Genius Monkey is excited to announce the newest utensil in our technological toolbox; it’s called Genius Monitor, and it’s designed to help our clients better understand how their website is performing when it comes to their page speed. Genius Monkey checks to make sure that not only its code is loading properly, but that the load time of the site is below a given threshold. In short, this service generates information that will help clients determine how they stack up to the current industry benchmarks for page speed, and protect them from spending money on ads on a site that may be down.

Attribution, validation and bot detection are more important than ever; especially when there are so many discrepancies between analytics and the network reporting. As an example, let’s say that a programmatic-based ad server like Genius Monkey (or someone like DoubleClick, for that matter) reports that they delivered 5000 clicks, yet Google Analytics only shows 3000 clicks. That can leave a marketer wondering about the integrity of the reports. It’s not uncommon for marketers to use multiple tools to get an understanding of how users interact with the product they’re advertising.

There are many experts in the marketing industry who feel that it won’t be long before mobile commerce dominates over PC-based sales. In fact, recent polling data indicates that there are many people who believe that this “domination” has already begun. Recently, 2,773 American adults were surveyed* regarding their online habits. The majority of them revealed that they spend more time with their mobile devices than on their desktop computers.

Recent studies have shown that being present and available for consumers as they conduct their initial online searches is a crucial factor in order to drive customers to your website, or through your doors. A prime example of this is the automotive industry. To win the sale of a car, these early “micro-moments” must be won by the dealer, first. This is a lesson from which all businesses can learn.

Most internet users of today experience media on a number of screens, such as their smartphone, computer, tablet and television. This means that a user may start a function on one device, yet finish it on another. Here’s an example: Have you ever searched for product information on your mobile device, then continued your quest once you’re in front of your computer? According to recent Google research, 90% of users do just that: Start on one device and finish on the other.

According to a recent forecast by eMarketer, it is estimated that close to 80% of every dollar spent on advertising will be allocated to programmatic in 2017. This number equates to a whopping $32.56 billion for the year! There is no room for doubt that programmatic is here to stay; especially in light of the fact that by the end of the year, that number is expected to grow to 84%.

The key to online success is to drive quality targeted traffic to websites that are easy to understand, and simple to navigate. It must be transparent WHO you are, WHAT you sell, WHERE it can be purchased, WHY consumers should purchase it and HOW they should do it. When you use a search engine like Google, your goal is most likely to find the most appropriate answer to your questions, no matter what device you happen to be using.

HTML5 is the latest and greatest version of the HyperText Markup Language that was developed in the late 1980s. It was meant to describe documents that linked to one another. Back in the day, the role of HTML was rather simplistic-to help describe the structure of documents and to permit them to cross-link. Today it’s used to enhance a text file with bits of code (or markup) that describes the structure of the document.

In December of 2016, a cybersecurity firm called White Ops announced that Russian cybercriminals had built a new high-tech ad fraud enterprise. The scheme involved showing real ads to fake people, and to date, has syphoned over $180 million from the online advertising industry. This highly sophisticated bot farm operation is called “Methbot,” and according to White Ops COO, Eddie Schwartz, “This is a very advanced cyber operation on a scale no one’s seen before.

A recent study concluded that an advertiser on a primetime television broadcast could have reached 56% more adults (18-49) by also placing their video on YouTube. The screens that ads appear on are losing their relevance, but content, reach and timing will always be of the upmost importance. In today’s advanced technological world, there is very little that can’t be viewed onscreen. Whether it appears on a television screen, a computer screen or on a mobile device … we still see it.