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Top 9 AI Voice Generators in 2024

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Artificial intelligence allows to generate several types of content, with a very realistic quality. It is possible with this technology to create images, videos or simple text. But it is also possible to generate a realistic voice thanks to AI ! 🎤

Voice generators will allow you to create a realistic and human voice to design advertisements, podcasts or other. However, you still need to find good software, which will not just generate a robotic voice.

This is why we are going to present to you the comparison of the 9 best AI voice generators . ⤵️

🕰️ No time to read it all? Here are the best AI voice generators (November 2024):

1️⃣ Elevenlabs – Clearly the best AI voice generator with its 29 languages ​​and 120 different voices.
2️⃣ Murf AI – The good surprise that also allows the generation of bonus videos.
3️⃣ PlayHT – The best for creating voices with a particularly human intonation.

1/ Elevenlabs: The best AI audio generator

elevenlabs interface
Discover Elevenlabs

 

Presentation

Elevenlabs allows you to generate a perfectly realistic voice for your content. Enough to go on audio or video format for example. The boundaries between human and machine have just been broken with this new tool.

What makes all the difference with the others: voices with different timbres and accents to get as close as possible to what you are looking for. 🏆

Why choose Elevenlabs?

Elevenlabs is, in our opinion, the best AI voice generator of the moment . By offering it to you, you will be able to obtain a human voice and even clone yours if you wish!

How to save time and money in the short and long term. 👍

With it, you can get voices for your video content, NPCs in a video game, chatbots or even audio books for example.

Finally, you have a hundred different voices (120) in 29 different languages , all with different tones and intonations. Enough to find THE voice you need. 🎙️

Features

We can start with the text to speech function which allows you to create a voice based on written content. You will be able to test different voices to see which one best suits your project.

We can also mention voice cloning which allows you to create a voice in relation to the sound content that you are going to provide. Enough to save you long recording sessions for example.

Note that you can modulate the voice, manually adjust the duration of pauses or even refine the rhythm of the sentence. 👌

With its 29 languages ​​and 120 different voices, you can easily convert entire books into audio, regenerate specific passages or even create auditory chatbots.

Rates

Elevenlabs offers you a subscription that allows you to create content based on the number of characters . Enough to find a formula adapted to your needs:

elevenlabs price

The advantages

✅ Realistic and human voice quality

✅ Wide range of 29 different languages ​​and voices

✅ Easy integration via API

The disadvantages

❌ Begins to be known

2/ Murf AI: The good surprise!

murf ai

 

Presentation 

It is an artificial intelligence voiceover generator . It is designed to create a human voice and perform in order to make promotional videos, training videos, podcasts, audible books, etc. 🎤

If you want to know more, check out our Murf AI review & test .

Why choose Murf AI? 

In our opinion, this is the most complete software to generate a human and realistic voice. But that’s not all, because it also allows you to include videos and images of illustrations with the generated voice. This will allow you to design ready-to-use video game media thanks to AI.

Its main advantage is its free version . Without having to pay a subscription, you will be able to generate 10 minutes of vocal per month . 🎙️

Features 

Murf doesn’t offer a thousand and one functions. Its goal is simple: to create a human voiceover using AI and from a simple text. Let’s see how it works in practice.

To start, you will need to choose the type of audio you want to obtain. As a reminder, it is possible to create vocals for advertisements, podcasts, training videos and others. Once you have chosen the type of vocal you want to create, you will land on the Murf AI editor. 🎬

On this editor, you will be able to write text. This allows you to create sections, which you can then assemble to obtain a complete vocal. Before creating a sound clip, you can choose between different voices . It provides more than a hundred different male and female voices .

murf ai editor

You can also choose the tone of voice you want ( calm, angry, sad, friendly, etc. ) as well as the speaking speed . Once everything is good, you can start the voice generation. 🎤

By adding multiple tracks, you will be able to create a vocal of the length of your choice. But it also allows you to add music , illustration images as well as video game media . Murf AI has a stock of images and videos that you can integrate into your soundtrack.

murf ai videos

Obviously, all the images and videos you can add from its library are royalty-free. 🎥

Rates 

Murf AI includes 3 paid versions as well as a free plan :

murf ai rates

Depending on the plan you choose, you can get more voices, languages, and different soundtracks . But the main feature that will differ depending on the subscription plan is the amount of voiceovers you will be able to use. With the Basic plan, you will be able to manage 24 hours of vocals, 48 ​​hours if you opt for the Pro plan.

As you can see, the price of the subscription will change depending on the number of users present on it. 👥

Murf AI offers a free trial , which allows you to access over 120 voices and generate 10 minutes of vocals each month.

The advantages 

✅ Voice generation in over 20 languages

✅ Ability to add royalty-free images and media

✅ Full Free Version

The disadvantages 

❌ English interface

3/ PlayHT: For ultra-realistic voices 

PlayHT

 

Presentation

PlayHT is an AI voice generator , which claims to create intonation that is very human-like. It even claims that the generated voices cannot be detected as being artificially created.

If you want to know more, check out our test and review of PlayHT .

Why choose PlayHT? 

PlayHT is easy to use and offers to create a personalized voice in more than a hundred languages. The big advantage of this generator is its free version. Even without a subscription, you will be able to design high-quality soundtracks and customize your voices. 🎤

Features 

Like other generators, PlayHT offers the Text-To-Speech feature . With this feature, you will be able to create a voice in 142 different languages ​​from a script of up to 800 words. Of course, you will be able to customize this voice according to several models, tones, accents, and others.

If you don’t want to use a voice model, you can also clone your own voice . It allows you to record your voice in order to create audio tracks that reproduce your speech from a text. 🗣️

PlayHT also allows you to create a voice within a telephone switchboard.

Rates

PlayHT offers 2 paid plans as well as a free version :

playht rates

Depending on the plan you choose, you will be able to generate more or less audio content. With the Creator version, you will be able to transform 250,000 characters into audio per month, or about 5.5 hours of audio content. By opting for the Unlimited plan, you will be able to obtain unlimited audio. 🎙️

With the free version, you can generate audios up to 12,500 characters with the text-to-speech function.

The advantages 

✅ High quality voice cloning

✅ Full Free Version

✅ Lots of choice regarding voice type

The disadvantages 

❌ Platform in English

4/ Bigspeak AI: Software to use for free?

bigspeak ai

Presentation 

Bigspeak AI is a very easy-to-use software. It will allow you to generate a voice from a simple text . But it also offers other advantages, such as the ability to create a video from a speech, or to transcribe an existing video or sound. ✏️

Why choose Bigspeak AI? 

It is a free software that allows you to generate a realistic voiceover from a simple text. Bigspeak is very easy to use and offers several complementary functions to voice generation.

The real plus is its free version. Without having to subscribe to a premium version, you will be able to create several minutes of vocals every month. 🎙️

Features 

Bigspeak AI offers several features , which we will present below. ⤵️

The main function of this platform is text-to-speech . As with Murf AI, you will be able to generate a voice from a simple text . You will simply have to write the speech that you want to see said by a voice. However, there are fewer options in terms of voice and type of speech.

With Bigspeak AI, you will only be able to choose between a male or female voiceover and the language . Once you have written your text, you simply have to click on the “ generate ” button.

bigspeak ai editor

With Bigspeak, you can also do the opposite . That is, generate text from an audio track . The tool offers an option called “ Speech To Text ”, which allows you to transcribe an audio track into text format.

Finally, Bigspeak also offers a “ Text To Video ” feature. Here, it allows you to create a video from a simple text . 📼

Rates 

Bigspeak AI offers a free variant and a premium plan :

bigspeak ai rates

By opting for the premium subscription , you will be able to obtain audio tracks up to 100,000 characters per month via the Text To Speech function. You will also be able to transcribe 3 hours of audio into text .

The free version allows you to use the text-to-speech function up to 8000 characters per month . It will also be possible to transcribe 60 minutes of audio monthly. ✍️

The advantages 

✅ Easy to use

✅ Full Free Version

✅ Other possibilities like Text to Video or Speech to Text

The disadvantages 

❌ Platform in English

❌ Little choice for voice type

5/ Readspeaker: For a tailor-made voice 

Presentation 

Readspeaker is an online platform designed to obtain a voiceover. But this tool also allows you to read documents and texts aloud in order to make them accessible to as many people as possible. 📣

Why choose Readspeaker? 

Readspeaker is a software that will allow you to design a professional voice . The tool offers auditory reader features, which will make your content accessible to everyone on the internet. It is to be preferred if you want tailor-made support in order to create audio tracks using AI.

Features 

As you can see, Readspeaker contains several possibilities . Below we will present the main options of this software. ⤵️

WebReader is a feature designed to transcribe a text or document into audio format . Readspeaker allows you to generate a high-quality voice from a text. To use this feature, nothing could be simpler. Just import your text content, and the tool will automatically generate a voice transcribing the entire text.

Of course, you will be able to choose the type of voice , but also the language of speech . 💬

The less used TexAid feature allows you to read a text aloud. This feature is not useful for obtaining voice tracks, but allows you to offer an auditory version of an ebook, web document or other for example.

Finally, Readspeaker offers a tailor-made offer to create a professional voice. Here, you will simply have to tell Readspeaker the type of voice you want to generate as well as the speech. Readspeaker takes care of finding the best voice in order to generate a sound synthesis. 🎤

Rates 

Readspeaker has several different features, all of which have separate pricing.

To use the TextAid feature , the price starts at €4.90 per month for an individual subscription.

Readspeaker does not offer a free version like other software. However, it is possible to have a one-week free trial to test.

The advantages 

✅ Audio transcription of documents

✅ Voice creation in multiple languages

✅ Tailor-made support

The disadvantages 

❌ Platform difficult to use

6/ Looks like AI: The most profitable generator 

looks like

Presentation 

Resemble AI is a voice generator designed to create audio tracks using AI. This tool contains several functions that will allow you to generate a sound synthesis for your content, advertisements, podcasts or others. 🤖

Why choose Resemble AI? 

Resemble AI offers all the features needed for quality voice generation. With this tool, you will be able to generate a voice from a speech, or clone your own voice in order to create audio/video content that resembles you.

The big plus in our opinion is the credit system . With Resemble AI, you won’t need to pay a subscription if you don’t generate an audio track. You only pay for the amount of audio you create. 💪

Features 

Once again, Resemble AI offers several possibilities that will allow you to create a voice synthesis.

The main function of Resemble AI is to be able to generate a voice from a simple text . To do this, you will have access to an editor, where you will have to integrate the text that you want to transform into an audio track. You can then choose between different languages ​​and voices.

But Resemble AI also allows you to add emotions , which will change the tone of voice . It is possible to obtain the voice of an angry, sad, happy person, etc. 🗯️

Another interesting feature is voice cloning . From audio clips of your own voice, you will be able to generate complete audio tracks. Thanks to voice cloning, you can create unique audio content without having to record it yourself.

Rates 

Unlike other software, Resemble AI does not work with a fixed subscription. The software offers a credit system , where you will have to pay only for the voice time generated. 💰

looks like rates

The basic version offers a rate of $0.006 per second . By opting for this plan, you will be able to use 10 types of voices as well as 2 different languages. With the Pro plan , you will have access to all voices , and will be able to generate vocals in 62 different languages .

The advantages 

✅ Easy to use

✅ Credit system, ideal for saving money

✅ Voice generation in over 62 different languages

The disadvantages 

❌ English interface

7/ Lovo: The ultimate all-in-one tool 

love

Presentation 

Lovo is an all-in-one voice generator, which offers many features. With it, you will be able to create a video from a simple text . But it also allows you to generate video game content, and even images thanks to artificial intelligence. 🤖

Why choose Lovo? 

Lovo is very easy to use and allows you to create a realistic voice with AI . With this software, you will be able to obtain good quality audio tracks to suit media, podcasts, advertisements and others.

This platform also has a free version. With this plan, you will be able to generate audio tracks without having to invest in a premium version.

Features 

It is a fairly simple software to use that offers different features to generate voices. Let us introduce you in detail how it works. ⤵️

The most used feature is the famous Text To Speech . Here too, the operation is very simple. You just have to choose a type of voice, as well as an intonation. Then, you can write the text you want to obtain in audio version.

lovo voice creation

It is possible to choose between more than 20 voices and 20 different emotions . The software supports voice generation in more than 100 different languages . 🗣️

Once the audio track is created, you will have access to an editor . This editor will allow you to modify and improve the generated voice synthesis .

Like other tools, it also offers to use stock videos to add your audio tracks. The software provides a whole bunch of royalty-free images and media that you can use to design unique content.

Rates 

Lovo offers several premium subscriptions as well as a free version :

lovo rates

Almost no features change depending on the subscription plan. The only difference will be the amount of audio you will be able to generate each month:

  • Basic : 2 hours per month
  • Pro : 5 hours per month
  • Pro+ : 20 hours per month

The free version of Lovo will allow you to generate 20 minutes of voice every month. 🎙️

The advantages 

✅ Free version

✅ Voice generation with more than 20 different intonations

✅ + 100 different languages

The disadvantages 

❌ English interface

8/ HeyGen: The best for creating audios with avatars 

HeyGen

Presentation

HeyGen is an AI designed to generate video and audio content . With it, you will be able to design a video and include an avatar that pronounces a script from scratch. 👤

Why choose HeyGen? 

HeyGen is one of the most advanced platforms to create a realistic video while customizing the avatar and audio of the content. It is mainly used to create videos for business purposes. For example, you will be able to design explainer videos for your landing pages.

Features 

HeyGen doesn’t just offer AI voice generation, so we’ll introduce you to several of its features. ⤵️

The software is able to create an avatar and customize it . The goal of this feature is to design a video where a human speaks in front of the camera. Here, you will simply have to provide your text so that the avatar can speak it orally in the video. You will obviously be able to customize the voice of your avatar as well as the spoken language.

If you don’t want to design a video, you can only generate audio content . Here, the software allows you to generate sound from text. It offers several voice and accent models, in order to find the tone that suits you.

Rates

HeyGen offers two paid plans , a free version and a custom plan:

heygen rates

The platform lets you adjust your subscription based on the number of credits you want to get each month. Note that 1 credit allows you to create a personalized one-minute video. 🎥

With the free version you can get 1 credit every month.

The advantages 

✅ Easy to use

✅ Advanced customization

✅ Ability to create avatars

The disadvantages 

❌ Limited free version

❌ Platform in English

9/ Looks like AI: A voiceover for a commercial video!

Looks like AI

Presentation

Resemble AI is a multi-functional voice generator that uses AI. Designed to generate quality voiceovers, the platform is capable of designing audio for all kinds of videos, including commercial content.

Why choose Resemble AI? 

Resemble AI is an easy-to-use generator that allows you to multiply the voices you create in no time. Fully customizable, each voice will be ultra realistic and will be able to stick to the message you want to convey. 📣

Features 

Resemble AI offers several features that will allow you to create an audio track from scratch.

The main use of Resemble AI is in the text-to-speech functionality . Starting with a simple text, you can design a voice and customize it. This is particularly useful for creating voice-overs for documentaries, YouTube videos or commercial content.

The platform also allows you to clone your own voice or any voice. From a template, you will be able to generate audio content with your modified voice. With this feature, you will be able to change the tone of your voice, but also the language! 🌎

Another feature that you don’t see everywhere on audio generators is the deepfake detection option.

Rates

Resemble AI offers 3 paid plans :

looks like rates

Depending on the version you choose, you will be able to generate more or less audio content:

  • Creator : 10,000 seconds per month
  • Professional : 80,000 seconds per month
  • Growth : 250,000 seconds per month

The advantages 

✅ Easy to use

✅ Voice cloning at level

✅ Deepfake detector function

The disadvantages 

❌ No free version

❌ Platform in English


We have presented you with the tools that we believe are the best voice generators currently available. All these software will allow you to design a realistic human voice for all your creative projects. 📣

AI technology also allows you to generate other types of content . If you are interested, we invite you to read our comparisons on the best AI video generators or the best image generators thanks to artificial intelligence .

Not Just a Game: Why AI Is Being Taught Chess, Poker, and The Sims

The Sims, Dota, or poker may not be just entertainment: scientists use games to teach artificial intelligence systems to solve real-world problems. How does this happen?

About the author: Alexander Panov, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, Director of the AI ​​Cognitive Systems Laboratory at the AIRI Institute, Director of the Center for Cognitive Modeling at MIPT.

At the dawn of artificial intelligence, scientists needed criteria to assess its level of development. It was the middle of the 20th century, the peak of chess popularity — and it was the ability to play chess that became an indicator of the “intelligence” of the technology. Of course, at that time, AI was not powerful enough to solve chess problems, so it was tested on simpler games and problems, for example, to prove theorems from plane geometry.

Any game is a small closed world with its own rules, so it is a great testing ground for experiments and testing the properties of AI. Let’s see what skills and how exactly are trained in games of different types.

Chess and th

The ability to play chess has long been considered the benchmark for the development of artificial intelligence. The first time an algorithm capable of competing with humans in this game was created was in the late 1980s: it was IBM’s chess supercomputer Deep Blue. And in 1997, Deep Blue was able to win a match against the then world champion Garry Kasparov.

Chess, like Go (a logical board game that originated in Ancient China), develops and tests two key properties of AI systems: predictability, i.e. the ability to predict another player’s move in advance, and the ability to solve logical problems. These skills are needed in many other areas of AI application – in robotics, automation, for predicting the results of marketing strategies, etc. For example, the MCTS algorithm, which was tested on chess and is used in some chess engines, formed the basis of one of the systems for planning robot movements in warehouse automation. Of course, training AI on chess also has narrower objectives – training athletes and entertainment.

Most often, artificial intelligence systems are trained on a large number of played games. The algorithm analyzes them and then retrains itself by playing with itself.

There are also systems that learn from scratch, without ready-made material, such as AlphaGo Zero and MuZero from DeepMind. For this, the Monte Carlo tree search method can be used, which is based on a tree of possible consequences of each move. The algorithm “plays” any consequence until the final, remembering which actions lead to a successful scenario, and which ones lead to a negative one. This is how extensive statistics are accumulated, on the basis of which the AI ​​makes decisions in future games.

Poker

Poker is a game of high uncertainty. That is why it is used by AI algorithms to learn how to make decisions, calculate risks, and develop successful strategies in conditions of uncertainty. Trained algorithms are used in such environments: for example, AI can solve stock trading problems — create an investment package and manage it without falling below a given level of profitability. Another example is advertising tools that choose which ad to show to a user so that he or she is most likely to click on it.

Of course, to train such algorithms, you need a very large sample of played games. But the advantage is that poker games are shorter than chess games, so their enumeration does not take much time.

Predicting human behavior is a complex and non-trivial task. It is usually done using reinforcement learning, supplemented by heuristics (a rule of thumb) to evaluate the actions of other players. In this approach, the agent learns to make decisions by receiving rewards or penalties for its actions, and improves its strategies based on this experience. The combination of reinforcement learning and heuristics allows for more adaptive and intelligent AI that can effectively operate under uncertainty and cope with the complexities of multiplayer games or situations.

The Sims

In 2023, a team of researchers from Stanford University and Google created a virtual town called Smallville inside The Sims and populated it with 25 characters generated using GPT. The characters began to behave in such a way that real people had a hard time distinguishing them from real players.

The Sims is a life simulator by its genre. It is used not so much to train AI as to evaluate its ability to imitate human behavior. For this, large language models (Large Language Models, LLM) are used, pre-trained on a large number of texts. We encounter these models, for example, in ChatGPT — they allow the algorithm to maintain a conversation and answer questions in a “human” formulation.

The Sims basically just translated the text dialogue from LLM into character actions. It’s like if we wrote ChatGPT: “Imagine you’re John Smith, you work as an insurance agent, you live in such-and-such a house, you wake up on Monday morning, what do you do?” – and it would respond: “I’ll make myself some coffee, take a shower, go to work.” And so on for every character.

The Sims helps test LLM in autonomous agent communication conditions and understand what it lacks before immersing it in a real environment. For example, to develop a voice assistant based on it that will communicate with clients over the phone. Or it will become an LLM assistant that will help us plan our actions, make a schedule for the day and solve everyday tasks. LLM is also used in robotics: with the help of text descriptions, the robot learns to perform certain actions in different situations.

StarCraft и Dota

If in chess, go and poker the AI ​​system plays for one player, then in StarCraft you need to control several units and coordinate their actions with each other. The AI’s task here is complicated by precisely this coordination of strategies of different units – so that they shoot not at each other, but at their opponents.

In real life, there are many such tasks. A simple example is managing traffic lights in a specific location. To reduce traffic jams, each traffic light needs to be switched taking into account, firstly, the traffic situation, and secondly, the operation of other traffic lights (for example, to launch a “Green Wave” for cars).

Dota is very similar to StarCraft – there is also cooperation between agents. Dota has less multi-agent specifics, since we control one hero – but we do it in such a way as to take into account the actions of other players. If we are talking about a multiplayer game, we do not control other players, but we take into account their actions and whether they belong to our team or the enemy team. It is also interesting that the game was slightly adapted to train the AI ​​system, developing a special simplified map.

Doom и Minecraft

At first glance, Doom is a regular shooter where the player needs to explore locations, kill opponents and upgrade their defense. But this game has a feature that makes it interesting for training AI systems: unlike all previous games, in Doom the player receives only a picture as input – what he sees in front of him.

In chess, the player is given a description of the playing field, i.e. coded numerical information. In The Sims, it is text; in StarCraft and Dota, it is a vector description of the environment. In other words, in all cases, the algorithm receives already processed information. In Doom, training is based exclusively on the picture: the system processes visual information, remembers it, and builds its behavior based on it.

This property is well transferred to navigation tasks, such as training unmanned vehicles. In addition, the Doom environment helps test methods of internal motivation – rewarding the algorithm for exploring the environment and moving around locations. This is also used in robotics.

Another popular sandbox video game among scientists is Minecraft. Unlike other games, there are no clear rules or plot, the player’s imagination and actions are limited only by certain conventions of the world. You can assemble any object, use it to extract a new resource, build something, etc. All this allows you to use the platform as a test environment for advanced reinforcement learning methods. The complexity of this “universe” allows researchers to study how an AI agent can navigate, manipulate objects and interact with the world. The skills acquired by systems in Minecraft environments can be applied primarily in robotics, navigation and decision-making in an uncertain environment.

The Future of Games for AI Training

Games are used by all teams working in reinforcement learning (RL) as benchmarks to evaluate the quality of their models. Often, these research groups do not specialize in specific games. Researchers do not even need to know the rules of the game or play it themselves, since the agent is expected to learn everything on its own.

Of course, game tasks are always simpler than real ones. The closed nature of the game world both facilitates the learning process and is its limitation, since the game cannot fully reproduce the real world, where there are more risks and uncertainties. Therefore, researchers and game developers create increasingly complex simulators that can set algorithms tasks that are as close to real ones as possible. However, for now, solving complex problems in the real world still requires human participation.

78 figures and statistics on social networks in 2024

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Social networks.

Those apps that you mechanically open dozens of times a day.

These platforms where you share, like, comment without even thinking about it.

But do you have any idea of ​​the scale of this global phenomenon?

In 2024, social media is not just a hobby. It’s a parallel universe that governs the codes of our society. Discover all the craziest statistics on the subject now!

Statistics and figures to remember about social networks 🔢

  • 5.17 billion people use social media worldwide
  • We spend an average of 2 hours 20 minutes per day on social networks
  • Facebook has 3.07 billion monthly active users
  • YouTube can reach 2.5 billion people through advertising
  • Instagram has 10x higher engagement rate than Facebook
  • TikTok can reach 1.6 billion adult users through advertising
  • LinkedIn has 1.1 billion potentially reachable users

Social networks in figures: global domination

You connect to your favorite networks every day, but have you ever thought about their impact on our society?

The numbers are simply staggering.

Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population, or 5.17 billion people, are active on social media.

And you, on how many platforms are you present? If it’s more than 6, know that you are in the average!

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

  1. 63.7% of the world’s inhabitants are active users of social networks.
  2. In just 12 months, 282 million new people joined social platforms.
  3. According to Data Reportal , almost all Internet users (95%) connect to social networks monthly.
  4. We spend an average of 2 hours and 20 minutes a day scrolling, liking and sharing on social media.
  5. An average user navigates between 6.7 different platforms each month.
  6. More than two-thirds of the world’s population (69.4%) access the internet via a mobile device.
  7. Internet users represent 66.2% of the world’s population, or 5.35 billion people.
  8. More than a third of time spent online (35.8%) is spent on social networks.
  9. The gender distribution on the networks is almost balanced: 53.5% men versus 46.5% women.
  10. Half of users (49.5%) use networks to stay in touch with their loved ones.
  11. More than a third (38.5%) go there to kill time.
  12. A third of users (34.2%) consider networks as a source of information and news.

The colossal business of social networks

You scroll, you like, you share… but have you ever thought about the money it generates?

The turnover of social media giants is simply astronomical.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has raked in the equivalent of the GDP of a small country in 2023: $135 billion!

comparison ca between meta and gdp of some countries

And you, which network would you have bet on for second place?

Here is the ranking that may surprise you:

  1. Meta dominates the market with a turnover of 135 billion dollars in 2023, thanks to Facebook and Instagram.
  2. LinkedIn, the professional network, surprisingly comes in second with $15.1 billion.
  3. TikTok, despite its youth, is hot on the heels of the giants with $14.3 billion generated.
  4. YouTube brought in $8 billion in the last quarter of 2023 alone.
  5. Snapchat, with its funny filters, still raked in $4.6 billion.
  6. X (ex-Twitter) remains in the race with 3.4 billion dollars in turnover.
  7. Pinterest is bringing up the rear, but is not far behind with $3 billion between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023.

Facebook Statistics

You think Facebook is outdated? Think again!

Mark Zuckerberg’s social network continues to dominate the digital landscape.

With more than 3 billion active users each month, Facebook brings together the equivalent of almost half of the world’s population!

Here are some numbers that might surprise you:

  1. Facebook has 3.07 billion monthly active users, or almost 40% of the world’s population.
  2. Advertisers can potentially reach 2.24 billion people through Facebook advertising.
  3. Despite competition, Facebook remains the second most used platform according to data.ai.
  4. In France, 35 million people connect to Facebook every month.
  5. India is the most Facebook-loving country with 314.6 million users as of January 2024.
  6. Cristiano Ronaldo reigns supreme on Facebook with 168 million fans.
  7. The average engagement rate per post is 0.064%, a number that may seem low but represents millions of interactions.
  8. Nearly 3 out of 4 users (72.6%) use Facebook primarily to communicate with their loved ones.

If you want to go further, discover all the statistics and figures on Facebook .

YouTube Statistics

Did you think TikTok had dethroned YouTube?

Google’s platform continues to reign supreme in the online video universe.

With 2.50 billion users that can be reached by advertising, YouTube brings together almost a third of humanity!

Here are some figures:

  1. YouTube can reach 2.5 billion people through its advertising, almost a third of the world’s population.
  2. According to data.ai, YouTube is the platform with the largest number of active users.
  3. In France, 41.4 million people connect to YouTube every month.
  4. India is the country that consumes the most YouTube, with 462 million users as of January 2024.
  5. Indian channel T-Series tops the global rankings with 259 million subscribers.
  6. In France, Squeezie takes the prize with 18.7 million subscribers.

If you want to go further, discover all the statistics and figures on YouTube .

Instagram Statistics

The image-sharing platform continues to enchant and engage users around the world.

With 2 billion active users each month, Instagram brings together the equivalent of a quarter of the world’s population!

Here are some numbers that will make you see Instagram in a new light:

  1. Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users, or a quarter of the world’s population.
  2. Advertisers can potentially reach 1.68 billion people through Instagram advertising.
  3. According to data.ai, Instagram is the fourth most used platform in the world.
  4. In France, 23.7 million people connect to Instagram every month.
  5. India is the country with the most Instagrammers with 362.9 million users as of January 2024.
  6. Cristiano Ronaldo reigns supreme on Instagram with 617.5 million followers.
  7. The average engagement rate per post on Instagram is more than 10 times higher than that of Facebook.
  8. 7 out of 10 users (70.1%) primarily use Instagram to post or share photos and videos.

If you want to go further, discover all the statistics and figures on Instagram .

TikTok Statistics

This short video platform is revolutionizing the world of social networks.

With 1.60 billion adult users reachable by advertising, TikTok has captured an impressive market share in record time!

Here are some statistics:

  1. TikTok can reach 1.60 billion adult users through its advertising, a number that continues to grow.
  2. According to data.ai, TikTok is already the sixth most used platform in the world.
  3. In France, 25.4 million people connect to TikTok every month.
  4. The United States dominates the adult user market with 148 million TikTokers as of January 2024.
  5. The undisputed king of TikTok is @khaby.lame, with his 161.6 million followers.
  6. 8 out of 10 users (80.3%) go to TikTok to consume fun and entertaining content.

If you want to go further, discover all the statistics and figures on TikTok .

LinkedIn Statistics

The professional network has become a true giant of the digital world.

With 1.10 billion users reachable through advertising, LinkedIn has an army of professionals ready to network!

Here are some numbers on LinkedIn:

  1. LinkedIn has 1.10 billion users who can potentially be reached through advertising.
  2. In France, around 29 million professionals are present on the platform.
  3. The United States dominates the market with 214 million active users.
  4. Bill Gates reigns supreme on LinkedIn with 35 million followers.
  5. Google is the platform’s star company, followed by 31.5 million subscribers.

If you want to go further, discover all the statistics and figures on LinkedIn .

Snapchat Statistics

With 800 million monthly active users, Snapchat proves that the ephemeral can last!

Here are some figures:

  1. Snapchat has 800 million monthly active users, more than the population of Europe.
  2. In France, 20.2 million people open the application every day.
  3. India is the country that snaps the most with 201 million users as of January 2024.
  4. Kylie Jenner is the undisputed queen of Snapchat with 35.2 million followers.
  5. Nearly half of users (42.9%) primarily use Snapchat to share photos and videos.

If you want to go further, discover all the statistics and figures on Snapchat .

Pinterest Statistics

This visual platform attracts millions of users looking for inspiration.

With 518 million monthly active users, Pinterest proves that visual inspiration is still popular!

Here are the numbers:

  1. Pinterest attracts 518 million monthly active users, more than the population of the United States.
  2. In France, 16.3 million people look for inspiration on Pinterest monthly.
  3. The United States leads the way with 90.1 million active users by spring 2024.
  4. Oh Joy (@ohjoy) is the queen of Pinterest with 15.1 million followers.
  5. More than a third of users (36.6%) go to Pinterest to follow brands or find products.

If you want to go further, discover all the statistics and figures on Pinterest .

Statistics on X (ex-Twitter)

Did you think Elon Musk’s acquisition would spell the end of Twitter?

Renamed X, the 280-character network continues to buzz.

With 619 million monthly active users, X proves that tweets still have a bright future ahead of them!

Here are the numbers on X:

  1. X attracts 619 million monthly active users, nearly twice the population of the United States.
  2. Advertisers can potentially reach 586 million people through X advertising.
  3. In France, around 6 million people connect to the platform daily.
  4. Unsurprisingly, Elon Musk is the king of his own network with 174.9 million subscribers.
  5. More than one in 10 Internet users (11.6%) use X regularly worldwide.

If you want to go further, discover all the statistics and figures on Twitter (X) .

Threads Statistics

The newborn who is already making people talk.

With 160 million subscribers in just a few months, Threads shows that the appetite for new platforms is still very much there!

Here are new numbers on Threads:

  1. Threads attracted 160 million subscribers as of February 2024, more than the population of Japan.
  2. Meta estimates that 130 million users are active monthly on the platform.
  3. Neymar Jr. tops the celebrity rankings on Threads with 13.1 million followers.
  4. Contrary to popular belief, almost two thirds of users (63%) are over 24 years old.

YouTube Monetization: Everything You Need to Know in 2024

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Did you know that 52% of Internet users watch YouTube videos at least once a month ? That’s just huge!

YouTube is therefore the ideal platform to transform your passion into income!

And we’ll explain to you how to monetize your YouTube channel, particularly through advertising, partnerships, merchandising, etc.

YouTube Monetization Basics 

What is YouTube Monetization? 

When we talk about YouTube monetization, we enter into one of the most important topics for content creators.

But what does that really mean?

YouTube monetization is the process of making money from your videos on the platform. 

  • Do you have a YouTube channel?
  • Do you produce content regularly?

So you can potentially turn your views into income.

How does it work in practice? YouTube offers several options:

  • Advertising revenue
  • Channel Subscriptions
  • Super Cat
  • Merchandising
  • Memberships

The YouTube Partner Program ( YPP ) is the main gateway. It gives you access to these different revenue streams.

⚠️ However, not all creators are eligible. 

YouTube has specific criteria in place to ensure that only serious and committed creators can monetize their content.

Here are the basic conditions:

  • 1000 subscribers minimum
  • 4000 hours of viewing
  • YouTube Rules Compliance
  • Original and quality content

Once you meet these criteria, you can apply for YPP. YouTube will review your channel and decide if it meets their standards.

Monetization is also a responsibility.

👉 You will need to create advertiser-friendly content, respect copyright, and maintain a healthy community.

How to enable monetization on your channel?

Now, let’s get down to business. How do you enable monetization on your channel?

  1. Go to YouTube Studio
  2. Click on “Monetization”
  3. Check your eligibility
  4. Accept the terms of use
  5. Connect an AdSense account

Once you submit your application: be patient. The review can take up to a month. YouTube will carefully review your content.

In the meantime, keep creating! The more you produce, the more likely you are to be accepted.

❌ You’re rejected? Don’t give up. Analyze the feedback, improve your content, and try again in 30 days.

👉 Focus on creating value for your audience. Money will follow naturally.

And don’t neglect other sources of income:

  • merchandising,
  • fan funding,
  • partnerships…

If this question particularly interests you, find out how to make money on YouTube .

The different sources of income on YouTube

The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) 

To turn your YouTube passion into a real business, the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) is your best ally.

But what exactly is this famous YPP?

This is the key that gives you access to multiple sources of income on the platform. 

It’s a bit like a VIP club for content creators.

Once you are a member of the YPP, you can monetize your videos in several ways:

  • Advertising revenue
  • Super Chat during live broadcasts
  • Memberships to your channel
  • YouTube Premium Revenue

👉 Ad revenue is the big part. YouTube places ads on your videos and you get a percentage.

⚠️ But stay vigilant, not all content is equal when it comes to advertisers.

👉 Super Chat is a form of tipping. Your fans can pay to have their messages highlighted during your lives.

👉 Your channel memberships ? It’s like a subscription. Your fans pay for exclusive content. It’s up to you to be creative and provide them with content!

👉 YouTube Premium is the cherry on the cake. You get a share of Premium subscriptions based on the time your videos are watched.

With over $22.31 billion in revenue in 2023, they can give you some 😉

But the YPP is not just about money, it is also:

  • A credibility boost
  • Advanced creation tools
  • Dedicated YouTube support

How to join this club? Remember the criteria:

  • 1000 subscribers minimum
  • 4000 hours of viewing/year
  • YouTube Rules Compliance

Once you’re in the YPP, everything changes. You go from being a simple creator to a real YouTube entrepreneur.

Remember, to succeed and make a living from YouTube, it’s about consistency and quality. Money will follow naturally if you stay true to your vision and your audience.

YouTube Premium: an additional source of income 

Do you know YouTube Premium? Basically it’s:

  • no ads,
  • background reading,
  • exclusive content.

But what does this have to do with you, the content creator?

Well, every Premium subscriber who watches your videos earns you money. How does it work?

  • YouTube shares premium revenue
  • Based on viewing time
  • More views = more revenue

It’s like a bonus on top of your regular ad revenue.

Sale of derivative products and merchandising 

Now let’s move on to something more tangible: merchandising. Have you ever thought about selling products with your channel’s logo?

Imagine your fans proudly wearing a t-shirt with your logo, or sipping their coffee from a mug with your image on it.

Merchandising is:

  • A direct source of income
  • A way to strengthen your brand
  • A way to involve your community

Where to start? Here are some ideas:

  • T-shirts with your favorite quotes
  • Mugs with your logo
  • Stickers of your best memes
  • Posters of your iconic thumbnails

YouTube even makes it easier with its “ Merchandising ” feature. It allows you to display your products directly below your videos.

👉 Merchandising is more than just a business. It’s an extension of your content, your personality.

Crowdfunding and fan donations 

Are you dreaming of making that crazy YouTube project that’s been on your mind for so long come true?

Crowdfunding can be your solution! It’s like your fans become your producers.

Platforms like Patreon or Tipeee allow your community to support you financially. In exchange, you can offer:

  • Exclusive content
  • Early Access
  • Privileged interactions

Licenses and rights to use your content 

But have you thought about the value of your content beyond YouTube? Your videos can have a second life!

Selling licenses means allowing others to use your content for a fee. Imagine:

  • A TV channel replaying your report
  • A website integrating your video
  • A company using your tutorial

In a way, it’s like renting out your content. You keep ownership, but you allow its use for a ” rent .”

Brand Partnerships and Influencer Marketing 

Now let’s talk partnerships and influence. It’s time to play in the big leagues!

Brands are looking for creators like you to reach their audience. How does it work?

  • Product placement in your videos
  • Sponsored Videos
  • Campaigns on your social networks

⚠️ Transparency is essential here if you want to last. Always clearly indicate sponsored content to your audience.

Influencer marketing is a delicate balance. How do you stay authentic while monetizing your channel?

👉 Choose partners who match your values. Your fans will feel it and appreciate it.

Affiliate Marketing

Have you ever heard of affiliate marketing ? It’s like being a sales rep for products you love. You talk about products you already love and endorse but…

The best in history? You can do it directly from your YouTube channel!

How does it work? It’s simple:

  • You recommend a product
  • You provide a special link
  • You earn a commission on sales

Imagine you’re making a video about your filming equipment. You could include affiliate links for each item.

Your viewers buy, you get a share. 

⚠️ Keep in mind: your audience trusts you, don’t betray them for a few dollars.

Where to find these affiliate programs?

  • Amazon Associates
  • Brand Specific Programs
  • Affiliate Networks like CJ Affiliate
amazon associates affiliation

Remember to always choose products that are relevant to your content.

Do you do travel vlogs? Talk about the gear you actually use.

We recommend that you clearly mention that you are using affiliate links. Transparency is the basis of a lasting relationship with your audience.

Wondering how much you can make? It varies wildly. Some YouTubers make more with affiliate marketing than with advertising!

But as with everything, you have to find the balance.

❌ Too much promotion and you risk boring your viewers.

❌ Not enough, and you miss out on opportunities.

✅ The right balance? Everyone wins (especially you)!

Understanding YouTube Compensation

How does YouTube calculate your earnings? 

How does YouTube convert your views into euros? It’s a bit mysterious… but we’ll try to analyze all that!

YouTube uses a system called CPM ( Cost Per Thousand Views ). 

⚠️ Warning! It’s not as simple as “1000 views = X euros”.

Several factors come into play:

  • Advertising type ( skippable, non-skippable )
  • Ad viewing time
  • Audience engagement ( clicks, likes )
  • Theme of your video
  • Time of year ( holidays bring in more )

Basically, YouTube calculates how much advertisers pay and then gives you a cut. It’s like a pie and you get a slice.

How much does 1000 views on YouTube cost? 

But let’s talk numbers. How much can 1000 views earn you?

The answer will surprise you: it depends!

Why such a difference? It is linked to several factors:

  • Your audience ( age, country, purchasing power )
  • Your niche ( finance vs humor for example )
  • The season ( Christmas = jackpot )

Thinking this is unfair? Remember that views are only part of the equation.

👉 Quality content attracts more advertisers and better deals.

How many views do you need to make money? 

Let’s talk numbers!

How many views to start making money?

The answer may surprise you: it’s not just a question of views!

To join the YouTube Partner Program, you need:

  • 1000 subscribers
  • 4000 hours of viewing over 12 months

It’s like an entry ticket to the paid YouTubers club. But once you’re in, every view counts!

In the long run, quality trumps quantity. Better 10,000 engaged views than 100,000 passive views.

How and when do you get paid by YouTube?

Now, let’s move on to the fun part: getting your money!

YouTube is pretty cool as a payer.

He pays you every month, provided you reach the payment threshold.

This threshold is €100 (or equivalent in local currency). You reach it, YouTube pays you. Simple.

The process goes like this:

  • End of the month: YouTube calculates your earnings
  • Between the 10th and the 14th: Payment sent
  • Banking delay: 5 to 7 working days

You get paid through AdSense, Google’s system. Make sure your account is set up correctly!

👉 A word of advice: don’t stare at your balance every day.

Focus on creating awesome content instead!

Optimize your YouTube revenue

Analyze and understand your audience 

Want to maximize your YouTube revenue?

 Start by understanding your audience! 

YouTube Analytics will give you all the data you need. It tells you who your viewers are, what they like, and how they interact with your content.

What should you watch out for?

  • Demographic data (age, gender, location)
  • Viewing time
  • Retention rate
  • Traffic sources
  • Peak viewing times

This information is essential, a real gold mine to exploit! It allows you to adapt your content and increase your engagement.

👉 You discover that your audience is predominantly female and aged 25-34? Adjust your content accordingly!

👉 Retention rate drops after 5 minutes? Consider shortening your videos or adding hooks.

👉 Are your viewers most active in the evening? Post at that time to increase your initial views.

If you don’t know how to do it, don’t hesitate to take a look at the best YouTube training courses .

Create quality and regular content 

Want to turn your YouTube channel into a money-making machine?

Focus on quality and regular content. 

It’s like running a good restaurant: you need delicious food and consistent service! Otherwise, you’re disappointed and get bad ratings on Google…

But what is quality content on YouTube?

  • Relevant to your audience
  • Well produced ( sound, image, editing )
  • Engaging from start to finish
  • Providing value ( entertainment or information )

Bet everything on regularity! 

Why? It builds loyalty among your audience and boosts the YouTube algorithm . So much so that 86% of consumers are demanding more video content from the brands they follow.

How to maintain a rhythm without losing quality?

  • Plan your content in advance
  • Create a publishing schedule
  • Prepare videos in advance
  • Varies the formats ( short, long, live )

Quality over quantity. Better one great video a week than mediocre content every day.

Also, think about recycling your content. A long video can become several shorts. Currently, YouTube Shorts has 30 billion views per day

Finally, consistency pays off. Look at the big YouTubers: they all have a regular posting schedule.

⚠️ But beware of burnout! Find a balance between creation and rest. An exhausted creator does not produce good content.

YouTube is a marathon, not a sprint.

Using YouTube Tools to Increase Engagement 

To increase engagement on your YouTube channel, rely on integrated tools!

Let’s start with the end screens . This is your last shot to keep your viewers hooked. What to put in it?

  • Link to another video
  • Invitation to subscribe
  • Thematic playlist

YouTube Cards: Smart pop-ups in your video. Use them to:

  • Suggest related videos
  • Promote your merchandising
  • Make interactive surveys

Shorts ! YouTube loves them and they promote them. They can:

  • Attracting a new audience
  • Testing new ideas
  • Promote your long videos

Playlists : group your videos by:

  • Theme
  • Series
  • Best-of

Live streaming is real-time engagement. Use it to:

  • Q&A with your audience
  • Special Events
  • Exclusive content

Diversify your sources of income

Do you really want to increase your YouTube revenue? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!

Diversification is the best solution to transform your passion into a real business.

YouTube is a stepping stone to a content empire. What are your options?

  • Merchandising: T-shirts, mugs, stickers with your image
  • Sponsoring: Partnerships with brands that suit you
  • Affiliation: Recommend products, earn a commission
  • Crowdfunding: Let your fans finance your crazy projects
  • Training: Sell your expertise in online courses
  • Live Events: Meet Your Audience, Charge Admission
  • Consulting: Offer your services to companies in your field

Think about what your audience would like. A gaming YouTuber could sell merchandise, a fitness coach could sell workout programs.

Don’t forget the additional platforms:

  • Twitch for live streaming
  • Instagram for exclusive visual content
  • TikTok to reach a younger audience

 

Quiz: Take our challenge!

What is YouTube Monetization?

What you need to remember:

  • Advertisements: Revenue through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP)
  • Subscriptions: Offer paid memberships to your channel
  • Super Chat: Monetize messages highlighted during live broadcasts
  • Merchandising: Sell products with the image of your channel
  • YouTube Premium: Earn based on watch time of Premium subscribers
  • Crowdfunding: Use platforms like Patreon or Tipeee
  • Licenses: Selling the rights to use your content
  • Partnerships: Collaborate with brands for product placements
  • Affiliation: Recommend products through special links
  • Training: Create and sell online courses
  • Exclusive Content: Offer premium content to your most engaged supporters

Games as Art: How Game Development Has Developed

In this article, we will talk about what exactly makes games an independent form of art, what tools developers use for this, and how game projects will change in the near future.

About the author: Ivan Sidorenko, Head of Brand Management Department, Astrum Entertainment.

The global video game industry is growing rapidly. According to Statista , in 2024 its volume will grow by 13% compared to the previous year and will amount to $282 billion, overtaking the music and film industries. According to forecasts, by 2027 there will be about 1.5 billion players worldwide. Despite the relatively young age of the industry (the first computer game was released only 66 years ago), video games have already become a unique phenomenon in culture and have significantly transformed over the past decades. If previously they were perceived exclusively as entertainment for children and teenagers, today many games can easily stand on par with films, books and even works of fine art in terms of plot depth, emotionality and visuals.

Why do games need interactivity?

Nowadays, many games are a synthesis of various forms of art, such as cinema, music, and literature. However, most of them have one unique component: interactivity. Unlike regular cinema, the player decides what exactly his character should do. Over time, a separate genre has emerged in this industry that takes the gamer’s interaction with history to a new level: interactive cinema: in such works, a person can not only follow the plot, but also influence its development.

For example, in the game Detroit: Become Human, the player controls several androids, each with their own story and motivation. The project provides the player with a unique experience of participating in the creation of history, because their decisions affect not only the ending of the entire game, but also the fate of the characters and the ending of each scene, the options of which can sometimes be more than twenty. Another example is The Quarry  , a horror project from Supermassive Games , the creators of Until Dawn and the anthology The Dark Pictures . The gamer takes control of a group of teenagers who must survive the night at a summer camp. The decisions made by the player can change the development of the plot and the relationships between the characters, while each of the nine characters during this night can die for a dozen different reasons. The gamer becomes a full-fledged co-author of the plot, which sometimes requires strategic skills, and sometimes – lightning-fast reactions. It is the nonlinearity and the ability to influence the course of game events that are a kind of calling card of interactive cinema, which is designed to expand the classical perception of art in general and cinematography in particular.

However, in order for the immersion in the gameplay not to be disrupted, such projects must have a perfectly honed narrative. For example, Detroit: Become Human creator David Cage spent more than two years writing an unusually extensive script. It is worth understanding that the approach to working on a video game script is fundamentally different from a movie.

Narrative Features of Video Games

While in traditional art forms the author has complete control over the development of the plot, in video games some of this power is transferred to the player, which poses a non-trivial task for scriptwriters – to create a gripping plot that can change depending on the player’s choices.

Let’s consider a game scenario using the example of the project ” The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ” – a game with a large open world and free movement. The developers from CD Projekt RED took into account that they would not be able to control the dynamics of the plot development themselves, so they gave it to the players. Wherever the gamer goes, he will definitely find himself involved in the story, which can be either an independent small quest or a small part of a larger plot.

And here the scriptwriters often resort to a knot design: the gamer, being at a certain point in the narrative, receives several completely different clues or tasks that are guaranteed to lead him to the next knot. Each of these points will lead the player further along the plot, while the process itself will be as non-linear as possible for the gamer himself. For example, he can ignore all the side quests and go along the main plot, or he can be distracted by each side quest. As a result, he will still get to the end of the game, but this path and his knowledge of the lore (lyrical content) of the game will differ significantly.

It is the concept of knot design that gives players the illusion of decision making. In such games, all nonlinearity is thought out and written in advance. However, some developers go further, intentionally leaving players room for creative play.

Full immersion into the game world

It is clear that nonlinearity and interactivity are inherent to one degree or another in many games, but what happens if we put these two features at the forefront? In this case, we are talking exclusively about mechanics – dialogues and character development are not so significant in this case. Games designed for creative passage are usually allocated to the conditional genre of immersive sim.

This concept was highlighted by game designer Warren Spector, who first used the term immersive sim in relation to his game Deus Ex , although this project is not considered the first game of the genre. According to Spector, an immersive simulator should create a feeling of complete immersion and presence in a virtual world. Such projects do not rely on scripted scenes and pre-planned events. And even on the contrary – the gamer can go through them in a way that the developers did not plan.

Warren Spector at the 2023 Game Developers Conference (GDC) (Photo: flickr.com)
The main thing that should be in an “immersive sim” is the ability to resolve the game situation in different ways. A great example of such a project is Dishonored . The game takes place in the fictional city of Dunwall, engulfed in a plague epidemic. The main character is falsely accused of murdering the empress, and in the course of the plot he tries to restore his honor and take revenge on his enemies. The game offers several ways to go through, each of which will directly affect both the entire gameplay and the endings. We are talking about the so-called chaos levels. For a low chaos level, the gamer will be forced to go through the entire campaign as stealthily as possible, and the game will encourage him – the city will have clear weather, there will be fewer infected and rats, and as a result, the player will get the best possible ending. A high chaos level works exactly the opposite – the player can act as noisily as possible, arranging shootouts and neglecting stealth. The world of Dunwall will respond to the gamer with changes corresponding to his actions – the weather will get worse, there will be many more enemies, and the ending that the player will receive in this case can hardly be called even slightly positive.

Creating a unique world where everything is connected

Projects that are thought out to the smallest detail always stand out from their less thoughtful competitors. There are very few products in which the plot, the surrounding world and the gameplay are incredibly tightly connected to each other, and each of these cases is something unique.

Even a detailed environment can contribute to the overall atmosphere. For example, Rockstar Games , the developers of Red Dead Redemption 2 , set a goal to create a world in which all elements of the landscape would play a special role. American artists, in particular landscape painters representing the Hudson River School, helped Rockstar in this. Albert Bierstadt, William Turner and Charles Russell skillfully showed the connection between man and the majestic North American nature in their paintings. They often took large open spaces as a basis, and it was their canvases that inspired Rockstar designers. This applies to the choice of color palette and the use of specific graphic tools. The game world is perceived very naturally: for example, more distant objects do not look as saturated as the space surrounding the player – this creates the necessary depth of the picture.

Landscape in Red Dead Redemption 2 (Photo: rockstargames.com)
The developers paid special attention to the sound design, and there are three types of music in the game: narrative (played during story missions), interactive (played in the open world), and ambient music (played by characters). Composers Bill Elm and Woody Jackson recorded all the compositions in stem format, which are multitracks whose individual components can be played independently of each other. Thus, the player received a kind of interactive sound: throughout the game, the musical accompaniment adapts to the events taking place on the screen.

Game design in the postmodern era

Some developers go even further, and Atomic Heart is a great example . The game allowed gamers to immerse themselves in the world of an alternative Soviet Union and managed to revive the hits of past years, while remaining an excellent first-person shooter. Why did the project become one of the most high-profile releases of 2023?

According to the developers, their main sources of inspiration were childhood memories of life in the USSR and the works of the Strugatskys, Lem and Harry Harrison. By mixing the Soviet Union with fantastic technologies and robots, they got Atomic Heart. And this symbiosis turned out to be incredibly successful – even in heavily modified scenery, the gamer will definitely feel the spirit of the USSR. Thanks to this, the game can be safely classified as a bright representative of classic retrofuturism.

One of the most important details of the perception of this game is the music. Of course, all domestic gamers are familiar with the songs that sound in Atomic Heart. “Harlequin”, “Komarovo”, “Grass at home” and other famous compositions of those years have undergone interesting changes: some of them received phonk remixes, some – slowed & reverb versions popular among meme lovers. In a word, the composers skillfully refreshed the classics. At the same time, Atomic Heart also has original compositions – they are made in the same style as the Doom soundtrack by Mick Gordon, and this is done due to a certain similarity in the gameplay.

Having collected all the details together, the developers received a complete and stylish project that won the hearts of gamers around the world. But what happens if there is a conflict between the gameplay and the plot?

Ludonarrative dissonance: how to avoid it

The term “ludonarrative dissonance” was first used by Clint Hocking in relation to BioShock . According to him, the game reveals the theme of self-denial and helping others, but at the same time the player himself is absolutely selfish in any version of the game. However, the best example of ludonarrative dissonance can be Uncharted .

The main character of all games in the series is Nathan Drake, a cheerful treasure hunter who is always ready to help his comrades. At the same time, throughout the story, Drake, under the control of the gamer, kills thousands of people. Yes, most often his victims are villains, but sometimes among them there are those who were simply unlucky enough to be on the other side of the main character. This is where the dissonance arises: according to the plot, Nathan is a good-natured person, but in the gameplay he turns out to be a cold-blooded killer.

Naughty Dog , the studio responsible for Uncharted, understood this perfectly well, and they managed to solve this problem in their other project, The Last of Us . The game immerses the gamer in a cruel world in which there is no clear good and evil, and every murder committed here has a good reason. In the end, the survival of the main characters is at stake, one of whom is a teenage girl who cannot stand up for herself.

The Main Gamedev Trends Right Now

Of course, the development of technology could not but affect the gaming industry. Modern games are becoming so large and sophisticated that developers often have to resort to procedural generation technology. It allows you to automatically, based on specified algorithms, create a huge part of the content: nature, cities, NPC appearance, etc. And the developers only have to check and adjust the result of its work. For example, with the help of procedural generation, huge worlds were created in Minecraft and No Man’s Sky , the plot, NPC lines and even game rules. It also contributed to the development of one popular genre – roguelike. In such games, the entire gameplay is built on the fact that you will try to pass levels over and over again, constantly dying. It is because of this that the environment is generated anew each time so as not to bore the player.

However, this approach is often used not only in roguelikes – in the already mentioned third “Witcher” they used procedural generation to create a huge game world. With the help of so-called brushes, the developers created all the game’s biomes, teaching the algorithm to take into account the landscape features. For example, in the valleys the generator grew a much denser forest than on the mountain slopes.

It is simply impossible to imagine modern open worlds in games without procedural generation. With the right use of algorithms, studios can achieve decent results – for example, the environment in Horizon: Zero Dawn or Marvel’s Spider-Man was largely made using this technology. There is only one downside to this approach – monotony. A great example here is No Man’s Sky, at the start of which players constantly encountered very similar planets and locations.

The main trend of our time — artificial intelligence — has also found its place in the gaming industry. For example, in early 2024, NVIDIA introduced ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) technology, which is designed to bring NPCs to life. Using neural network algorithms, it generates realistic character lines and voices them, controls facial expressions and interactions with the player. Moreover, ACE allows the player to communicate directly with the NPC through a microphone, and the characters will react to the player based on their character traits, knowledge of the world, as well as the mood and tone of the gamer’s speech. This technology is currently being actively developed, and in the near future, ACE may become a real game changer in the gaming industry.

At the same time, AI influences not only the development process. Perhaps one of the most popular areas of its use can safely be called marketing. AI helps in working on creatives and in processing large amounts of data.

Despite its rapid development, AI today cannot perform tasks without human assistance. However, in the future, this technology will become an important tool in the gaming industry. For example, Epic Games has already added the MetaHumans AI tool to its Unreal Engine 5 game engine , which allows generating realistic human faces, and the developers of the Unity engine have introduced the Muse technology , which allows even users unfamiliar with the principles of the engine to generate desired objects, levels, mechanics, and entire games based on text queries. The development of such technologies can lower the entry threshold into the gaming industry and help those who want to focus on creativity, continuing to develop games as an art form.

What is SearchGPT Search Engine?

Rapid developments in artificial intelligence technologies are transforming the way we access information. Traditional search engines are starting to be replaced by smarter and more user-focused solutions.

The SearchGPT search engine is preparing to reshape the search experience with the power of artificial intelligence. SearchGPT is seen as a sign of a future that offers more appropriate and comprehensive answers by deeply understanding users’ questions.

What is SearchGPT?

SearchGPT serves as an AI-based search engine that leverages the capabilities of the advanced language model GPT developed by OpenAI.

It focuses on understanding the context and intent of user queries, surpassing traditional keyword matching methods. In this way, it not only delivers relevant results but also better responds to users’ needs.

What is SearchGPT Search Engine Used For? What are its Features?

SearchGPT does more than just keyword matching; it focuses on understanding the context of questions to deliver more relevant and meaningful results.

It analyzes complex and multi-faceted questions, presents information from different sources as a single comprehensive answer, and saves users the trouble of searching in different sources.

SearchGPT summarizes detailed information to give users a quick overview. It also analyzes users’ previous searches and preferences to provide more personalized results. It communicates with users in a natural and fluent language, allowing questions to be expressed more comfortably and understandably.

SearchGPT stands out as an exciting technology that has the potential to shape the future of search engines. It aims to facilitate access to information and provide a more satisfying search experience by improving itself with continuous learning and user feedback. It aims to shape the future of search engines by providing the most accurate and up-to-date results.

Is SearchGPT Search Engine Free?

Yes, SearchGPT is completely free to use, but due to popular demand the waiting list is currently full and therefore the platform is not available.

Users can search and access results without paying any fee, but OpenAI may develop different models to generate revenue in the future, including charging a fee after a certain usage quota or offering paid subscription options with premium features.

OpenAI is also expected to develop special solutions and different pricing models for enterprise users, which could allow SearchGPT to find wider use among businesses and organizations.

In summary; SearchGPT is currently free, but some usage limits or paid options may be on the agenda in the future. You can follow OpenAI’s official announcements for the most up-to-date information.

How is SearchGPT Search Engine Different from Google?

SearchGPT aims to improve user experience by offering a different approach than traditional search engines. Some of the prominent differences between it and Google, one of the traditional search engines, are:

  • While Google relies heavily on keyword matching, SearchGPT focuses on understanding the context and intent of questions.
  • Google typically presents multiple search results, expecting the user to synthesize information, whereas SearchGPT can understand complex questions, gather information from multiple sources, and present that information in one comprehensive answer.
  • Google typically lists long and detailed web pages, while SearchGPT can summarize the information to give users a quick overview. It can also learn users’ previous searches and preferences to provide more personalized results for future searches.
  • Google uses simple and structured language, while SearchGPT can communicate with users using natural and human-like language, resulting in a more fluid experience.
  • While Google uses AI technologies, SearchGPT is built entirely on AI. This allows SearchGPT to have the ability to continuously learn and improve, thus providing more accurate results over time.

SearchGPT can open a new page in the world of search engines and take the user experience even further.

Although it does not have the strong infrastructure and large database offered by Google, it can gain an important place among search engines in the future with its semantic search, personalization and artificial intelligence capabilities.

Landing Page: The Ultimate Guide in 2024

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What is a landing page? Definition

Wondering what a landing page is? We’ll explain everything to you! 

A landing page is like the showcase of your offer.

This is THE page where your visitors land after clicking on an ad or a specific link. Its goal? To convert these visitors into customers or leads. 

Characteristics of an effective landing page

So what makes a good landing page

  1. A clear and concise message: No unnecessary blah blah here!
  2. An eye-catching call to action ( CTA ): Want your visitor to click? Make it obvious!
  3. Impactful visuals: A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
  4. Social proof: Nothing like testimonials to reassure your future customers.
  5. A well thought out form: Ask only for the information you really need.

You see, an effective landing page is a bit like a well-oiled conversion funnel. It guides your visitor towards the action you want them to take.

Landing page vs classic web page

You might be thinking, “But how is this different from a regular web page?” Good question!

A typical web page is like an all-you-can-eat buffet. It offers lots of options and information. 

👉 A landing page is more of a tasting menu: focused on one thing.

Here are the main differences:

Navigation: Minimal on a landing page, complete on a classic web page.

Purpose: Single for a landing page, multiple for a web page.

Content: Targeted and concise on a landing page, more general and detailed on a web page.

Links: Few or no outgoing links on a landing page, unlike a classic web page.

The different types of landing pages

Did you think there was only one type of landing page? Think again! 

There are several of them, each with its own objective:

Sales page: It aims to make you buy a product or service.

Lead capture page: Its purpose? To collect your contact information in exchange for a free offer.

Click page: It pushes you to click to go to another page ( often used in affiliation ).

Each type of landing page has its own tips and best practices.

Your goal? Choose the one that best fits your marketing objective.

How to create a landing page?

Now that you know what a landing page is, let’s take action! 

Want to create a landing page that really converts? We’ll show you how, step by step.

Define the objective and target audience

Before you dive in head first, ask yourself these questions: 

  • What is your goal? 
  • Who do you want to reach?

Your goal may be to:

  • Sell ​​a product
  • Generate leads
  • Register for a webinar
  • Promote an event

And your target audience? Who exactly is it?

  • Marketing pros?
  • Are you passionate about cooking?
  • Die-hard gamers?

The more you know your audience, the more effective your landing page will be.

Steps to designing an effective landing page

  1. Define your goal and audience
  2. Create an eye-catching message
  3. Design a clear structure
  4. Choose impactful visuals
  5. Write compelling content
  6. Adds social proof elements
  7. Integrate a powerful form or CTA
  8. Optimized for mobile
  9. Test and improve

Does that seem like a lot to you? Don’t panic, we’ll break it all down!

Structuring the content

Your landing page is like a good recipe. It needs the right ingredients, in the right order.

Here is a structure that has proven itself:

  1. Catchy Headline
  2. Explanatory subtitle
  3. Main advantages
  4. Detailed explanation of the offer
  5. Testimonials or social proof
  6. Main CTA
  7. FAQ (if necessary)

👉 Remember: every element should push your visitor towards the action you want them to take. Copywriting can help you achieve this.

Optimizing design for conversion

Design isn’t just about looking pretty. It’s a real conversion booster!

Some tips:

  • Use contrasting colors for your CTA
  • Keep plenty of white space for easy reading
  • Choose readable fonts
  • Use icons to illustrate your key points

Want to know if your design works? 

👉 Take the squint test: squint your eyes while looking at your page. 

Does the most important element emerge?

Incorporate impactful calls to action (CTAs)

Some tips for a CTA that converts:

Be specific: “Get my free ebook” instead of “Click here”

Creates a sense of urgency: “Offer limited to 24 hours”

Use the first person: “I want my guide” instead of “Download the guide”

Landing page creation tools

Not a coding pro? No worries! 

There are plenty of tools to create landing pages easily:

  • Leadpages : Super easy to use
  • IO System : Perfect for A/B testing
  • ClickFunnels : Excellent for creating complete sales funnels

Choose the tool that best suits your needs and technical level.

Embedding videos to boost conversions

A video on your landing page is like a turbo for your conversions! 

It can increase your conversion rate by up to 80%!

Some video ideas:

  • Product demonstration
  • Customer Testimonials
  • Explanations of your offer

Remember to keep your videos short and sweet. Attention is like money: you have to earn it!

Mobile Optimization

Today, if your landing page is not optimized for mobile, it’s like you’re closing the door to half of your visitors. Do you want that? No, of course not!

Here’s how to optimize for mobile:

  • Responsive design
  • Buttons large enough for fingers
  • Short forms
  • Concise content

Test your page on different devices. It should look and function as well on a smartphone as it does on a computer.

Examples of landing pages that convert

And if you want to know more, check out our full article which presents a multitude of landing page examples .

netflix

Netflix

Netflix’s landing page is a model of conversion efficiency. 

The title “Unlimited movies and series, and much more” immediately captures attention. 

The clean design highlights the visual content. 

The bright red “Get Started” button stands out perfectly.

The key benefits are clearly presented: 

  • multi-device availability,
  • offline access, 
  • child profiles. 

The FAQ at the bottom of the page builds confidence. 

The promotional offer acts as a powerful conversion element. 

This page demonstrates a detailed understanding of the customer journey and digital marketing techniques.

Shopify

Shopify takes a straightforward approach with its title “Build Your Online Store with Shopify.” 

The 3-day free trial offer is highlighted, with a simple sign-up form. 

Visuals reinforce the message of success. 

Logos of well-known brands serve as social proof. 

The page details the key benefits : 

  • ease of use, 
  • integrated marketing tools, 
  • 24/7 support. 

This landing page is designed to encourage immediate action while reassuring potential users.

Dropbox

Dropbox stands out for its minimalist approach. 

The soft color palette and clean typography create an atmosphere of calm and organization. 

The key message is concise : “Keep your files organized, up to date and protected.” This simplicity reflects the essence of the service. 

However, the lack of customer testimonials or feature comparisons is notable. 

Dropbox appears to be relying on the strength of its brand and reputation to convince, rather than an abundance of information.

Landing page optimization

You’ve chosen your creation tool, that’s great! But don’t think the work stops there. 

Optimizing your landing page is like training an athlete: it’s an ongoing process. 

Improve loading speed

Do you know how long a visitor waits before leaving a page that loads too slowly? 3 seconds! 

Yes, you read that right. That’s how long it takes you to say “ landing page .” 

So how do you speed up your page?

Compress your images. Use tools like TinyPNG to reduce their size without losing quality. 

Minify your code. Remove spaces, comments, and unnecessary characters from your CSS and JavaScript. 

Use a CDN ( Content Delivery Network ) . This allows you to distribute your content from servers closer to your visitors. 

Reduce distractions

Your landing page is like a GPS. It should guide your visitor to a single destination: your CTA. 

Everything else? Potential distractions.

Remove the navigation bar. Your visitor doesn’t need to visit the rest of your site. 

Limit external links. Every link is a potential exit. 

Focus on one goal. One offer = one landing page. 

Use impactful visual elements

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. On a landing page, it can be worth a thousand conversions! Visuals are essential to capture attention and convince.

Use photos of real people. It creates trust and empathy. 

Show your product in action. A demonstration is worth more than a long description. 

Add icons. They make information more digestible and memorable. 

Advanced Strategies for Landing Pages

A/B testing: methodology and best practices

A/B testing is like being a marketing scientist.

 You create two versions of your landing page and see which one performs better. Simple, right?

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Choose an element to test: title, CTA, colors, images…
  2. Create two versions of your page, identical except for this element.
  3. Drive half of your traffic to each version.
  4. Analyze the results after reaching a significant sample.

Only test one thing at a time. Otherwise, it’s like trying to watch two games at the same time: you won’t know what really made the difference.

Dynamic content personalization

Imagine a landing page that adapts to each visitor. It’s possible with dynamic personalization!

You can adjust your content based on:

  • The visitor’s location
  • His browsing history
  • The traffic source

For example, if someone comes from a vegan recipe site, show them a version of your page that focuses on plant-based ingredients. 

Integration with marketing campaigns

Your landing page doesn’t live on a desert island. It’s part of a larger marketing ecosystem. 

How to integrate it effectively?

👉 Make sure your landing page message matches your ads. If your ad is about magical unicorns, your landing page should be about them too!

👉 Use the same language and tone as you do in your emails or social media posts. It’s like wearing the same t-shirt to every concert of your favorite band: it creates consistency.

👉 Include social proof elements related to your campaign. Customer testimonials? Mentions of awards won? Show them off!

👉 Don’t forget post-conversion follow-up. A personalized thank you page or welcome email can make all the difference.

Performance analysis and measurement

You’ve optimized your landing page, but how do you know if your efforts are really paying off? 

This is where performance analysis and measurement come into play. 

Essential KPIs for landing pages

Imagine that your landing page is a video game. The KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are your life points, your score, your level. They tell you if you win or lose.

👉 Conversion rate is your final boss. It’s THE number that tells you how many visitors took the action you wanted. 

Are you selling fun socks? Your conversion rate tells you how many people bought them.

But that’s not the only KPI to monitor. 

👉 Bounce rate is like the number of players who leave the game before even starting. 

If it’s high, something is wrong with your page.

👉 Time spent on the page is a bit like playing time. 

The longer people stay, the more interested they are. But be careful, if they stay too long without converting, it may be because your CTA is not clear enough.

Analysis tools for landing pages

Now, how do you get all these numbers? You have several options, each with its advantages.

👉 Google Analytics is the Swiss army knife of web analysis. 

It gives you an overview of your performance. You can see: 

  • where do your visitors come from,
  • how long they stay,
  • and lots of other useful information.
hotjar case study

👉 Hotjar is like having surveillance cameras on your page. It shows you: 

  • where people click,
  • how far they scroll. 

You can even see session recordings. It’s a little creepy, but super useful!

Comparison of the main creation tools

Are you ready to create your landing page but don’t know which tool to choose? 

Don’t panic, we’re going to compare the main creation tools to help you make the right choice.

Leadpages: Features and Pricing

leadpages landing page builder

 

Leadpages is like the Swiss Army knife of landing pages. Want a page that converts without having to worry about the code? This is for you!

When it comes to features, Leadpages doesn’t mess around. You have: 

  • templates,
  • a drag-and-drop editor,
  • a tool for creating pop-ups and notification bars. 

It’s like having a personal marketing assistant!

For pricing, it starts at $37 per month if you pay annually. 

It’s the price of a good meal at a restaurant, except that here, it’s your business that you’re feeding!

Systeme.io: advantages and disadvantages

io system

 

Are you looking for an all-in-one solution for your online business? Systeme.io might be your best choice!

The main advantage of Systeme.io is that it doesn’t just make landing pages. You can manage: 

  • your landing pages,
  • member areas,
  • your emails,
  • your webinars,
  • your affiliate programs… 

But be careful, all-in-one sometimes means less specialization. If you are looking for ultra-specific features for your landing pages, you might be a little limited.

ClickFunnels: for whom and why

clickfunnels landing page builder

 

ClickFunnels is the oldest landing page tool. 

ClickFunnels shines with its ability to create sequences of interconnected pages. 

You can guide your visitor from the landing page to the sales page, then to the confirmation page, all in a seamless manner. 

Pricing wise? It starts at $97 per month. Yes, it’s steep. But if you’re serious about your online business, it can be worth every penny.

What you need to remember 

  • Create a clear and impactful value proposition right from the title of your landing page.
  • Opt for a clean design that guides the visitor’s attention to the essential elements.
  • Place a visible and enticing call-to-action (CTA) above the fold.
  • Highlight the key benefits of your product or service in a concise manner.
  • Use social proof like customer testimonials or well-known brand logos.
  • Integrate relevant visuals that illustrate your offer or user experience.
  • Simplify the registration form to reduce barriers to entry.
  • Offer a free trial or demo to encourage engagement.
  • Target your message to meet the specific needs of your audience.
  • Add interactive elements like calculators or videos to engage the visitor.
  • Structure your page in a way that naturally guides the visitor towards conversion.
  • Anticipate and respond to potential user objections.
  • Ensure consistency between your message, your design and your brand.
  • Optimize your page for different devices with responsive design.
  • Eliminate distracting elements like complex navigation menus.

The countdown has begun for Google I/O 2024: Here are the innovations expected to be introduced

The Google I/O 2024 event is expected to take place on May 14. Innovations coming to Pixel 8a, Pixel Fold 2 and Android 15 are expected to be mentioned at the event.

What Awaits Us at Google I/O 2024?

May 14 was shown as the start date for this year’s annual developer conference organized by Google. With only a few days left until Google I/O 2024, the innovations expected to be mentioned at the event have begun to become clear.

More details are expected to be released this year about Google’s foray into AI and where Gemini is headed next.

It is expected that details about Google’s eagerly awaited affordable smartphone Pixel 8a, Fold 2 will be included. It is also thought that the innovations in Android 15 will be taken into consideration. On the other hand, we may have the chance to learn whether Google has plans for mixed reality.

It is among the information received that this year’s event will be more focused on artificial intelligence. At Google I/O 2024, we may hear more about AI-powered features for the entire product portfolio, as well as potential partnerships to bring them to other devices.

For example, Samsung is collaborating with Google to bring Circle to Search to the Galaxy S24 series. Many of Google’s AI features are designed specifically for smartphones, but it would be beneficial to bring them to laptops, Chromebooks, wearables, and more.

“Pixel 8a” May Be on the Way

According to a striking detail, the affordable Pixel product is generally announced for the first time at the Google I/O event. We met Pixel 7a for the first time at Google I/O 2023.

Also, another sign that Pixel 8a is on the way was that Google pulled Pixel 6a from the market. As the event day approaches, leaks about Pixel 8a continue to increase. In particular, there are rumors that a price increase is on the way.

At the event, questions about the sales price of Pixel 8a and how much artificial intelligence support it will be are expected to be answered.

“Pixel Fold 2” Could Be Much Thinner

All details about Pixel Fold, Google’s first foldable phone, were mentioned at Google I/O 2023. Now, it is expected that details about Pixel Fold 2 will be announced at this year’s event. According to the information obtained, Pixel Fold 2 is said to be even thinner than OnePlus Open and Galaxy Z Fold 5.

So much so that Pixel Fold 2 is said to be the thinnest foldable phone currently sold in North America. Although Pixel Fold 2 is expected to be introduced at Google I/O 2024, there are also different rumors.

According to a new rumor, it is claimed that Google plans to make Fold a part of the regular Pixel series under the name Pixel 9 Pro Fold. In such a case, the Fold will likely be released in the fall along with the rest of the Pixel 9 series.

What’s New in Android 15

One of the topics expected to be mentioned at the annual developers conference is Android 15, codenamed Vanilla Ice Cream.

The visual aesthetics of the mobile operating system did not see a significant refresh in the last generation, but at least we could see the return of lock screen widgets. A speech is expected to be held at Google I/O outlining the new features coming to Android 15 and showing them in action.

Wearable technology

Alongside the Pixel 8 phones, Google has also recorded the launch of the Pixel Watch 2 for its fall event. However, according to rumors, we may also see other Pixel or Fitbit-related wearables at Google I/O 2024. The most realistic expectations include showing off a Pixel Watch 3 teaser at best.

Google Launches Artificial Intelligence Tool for Users to Practice English

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Google is testing a new “Speaking Practice” feature in Search that helps users improve their spoken English skills . The company said the feature is available in Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Venezuela to English learners participating in Search Labs, its program for users to try out early-stage Google Search experiences.

Let’s state it for the company. He states that the aim of the experiment is to help users improve their English skills by having them participate in interactive language learning exercises powered by artificial intelligence to help them use new words in everyday scenarios. Details are in our news…

You May Be Interested In: Countdown Has Begun for Google I/O 2024: Here are the Innovations Expected to Be Introduced

Launch of New Feature Paves the Way for a Real Rival to Google’s Language Learning Apps Like Duolingo and Babbel

The speaking practice is based on a feature Google launched last October designed to help English learners improve their skills. Launched last year, the feature allows English learners to practice speaking sentences in context and receive feedback on grammar and clarity, while adding the dimension of speaking practice, back-and-forth practice.

It should be noted that this feature was first noticed by an X user who shared screenshots of the functionality in use.

The conversation app works by asking the user a conversation question that they must answer using certain words. According to the screenshots, one of the possible scenarios is that the artificial intelligence tells the user that he wants to get in shape, and then asks: “What should I do?” he might ask. The user will then need to provide a response that includes the words “exercise,” “heart,” and “tired.”

The idea behind this feature is to help English learners speak English while also helping them understand how to use different words correctly.

The launch of the new feature suggests that Google may be laying the groundwork for a true rival to language learning apps like Duolingo and Babbel. This isn’t the first time Google has dabbled in language learning and education tools, either. In 2019, Google launched a feature that allowed Search users to practice how to pronounce words correctly.

Shopify review: The #1 e-commerce software in 2024?

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shopify logo

Shopify is clearly the most complete e-commerce software on the market. No matter your goals, if you simply want to create an online store, this is the CMS that you will need to use!

If you want to create an online store , you have several options. You can code your e-commerce from A to Z , but this requires great technical skills . Or, you can use a CMS , which makes it easy to design an online store .

Among these software, we note Shopify , the most used CMS in the world for creating e-commerce. Shopify is an all-in-one tool that allows you to create a store without the need to code. Even without skills , you will be able to have a stylish , fast and mobile-  optimized e-commerce .

Today we’re going to walk you through the Shopify test in detail so you can get an idea of ​​how it works.

🕰️ No time to read everything? Here’s what you need to remember:

👉 Best online store creation tool with simple and intuitive operation.
👉 Payment process with integrated conversion with a one-click system.
👉 Possibility of creating a flexible point of sale to promote your brand in real life and online.
👉 CMS optimized for natural referencing in order to find visitors without spending on advertising.
👉 Complete and optimized dashboard to track your online activity at a glance.
👉 Many extensions available to customize your online store in just a few clicks.

 

Shopify Overview

Shopify is a Content Managing System ( CMS ) or content management software in French. In short, it is software that will allow you to create a website without coding . It is this software that offers the possibility of putting your online store and adding functionalities , improving the graphic appearance and others.

Shopify is a Canadian company specializing in e-commerce design . Overall, if you want to create an online store, this software will take care of everything. It is he who will host your website as well as your domain name , manage payments , shipping and others.

If Shopify is so popular, it is also because it integrates many templates that allow you to design a magnificent store quickly and easily. Thanks to themes designed by designers , even if you are bad at design, you can create a professional store.

Worldwide, nearly 30% of e-commerce businesses run on Shopify . Consequently, this CMS is used both by online stores of small merchants , but also by large e-commerce businesses . In itself, there are no real limits with this CMS. With all the features, themes and plugins, there’s almost nothing you can’t do.

 

Who is Shopify for? 

Shopify is an easy-to-use tool for creating an online store . Therefore, from the moment you want to design an e-commerce to sell your products or to do dropshipping , this CMS will suit you. There are several scenarios where Shopify can be used.

If you want to get started in dropshipping ( selling directly from an existing supplier like Aliexpress, wish, Amazon, etc. ), Shopify is ideal . You can connect the Oberlo application to automate shipments from your suppliers.

Next, Shopify is great for small merchants . If you want to sell your own products online , this CMS will be perfect. Even without skills, you will be able to create a professional online store . If you have a small structure, this CMS is ideal for building and managing your e-commerce on a daily basis without taking the headache.

But if you have a bigger project , in particular creating an e-commerce that generates hundreds of thousands of visits per month, it is also possible with Shopify . Indeed, the CMS is largely capable of running a large online store . With all the extensions available, there’s actually nothing you can’t do.

In summary, you must understand that Shopify acts as a facilitator for creating e-commerce . Therefore, from the moment you want to create a store without having to worry about the technical part , this CMS will be ideal.

Services offered by Shopify

As we told you above, Shopify offers a lot of features . We will therefore present to you the most used services of the platform, so that you can get an idea of ​​how it works .

Creating a store 

Shopify aims above all to be easy to use and therefore allows you to set up an online store step by step easily from the e-commerce platform . Overall, you will be able to add all your products for sale and sort them to create categories and pages. But you can also create a “ single product ” store with a single page.

You should know that even if you have never used this software, you will be guided by the platform . As soon as you arrive on Shopify , the CMS will show you how to add or import a product , integrate a theme, configure order  shipping and more.

Shopify will guide you through all the steps of setting up your e-commerce. By following the steps shown directly from the platform, you will be able to put your store online quickly.

The step that takes the most time is surely adding product . Indeed, for each product that you add, you will have to fill in a lot of information such as its price , its characteristics , and others. But you can also integrate photos , videos as well as a description .

On the home screen, you can see that Shopify asks you to choose a delivery method . Here you can choose between several options including shipping, local delivery or local collection.

Note that if you already have an online store on another CMS like WordPress, Wix or SquareSpace, you can migrate it to Shopify . In fact, the platform allows you to recreate an existing site created with other software.

Shopify also allows you to have a blog section on its site . We have already talked about it on our blog, if you own a business that sells online, it is imperative to have a blog. By publishing articles , you will be able to attract free, hot and regular traffic . This is a great way to attract long-term customers so you can no longer rely on advertising.

From the platform, you will be able to write complete blog articles , as it is possible to do with WordPress for example. You can add images , links , videos and more. It will also be possible to optimize your articles for SEO ( by adding extensions – see below ).

Dashboard

The big advantage of Shopify is that you will be able to manage your e-commerce and have a detailed report of your sales . This is the famous dashboard that you have probably already seen if you are interested in online business. This dashboard will allow you to have access to all the statistics necessary to see the status of sales.

shopify dashboard

This dashboard provides access to a huge amount of data . Not all of them are necessarily useful, we will present to you the most interesting statistics to know.

Before you start, you should know that you can generate statistics for a day , a week , a month or a personalized period of time.

The most interesting statistic, at least the one that all e-retailers look at, is total sales . Here you can see an overview of your turnover , but also where the sales come from ( advertising, organic visits, etc. ).

Next to it, also very important, is the number of visitors . You can observe at first glance the number of Internet users who visit your store . But you can also get a more detailed report , in order to see the average time spent on your store, the most visited pages , the bounce rate and others.

On the right, you can see the customer retention rate . This percentage represents the quantity of customers who recommend to your website after purchasing a product there. At the same time, you can observe the percentage of customers who purchase for the first time from your store.

Below, Shopify displays the number of current orders . Note that a separate section on the platform allows you to see the orders to be processed . Next door, a very important statistic is your conversion rate . You will also be able to see the percentage of visitors who add a product to the cart.

👉 We invite you to regularly check your conversion rate , because it is a key indicator of your marketing performance.

Then you can also see the average basket . Here too, it is an important indicator for defining your marketing strategy . The objective is of course to increase this average basket. There are several techniques to implement in order to sell more.

Finally, one last really interesting statistic is going to be the turnover per marketing campaign . Thanks to a detailed report, you will be able to see the conversion rate , the average basket of customers coming from an advertising campaign .

Themes 

To personalize your store , you can add a theme . Themes will make it very easy to improve the graphic appearance of your site. Typically, themes are built by designers and developers.

The objective of a theme is above all to make your store more stylish . But themes must also be optimized so as not to slow down page loading times . Some themes are therefore very stylish, but too heavy and therefore reduce the speed of your site.

There are free and paid themes . While many free themes provide quite a few options, we prefer to be honest, it is better to go with a premium theme . Especially if you want to create a designer store without reducing the performance of your site.

shopify themes examples

As you can see, some themes will add features , which are not available if you keep the base Shopify theme. For example, you can add carousels, stock counter and timer, and others.

Some themes also offer pre-made e-commerce templates . In this case, you can import a template including several pages , but also product sheets and categories. Then, all you have to do is modify the template with your products, your text and others. It’s a super simple and quick way to create your e-commerce .

In our opinion, adding a theme is essential to creating an online store worthy of the name. We therefore invite you to find out before starting your e-commerce in order to choose the theme that suits you. Quickly, here are the criteria for a good Shopify theme 👇

A theme must be fast . Design is important, but if it slows down the loading time of your pages, you will lose visitors. We therefore invite you to check that your theme is not too heavy before installing it on your store.

Also, it is better to choose a theme that is optimized for SEO . SEO is very important to develop your e-commerce. With an optimized theme, you will be able to more easily have an effective SEO strategy.

As a bonus, certain themes allow you to display your site in several languages . If you want to sell internationally or simply in neighboring countries, this could be interesting.

Extensions 

Shopify includes many extensions that will allow you to add features to your store . There are thousands of extensions, some free and others paid . A good part is also based on a freemium model , that is to say with a free but limited version.

We will quickly introduce you to some extensions that are essential on Shopify.

The Boost Sales plugin allows you to add “ UpSells ” and “ CrossSells ”. Overall, as soon as a customer places an order , you will be able to display a page to offer them another product. This makes it easy to increase your average basket.

If you want to do dropshipping , the Oberlo application will be essential. This application allows you to order and ship your orders directly from your supplier ( mainly Aliexpress ). The extension also allows you to manage inventory and track shipments in real time.

Then, we recommend that you install several extensions in order to optimize your site for SEO . Shopify’s basic features allow you to change some things, but we don’t think it’s enough. We therefore invite you to install Plug In SEO which will allow you to optimize several elements and correct your errors. You can also download SEO Image Optimizer to optimize your images for SEO.

We also recommend that you install Mailbot , an email marketing extension . Thanks to this plugin, you will be able to collect emails directly from your store. But the extension also allows you to send email campaigns , such as promotional emails , newsletters and others.

You can also add the Yotpo Reviews plugin . This extension will allow you to add customer reviews to your product sheets. It is also this plugin that will allow customers to leave a review when they place an order.

Finally, we recommend the Referral Candy plugin. The latter will allow you to create an affiliate program for your online store. Publishers will be able to sign up for your program and promote your products in exchange for a commission. You can also create promo codes for your affiliates from this application . Note that the extension takes care of everything , from affiliate registration to commission payments and sales tracking .

Customer Support 

Shopify is easy to use, but there may be problems managing your store. In order to respond to your problems, customer support is available . There are several specific features of your platform’s customer support, which we will present to you.

You should know that there are several ways to contact customer service . In order to get a quick response , you can start a web chat with a Shopify employee . The only downside is that you will have to speak in English , as the company’s operators only speak this language. The chat is available 24 hours a day and allows you to get a response quickly. In case you are in a hurry, this is ideal.

As you can see, it is possible to contact Shopify on Twitter . It’s also a quick way to get a response. But in our opinion, it is better to go through the platform in order to have an answer to your questions.

If you want to contact support , you will have to do so by email. Generally, the response time is longer.

Finally, Shopify also has a discussion forum . On this forum, you can find Shopify employees, but also many CMS users, some of whom have become experts after years of use. You can register for free and ask your questions . Many users will be happy to answer your questions, but can also give an objective opinion on your store for example.

But you can also find the answer to your question simply by searching in discussions that have already taken place .

The rates 

 

Shopify offers 3 different pricing options . Depending on the plan you choose, many features can be added . Depending on the subscription plan, you can also have more or fewer administrator accounts in order to work with your collaborators on your store. The Shopify and Advanced plans also provide access to more detailed analytics reports .

Then, you should know that Shopify charges you a commission for each sale on your store. This percentage varies from 1.8 to 1.4% depending on the formulas. Obviously, the more expensive you opt for a subscription , the lower the commission will be . ( in case you make a lot of sales, the most expensive plan becomes the most advantageous )

Note that no matter which subscription plan you choose, the first 3 months will cost only $1. monthly .

Advantages disadvantages 

After testing Shopify for several weeks, here are the strong and weak points that emerged:

Advantages 

✅ Easy to use

✅ Many templates to create a design site

✅ Good value for money

✅ Ability to accept payments in multiple currencies

✅ Marketing reports and statistics

The inconvenients

❌ Customer support only in English

❌ Commission on each sale

In summary: our opinion on Shopify

 

Our opinion on Shopify is simple. It is clearly the ultimate CMS if you want to create an online store . The software is easy to use and will allow you to have a professional, stylish and optimized e-commerce. Thanks to all the extensions available, you can do absolutely everything on your store.

In addition to the ease of use which makes it easy to have an e-commerce design, this CMS is optimized for SEO . Thanks to a few plugins, you will be able to manage your SEO strategy in order to gain places on search engines.

In terms of choosing the formula , it’s up to you. If you ‘re just starting out and want to create an online store to sell your own products, the entry-level solution is perfect. But from the moment you start making a lot of sales , the Advanced formula will be more profitable.

In our opinion, Shopify offers good value for money . There are certainly cheaper CMS that allow you to create an online store, but they are not as easy to use. With Shopify, you can literally create a beautiful e-commerce store , without any special skills.

In conclusion, we recommend Shopify , which is by far the most advantageous and simplest solution for designing an e-commerce. Thanks to templates and applications, creating an online store is clearly child’s play . But the daily management of your e-commerce will also be simplified .

The alternative to Shopify 

Shopify is, in our opinion, the most complete software for designing an online store. However, there are alternatives which, like this platform, allow you to create an e-commerce without the need to code. We are therefore going to present to you the best alternatives if you do not want to use Shopify .

To start, we obviously think of WooCommerce . This completely free WordPress CMS extension allows you to create a professional online store . The software is a little more complicated to use than Shopify, but still offers great savings. If you are not afraid to train yourself or are comfortable with the technical part, WooCommerce is ideal for getting started with very little budget .

Then you can use Wix . This platform makes it easy to create an e-commerce thanks to numerous templates. The software is very easy to use and offers the possibility of creating your online store quickly . The subscription is similar to Shopify for the same features. This in itself is the alternative that most resembles Shopify .

Finally, we also think of SquareSpace , an easy-to-use CMS designed to create websites. With this platform, you will be able to design an e-commerce very quickly thanks to the numerous templates available. Prices are similar with subscriptions varying between

The alternative to Shopify 

Shopify is, in our opinion, the most complete software for designing an online store. However, there are alternatives which, like this platform, allow you to create an e-commerce without the need to code. We are therefore going to present to you the best alternatives if you do not want to use Shopify .

To start, we obviously think of WooCommerce . This completely free WordPress CMS extension allows you to create a professional online store . The software is a little more complicated to use than Shopify, but still offers great savings. If you are not afraid to train yourself or are comfortable with the technical part, WooCommerce is ideal for getting started with very little budget .

Then you can use Wix . This platform makes it easy to create an e-commerce thanks to numerous templates. The software is very easy to use and offers the possibility of creating your online store quickly . The subscription is similar to Shopify for the same features. This in itself is the alternative that most resembles Shopify .

Finally, we also think of SquareSpace , an easy-to-use CMS designed to create websites. With this platform, you will be able to design an e-commerce very quickly thanks to the  numerous templates available. Prices are similar with subscriptions varying between $11.81 and $38.64 per month .

How to use Shopify? 

There are hundreds of different ways to use Shopify , depending on the type of store you want to have. We will therefore show you how to get started on this CMS in order to put your first store online .

👉 Before you start , you should know that you can start a free trial to use Shopify without paying ( or €1 per month ) for 3 months . We invite you to do this before starting this tutorial.

When you arrive, you will directly have to choose your domain name . It will be the name of your store, but also its virtual address. Clearly, your visitors will type this name in their search bar in order to access your e-commerce. We therefore invite you to take your time before choosing this name .

Shopify will also ask you to include a logo , slogan and others. Don’t panic, you can change everything later . The best thing is to prepare several elements before starting your store, in particular an idea for a project and products to sell .

Then, you will be able to start adding your products . Each time, you will have several elements to integrate. You will need to add a title , sales price , description , photos/videos , and others. In reality, you can personalize each product page using many elements. It is therefore up to you to see which elements you wish to modify on each product.

shopify add products

Right after, we invite you to create the most important pages for your store. This is going to be a contact page , an about page , an FAQ page, privacy policy pages , refunds , returns and others.

Once you have a few products online and your main pages are in place, you can add a theme to your store . As you can see, a theme makes it easy to improve the graphic appearance of your site. There are thousands of themes , free and paid, that allow you to add a touch of design to your store.

shopify themes

Be careful, adding a theme can greatly change the visual appearance of your store . We therefore invite you to install it on your site as soon as possible . Otherwise, you will have to modify many elements and this may waste your time.

By opting for a premium theme , you will have access to templates to easily create a designer home page . If you’re just starting out, we invite you to choose a template and modify it with your products, the name of your store, your slogan and others. ( many tutorials are generally presented by theme builders )

Next, you will customize your navigation menus . This will allow your visitors to easily find your products or a way to contact your customer service, for example. Here too, you can choose different colors, typographies and more.

Right after that, it’s time to customize the checkout process . Here, you should know that Shopify gives you a lot of options to best manage this process . For example, you may or may not ask customers to create an account before ordering . But you can also ask customers which contact methods they prefer, collect emails and automate the sending of emails for abandoned carts, for example.

and €36 per month .

How to use Shopify? 

There are hundreds of different ways to use Shopify , depending on the type of store you want to have. We will therefore show you how to get started on this CMS in order to put your first store online .

👉 Before you start , you should know that you can start a free trial to use Shopify without paying ( or €1 per month ) for 3 months . We invite you to do this before starting this tutorial.

When you arrive, you will directly have to choose your domain name . It will be the name of your store, but also its virtual address. Clearly, your visitors will type this name in their search bar in order to access your e-commerce. We therefore invite you to take your time before choosing this name .

Shopify will also ask you to include a logo , slogan and others. Don’t panic, you can change everything later . The best thing is to prepare several elements before starting your store, in particular an idea for a project and products to sell .

Then, you will be able to start adding your products . Each time, you will have several elements to integrate. You will need to add a title , sales price , description , photos/videos , and others. In reality, you can personalize each product page using many elements. It is therefore up to you to see which elements you wish to modify on each product.

shopify add products

Right after, we invite you to create the most important pages for your store. This is going to be a contact page , an about page , an FAQ page, privacy policy pages , refunds , returns and others.

Once you have a few products online and your main pages are in place, you can add a theme to your store . As you can see, a theme makes it easy to improve the graphic appearance of your site. There are thousands of themes , free and paid, that allow you to add a touch of design to your store.

shopify themes

Be careful, adding a theme can greatly change the visual appearance of your store . We therefore invite you to install it on your site as soon as possible . Otherwise, you will have to modify many elements and this may waste your time.

By opting for a premium theme , you will have access to templates to easily create a designer home page . If you’re just starting out, we invite you to choose a template and modify it with your products, the name of your store, your slogan and others. ( many tutorials are generally presented by theme builders )

Next, you will customize your navigation menus . This will allow your visitors to easily find your products or a way to contact your customer service, for example. Here too, you can choose different colors, typographies and more.

Right after that, it’s time to customize the checkout process . Here, you should know that Shopify gives you a lot of options to best manage this process . For example, you may or may not ask customers to create an account before ordering . But you can also ask customers which contact methods they prefer, collect emails and automate the sending of emails for abandoned carts, for example.