🥸Web traffic.

A shocking web traffic study, Microsoft’s plans to compete with Apple and Google, and more. March 21, 2023 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Good morning. Warning: today’s Poolside Chat may make you hungry. … So you may want to wait to read it until lunch time. Just saying. And if it inspires your team’s lunch plans… well, let them know where you got the idea from. MICROSOFT New mobile games app store on the horizon [article-image] Downloading smartphone apps used to be synonymous with the Apple App Store and the Google Play App Store. … But it looks like the duopoly will be forced to welcome a new member, because [Microsoft is planning to launch its own mobile games app store]( in 2024. Multiplayer mode: According to Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s Chief Executive of Gaming, the company’s lack of mobile games is an “obvious hole” in the company’s capability. Why? Because it would give Microsoft the opportunity to lure users away from Apple and Google with exclusive games like Call of Duty: Mobile, Candy Crush Saga, and Diablo Immortal—a compelling line-up. Loading… Microsoft is currently waiting for regulators to clear its $75B acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company behind the popular Call of Duty franchise. If that goes through, it’ll be game on. Why we care: A new app store means a new channel for promoting your apps and products across Microsoft Audience Network. Sounds like a great addition to Microsoft’s advertising channels, if you currently use them… ADVERTISING Your web traffic might be fake We’re not making assumptions, we’re just citing the stats. According to a recent study, [nearly 40% of all online traffic is invalid](, amounting to a whopping $143B revenue loss. That’s a lot of fake: The study was based on a huge sample of one billion site visits from 15k companies. The findings? 5.9% of paid, 5.7% of organic, and 22.1% of direct traffic is fake. Yikes. And if you think that’s bad… marketers torched $35.7B of ad spend on fraudulent traffic in 2022. Big ouch. Mug shots: Out of all fake traffic sources combined, the most common culprits are… - Data centers (25.4%). - Automation tools (22.3%). - VPN (20.9%). Not shown: scrapers, proxy, and low quality users are also on the list. Not out of the woods yet: Meanwhile, click hijacking attract grew by 125%, while malicious bot attacks grew by 112%. Why we care: If you can’t track invalid traffic, your paid and organic efforts may be compromised and you might even be “optimizing” campaigns for fake visits—and wasting revenue on top of it. Traffic on its own can be a misleading stat, so make sure you set up proper tracking and optimize for quality and conversions instead. Speaking of optimizing for conversions… SPONSORED BY STACKED MARKETER PRO This copywriting course wasn't designed by “the best” out there. That’s what makes it so useful... [article-image]( Sure, you could take a course from A-level direct response copywriters and learn how to write 20-page sales letters. But let’s be real: most marketers aren’t writing sales letters or video sales letters. Instead, we’re writing entire campaigns that needed to be done yesterday. And have you ever tried taking lessons from sales letter courses and applying them to digital marketing? Heh. Talk about work. [That’s why we designed the Copywriting Essentials Course.]( In just 2.5 hours, you get the essentials for writing converting copy, including: - How to conduct research you can actually use—plus sheets you can copy/paste actionable insights and notes into. - Tools for turning existing products and services into fresh, compelling offers. - Essential copywriting, headline, and ideas frameworks, plus when to use them. … And much, much more. [Try the course for just $7 when you join Stacked Marketer Pro.]( B2B MARKETING Want to run a successful webinar? Do this… [article-image] What they tell you: Hosting a webinar gives you a wide reach, brings you a ton of leads and business opportunities, helps build your brand, etc. What they don’t tell you: You can’t do any of the above if nobody attends. … And that’s what happens with most webinars. They get poor turnout, and therefore, poor results. So how do you fix this? We [came across a post from Casey Hill]( where he shared some things that made his recent webinar a glowing success. So let’s pick those apart… #1 – Adjusting your webinar to multiple timezones. If you’re speaking to an international client base, there’s a big difference when it comes to the optimal time zone. So instead of isolating a major chunk of your potential customers, Casey hosted multiple webinars for different time zones and maximized the attendance. #2 – Get a registration threshold. Did you know that the average webinar attendance is 25 people? Unless you’re selling a huge ticket product, that just isn’t enough. Decide a registration threshold to make your webinar worthwhile – for instance 150 registrations. If you don’t fill that up, reschedule until you secure the number. #3 – Pre-record, but show up for Q&A. This is a simple trick that can help you perfect your webinar performance. Pre-record the main event and use that breathing space to focus on user comments. By appearing afterwards you provide reliability and “closeness,” and the time you spend thinking about their questions allows you to answer them with clarity and authority. #4 – Reach out afterwards. Make sure you follow up your webinar attendees. Even better, try to make it personal – if they asked a question, point it out, or even explain in more detail. It will do wonders for your conversion rate. Got it? Time to set up the big event… Promote it aggressively, snap up those registrations, and then let your expertise and authority do the rest. Good luck! SPONSORED BY SEMRUSH Go on… [article-image]( Athletes and coaches know how valuable it is to watch their competition and study their strategy. SEO is similar. That’s why Semrush gives you [instant market analysis and in-depth insights to help you beat any rival](. Dissect your competitors’ digital strategy with insights into: - SEO keyword rankings. - Top pages. - Areas of growth. - Areas of weakness. … Then exploit their keyword profile so you can beat them. [Try Semrush now for free.]( THE CREW’S INSIGHTS How to build an engaging community for your online store [article-image] Chances are, you already know that building a community has one of the biggest returns for your retention and lifetime value (LTV). So, now that you’ve decided your e-commerce store needs a community, how do you actually build it? And how do you get customers actively engaging with your Facebook Group—or wherever you’re hosting your community? Here are three relatively easy steps to building an engaging community: - Spread the word. Make sure every customer knows about your community. Advertise it in emails. Advertise it on package inserts. Post about it on social media. Make sure everyone knows about it! - Incentivize joining. You can build a community on FOMO alone, but it may not be enough. How does the customer benefit from joining your community? Do they get first grabs at new product launches? Do they get an exclusive gift or discount? - Create a cause. Is your brand focused on sustainable packaging? Then talk about it! Create initiatives around it. Chances are, your customers are also into that stuff if they’ve shopped at your store. - Include them in upcoming launches. One of the best ways to get an engaged community is by letting them know about your next launches. Give them early access. Better yet, let them all vote on the product! The most important thing to keep in mind? Be responsive. When a new customer joins the group, greet them! When they post on your page, interact with them! Get them feeling like they’ve just made a whole lot of new friends. Happy community building! ROUNDING UP THE STACK [DESIGN:]( Is your team feeling overwhelmed? Brands like Shopify, Amazon, and Salesforce turn to Superside’s Creative-as-a-Service (CaaS) to get design projects turned around fast. Superside handles the process end-to-end, from hiring to managing feedback. [Start your project in under 30 minutes.](* [AI MARKETING](: Want to make your AI images move? Runway—a company that helped develop the renowned Stable Diffusion text-to-image model, announced that its text-to-video model will be available to users in “the coming weeks.” We’re getting closer… [TWITTER:]( May we see some ID? Twitter is testing a new verification process for Twitter Blue subscribers that would require you to submit your government ID to confirm your identity. Sounds like a good way to prevent spam accounts… but will users comply? [AI MARKETING:]( Whoa. Coca-Cola is inviting people to design artwork inspired by its most famous imagery – using AI art tools. You can try it out right away. Who knows, maybe your AI art will end up hanging on a London billboard. Wild stuff. [VIDEO:]( The most popular video editor today? ByteDance’s CapCut, apparently. TikTok’s sister app recently hit 200M monthly active users, which is no surprise given the app is free and optimized for editing short-form videos. *This is a sponsored post BRAIN TEASER What runs around the whole yard without moving? You can find [the answer here.]( [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT Yes, playing with food is a sport [article-image] Call it pizza tossing, call it pizza freestyling… whatever. [Pizza acrobatics really exists]( – and it’s as awesome as it sounds. In a blend of Harlem Globetrotters in basketball and Fagerli brothers in soccer, pizza masters gather and perform tricks with the dough before putting some pepperoni on it. Tony Germani—who won 13 world championships titles while spinning pizza—says you’d be surprised with how much stamina you need to win this “niche competition.” Sounds like it! We’ll watch and wait until afterwards… to taste the “world’s best spun” pizza. SHARING IS CARING Did you just shiver? Here, put this on… When you refer our newsletter to other smart marketers—and they subscribe—we send you the coveted Stacked Marketer Zip Hoodie (50 referrals). And you unlock other rewards along the way, like: - The Crew’s Top 10 Insights (2 referrals) - The Ultimate Holiday Marketing Deep Dive (4 referrals) Zip. Mmm, cozy. Share your referral link below to start unlocking exclusive content and merch! [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [SM PRO]( | [ADVERTISE]( You are receiving this email because you want to know what is going on in digital marketing. If you aren't thrilled about our emails, reply and let us know why. Or you can unsubscribe from all daily updates by clicking [here.]( Our postal address: Spectrum IT Solutions GmbH, Canettistrasse 1/Top 0107, 1100 Wien, Austria