The Stack is a weekly podcast where we share and discuss the latest trends, news, and content from the world of marketing, sales, and tech. In each episode, Sean, Tim, and Ryan sit down to chat about the hard-hitting questions related to sales, marketing, and tech. You can subscribe on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play Music.
In this episode, we talk about Google PageSpeed and updates coming to HubSpot Workflows.
We would love to hear your thoughts so make sure to comment or tweet us at @Sylvestrer1, @SeanHenri, @kelelimil, and @Tendrecroppes or @PepperlandMKTG.
Moving Toward a Faster Web
Chromium Blog
Google has always pushed developers to focus on improving the performance of their website. As we all know, this creates a better user experience, reduces friction in the buying process, and improves the quality of the web as a whole. Google announced they may be moving forward with a slow web page “badge” that will indicate to users when they try to load a notoriously slow website.
“Badging is intended to identify when sites are authored in a way that makes them slow generally, looking at historical load latencies. Further along, we may expand this to include identifying when a page is likely to be slow for a user based on their device and network conditions.”
While the Google team continues to test different benchmarks and website experiences, developers can take preventative action. Most website owners have now had the PageSpeed Insights report roll out to their Google Search Console Property. This tool gives you the ability to analyze how your website currently performs and which pages need some attention.
Key Takeaways:
- Website owners who have a slow website could be penalized with a badge notifying searchers of their load speed.
- If you are looking for some areas to improve your site, take a look at oversized images, unused CSS and HTML, and your plugins. If you want, we can take a look for you!
A New Engine for your Workflows
HubSpot Blog
For those who may not know, HubSpot Workflows help automate a set of tasks that would otherwise take a sales or marketing team hours to complete. You can enroll contacts who meet certain criteria and send them emails, create tasks, and much more. The workflow tool in HubSpot is getting a little upgrade. The workflows tool will have access to the following items:
- The ability to merge branches
- Trigger slack notifications
- Asana task creation
- Copy contact properties to a deal, quote, and tickets.
This was a huge effort by the HubSpot team and because of that, the release of these new features will be rolled out in phases. If you are on the pro or enterprise level and it was purchased after November 5th, you will have the new workflow engine. For all other pro and enterprise customers who bought the software prior to November 5th can request access. After more testing, all existing accounts will receive access.
App of the Week: Vector Creator
Vector Creator by Icons8 is an online design platform that helps create engaging custom illustrations. The easy to use interface let’s users easily pick, resize, and arrange images around the workspace. As you can see below, I made a cool vector image of a dog playing saxophone at night. If you are looking for a program to help you make featured images, illustrate a process, or just make fun pictures, Vector Creator is the answer!
Key Features:
- Pick a style of images to keep your pictures consistent and messaging aligned.
- Add your own vector images
- Export your creations to share on your website, social media, and more.
The Lightning Round: What We’re Reading This Week
- YouTube Launches a Redesign of its Desktop Homepage
- Google Ads Editor update includes support for Discovery campaigns
- Senate bill seeks to compel tech giants to offer ‘unfiltered’ versions of their content
- Facebook is secretly using your iPhone’s camera as you scroll your feed
Listen or watch for new episodes each Friday, or check out the archives to watch past episodes on-demand. Like what you hear? Leave us a review or let us know in the comments!
