Responsive ads have been around for a while. These ads allow you to add multiple headlines, descriptions and images in a single ad slot, so you don’t have to create multiple ad assets for your display ad units.

Recently, Google came up with three new features in responsive display ads, making this ad format even more convenient and reliable.

New Features in Google Responsive Display Ads

You Can Now Include Video Assets In Your Responsive Display Ads

Previously, responsive display ads can be made up of images and logos in landscape and square formats. You can also include short headlines, long headlines, several descriptions and your own CTA button as well.

Now, Google has included the option of adding up to five 30-second YouTube video clips in your responsive display ads as well. It is already known that video assets can help users to gain more visibility as compared to a plain image or test ad, so this addition of a video asset can improve your ad’s performance.

Find Out Which Ad Works & Which Ones Don’t with Combination Report

With that many headlines and descriptions, it’s hard for you to know which ad combination is being seen by your audiences, and which ones are working.

There’s the ad combination report for that. When you click into the responsive display ad units, there will be two tabs at the top - assets & combinations. Click on the ‘combinations’ tab to find out how well your assets are doing, and which combination in particular is gaining you more clicks and interests.

This is why it is important for headline and description varieties to be included when you are creating a responsive display ad - if all of these are similar to each other, then you can never see a significant difference in the results. Think of responsive display ads as a method to A/B test your headlines and descriptions!

Create Good Responsive Display Ads with an Ad Strength Scorecard

If you aren’t sure what to insert in the headlines and description slots, or if your responsive display ad is strong enough, try referring to the ad strength scorecard.

This scorecard will assess the number and types of images that you have, whether your headlines and descriptions are unique enough with sufficient number of words in it

There is also a middle column with the phrase ‘Next Steps’ that you can refer to in order to increase your Google Responsive Display ad strength.

So, these are some of the newer features introduced for Google responsive display ads so far. How many of these features have you already tried and is actively using? Let us know in the comments section below and don’t hesitate to ask us if you have further questions about Google ads, Facebook ads or other digital marketing platforms and methods!

If we were to tell you that there is a platform where you can connect with other businesses all around the world and communicate directly with the manufacturers to get your materials and products, would you be interested to sign up?

This platform that we are talking about is Alibaba.com, the biggest business-to-business (B2B) platform in the world! While this platform originated in China, millions of businesses have an account on this platform to source for materials for their products at manufacturers' prices.

There are several good reasons why you should put your business on Alibaba.com if you haven't already done so. If you already have an account on Alibaba.com, that's a great start! Here are some steps and best practice guidelines that you can apply for your own business.

Start by registering an account on Alibaba.com

This step is pretty straight-forward. All you need to open an account on Alibaba.com is a valid email address after all. However, if you are intending to open a new account as a seller on Alibaba.com, then you also need to prepare the following details:

• Company Name
• Company Location
• Company Phone Number

When you sign up for a new account on Alibaba.com, you can choose whether you would like to have a seller account, a buyer account or a mix of both. The latter choice makes sense for business owners who need to source for materials / ingredients to run their own business.

Set Up Your Company Profile

You might want to set up a nice and proper company profile - this is what your customers are going to see when they enter your company page to understand who you are and the types of products you provide. Below are some of the information that are included within your company page:

• Business category
• Business location
• Product range / Coming-soon products
• Company size
• Target market - where you are planning to sell your products

By providing information about your company and your products, you are building trust in your potential buyers. Most individuals who purchase online, especially in a B2B context, will want to ensure that their suppliers are genuine and reliable.

Information such as your company location, company website and contact methods are just as important - this way, your potential buyers will know that you are a real business and they have higher confidence in your business.

Increase Buyer Confidence with Social Proof & Certifications

If you have product reviews from customers, product test results and certifications, don’t be shy to display these information on your company page!

Well-certified goods can do well for EU standards and any other safety standards which are important factors for certain products and ingredients.

List Your Available Products

We already have a step-by-step guide on how you can sell your products as a seller on Alibaba.com. Free members can list up to 50 products, while paid members, otherwise known as gold suppliers, can list an unlimited number of products and even choose to showcase certain products!

While the number of products available under your business name is an important factor, so is adding enough information and images for each product. Try to rely less on stock photos and create more images focusing on the products that you are selling for more credibility.

If your company page has only 1-5 products, your page could look incomplete or even empty to some potential buyers. As such, sellers are advised to complete details about their business and products, as well as to list enough products in their shops.

Communicate in a Timely Manner

If you are a Gold Supplier, then you can respond to inquiries from your potential buyers. Think of quality communication as one of the key factors to help seal the deal. When customers read your product descriptions, they may want to know about the estimated time the goods can reach their place, or other details that may not be included on your page.

Alibaba.com has a chat platform or a message center that will help you to manage your communications with your potential buyers. Just be logged on whenever you can and respond in a timely manner to increase your chances of securing a deal!

Consider Purchasing the Gold Supplier Membership

A free membership on Alibaba.com won’t get you far as a seller due to its extremely limited features. There are three different membership levels for Gold Supplier Memberships, so you can choose the one that fits you needs.

The three tiers have different priorities for product rankings and number of products they can place in their product showcase. All three Gold Memberships allow unlimited product listing, the ability to quote buyer requests, logistics arrangements, and Alibaba.com high currency exchange rates.

Stay Updated & Learn the Features

Alibaba.com has a training center for sellers to learn everything they should know about selling on the platform, so make use of it! If you happen to have partnered with an Alibaba.com official channel partner like us, these channel partners also provide in-person training to teach you how you can set up and optimize your Alibaba.com storefront.

You might already have heard about the exciting features on Alibaba.com that allows you to sell your products to businesses all around the world as well as those that protects the buyers. You might have also heard about the support that you can get if you sign up for a paid Alibaba.com membership via Alibaba.com’s official channel partners.

Still, these information does not help out much when you want to understand more about paid memberships. Let’s address the common questions about selling on Alibaba.com, the benefits of an Alibaba.com Gold Supplier Membership and other FAQs for sellers on Alibaba.com.

What is a Gold Supplier on Alibaba.com?

A Gold Supplier on Alibaba is someone who has a paid membership access to Alibaba.com. This platform has three membership tiers - premium, standard and basic.

Difference between Free & Paid Membership on Alibaba.com

You won’t be affected by the memberships if you’re a buyer - after all, Alibaba.com is made to be friendly for the buyers, with plenty of protections and assurances in place. However, there are differences between the three tiers of paid memberships for Alibaba.com. Take a look at this table below to get a glimpse of the differences!

What are the Advantages of a Gold Supplier Membership on Alibaba.com?

Alibaba.com has 3 features that sets it apart from other B2B platforms. Previously, Alibaba.com provides just the three features below:

1. Business Opportunities
• Material / Product Sourcing
• Message center to answer inquiries
• Respond to quotation requests
2. Online Events & Promotions
• Showcase online promotions
• Obtain subsidies from government
3. Communication & Data Tools
• Ali Supplier
• View inquiries received, product clicks and product views
• Trade Manager
• Chat interface to connect with potential customers
• Biz Trend
• Traffic Data Analysis - customer views, clicks etc
• Hot Keywords
• Performance by Country & Region
• Products’ Performances
4. Order Protection Service
• Trade Assurance
• Create trust between supplier and buyer
• Applies a credit-rating system that incentivizes suppliers to produce and deliver high-quality goods on time and according to the buyers' specifications.
• Guarantee money back if supplier fails to meet order terms
• Payment Protection
• Shipment Protection
• Product Quality Protection
• 30-Day Protection Period after Products are Received

As of 2018, Alibaba.com also included three more crucial elements to make B2B trades even easier, which are:

1. Logistics Planning
• Insert location of product departure & product desgination, product weight (kg) & volume (m³) & get instant quotation for several logistics options to quickly give an accurate total price to your potential buyers
2. Competitive Exchange Rates
• Free foreign exchange service
• Updated daily
• Receive foreign currency in your Alibaba wallet and withdraw to your own bank in local currency at high foreign exchange rate
• You can compare the exchange rates on Alibaba.com and the rates provided by other banks
3. Trade Data Online
• Customs clearance service
• Track customs clearance status online
• Establish trust & confidence between buyers & suppliers in global trade

Alibaba Official Channel Partner Services

As the official channel partner of Alibaba.com for the past 10 years and counting, Alibaba.com Global Gold Suppliers (GGS) or paid members are eligible for the following services from us:

1. Free Services
2. One-on-one service with an Alibaba.com specialist
3. Free training 
4. Invitation to Alibaba Star Lecturer workshops
5. Advanced Paid Services
6. Product posting
7. Minisite design
8. Site operation

Government Initiatives for Alibaba.com

Matrade Malaysia can provide you a RM5000.00 subsidy when you sell on Alibaba.com as a Global Gold Supplier with the following conditions:

1. 60% Malaysian equity
2. Malaysia-made products
3. Malaysian SMEs (Less than RM50 million annual sales turnover / Less than 200 employees)

All you need to do is to submit the proper documentation to Matrade after you have signed up with any of the Alibaba.com GGS memberships via PanPages TRINITY, and you can get RM5000 back!

Why Do My Products Have Low Ranking?

Your product rankings are affected by several factors such as your product listing quality and accuracy, supplier quality, buyer preferences et cetera. There are several ways that you can increase your product rankings.

How to Increase Product Ranking on Alibaba

1. Improve product quality
2. Add in any charts, multi-picture illustrations and relevant trading details such as your payment methods, minimum order quantity and trading reputation.
3. Improve online activity
4. Keep your company profile updated
5. Stay active on Alibaba.com, especially on Alibaba Trade Manager where you can answer inquiries and update your product posting details on the go.
6. Reply in a timely manner to your inquiring customers.
7. Attend to Request for Quotation (RFQ) feature
8. Subscribe to different keywords on RFQ markets on Alibaba
9. Respond to these RFQs for selling opportunities

How to Buyers Know Who is a Global Gold Supplier (GGS) on Alibaba.com?

Suppliers who have been assessed to become a Global Gold Supplier (GGS) will have two badges next to their names. One displays the number of years they have been a GGS, the other displaying the words ‘Gold Supplier’.

What is Alibaba Assessed Supplier?

All Alibaba.com Gold Suppliers are assessed suppliers. These suppliers have information that has been verified by a third-party organization. There are three levels of authentication and verification for Alibaba.com

1. The most basic assessment is the A&V Check, which requires the uploading of a business license and verification from the contact person.
2. The second assessment is the Onsite Check, required for China Gold Suppliers. This ensures that the premise location is correct, and that onsite operations are located at this premise. Other legal status or information are also included.
3. An assessed supplier meanwhile will have verified main products, certifications, production flow, verified videos and many other forms of verifications. Upon passing all these verification processes, the supplier will have an ‘assessed supplier’ badge next to their names. 

How to Apply for Gold Supplier

You can contact any of the Alibaba Malaysia Official Channel Partners to apply to become a Gold Supplier on Alibaba.com. Panpages TRINITY just happens to be one of these official channel partners in Malaysia, and the only one so far to have achieved a 10-year partnership with Alibaba.com.

You can drop an inquiry with us via our official website or on our Facebook page to know more.

What is Trade Confidence?

Trade Confidence is an order protection service by Alibaba. The credit limit amount for each trader’s trade confidence will be set by Alibaba.com based on their previous trading records.

What Does Trade Confidence on Alibaba Do?

Once the buyers’ payments reach the bank account set by Alibaba.com, the suppliers can immediately obtain the trade confidence credit limit amount set by Alibaba.com. At the same time, Alibaba.com also protects the buyers with by acting on the following:

1. Buyer can apply for a refund if supplier ships out products later than contracted date
2. Buyer can apply for a refund if the product quality does not meet the standards.

We hope that these FAQs have helped you with understanding the selling features on Alibaba.com. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to contact us!

Instagram has been pushing its new feature - IGTV - to us for a while. Recently, however, Instagram has stepped up their efforts to make its users use IGTV more.

IGTV - How to Upload, Edit & Remove An IGTV Video

Once in a while, when you down your Instagram news feed, you might notice a video with a small horizontal button at the bottom left of the video saying “Watch Full IGTV Video”.

When you click this button, you will be brought to the full screen IGTV experience. Here, you will also be able to browse through other IGTV videos. These videos could be uploaded by other users you follow, or simply as a recommendation for you to watch and follow.

This update by Instagram allows for IGTV previews to be shown in your news feed, and has been officially implemented since the 7th of February 2019. Here’s what you need to know about uploading your own videos to IGTV.

Creating A Channel on IGTV

You will first need to have a channel on IGTV before you can upload a video. Instagram has made it easier to do this by allowing their users to open a channel via their Instagram or IGTV app, as well as from their web interface at instagram.com.

Creating a Channel on IGTV via Instagram or IGTV app:

1. Click on the TV icon on the top right corner of your Instagram app. You can also directly open the IGTV app if you have it installed.
2. Tap the gear icon and select ‘Create Channel’, then follow the next on-screen instructions.
3. Creating a Channel on IGTV via web:
4. Go to instagram.com and log in to your account.
5. Go to your profile and click on the IGTV button under your profile bio.
6. Click on ‘Get Started’, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

That’s it! You have opened an IGTV channel on your account, and you can now upload your IGTV videos.

Do note that the visibility of your IGTV videos are subject to your Instagram account’s privacy settings. If you have set your account to private, only your followers can see your IGTV videos.

What are the Video Upload Requirements for IGTV?

• Video length: 
• Minimum: 15 seconds
• Maximum: 10 minutes 
• Some bigger, verified accounts can upload videos up to 60 minutes long, but these videos can only be uploaded from a computer.
• Video format: 
• MP4
• Video resolution & size: 
• 9:16 aspect ratio 
• 30 frames per second (FPS) minimum
• Minimum resolution: 720 pixels
• Maximum file size:
• 650MB (Less than 10 minutes)
• 3.6GB (Less than 60 minutes)
• Thumbnail:
• 420px x 654px (1:1.55 aspect ratio)
• Cannot be edited after upload as of date of writing

How to Upload a Video to IGTV

You can also do this via your Instagram app, IGTV app or Instagram web. The only difference is that you are restricted from uploading any videos that aren’t vertical on web, while uploading one from your IGTV or Instagram app will automatically have your videos cropped to become vertical instead.

Uploading a Video to IGTV from Instagram / IGTV App

1. Click on the TV icon on the top right corner of your Instagram app or directly open the IGTV app.
2. Click on your profile photo to enter your channel.
3. Click on the + icon and choose the video that you would like to upload, and then click the ‘Next’ button.
4. Create a title and description for your IGTV video. You can also choose a video thumbnail either directly from the video or by uploading your own custom video thumbnail.
5. If you want to share a preview of your video to your Instagram News Feed (limited to 1 minute only), you can switch that option on.
6. If you would like to share the video onto your Facebook page, you can also check this option.
7. Click on the ‘Post’ button and allow it to completely upload.

Uploading a Video to IGTV from Instagram Web Interface

1. Go to instagram.com.
2. Click on your profile and click on the ‘IGTV’ icon in the middle underneath your bio.
3. Click on ‘Upload’.
4. Click on the + icon and select a vertical format video from your gallery that you would like to upload.
5. Create a title and description for your IGTV video. You can also choose a video thumbnail either directly from the video or by uploading your own custom video thumbnail.
6. If you want to share a preview of your video to your Instagram News Feed (limited to 1 minute only), you can switch that option on.
7. If you would like to share the video onto your Facebook page, you can also check this option.
8. Click on the ‘Post’ button and allow it to completely upload.

How to Edit IGTV Video Title or Description

As of date of writing, you can only edit the title and description of your uploaded IGTV videos from a computer or web interface.

After visiting instagram.com, going to your profile and clicking on your IGTV channel, you can open any IGTV videos that you have uploaded. Once open, you only have to click on the 3-dot icon on the top right corner and click on ‘edit’ to make any desired changes.

Simply click ‘Done’ to complete your changes and save it!

How to Remove IGTV Preview from Profile

Once the IGTV video and its preview is uploaded, you can find the preview displayed as a normal video on your profile. All you have to do then is to tap the 3-dot button on the right upper edge of the post and click ‘delete’ to remove it.

Your full-length IGTV video will still be available on your profile.

How to Remove an IGTV Video from your Profile

To remove an IGTV video completely from your profile, you will first need to open the video on the IGTV tab on your Instagram app. Once the video is loaded and playing full-screen, you will see a 3-dot icon which you can click to delete the video. The IGTV video is now erased from your profile!

Do you have anything else that you would like to know about IGTV? Instagram frequently updates their help centre page to ensure that their users are getting the latest news about their products. Try visiting this page to find out more about IGTV and its features!