order to become a great blogger. I hope their words inspire you. The post is long and full of practical advice so let’s get started. First a quick introduction to our guests:


  • Earl Baron (EB): Wandering Earl is a permanent nomad and an experienced traveler.

  • Matthew Kepnes (MK): Matt explores the world and collects his traveling experiences at Nomadic Matt.

  • Dalene & Peter Heck (DH): Hecktic Travels have left everything behind to live with no possessions, no plans and just travel.

  • Andrea Spirov (AS): A travel lover with the ambitious goal of inspiring you to take a trip through Inspiring Travellers.

  • Cameron & Nicole Wears (CW): Traveling Canucks have been to over 50 countries on 6 continents.

How and why did you start your blog?


EB: I wanted to know if the experiences I was having during my travels would be of interest to anyone else. And so I figured that a blog would be the best platform for me to test that idea out.


MK: I started my site as a way to create an online resume for writing. I wanted to write guidebooks for Lonely Planet and figured if I had a website with posts as well as some writing on other websites then it would have been easier for me to do so.


DH: When we first started our travels, we fired up a Blogspot page to keep our family and friends informed on our whereabouts and activities. We stumbled upon the vast community of travel writers online and realized that we could perhaps take our site to the next level and even make some income off of it. We then bought our own domain, focused more heavily on providing quality content, and began to engage in social media.


AS: When my husband and I decided to take a year off for a sabbatical I thought it might be nice to start blogging about our experiences. Originally I wanted to interview other travelers, in particular those that we would meet in hostels who were doing really interesting things while on the road. But eventually we also decided to write about our own experiences and the site just evolved from there.


CW: We started our travel site before embarking on an around the world adventure. Originally the page was designed to update family and friends and to share our travel stories. As our travels continued, we found that our readership was growing. People were actually interested in our adventures, stories and photos. This inspired us to take our travel blogging seriously and write for a much wider audience.


SC: We wanted to share our stories with family and friends while we were away. It also seemed like a great way to keep track of our photos since photography is a huge part of not only our personal lives, but our professional lives as well.


BL: We’re insatiably curious about traveling to new places, meeting new people, seeking out new experiences and new ideas, and love sharing those things with other people in a way that will hopefully inform and inspire them to travel.


How much time do you spend working on your site?


EB: These days, I spend about 30 hours per week working on my blog and that involves writing posts, adding new pages, promoting the blog on social media platforms and general maintenance of the site.


MK: I spend all of waking time blogging if I am not doing anything else. After years of blogging, my site is a full time business and like any business it takes up most of my time. I have people working for me now – I have a part time assistant, PR agent, and designer. I spend my days writing posts, networking with other authors, writing articles for other websites, answering email, and overseeing a few other websites. It’s very time consuming.


DH: Between the two of us, we spend about 40 to 50 hours a week total. We each have our responsibilities: I do the writing, keep up on Twitter and Facebook, as well as handling all our ‘business’. Pete does most of the photography, all photo editing and handles StumbleUpon and Pinterest. We have outsourced our technical support as neither of us are WordPress gurus.


AS: On average I spend at least 40 hours a week on the site – it’s a full-time job. Researching and writing takes up the vast majority of my time with social media at a close second. Other tasks include responding to queries via email, including advertisers, advertisement maintenance (renewals, billing, updates, etc.). I also correspond with contributors and deal with the technical aspects of the website.


CW: About 25 hours per week. I spend time editing and tagging photos, which is very tedious and time consuming. Tasks include responding to comments, answering emails, and sharing our articles through social media. I also spend a lot of time sharing other travel bloggers’ work. Every day I leave about 10 comments on travel sites and I promote articles from travel bloggers through social media – what goes around comes around!


SC: I would say at least 15-20 hours a week on the actual site, but starting out we probably spent more like 30-40 hours a week getting things set up. The most time consuming tasks are writing, editing photos and uploading them to our site. These are daily tasks, otherwise we can easily get behind on our posting schedule. Lately we have spent a good deal of time optimizing old posts to rank better in search results and staying on top of social media.


BL: Between the two of us, I’d say we average well over 40 hours a week, usually working on it at least 4-5 hours a day. Tasks include writing, assigning and editing stories; editing photos and video; reaching out to potential advertisers and PR representatives; managing our team of interns; doing copious social media tasks; strategizing ideas for business growth; and then of course there’s the actual travel itself. We stay very, very busy!


What is the best lesson you have learned?


EB: Growing an engaged audience takes time, but in the end, as long as you stay focused and are willing to constantly learn, you will succeed. Those who don’t achieve their goals are generally those who eventually give up because they haven’t seen the results they were hoping for. Stick with it, push through the tough times and suddenly, one day, progress will be made and all of your efforts will have paid off.


MK: Learn website code. You don’t need to be a master at building websites or anything like that but being able to understand how your website works and how everything under the hood fits together will make your life a lot easier when there is a small problem that needs to be fixed, when you want to change a font color, or when you want to expand your website. Knowing how your website functions will make your life a lot easier.


DH: Be yourself. At the beginning we struggled a bit with what kind of website we were and what we wanted to write. A few months in we found our groove and our voice and have stuck with it. There’s no point trying to ‘force’ a certain kind of style onto yourself, it will show in the writing and will more easily wear you down. Do what you love and the rewards will come.


AS: Start networking and spend a lot of time on it. We regularly guest post and give interviews. We belong to a variety of online groups and forums for meeting other bloggers. You also need to be creative to think of new ways to promote yourself, with cross-promotion in other niches being a very important way to expand your reach. And don’t underestimate search, which can bring you significant amounts of traffic if you pay attention to SEO best practices.


CW: Don’t underestimate the time commitment that is required. Pay attention to the details. Don’t add too much sizzle that will slow down your site and frustrate your readers. Be clear with your message. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your site design. Stick with it! There will be weeks where it feels like nobody cares about your site. Stay the course. It takes time. Be patient.


SC: Running a successful site is not a cake walk, but if you are aware of this, hopefully you won’t get discouraged as easily. There will be plenty of times where you will consider giving up. The web is full of all different types of people. Some people will lift you up and others will try to tear you down. Do your best not to let the haters get to you. Learning how to separate constructive criticism from negativity is extremely important.


BL: The sooner you treat your site like a business, the faster it will grow. If I’d known how quickly we could grow this business by giving it everything we had, I’d have done it right from the get-go! Also? Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you can’t do it.


What is your best advice on how to attract readers?


EB: Create high-quality content. No matter how well you do with SEO, no matter how attractive your website or how catchy the titles of your posts, or even how visible you are on Twitter and Facebook, it means nothing if you don’t create content that is useful to your readers.


MK: Market outside your niche. Find similar topics and guest post on those websites. You can always market in your own niche but finding success outside your niche will lead to the greatest audience growth. I always post on lifehacking and finance sites because their audiences and missions align well with my budget travel tips. There is a lot of overlap.


DH: Do lots of guest posts. And I mean, LOTS, especially at the start. Right now we try to keep it to one guest post a month to control our workload, but we did many more in the beginning to reach a wider audience. Also, and this should go without saying, focus on producing high quality content. You want readers to come back and to also tell their friends about it.


AS: Building consistent, quality content is the best way to develop a successful site. Networking and promotion on social media is also very important, but if you don’t have great content, no one will care. Find your voice and don’t try to copy what others have done – you are what will engage readers and keep them coming back. People tend to follow personalities that they can relate to.


CW: Dedicate more time to social media. You can have the best content on the planet, but if nobody knows about it then you’re not going to get the recognition you deserve. Be everywhere. Join networking groups and connect with other bloggers. Leave comments and share their posts. Engage with your readers and followers. Respond to comments and emails. Be helpful and give before taking. Your time will come, but you have to earn it first.


SC: Network. Relationships are key. Start out by helping other bloggers and most of them will be happy to return the favor by sharing your articles, commenting or offering guest posts on their site. Guest posts are a great way to get your content in front of a different audience. It’s also important to stick with it, even through the tough times. Keep putting out great content while sharing it through all of your social media channels and eventually the readers will come.


BL: The brief version is to blaze your own trail, focus on killer content, set concrete (and attainable) business goals, work social media like a beast, treat others the way you want to be treated, and try not to focus too much on stats or monetization, especially for the first year. It takes a lot of time, patience, energy and talent to build a successful site.


What has been your biggest success?


EB: My biggest success has been creating a travel blog that has become my main business, one that can support my current lifestyle of constant world travel.


MK: My biggest success as a blogger came when I got a book deal from Penguin Books to turn my ebook into a print edition book.


DH: The success we are most proud of is building the great fan base we have. We love the interaction we see on our Facebook page and the great comments and emails we get every day. That is the number one thing that keeps us going!


AS: Our biggest success has been the steady increase in traffic over the last two years. We also meet a lot of fascinating people through our site and I consider that to be as much of a success as any numbers or advertising revenue that we generate.


CW: You always want more page views, followers and advertising dollars – it’s never enough! We love to travel, so a big success for us has been attending press trips to fantastic destinations. We’ll always remember the first time we were offered an “all expenses paid trip” to the Dominican Republic in exchange for some posts and social media loving. We had one of those “we finally made it” moments.


SC: I would say that our biggest success is the relationships that we have formed with other bloggers. This may not be a success to some people, but for us it is extremely empowering to meet other people who have the same passion and drive as we do. I won’t lie though, seeing our monthly reader numbers grow gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling and makes me feel successful as well.


BL: Our biggest success has been in getting big-name companies to approach us before we really even knew what we were doing as afar as running a site. Several companies approached us about working together back when we were barely getting 10,000 page views a month. Working with such high-caliber companies DEFINITELY elevated our profile considerably.


What has been your biggest mistake?


EB: Not starting a blog earlier in my travels. I’ve been traveling for 12 years but have only had the the blog for 2 years… it would have been excellent to have been writing and interacting with the community from the beginning!


MK: I think it was failing to recognize how important design is to a website. I had a bad design in the beginning. Moreover, I also didn’t make it easy for people to be able to sign up for my website. I think that lost me a lot of readers and now I can’t help but stress the importance of design to people.


DH: Our biggest mistake was to not start sooner! When we first started traveling, we wish we had known that there was this big, crazy, travel blogging world out there, and to make a real ‘go’ of our travel site right from the start.


AS: The biggest mistake has been not having a more well-defined niche as I think those sites that have one tend to have a lot more success than general interest sites in a genre.


CW: We focused on quantity not quality – big mistake. If you want people to share your story, make it memorable and provide value. I’m embarrassed by some posts that were published years ago. The writing was sloppy and disorganized. But that’s just a part of the creative process. Another mistake was ignoring the importance of SEO tactics. If you want to increase traffic and readership, search engines need to find your work.


SC: Our biggest mistake has probably been not starting sooner. I know, that’s a stupid thing to say because it’s never too late to start. This is a tough question though. It is really hard for me to think about life and business in terms of mistakes. I like to look at things as a learning experience rather than a mistake, otherwise I might drive myself mad.


BL: In our first year we weren’t focused, had no clue what we were doing on social media, and weren’t even on WordPress. In some ways, our relaunch when we moved to WordPress was like starting all over again.


Loved the advice? Inspired to start you own blog? Check out my start guide here.


The post 7 Popular Travel Bloggers Share Their Best Blogging Tips appeared first on How To Make My Blog.



7 Popular Travel Bloggers Share Their Best Blogging Tips

What We Learned This Week

This week we learned why you don't piss off Bill Gates, people will pay more for a cooler than a smartwatch, and Tony didn't die at the end of "The Sopranos."
What We Learned This Week

Everything You Need to Know About Ghost Sex

If you're tired of putting up with all the hassle endemic to having sex with a corporeal being, or if you've ever dreamed of consummating a relationship without actually having to touch another human, there's another option that might satisfy you: banging ghosts.
Everything You Need to Know About Ghost Sex

What We Learned This Week

This week we learned why you don't piss off Bill Gates, people will pay more for a cooler than a smartwatch, and Tony didn't die at the end of "The Sopranos."
What We Learned This Week

To Send or Not to Send More Email: That Is the Question

So, just how much email is okay to send? It’s a question on many retailers’ minds, especially as we enter the holiday season. 


Recently, Elyse Dupre of Direct Marketing News interviewed Listrak CEO Ross Kramer and Listrak client, Alex Cresswell, of Lisa Leonard Designs, on the topic for an article that appears in the August issue. 


In short, Ross and Alex suggest that it’s okay to send more if …


- your target customers are in market


- you’ve segmented your list 


- it’s Black Friday or Cyber Monday 


- you’re leveraging scarcity 


…and you shouldn’t send more if…


- your customers are making big-ticket purchases 


- your customers aren’t receiving your emails 


Read the article to find out more. 


To Send or Not to Send More Email: That Is the Question

Project Wing vs. Prime Air: Google's Drones Soar Above Amazon's

Amazon-google-drone-comparison
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Move over, AmazonGoogle has just entered the commercial drone arms race with Project Wing, an until-now secret program to develop "self-flying vehicles" to deliver small packages, similar to Amazon's Prime Air.


Both programs are still years away from coming to fruition, with prototype drones — or, more accurately, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) — completing only the most basic of test flights. However, the drones have been in development for a while, with notably different approaches to drone design. Google has been working on drones for two years; Amazon announced its program in December of last year. Read more...

More about Google, Tech, Dev Design, Google X, and Drones
Project Wing vs. Prime Air: Google's Drones Soar Above Amazon's

What Your Grocery Store Might Look Like in 2025: Different at Night


Picture this: A grocery store with shifting walls that transforms into a restaurant at night and a farmers market on Saturday mornings.

Sound far-fetched? It could happen by as soon as 2025, according to a new exhibit that seeks to predict food retail trends for the next 10 years. The predictions come from the Food Marketing Institute, which represents food retailers operating nearly 40,000 U.S. stores. The organization debuted the exhibit on Wednesday in Chicago as part of a sprawling trade show that it is hosting this week.

The exhibit was overseen by Tesser, a San Francisco-based brand strategy and design firm. In the video above Tesser CEO Tre Musco talks about the project, whose sponsors include Hershey Co., Coca-Cola Refreshments and American Express.


Continue reading at AdAge.com


What Your Grocery Store Might Look Like in 2025: Different at Night

What We Learned This Week

This week we learned why you don't piss off Bill Gates, people will pay more for a cooler than a smartwatch, and Tony didn't die at the end of "The Sopranos."
What We Learned This Week

Five SEO Tips for Global Marketers

If you want to boost your website traffic overseas, you need a localized strategy for each market. Here are five SEO tips to keep in mind during that localization process. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
Five SEO Tips for Global Marketers

Mobile Marketing: The Week in Review

Mobile Marketing The Week in Review3 Mobile Marketing: The Week in ReviewIn case you missed it, here are some of the top stories in mobile marketing and advertising we’ve been following this week.


At a recent innovation conference, Marketing Evolution CEO Rex Briggs presented some new findings and discussed rapidly developing analytic capabilities. Briggs’ presentation, entitled “Accelerating the Transformation and Innovation of Marketing,” focused on new research that shows how mobile fits into the broader marketing mix.


Coupons and offers downloaded to smartphones are all the rage. According to a June, 2014 research report by Forrester Consulting for RetailMeNot.com, increasing numbers of smartphone users chose to avoid paper and use the coupons on their phones.


Digital media consumption now constitutes a genuine multi-course meal, not just a snack. That’s the takeaway from a newly released comScore study, which also shows that Facebook is getting its just desserts.


Advertising and marketing have to do one thing above all: stay up to speed with the changing times and react as quickly as possible. According to Calvin Wolf, a digital journalist based in Midland, Texas, today that means adding mobile to the mix of a successful marketing plan.


After weeks of pre-screening by a judges panel of leading marketers and mobile experts, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has released the names of the finalists for the 2014 Global Smarties Awards.


A lot has changed in just a short time. People who studied advertising and marketing even five years ago are finding their skill sets sorely matched to the exigencies of modern agency work.


Want to get the latest MMW news and insight delivered straight to you inbox every morning? Click here to sign up for our free newsletter.


37b97aafe3aee5bffdcf85f98539a0fa Mobile Marketing: The Week in Review Mobile Marketing: The Week in Review


Mobile Marketing: The Week in Review

What We Learned This Week

This week we learned why you don't piss off Bill Gates, people will pay more for a cooler than a smartwatch, and Tony didn't die at the end of "The Sopranos."
What We Learned This Week

Jerry Football

In the owner's suite, on his private jet or among Dallas' beautiful people, Jerry Jones seems a happy man. But what he really wants, he cannot have.
Jerry Football

How to Develop Rapport With Influencers via Social Media

The influencers in your niche are probably receiving hundreds of friendly requests a day. The trick behind successful outreach is to stand out and catch the intended party's attention--and maintain it. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
How to Develop Rapport With Influencers via Social Media

What We Learned This Week

This week we learned why you don't piss off Bill Gates, people will pay more for a cooler than a smartwatch, and Tony didn't die at the end of "The Sopranos."
What We Learned This Week

To Send or Not to Send More Email: That Is the Question

So, just how much email is okay to send? It’s a question on many retailers’ minds, especially as we enter the holiday season. 


Recently, Elyse Dupre of Direct Marketing News interviewed Listrak CEO Ross Kramer and Listrak client, Alex Cresswell, of Lisa Leonard Designs, on the topic for an article that appears in the August issue. 


In short, Ross and Alex suggest that it’s okay to send more if …


- your target customers are in market


- you’ve segmented your list 


- it’s Black Friday or Cyber Monday 


- you’re leveraging scarcity 


…and you shouldn’t send more if…


- your customers are making big-ticket purchases 


- your customers aren’t receiving your emails 


Read the article to find out more. 


To Send or Not to Send More Email: That Is the Question

Slice of Princess Diana's Wedding Cake Snags $1,375 at Auction

Charles
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A Los Angeles auction house has sold a slice of cake from Princess Diana's wedding to Prince Charles for $1,375


The 33-year-old slice of cake was sold online by Nate D. Sanders Auctions. It is still in its original white and silver presentation box dated "Buckingham Palace 29 July 1981" and stamped with a "CD" monogram.


The cake, described as "extremely rare" on the auction house's website, came with a card, which read: "With best wishes from Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince & Princess of Wales."



So who wants a cake from 1981 that's wrapped in its original wax paper and doily? Just one person, it turns out. The auction house started the bid at $1,100 and got just one taker, according to its website. The winner was a private collector. Read more...

More about Us World and Us
Slice of Princess Diana's Wedding Cake Snags $1,375 at Auction

What We Learned This Week

This week we learned why you don't piss off Bill Gates, people will pay more for a cooler than a smartwatch, and Tony didn't die at the end of "The Sopranos."
What We Learned This Week

The Last Armenians Of Myanmar

One of the oldest churches in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is struggling to keep going — its congregation only occasionally reaches double figures. But the opening up of the country to outside investment and tourism is offering new hope.
The Last Armenians Of Myanmar

Best of 2013: Responsive design, content marketing, conversion paths & more

attachment-52b87d90e4b0e28da6ea1ab7

2013. Google called it "a year of transformation." Mashable declared it "the year of responsive web design." And then there was Google Enhanced Campaigns, which was mandated across all AdWords campaigns back in July. If you weren't ready for mobile, well, it didn't matter, because it happened.

With smartphone sales expected to reach 1.81 billion...and double by 2015...compelling, intelligent, and integrated digital campaigns, and thus experiences, will be mandatory.

Not optional.

We've been preaching brilliant post-click marketing since 2007. But this year, highly relevant, smart, user-centered creative really took a front seat that will carry through 2014 and beyond.

So, to wrap up the year with a nice bow, we wanted to share our "Best of 2013" — a collection of blog posts designed to inspire better digital experiences and help you provide more value (and conversions) in the new year.

Cheers!

Jessica 

9 Best Practices for Designing Responsive Landing Pages

Nine of our favorite best practices for designing stellar responsive landing pages. You can use these with or without a platform to ensure you are building landing pages that not only respond, but convert! Learn how to put the right content in the right place on the page for every user.

How to use conversion paths for a better digital experience

Humans click your ads and land on your pages. Seems obvious, but in our haste to put up an experience with the perfect layout, content & offer, we often forget to think about the human behind the click. Learn how to use user segmentation (aka conversion paths) for a better digital experience.

9 Ways to Drive More Leads From Your Content Marketing

Sure, you've used landing pages to 'gate' high value content such as white papers or ebooks, but there more creative ways to up-sell and cross-sell content to convert your audience's attention into business results. Discover nine ideas for innovative ways to drive more leads from your content marketing.

Three awesome [infographics]

Content marketing, landing pages and testing...these are three of our favorite things! Download these infographics.

Happy Holidays from ion!

Read our 2013 holiday blog post series — ionians cover best practices for testing, responsive design, user segmentation, marketing apps & more! Read the series.




Best of 2013: Responsive design, content marketing, conversion paths & more