Quality Guidelines Re-Write Shows Anchor Text Is Out?

Formerly Google were known for their 'as many links as you can' metrics in order to provide the signals that they required to justify ranking a website within their search engine results but following continued progression towards cleaning up their organic results, Google have once again made a firm stand in their mission to guide site owners.

Previously Google issued a 'Quality Guidelines' section which was designed to help website owners to create websites that were within the standards that Google deemed to be worthy of ranking within their search engine results but following a period of re-evaluation and recovery, Google have now embarked on a war against spam and low quality sites with new releases of updates that are targeted to remove such sites from their organics.

Initially Google rolled out their first round of knockout update with the announcement of Google Panda back in February 2011, a release which affected a reported 12% of search results on a wide scale and showing the first stance against thin content, content farms such as article directories and sites that boasted a high advertisement to content ratio.

The first instance of the update shook the webmaster world as sites saw their organic traffic disappear overnight and Google weren't about to stop there, instead they continued to try to evolve their Panda update over time, sparking a host of releases which Google reported continued to increase the metrics that they deemed to make a site low quality.

Knowing that their Panda update was overall a needed process, Google turned their attention to factors out of the website spectrum, announcing their Penguin update back in April 2012, targeting the off-site optimisation tactics that website owners were deploying for their site, specifically focused towards the backlink profile of sites and how their anchor text links related to their destination.

Google were fully aware that websites were looking to manipulate their search engine results, using anything that they could to send out signals that would increase the search engine visibility of their site within the Google results and they were finally going to try to take a stand against those who do so through guideline breaking activity.

Continued enforcement of their new, so called improved guidelines continued as they frequently pushed out newer versions of their website crushing updates and worked to reduce the amount of collateral damage which these updates brought into action with each fresh release that came into force.

In 2013 Google announced that they were working on a new generation of Google updates, both for Panda and Penguin releases, reducing the grey areas surrounding penalisation of sites to ensure that they offered a more indepth look at sites within the potential scope of the updates and reduced the number of severe reduction that websites that were borderline of action were receiving, which is thought to have been seen in the more recent release of Google Panda that was rolled into action as part of a rolling update in their standardised algorithm equation.

On Friday last week we had it brought to our attention that Google had once again changed their Google Quality Guidelines to fit in line with their aim for a clean search engine, this time tackling the anchor text linking debate that seems to have plagued the SEO community for years.

According to reports, Google updated their Link Schemes section of the guidelines that they published for website owners in a bid to clean up what they had previously documented within the text, removing the exact examples of what they deemed to be in breach of their suggestion to offer a broader reach of the link building practice that so many conduct.

The latest alteration of the guidelines now addresses various sections of link building which have become a more common practice within the industry for a lot of website owners, including guest posting, advertorials, press releases and maybe more interestingly anchor text linking.

Although it will come as little surprise to those that deem these link building practices to be abused on a large scale already, Google have shown their stance towards them in a clear and concise manner, basically outlawing the mass production of any singular or collective use of the mentioned strategies.

Although the document says shows that Google are aware that these strategies are in place and do violate their guidelines, which can come with the risk of penalisation, that is not to say that these strategies no longer work or are to be considered 'illegal' within the SEO community, instead it shows that moderation is required to ensure that over use is not a factor within your link building techniques.

The Death of Anchor Text Links?

Google have consistently told the online world that they want website owners to not only focus on creating a website for the user but have also advised owners to look to create a brand around their website rather than creating sites specifically to occupy keyword terms.

As well as their 'build a brand' message, Google have continued to push forward that their end game is to be able to eliminate the need for keyword specific anchor text in order to be able to switch over to become a knowledge base, something that would allow them to determine what the relevancy of a specific website is to a query that they are served however there has never been a clear indication that anchor text has become a thing of the past, until now that is.

The latest update of the documentation within the quality guidelines refers to anchor text as "optimized anchor text" and makes use of the increasingly popular link building method of press release and news syndication to highlight their stance towards the use of anchor text within news, articles and PR creation, a showing that has caused Search Engine Land to call such instances "an example of an unnatural link that violates their [Google's] guidelines", however Google simply say that "links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites" are what they deem to be an attempt to manipulate their ranking algorithm.

This is an interesting finding and seems to show that Google are once again gearing up in their battle against low quality search engine results and the move seems to be a step closer to their focus of anchor text now being turned off a metric that they consider to gather relevance of a site.

Do you think that anchor text has now died on a larger scale with brand signals now taking the centre stage when it comes to building the reputation of your site or do you still feel that Google are going to continue to use anchor text as a leading metric and are trying to use smoke and mirrors?

DataRank Helps Brands Uncover Valuable Business Insights

The Launchpad is a series that introduces Mashable readers to compelling startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: DataRank

One-Liner Pitch: Online conversations about your brands and competitors: Filtered, ranked, and delivered.

Why It's Taking Off: DataRank is an analytics tool that organizes online conversations about a brand, based on nine dimensions that ultimately help its customers filter away the noise ever present on the web, enabling them to pick out the most meaningful content being shared by the most influential users.

Social media analytics tools usually promise to help customers analyze conversations about their brand, but DataRank's goal is to help customers organize it.

Within DataRank's dashboard, brand managers monitor topics of interest (as broad as a general product categories, like shoes or furniture, or as specific as a particular model from a company's or its competitor's product line), and DataRank goes to work, pulling in comments and discussions from around the web to be viewed all in one spot. Along the way, each piece of incoming data is "DataRanked" by the company's proprietary algorithm, sorting out the hot from the not-so-hot conversations.

Each topic, to be more specific, is ranked according to a number of characteristics, including the:

• Influence of the commenter, as gathered from the commenter's social media profiles;

• Influence of the comment itself, determined by how much it was shared or interacted with;

• Amount of demographic metadata available, including gender, age, and location;

• Relevancy to a search made within the topic followed (If the client searched for pricing, for example, the system is smart enough to also present results that mention cost, expensive or cheap.);

• Patterns the machine learning systems have learned from a client interacting with the data stream; and

• Recency.

Each monitored topic has its own dashboard within the tool. There, clients can easily scroll through the DataRanked-sorted stream within a given topic or drill down further by searching within the topic stream by a number of parameters, including source type, demographics, purchase source, and full-text search.

Datarank from Ryan Frazier on Vimeo.

Beyond the stream of comments and searching capabilities, the topic dashboard also features a volume graph of the comment stream with annotations related to major events, a sentiment graph presented over time (which shows how positive or negative the conversations are trending), and a map with conversations and sentiment presented by state.

DataRank pulls information in from all major social media and news outlets, blogs, forums, review sites and stores, making it more than just a social media analytics tool. The team also enables clients to add custom sites by request and has the ability to import data provided by clients, in the case a client has specific analysis needs. Currently, DataRank processes more than 300 million pieces of data every few hours for its customers and is adding new sources every day.

Based out of Northwest Arkansas — the land of retail and consumer packaged goods heaven, thanks to locals Walmart, Tyson Foods, and Dillard's — DataRank counts a number of household names as its customers, including The Clorox Company, Callaway Golf and ConAgra Foods.

"We're helping companies better understand how consumers feel about their products and their competitors' products so they can adjust strategy accordingly," says DataRank co-founder and CEO Ryan Frazier. "For example, one customer recently discovered that their product was losing market share not because of pricing or promotion, but because of a formula change in the product from sugar to high fructose corn syrup, a discovery they admitted wouldn't have been possible without our product."

Frazier says other customers are using its tool to track discussions about products in their stores to determine promotion and placement. Meanwhile, others use DataRank to track sentiment linked to their brand, keep tabs on competitors, identify potential market opportunities and validate new product directions.

DataRank recently worked with a peanut butter company, for example, to track a competitor that had just launched a combined peanut butter and honey product. Before the client launched its own version, it used DataRank to learn that the volume of conversations around "natural honey" had increased 400% year-over-year. So when the new product was launched, it was positioned as a "natural" peanut butter with a touch of honey.

Large companies will be delighted to learn that, unlike many of its competitors, DataRank charges customers per topic tracked, rather than by the amount of information collected. "We don't think it makes sense to charge customers for blank and irrelevant comments," says Frazier.

Unlike many startups, DataRank is already profitable. The company, launched in October 2011, reached profitability in June and has grown revenue 300% in 2013 to date. The team is currently in the Y Combinator S13 batch, focusing on business development and technology improvements. From the tech side, Frazier says the team is working on integrating more traditional data sources into the dashboard and building out features that mimic traditional market research metrics to help bridge the gap between digital and traditional market research.

From an industry perspective, Frazier says companies have started to realize that just having a real-time feed of the most recent conversations has limited value and use. Instead, they need a way to organize and understand all of the information about their brands and competitors. His company's product enables brand managers to do that, helping them understand the signal in the noise.

DataRank isn't the first analytics tool to enable intelligent sorting, though. Social analytics startup Viralheat enables businesses to monitor conversations about their brands, products and competitors, including mentions from Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, blogs, websites, and videos. All of that data is pulled into the user's dashboard and sortable by sentiment, time (most recent), and intent (sales leads).

Viralheat, then, may be an attractive tool for companies looking for a one-stop social media and content publishing and analytics platform. But, DataRank's sophisticated customizations, advanced searching options, and traditional market research bent may just take the cake for others.

Image: DataRank

Six useful case studies on where to place your CTA to maximise conversions

There are many factors that influence the design of your call-to-action and it's certainly a feature that benefits from extensive testing and tweaking.

It's likely that it's an area that is somewhat neglected though, as our new Adobe Digital Marketing Optimisation Survey found that a majority of companies (53%) spend less than 5% of their total marketing budgets on optimisation activities, despite the fact that a small uplift in conversion rates can translate into thousands of dollars of extra revenue.

Aspects such as the size, wording and colour can all impact clickthrough rate and conversions, but placement is potentially one of the most important factors.

Traditional wisdom states that the CTA needs to go above the fold so that potential customers can't avoid it, but as these case studies show that isn't necessarily always true...

Unbounce A/B test

Unbounce ran an A/B test on the CTA placement on a landing page for paid search ads. The aim of the page is to get people to sign up for one of Unbounce's services, for which there are three different options and pricing plans.

The original design placed the CTAs below the fold, however there was a secondary directional CTA at the top of the page that instructed users to "Pick your plan below." This then used a scrolling effect to move users down the page to the pricing plans.

To try and improve the page's conversion rate Unbounce moved the CTAs above the pricing grid. This meant that the buttons were now above the fold of the bottom of the page (after the smooth scroll created by the button at the top of the page).

In the A/B test the redesigned page produced a conversion lift of 41% over the control page.

Florida Tix

Travel company Florida Tix experimented with placing its CTA at the bottom of the page rather than above the fold.

Control

The problem was that the product offer is complex so there was a lot of copy for potential customers to get through.

Placing the CTA above the fold meant that customers were being asked to take action before they'd been persuaded of the product's value.

New design

The new design leads the customer through the product offer before asking them to book tickets. The result was a 20% increase in conversions.

A/B boosts conversions by 304%

An anonymous Danish company tested the CTA placement to try and increase sign ups to one of its subscription services.

The page in question was a landing page from paid search ads that asked people to fill out a contact form so the sales team could get in touch.

As it was a complex product offer the page was quite long, but the CTA was placed at the very top.

The web designer felt that this design was potentially too aggressive as it was forcing the customer to make a decision before they even knew what they were signing up for.

Therefore the page was rejigged so that the CTA came at the bottom of the page after the product offer.

The A/B test was run until it had a sample size of around 100 conversions and a 98% level of statistical confidence. In the end the new page outperformed the control version by a whopping 304%. 

According to the designer Michael Aagaardc:

If the product/offer is complex, and the prospect has to digest a lot of information in order to make an informed decision, positioning the CTA lower on the page generally works best.

Boston Globe

The Boston Globe tested three different page designs as it sought to increase sign ups to its paid content service.

Two of the designs had the CTA above the fold, while the third inverted the design so the product information was at the top and the CTA was at the bottom.

And the result was... it found no significant difference between any of the designs.

The perceived logic for this was that The Boston Globe's "audience is highly motivated, and putting a button above or below the fold didn't matter as much as the newspaper's respected journalism."

Giant page = giant rewards

In another example showing that it's not all about putting the CTA above the fold, The Heritage Foundation managed to increase revenue by 274% by moving its sign up form to the bottom of the page.

The control page was a fairly standard two-page layout where the call-to-action (CTA) begins above the fold.

In comparison, the redesigned page placed the CTA right at the bottom of the page under a huge amount of copy describing the product offer.

Apparently the site owners felt the design was so clunky that they didn't even want to publish the page. You can see both designs in the Marketing Experiments blog.

However by making a greater effort to explain the value of signing up The Heritage Foundation achieved some excellent results:

• 74% increase in donor conversion rate.
• 189% increase in average gift.
• 274% increase in revenue.

Consolidated Label

The case studies in this list have basically shown that there are no hard and fast rules for CTA placement – it's down to sites to run tests and work out what works best for them.

However one obvious rule is that it's better to have at least one CTA than to have no CTA at all.

Printing company Consolidated Label ran an A/B test with a new page design that included a prominent CTA button. The original design didn't have any CTAs, it just displayed a phone number in the header.

Control

Unsurprisingly, the new design managed to achieve a 62% increase in conversions over the original design.

New design

How to: shoot scenes and 'zoom later'... on the Nokia 808 PureView

The story so far: the Nokia 808 PureView's 41 megapixel sensor is famously optimised for taking 'pure' 5 megapixel photos (hence the name), with up to 7-to-1 pixel oversampling. There's facility for zooming in (up to 3x, in 5 megapixel mode) before shooting a photo, until you hit 1:1 pixel usage, but in most cases you still end up with a 5 megapixel image. The photo, then, is what it is. If you wanted something different that you should have taken the shot differently, etc.

Using a similar (but re-engineered) 41 megapixel sensor, the Nokia Lumia 1020 approaches computational photography slightly differently. Rather than have to choose what you want to frame or zoom up front, the entire 38MP scene is captured every time, anyway, no matter how far you think you've 'zoomed in' using the viewfinder for the 'social' 5MP 'shareable' version. Then, later, you can decide that you want a different degree of zoom or a reframing, or even pick out a completely different subject, saving each as a new 5MP image.

Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. The Nokia 808 wins through speed of capture (much less than a second shot to shot time) and through absolute 'purity' of its images, the Lumia 1020's main 'cons' are the slow shot to shot times (multiple seconds, as it has to save two images, one of which is full resolution) and the extra disk real estate (up to 20MB) needed for each 'dual capture' shot pair, while the 1020's main advantage is in more flexibility in terms of what you see and what you do with the image later. 

It's this latter advantage that I wanted to (at least partially) tackle on the Symbian-running 808 PureView here.

Capturing and zooming or reframing later

I've famously said that I never shoot full resolution (34MP/38MP, depending on aspect ratio) photos on my Nokia 808 PureView, but I'm going to make an exception for this tutorial, since it's based on doing exactly that. 

It's worth noting that manipulating full resolution images like this isn't as quick or as flexible as on the 1020, which is optimised especially for this - saving a 38MP shot takes well over two seconds and don't even think about 'resizing' such a photo as-is, down to 5MP - it takes an eternity. However, this isn't to say that I can't demonstrate what is possible and that we can't have some fun along the way. 'Zooming in' to lower resolution fragments is actually surprisingly easy and practical - here's what to do.

NB. Old 808 hands will know all this, of course, if this all seems too obvious then move right along.....

Here's the preparation.

1. Start the Nokia 808's camera in the usual way.
2. Tap on the button, top-centre ('Automatic').
3. Tap on the 'Creative' tab.
4. Select a custom tab to use (here 'C1', but it's up to you - whatever you select here will get remembered for future shots like this).
5. Tap on 'Reset' (just in case you've played with this mode before, so let's clear any odd and experimental settings).
6. Swipe down and tap on 'Full resolution'.
7. Tap on '4:3' (so that you capture as much of the scene as possible).
8. Tap on 'Superfine' (so that as much detail as possible from the image is saved into the JPG).
9. Tap on 'Vivid' (if you like, but it will bring out colours better than the 808's default neutral colour palettes).

Leave everything else on default settings unless you have a particular reason for fiddling with something!

With everything in place, head out to shoot an interesting scene:

Plenty going on, then. In a real world situation, you'd be tempted to use some PureView 'zoom' to highlight a particular subject, but that's the exact opposite approach to the one demonstrated here, so resist - just take the whole scene.

All images here are screengrabs from the Nokia 808, by the way, so that you can see exactly what I see on the phone.

1. Having taken a shot, pick a subject from the scene, e.g. a nice red bus here, and double tap on it.
2. Now double tap again - you should now have a pretty good view of the subject, one that might be worth saving?
3. Single tap on the screen, to bring up the editing controls.
4. Tap on the 'crop' icon (a rough square) and your highlighted subject/detail wil be shown within a rectangular frame.
    
   
     
5. At this point you'll almost certainly want to adjust the framing slightly, so use multi-touch pinch/splay to adjust the exact degree of zoom/crop.
6. When you're happy with what's shown inside the white rectangle, tap on the 'Crop' button.

You now have a (much lower) megapixel image saved, but don't worry, the original 38MP JPG is still there, as you can verify:

1. Swipe to the right (i.e. pan the view left) and you'll see the full scene again.
    
    
    
2. Double tap (once or twice) to highlight a different subject in the scene, e.g. Reading's famous 'Blade'
    
    
    
3. Repeat the steps above to crop, adjust the crop and save.

And so on. As on the Lumia 1020, with a busy enough and an interesting enough scene, it's quite possible to pull two, three or many more photos (at varying resolutions) all from the one original. In other words, shoot first and zoom later, exactly as on the Windows Phone 8 device.

Swiping between post-zoomed/post-cropped multimegapixel images...

The main inflexibility here, of course, is that there's no accompanying 5MP already-downsampled version, pre-prepared in case you decide not to zoom/crop in but to use the overall scene instead. Which means you've either got to upload the full 10MB+ 38MP image to wherever you want to use the photo or else use 'Options'/tools/'Resize' and then set an output size, followed by a lengthy 30 second 'saving' operation. Either way isn't ideal, which is why the Lumia 1020's 'dual capture' system is so clever, if you think about it. You get the advantages of what we're attempting above, plus instant sharing of the whole scene without any time consuming downsampling.

I should also note that cropping into a Nokia 808 38MP image and saving/downsampling isn't likely to produce results as good as going the same thing on the 1020 - the latter is better optimised for this procedure, plus it's better geared to working down at the raw pixel level. Whereas the 808's non-BSI pixels are arguably noisier, not least because the 808's engineers were optimising everything around the fact that raw pixel data would be oversampled to some degree. 'Creative' mode, on the 808, was seen as something for experts to play around with, whereas on the Lumia 1020, almost every photo that's taken by every user will be 'dual capture' and with full 'zoom/crop later' facilities available - and used.

But, those caveats aside, at least we've demonstrated that similar techniques can also be used on the older, Symbian-powered device. Perhaps not quite as practical on the 808, but do give the concept a thought next time you're at a country house, sporting event or town celebration - any scenes that you might want to explore in more detail later on, at your leisure.

Comments welcome if you've found this feature helpful. Or if you, in fact, have been doing this all along. Any particular examples of success?

Top new Google+ features you need to know about

While we've all been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the news feed overhaul announced by Facebook back in March (!), Google pipped Facebook to the post towards the end of May this year by going and revamping the appearance of its own platform.

What do we think?

The overhaul has received mixed reviews here at B3 Towers – some love, and some loathe. I personally think it's a massive improvement, simply because it makes Google+ feel less like an online ghost town.

At first, my eyes were confused about where to look, until they quickly realised that they're used to viewing information like this on Pinterest, which all the top and up and coming social media platforms and online magazines have been taking cues from since its launch.

There are more than 190 million active users on Google+, making it the world's second-largest social network. At last, we're now able to see a wide array of content all at once, which quickly gives us an idea of what's being engaged with and what's not, inciting users to get stuck in and explore.

I'm confident that this overhaul will only serve to liven things up on Google+ – the former single-stream presentation of content made the platform feel really static, while the new three-column stream should help users quickly find something that interests them.

The other change I'm a fan of is the movement of the left-hand navigation over to the top – exactly where my eyes would expect to find navigation.

While the appearance of the stream is perhaps the biggest talking point here, there are a few more interesting updates you should investigate:

Auto-hashtags

Google+ will now automatically scan the copy of your posts and add relevant hashtags (which you can remove if you'd rather not have them).

Photos

There are three clever little updates to Google+ Photos on both desktop and the mobile app that will just help make Google+ a place where users can create, browse and engage with high-quality picture content:

-          Auto Highlight

This new feature employs complex algorithms to highlight (feature/make bigger) the very best photos in your archive. Not only this, but Auto Highlight also rids your archive of duplicates and any photos that are a little blurry, feature red-eyed subjects, or any other undesirable aesthetic qualities, for that matter. (Oh, and thankfully, Google's not presumptuous enough to rid you of what it deems to be duds completely – the originals are also preserved.)

The platform's algorithm is now also able to scan pictures you post (e.g. Big Ben) and sort them accordingly – a pretty neat trick.

Take the photos of Big Ben in the screen shot below – there's not a hashtag or 'Big Ben' description in sight:

-          Auto Enhance

Auto Enhance then takes those images Auto-Highlighted and applies automatic corrections to them, including improvements to brightness, contrast, focus, noise and saturation, to name but a few. Check the pic below out – on the left, the unenhanced, on the right, the enhanced.

I'm not sure I like this to be honest – yes, it enhances photos, but… Basically photoshopping people's faces? Our faces? Of course, you can opt to revert back to the original, but I'd prefer to opt in rather than opt out, personally.

Here's a screen shot of the new Google+ Photos on desktop we've used a photo we took with the app while poor ol' Andy Curry, our Senior Digital Designer, was off guard – notice the dialogue box at the top announcing the auto-enhancements:

-          Auto Awesome

This is just a bit of folly, but pretty cool folly nonetheless. GIFs are cool, right? Google+ now automatically creates a GIF if it detects photo sequences!

Google+ Photos mobile app

The automatic enhancements are opt-in here (nice of Google), and we have to say that the filter options are actually some of the best we've seen on photo apps, including even Instagram. Behold, once again, Andy Curry's startled face:

Hangouts

There's an app for that…

The Hangouts feature is by far and away one of the best – and most unique – features Google+ platform offers. Not only is it great for friends and family who want to get together en masse (well, a masse of you and up to nine participants), it's also great for businesses who have some expertise they have to offer, or that simply have cool new stuff to show off in an exclusive preview on Google+… Or that want to interact with their audience in whatever way they think would work.

Hangouts is definitely a reason to give Google+ a go – for example, here at Branded3, we run a monthly Google+ Hangout, the #B3Brunch, on topics around SEO, social media, content marketing, design and development – our core specialisms.

We figure out what people need help with or would like to discuss and base our Hangout themes around those areas… We've found that it really does work to connect with our audience – and that it gives them a good reason to follow us on Google+.

We've had some fantastic participation from marketers and business owners of all levels, and it's really working to differentiate our Google+ Page from any of our other social channels and build a unique community there.

Anyway, enough of the Hangouts love-in, now time to actually go into the Hangouts app.

You can now download and install a Hangouts app to your iPhone or Android device, or to Google Chrome, which makes it easy to host or participate in a Hangout anywhere, any time.

Schedule Hangouts

While this next feature isn't yet supported by the aforementioned Hangouts app, you can still access it the usual way through Google+ on your desktop browser. If you want to find Hangouts that are relevant to you, but they're happening, say, next week, then you can and add them to your Google Calendar as and when you come across them via the schedule tab.

If you're hosting a Hangout and choose to use Hangouts on Air (which, handily, get automatically saved to your YouTube channel – just make sure your YouTube account is verified first!), be sure to create an event for your Hangout so that it appears in the list of upcoming Hangouts showcased on Google+.

So – what do you think to the new UI and features? Will Google's new automatic photo enhancement and sorting features save you oodles of valuable time, or do you just think it's a bit creepy and intrusive? Will these features entice you to use Google+ more, or are you using it regularly already?

Leave us a comment…

BY Fi Dunphy AT 11:55am ON Monday, 29 July 2013

Fi is an experienced member of the social media team and has worked on content and social media strategies for large multinationals and SMEs alike. She works closely with Branded3's SEO, content, design and development teams to ensure that the social media strategies, content strategies and online PR campaigns she creates feed directly into the client's end goal. Follow @fidunfi on Twitter

Eight physical product landing pages to inspire you in your next project

I was recently trying to put together some examples of good landing page design and found there was a lack of blog posts looking at physical products in particular.

There are lots of blog posts about designing effective landing pages, and case studies of websites that are doing it right, but nearly all of the examples given were of landing pages for software or service products.

Yes, you can apply many of the same principles and tactics, but still, it'd be nice to have some examples of physical products being sold. 

While nearly every ecommerce store sells physical products, I was looking for those one-page, mega converting landing pages, probably selling only one product, and doing that as well as possible.

Even this poor old Quora question has gone unanswered for far too long: What are some good examples of landing pages for physical products? I shall be posting an answer to that question once this blog post goes live. 

While researching this post I looked at between 200-300 different products, and while there were many good examples, the vast majority of them followed the same template.

There was a distinct lack of landing pages trying to do something different; perhaps for fear of straying too far from the accepted model of landing page design?

So for this blog post I have decided to pick out three examples which I felt stood out from the rest and were distinctive. Even if you removed the branding, these pages are unmistakably unique. 

But, so you feel like you're getting your money's (or rather attention's) worth, I have included a list of other examples I found which had many good features, but didn't necessarily break the mold.

Hopefully, by reading this post, you will have a host of great examples to refer to next time you're designing a landing page for a physical product. 

Three examples that are doing something different

Google Nexus 

I'm going to start with a company who are getting very good at landing page design: Google, with the Nexus phones and tablets. The Nexus landing page is a big, full screen design that manages to make an impact while being incredibly minimal.

Clicking the "watch video" button causes the other UI elements to disappear and a full screen video begins to play - one of the best examples of making a feature of video I've seen on a landing page. 

You can then choose either the 'Phones' or 'Tablets' option from the bottom of the screen to be whisked off to a separate landing page focused on one of those two product types. 

The new landing page is similarly minimal, using lots of white space, and explains the core benefits as you scroll down the page. Overall, it's an incredibly classy-feeling experience, and I've come to expect nothing less from Google.

As an aside, if you want to see what Google would do with an infographic, check out this one from earlier this year: How Search Works. 

Nest

Nest is a 'next generation thermostat' that is supposed to save you energy by programming itself, as well as by many other high-tech functions.

What makes this landing page interesting is that it tells a story, and one that's interactive at times too. Scrolling down the page shows you "365 days with Nest", showing you how the product learns over time while teaching you its features as well. 

I love how at certain parts of the journey it will play a short video to demonstrate its features, and the little interactive elements like being able to change the time on the thermostat to see how its temperature settings change, is a neat touch.

The site hasn't been optimised for mobiles, but at least its not completely broken.

Garmin Fenix

This is another example of a landing page that really tells a story. The first thing you'll notice upon hitting the site is that it doesn't scroll down - it scrolls upwards.

Far from being different for the sake of it, there is a good reason for this. Scrolling all the way to the top shows you someone's journey to the top of a mountain, using various checkpoints along the route to stop and describe features, or show you videos. 

And the videos are really great too; they show you a number of different personas, such as The Trekker, or The Alpinist, shot like little documentaries. What's quite odd is that the site isn't mobile friendly, and yet shows a different version of the page on my iPhone than on my Mac, with bits of the text cut off at the sides.

Bit of a shame, because the page on my mobile almost looked alright if it wasn't for the unfortunate cropping.  

Five more examples showing off good design  

Playstation 4

The landing page for the Playstation 4 uses a nice clean design, and shows off various other resources that customers can use to base their purchasing decision on (like videos, and the game selection).

While it's best not to link out too much on a landing page, buying a Playstation 4 is a big decision and you need suitably convincing to buy this instead of an Xbox One. 

Jawbone Up 

The fitness focused wristband UP has a landing page that ticks all the boxes for a modern landing page design.. Parallax scrolling? Check. Sticky menu? Check. Product video? Check.

I'm not fond of the top slider though. It requires being manually switched through, and on a large monitor this places the arrows way off to the sides and it's more likely people will simply scroll down, missing whatever messaging there was to show off in subsequent slides.   

Recon Jet

Thought Google Glass was an isolated innovation? Think again. The Recon Jet is a similar wearable computer, and its landing page is of the classic long sales letter type. I really like that the product video is given a centre stage by being playable directly from the top of the page (below the logo).

They are also sure to provide links to media sites who mention the Recon Jet - although, I think it would be more effective to provide a snippet of text as a quote instead of linking to the website as it gives customers information they need without them needing to leave the site.  

Marshall Hanwell

This page for a Marshall amplifier places the product in the focus of attention, with a massive full-screen image showing off its design. It's enough to connect with the customer on an emotional level as

I'm sure many musicians would see that picture and immediately want to plug in a guitar. Also unique to this site, there is a price and add to cart icon on the right hand side that follows you down the page, but when you get as far as the reviews it disappears.

I rather like this as it feels less like they're thrusting a call to action in your face. 

Withings Pulse

Another pleasing and clean landing page, Pulse is a fitness monitor which monitors your movement, measures your pulse, and everything else you'd expect.

Also, this page borrows many of the same features (if not all) from the other fitness product on this list, the UP: parallax scrolling, a sticky menu, product video... I found the percentage dial near the bottom of the page a bit odd though; as you scroll down, the dial fills up from 0% to 100%, presumably a metaphor for reaching your goals.

But for a time, I just assumed it was a loader for a video that wasn't downloading properly as it appeared to be stuck on around 96%. The idea doesn't really do it for me.  

Important points to pull out from these examples

I thought it'd be nice to end this post with four observations which jump out at me after going through these examples one more time.

• While I have chosen examples which are very pretty, don't go for beauty over substance. The most important thing about your landing page is that it converts; if making it pretty sacrifices some of its ability to do this, then you need to re-prioritize your aims. 
• Don't make it hard to buy your product! I have visited many examples in this little journey of discovery where I had to actually work to find the core call-to-action button. That small amount of thinking time is long enough for someone to change their mind. 
• Use video. Video engages the viewer so much more than a picture with some accompanying text can, so use it to show off your product. This is particularly true for physical products where you cannot see the product in action from a web browser - show the customer what they're buying and try to evoke all of the sensations that come with holding and using a physical product. 
• Tell a story or journey if it's appropriate. I loved how with the Nest and Garmin Fenix above that as you scrolled, a journey was shared with you. It wasn't just a list of features and benefits, and it engaged me so much more. Whether it made me want to buy the product more is another question however... 

Are there any other examples that you'd add to this list? Or, are there any examples on this list that you'd get rid of? I'd love to know in the comments.

10 Tips For Being Awesome on Camera

Video has become the next big thing in personal branding — just look at the success and popularity of apps like Vine and now Instagram video. But beyond just trying to become the next YouTube sensation, people have transformed it into a great platform for job searches. Video résumés have become a way to grab the attention of potential employers, and video calls via Skype have become the norm for long distance job interviews.

Jared Matthew Weiss had a regular spot on The Today Show, a column in Shape Magazine and has consulted over 800 clients worldwide on how to reach their potential. He founded Overture, a company that produces short, chic black-and-white videos designed to capture your story and share it with the world. The personal branding expert was kind enough to sit down and share 10 important tips that will help set your personal video apart from others.

How You Look

1. Wear Clothing That Makes You Feel Good About Yourself

Have some fun with your wardrobe and be sure it reflects your personality. Choose comfortable clothing that showcases the real "you." To make a slightly more formal statement, a suit and tie or blouse and skirt is perfect. Keep jewelry to a minimum. Feeling good about yourself is key. And it will show.

2. Mom Was Right: Sit Up Straight

The camera exaggerates everything because there is nothing to distract the viewer. If your posture is poor, viewers will think you've checked out and lost interest. Your body should convey your energy and intelligence without being stiff and robotic.

3. Watch Your Body Language — Everyone Else Will

Weiss speaks from personal experience on this one. Throughout his first live television segment he was unaware of the fact that he was impulsively rubbing his leg to calm his nerves. Find a good place for your hands so they aren't distracting to viewers.

4. Smile With Your Eyes

A warm and genuine smile does wonders for coming across as sincere and confident. But flashing those pearly whites is only part of the key to smiling. The eyes can dictate whether a smile is real or forced. In this case, crow's feet can be a good thing.

How You Sound

5. Use Your Natural Voice.

While some of us admit to practicing our news anchor voices, leave that "Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America" voice at home. Be yourself and speak to the camera like it was your best friend. Not only is it more natural, but it's what people expect. You want your video to reflect who you are, not Brian Williams.

6. It's How You Say It

You know what you're talking about. So focus on how you deliver the goods. Pacing matters. If you rush through your spiel, you throw away your credibility. The message you deliver is: what I'm saying doesn't really matter. Your choice of words is also key. Simple and clear beats a multisyllabic mouthful any day. Enunciate and avoid slang at all costs. Shakespeare didn't write "ta be or not ta be, dude."

How To Prepare

7. Look At The Camera As You Would Your Dog

Don't be afraid of the lens — it won't bite or even lick you. Just look into it with the love you'd give a welcoming pet at the end of the day. Don't look around; darting eyes scream, "I'm nervous and desperately searching for the exit!" Blink naturally; excessive blinking signals a lack of sincerity. Don't be afraid of flubs, either. That's why we have editors.

8. Keep It Moist

Dry mouth is the enemy of talking. Get that frog out of your throat with a sip of water. Taking a water break can also be a way to step away from the camera and calm your nerves. And keep your lips moist with something other than your tongue!

9. Chill

Don't go in front of a camera full of nerves and sweaty palms. Do whatever is necessary to help you relax — stretch, do jumping jacks, listen to music, go into the bathroom to talk to yourself. Sit in front of the camera only when you're feeling calm, cool and collected. It will add to your confidence.

10. Breathing Is Good

Not only is it essential for life, but breathing is necessary to be awesome on camera. Take deep breaths before you go live, and continue to breathe easily when the camera's on. If you find yourself breathing or talking too quickly, it's time for a break.

Unless you are portraying a character or alter ego, it's important to be yourself while on camera. This is especially true if you are using the video to market yourself. Allow you and your personality to flourish and embrace the moving frames.

Mashable Job Board Listings

The Mashable Job Board connects job seekers across the U.S. with unique career opportunities in the digital space. While we publish a wide range of job listings, we have selected a few job opportunities from the past two weeks to help get you started. Happy hunting!

• Creative Director at Edelman in Atlanta, Ga.

• Director of Brand Communications - Training at Reebok in Canton, Mass.

• Analyst, Digital Ad Sales at Viacom Media Networks in New York, N.Y.

Image: Jacques Demarthon/AFP/GettyImages