#it negates the tag filtering stuff

[robininthewindow]

I hate people who censor their words- like not only are you doing the exact opposite of helping- you’re also making it really annoying for people with screen readers.

[akels-x]

rant time below but the TLDR (the lord da rings): i dont like detrans shit

i hope this doesnt end up being kink-shamey T_T do whatevs u want forever, its not my business and after writing this ill block the tags regarding this specifically. filtering stuff is awesomes and everyone should do it 👍👍👍

okei so im lookin 4 breeding shit, specifically about transmascs. And every other post i end up blocking the op cuz its detrans related

i do not associate pregnancy with "being a woman". i do not think these things should be intertwined. not only because there are women who cant get pregnant, but also there are non-women who can. Its stupid.

BUT the intertwined breeding and detrans insists that it is and its SHITTY. The things ive read are transphobic and misogynistic. Negating that trans men exist, and reducing being a woman to if they can have kids or not.

dude. u know masculinity and femininity are bullshit concepts, right? that they shouldn't mean anything? that its fine if you dont fully adhere to it, and those who think otherwise are full of bullshit?

and I KNOW that in reality is hard. You dont control the impression of others about you. and it can get dangerous sometimes. Detransitioning for safety is fine, and so is for when you realize you were actually cis.

But i. Dont get why you would do that for the humiliation. wHy. its not even the hot humiliation its the sad one

[myfandomrealitea]

I think most people would, if they knew my stance on shipping, put me into the pro shipping category.

But I feel uncomfortable being labeled this way because I very much have limits.

I don't think people should write fanfiction or draw explicit fanart of characters being played (or voiced) by underage actors (and ofc the same applies to explicit rpf of said actors).

I just think the risk of these young, valuable people coming across these fanworks featuring either them or their likeness is too high (and one also has to remember the natural curiosity to check out stuff featuring them).

I don't think I'm being unreasonable here, but what do you think?

I think that that's a reasonable stance and perspective, to have.

The common assumption about proshipping is that you absolutely have to support and endorse absolutely everything and if you don't you're backsliding into being an anti, or you're not fully a proshipper.

But here's the thing; that's not actually the core meaning or value of proshipping. Proshipping does not inherently negate or demand that you have absolutely no limits or that you can't inherently disagree with or be uncomfortable with certain things.

Everyone has certain limits and certain things they simply cannot support or agree with. And that's perfectly fine. Where proshipping comes into it is recognising that everyone has that right, and also the right to still create and engage with things that you personally don't.

Its absolutely fine not to want to identify as a proshipper if you feel that your stance and your limits might be misperceived by using the label. Proshipping does have its inherent meaning and core values, but everyone also uses the label differently and assigns different, personal interpretations and values to it.

There's no obligation to use labels in fandom spaces at all, and there's also no obligation to have an 'all or nothing' stance. I know people who are, by definition, antis, but they're also heavily anti-harassment. They don't think that, morally, I should be writing incest porn, but they also recognise that even if I do, it doesn't necessarily mean I support it in real life either.

Being concerned about how fiction might impact real people is a very considerate, respectful concern to have. Its also why fandom spaces need to remain self-moderated in terms of properly using tags, filters, ect. Another common misconception people have about proshipping and anti-censorship is the assumption that we want to be able to just throw pornography and fiction around anywhere and everywhere, but actually, we still very much believe that everything has its place, and that there are proper, respectful ways and places to host content.

There's a lot of rambling I could do about the symbiosis of respect and moderation between a person/their guardians and fandom content creators, but that would be digressing slightly.

(And the point that a lot of fanfiction about teenagers and minors is written by teenagers and minors.)

The general gist is;

Your opinion is not unreasonable. Nor do I think any less of you for it. Nor would any proshipper, really. That's your concern, your limit, and that should be respected. In the same way that you would need to respect that that content does, and will always, exist, and the people who do write it with the proper measures taken are no less deserving of at the very minimum, your acceptance of the fact that they have a right to.

Proshipping is not:

Having no limits at all.

Thinking that you MUST create absolutely any and all content.

Thinking that you MUST support absolutely any and all content.

Thinking that nobody ever can be uncomfortable with or disinterested in what you create or what is being created.

Proshipping is:

Understanding fiction is not a 1:1 reflection of a person's real interests beliefs, values or their moral standings.

Understanding that fiction is not reality. It does not create victims.

That within the bounds of law, people have a right to create content, even if its content you personally do not support or agree with.

Understanding you do not have the right to dictate what someone can or cannot create, and that you do not have the right to be cruel or harmful to them because of what they create.

[asirensrage]

Then what's the point of listing triggers and warnings in the first place if you're claiming it's not your responsibility to begin with. I understand the argument but it doesn't negate the fact we have filters, tags and labels. Why have them in existence if nobody should have the responsibility of putting them into action. There is people who make the effort to list triggers etc and there are those who don't. Is one superior than the other for implementing a system that's setup for such use? You yourself have listed triggers etc. If you didn't list them, then what. Ofc we are responsible for curating our own space but then again we are supposed to be also respectful towards one another in shared spaces which includes tagging appropriately

Hmmm...ngl I forgot I reblogged that post (it was queued) and I was totally lost about this ask until I remembered.

Listing triggers or squicks isn't anyone's responsibility. It's a courtesy.

Personally, I do it because I want to be kind to my readers and offer the information necessary to make a choice, especially since some of the stuff I write can be pretty dark, but it's not a necessity. Like the original post said, you as a reader have the choice of whether or not to take the risk to read something. You can choose to not read something that doesn't list warnings, just like you can choose not to watch an R-rated movie that doesn't list anything but a summary.

I don't know if you're completely aware of how much effort it takes to consider everything that could be considered to be an issue to others. I know I assume some things are common sense (like the fact that a relationship in a dark fic was obviously unhealthy) but I've had people tell me to do better in my warnings because people will think it's an ideal one. As if my readers aren't aware of it or are lacking that common sense. Personally, I thought that was a little insulting to my readers, but I agreed that things got darker as the story progressed and from when I first started posting, so I updated it and added a warning for their benefit. I didn't have to though. I made that choice.

If I didn't list triggers or squicks, I would hope that my summary would be enough to make people hesitate, but then again I also hope that when it comes to things like obsession, people use common sense and understand that it's not something to strive for in real life.

I don't think one is better than the other. Sure, it's about being respectful to others, but that goes both ways. If it's lacking a warning, make that choice and don't take the risk that you might be exposed to something you don't like. It's not only on the writers. You don't have to continue. It's not just about curating your own space, but about taking responsibility for your own well-being. If something you're reading does twist into something that you don't like or want to read, close it.

Listing warnings about what's in your fic is a courtesy by the writers, and if they choose not to spoil what's going to happen in it, the readers can choose not to read it. Backtrack if you have to, but don't take it out on artists. Respect and courtesy go both ways.

[detailtilted]

I love those pictures! Only the ones on the top row were familiar to me, so it was great to see new-to-me photos.

I haven’t yet tried to get involved on Twitter, but hateful posts have been my biggest frustration since trying to dip my toe into the Supernatural fandom over the past few months.  My experiences on AO3 have been great so far, but I’ve been horrified to learn how much hate is out there on the other sites I’ve visited.

The flat-out mean posts are bad enough, but it feels like a punch to the gut when a post starts off with a really sweet compliment about one actor and then uses that compliment as a jumping-off point to insult another one.  It negates the compliment by making it look like its actual purpose was just to create an excuse to post the insult.  Besides, why do people want to intentionally dwell on someone they hate?  It's neither healthy nor conducive to a happy life.

When I recently joined Tumblr and tried to find people to follow, I became paralyzed by this. I’d browse a tag I was interested in, find a purely nice post that made me happy, and look at that person’s blog.  Then I’d find hateful things either in their blog description or in one of their older posts and I'd close their blog in disappointment.  I felt like I was spending too much time analyzing blogs in an attempt to find people I was comfortable following.  Plus, the more bad stuff I found, the more I started to even question the intent behind things I would have previously just considered to be a friendly joke.

I know you can filter out tags, and this would likely filter out some of the things I object to.  My concern is that if I do this, and then I see a blog with things I like, I might not realize they're also spreading hate because I won't see the posts hidden by my filter.  Then I might unknowingly follow this member and even reblog some of their posts, and I'd kind of be unintentionally “supporting” them, especially if I draw attention to their blog through my own interactions with them. (Setting aside for the moment that I have zero visibility or influence here, of course!  I can’t help thinking about potential future consequences.)

Sorry for the random, out-of-the-blue, crazy, long rant!  It’s directed at nobody in particular.  This post just touched on something I’ve been super frustrated by for a few months now.  I have no doubt there are a lot of great blogs out there that I'd enjoy following, but I guess I've kind of tabled the endeavor until I have more time to devote to it. And when is there ever enough time? There are too many other things I want to spend time on.

If anyone sees this who has a hate-free blog (and that includes being free of hatred for Jared, Jensen, their wives, or Misha), or if you know of a blog I might be interested in following, please do let me know. Now that I've gotten this off my chest, I'm going to sleep. :)

Ok I need to feel some love for Jared so I came here for it. Was on twitter and saw a post where someone asked why people hated Jared and the fricken lies and hate hurt and upset me. If you don't like someone it's ok but don't make up shit to justify it, just say they rub you the wrong way and move on but no the antis actually go out of their way to turn people against Jared and I just don't get it. He is such a kind human being who genuinely tries to do good and is always trying to better himself (even though he's perfect as is) and help others. He has such a huge heart and is open about his mistakes and how he learns from them. I could go on and on but I know you guys get it. If there were more people like Jared in this world it would be a much better and kinder place.

How can anyone look at this lovable dorkas and not see his inherent goodness?

[sparklingdisneyprincess]

Having Amber know for weeks affected fans view of her and why it was not done well.

In the tags on a reblog of one of my posts, someone mentioned that the scene where Amber tells Mark she knew he was a hero was bad writing and I low-key agree. I plan on doing an analysis on that specific scene later, but today I wanted to get into why the way the writes handled that situation just wasn’t great.

Keeping in mind the context of who the writers are can somewhat explain the  thought process behind the decision. The creators of the comic book said themselves that's the comic book very often pokes fun at superhero stereotypes and tropes. One of the main stereotypes in superhero comic books is the main non-super female love interest being upset with the male superhero love interest for constantly flaking on her/being unavailable trope. In this trope the conflict is typically resolved when the female love interest is told or discovers in the moment usually by so accident that the male love interest was the superhero the whole time and the revelation is suddenly supposed to negate all the negative emotions that the female love interest was put through and everything just ends up fine. 

In today's time it wouldn't matter if he was a superhero or not. He still made her feel terrible, he still lied. I do think women today wouldn’t allow that to excuse all the hero’s behavior especially when it was evident that said behavior was hurting them. 

We know the writers like to poke fun at stereotypical superhero comic book tropes and plot points, and a good way to do that it to utilize trope subversion.

Trope subversion definition:

A subversion has two mandatory segments. First, the expectation is set up that something we have seen plenty of times before is coming, then that set-up is paid off with something else entirely. The set-up is a trope; the "something else" is the subversion.

Pure trope subversion vs Partial trope subversion:

Executing a “Pure trope subversion” means to follow the blueprint for “Trope subversion” to a tee. The writer sets up the story with essentially no hints that the outcome will be anything but traditional, and then proceeds to suddenly turn the outcome on it’s head in a way that was unanticipated. In the case of the “Partial trope subversion” it’s the opposite. The writer will drop subtle hints and clues teasing that the outcome will not be traditional for the trope. The hints must be subtle because the writers goal is still to trick the reader into believing that the traditional outcome will occur.

The main problem with them writing it as a pure trope subversion is that Amber ends up looking really bad and that people already didn’t like her as they wanted Eve to end up with Mark.

The set-up of the secret identity relationship trope leads us to believe that the female was mostly if not completely unaware that their male love interest is a hero. They often times are suspicious, but the dots don’t usually get the chance to connect before it’s all revealed. Going with that type of trope set-up leads the audience to believe that it’ll end like it always does. The girl will feel sorry for her actions and completely forgive the hero (even though I don’t find think that’s realistic), so instead of it going in that direction they subvert it. They have the female love interest (Amber) figure it out herself and silently not be in the dark for a period of time till it’s revealed that she knew. This is fine unless it’s written as a pure trope subversion because the traditional trope buildup includes anger over canceled plans, late arrivals, and feelings of neglect. That anger makes the female love interest look completely irrational in the case that she knew! (Though perhaps she was not truly angry over those things after she discovered the truth, but she was angry with him lying and couldn’t tell him that without saying she knew, so she expressed her anger through those situations instead of the main reason??? Hmm, I just thought of that and that’s an interesting theory for another time.) Anyways...

I found that the trope subversion making Amber look so bad to be a glaring issue that should have been weeded out in the writing room. They had to have known how it would be perceived. There’s no way they wouldn’t. The only logical reason they’d do this is if they plan to go through with what I suspected was happening at the beginning of the show, which would be that the writers are telling us that Amber is not Mark’s endgame and that she’s just taking up space until Mark and Eve eventually get together. The only problem with that theory is that they had Mark and Amber get back together at the end of the season which is another trope subversion. In the usual love triangle bait-and-switch trope the first female love interest the male superhero chooses gets booted out to make room for the second girl in the love triangle who he was apparently supposed to be with the whole time, however the writers didn’t got through with that trope. They instead subverted it (whether purposely or not) by having the original couple get back together and setting it up in a way that shows the couple potentially growing stronger, rather than him staying single and eventually ending up with female love interest number 2. The writers even took the subversion a step further by setting the outcome up in a way that showed potential for female love interests 1 and 2 to actually start a beautiful friendship instead of a rivalry. 

I’m honestly confused by what the writers wanted us to perceive. If they wanted us to root for Amber and Mark why set them up like that? To prove that they can move past it? But who will support the relationship after everybody now hates Amber? It is contradictory, so I’m very confused. I did write another post speculating that though Amber knew Mark was a hero, she did not know he was Invincible. The theory does shed more light on the situation and it resolves a lot of issues, but it still doesn’t negate the fact that the use of a pure trope subversion in this instance made Amber look really bad. Especially when people would sooner find ways to cancel her, rather than attempt to understand why she did it. To understand someone does not mean to agree with or support them, but it reminds you to humanize the other person, a value we are all owed. 

If the writers had not done a pure trope subversion and instead decided upon a partial trope subversion the fallout would not have been nearly as bad. If they had done a partial trope subversion they could’ve allowed Amber to be more patient in some of the later scenes, while showing that even though she’s patient, she’s also very upset. It would show more understanding on her part, however I think Amber was actually already understanding of his situation. What she did not understand was the lying and how it seemed that he didn’t even care enough to lie well. She was hurt that he didn’t trust her and during their relationship she was constantly questioning whether or not he was serious and if he actually cared about her and honestly we questioned it too as an audience! Imagine how frustrated she must’ve been those 5 months out of 6 when she didn’t know why he was lying to her. 

Amber and Mark didn’t have any relationship issues that I noticed aside from his secret identity. Their dynamic was interesting to watch in my opinion because Mark wasn’t phased by Ambers weird sense of humor and her having essentially no filter, in fact he embraced it and was also snarky in return. He liked that she has strong core beliefs and clearly enjoyed spending time with her. Even though Amber is sarcastic and pokes fun at Mark she finds his enthusiasm to be endearing and often laughs with and smiles at him. Heck, she even approached him first! They’re just two teenagers dating and it’s nothing too exciting like it’s usually portrayed in media. They text, go on dates, make out, enjoy the others presence without really needing to talk, it’s just nice normal dating stuff and it’s realistic and lowkey, and I really liked seeing it. Upon my first watch of the show I liked Amber and Mark together, but I didn’t see the chemistry. I think it’s because everything about their relationship needed to happen in the span of 8 episodes, but also that the reasons why their attracted to each other are very subtle. They don’t shove it in our faces, they just place it there and if you caught then you caught it, if you didn’t then you didn’t. It took me re-watching the episodes a second time to realize why Mark and Amber enjoy being with each other. The body language speaks volumes when you also pay attention to the little things that go on between them. I’ll probably make a whole other post about it because I think it’s something to talk about, but yeah.

In conclusion either the writers truly didn’t realize the outcome of their choice, the writers knew the outcome and did it on purpose to set the audience up to root for Eve and Mark, the writers knew and set it up in order to later on grow/redeem Amber and strengthen her and Mark’s relationship by having them over come it, or they didn’t think it’d be a big deal due to assuming that the trope subversion would take everyone by surprise and that we’d like it.

(If you made it to the end, I’m impressed cause this was long. Also, shoutout to the person who first brought up this topic in the tags. I didn’t realize I felt some kind of way until I started typing and couldn’t stop. It was honestly kind of cathartic😄 I didn’t tag you cause I didn’t know if you’d like that but, thanks for unintentionally giving me the motivation to write this!) 

[c-h-pictures]

Absolutely amazing when people add stuff into the tag that negates the tag. (Example: n//s//f//w) but hey, it's fine because the Tumblr filtration system doesn't pay attention to the filtered tags when it recommends posts from tags you follow and then shows you an artist's drawing that is just p*rn. (It did have accurate body proportions though, I will give the artist that)

[moonwaterart]

Reblogging to add a few more things:

When tagging, don’t censor yourself in the tags as it could make it harder for your work to be seen or if people filter out certain tags, it will get passed that filter and people can and will usually report your work for improper tagging.

Not to mention newer fic writers improperly rate their work, so here’s a small guide to what the ratings mean so you can properly rate your works:

G - general audiences. This rating is used for family friendly content. Take this as ‘Rated E for Everyone’. If it’s lighthearted, cutesy or generally silly a/o goofy, it goes here. This rating is generally used as well with non-swearing fics.

T - Teen and Up Audiences. This is the category for light swearing and some slightly more mature topics. Fighting, angst, if you want some slight spice without sexual things going on, if you’re writing a typical YA fic, this is the rating you give.

M - Mature Audiences. This is where you can crank it up a notch, but sexual scenes aren’t in this rating. Implied sexual stuff is as well as some gore and even more mature themes. This, however, isn’t where your dead doves go.

E - Explicit. This is where your PWP, ‘Dead Dove Don’t Eat’, and heavy gore/ topic fics should go. No questions, no ‘what if’s. If it deals with heavy sexual themes, unsavory issues and topics/tropes (your dead doves) and the like, this should be their rating.

Different strokes for different folks, yes, but that doesn’t negate you from properly tagging and rating your work. AO3 has a plethora of help articles when it comes to tagging, the rating system, warnings and using the filtering system they have. In order to save your work from being reported for improper tagging/rating, to save yourself from unwarranted criticism, to save yourself the heartache, please properly tag and rate your fics.

If you want to be lazy in tagging, don’t post it or post it on Wattpad. If you don’t know what to rate and tag it, you can always ask someone to help you with that and more often than not they will help you if you ask nicely.

AO3 Etiquette -UPDATED

Based on both decent and not so decent replies, I have made some changes to my original post below.

It would seem a whole new kind of AO3 reader/writer is emerging and it is becoming clear not everyone quite understands how the website community works. Here is some basic guidance on how most people expect you to go about using AO3 to keep this a fun community archive that funtions correctly:

Kudos is for when the story was interesting enough to make you finish reading. If it sucked or was badly written, you probably left. If you finished it, you liked it - so kudos.

If you really liked it, you should comment. It can be long and detailed or a literal keysmash. Writers don't care, we just love comments.

No critisism unless the author has specifically asked or agreed to hear it. Even constructive critisism is a no-no unless an author note tells you it's okay. No, posting it online is not an open invitation for that. Many people write as a fun hobby or a way to cope with, among other things, insecurity and just want to share. Don't ruin that for them.

Do not comment to ask the author to write/update something else. It's tacky and off-putting and will probably have the opposite effect than the one you want.

There is no algorithm, it's an archive. Use the search and filter function to add/remove the pairings/characters/tropes etc. you want to read about and it will find you the fics that fit the bill.

For this to work, writers must tag and rate stories. This avoids readers finding the wrong things and missing the stuff they want. I don't care how cringy that trope is in your eyes - it gets tagged.

Character A/Character B means a ROMANTIC or SEXUAL relationship of some kind. Character A&Character B is PLANTONIC, like friendship or family.

Nothing is banned. This is an implicit rule because banning one thing is a slipperly slope to banning another and another, until nothing is allowed anymore. Do not expect anyone to censor for you. Because of the tags system, you are responsible for your own reading experience.

People can create new chapters and sequels/fic series any time after they "complete" a story. So it's considered perfectly normal to subscribe, even to a finished story. You can even subscribe to the author instead just to cover your bases.

Do not repost stories or change the publishing date without an extremely good reason (like a complete top to bottom rewrite). It's an archive, not social media. No one cares what's the most recent, only what fits their tag needs.

Try to avoid deleting a story you wrote if you hate it - make it anonymous or orphan it so others can still enjoy it, without it being connected to your name anymore.

It's come to my attention that metaworks ARE allowed on AO3, which is something I wasn't aware of. So if you do post an essay or theory, please tag it as such so others can choose to search for it or exclude it.

The only reason this archive works is because NON ONE PROFITS. Do not link to your ko-fi or patreon or mention monetary gain in any way or you violate the terms and risk having your account removed.

I KNOW there's plenty more I missed but I'm trying to cover most of the basics that people seem to be struggling with.

I invite anyone to add to this, but please explain, don't berate.

[isearchgoood]

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[amarketingautomation]

Melding SEO and Paid Search Boosts Banking Website Sales

Subscribe to The Financial Brand via email for FREE!

In 2017 rapper “21 Savage” released a song called “Bank Account.” Ten years ago this wouldn’t have registered on financial marketers’ radar, unless they happened to be rap fans. But in today’s search-reliant marketing age, most banks and credit unions have been affected, even if they’ve never heard of the song or the artist.

Blame it on how Google works. In very broad terms, there are two ways to build traffic on your website through search engines.

One way is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a variety of techniques for increasing traffic through “organic search.” Essentially, this means taking steps to make it easier for Google and other search engines to find your site’s content, “judge” it to be valuable, and to match it to the search terms that people use to find material on the web. This costs nothing — that is, there is no charge from the search engines, though the talent to do SEO right may cost plenty. Practitioners speak in terms of “earning” attention organically.

The other way is Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a major component of which is Pay-Per-Click marketing (PPC) — often referred to broadly as “paid search.” Marketers bid for keywords to appear in the paid listings at the top of search results. The winners, judged according to their bids and other factors, appear. If a searcher clicks on a paid link, the site’s owners must pay a fee. Ideally, after prospects arrive on the landing page, they accept the offer and become conversions, and the cost of the click is more than paid for.

PPC can be very powerful, but on the other hand, a financial marketer’s goal can be undermined by factors out of left field, like 21 Savage’s “Bank Account,” which is assuredly not about the virtues of savings.

Situations like this cause multiple problems for marketers. First, they can crowd out financial institutions’ initial choices of key words in organic search. Second, financial institutions can end up paying for clicks that have nothing to do with banking. Google has no idea why the searcher clicked on a PPC spot. It just knows “click and ka-ching.”

“You are paying for clicks people didn’t intend, which can frequently happen on mobile search,” says Wil Reynolds, Founder and Director of Digital Strategy at Seer Interactive, during a presentation at The Financial Brand Forum 2019. Marketers who don’t monitor and evaluate usage and results of PPC marketing “are literally burning money,” Reynolds adds. When SEO and SEM are pulled together into one view of what’s going on — which remains a rarity, according to Reynolds — huge patterns of waste can be identified. He says his firm spotted $97,000 in inefficient PPC spending in the first 20 minutes of evaluating web performance for a large banking client.

Issues in PPC will become important to more financial institutions because adoption of this technique is growing. Digital Banking Report’s “2019 Marketing Trends Report” found that 49% of institutions surveyed already use PPC or some other form of SEM and 39% plan to adopt it this year, representing a climb in one year of almost 80%. Reynolds makes it clear that success with these tools depends on active management — the financial marketer who thinks that they can “set it and forget it” is going to regret it.

PPC works, but Reynolds demonstrated that it works best when evaluated in conjunction with SEO. Unfortunately the whole area has been hyped to the max, according to Reynolds. He poked holes in several alleged priorities and gave examples of what happens when SEO and SEM aren’t properly managed.

( sponsored content )

Skewering Voice Search and Other ‘Must Haves’

So often, banks and credit unions hear that they have to climb aboard this trend, and that technology, ASAP, or they will lose ground to nimbler competitors. The list of urgencies just keeps on growing.

Financial marketers have to determine carefully whether their institutions will gain enough by being an early adopter to make the expense worthwhile. The notion that such investments will prove out in the long run sounds good, but for the vast majority of institutions, says Reynolds, simply isn’t realistic.

“How many of you get to have goals that you’re allowed to hit eight or nine years from now?” — Wil Reynolds, Seer Interactive

Very large financial institutions can afford to put chips on every spot on the table, but most must pick and choose, or wait.

“Mobile is the future!” has been a rallying cry for years, notes Reynolds, and yes, mobile banking has become a growing force in the industry. However, he points out, pundits started shouting that mobile was the future back in 2001. The mobile services designed back then bear no resemblance to where the channel evolved, and many players would have wasted gobs of money.

“You would have been ahead of the game,” says Reynolds, “but how many of you get to have goals that you’re allowed to hit eight or nine years from now? We don’t live in an environment anymore where marketers are given the time to try anything for the long term. You’ve got to put pundits under more scrutiny when they claim something’s going to be the future —because you’re the ones making the bets.”

Reynolds sets about turning down some hype:

• Voice Search: One influential report predicts that 50% of web searches will be made by voice by 2020 — less than one year away. “How many searches have you done today?” a skeptical Reynolds asked the conference audience. “And how many were done by voice? Are all of you going to stop typing in six months?”

So much voice use is in the realm of “Siri, set the timer,” says Reynolds. “But you don’t make any money on that, do you?”

Statistics aren’t available for voice searches on Google, but using a proxy — based on his observation that older users end their voice requests with “please,” something no one ever types — Reynolds has reviewed voice-based traffic for banking clients. He’s found comparatively little.

“I’m not saying don’t invest in this,” says Reynolds. “But temper how much you invest.”

• Chatbots: “So, chatbots are going to take over,” says Reynolds. Pointing to his smartphone, Reynolds puts his finger on the fingerprint reader and obtains his bank balance in seconds. “If you don’t have fingerprint login, I’m sorry for you,” he says. No chatbot required, and no having the phone’s speaker broadcast one’s potentially low balance.

“Be careful of solving a problem that’s not really that much of a problem,” says Reynolds.

• Artificial Intelligence: “AI makes mistakes too,” just like humans, points out Reynolds. Yet experts often portray it as a panacea. ”

“All this stuff that’s thrown at you again and again, you have to learn to build up an armor against hype because it’s kind of cool to think about doing these things someday,” says Reynolds.

Read More:

REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WEBINAR

Monetize Mobile and Seize the Opportunity

In this session, Q2ebanking will filter through the dynamics of today’s mobile industry, the expectations of consumers and businesses, and the latest trends and advances in the mobile space.

Thursday, MAy 30th at 2pm EST

Improving on What Works Today: Marry SEO and SEM

Over the years, Reynolds says, he’s noted that SEO and PPC don’t talk to each other. In one sense, he means that literally. During web strategy meetings, he’d watch SEO teams scrolling through their emails when the PPC folks talked, and vice-versa. In the same way, available technology didn’t compare the results of the two strategies well either, or at least not without high add-on pricing.

“Even though you’re paying money for PPC clicks, Google won’t give you your organic rankings next to the PPC pages,” says Reynolds, “so you have to find your own way to get them.” He combines the data in an analytical tool from Microsoft called Power BI (Business Intelligence). He notes that other tools, also designed for evaluating large datasets, can be used for this purpose, including Tableau and Looker.

Understanding how SEO performance and SEM performance correlate grows increasingly important, according to Reynolds, because “people search differently today. They add more and more words to their search phrases, and then go with what they find on the first try, rather than refining their search multiple times until they get a precise fix. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, not if they convert to business that is net profitable after the PPC cost is covered. One result of this trend is that the number of keywords financial marketers need to evaluate has risen tremendously. The kinds of tools Reynolds refers to above are needed because analyses can run into tens of thousands of search terms.

(Seer’s website notes this: “A search term is what people are actually typing. A paid keyword is a way to tag or categorize your search terms.” For example, if the PPC keyword is “nike air max,” relevant search terms could include nike air max, nike air maxx, nike air max s 13, kids nike air max — four search terms for one keyword. Paid search can also be set up so that terms can be used to negate certain possible results. For example, to help avoid paying for clicks prompted by searches for the rap song mentioned earlier, a brand can negate terms like “MP3”, “video” and “lyrics.” )

The interrelationship of sites has its own impact on a financial institution’s site strategy. For example, an institution that is a partner with NerdWallet needs to evaluate how that financial advice site’s material shows up in search versus its own content. Such comparisons can influence the search strategies and keyword PPD choices that the institution makes.

Banks and credit unions have to be careful which keywords they choose to pay for. If and when competitors’ PPC ads show up above the institution’s own, the marketing team needs to ask how much that impedes their ability to drive business with those keywords, even when they know that those words can result in conversions for them. Smaller brands need to think twice before going head to head on keywords with major banking brands that are already winning with those words.

Read More:

SEO/SEM Comparisons Can Guide Keyword Choices

The details of the evaluations that Reynolds demonstrated can grow technical quickly. But two examples from his presentation illustrate choices financial marketers will increasingly need to make:

1. Don’t rely on “Best” as a keyword. It’s common for financial institutions to choose “best” as a paid-search keyword. The rationale is that a consumer typing in “best” for a banking institution or a specific service wants the best of breed.

However, ideally, a financial marketer wants to spend on exposure that will be exclusive to their brand. To buy attention on a web page that includes “best” frequently entails a page that includes a ranking, like “The Ten Best.” This means the institution has paid to bring exposure to every institution on that list.

2. Pay close attention to the smallest details. “With Google, even prepositions count,” warns Reynolds. “You need to parse out all your words like ‘for’ and look at all the words that come after them to see if your landing pages are connecting with what people are really searching for.”

Remember, he adds, “when you’re paying Google for keywords, they don’t care that you’re the wrong answer to consumers’ search.”

Source link

from Marketing Automation and Digital Marketing Blog http://amarketingautomation.com/melding-seo-and-paid-search-boosts-banking-website-sales/

[hydrus]

Version 347

windows

zip

exe

os x

app

linux

tar.gz

source

tar.gz

I had a good week. OR search is essentially finished, and I cleaned up and fixed a variety of other things.

A new 'big thing to work on next' poll will be going up soon. If you are interested, please check out the discussion thread here:

https://8ch.net/hydrus/res/12152.html

or search

As previously discussed, I have moved OR predicate construction to the standard dropdown list below the tag input. It now appears as the top result, where you can hit enter on it to submit it as-is. Also, while under construction, a 'cancel' button and 'rewind' button (to remove the most recent OR-term added) will appear on the same panel. You can also hit Esc to cancel a currently under-construction OR predicate.

As a reminder, hold shift when you enter a tag to start an OR chain. Further shift+enter events will append new tags to the chain, and a bare enter will cap it off. I will write out some proper help for this.

OR search is basically finished as a v1.0 now. I still have some last tidy-up jobs to do, but I am overall happy with it.

the rest

I built on the past weeks' thumbnail experiments and have written a two-stage thumbnail rendering system that gets thumbs on screen faster (even if they are the wrong size, so will look fuzzy), and regenerates any needed clearer versions in the background and replaces them in-place on screen over the following seconds. It is much smoother and faster than before, and it is pretty neat to see a fuzzy thumb suddenly fade into a clearer version, but I still have a little work to do here.

Now, when you trash a file, a context-appropriate 'deletion reason', such as 'Deleted from Media Page.' will be saved. These statements are mostly trivial, but duplicate filter actions will specify a bit more about the duplicate processing action type. This text will be recovered in an import status window for 'deleted' status results, just as a help if you want to investigate closer (e.g. perhaps you are not sure why a particular file failed to import, but then you see the reason is you already decided you have a better duplicate version of it). Any files deleted before this system will just give "Unknown deletion reason."

Adding OR search caused a couple of search flaws: bare system:rating searches were delivering since-deleted files, and some searches with combinations of OR predicates with regular tags were delivering subsets of the real results. I believe I have fixed both of these, and now many previously slow OR searches should run quite a bit faster, especially when accompanied by with non-OR predicates.

I gave export folders a pass and fixed several bugs and inefficiencies, particularly for 'synchronised' folders that produce subdirectories from their filenames, which were often deleting those subdirectories. Also, and export folder or manual export event that attempts to produce a file path above the base export directory (e.g. if the generated filename begins with ..\ or ../) will now fail with some error text to explain what happened. If you use export folders a lot, particularly 'synchonised' ones, please let me know if you still get any unusual behaviour.

full list

or search:

under construction OR predicates now present at the top of the regular tag results list, prepended with 'OR: ', and skipping default selection

this new OR line is enter-able, which will present it as-is, rather than adding new preds

hitting escape on a 'search' tag input box that is empty but has an under construction or predicate will cancel the or pred

hitting escape on a 'search' tag input box otherwise should more reliably kill its focus when the dropdown is a float window

improved OR search efficiency significantly with dynamic OR search triggering based on other search predicates. OR searches including negated '-tag' components should be massively faster when paired with non-OR tag or file search predicates

I believe I fixed a search issue that would sometimes return insufficient results when OR preds are mixed with certain other combinations of tags

improved reliability of some thumbnail refresh calls

cleaned up a bunch of OR handling ui code

.

the rest:

after previous weeks' experiments, wrote new double-layer thumbnail loading system--now too-small thumbs will quckly scale up fuzzily straight to screen, and then in the coming seconds, the nice regenerated full-size thumb will be made and drawn in place as ready. it presents much faster and looks better, but there is some cleanup to do here that I will tackle next week

all local file trashing events now record a context-appropriate deletion statement such as "Deleted from Media Viewer." this value is recovered in 'deleted' import status 'notes'. You will mostly see 'Unknown deletion reason.', for files deleted before this new system, but it will populate with appropriate info over time

fixed a search optimisation that was not cross-referencing with file domain, meaning for instance that bare system:rating calls were returning since-deleted files

upnp management window now uses new listctrl

cleaned up some old custom page-naming code

added a 'data' debug call to clear out all cached thumbnails and force an instant ui thumb reload

fixed the trash bmp misalignment, ha ha

removed e-hentai login script from the defaults, since this testing script is not appropriate for new users

dejanked some media viewer video transitions by cleaning up animation bar rendering and smoothing out video buffer initialisation

cleaned out some surplus subprocess wait calls that were hanging some systems on various 'open externally' calls

fixed multiple syncing problems with 'synchronise' export folders that produce files with subdirectories. subdirectory structures should now be synced correctly and empty folders deleted

export folders that collapse multiple file results to the same duplicated name should, after the next run, do less overwriting to this same name

if an export folder or the regular export dialog makes a file destination path that is above the chosen directory (e.g. if the path starts with ../ or ..\), the export job will error out with an explanation

big manual file exports _should_ be politer to the ui and cause fewer hangs

doing page tab drag and drops may have less post-drop ui jank on linux, continued feedback would be appreciated

moved 'reason' handling for all content updates to its own area, which neatens many content update data handling issues

fixed petitioning a tag via a shortcut, which had bad reason handling

fixed an issue with committing pending ipfs items that was overchecking service permissions

fixed some remaining bad wx code in the unit tests

misc file status reporting cleanup

next week

I'll tidy up some last OR search stuff and clear out some small jobs. I would like to reduce some lag when the client file manager has a lot of competing access (e.g. when lots of new thumbnails need to be generated), and I would also like to improve some Linux stability with some unified bitmap management.

[fashiontrendin-blog]

A Fashion Insider’s Guide To Shopping The Sales

http://fashion-trendin.com/a-fashion-insiders-guide-to-shopping-the-sales/

A Fashion Insider’s Guide To Shopping The Sales

New season stock has started to hit stores, which means retailers need to make room. But as the red banners go up, rails become a minefield packed with cast-offs capable of snaring the unwary shopper with a 50 per cent off sticker.

However, nestled among the ghosts of seasons past are glimmers of sartorial gold. You just need eyes (and elbows) sharp enough to snag them.

“You need to get in as early as possible,” says Hannah Jones, a personal shopper who has worked with the likes of Topman. “Any one-off pieces, or the last few of a particular style, are like to go early.”

For a less Running Of The Bulls-like experience, you can take your discount hunting online. Just remember that it’s here that digital preparation pays dividends. “If something is just out of your reach financially – add it to your wishlist in advance,” suggests Mr Porter buying manager Sam Lobban. Once the sale lands, scan your coveted items for pixellated red stickers. “Chances are at least one will have been reduced in price.”

Of course, it’s not all a numbers game, the right mindset is also key, says Jones. “Shop the sale as you would full price. Be smart about your finds and take your time to find those hidden gems.” In short, spending 70 per cent on something you’ll never wear is still a waste of money.

With all that in mind, and a fistful of cash (read: unwanted gift cards) in hand, here are eight essential tips for bossing the sales this season.

Sale Shopping Tips

Tap The Trends

Looking ahead to next season’s key fashion trends ensures whatever you buy now has legs (especially if they’re jeans). Suede jackets, for example, have been providing healthy cost-per-wear calculations for seasons and are unlikely to go anywhere soon.

“Most of us are guilty of impulse buys when it comes to shopping online sales,” says Lobban. “There’s nothing wrong with that, providing you don’t get stuck with something you won’t wear.”

For that reason, it’s important to check the returns policy. Some retailers or brands may have an exchange only or non-return policy when it comes to sale items. Unless you fancy shoring up Oxfam’s January stock of Prada Hawaiian shirts.

Suits You, Sir

With calendars unencumbered by black tie dos and summer wedding season still months away, suit sales tend to take a nosedive, taking price tags with them.

“January is one of the slowest months for suits,” says Millie Rich a stylist at online personal shopping service Thread. “Therefore, you can have your pick of a wide selection, which can be discounted up to 80 per cent.”

The extra savings also allow for a few more tweaks in the tailoring department so you can enter the New Year looking like you spent the holiday season on Savile Row.

Make A List, Check It Twice

Your laptop negates the need for an overnight camp-out, but preparation is no less important. Stock lists tend to refresh at midnight or 8am, so being ready with a hit-list can ensure you’re the early bird that catches the Acne overcoat.

As your competition leaf through pages of discounts, make filtering your personal shopper. “Rather than trawling the entire sale category […] filter by your size,” says Lobban. “Then, progressively narrow it down by product type, designer etc. This makes shopping sales online far less discombobulating.”

Signing up to mailing lists in advance can also help you get a head start on the rest, even if you unsubscribe once your wardrobe is stocked.

Bare Necessities

Sure, a big red sale tag makes that pair of leopard print joggers less risky (financially, at least). But to get the most bang for your menswear buck, it pays to focus on wardrobe staples.

“Your best bet is to go for versatile and timeless pieces,” says men’s style writer Luke McCarthy. “This way, you’re getting a bargain on something you can wear all year round.”

Plain basics such as white T-shirts, dark indigo denim and smart footwear are all solid places to start.

Watch The Throne

Unless your surname is double-barrelled or your grandad invented a popular piece of confectionery, a Swiss timepiece from a luxury watch brand is hardly an everyday purchase.

“But sales don’t just apply to clothes,” says Muhaddisa Fazal, a buyer at The Watch Gallery. “You can sometimes get up to half off accessible, yet still respectable, watch brands.”

To take advantage of markdowns, it pays to know which labels to look out for. After discounting, Tag Heuer, Burberry and Frederique Constant go from arm-and-a-leg to almost entry-level investments.

‘Tis The Season

It’s a universally acknowledged fact that footwear is less beholden to trends than clothing. Therefore shoes that end up on sale tend to be gaudy designs that you’ll likely kick to the back of the rack before New Year’s Eve.

“The best things to keep an eye out for are the seasonal pieces from the sneaker brands,” says Harvey Nichols footwear buyer Olly Smith.

Common Projects’ mainline Achilles low, for example, is rarely (if ever) discounted since the same model can just roll into next season. But one-offs and collaborations date, which means savings.

Navy Train

Forethought is your friend when it comes to the sales rails. While less savvy shoppers battle over the last of the winter gear, grab yourself a few transitional pieces, so you’re prepped when spring arrives.

“Since navy trousers are a nice alternative to denim, they make for a perfect jumping off point,” says menswear stylist Leata-Mae Freeman.

Mid-layers that can be worn now under an overcoat and solo when the sun returns are also an excellent purchase, so keep an eye out for shackets and overshirts, too.

Lounge Lizard

In 2018, no self-respecting man should be caught dead in a faded band T-shirt and pizza-stained shorts. But who wants to spend their hard earned on stuff most people won’t ever see?

Fortunately, as gift season winds down, it’s possible to find reductions on plenty of slovenly sweats. After all, nobody is buying sleepwear for their brother / father / cousin / in-law / bit-on-the-side after December, so you can fully reap the financial benefits.

Make use of any leftover Christmas cash to upgrade your downtime with ultra soft loungewear sets cut from materials like brushed cotton and even cashmere.