Mobile traffic is seeing huge increases year over year, and more businesses are investing in advertising meant to secure conversions from users on-the-go. Marketers looking to manage their own traffic are finding success reaching these mobile users through buy-side platforms that allow for granular targeting and real-time bidding. Here are some of the basics you need to know before you begin testing your first campaigns.

Real-Time Bidding

The process of real-time bidding allows advertisers to reach users multiple times a day. It also impacts everything from costs to target and forecasts for future conversions. That’s the prime advantage to using a buy-side platform. You can micro-target by carrier and device in some exchanges. Demographic targeting might include age and gender, job, yearly salary and a host of other useful options to help narrow down your audience. With even a small set of data, you’ll be able to examine traffic patterns and formulate some ideas on which times of day are best for your ads.

Self-Service

One major advantage that a buy-side platform holds is a lower barrier for entry. When you purchase advertising, you typically have two options. One is a platform solution, the other is managed for you based on your goals. The second service has a higher barrier for entry, usually requiring a large budget or extended commitment from you. Newbies are often reluctant to do this, or do not have the budget to get started. A buy-side platform for mobile helps you reach the mobile segment at a budget you set.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is an expert in mobile, video and display advertising. As the co-founder of engage;BDR, Ted Dhanik helps businesses reach new market segments. Find out how to build successful campaigns with tips from Ted Dhanik.


Written by: Allied Time

As a business scales, time management becomes an even greater concern. At a certain point, employees will outnumber management so it’s important to have a system in place that helps track time with transparency. That’s where biometric time clocks can come in handy. The pseudo-science name doesn’t mean they will replace your management team anytime soon, but they can be useful for businesses looking to scale and worried about their ability to track employee time.

Accuracy

One of the major sources of loss for small businesses is time fraud. This practice is fairly subtle, but employees do it all the time. Time fraud occurs when an employee uses time clocks to clock in for work, and then leaves the site or reports elsewhere and does not do any of the work required of him. Time fraud can also occur when there is “buddy clocking” in place, where someone clocks in for someone else.

A biometric time machine virtually eliminates this problem. Employees must use some part of their person to clock in. Machines can read the contours of a face, or the imprint of a finger. Employees are also safe from potential privacy violations, as the machine does not record a detailed image of the employee or his face.

These systems use our bodies to record specific points. When an employee’s face or thumb passes over the scanner, the system matches what it sees to data points modeled after that employee’s input. In this way, specific employees are catalogued without their identities being at risk.

HR also benefits, as punches are accurate and time is recorded. Plus, biometrics are required to enter or leave an area. This means employees benefit from less time worked off the clock, and there is no need to remember a keycard or pass code.

Preparing for the Transition

If you plan to move your work place to biometric time clocks, here are some things to keep in mind. For one, employees will require training on the new technology. Inform them as soon as possible and train accordingly. Employees may also have concerns over their privacy, so it’s important to address these concerns and explain how the system works.

There are also people who claim religious or moral objections to this kind of technology. While these cases are rare, do have a contingency plan in place for dealing with these situations as they arise.


One of the fastest methods to see whether your display advertising is converting well is to purchase traffic from a reputable buyer. When you begin affiliate marketing, for instance, this is one of the most important steps you can take to get started. Getting this step wrong can cost you thousands. With these tips, you’ll be able to evaluate a traffic source for yourself and find out if it’s a good idea to purchase ad space for your campaign.

Consider Quality of Traffic

You should choose a network that actually offers traffic within your niche. Don’t try to approximate this step. If visitors through that network aren’t interested in your exact market, have the foresight to realize it’s too expensive to test campaigns in the hopes of converting. Just move on to a network that offers the traffic you want.

Volume is another concern, but you won’t know much about it until you actually get started. The best method to overcome these challenges is to get on the phone with the network and speak to a representative who can tell you what kinds of campaigns perform best. Also consult threads on forums, where marketers give reviews of the networks they use. You may also consider running a banner advertising campaign based on something you already know will work for you. Take a successful campaign from another network and use it to run a low-budget test on the new one.

Consider Targeting

Targeting is another concern, which is also related to interests. If you can target clients based on what they are interested in, you can usually target by location or other demographic information.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is the CEO of a digital marketing company called engage:BDR. Ted Dhanik and engage:BDR helped craft micro-targeted ads for mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti in Los Angeles. Ted Dhanik is a direct marketing expert with fifteen years of experience in the field.


Following an email by Satya Nadella only recently, Microsoft announced major layoffs totalling to about 18000 employees getting the axe over the course of a year. Almost 12500 of these employees will be from Microsoft’s newly acquired Nokia assets.

In the note, Nadella said that 13000 of these positions will be downsized in the first wave itself while a majority of this number will be notified within six months. A number of them will be provided further information by their team leaders.

Without a doubt, Nokia will take a big hit in this round of layoffs ever since Microsoft brought on board almost 25000 of the Finnish company’s employees. What this indicates is that almost half of Nokia’s employees will be terminated. However, this will also mean that some of Microsoft’s positions will be eliminated to make way for some of the talent acquired from Nokia.

Nadella’s note also states that these layoffs will also cut a few layers of management giving way to a flatter organization. What will follow is the incorporation of Nokia’s device teams into Microsoft while also axing the Nokia X Android-based designs for the low-cost Lumia running hardware Windows Phone.

Employees will receive severance packages along with assistance to move on to new jobs in a number of locations, Nadella’s note said. The CEO will also host an internal Q&A and will be one to watch out for, considering these huge changes.

Google, not very differently, did the same by getting rid of 6000 jobs when they acquired Motorola. After incorporating the hardware division within its organization, they sold the entire unit to Lenovo.


With a large number of shares being sold by shareholders and which was kept locked for so long, Twitter fell by almost 11 percent.

Unlike Facebook which spiked by 12 percent when almost 800 million shares of theirs was unlocked, Twitter dropped to a record low of $34 per share while hovering around the $34.40 mark.

If that’s not enough, the volume of trading for Twitter alone is a huge 65 million shares when the usual amount is about 13 million in number.

Based on stats provided by Google Finance, Twitter has 569 million shares outstanding – the figure that doesn’t include un-vested RSUs or un-exercised options either. That said, not only did an early investor as well as Twitter founders decide to not sell their shares, almost a tiny amount of th 469 million shares that were unlocked today were involved in trading.

And while their current share value is a bit higher than the value at which they were first prized (about $26), the company went as far as topping $74 after being valued at $45 per share at first only until user growth became an issue.

Ever since its debut earnings were released, the company’s shares have dropped yet with today’s events, this loss in double-digits is probably the worst.

What is also apparent is what the company expected to not happen did and which included insiders cashing in on these unlocked shares which resulted in the stock crashing.

That said, Alex Wilhelm stated that with only a 9% drop in earnings this time, it was a 50% improvement from the 18% drop the last time around.