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What Are Google Web Stories?

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People love watching stories unfold. That’s why tappable story experiences are so popular. Many platforms exist to create these tappable stories and now Google has their own version, called Google Web Stories.

Google Web Stories: Explained

Google Web Stories are powered by AMP technology and are owned by Google. They are immersive, full-screen experiences that you can host on your own website.

The ability to post them on your own site is what makes them different from other story experiences, such as Instagram or Facebook stories. In addition, you can include links, calls to action, and Google AdWords in your Google Web Stories.

Using individual story panels with videos, graphics, and other features, you can share brand narratives that users can click through to experience the story you want to tell.

In addition to viewing them on your website, people can also experience Google Web Stories in a Google search, in Google images, or through the Google Discover app, available on Apple and Android devices.

Owning your Google Web Stories content gives you the full advantage to leverage SEO opportunities and make the most of this immersive storytelling option.

Examples of Great Google Web Stories

Every brand has a story to tell—and Google Web Stories helps you tell yours. Do you need some inspiration to get started? Here are a few examples.

Refinery29 has created a series called How Stuff Is Made, including this piece called How Money Is Made. It’s the kind of story that sounds rather boring, but throw in some great copy, videos, and photos, and it’s suddenly compelling. You are eager to find out what happens next.

Sometimes the world just needs more good news, and Google Web Stories are a great way to tell heartwarming stories. Brands can leverage the opportunity to tell inspiring and heartwarming stories, as NowThis has done with this one. It’s a story about a Paralympic swimmer who built his own pool when his training pool closed during the pandemic shutdown.

Stories about travel, animals, and kids are all just asking to be told in a visual format like Google Web Stories. Lonely Planet has run with it in this story about traveling to see wildlife with your kids.

How to Create a Google Web Story

Before you create your first Google Web Story, think about your brand’s image. What stories should you be telling? Leveraging the power of stories can be an engaging way to get people to care about your brand and what you have to say.

Don’t forget to take a few minutes to storyboard your story first, whether it’s on a white board or back of a napkin. Sketch out your plan and decide how many panels you need. Which visuals or videos need to be on each panel? Don’t forget your CTA or ads.

Next, it’s time to actually start creating your Google Web Stories.

Google stories are code-heavy. If you have a coding engineer on your team, they may be able to create the story for you, but they need to be familiar and comfortable with the AMP framework. If you want to start exploring that route, AMP does have a lot of documentation to support creators.

If you’re not a developer and want to create Google Web Stories for yourself, you can explore a number of tools. 

Tools for Creating Google Web Stories

Knowing that many of their creators would not be coding engineers themselves, Google offers a number of third-party suggestions for developing Google Web Stories.

Web Stories by Google Plug-In

Because WordPress-built websites make up such a large share of websites, we will start there. This plug-in allows you to create Google Web Stories from within your WordPress website’s CMS.

Since it’s integrated with your website, your WordPress media library is available to your Google Web Stories. The plug-in offers drag-and-drop creation and allows you to publish your story right to your website. 

You also have access to templates to assist your design. If you have a WordPress website, this may be the most obvious and seamless option, especially if you’re already comfortable with the content manager.

Newsroom AI

Newsroom AI allows you to start creating Google Web Stories for free, with a lot of available features. Even with the free version, you can embed stories onto your website and start getting your stories out on Google. You can track how well your stories are doing with the analytics reporting feature.

Creating is simple. Just set up an account with your Google account and click “Create Story.”

Newsroom AI provides a lot of different templates to choose from. Grab one to get started. Next, you’re taken to the “create” page where you can start designing. 

This is where the visual fun begins.

From here you can change up each page with the content you want, including text, photos, and videos. You can also change the template midway through or choose other layouts and presets. The design options are as limitless as your story ideas. 

If you find yourself wanting to get more out of the experience, you can upgrade to a paid account.

There are a couple of different options, but the main feature paid accounts offer is allowing you to leverage Google ads for yourself. This may be worthwhile if you want to make some money with the content you are create. 

Another great feature of Newsroom AI is the Getty Images integration. With the free version, you gain access to Getty Images’ creative commons images. This is more of a convenience, so you don’t have to search images out separately.

The paid versions, however, get you access to the Getty editorial image library and Getty videos. If you’re brand is into history and culture, this may be a benefit for you.

Make Stories

Much like the first two options, Make Stories boasts easy-to-use features. They have a catalog of free images, icons, symbols, and more, and use a drag-and-drop interface for design. They also have templates to get you started. 

They have a WordPress integration, but also allow you to export each story in a zip file or publish to your FTP on your website, as well as use embed options like iFrame.

If you just want to explore a bit, this one might be the lightweight option that can let you see what it’s all about before diving in.

Benefits of Using Google Web Stories

Are you sold yet on the idea of creating Google Web Stories for your brand? If you’re still on the fence, let’s talk about some of the benefits that Google Web Stories may have for your organization and why they may be better than some of the social media alternatives.

It’s a new way for users to find your site.

Because of Google’s powerful search engine capabilities, the opportunity for Google Web Stories to be seen in Google search pages or in Google images is a compelling reason to consider creating them. It’s another angle to up your SEO game.

Furthermore, because Google Web Stories are so customizable, you can feature links or CTAs that drive traffic to your site.

You own the content.

Content ownership is the major difference between Google Web Stories and social media alternatives. You created the content with AMP or through a third-party platform so it’s yours to do what you’d like with it.

You can embed it onto your own website or share it however you would like. Think about how you want to use Google Web Stories and how users will find yours. This can help drive your creative choices as well. The options are nearly limitless and left in your own hands. 

They bring immersive experiences to your website.

Whether you’ve been looking for a way to bring some sparkle to your blogging, storytelling on your website, or just like the look of a full-screen experience, Google Web Stories can add a new dimension to your website.

Both mobile users and desktop viewers can view Google Web Stories that are full screen, limiting descriptions and helping them feel part of your story.  

They are fun for your viewers.

Americans spend an average of 5 hours per day on their mobile device. People love scrolling through topics that interest them

To break through the noise and clutter of the internet, you need to find your niche and share beautiful and dynamic stories, ensuring your audience wants to keep viewing your content.

They can be fun to make.

This may not be true for everyone, but a lot of creators may find the experience of creating Google Web Stories to be enjoyable. The various tools we discussed above include drag-and-drop options, which make the designing task intuitive for many. You may find yourself constantly coming up with new story ideas and splashy ways to present them.

They allow for unique ad opportunities.

We will explore this more in a moment, but you should know that Google Web Stories can be integrated with Google AdWords and other ad opportunities. With their strong SEO tie-in, this could be a good option for some brands.

Google Web Stories Ad Opportunities

Historically, content creators make money by selling ad space. This is true for everyone from a print newspaper to an online news blog. Google Web Stories can utilize the same concept as programmatic ads. 

You can create immersive, engaging stories that include ads designed to flow well with the rest of your story. Depending on your reason for creating a story, you can add CTA boxes, links to landing pages, and links to product pages.

Conclusion

Most brands have stories to tell. Sharing your stories via Google Web Stories with your followers helps you grow your online reputation and build trust with your customers.

Your videos can cover everything, from your company’s culture to new product releases. Though it’s difficult to build the code to create your own Google Web Story, there are many plug-ins that help you create them.

If you need some help with your online marketing strategy or execution, let us know! We can help.

Which story do you have, just waiting to be told?

Google

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5 Free Music For Commercial Use Resources

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Music can be a game-changer for creating online visual content for your brand. But where can you find music available for commercial use? 

More specifically, where can you get it for free? 

Before we dive into the resources available, let’s talk about commercial use. 

When you’re wondering whether something counts as commercial use, think about whether you’re using it for your business. If what you’re creating is for your brand in any way, then it’s probably for commercial use. 

For use directly connected to making a profit, it’s almost definitely commercial. 

If you’re getting the word out or are marketing your business without directly making money on the content, it’s still best to err on the side of caution and treat it as commercial.

Using someone’s music or art without express permission can result in a cease and desist—or worse. 

Free Music for Commercial Use Resources

Free music for commercial use does exist—even on reputable websites. Whether you’re looking for instrumental pieces to play in the background of your next explainer video or you need some hot sounds for your social media campaigns, there are lots of great resources to choose from. 

How Can I Use Free Music for Commercial Use?

Music can be a great addition to online marketing efforts—but how you can use the music depends on the owner of the tunes. We will talk about the variances below, but be sure to do your research on the site you are interested in downloading music from to be sure you’re within their parameters in your use. 

Just because music is free doesn’t mean there won’t be attribution requirements. Think of attribution as your nod to this music’s creators or distributors. Check carefully to see how each site requires credit for the song— this is often with a link in your video description or caption.

In addition, free does not necessarily mean unlimited use. For instance, some places may allow for remixing or adding lyrics, while others may not. Check the licensing agreements on each website.

Is There Really “Free” Music for Commercial Use Available?

Sometimes free music for commercial use is entirely free. Other times, you need to pay a subscription fee to access some or all of the content. 

The subscription often opens more opportunities for use or may give you a more extensive library to choose from. 

Others have genuinely free music, but usage may still be limited–so be sure to look at the fine print.

Royalty-Free Vs. Free Music for Commercial Use

As you’re looking for free music for commercial use, remember “free” isn’t the same as “royalty-free.” 

Royalty-free means you aren’t obligated to pay a royalty fee to the music’s creators. But, use is still restricted to certain formats, amounts of usage, etc.

Bensound

Billed as royalty-free music, the songs on Bensound are free to download—with a few stipulations. 

If you want to go with the free option, click the black download button on the music you choose. When the window pops up giving you a choice between free and subscription, click the button again. This downloads an Mp3 file. 

You can use the file in various audio and video projects, with licensing stipulations outlined on the Bensound website. For instance, you can use them in your videos with a link giving the Bensound website credit. However, you can’t use the music in podcasts or audiobooks, register it as your own, or remix the music.

You can browse by genre, with tons of options to choose from. Or, you can search by keyword. When you find a song that interests you, click to find out more. This will take you to a page with information about the composer, a description, keywords, and more.

Bensound offers both free and paid subscription options. Free downloads are limited to a smaller library of music than subscriptions. 

The standard subscription allows for limited usage, including online videos or music in your bar or restaurant.

Meanwhile, the extended subscription allows broader use, such as for movies, stage productions, and local tv and radio advertising. National tv and radio advertising usage comes with an additional fee.

Bensound has specific rules for how the music can and can’t be used. They don’t allow you to remix or add lyrics to any music you use, whether you download them for free or with a subscription.

In addition, you can’t use them for international tv or radio advertising, in podcasts or audiobooks, in meditation projects, or resell them as music-only projects. 

Audionautix

Audionautix is a passion project by founder Jason Shaw. He wanted to provide a way for people to grab great music for their projects—even commercial ones—without getting caught up in copyright issues. The website primarily hosts music created by Jason himself, full of music from a range of genres. 

You can search by features like mood, genre, tempo, style, and more.

When you find something that interests you, click “Listen Now” to hear it. If you want to hear more like it, you can click on relevant tags to check out other similar songs. 

When you’re ready to download, click the “Download Mp3” button.

While the music is free to download, including for commercial use, attribution is required.

Free Music Archive

Free Music Archive was put together by WMFU, a radio station in New York and New Jersey, to provide original music to creators on the internet. Its creation stems from the belief that copyright laws can be outdated, stymying digital creativity.

They believe providing a place for music creators to share their music with creative commons licensing helps musicians be heard by a wider audience while also assisting other creatives in enhancing their work.

Like other free music for commercial use websites, you can browse by various genres. You can also click individual artists’ links to see more from them or scroll to the bottom to the “List of Artists” link to see all available creators.

To hear a song or piece, click the play button. To download a recording, click the download icon (an arrow button pointing downward). When you click that button, a small pop-up window will appear with information about the song as well as licensing information.

The website uses creative commons licensing definitions, so be sure to check out the icons in the pop-up for information about how you’re allowed to use the music. 

The one thing you’ll want to look for is this dollar sign with a line through it. This means you can’t use this free music for commercial use.

If you don’t see that icon, you’re clear to use it for commercial purposes. You can click for more information about each creative commons use. 

MusOpen

If you’re looking for free music for commercial use that’s in the public domain, give MusOpen a try. MusOpen is a non-profit group focused on music education and getting more music into the hands, or rather the ears, of the public.

By focusing on music in the public domain, they provide access to pieces with expired copyrights, making these songs available for redistribution or reuse, including commercial use.  

You can browse for songs based on unique categories like romantic, happy, sad, relaxing, energetic, or fun. You can also search by composer, instrument, or time period. 

As you browse, you can listen to each piece and see licensing information next to each one. Look for the ones without the dollar symbol with the line through it—that symbol denotes it’s not for commercial use. The ones without this symbol can be used for commercial purposes with proper attribution. 

To start downloading songs, you need to create an account.

DL Sounds

DL Sounds is based in the Netherlands and run by a group that produces original music for creators worldwide to use in their multimedia projects. Because their music is made by them and isn’t available anywhere else, they can provide fresh music for digital projects.

In addition to songs, they have sound effects and loops, which are short, repeating sections. 

You can search in the search bar or go to the music tab to explore all the songs, browsing by genre, mood, file type, or even beats per minute.

Most of the music on DL Sounds is only available via subscription. They offer a one- or three-month subscription with unlimited downloads. 

However, they also provide some free music for commercial use as well. Look for the “free” icon on the bottom right of a song’s visual, shown below: 

Conclusion

Once you find free music for commercial use, your creative ideas could indeed become a reality. Your ideas are only limited by each website’s licensing agreements and attribution requirements. 

Using the resources above, you could find inspiration in the original tracks, public domain choices, and more as you start thinking about the videos and other marketing projects you want to create. From how-to videos to quick social media posts, your marketing efforts can be enhanced by all this music.  

Which piece of free music is inspiring you to create something new?

Google

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Why You’re Not Ranking on Google (And How to Fix It)

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Ranking in Google’s results is easier said than done.

There are millions of different websites trying to steal your rankings and, in some cases, many of those competitors succeed.

Of course, you don’t want them to.

But beating them isn’t a matter of simply publishing content and hoping for the best.

In fact, the people who lose are the people who think that SEO is just that simple.

Fortunately, you know better.

That’s why you’re here, after all.

To illustrate my point, I typed “how to win at everything you do” into Google.

How many results came up?

Over 39 million.

That’s a lot of action surrounding a silly keyword.

Now, how many results actually show on the first page and have a reasonable chance of getting clicked?

Ten results.

That’s it.

That means you can’t afford to not land on that first page.

Putting in a ton of SEO work and landing even on page two doesn’t just hurt your ego, it hurts your pocketbook.

Unfortunately, the longer a page exists, the higher chance that it’s going to rank in the top ten results of Google’s SERP.

In fact, the average age of a result ranking in 10th place is 650 days.

That’s almost two years.

Maybe, however, your pages haven’t existed for two years.

The good news is that there are some key things you can do (and not do) to help your rankings immediately.

Here’s the thing: marketers make a lot of SEO mistakes and those mistakes kill their rankings.

The same might be happening to you.

Do you feel like you’ve done everything right and yet, you’re still not ranking where you ought to be?

Don’t worry.

That’s why I put this seven-point list together of the most common ranking mistakes that marketers make and how to fix each one.

Here’s the top seven things that are killing your ranking:

duplicate content

not having a Google My Business page

disregarding social signals

failing to create consistent content

ignoring mobile-friendliness

your site isn’t indexed

slow site speed

So, how do you fix these issues? Here is what you need to know.

Ranking Mistake #1: You Have Duplicate Content on Your Site

Duplicate content used to be a site killer. It’s not as important as it used to be, but it does still matter.

You don’t want to create content, publish that content, and then find that your SEO juice is getting split between the original page and an unintended duplicate page.

That would cause both pages to rank mediocrely instead of having one page rank exceptionally.

Ideally, you want to combine the SEO juice of those two pages and not leave each to its own devices.

Because here’s how Google sees duplicate content.

When that happens, Google tries to find the right page…but they may well choose the wrong page.

It might, for instance, choose an HTML page that is meant as the print version.

Then, not only is the link juice split between two different pages, but Google accidentally chose the wrong page to canonicalize.

All because you didn’t clarify that for Google’s robot.

If you want to check for duplicate content, you can go here and type in your URL.

Then click the “I’m not a robot” button and click “Perform check.”

Scroll down and you’ll see your results.

If you scroll even further, you’ll be able to see the specific pages that have duplicate content on them.

What do you do if you find duplicate content on your website?

The best thing to do is to use the rel=canonical tag to tell which page Google should rank and attribute all SEO juice.

If you’re using a WordPress website, there’s a list of plugins that will help you.

Once you canonicalize a page, Google will take all of the SEO juice from the duplicates and attribute it to the canonical page.

That means your original page has a far better chance of ranking.

Ranking Mistake #2: You Aren’t Using Google My Business

If you’re not yet registered with Google My Business, you’re losing out on some serious potential.

It’s an easy and free step to take that can actually help your SEO.

Here’s how it works: Google wants the easiest and quickest way to find and deliver relevant results.

Choosing Google My Business results accomplishes that.

Plus, having an account tells Google that you care about ranking, your website is up-to-date, and you want to cooperate with their systems.

Google likes that and prioritizes businesses that use Google My Business.

Creating your account is simple. Just go to the Google My Business page.

Then click on the “Start Now” button.

Enter your business name and click “Next.”

Enter your business address information and your zip code. Then click “Next.”

Keep following the prompts until you’ve arrived at the end and your account is active.

Eventually, you’ll have to enter more specific business information about what you do, the kind of products you sell, and your target audience.

All of that information will help Google quickly and easily place your business in the correct SERP, so take the time to optimize your Google My Business page.

This is an easy way to rank in Google with very little additional time or effort.

Ranking Mistake #3: You’re Not Leveraging Social Signals

Are you active on social media?

Lots of businesses have accounts and some even run advertisements on social media.

But how many businesses are actually active with their accounts?

Probably not very many.

Why does all of that matter, though?

Because, believe it or not, your social media accounts help determine how you rank in Google.

If you want to increase your SEO efforts, which you do, then you should stay active on social media and keep your information updated.

Google uses social signals to determine which websites are active, which are stagnant. This tells them which should rank higher.

As you see in the graph below, all of the top results stay exceptionally active on their social media accounts.

The good news is, it doesn’t need to be complicated.

Did you publish a blog article? Post on Facebook about it.

Did something interesting happen at work today? Tweet about it.

Capture a funny picture of an office-hours prank? Post it on Instagram.

The more that you post on your social accounts, the better your website will rank.

If you think that you’re doing everything right, but your rankings are still suffering, then social signals might be your answer to a brighter SEO future.

You’ll generate more traffic and increase your rankings this way.

You can do everything right, but if you don’t have social signals, the website that does will beat you.

Ranking Mistake #4: You Don’t Create Consistent Content

Maybe you write and publish a blog post every now and then.

Maybe you record and publish a video when the mood strikes.

Sadly, “every now and then” and “when the mood strikes” aren’t enough to claim your spot in the rankings.

Instead, you need to create a strict content marketing calendar and a strategy for growth.

Here’s why: the most successful marketers have a documented content marketing strategy.

Add due dates to your content and this will help keep you on schedule.

Frankly, the more content you create, the better. So long as the quality of that content doesn’t lack.

You probably already know, for instance, that I write a lot of blog posts on my own. I can often even finish three or four a day if I’m really focused.

This is because I’ve had a lot of practice.

After a bit of time, you’ll be able to do the same thing.

Why is creating consistent content such a challenge for you and the vast majority of marketers?

The answer is simple. Writing, recording, and editing takes a lot of time.

It’s even harder when you don’t see immediate results.

At the end of the day, though, companies that blog see more visitors, get more backlinks, and have more pages indexed than pages that don’t.

Obviously, you want to be in the blogging category that sees more traffic, links, and indexed pages.

Part of the reason, of course, is because each piece of content they create and each new page they publish gives them another chance to rank in Google.

If you’re creating content consistently, then it’s only a matter of time until you start to rank.

Ranking Mistake #5: Your Website is Not Mobile-Friendly

Maybe you’re doing everything else right.

Maybe you don’t have any duplicate content on your website. Maybe you’re registered with Google My Business. And maybe you even leverage social signals and create consistent content.

Then, you check your results and still, you’re not ranking.

What gives?

Well, if you don’t have a mobile friendly site, then that is what gives.

In today’s world where people browse the Internet on different devices every single day, you need to cater to all of those different screen sizes.

It’s so important that Google even moved to mobile first indexing–which means they look at your mobile site first, rather than your desk top version.

Not sure if your website is mobile-friendly?

No problem. Google has a tool for that.

Go here to test mobile-friendliness.

Type in your URL.

It will quickly tell you if your page is mobile-friendly or not. As you can see below, mine is.

Google puts a lot of bearing on this because more than half of all internet traffic

Whatever Google cares about, you need to care about as well.

Making your website mobile can be easy. Simply select a WordPress theme that fits your needs and is device-flexible.

That change will automatically help your rankings.

Ranking Mistake #6: Google Hasn’t Indexed Your Website

Does this situation sound familiar?

You’re curious about your website’s rankings, so you open up Google and type in your target keywords.

But you don’t see your website on the first page. So you click through a few pages and still don’t see your result.

Then, desperate to make sure everything is working correctly, you type your actual business name into the search engine and maybe your URL as well.

Still nothing.

What is happening? Why aren’t you showing up anywhere in Google?

Well, the first and most harmless reason is that Google hasn’t yet had time to index your new page.

If you just created your page, then give it a bit of time before searching for yourself in the results.

This might be happening because you accidentally blocked Google from crawling your website.

You’ll need to undo that and make sure that Google is crawling your website whenever it wants to. Here’s how to fix a blocked robot.txt error.

Then, follow these steps to ask Google to index your site.

Google’s robot will then crawl your website at its earliest convenience.

Remember, if Google isn’t able to crawl your website and analyze it, then you have absolutely no chance of ranking.

Make sure your settings in Google Search Console are correct and that the code of your website doesn’t block crawling bots from looking at it.

Ranking Mistake #7: Your Website is Slow

Few things are worse than browsing the internet, finding a result you like, and then waiting more than 10 seconds for that website to load.

You want information, and you want it fast.

Your audience and target market are no different.

For that reason, Google puts significant ranking weight on how quickly your website loads. In fact, they had a whole update that specifically targeted page speed.

There are two reasons that rankings decrease with slower load times.

The first is that Google directly ranks websites with fast load times better than those with slow load times.

People don’t want to wait, after all.

Google doesn’t want to make them wait.

The second reason, though, is that when your website has a slow load time, your bounce rate increases which, in turn, hurts your rankings.

It’s a double whammy of loss.

Fortunately, you can check your website speed for free by going here and typing in your domain.

Then click “Site Audit” and scroll down to the “Site Speed” section. Here’s what you’ll see:

This will tell you how fast your website is and how optimized it is for speed. My website loads in one second on desktop and two seconds on mobile devices, both of which are in the “excellent range.”

If your speed is low and your optimization is also low, that means you can take steps to increase your website speed.

Try, for instance, compressing your image files or simplifying your design.

Here’s a few more tips so speed up your website.

The faster your website loads, the higher your rankings.

Conclusion

If you’re anything like other ambitious entrepreneurs, you know what it’s like to struggle through the rankings and come out on page ten.

No one wants that to happen.

Yet, more often than not, it does happen.

There are, after all, only ten positions that actually matter in Google and millions of results.

How do you claim your spot?

It starts with doing the right things: generating backlinks, for instance.

Once you’ve done all the right things, sometimes you still don’t rank. That’s when you need to take a look at potential SEO mistakes you’re making.

Now you know some of the most common ranking mistakes: having duplicate content on your website, not registering with Google My Business, ignoring social signals, and creating content sporadically.

Beyond those, using only a desktop version of your website, blocking your website from Google, and having a slow load speed also hurt your chances of ranking.

Fix those problems, though, and you’ll be ranking in no time.

What problem have you encountered before that hurt your rankings and how did you fix it?

Youtobe

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WordPress Vs. Shopify

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Online shopping is more convenient than ever, and so is building an ecommerce store. 

If you’ve ever considered launching your own online business, chances are you’ve thought about the required tools. And while there are several ecommerce platforms on the market, Shopify and WordPress remain the most prominent.

Cutting right to the chase, you have to consider your use-case scenario to choose between the two.

If you already have a WordPress website ready, it would be better to go with WordPress for ecommerce as well. All you need to do is install WooCommerce, and you can launch your ecommerce store as an element of your existing website. It also means much less work on your part.

Shopify is better for those who don’t have a website yet, and hence, would want a hands-off and dedicated solution. It also comes with plenty of advanced features to make your life way easier.

Let’s dig into the details to help you understand my verdict better.

Shopify or WordPress: Which is Better?

Offering unparalleled flexibility and power-packed performance, Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce website builder that will give you an excellent website in minutes. Even if you’re new to things, you can always fall back on the 24/7 Shopify support to help you with the technical stuff. If Shopify sounds like the right fit, sign up for its 14-day free trial to test out its features.

As you can imagine, having a WordPress website is a prerequisite to use WooCommerce. But this also gives you direct access to so many other functionalities, ranging from a greater selection of themes and apps to managing content to SEO. If you prefer a more hands-on solution and have the general technical know-how, I’d recommend checking out WooCommerce, for sure.

A Review of the Best Ecommerce Platforms

As mentioned before, Shopify and WordPress for ecommerce (WooCommerce) aren’t the only options available on the market. In fact, on the contrary, there are way too many.

We did the hard work of reviewing the most popular and reliable ecommerce platforms and cut out our list to the best seven sites that will surely uncomplicate the various aspects of ecommerce for you. And both WooCommerce and Shopify made the top seven!

Head over to our best ecommerce platforms guide for an in-depth look at where every product stands, along with what criteria do we think they are best for.

WordPress (WooCommerce) Wins

Free and Open Source: WooCommerce is absolutely free and open-source, making it the go-to option for startups and small businesses wanting to create an online selling platform. It integrates well with WordPress, and the fact that any user, designer, or programmer can alter its code gives you access to a large community where you can get inspired and share ideas to simplify site management. That said, keep in mind that certain WooCommerce extensions are chargeable.

100% Customizable: You have the freedom to choose your desired theme from a wide variety of professional-grade and high-quality themes. You can decide exactly how you would want your site to look by customizing the various sections like header, footer, checkout, product pages, and so on. It would be even simpler if you have CSS, HTML, and PHP style code knowledge. Moreover, even the plugins are customizable, but we’ll discuss that in more detail in the next point.

Great Plugins: Plugins are incredibly helpful to ecommerce sellers as they can uncomplicate otherwise complicated tasks. WooCommerce is a plugin itself that converts a standard WordPress site into a fully functional ecommerce store. You’ll have to upload products still, but the overall process becomes ten times simpler. Similarly, there are different plugins for different tasks. For instance, there’s Yoast SEO for website and content optimization, WooCommerce MailChimp for email marketing, and WooCommerce Google Analytics to track store performance.

Flexible Product and Inventory Management: You can create web stores with WooCommerce to sell both physical and digital products. You also have the option to keep adding products regularly and set different product types. What’s more, the platform makes inventory quite simple thanks to its WordPress-centric user interface that allows you to keep track of current stock levels and manage day-to-day inventory.

Mobile-Friendly: We live in a time where mobile devices have become an integral part of our lives. It’s why WordPress’s responsive and mobile-friendly designs and themes are a huge plus point. You can also benefit from its emergent responsive web technology without the hassle of having to create new websites.

Tons of Extensions: You can choose from all kinds of extensions—free and paid—to suit your specific needs if you have a WordPress site. These are great to add functionality to your web store to boost customer experience without writing code. You also have all kinds of extension options, such as store management, product page, checkout, shopping cart, better search, payments, shipping, and reporting. 

Useful SEO Capabilities: WooCommerce SEO isn’t challenging anymore, thanks to the WordPress plugins and extensions you can choose based on your precise needs. You can select any plugin or extension you feel most comfortable for optimizing your site. Further, the extensions and plugins undergo regular updates, which makes them secure and efficient at all times.

Uncompromised Cybersecurity: With hackers coming up with more sophisticated methods to steal your private data, consumers today are more aware of their rights to privacy than ever. Keeping this in mind, WooCommerce prioritizes privacy and protection in transactions to create a trustworthy and secure environment for its users. There are frequent updates to ensure the ecommerce platform stays ahead of security issues and is aligned with the newer versions of WordPress.

Multiple Payment Gateways and Currency Support: WooCommerce offers geolocation support that enables you to accept multiple currencies from people across the globe. Having multiple payment gateways and shipping options is very attractive for customers living in various locations and countries. This, in turn, could help boost your sales and revenue. Even from the customer’s viewpoint, the flexibility to pay in their specific currency and tax rate makes things very convenient. It’s a win-win for both sides. 

WooCommerce Losses

Lacks Many Advanced Features: The whole point of WooCommerce is to help developers build web stores, which is why we can’t use the platform as a robust ecommerce content management system or CMS. This is mainly because it lacks some of the essential advanced features that could make store management easier. Moreover, most of the themes and features to improve customer experience cost money, which will increase your project overheads. 

Frequent Updates: Yes, the regular updates ensure your online store has optimal security and is aligned with WordPress, but sometimes, it becomes too much. Having too many updates also makes using WordPress for ecommerce more time-consuming. Therefore, you have to prepare yourself to handle common issues associated with updating a WordPress plugin–such as data backup and testing.

Not Exactly Beginner-Friendly: Navigating through WordPress web design, development, and maintenance is challenging, especially for people who don’t have prior experience or knowledge about web development and marketing—and WooCommerce is no exception. As it offers minimal maintenance support, you have to rely on online forums for solutions. You need to have a fair level of web knowledge to understand which advice you should follow. Also, if you want to customize your site, you need coding knowledge.

Performance Glitches: There is something known as too many plugins. Considering WooCommerce users often have to install many plugins to add functionalities, they have to pay the price elsewhere. Firstly, plugins take up a lot of memory. Secondly, you may face slow downloading speed and average performance, which will make the process frustrating. Keeping this in mind, I’ll encourage you to implement desired functions through CSS, HTML codes, or jQuery instead of downloading 24 different plugins. On top of this, whatever plugin you do install, make sure you evaluate the pros and cons with care before proceeding.

Shopify Wins

Professionally Designed and Mobile-Responsive Themes: Shopify has ten free themes and 64 premium themes, starting from $140. Every one of them is mobile-responsive. This means your site will automatically reformat to suit the smaller screens, appealing to customers who have logged on from their cell phones. The themes look spectacular and professionally-designed and are available in different styles to match your brand best. 

Better Security: Did you know that a customer will wait for only three seconds, and if it takes any longer than that, they’ll simply abandon it? It is said that one in ten customers expects your page to load in one second. Shopify understands this, which is why they provide 100% SSL to keep their sites fast. Also, since customers mostly pay via credit cards, it takes the initiative to keep things super secure. But Shopify hires cybersecurity experts to keep their website hack-proof and integrate with multiple payment providers to keep checkouts fast and secure for customers.

In-House App Store: Shopify has an in-house app store as one of its biggest USPs that contains over 1200 plugins and apps. This means you can find anything you could possibly want by either paying the price or potentially finding free options. You can use these apps to automate and streamline your business processes, making them faster while also boosting the efficiency of other processes like accounting, inventory management, and shipping. 

Custom Domain: You’ll get a custom domain name after signing up with Shopify–one you chose for your company–to brand your business more effectively. This also gives you the flexibility to handle your domain on the same site location as your domain store. As such, you can make any changes to your domain site as well as your domain store.

Top-Notch Analytics: You get plenty of built-in analytics features to keep track of your store, including customer behavior, stock levels, and conversion tracking. This way, you’ll have complete knowledge about your store–how is it doing, and which parts need to be optimized for better results. The detailed analytics also lets you keep track of online store sessions, products, total sales, returning customer rate, and average order value.

24/7 Customer Support: There are millions of Shopify sites around the world. And while the ecommerce-rich features of Shopify is a great leverage, it’s efficient customer service is also one of the main reasons customers love the platform. You get direct access to a massive database of FAQs, plus email, chat, and phone support with a knowledgeable rep on the other side.

Scalable: Shopify can accommodate the expanding needs of store owners wanting to take their store to the next level. Built with scalability in mind, they are efficient enough to handle sudden traffic spurts or steadily increasing traffic over time. Besides, you don’t have to worry about changing or redesigning your store due to this.

Shopify Losses

Transaction Fees: Starting from $29 per month, Shopify gives you several subscription plans to choose one based on your needs. There are two problems here: First, the basic plan comes with very basic features, and second, $29 for an ecommerce platform isn’t very cheap. While Shopify does support multiple payment gateways, if you don’t use Shopify Payments, you‘ll have to pay an additional transactional fee on top of the payment processor fee (PayPal or Stripe). Let’s also not forget that you only get ten free themes and will have to pay a one-time fee for others.

Customization Limitations: Don’t get me wrong, Shopify is definitely customizable—it just has some hard-to-ignore limitations. If you want to unlock additional features, you’ll have to work on your coding because otherwise, it will remain locked. Besides this, you can customize your site without spending long hours doing detailed coding on their platform.

Steeper Learning Curve: Every ecommerce platform has a learning curve, but Shopify has a slightly steeper one. What further complicates things is the site’s jargon. For instance, instead of saying Categories, Shopify uses Collections, which might confuse some customers. The main problem with Shopify jargon is it unnecessarily complicates the user experience.

Product Filtering and Categorization: I think Shopify’s search mechanism needs to be more efficient, especially considering the millions of users on the platform. For example, when you go search for jeans, you’ll see a listing for jeans. However, you won’t be able to narrow down your search to view “light wash jeans.” There’s no option to narrow down your search, and even if you do, the filter will apply across all products. This may reflect negatively on your customers and stop them from giving your store another shot.

Lacks Email Hosting Facility: Shopify users don’t get an email hosting feature, which is why you can’t host a domain-based email address like [email protected]. The alternative here is to set up email forwarding, which will forward all emails sent to your domain-based address (in our case [email protected]) to your regular email account. You can also answer your customers’ queries through this feature.

Comparing the Top Ecommerce Platforms

While Shopify and WordPress are excellent ecommerce platforms, there are several other alternatives with their own advantages. Check out our best ecommerce platforms buying guide that includes the best the industry has to offer:

Wix – Best for flexibility and customization

Squarespace – Best ecommerce platform for creatives

BigCommerce – Best for medium to large stores

Shopify – Best all-in-one ecommerce platform

WooCommerce – Best for WordPress websites

OpenCart – Best for selling digital products 

Ecwid – Best for integrating with your current platform

Summary

One cannot simply choose between Shopify and WordPress for ecommerce as each has its own advantages.

While Shopify is one of the best ecommerce website builders that offers excellent support to help you with the technical stuff, WooCommerce is a better choice for those having WordPress-powered websites.

In the end, it all boils down to your specific needs and requirements. 

I’ve done my best to include the advantages and disadvantages of each ecommerce platform in detail. I hope this guide gives you a clearer view of each platform’s high and low points and helps you make the right decision for you.

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How to Identify Your Ideal Target Markets for Paid Campaigns

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Many marketers think generating a ton of traffic to their website is the end-all-be-all of online marketing. 

It isn’t. What’s far more important is getting your target market right.

Your target market is the people you want to buy your product or service. Some are existing customers, while others may never have heard of you.

Isn’t that just the same as a demographic?

Not quite. 

Demographics are actually subsets of a target market. 

For example, a car insurance company’s target market could be “all car owners.” But their latest marketing campaign could focus on one specific demographic within that market, such as young drivers.

Why You Need to Identify Your Target Market for Paid Ad Campaigns

An ad campaign is only as strong as its audience targeting. 

To continue the car insurance example, I wouldn’t use messaging and imagery aimed at young drivers in a social campaign targeted at older audiences and I wouldn’t bid on keywords like “car insurance for young drivers” if my target market was older motorists.

Those are obvious examples; you don’t need to be a professional marketer to avoid falling into those traps. 

But getting your targeting even slightly off can have expensive consequences.

Consider this: the average cost per click (CPC) of a Google search ad is $2.69, although it’s far higher in some industries. 

If you’re in the legal sector, generating just 100 clicks would cost you an average of $675. That’s a lot of money to spend on the wrong audience.

CPCs are slightly cheaper on Facebook, but businesses in the finance and insurance space still pay an average of $377 for 100 clicks. 

You can’t afford to throw that sort of money away by reaching the wrong target market.

But there’s more to it than that. 

Google and Facebook (and all the other big social sites) use what’s known as a “quality score” or “relevance score.” When you run paid campaigns, you’re given a score from 1-10 based on your ad’s relevance to the target audience.

Here’s the important part: your quality score directly impacts where your ad ranks, and how much you pay to rank there. 

If you bid the same as your competitor, but you have a higher quality score, your ads are more likely to reach your audience. In fact, if your quality score is much higher than theirs, you can outrank them while spending less.

Target Audience for Organic vs. Paid Ads

There’s no such thing as an “organic audience” or a “paid audience.” We’re all the same; our activity just varies depending on our place in the buyer cycle.

What do I mean by this?

To explain, I’m going to use search as an example. As a rule, people are much less likely to click on paid than organic listings. In fact, just under half of Google searches end in an organic click, compared to about one in 22 that result in a paid click.

But that doesn’t mean paid search is a waste of money, because paid listings beat organic listings by a ratio of almost 2:1 for keywords with high commercial intent. 

That means paid clickers are generally more qualified; they’ve done their research, they know they need a certain product or solution, and they’re ready to buy.

How to Find Your Ideal Target Market for PPC and Paid Social Campaigns

If you offer a niche product or service (like car insurance for young drivers), your target market is pretty clear. 

Things get more complex if you have an incredibly diverse customer base, or a mass-market product or service. But it’s still possible to drill down to a target market for your PPC and paid social activity.

1. Search for Commonalities in Your Current Customer Base

Unless you’re a brand new business, you’ll already have a customer base. Those customers hold the key to understanding your ideal target market.

They likely share some key behaviors, characteristics, or interests, even if they’re super diverse on the face of things. It’s doubtful the only thing binding them together is a shared love of your brand. 

Consider the following data points:

Age: Aim for a broad age range or generation. Are they Baby Boomers or Gen X? Millennials or Zoomers?

Stage of life: Are they college students? New parents, or parents of older children? Middle-aged or retired?

Location: Where are they based? Are they all in the same time zone?

Buying power: How affluent are they? Would they see your product or service as a big-ticket item?

Interests: What do they do when they’re not buying your product? Do they have a favorite sports team, music artist, or TV show?

Pain points: What reasons do they have for seeking out a product like yours?

None of these factors will tell you everything about your target market, and you shouldn’t use a single characteristic, like age or location, to define how you speak to them. But in combination, these characteristics will help you target more effectively.

2. Understand Why People Buy From You

You know who your existing customers are; now you need to figure out why they’re your customers in the first place. 

People buy for any number of reasons, but some of the most common include:

To fill a basic need: The bottom tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, including things like food and shelter.

Out of convenience: You have an immediate need (say, you’re thirsty), so you take the fastest or simplest route to purchase (such as heading to the nearest coffee shop.)

As a replacement or upgrade: Maybe your old suit doesn’t fit so well anymore, or perhaps it’s finally time to upgrade to a smart TV.

Because it’s aspirational: Buying a slick new watch or an expensive car might raise your standing in other people’s eyes.

Due to peer pressure: Your friends want you to buy something, so you do.

To indulge yourself: Sure, you don’t need this thing, but you deserve it (or at least, that’s what you tell yourself.)

Because it’s the latest trend or innovation: Just look at the queues when a new iPhone launches.

It offers great value: Maybe a product you’ve been eyeing for a long time is on sale, or maybe it’s something you’ve never considered before but the deal is too good to ignore.

Sometimes, a purchase will fall into multiple categories. A new car could be aspirational, a replacement for an older model, and much more efficient than your old gas guzzler.

Try to understand the most significant reason people choose your product. To find out, run a customer survey, asking things like:

Why were you looking for this product in the first place?

Why did you buy from us, rather than a rival?

What other factors played a part in your decision-making process?

What would have stopped you from buying our product?

3. Follow the Target Market Data

Want to know the biggest reason startups fail?

It’s not because they run out of money or price their product too high. It’s because there’s no market need for their product.

This is what happens when the people behind a business are so blinded they don’t stop to figure out if anyone needs what they’re selling. They run off assumptions rather than data.

Don’t fall into the same trap. Never assume you know your target market and understand what motivates them to purchase if you haven’t taken the time to ask them. When they respond, use those answers to guide your marketing, rather than following gut instinct.

How to Incorporate Your Target Market Into Your Paid Ads

Once you understand your target market, you can use those learnings to inform your paid ad strategy. Here’s how to do it.

1. Segment Your Target Market

Chances are, your research has identified multiple subsets within your overarching target market. You could reach all of those demographics at once with a single, super generic campaign. 

However, you’ll likely see much stronger results from segmenting your audience and targeting each segment with different ads.

McDonald’s is a fantastic example. Look how the fast-food giant defines its target market:

It’s trying to reach literally everyone! While most of its campaigns have a broad reach, it doesn’t always target all of us with the same ads.

As you’d expect from a huge multinational corporation, its targeting is extremely sophisticated and subtle. Let’s look at two McDonald’s ads, both aimed at a young target market, and both broadly related to issues like activism and social justice.

Almost half the audience for this ad was people aged 18-24. It’s cool, inclusive, and directs users toward YouTube, a platform with exceptionally high reach among younger audiences.

Here’s another example: 

The audience for this ad skewed older, with 50% of the audience aged 25-34. It wasn’t even shown to people in the 18-24 age range, which likely reflects the more serious, corporate-sounding tone of voice.

2. Hone in on Your Target Market Through Demographic Targeting

Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn offer many demographic options to reach your ideal target market through social ads. Those options start at the top level, incorporating things like:

location

age

gender

However, it’s possible to get much more granular. 

By using Facebook Audience Insights, you can play around with all those options to understand your target market’s size and makeup. For instance, here’s a top-level breakdown for people in the US interested in digital marketing or digital advertising:

That’s a useful starting point for understanding this target market, but it’s possible to dig much deeper. If I tighten my search from all people interested in digital advertising and marketing, to just men with those interests who are aged 25-34 and live in California, I can see they’re:

almost certainly university-educated

most likely to work in sales or production

interested in Gary Vaynerchuk and Tim Ferriss

almost twice as likely to click ads as the average Facebook user

The more you already know about your audience, the more you can find out about them. It’s a virtuous circle.

3. Exclude Specific Audiences From Paid Search Campaigns

You’ve done your research, segmented your target market into smaller subsets, and built unique paid search campaigns with dedicated landing pages for each audience.

But there’s a problem. 

People are clicking ads aimed at different audiences, which means they’re shown landing pages that aren’t relevant to them. Rather than buying, they’re clicking off and heading straight to your competitors.

Fortunately, you can eradicate this issue (and others) with audience exclusions. They allow you to:

stop targeting existing customers

exclude people who are better suited to a different campaign

remove website visitors who’ve already performed the desired action

To add audience exclusions to your Google Ads campaigns, follow these steps:

Sign in to your Google Ads account.

Click “Audiences.”

Click “Exclusions.”

Click the blue “plus” icon.

Select “Campaign” or “Ad group” from the drop-down menu.

Click the pencil icon and select the relevant campaign or ad group.

Use “Search” and “Browse” to find the audiences you want to exclude.

Click “Save.”

Conclusion

As with any element of marketing strategy, identifying your ideal target market takes time. If you’re in a hurry to launch your paid campaigns and start generating results, it’s a step you might want to skip.

But I guarantee it’s worth investing the energy upfront. You’ll reach more of the right people. You’re more likely to convert leads and generate more sales. And you’ll save money by cutting down on inefficient campaigns.

What tactics have you used to define your ideal target market?

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Why SaaS Brand Advocacy is More Important than Ever in 2021

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It’s no secret that the field of marketing is constantly evolving, and SaaS brands are not immune from the challenges that arise due to the fast-paced nature of the field. One great way SaaS companies can keep up is through brand advocacy.

2021 SaaS Trends that Affect Brand Advocacy

For starters, consider the overwhelming push toward personalization.

According to a Forbes article, 71% of consumers “feel frustrated when a shopping experience is impersonal.” 74% are displeased with websites that aren’t personalized.

This signals the need for SaaS brands to segment their content assets and interfaces to hone in on messages that speak directly to specific customers. Personalization will continue to be expected in the years to come, and brands will have to figure out how to deliver it.

In the SaaS industry, where every interaction is ideally tracked, the opportunities for personalization are enormous.

Changes to Facebook’s algorithm a few years ago have also caused organic reach for pages to remain in decline, though you may still be able to find some success in organic if you get creative.

There’s also the rise of automation to think about.

New and existing SaaS companies are investing heavily in AI and machine learning to reduce churn and win more new customers simultaneously. From services that provide A/B testing to conversational bots that capture leads on-site, brands are rapidly experimenting with new ways to optimize their content.

Why Brand Advocacy is Such a Big Deal for SaaS

Simply put, your content marketing strategy is at the core of your capacity to adapt as a SaaS brand. Beyond the basic benefits of driving traffic and raising brand awareness, an effective content strategy is essential to consistently nurture and onboard leads.

Conventional wisdom says that we should shell out piles of money for paid media or sponsoring influencer posts to grab people’s attention. However, is this sort of “pay-to-play” strategy really the best way to go?

In an era where social proof is such a powerful currency for marketers, it’s more important than ever for SaaS marketers to seek out brand advocates wherever they possibly can.

Who could possibly be better brand advocates than your own customers and employees? These people are already emotionally invested in your product’s success, and they know your brand better than anyone else.

Encouraging your own network to promote your content and product from their personal social accounts is a potential game-changer for SaaS brands. Rather than spend the resources to chase paid outlets and influencers, brands should focus on advocacy, which can produce better results in a shorter amount of time.

“By creating a product that solved a problem that a lot of people faced, it meant there were already millions of people looking for us when we launched,” Canva CEO Melanie Perkins told Forbes, “so when they found us, they told their colleagues, friends and families.”

Here are some of the biggest benefits associated with brand advocacy, along with some ways that SaaS marketers can get started with realizing them.

1. Overcome Content Overload

In an era where people are on their phones nearly 4 hours or more per day, your customers obviously have a lot to sift through.

While the concept of “quality content” might be cliché at this point, consider how a higher volume of shares highlights a piece of content as buzzworthy. This is social proof at its best.

Content shares and product recommendations work because people trust peers and thought leaders more than they trust brands and institutions.

Bear in mind that employees who serve as active advocates on social media can quickly emerge as influencers on your behalf. Indeed, transforming your own employees into thought leaders is a desirable byproduct of brand advocacy.

2. Expand Your Organic Reach through Brand Advocacy

No matter how you slice it, competition in the SaaS space is fierce.

Considering that there are approximately 8,000 brands in the martech space alone, SaaS companies must fight tooth and nail for the attention of potential customers.

Think of advocacy as a sort of numbers game. The more people promoting your content, paid or otherwise, the more likely you are to break through the noise and reach the people who need your product most.

When you encourage employees to regularly promote your content with their own social media audiences, you essentially amass a small army of promoters you can call on time and time again. Through social brand advocacy, you exponentially increase your social reach and potential to be seen by leads.

Keep in mind – in many cases, all it takes is for the right person to see a link and opt-in for a free trial to pave the way to the sale.

TOPO CEO Scott Albro notes that the smaller the company your prospect works for, the more likely he or she will be to stick with your product once the trial period expires:

“SaaS buyers won’t engage in more than one trial. Our data shows that this is particularly true in the small and medium size business market where buyers tend to comparison-shop less. You need to make sure that buyers find your trial first. You also need to make sure that you don’t squander that opportunity when you get it.”

3. Engage Your Employees to Help Grow Brand Awareness

Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of encouraging brand advocates among employees is the actual task of asking them to do so.

While most workers would be glad to promote your content, keep in mind that brands should treat advocacy like any other sort of campaign. That means having a defined strategy and measuring performance.

However, SaaS teams often have highly specialized skill sets. You can’t expect everyone to be a seasoned content marketer and social seller, too.

Instead of having employees post content haphazardly, consider some of the tools out there that help streamline the process of internal brand advocacy. You can also help them with the content of their post.

One such tool is Smarp, which aggregates company news and industry-relevant content to categorized feeds. Team members can pick up the content that speaks to them most and schedule posts for their own profiles with just a few clicks.

This cuts down on potential wastes of time on social media and streamlines the process of sharing new content amongst your workers.

Features such as gamification signal the most active advocates within any given company, providing additional incentives for employees to become eager advocates. In addition to content aggregation, Smarp provides analytics on both a company-wide and personal level to identify top advocates.

This type of system works because it makes employees from all departments into partners in your SaaS product’s exponential sales growth success, a process which Roketto Co-founder Ulf Lonegren compares to the growth of a tree that spawns more trees:

“Make your employees proud of the work they do, make them feel like an important part of the process by reminding them how the software provides value and informing them of the successes, listen to their ideas, and provide a sales chart in the engine room that tracks the progress. Set sales goals and provide rewards for reaching those goals. Provide incentives for team members to make sales. In this world of mass marketing, word of mouth often provides the authenticity that buyers want when seeking a product, so remember that every member of your team could be that one oak tree, and from one tree many nuts can fall.”

4. Supercharge Your Social Selling

SaaS customers are heavily influenced by what they see on social media when it comes time to make purchases.

This rings true in terms of how often they see content and the sharers of that content. If social posts from sales pros, marketers, and brands themselves are deemed less worthy of people’s attention than social posts from peers and laymen, then your prospects are more likely to respond favorably to content shared by a high volume of people.

Research from Sana, published in 2018, indicates that social media is the number two driver of digital sales in the B2B sector, ranking just behind onsite buying. This is how the brand advocacy strategy can really boost your sales. The more people who share your content across social channels, the more customers you attract to your business.

According to LinkedIn, 87% of social customers have a favorable view of products that were introduced to them through their own network. By promoting products via employees, you have access to personal networks that you might not otherwise reach exclusively through a brand channel.

Last year, B2B buyers looked at 13 content pieces before selecting a vendor. Similarly, 61% of customers have made a purchase based on a recommendation from a blog.

A greater number of brand advocates translates into more brand equity in the minds of potential customers, which makes it easier for sales reps to build relationships on social channels and to close more deals in shorter sales cycles.

This is fortunate, as sales cycles need as much shortening as they can get, in order to remain scalable. The Bridge Group’s Matt Bertuzzi notes that the total contract value for a SaaS conversion correlates with the number of days it takes sales reps to seal the deal. According to his firm’s data, B2B SaaS sales cycles can last anywhere from five weeks to five months.

Dennis Koutoudis from LinkedIn SuperPowers told SalesHacker that he sees prospecting on social media, especially on LinkedIn, being the key SaaS sales opportunities:

“I predict that the usage of LinkedIn Sales Navigator by Sales Teams will increase considerably, enabling them both to zero in on their target prospects with extreme precision and also to delve deeper into Social Selling. The key here is to focus on providing value, build trust and develop solid professional relationships with target prospects that will ultimately improve sales figures. Great emphasis will also be placed on the way we present ourselves as Sales Professionals on the LinkedIn platform since with such fierce competition, now more than ever, we need to not only stand out in our professional field but also to engage in actions that will significantly increase our visibility on the LinkedIn platform.”

Prospecting platforms are major game-changers in this regard. Social selling teams can use them to scale operations, thanks to smart libraries of content assets that reps can append to posts on the fly, as well as sophisticated contact intelligence data that can be used for qualifying leads mid-discussion and enriching CRM entries.

5. Keep Your Content Budget Under Control

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 46% of brands spent less than $1000,000 on digital marketing budget in 2020. Given the emphasis on automation and other tools that could potentially cut into any given SaaS company’s budget, a leaner content marketing strategy just plain makes sense.

When your employees and customers are doing the legwork of promoting your brand, you cut out any sort of middleman when it comes to promotion. While there might be a time and place for paid media or influencers, SaaS brands should focus on an organic promotion strategy that keeps costs down.

Encouraging brand advocacy costs next to nothing compared to paid media. Additionally, popping up more and more via social media could actually score you earned media mentions as an added bonus.

Rather than paying for promotion and distribution, creating your own advocates represents a more financially sensible strategy.

Conclusion

As competition continues to emerge in the SaaS space, having voices on deck to promote your content becomes a critical piece of standing out from the crowd.

Not only does advocacy keep content marketing costs down, but allows SaaS brands to seamlessly signal their authority. Rather than pay for that same credibility, why not generate it yourself?

While marketing strategies at large never stay the same for long, brand advocacy is here to stay. If you want help growing your brand awareness or with any other content marketing needs, let us know!

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A Seller’s Guide to Etsy

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When Etsy first launched, its primary focus was independent crafters. However, Etsy gradually changed its approach and allowed larger businesses to join.

Now, you’ll find suppliers of packaging, materials, and other business essentials on there.

If you’ve visited Etsy recently, you may also have noticed sellers specializing in antiques and collectibles. Printables are popular, too.

With all these changes, it’s fair to say Etsy has gone from strength to strength. In 2019, it had over 45 million buyers, a notable increase from 2018.

Although these figures are impressive, it still lacks Amazon or eBay’s audience share. However, it’s affordable and easy to use, and most importantly, Etsy is a niche site, placing sellers in front of their ideal customers.

Anyone new to Etsy is bound to have a multitude of questions. This article aims to answer many of them. By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll have all you need to get started.

How to Prepare for Selling on Etsy

Before you begin selling on Etsy, you’ve got some work to do. Like any sales platform, Etsy works best when you research the competition, understand your buyers, and focus on a niche.

Research also helps you discover selling strategies and potential areas where you can outperform your competitors.

Research the Competition

The quickest way to find the top sellers is Etsy’s bestsellers page. Here, you’ll learn plenty just by taking a glance. The page features a diverse list of items in a variety of categories.

For instance, the page might display sustainable and educational items marketed toward children, seasonal clothes or accessories, and personalized and bespoke jewelry.

Click on any one of these bestsellers, and you’ll learn even more. When you’re checking out your competitors, focus on:

The kind of feedback they’re receiving

How they brand their store

Whether they’re offering free shipping or special discounts

If the products are personalized

The information included in descriptions

The amount and type of images they use

Their shipping and return policies

How they integrate keywords

Delve Into Etsy Data

Now that you understand the basics of a good listing, you might want to go deeper. With some data to inform your decisions, you’ll have greater confidence you’re targeting the right products.

You’ll find there are some great tools to get you started. For instance, Marmalead uses machine learning to help you:

Discover trends

Analyze pricing

Find keywords

Optimize listings

Marmalead costs $19 a month, or $15.83 if you pay for an annual subscription upfront.

Identify Your Etsy Niche

One way of getting started is listing various items to see what sells. However, you’re likely to get off to a better start if you trade in a niche. Selling this way makes it easier to market to your ideal customers.

What should you look for in a niche? Ideally, you’ll want something that’s a popular seller and something you’re also passionate about. Further, when you’re selecting products for your niche, focus on profitability, ease of shipping, and items that have high demand but low competition.

There’s more to it than that, though. You’ll also want to focus on creating a unique style: something definitively yours that others will have a hard time copying.

Understand Your Buyers

Before you can sell to your customers, you need to understand them. Start by looking at Etsy from your customers’ perspective. If you were buying, what would you expect to see from a product? What search terms would you use? What instills confidence when you read a product listing?

Now refine this to more specific questions. Etsy has a great list of the top 20 questions buyers ask, which can help you get inside your buyer’s mind.

How to Create an Etsy Account

It’s free and easy to set up your Etsy account. Just follow these steps:

Go to Etsy’s website and click Register at the top of the page.

Fill out your email address, first name, and password.

Click Register.

Wait for the confirmation email to arrive (it’ll take a few minutes), and then click the confirmation link.

That’s it! You’ve created your Etsy account, and you’re almost ready to list your first item. However, before you can do that, Etsy will want some financial information.

Etsy wants two things from you: a PayPal account so you can receive payments and pay for your listings, plus your bank account details if you’re in a country that can receive Etsy payments.

How to Set Up a Listing on Etsy

Once you’ve submitted your financial details, your account should be ready to go, and it’s time to start listing items. To do this, look for the Shop Manager button at the top of the page.

Scroll down to Listings. You’ll find it on the left side.

Click on Add a Listing at the top on the right side.

Start by adding a photo. Etsy allows up to 10 pictures.

You also have the option to upload a video that shows the product in closer detail. Videos must be 5 to 15 seconds long and in high resolution.

Etsy Listing Details

Listing the item is the most time-consuming part due to the multiple drop-down options. 

Start with your item title and remember to include keywords. There’s plenty of free tools you can use to get ideas, like Ubersuggest.

Next, you’ll see a drop-down menu labeled “Who made it?” There are three options to choose from. Etsy just wants to know if you made the item yourself, a member of your team or shop made it, or it’s from a manufacturer.

Now, you’ll move on to the “What is it?” drop-down menu. You’ll find two choices here: a finished product or a tool to make things.

Finally, there’s the “When was it made?” drop-down menu. Etsy gives you a list of dates to choose from: Recently, Vintage, and Not Yet Made for made-to-order items.

For the next step, fill out the Category box. Enter up to three words, and you’ll see a list of categories appear. Find the most suitable one by clicking on the drop-down menu that appears.

Fill out your renewable options. Here, choose from Automatic or Manual. Etsy recommends the Automatic choice, which costs 20 cents per listing and lasts for 4 months.

Complete the Type section. This indicates whether your listing is for a digital or physical product.

Your next step is the Description. Now it’s time to get creative. Like a Google snippet, Etsy buyers will see just the first few lines. Make sure to include the item’s unique features and keywords. Etsy suggests including the process behind the product or your brand’s story too. However, if you want some more inspiration, Etsy has an article on writing great descriptions.

You can now add these optional details:

Sections: This allows you to group related items.

Tags: Think of them as keywords to help shoppers find your items.

Materials: Detail the materials or components.

Now it’s time for the inventory and pricing. You should have a good idea of pricing by now from looking at similar products. Fill out the boxes and remember to account for your labor, material costs, and shipping. Next:

Quantity: Enter the amount you have for sale.

SKU: You can also enter an SKU, but this is optional.

Variations: Here’s where you’ll list different colors, designs, sizing.

Personalization: Select the “On” option on the right side. You’ll then see a box labeled “Instructions for Buyers.” Add any personalization instructions.

You’re almost there! You’ve just got to select your shipping options.

Etsy Shipping

The final step is shipping. There are four boxes for you to complete:

shipping options

origin

processing times

fixed shipping prices

At the bottom of the page on the right side, you have three choices: Preview, Save as Draft, and Publish. Publish will list your item live on Etsy. However, it’s always a good idea to preview it first.

Tips for Selling on Etsy

There’s more to a good Etsy listing than SEO keywords. It’s best to have clear descriptions, strong branding, good customer reviews, and an up-to-date bio. Let’s discuss these.

Write the Perfect Description

This article has already covered the essentials of writing strong product descriptions. However, as they are such an essential part of your Etsy business, there’s space for more. Aside from detailed, keyword-rich, honest descriptions, you should also use:

your brand voice

short, punchy paragraphs 

bullet points

creativity

Brand Your Etsy Shop

Branding builds confidence and loyalty. It gives you a unique voice that buyers recognize, helping you get noticed in a crowded market.

Begin branding by identifying your unique selling point. Then:

Detail the story behind your business and integrate keywords.

Use your understanding of your customer demographics to appeal to them.

Create a tagline or statement. Make it something memorable.

When you’ve decided what you want your brand to look and sound like, start working on its cohesiveness. Ensure your Etsy shop, packaging materials, and everything in between has the same look, style, and tone. Most importantly, make sure it’s uniquely yours.

Keep Your Shop Bio Current

Don’t just use your bio to tell buyers who you are. Use it to make shop announcements, offer discounts, and highlight sales and new listings. If there’s anything else worthy of including in your bio that will differentiate you, include that too. For instance, if you’ve gained a further diploma in art or jewelry making, shout about it.

You could also add your latest or best reviews, any publicity you’re picking up, or any changes you’ve made to order processes, returns, and disclaimers.

Encourage Etsy Reviews

It’s no secret that getting reviews encourages customers to buy. However, getting your first bit of feedback isn’t always easy, even if the customer is happy.

That said, there are some ways you can actively encourage your customers to leave a review. You could:

Put a note in with orders: Include a polite message with each order you send out asking your buyer to leave feedback. Remember to invite your buyer to contact you directly if they’re unhappy in any way.

Use your listings: In your listings, explain the importance of feedback to your business and ask customers to leave feedback once they receive their items or to contact you directly if they have any questions.

Get friends and family to buy an item: OK, so it’s cheating a little bit, but one way of kicking off your feedback is to ask people you know to purchase an item and give an honest opinion.

Advertise Your Etsy Shop

One way to advertise your shop is Etsy Ads. Etsy’s PPC feature works pretty much like any other PPC advertising campaign. Once started, these ads give you better visibility on Etsy’s search engines, and Etsy will show your ads through a mix of its properties.

To sign up:

Sign in and choose Shop Manager.

Choose the Marketing option.

Click Advertising and select your budget. The default amount is $1 daily.

Check your advert and then choose Advertise.

In addition, don’t forget to make the most of free advertising opportunities. Consider posting on social media, encouraging word of mouth, or joining an Etsy Team.

Provide Excellent Customer Service

Regardless of your seller status, you can always offer stellar customer service, such as emailing customers to confirm orders and shipping. They will get notifications from Etsy, but customers always appreciate a personal touch.

Remember, excellent customer service starts before the customer orders. You can achieve this by writing detailed item descriptions, having clear shopping policies, and using quality images.

You could also focus on building customer relationships by inviting customers to sign up for your newsletters, following up with customers post-sale, and encouraging future purchases through special offers and discounts.

Conclusion

If you sell in the arts and crafts niche, Etsy could be a solid option. It provides a ready audience of millions of customers every year, and it’s easy and affordable to get started.

However, with so many sellers on Etsy, it’s hard to differentiate yourself from the competition. That’s why it’s vital to do your research and find out what other sellers are doing before setting up shop.

Once you understand the fundamentals of branding, establishing a loyal audience, and creating a unique proposition, you have every chance of success.

Do you sell on Etsy? Tell us about your experiences.

Google

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How to Get an SSL Certificate

email marketing 101 basics

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Your websites must look legitimate and trustworthy. Especially if you want to boost sales, revenue, and customer loyalty or even rank higher on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

And the best way to do it? Getting an SSL certificate.

I have one, and I strongly encourage you to get one, too.

But what’s all this fuss about getting an SSL certificate?

Having top-notch website security and a stellar reputation is necessary to look trustworthy to any audience. And while you may know your website is secure, you can’t assume your visitors will have the same impression, especially with recent events of data hacks and security breaches.

This is where SSL comes into the picture.

An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a bit of code on your web server that enables an encrypted connection to keep all your online communications secure and hidden. 

Think of it like sealing a letter in an envelope before sending it through the mail.

Websites with an active SSL certificate have their application protocol change from HTTP to HTTPS. Just look at our website address:

If you want to win brownie points in the eyes of your visitors, getting an SSL certificate should be your top priority.

As a staunch advocate of SSL certificates and somebody who has owned and managed dozens of websites throughout my career, I’m going to show you how to get an SSL certificate.

Want to hear something even better? I’ll tell you how you can get it for free with Bluehost.

Your 2-Minute Cheat Sheet

In a hurry and want the gist of the whole guide? I got you.

The first thing you need to do is visit Bluehost. It’s reliable, renowned, and pretty much all the positive adjectives you would use to describe a good web hosting provider.

As there are different web hosting types, you have to decide the right kind for your website first. Consider aspects like the amount of traffic you experience, whether or not you have the technical knowledge to handle servers, and of course, your budget.

Every business is unique—including yours. Don’t choose a web hosting type just because your friend decided to. Instead, select one based on your requirements. 

For instance, shared hosting would be a wonderful choice for startups. But for websites experiencing larger traffic volumes, it could be disastrous. Dedicated hosting services would be much better for larger websites to handle their daily traffic and maintain fast speeds.

The next few steps revolve around signing up for your Bluehost account.

You should select a subscription plan after taking into account their respective top features and freebies. Don’t worry, each one of them includes a free SSL certificate, so that part is covered. Thanks, Bluehost!

You’ll also need a domain name, which is your website’s exclusive address in the vast world of the internet. 

Don’t have any domain ideas right away? No worries, you can skip this step and move on to filling in your personal details to create your account.

Next, you have to finalize your plan terms and payment details. 

While the SSL encryption will be automatically checked off on the displayed list, you can add other upsells like SiteLock Security and SEO tools if you want. I recommend opting for SiteLock Security as there’s no such thing as too much security when it comes to the internet. 

You can either pay via PayPal or with a credit card—whatever you find most convenient. Both options are equally safe, so you can rest easy when it comes to the security of your financial details.

Bluehost has a 30-day money-back guarantee. So, if you don’t like the service, you can always cancel it and get a full refund. Keep in mind that this guarantee doesn’t extend to add-on products.

Made it this far? Awesome.

All that remains is to activate the SSL. You have two options here, and the action you take will depend on whether the certificate is assigned to your website. These are as follows:

The SSL is automatically assigned to your website and will install itself on your account domains.

You have to enable the SSL certificate manually.

You don’t have to do anything in the first case. However, if you have to activate the SSL manually, there are a few extra steps involved. 

First, go to the Bluehost Control Panel. From there, select My Sites, and find the website you want to activate the SSL for. Click on the Manage Site button and then select the Security tab.

See the Free SSL certificate field? 

If you find the certificate is already turned on, the toggle will appear green. But if it isn’t, select On to activate it.

You now have a web hosting provider complete with SSL certification. Mission accomplished!

That was your quick cheat sheet. 

Now let’s focus on the details of getting an SSL certificate through Bluehost.

Step 1: Choose a Hosting Type for Your Website

Bluehost might very well be the most famous and reputable web hosting provider on the market. 

Not only is the hosting provider incredibly user-friendly and affordable, but you also get a free domain and SSL certificate—provided you buy one of its hosting subscription plans. 

Bluehost offers its users three hosting plans, each having its own features and benefits. These are:

Shared Hosting

Dedicated Hosting

VPS Hosting

Shared Hosting

This hosting type is most suitable for startups and small businesses. Here, multiple websites share the same server resources, making them more affordable and beginner-friendly. 

These benefits come at a price, though.

You may have to deal with slow loading times and potential performance-related problems. This, however, isn’t a deal-breaker since sites generally opting for shared hosting don’t expect lots of traffic.

Dedicated Hosting

People prefer dedicated hosting for its exclusivity and unparalleled performance. It allows you to run an entire server just for your website, eliminating the need to share it with anyone else. 

However, you must be prepared to pay a premium price for these premium features.

As larger sites are ready to pay a higher amount to efficiently manage higher traffic volumes and often have the technical knowledge to handle an exclusive server, dedicated hosting is the most useful for them.

VPS Hosting

Standing for virtual private service, VPS hosting is designed for websites that want better performance—one that’s better than shared hosting. 

The good thing about this hosting type is it provides you with guaranteed resources. While you’ll still be technically sharing a server with other websites, you’ll have dedicated resources on your virtual server.

You can choose from the above three plans based on your need and website size. 

Looking for an option specially tailored to meet your WordPress website needs?

Bluehost offers various hosting plans that come with an automatic WordPress installation, too. They are also optimized for WooCommerce, which can come in handy for users looking to launch an online store.

All in all, you have three options for web hosting. Choose a type that you feel suits your requirements the best.

Step 2: Choose a Hosting Plan

At this point, you have selected the type of hosting you want. The next step is to choose a subscription plan.

I’m going to assume you’re just starting out and would prefer the shared hosting plan. 

You get four plan options, starting at $2.95 per month (if you select the 36 months option).

As you can see from the screenshot above, every plan includes a free SSL certificate. So, it’s not like your options are limited—just try to select one that meets your requirements best.

Decided what you want? Great, now click on Select to continue.

Step 3: Register Your Domain Name

As mentioned before, Bluehost also gives you a free domain for the first year.

Bluehost will ask you to set up your domain by first entering a potential domain name and searching for its availability. Make sure you look for .com versions as it will make your website look more professional and trustworthy. 

If you already have a domain from elsewhere, you can enter it in the second box to Use a domain you own.

If you don’t have domain name ideas by this stage, don’t worry! You can skip this step and create your domain later.

Step 4: Fill in Your Account Details

Next up, you need to sign up for a Bluehost account. You’ll have to fill in some basic details about yourself or your business. This includes the following:

First name

Last name

Business name

Address

Phone number

Email address 

The whole process is pretty straightforward and will be over within a couple of minutes. 

Step 5: Select Your Plan Terms and Finalize Your Payment Details

I’ll recommend signing up for the 36-month plan to get the best deal. This may seem like a huge commitment initially, but trust me, it’s well worth it. Plus, why shouldn’t you take the best possible deal when it’s available?

Still, if 36 months sounds too big a commitment, you can always opt for the 24-month or 12-month plans.

You’ll see under Package Information, the Let’s Encrypt SSL is automatically added to your package without having to select or check off any boxes. 

There are several other upsells that Bluehost will show you, like SEO tools and SiteLock Security. While you can skip the SEO bit, I recommend SiteLock for better security because it covers malware detection, automatic malware removal, weekly scan reports, and file-level scanning.

You’ll need it later, so it makes sense to include it in your plan now.

Finally, all that’s left to do is make the payment. 

Enter your credit card details or pay directly via PayPal—the choice is yours. Your plan will renew automatically, but you won’t get the low introductory rates after your first term.

Step 6: Activate Your SSL Certificate

Generally, your SSL certificate will be automatically assigned to your website and install itself on all domains in your account. But there might also be cases where you have to enable the SSL certificate manually.

This is why it’s better to verify whether your SSL has been activated or not. What’s more, you can do this directly from your Bluehost control panel.

Here’s what you need to do:

Click on My Sites on the left-hand menu on your dashboard.

Choose the website whose SSL you want to activate, followed by selecting the Manage Site button.

After this, go to the Security menu tab located on the top of the screen.

Under the Security Certificate field, look for Free SSL Certificate section. 

If you find the certificate toggle is turned on (the toggle will be green in color like in the screenshot), you don’t have to do anything. If not, click on the On position to activate it.

After you’ve turned on the SSL settings, the certificate will take a few hours to install itself and activate fully. 

During this time, you should keep a close eye on your email in case Bluehost wants you to complete an action to continue the activation process.

Voila! You now have an SSL certificate activated and ready.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this guide on getting an SSL certificate and that it is helpful.

Don’t wait any longer if you don’t have an SSL certificate already. Hackers are always around the corner, and thinking your website will remain safe is just wishful thinking.

Want options other than Bluehost? 

You can go for other renowned web hosting providers like HostGator, WPEngine, Dreamhost, and InMotion. Head over to our best web hosting provider guide if you want a more in-depth analysis of each option.

Which web hosting provider do you prefer for an SSL certificate? Tell me all about it!

Youtobe

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Need Leads ASAP? Quora Marketing is the Best Lead Gen Hack

email marketing for restaurants

Businesses live and die based on leads.

Without leads, no one converts. Without conversions, no one pays. Without payments, your business dies.

But generating leads is easier said than done.

After all, it takes a long time for SEO to impact your business. PPC sports varied results.

Social media requires a lot of attention, and banner ads don’t really work very well these days.

So what’s the answer?

For some of you, Quora might be your next best lead-generation hack.

As of March 2016, the platform was up to 300 million monthly unique users.

But, I don’t want to assume that you’re familiar with the platform.

Maybe you’re new to Quora or have never even heard of it.

So let’s take a moment to talk about exactly what Quora is.

What is Quora?

Quora is kind of a social media platform, but it’s far different from most.

Quora is similar to Twitter in that you can follow other people, but it isn’t nearly as free-flowing.

It’s similar to Facebook because you can interact with other people, but not through direct messaging.

Quora’s individuality is what makes it so effective for lead generation.

In its most basic form, Quora is a social media platform for asking and answering questions.

You can play on either side of the coin. You can ask questions you would like an expert to answer or you can answer questions that other people have posted.

For lead generation, you’ll play the part of the expert more than the asker.

Starting to see why the platform is so effective for driving traffic and leads to your website?

It allows you to interact with your customers and prospects, answer their questions, and communicate with them in a way that no other social media site does.

But those are just a few reasons.

Here are a few more.

Why is Quora Good For Lead Gen?

Yes, Quora allows you to communicate with your customers.

But it’s more than that.

After all, you can communicate with your customers in a lot of different places.

Email, Facebook, and Twitter are just a few ways the Internet allows you to contact your prospects.

However, there’s something that Quora offers that helps it stand apart from the other platforms.

Namely, it’s the ability to interact with prospects and customers in a place where they are asking the questions.

While email, Facebook, and Twitter all have notoriously low click-through, open, and response rates, Quora doesn’t.

On Quora, the consumer starts the interaction rather than your business, which means that they are already invested in the conversation.

On Quora, your prospects and customers are already asking questions — questions that you have the answers to.

Here’s another reason to consider Quora for lead gen–their audience is more likely to have a college degree, be a manager, and have a higher income.

If that’s your target audience, then Quora is a good place to be.

If you join the platform and play the part of the expert, you’ll quickly enhance your brand’s image in the eyes of your target audience and drive leads to your website.

How, exactly, can you do that?

Specifically, here are 11 ways to make the most of Quora.

1. Create a Compelling Profile

The very first thing you need to do on Quora is to enhance your profile.

When someone sees that you’ve answered one of their questions, what’s the first thing they’re going to do?

That’s right. They’re going to click on your profile to see who you are, where you work, and what you’re an expert at.

If a user clicks through to your profile and sees something unoptimized, they won’t trust your opinion, even if you answer a question with detail and expertise.

In other words, the answers you provide for people are only as good as your profile’s optimization.

Here’s what my profile looks like.

For the most part, Quora will walk you through all of the optimizations you need to create a trustworthy profile.

But let me point out three important aspects of my own.

First, notice the part that says “Forbes Top 10 Marketer and NY Times Best Selling Author.” That immediately establishes a lot of authority.

People think, “Wow! This guy really knows what he’s talking about.”

You want to do the same thing with your profile. Include a few noteworthy accomplishments in this section.

Second, look at the credentials and highlights on the right side of the screen. Be sure to include your location and your business title to add some personality.

And lastly, choose your profile image carefully.

When someone sees your profile image, they form an opinion of you.

They could assume that you’re friendly, arrogant, approachable, or lazy all based on that little photo.

So, you need to make sure that you include an image that expresses how you want to be perceived.

Ideally, your profile picture will make you look professional, approachable, and smart.

Once you optimize your profile for visitors’ eyes, you can move on to these next tips.

2. Follow Relevant Quora Topics

Setting up your profile to communicate your expertise is the first step in your Quora lead gen journey.

The next thing you need to do is follow any topics that apply directly to your target industry.

This will allow Quora to consistently update you on relevant questions that people are asking.

That means that you won’t have to go searching for them. You can simply look at your home dashboard.

To follow different topics, type into the search bar any subjects within your industry that you want to engage in.

Then, click on the result with the word “Topic:” next to it.

This will take you to the topic page of your selected result. All you have to do now is click on “Follow Topic” on the right side.

Now, Quora will notify you about conversations going on under this topic.

Do the same thing with any other topics that you want to follow. Remember that you want to choose as many subjects within your industry as you can.

The more you follow, the more opportunities you’ll get to engage with customers and prospects and drive leads to your website.

3. Show Your Expertise on Quora

When you’re answering other people’s questions on Quora, you need to be sure to establish yourself as the expert.

You might answer a lot of questions, but you also need to give people a reason to trust those answers.

Unfortunately, they aren’t going to do it just out of the kindness of their hearts.

There are several ways to build expertise when answering a question.

The first way is to make sure you have a professional looking profile picture. Something like this, for example.

Also, you should write like you’re a professional who knows what they’re talking about.

If you write like you deserve attention, more people will listen.

But if you write timidly, then more people will be nervous about trusting you. Here’s what writing professionally might look like for you.

The final ways to establish expertise with your answers is by starting off with a brief explanation of why you’re an expert.

Quickly explain why you know a lot about the topic or why people should trust you.

You do something similar to what Da Zheng does with the beginning of his answer.

Regardless of which tactic you use to establish yourself as the expert, make sure that you take the extra time to explain why you know a lot about the given topic.

Then, when people are upvoting answers, yours will be at the top.

4. Be Genuinely Helpful

Before you get carried away with establishing yourself as an expert, remember that you also need to be genuinely helpful.

The people who gain the largest followings on Quora are the same people who provide authentically meaningful answers about topics they are actually familiar with.

The last thing you want to do is talk about why you’re an expert and then have a cruddy answer to the person’s question.

You’re the expert, so be the expert.

Answer questions in a way that will actually help the people on the other side.

Otherwise, you’ll waste your time.

Consider the value that Tanya Russell gives in her answer to a question about social media.

Her response is remarkably long, and I couldn’t capture the whole thing in a screenshot.

But here is the introduction.

She goes on like that for quite some time, providing true value with each new point.

Your answers should do the same thing.

Consider this response from Joyce del Rosario.

Again, this is just the introduction.

Joyce includes lots of images, bolded text, and helpful advice to guide her reader.

If you do the same thing, it won’t just help your readers, though. It will also establish trust with your prospects, build brand awareness, and even drive traffic to your website.

5. Contact Your Quora Followers

On Quora, you can only direct message people who have their settings adjusted accordingly.

Unfortunately, that’s going to severely limit how many people you can get in touch with privately.

However, you have another option as well.

Instead of direct messaging your prospects and customers to learn about their questions, desires, and pains, you can ask them a question publically.

Doing so is quite simple, and it’s a great way to learn about your target market.

All you have to do is click on “Followers” on your profile page.

Then, you’ll see a list that looks something like this.

Decide who you want to ask a question and click on their name.

This will take you to their profile. From there, you can click the “Ask Question” prompt and start engaging with them.

You could ask them about what they think of your business, what their favorite online tools are, or how they would rate your customer service.

And the best part is that, since the question is public, other people can comment and engage in the thread as well.

6. Track Your Quora Analytics

Unlike most social media platforms, Quora also has an analytics dashboard for all of its users.

You can see your number of upvotes, views, and shares all in one place.

And checking this dashboard regularly is critical to your Quora lead-generation strategy.

After all, if you don’t know how well your current tactics are working, then you won’t be able to learn, adapt, or iterate.

So make sure that you check your stats dashboard at least once per week.

Doing so is simple.

Just click on your profile image at the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Then, click on “Stats.”

You’ll see a dashboard like this that is full of valuable information for you to digest.

When numbers are good, try to identify what you’re doing right and replicate your actions.

When numbers are low, identify what you’re doing wrong and learn how to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Either way, you can learn and iterate your marketing strategy.

7. Leverage Trackback Links

To leverage all of the benefits that Quora has to offer, you need to understand what trackback links are.

Basically, they are Quora’s version of backlink, or links that go from an external website to your website.

When this happens, that link tells Google that an external website trusts your URL, which can massively influence your SEO.

In fact, generally speaking, the more backlinks a website has, the better they’re going to rank on Google.

Now, let me clarify.

I’m not telling you to constantly stuff backlinks into your answers so that it becomes annoying.

I simply want you to be aware of trackback links so that you can include backlinks to your website tactfully in your Quora answers.

Remember, the whole point of answering questions on Quora is to provide genuine value. If you stuff hyperlinks into your answers, that will hurt any trust you’ve built up with prospects and customers.

Here’s what a trackback link looks like on my profile.

Here’s what it looks like in an answer to a question.

Include these links to win some SEO benefit, but don’t go over the top. You want to insert links where it will be genuinely valuable for other users. Otherwise, leave them out.

8. Create Content Around Quora Questions on Your Website

One of the greatest benefits of Quora is that it tells you what your target market is looking for.

Often, marketers have a difficult time discovering the true desires, concerns, pains, and knowledge-lacking areas of their ideal customer.

With Quora, you can discover those things instantly.

All you have to do is type your target industry or topic into the search bar.

Then click on the result you want with the word “Topic:” next to it.

This screen will show up.

You can repurpose all of those questions into titles on your own website’s blog.

Since these are the questions that people are asking regarding your industry, you’ll attract a lot of people by answering them.

Simply take a title, alter it a bit, and create a piece of content around it.

9. Share Your Most Popular Quora Answers

As you engage more and more on Quora, some of your answers will perform better than others.

Every once in a while, you’ll hit a goldmine of attention. Users will view, upvote, and share your answer more than any of your others.

The last thing you want to do is let all of that potential go to waste.

While your Quora followers will pay plenty of attention to the answer, you can gain even more attention by sharing the answer on your social media channels.

Go to your profile and click on “Answers” on the left side of the screen.

Then, find an answer that is particularly lucrative and click on the share buttons in the lower right-hand corner.

From there, you’ll be able to share your answer, generating more traffic to it, and even drive traffic to your website if you include a backlink.

10. Automate Your Quora Process

After you spend some time on Quora, you may find yourself buried under piles of strenuous and monotonous work. There’s no way around having to spend hours researching relevant topics and keeping track of answers. 

Although Quora is relatively easy to navigate and has some impressive build-in analytics features, you may want to try ad hoc tools for streamlining the workflow. 

There’re not many tools that feature necessary tracking and question-research capabilities. One of the few working solutions is QuestionsPro, a software that aims to automate lead generation on Quora. 

The best thing about QuestionsPro is that find questions relevant to your website, Quora profile, or even a YouTube channel. This tool also incorporates several valuable metrics, that will help you estimate the traffic you get by answering this or that question on Quora.

11. Use Quora Ads  

Most of the strategies I’ve included here are organic–you answer questions and drive traffic over time by offering value.

However, there is a quicker Quora lead gen strategy: Quora ads.

Just like other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, Quora also lets you pay to reach their audience by paying.

The platform allows you to create ads based on objective, including conversions, traffic, and, yes, lead gen. Then you define your budget, audience, and select your bids.

Quora uses native ads, which disrupts the user experience less.

Quora ads can be used as a stand-alone strategy, or you can supplement some of the organic lead gen strategies above with a few ads.

Conclusion

Quora is a fantastic platform to grow your business’s bottom line.

You can generate the leads that your business requires to survive and thrive.

To leverage all of Quora’s potential, though, you need to understand how to use it.

Start by creating a compelling profile and following relevant topics.

Then, answer questions while showing your expertise and being genuinely helpful.

Finally, ask your followers public questions, track your analytics, leverage trackback links, create similar content on your website, and share your most popular answers on social media.

Don’t forget about Quora ads — they can be incredibly helpful at driving targeted leads to your site.

Do all of that, and few competitors will be able to keep up with your lead-generating Quora activity.

How do you use Quora to generate leads? Have you tried Quora ads? What results have you seen?

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Best Business Intelligence Software

email marketing top 10

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Business intelligence software has become a necessary tool in the era of big data.

Your organization collects tons of data about your customers, website, and total health of the company. But without BI software, making sense of that information is nearly impossible. This software exists so you can analyze various data sets and make data-driven decisions. 

For example, you can use BI software to predict consumer buying behavior or project the financial impact of an operations decision. Rather than waiting for a quarterly or annual report, you can leverage BI software for real-time data insights. 

Due to the complexity of business intelligence software, the vast majority of tools in this category are designed for large organizations, SMBs, and enterprises. 

The Top 6 Options For Business Intelligence Software

Zoho Analytics — Best for data visualization

TIBCO Jaspersoft — Best for embedded analytics

Entrinsik Informer — Best for Analyzing Multiple Departments

Sisense — Best BI Software for Complex Data

Chartio — Best for Simple Charts and Dashboards

Tableau — Most versatile BI software

How to Choose the Best Business Intelligence Software For You

Finding the right BI software for your business can be challenging if you don’t know what to look for.

I’ve created a simple buying guide with features, factors, and elements that must be taken into consideration as you’re shopping around.

Keep an eye out for the following aspects of BI software as you’re comparing solutions. This will help you narrow your search down to a single product that will fit your specific needs.

Data Sources

How are you going to integrate your existing data with your BI solution? Where is that data located?

Don’t make things more confusing for yourself. Make sure you find a business intelligence tool that makes it easy for you to connect with your existing data sources.

It’s worth noting that not every business intelligence software on the market will integrate with specific databases. So don’t make assumptions; always double-check that your data is compatible with the software in question.

Your BI software should seamlessly integrate with help desk tools, CRM, ERP software, advertising networks, and more. The best tools should accommodate cross-platform access to every user as well.

If connecting your data sources is going to be an issue with a certain product, I’d find another option that makes the process seamless.

Data Reporting

Remember, the number one reason why companies invest in BI software is to make sense of their data. So it’s only natural that data reporting itself would rank so high on our list of factors to evaluate.

The best BI tools turn complex data into visuals that are easy to understand. You can view this information from real-time dashboards or turn them into individual reports. 

Being able to share these reports with decision-makers, stakeholders, clients, and other members of your team is also something that must be considered. Users that generate the reports won’t always be the people making sense of that information.

For all the complexity of the information going into reports, it must be easy enough to comprehend by the final decision-makers.

Development Tools

Some business intelligence software will improve the way you collect data as well. 

Your in-house developers or IT department might want to implement custom application development into your processes. Certain tools will have pre-built analytics apps for you to use.

Other solutions offer developers an open API, making things easier for developers to customize apps with unique rules. 

Setup and Deployment

Unlike other types of business software on the market today, BI tools are a bit more complex. Getting started isn’t really as simple as clicking “sign up” and being done. 

These solutions are highly customizable and built specifically for your business. The deployment process could potentially take weeks, depending on the software you choose. You’ll be faced with options for on-premises deployment, hybrid server deployment, desktop software, and cloud software deployment. 

Cloud software is a great option for businesses on a tighter budget. This deployment method makes BI tools more easily accessible to smaller companies. But large organizations with complex data sets and custom needs would likely benefit more from on-site deployment. 

Ease of Use

Again, BI software can be complicated. 

If it’s your first time using this type of software, don’t overwhelm yourself with a solution built for seasoned veterans. 

Think about who will be using the software on a day-to-day basis. Is it your IT team? Sales reps? Product managers? Developers and tech-savvy individuals won’t have as steep of a learning curve as the average user. 

Just make sure you understand the difference between tools that require advanced technical knowledge and software for beginners. Beginners should avoid software that’s built for data engineers. 

The Different Types of Business Intelligence Software

Business intelligence software can be segmented into different categories based on its primary functionality or toolset.

Here’s a quick overview and explanation of the most popular types of BI software available on the market today.

Data Visualization Software

As the name implies, data visualization software helps you analyze complex data sheets with visual tools. Visual reporting is arguably the best way to make sense of large sets of data.

In general, data visualization tools are much lighter, less expensive, and easier to use than BI software, though there is certainly some overlap. They make sense for businesses that have a lot of data to explore, but not necessarily the resources to benefit from the larger spend necessary to set up a true BI solution.

Business Process Management (BPM)

Business process management software is a component of business intelligence. These tools are also a core component of operational management and intelligence. 

BPM software leverages automation and improves the efficiency of day-to-day processes. You can find business process management functionality within BI software.

OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)

OLAP software leverages tools that help analyze data from several sources. These interactive solutions provide a multidimensional view for each user (such as different department heads). OLAP tools will consolidate and aggregate different operational data.

Embedded BI Software

Embedded BI software is exactly what it sounds like. These tools are integrated directly within your applications for process management. They can also be embedded in operations portals, websites, portals, and other types of business-related systems. 

ETL Software

ETL (extract, transform, and load) software combines data from different sources into a single dashboard. Then the software will blend these various data sets and make sense of them in terms that the end-user can understand. 

Data Mining

You can use data mining tools to identify patterns in your data sets. Data mining software typically leverages tools like machine learning and AI to uncover these patterns for data-driven decision making. 

#1 – Zoho Analytics Review — Best for Data Visualization

More than 500,000 companies and 2+ million users rely on Zoho Analytics for business intelligence. It’s trusted by well-known brands like HP, Hyundai, Ikea, and Suzuki.

Compared to other solutions on our list, Zoho Analytics is definitely a bit more user-friendly. If you’re just getting your feet wet with BI software, this tool won’t have as steep of a learning curve. 

My favorite part about Zoho Analytics is the visual reporting. Non-technical users can easily navigate within the platform to create and view custom reports that are easy to comprehend. Other features and benefits include:

Ability to embed analytics in your product, website, portal, or application

Integrates with 500+ tools out of the box

Secure team collaboration features

Augmented analytics powered by AI

Blend data from multiple sources into single dashboards

Assess the health of your entire organization across each department

Customize reports with drag-and-drop dashboard

White-labeling capabilities with ability to fully re-brand the portal

Powerful HTTP-based web APIs for scalability and extensibility

You can even access your BI reports on the go with the Zoho Analytics app, available on iOS and Android. 

Zoho Analytics is the best beginner-friendly BI software on the market today. Plans start at $22 per month, and you can try it free for 15 days.

#2 – TIBCO Jaspersoft Review — Best for Embedded Analytics

TIBCO Jaspersoft is a developer-friendly business intelligence solution. The software uses embedded BI, which brings the power of business intelligence directly into your company’s applications.

The dashboards are ultimately displayed within the interface of the application to enhance the end-user experience and improve decision-making in real-time. 

More than 500,000 developers across different industries use TIBCO Jaspersoft to improve applications for millions of users. Here are some of the other reasons why this BI tool ranks so high on my list:

Customizable visual reporting

Production reporting for high volume distribution to the masses

Javascript API for embedding

Deploy using any method with an agnostic architecture that’s 100% open

Pre-configured multi-tenant support

Ad hoc self-service reporting

Big data connectivity for native reporting and real-time analytics

The tool is a bit unique in the sense that it’s built for developers but enhances the decision making for end users. If you don’t have a technical background, you won’t really be qualified to deploy this on your own. 

Try TIBCO Jaspersoft free for 30 days to see if it’s right for your business before buying.

#3 – Entrinsik Informer Review — Best for Analyzing Multiple Departments

Entrinsik Informer is perfect for large organizations that collect data from multiple sources and need to make sense of that information within different departments. 

The software makes it easy for you to connect data from the cloud, spreadsheets, unstructured web data, traditional databases, enterprise applications, and more, and aggregate it within a single source. 

It’s a popular choice for manufacturing, insurance, distribution, education, and government organizations. Noteworthy features and highlights of Entrinsik Informer include:

On-demand self-service reporting

Powerful data visualizations

Ability to evaluate roles of end-users across your organization

Streamline data workflows

Faster access to data with curated subsets of information

Aggregated data flows for higher quality data

Robust governance and security features including team roles and custom security levels

Flexible architecture for endless extensibility

For businesses seeking a fast and simple way to discover intelligent data, this will be a top choice to consider. 

Users across your entire organization, such as department managers, business users, industry partners, data scientists, executives, database admins, and more, can all see unique information within Entrinsik Informer based on their needs and role. 

Schedule a free demo to learn more. 

#4 – Sisense Review — Best BI Software for Complex Data

Sisense is one of the most popular BI tools on the market today. It’s used by developers, business leaders, product managers, and data professionals alike.

The software is trusted by 10,000+ companies, including well-known brands like GE, Verizon, Motorola, Wix, Hewlett Packard, and the Salvation Army. 

Sisense has industry-specific solutions in categories like retail, healthcare, government, manufacturing, marketing, supply chain management, and more. They also have solutions that are tailored toward specific departments within your organization.

Noteworthy highlights of Sisense include:

Ability to create powerful analytics applications

Self-service analytics for each user

Cloud-native data analytics

Ability to embed analytics with full customization

Deploy on-premises, in the cloud, or hybrid deployment with Windows or Linux

Seamlessly integrate Sisense with your existing tools and branding

Secure access to information at the object, data, and system levels

Users of any technical skill level can use Sisense to transform complex data sets into interactive dashboards. Watch the demo and request a free quote to get started. 

#5 – Chartio Review — Best for Simple Charts and Dashboards

Chartio is a cloud-based BI solution. It empowers users of varying technical backgrounds to analyze data from business applications.

The tool makes it easy for you to simplify data with charts and dashboards for more informed decision making.

Here’s a closer look at some of the top reasons why your business should consider using Chartio for business intelligence:

Easy to share visuals in embedded web pages, Slack, PDFs, and more

Tools for product managers, sales teams, and customer success

Self-service functionality for all users (C-suite, sales reps, etc.)

Easy to browse data with visual SQL

Connect all data from multiple sources (Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, etc.)

Create and save custom themes

Collaboration and team chat tools

Chartio also provides exceptional support. They view themselves as a strategic partner in your success. So they provide you with live training, extensive documentation, and access to experienced data advisors. 

Plans start at $40 per user per month. You can try Chartio free for 14 days with a no-obligation trial. 

#6 – Tableau Review — Most Versatile BI Software

Tableau is an industry leader in the business intelligence space. The software is trusted by individual analysts, small teams, large organizations, and everything in between.

They offer a wide range of BI tools, including Tableau Desktop, Tableau Online, Tableau Server, Tableau CRM, embedded analytics, server management, data management, and more. The list goes on and on.

In addition to the extensive product offerings and use cases, Tableau also has industry-specific solutions, and tools based on different types of technology, making it the most versatile software in this category.

Top features of Tableau include:

Cross-platform support (desktop, browser, mobile) and embedded analytics

Team collaboration tools

Advanced analytics displayed in powerful visual interface

Easy to organize resources and content

Centralized data sources and custom permissions

Multiple deployment options (cloud, on-premises, hosted, Windows, Linux, Mac, multi-tenant)

Actionable insights in real-time

Easy to connect with data from multiple sources (Google Analytics, Salesforce, etc.)

Ability to map your data

Overall, Tableau is robust and feature-rich. The only real downside is that it can be tough to figure out with so many capabilities. But it can still be used by developers and non-technical users alike.

You can try Tableau for free with a 14-day trial.

Summary

Business intelligence software has rapidly gained popularity over the past few years. If your organization is ready to take your data analysis to the next level, I strongly suggest investing in a BI solution.

Which business intelligence tool is the best?

Just use the buying guide I outlined at the beginning of this article to help narrow down your options. Then start by exploring the top picks reviewed above. 

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7 Bad SEO Tactics That Won’t Live to See 2022

6 email marketing software reviews

I’ll be honest, most of these bad SEO tactics should be obvious.

Yet, I am still surprised at how often I sites use these outdated (and often downright dangerous) SEO strategies.

I see a site every single day that’s guilty of at least one of the following bad SEO tactics.

What’s even worse is many of these tactics never worked that well to begin with.

Today, most of them will only do you more harm than good.

Here are seven perfect examples of bad SEO tactics you need to avoid — at least if you want to rank.

Bad SEO Tactic #1. Keyword Stuffing

There’s an old joke that goes something like this version from The Atlantic:

An SEO copywriter walks into a bar, grill, pub, public house, Irish, bartender, drinks, beer, wine, liquor…

It’s funny because it’s true.

When you hear “SEO,” you typically think of keywords next.

A decade ago, “keyword density” was a ratio based on the number of times your keyword was used in comparison to other words on the page.

Supposedly, there was a magic number that you wanted to hit. There was a sweet spot at a few percentage points that made all the difference in the world.

The closer you get to that number, the better you rank, right?

Obviously, this is all nonsense. But that’s how people felt at the time.

So we did what good marketers always do: more.

If a one percent keyword density is good, percent should be awesome. Right?

Which quickly got out of control.

We ended up with “keyword stuffing,” that involved using the keyword on the page as many times as possible.

Here’s a perfect keyword stuffing example:

Google’s algorithm was admittedly simpler back in the day.

It was easier to manipulate and often fall for obvious tricks like this.

The same can’t be said today. Not in a world where we live with RankBrain and natural langue processing.

The good news is that you no longer have to jam a bunch of keywords into your copy at the last minute.

Google’s getting smarter. You need to think more about keyword topics, related keywords, and long-tail keywords.

Let’s say you have one long-tail keyword for each blog post.

Great! Instead of stuffing it repeatedly into the content, you should focus on sub-topics and related ideas.

That means pulling in all of the semantically related information and context around a topic.

Here’s what I mean.

Check out “conversion rate optimization” on Wikipedia. Most big topics will feature a table of contents that looks like this:

There you go! Take all of those sub-topics and use them as sub-heads on your content.

Better yet, you can spin out new pieces of content around each one.

Building out a “web” of content like this will be vastly more beneficial in the long run–and you’ll never have to worry about getting hit with a Google penalty or algorithm update.

Bad SEO Tactic #2. Spam Comments

This is one of the most annoying tactics around.

You read an awesome blog post and want to jump into the comments.

After all, lengthy discussions in a blog comment section can often be more valuable than the content itself.

However, you scroll down to the comments to leave your two cents — and you see spam comments like this:

Comments like this completely kill any conversation.

Leaving comments can be an excellent way to build a relationship with the blog owner and other readers.

There can be problems when you try to do this at scale.

I once knew a guy who would build comment links like this. He would pay contractors $1 per successful comment.

What do you think happened?

Each comment was essentially copied and pasted to speed up the number they could leave. For example, someone might put up hundreds of blog comments each day.

Many commenting platforms, like Disqus, obviously caught on. They try to police this by blocking certain accounts.

Unfortunately, if your site gets big enough, you’ll have to battle spam comments.

That’s why many commenting platforms, even on WordPress, will automatically nofollow these links.

Nofollowed links tell search engines not to give credit or pass any authority to that link.

Which means not only are spam comments annoying, they’re also useless!

Here are a few tricks to avoid this problem.

You can install a WordPress plugin on your site to automatically filter them for you, like this one.

You can also force users to enter their name or email to leave a comment. That way they have to be logged into WordPress before joining the discussion.

You can even set up your site so that you can manually approve comments.

This lets you scan each for spammy copy or links before approving them.

Blacklisting comes in handy for repeat offenders.

The next time each blacklisted member tries to add a comment, it will get sent straight to the trash.

Bad SEO Tactic #3. Poor UX

Google doesn’t just look at links and keywords to rank your site.

They take in all sorts of data.

One example is your usage data.

That’s basically how people interact with your site.

For example, if you have a high bounce rate where people leave right after visiting, that’s a red flag!

It tells search engines that people aren’t finding what they’re looking for. And if that’s the case, your site must not be very helpful.

That’s not the only thing they look at, though.

For example, your SEO presence might take another hit if your design is ugly and outdated.

The reason?

It doesn’t look credible.

Years ago, Google released the Panda update to clean up site content.

Previously, they only looked at hard data to determine ranking factors. However, they introduced a questionnaire during this time to gather qualitative feedback, too.

For example, they had people go through websites and answer a few basic questions.

Those ranged from “Do you trust the information on this site?” to “Does this content contain any errors?”

Then they would rate each site to look for patterns. Poor-quality site design and content could now come back to haunt you if you received poor ratings.

A more recent example of this is “Mobilegeddon.”

If your site isn’t mobile responsive, showing up properly on everyone’s mobile device, you’ll also take a hit.

Google’s even released a mobile-first update because more people browse the web and search on mobile devices.

Not only does a poor mobile website hurt your conversions, but now it also can hurt your SEO presence.

Start by using Google’s mobile testing tool to see how your site performs on mobile devices. They’ll even give you tips to help speed it up.

How fast your site loads overall can also have a huge impact on SEO, so try the PageSpeed insight tool as well. It’ll give you tips on how to speed up your site.

If you still have issues, consider using a usability testing tool like these to see where users get hung up on your site.

Bad SEO Tactic #4. Unnatural Links

Back in the day, people used to put white text on a white background.

I kid you not.

The trick was that nobody could see it — but search engines could.

Site visitors would have no idea what was going on. And then site owners could keyword stuff all day and night.

That sounds crazy now, right?

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Google’s not really a fan of this tactic.

However, this same tactic is being used in other ways now.

For example, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, was even caught inserting hidden links into the source code of the website!

Oops!

Hidden links are just one variation of this tactic.

Other “useless” links are being hidden in plain sight.

For example, widget links can also land you in hot water.

These are seen as “unnatural” links. That means someone didn’t purposefully create them to “award” the site they’re linking to.

Instead, these links are often packaged up with other software.

When you add the widget to your site, you’re unknowingly adding backlinks to the widget creator, too.

You also often see these on WordPress theme links. They’ll sometimes be down in the footer of a site that’s using that theme.

Here’s a perfect example of a footer link from Compete Themes:

Now, let’s be clear about something.

Placing links in the footer like this is okay.

You want to get referral visitors to click on that link because they might like what they see.

You want them to go back to your site and buy.

However, using links like this in the footer or sidebar of a website for link building can get you in trouble.

Instead, Google recommends you nofollow these links to make sure your link profile stays squeaky clean.

Other terrible link strategies include paying for links or trading links between multiple sites you own.

Bad SEO Tactic #5. Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is often content that’s been copied from somewhere else.

This is especially bad when you basically copy and paste content to different sites.

For example, there used to be a software called “article spinners” that would take a piece of content and jumble around the words.

Then you could republish it elsewhere for easy links back to your site.

This was fairly easy to detect, though.

Another common problem is when content is essentially stolen from somewhere else.

This is another no-brainer.

Ecommerce sites that copy and paste the same product descriptions can also suffer from duplicate content.

But, many times, you will cause your own duplicate content problems, and you might not even realize it.

For example, the same exact content might show up at multiple points throughout your site.

This is detrimental because Google might not know which page to pass authority to.

Your “credit” gets split and distributed to several different pages.

Many times, you won’t even know it’s happening.

WordPress blog designs often cause this problem. For example, check the homepage from Primer Magazine:

See how there’s a little intro text showing up under the post title?

On the one hand, it helps visitors get a “teaser” before they click.

However, on the other hand, it can cause duplicate content if you’re not careful.

Now, watch what happens when you click the individual post to read the entire thing:

See? It’s the same exact content!

There are a few technical, advanced ways to avoid this by diving into your site’s code.

But otherwise, there’s a really easy workaround.

Just ditch the teaser and stick to blog post titles. That’s what I do on my site:

You can also use canonical tags, which tells Google which post is the original. It’s worth noting that duplicate content is as big of a deal as Google has gotten smarter, but it’s still a good idea to avoid it.

Bad SEO Tactic #6. Intrusive Interstitial Ads

This one sounds more confusing than it is.

The “Intrusive Interstitial Update” was aimed at intrusive ads that effectively block someone’s screen.

These happen all the time on mobile devices.

For example, you want to read a news article on your phone to kill a few minutes. You click on the link and the site starts loading.

However, before you can actually start reading a single line, something pops up to cover the entire text.

These can be anything from ads to those annoying autoplay videos, to pop-ups.

Remember a few minutes ago when we talked about bad UX?

The same principle applies here. If you do things that impede visitors, you’ll get in trouble.

Google will even started issuing warnings to websites soon for “annoying ads.”

Google officially stated that there are repercussions for websites:

To improve the mobile search experience, after January 10, 2017, pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly.

Even pop-ups can start to become an issue.

There’s always a fine line with tactics for SEO versus conversion tacitcs.

On the plus side, pop-ups can drive a ton of conversions.

However, if they’re static ones that take over a screen and offer no value, you can get into trouble.

Bad SEO Tactic #7. Exact Match Anchor Text Abuse

The text you use to link to something is called the “anchor text.”

That sounds easy enough, right?

Let’s say you want to create an internal link to another blog post on your site.

“Create an internal link” would be the anchor text in this case.

Anchor text helps tell the visitor what they’re about to click. It gives them a quick preview, so they know whether they want to click on the link or not.

It’s completely harmless most of the time.

Until, of course, people take it too far.

Search engines also use this anchor text to understand what that linked page is about. And in turn, what topics that page is being called an authority on.

Ideally, if you were creating the anchor text, you’d want to list the main topic or keyword.

“Exact match” refers to how closely you stick to the keyword.

Here’s an example of exact match anchor text that gets into spammy territory:

Why is this a problem?

Because it’s not natural!

Most people would never naturally link out to other pages like this example.

Search engines take a look at all of the anchor text being used to link back to your site to spot bad patterns.

You can do this, too.

Fire up Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to see how people are linking back to your site.

You should see a mix of different anchor text being used.

There shouldn’t be the same phrase popping up over and over again. Otherwise, that would be a clue to Google that you’re trying to manipulate their rankings.

There should be a healthy balance.

Ahrefs ran a study to see what ratio of “partial” to “exact” anchor text is normal.

The graph above compares these anchor text ratios for pages showing up in different positions.

Your pages should only have around 10-20 percent of all referring domains link exactly or partially.

Otherwise, there should be a healthy balance of links with either brand names or more natural linking terms, like “click here.”

It’s not an exact science, as you can see. It’s not something you have to worry about too much if you’re not aggressively building links.

However, if 90 percent of the pages on your site all have the same exact match anchor text, it might be a matter of time before it comes back to haunt you.

Conclusion

A successful SEO strategy is one that works as well today as it will in 2022.

The tactics and trends are important to keep an eye on.

However, you should never take things to the extreme.

Adding keywords in your anchor text, for example, is fine most of the time.

Do it too much, and it completely backfires.

The same principle applies to using keywords in content, leaving comments, and even reusing content on multiple pages.

Using pop-ups to generate leads is fine in limited quantities. For example, you can only show it to people on their first visit.

That way, you’re not bombarding someone each and every time they visit your site.

It’s no big deal in small, conservative doses.

But pushing the limits to get a few extra visitors today doesn’t make sense if it puts you in jeopardy tomorrow.

What other SEO tactics do you think will die out by the time we hit 2022?

Google

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The Best Payroll Services (In-Depth Review)

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Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

What would you do with ten extra hours a month?

You’d probably work on growing your business, right? Maybe you’d spend it creating new marketing campaigns to generate more revenue. Perhaps you’d take half a day off to spend time with your family. 

Regardless, the average small business owner spends five hours every pay period running payroll. That adds up to 21 full work-days a year. 

But thankfully, that’s not what your payroll process has to look like. 

The best payroll services simplify and streamline the process of paying your employees. They automate time-consuming tasks and give HR the tools they need to stay on top of taxes, benefits packages, paid time off, and other payroll factors.

Choosing the right payroll service is important, because they all do things a little differently. Let’s talk about the major features you are looking for and how to evaluate the top services available today.

The 6 Best Payroll Service Options for 2021 

Gusto – Best payroll service for small businesses

OnPay – Most flexible payroll service

Paychex – Best for larger organizations

ADP – Best payroll service with built-in HR

QuickBooks Payroll – Best for QuickBooks integration

Wave Payroll – Most affordable payroll service

What I Looked at To Find the Best Payroll Service Providers

I’d love to say, “Here’s the easiest payroll service to use,” but I can’t. 

It depends on your situation. Two dry cleaners in the same town might have completely different experiences with the same service, based on how they pay their employees or the other business software they use.

How many times do you want to switch payroll services? 

As few as possible would be my guess.

Here are the major criteria you need to consider in order to pick a payroll service that’s actually going to make payroll a breeze.

Payroll Capabilities

Who are your employees and how do you pay them? 

Before you evaluate your options, map out every factor that could possibly influence payroll. This may include:

Different types of workers (W2, 1099, hourly, salaried)

Tax liability (federal, state, and local)

Employee benefits (retirement plans, healthcare, PTO, stock options)

Pay cycles (bi-weekly, monthly, unlimited)

Payment (direct deposit, paper checks, Venmo, Apple Pay)

Garnishments (child support, credit card debt, student loans)

These are just some of the major factors to consider. If your business is subject to unusual taxes or regulations, double-check with the vendor to make sure you’re covered. 

It’s going to be tricky to keep the books accurate if you have to work around the system rather than as it’s designed.

The more mature payroll solutions, like ADP and Paychex, are going to support every conceivable tax and benefit situation. Lighter tools such as Gusto might not be able to handle complex retirement packages as easily.

If you don’t need all the capabilities of ADP or Paychex, the extra features are probably going to get in the way. Many small businesses can get everything they need from Gusto in a much more user-friendly and affordable platform.

Integrations

When your payroll service plays nice with your other business software, life is great. You don’t have to enter the same information in multiple places. In fact, a lot of data entry will be automated.

New hires are automatically on payroll. Whenever they clock in or record their tips, the information is all tracked and accounted for without any oversight on your part.

Integration with accounting, employee scheduling, time tracking, and HR software is a must. It really defeats the purpose of payroll software if you are constantly having to enter information manually.

Gusto is a standalone service, but it has direct integration with 52 of the most popular accounting, point-of-sale, time tracking, and business operations software.

Alternatively, you could look at bundling multiple solutions from the same provider. The payroll service from ADP is just one piece of a suite of financial and HR tools they offer. Quickbooks Payroll and Wave Payroll are the same way. 

Obviously Wave Payroll and Wave Accounting work together seamlessly. If you are already using one, it makes a lot of sense to use the other.

Customer Service

Managing taxes and benefits is hard on a good day. Congress makes one small change to the law and suddenly everyone has to rework how they do payroll to stay compliant. 

Is your payroll service on top of these changes? Can they take care of their end and help you sort out problems on yours? 

If you are hiring people in multiple states, it’s so easy to make a mistake. Is your payroll service going to catch it and alert you before the IRS penalizes the company?

Having a payroll service that responds quickly can solve a lot of problems before they start.

Another important aspect to consider is onboarding, both for your company and your employees. 

Does the vendor help you move your payroll data over if you are switching services mid-year? The more help they provide, the quicker and more accurate the transition will be.

Gusto and OnPay have a wonderfully simple employee onboarding process that is virtually hands-off for the employer. Beyond approvals, there’s little that isn’t handled by the employee and customer service.

Finding a payroll service that really supports you and your employees can make the difference between a frictionless experience and constant frustration.

#1 – Gusto Review — The Best for Small Businesses

If you’re a small business looking for a simple payroll service, Gusto is a smart choice. And you’ll be in good company with more than 100,000+ other small businesses around the world. 

Gusto makes onboarding, paying, insuring, and supporting employees as easy as possible. And they don’t call themselves a “people platform” for no reason. 

They offer the right set of tools and services to make your life (and your employees’ lives) easier. 

Running payroll takes just a few clicks, and you can enjoy unlimited payroll runs every month. Need to pay seven different contractors at different times? No problem. 

Need to pay the same employees the same wages every pay period? You can set it up to run automatically without you having to lift a finger. 

Plus, you get access to a wide variety of features, including:

Automatic tax calculations

Built-in time tracking capabilities

Health insurance, 401(k), PTO, workers’ comp, and more

Compliance with I-9’s, W-2s, and 1099s

Employee self-service onboarding and dashboards

Next-day direct deposits (on specific plans)

And the best part? It’s affordable. 

If you don’t have W-2 employees, Gusto starts at $6 per contractor per month. But if you do have full-time or part-time employees, expect to pay a bit more. Their other paid plans include:

Basic — $19 per month + $6 per person per month

Core — $39 per month + $6 per person per month

Complete — $39 per month + $12 per person per month

Concierge — $149 per month + $12 per person per month

Gusto is perfect for most startups and small businesses. But, large companies with complex benefits packages and hundreds of employees may find it limiting. 

Get started with Gusto today!

#2 – OnPay Review — The Most Flexible Payroll Service

If you’re looking for an all-in-one payroll system with transparent pricing and virtually unlimited flexibility, OnPay is an excellent choice. 

Whether you’re a small company or a fast-growth startup, OnPay is versatile enough to suit your needs. Plus, you never have to guess how much you’re going to pay every month with their transparent pricing. 

And you can rest easy knowing you have access to every feature OnPay offers regardless of the number of employees you have because they only provide one pricing plan. 

Their software includes access to powerful features, including:

Unlimited monthly payroll runs

W-2 and 1099 capabilities

Automatic tax calculations and filings

Employee self-service onboarding and dashboards

Intuitive mobile app for management on the go

PTO, e-signing, org charts, and custom workflows

Integrated workers’ comp, health insurance, and retirement

Multi-state payroll

Plus, getting started is super easy. All you have to do is set up your account, add your employees, and start running payroll. Furthermore, OnPay automatically calculates and withholds taxes so you don’t have to worry about manual calculations or human error again. 

They also offer specialized solutions for different industries, including nonprofits, restaurants, and farming/agriculture. 

OnPay is $36 per month plus $4 per person per month. So, you can add new employees to the software for just a few dollars, making it excellent for fast-growing companies and small businesses alike. 

And while OnPay can handle large companies with hundreds of employees, there are better enterprise options available. It’s most suitable for small businesses and fast-growth companies that need simple pricing and flexibility. 

Try OnPay free for 30 days to see if it’s right for you!

#3 – Paychex Review — The Best for Larger Organizations

Paychex is an excellent choice for businesses with more than 50 employees. They also offer low-tier plans for small businesses, but they’re quite limited compared to the other small business options on this list. 

However, their midsize to enterprise plans are perfect for large companies. 

The larger your business is, the worse small discrepancies and human errors affect your tax calculations. And wrong tax filings equal harsh penalties from the IRS, even if it was an accident. 

So as a large company, it’s imperative to have a payroll service that adapts to meet your needs. Paychex is more than a payroll service. It’s a human capital management (HCM) system designed to help you save time and reduce errors. 

Their enterprise plans include features like:

Recruiting and onboarding

Performance and learning management

Powerful real-time analytics

100% employee self-service

Payroll automation features

Direct deposit, paper checks, and paycards

Salary, hourly, and contract workers

Paycheck garnishments

PTO and benefits management

Job costing and labor distribution

All of which are scalable for enterprises with thousands of employees (or as little as 50). Plus, Paychex services more than 650,000+ companies and has more than 50 years of experience in the industry. 

So, you can rest easy knowing you’re in good hands.

With that said, getting started isn’t as easy as it is with some of the other options on this list. Because each deployment is tailored to your business, you can’t get going on your own. However, they do offer a team of specialists to help you get the ball rolling. 

Contact their sales team for a custom quote to get started!

#4 – ADP Review — The Best for Built-In HR Features

ADP is the way to go if you’re looking for a payroll service with the most built-in HR features. It’s perfect for smaller companies without an HR department and growing/large companies looking to streamline the process. 

ADP works with more than 700,000 businesses in 140+ countries, making it one of the most popular payroll services for businesses of all shapes and sizes. 

They offer tailored solutions for small, midsize, and enterprise businesses, so you’re sure to find the perfect solution whether you have five employees or 1000+. 

Their lower-tiered plans include basic payroll features like automatic tax calculations, employee self-service tools, a mobile app, PTO management, and complete compliance support. 

However, ADP offers more than just basic payroll and HR. They also include time tracking, talent recruitment, HR consulting services, advanced employee benefits, and the option to outsource your entire payroll/HR department. 

You can also get unique benefits, like personalized training, legal assistance, background checks, and interview scheduling too. 

Furthermore, ADP offers industry-specific solutions for nine different industries, including:

Restaurants

Construction

Healthcare

Manufacturing

Retail

Nonprofits

Note: ADP pricing isn’t available online, so it may not be suitable for micro or small businesses interested in getting started quickly. If you need something fast and straightforward, my #1 recommendation is Gusto.

Request a free quote to see if ADP is right for you today. 

#5 – Quickbooks Payroll — The Best for QuickBooks Integration

Quickbooks Online is one of the most well-known accounting tools on the market. And if you’re already a user, QuickBooks Payroll is an excellent addition to your tech stack. 

The two tools integrate seamlessly, making account reconciliation and tax season a breeze. 

Furthermore, QuickBooks’ payroll system works in all 50 states. So, whether you have a remote team or work with contractors across the country, you don’t have to worry about making errors or mishandling taxes. 

You can also rest easy knowing your federal, state, and local taxes are automatically calculated plus paid for you every time you run payroll. Plus, the entire process is easily automated after your first round of payments. 

With QuickBooks, you get a full-service payroll system regardless of the plan you choose. 

And the user interface is aesthetically pleasing with direct deposit payments landing in your employees’ bank accounts within 24 – 48 hours. 

The Core Plan starts at $45 per month, plus $4 per employee per month. It includes:

Full-service payroll with unlimited runs

Automatic payments after the first run

Health benefits

Wage garnishments

Next-day direct deposit

24/7 live chat support

All 50 states

So, even their most basic plan includes everything you need to simplify your HR and payroll processes. 

But if that isn’t enough, their advanced plans include:

Premium — $75 per month + $8/employee per month

Elite — $125 per month + $10/employee per month

Get 70% off your first three months to take QuickBooks Payroll for a test drive today!

Note: 1099 contractors and freelancers aren’t included. It comes as an add-on with additional monthly fees. So, this isn’t the most affordable choice if you frequently handle contractors or freelancers. 

#6 – Wave Payroll Review — The Most Affordable Payroll Service

If you’re on a tight budget, Wave Payroll is an affordable payroll option. Wave also offers numerous other small business tools for free, including invoicing, accounting, and receipt management. 

The different apps integrate seamlessly to create an affordable small business accounting and payroll solution. 

With Wave, getting started takes just a few minutes, and running payroll goes even faster. Plus, they offer a 100% accuracy guarantee. You can also pay hourly, salary, and contractors and automatically generate the right tax forms. 

In some states, Wave automatically files and pays your state/federal payroll taxes for you. However, in those states, Wave’s services are more expensive. 

You also get access to features, like:

Automatic journal entries (if you use Wave Accounting)

Self-service pay stubs and tax forms for your employees

Workers’ compensation management

Basic payroll reporting

Automatic year-end tax forms

Timesheets for PTO and accruals

While Wave is one of the most affordable payroll services, it doesn’t sacrifice functionality and essential features. Despite being cheaper than the other options on this list, you still get all the essentials you need to run payroll for your small business. 

In tax service states, Wave is $35 per month + $6 per contractor/employee per month. This service isn’t necessarily cheaper than the other options on this list. 

But, it’s still a great option if you’re a small business owner looking for a simple payroll solution. 

However, it’s $20 per month + $6 per contractor/employee per month in self-service states. At this price, it’s easily the cheapest option with the most features available. 

And don’t forget that Wave Payroll seamlessly integrates with Wave’s free accounting and invoicing software as well. 

So, if you don’t yet have accounting software, this is a smart choice. 

Try Wave Payroll free for 30 days to see if it’s right for you and your business!

Summary

For most users, Gusto and OnPay are my top recommendations. 

They’re all excellent for small and fast-growth businesses with the ability to scale to match your needs. Plus, they’re affordable and easy to use. 

However, different businesses require different solutions. 

So, don’t forget to use the considerations we talked about as you go through the process of choosing the best payroll services for your business. 

What payroll services do you prefer?

Youtobe

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How to Use Beacon Data With Paid Search and Social Campaigns

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Beacon technology is the next generation of proximity marketing. If you aren’t using it, you could be falling behind your competitors.

By leveraging the data collected from beacons, marketers have more opportunities to track paid campaigns, deliver personalized messaging to consumers, and improve local SEO.

What’s more, the beacon technology market is exploding, with Statista predicting the market will grow to 56.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2026.

What Is Beacon Technology?

Beacon technologies are small wireless transmitters that send signals to smartphones using Bluetooth technology.

The beacon device contains a CPU, radio, and battery that help it broadcast a constant identifier.

When a nearby mobile device recognizes the identifier, they connect. From there, the beacon carries out whatever action they are programmed to, including sending emails and notifications or ad attribution.

Essentially, beacon technology allows you to communicate with nearby smart devices to improve location-based searching and tracking.

For example, if you have a beacon installed in your store and a customer comes in who clicked one of your Facebook ads, you’ll know exactly how they found you.

Beacons can also nurture customers by sending coupons to users who clicked on an ad or visited your store but failed to make a purchase.

A retailer in a busy mall, for example, could install beacons in a store and connect them to the larger mall ecosystem. From there, you could join localized marketing campaigns and direct ads at customers shopping for similar items in your area.

ELLE Magazine leveraged this strategy in American malls and navigated 500,000 shoppers into their stores.

Beacon Technology for Organic vs. Paid Ad Campaigns

Organic marketing is the act of attracting customers to your business naturally over time. Organic marketing tactics can include SEO, content marketing, social media, and website development.

Paid marketing is when you pay to get your message or product in front of an audience. Examples of paid marketing include Google display ads, Facebook ads, and traditional marketing such as television and print ads.

Beacon technology can be leveraged for both paid and organic strategies. It’s all about what’s best for your business. Let’s look at the benefits and drawbacks of using beacon technology for organic versus paid ads.

Pros of Beacon Technology in Organic Marketing

Costs are low: Beacons are usually cheap and require very little maintenance. If you already have a strong content strategy that brings customers into your physical store, you could improve their experience with beacons.

Better customer experiences: The best way to retain customers is to make them feel seen. Beacons help you direct personalized messaging that tap into their individual needs.

Cons of Beacon Technology in Organic Marketing

It takes time: Organic marketing doesn’t bring immediate results. It takes time to spread your message across the web, pique interest in consumers, and encourage them to come to your store.

You need expertise: If you want to be successful, you’ll need a large ecosystem of content already working for you. If you don’t have plenty of content or if it’s not working well, you won’t attract the customers you’re looking for.

Pros of Beacon Technology in Paid Marketing

Fast results: If you pay-to-play, you’ll see your results more quickly. For example, sending directed ads to customers in your area gets your product in front of consumers faster.

Insight help: If you have the proper tracking systems in place, you’ll be able to understand how or why your customers found your product and then leverage that information to attract new leads. You can also use the data you collect to further tailor your messaging and improve overall reception.

Cons of Beacon Technology in Paid Marketing

Costs are high: Paid advertising costs can be high. You need a budget in place to leverage paid marketing with beacon technology.

Strategy matters: You need skill and expertise to run effective paid campaigns. Although beacon technology can enhance your ability to track leads, it won’t help unless you know how to use the data.

How Does Beacon Technology Work in Paid Ad Campaigns?

Beacon technology makes it easier to track paid ad campaigns and understand how they impact foot traffic. Beacons also deliver real-time customer data, which makes it easier to see customer’s behaviors and shopping patterns.

Say a customer sees your Google display ad and decides to come into your store to view an item. Your beacon will collect their data from the time they saw your ad until they enter your store.

Likewise, you can use your beacons to gather information to build accurate customer personas and improve your geotargeting.

You can do this by simply walking around your store with your beacon, which will gather consensual user data as you go. Or, install it in your store and gather information on current customers. These personas can help further target paid campaigns and enhance ad spend ROI.

Beacon technology can also improve overall paid metrics. For example, Facebook ads tend to earn a one percent click-through rate. If you’re running a beacon campaign simultaneously, you could see closer to a four percent click-through rate.

Plus, proximity marketing is 16x more effective than Google pay-per-click. This is due to the additional personalization options.

Benefits of Using Beacon Technology for PPC and Paid Social Campaigns

Beacon technology can help drive in-store purchases by sending relevant offers and coupons directly to customers. If they are already in your store, they are interested in your product, so your success rate can be much higher.

You can also drive return visits by sending departure notifications. For example, if a customer just purchased a product from you, send them a coupon to encourage them to visit again.

Beacons also make ad attributions easy to track. You can clearly define when, where, and how an ad was delivered to a customer and see if they used the offer during their visit.

Don’t believe it? Check out these stats.

When Carrefour installed beacons in 28 of its high-traffic Romanian stores, they saw a 400 percent increase in mobile app engagement

When Allrecipes deployed beacons in their Marc’s grocery stores in Ohio, their mobile view went up to 35.9M per month.

Now, it’s your turn to create a successful beacon campaign.

How to Set Up Beacon Technology for Paid Ad Campaigns

The interaction between beacons and mobile devices is not automatic. Users must consent to have their data tracked and stores.

What’s more, each beacon has a unique identifier, which may contain different types of data—for example, location data, vendor information, store departments, and subregions.

This means setting up your beacons for paid advertising campaigns must be done correctly. Below, we’ll walk you through the process to ensure you get the most out of your beacon technology ad campaign.

Choose a Device and Platform

The first step in setting up your beacon-run paid campaign is to choose a beacon manufacturer and platform.

Here are some of the most popular beacon options on the market.

BlueCats

Estimote

Gelo

Mobiquity

Kontakt.io

You’ll also want to define how many beacons you need. This will depend on the size of your store and any barriers that might block the signal.

Some beacons will show you coverage areas like BlueCats does.

Once you’ve chosen a beacon, tell your customers to download your accompanying app. This can be done in an email marketing flow that informs customers of potential deals and savings available through your campaign.

Don’t have an app? No problem.

You can leverage a third-party app to guide you.

Here are some popular third-party apps:

Nearbee

Phy App

Physical Web

Define Your Use Beacon Cases

Like any new technology, you don’t want to do too much and spread yourself too thin.

Choose two or three clear use cases to focus on, such as offering coupons to users who have engaged with your ads in the past or leading users to specific sale items.

Defining your use cases ensures you can adequately track your campaigns and pinpoint your sales. This will help you strategize stronger campaigns in the future.

Design Your Beacon Actions

Start out with a simple, granular action that will deliver measurable results.

Most beacons operate in three ranges of distance and can be programmed to give different messages depending on the range of the customer.

These ranges are:

Far: This range works for people walking by or outside your store.

Near: This range works when you are in the same room as a beacon.

Immediate: This range works when you are just about touching a beacon.

You can also trigger actions when someone moves closer or further from a beacon. For example, you could send a remarketing ad as someone leaves your store, or you can offer them a discount as they walk in.

Most beacons can now be allocated multiple actions in a single beacon. Think strategically about any actions you implement and remember to track your data across all campaigns.

How to Plot and Install Your Beacons

It’s important to strategize where to place your beacons before installing them.

An ideal beacon setup should cover your entire floor plan to ensure all customers are reached. Most beacons have a 10-yard radius and barriers, such as walls or displays, can affect their efficiency.

To avoid this issue, place your beacons higher, so they bypass any barriers.

Keep in mind, most beacons are battery-powered, so you will need to access them after installation.

Once you know where to place your beacons, you can begin installing them.

Installation methods can vary by beacon, so make sure the one you select works with your location.

Test Before You Launch

It’s a good idea to test your beacons on friends or family members before you roll your campaign out to the public.

Look for dead zones and run a few ad sets to make sure they work.

Once you roll out your campaign, consider running beacon-exclusive ad campaigns and collect data from conversions.

From there, refine, retest, and re-execute your campaign.

Measure the Success of Your Beacon Technology Paid Ad Campaigns

Because you’re running paid campaigns, you need to prioritize your tracking systems to ensure the technology is working for your business.

Here are a few important KPIs to measure when running your beacon technology campaigns:

Impressions: These tell you how many times your ad has been seen by your customers.

Clicks: This tells you how many people have clicked your ad after seeing it.

Click-through-rate (CTR): Your impressions and your click-through rate as a percentage.

Cost-per-click (CPC): This tells you how much you paid for each click.

Quality score: This tells you how relevant your ad content is and how well it’s going to perform.

Conversion rate (CVR): This measures how effective your ads are in converting customers.

Beacon campaigns should take all of these KPIs into consideration while running.

Conclusion

If you’re ready to take the leap, beacon-driven campaigns can be incredibly lucrative.

Leveraging beacon technology in your paid campaigns will help you better track your ads, decrease your ad spend, and improve engagement rates, all while delivering unique and exciting experiences to your customers.

Do you want help incorporating beacons or other paid ad strategies into your marketing campaigns? Let’s talk.

How have you had success with beacon technology campaigns?

Youtobe

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Best Cheap Web Hosting

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Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top picks? The best cheap web hosting service for most people is Hostinger or Bluehost.

If you’re launching a new website, there’s no reason to pay a fortune for web hosting. There are plenty of cost-effective solutions available on the market for you to choose from.

Small websites, personal blogs, and other newer websites can definitely get away with a cheap web hosting plan.

But with thousands of web hosting providers to choose from, finding the best option for your site can feel like a tall task. 

Fortunately, you won’t actually have to search through thousands of plans. There are really only one or two dozen reputable web hosts to consider. That list gets even smaller if you’re looking for a cheap web hosting plan. For those of you on a tight budget, these are my top picks:

The Top 6 Options For Cheap Web Hosting

Hostinger — Best Web Hosting Plan Under $1

Bluehost — The Best Value in Web Hosting

A2 Hosting — The Best Customer Service

HostGator — The Best Cheap Cloud Hosting

iPage — Best Cheap Web Hosting Features

GoDaddy — The Best Cheap VPS Hosting

What I Looked at to Find the Best Cheap Web Hosting

You’re looking for the cheapest plan out there, but you still need a dependable host.

There’s no shortage of budget-friendly web hosting options available. Each one promises great uptime, site performance, and customer support.

It seems like anyone can get their site up for less than the cost of a cup of coffee.

What’s the catch?

If you understand your options and pick the right one, there is no catch.

I’m going to guide you through saving every dollar possible without getting scammed or locked into a plan that you’ll regret later.

Use these four criteria to cut through the advertising gimmicks, rule out plans that are “too good to be true,” and hone in on the best deal for lowest price.

Price

When looking for web hosting in general, price is pretty important. But in looking at cheap web hosting, I’ve made pricing the most important criteria by far. 

In other words, I asked myself: How can I get dependable hosting at the absolute lowest price?

Since you have to pay for hosting each month, even a few dollars’ difference between plans will add up over time.

I focused on web hosts with a rock solid reputation because their cheap hosting options don’t cut corners. These plans are no-frills hosting, for sure, but I made sure they cover all the essentials. 

With some of the less reputable hosts out there, you can get a rock-bottom price and a rock-bottom experience. 

The providers I chose have super-affordable plans that won’t cause trouble now, trap you into upgrading, or wind up costing a fortune down the road.

Contract Terms

Lots of web hosts might seem cheap at first glance, but you need to review the contract terms to truly get a sense of the actual cost. 

To lock in the lowest possible rate, you’ll likely have to commit to a two, three, or even a four-year plan. 

Importantly, these contracts are typically paid up-front and in-full. 

That means that web hosting advertised at $3 per month could actually cost you upwards of $100 today.

Along with the length of the contract, you need to check the renewal rates. It’s common practice in the web hosting industry for hosting plans to skyrocket upon renewal.

Promotional pricing might cost $3 per month, but then automatically renew at something like $10 per month.

That would more than triple your rate upon renewal. Suddenly it’s not so cheap anymore.

Domain Limits

How many sites do you want? 

If you add a site or two, you could accidentally get forced to upgrade and pay a lot more.

iPage, for example, lets people create as many websites as they want with their cheapest hosting plan. 

With Hostinger, on the other hand, you’ll have to upgrade to host more than one site. That said, Hostinger’s next plan up is still less than $3 per month and you can build up to 100 websites.

Another important limit to consider is bandwidth. This is the maximum amount of data your site can transfer to users during a set amount of time. 

Now there’s no such thing as unlimited bandwidth, but you are definitely going to see that advertised with a lot of the cheapest web hosting plans out there.

Why can they say this?

Because these are shared hosting plans where your site is on a server with a bunch of other sites. On a typical day, these sites are not going to use all of the server’s resources, so they say it’s unlimited.

The truth is that you will definitely still have limits on how much of the server’s central processing unit (CPU) your site can use. 

Getting too many visitors to your site may exceed your CPU limits, and the provider may ask you to upgrade.

Shared hosting plans with unlimited bandwidth are perfect for cheap web hosting, just don’t equate it with unlimited visitors.

Free Tools to Build and Grow Your Site

You’d be surprised, but even some of the least expensive web hosting plans are packed with free tools and capabilities. Getting these freebies as part of a bundle can help you save in other areas.

Some of the features to look out for include:

Ad credits: free Google or Bing advertising credits to target your audience

Domain name: your site’s online address at www.your-domain-name.com

Email account: an address @your-domain-name.com

SSL Certificates: protects online privacy and lets visitors know your site is secure

Visual website builder: an application that lets even total newbies design beautiful pages

Everything that’s included with your hosting plan is something you don’t have to spend more money on. 

It’s not hard to register your domain name, but if your hosting plan includes it, that’s going to save you $10-15 in the first year.

Getting a free professional email is another $30 in your pocket. The freebies add up.

Even Hostinger, which can be purchased for less than $1/month, comes with an email account, SSL certificate, and a website builder that requires zero coding knowledge to use.

The Different Types of Cheap Web Hosting

The term “cheap” is means different things to different people. A college student starting a personal blog as a side project or a hobby will have a different definition of cheap than a small business owner trying to generate sales online. 

But with that said, cheap web hosting can be segmented into the following five categories. I’ll give you some more information on each one below.

Shared Hosting

Shared web hosting will always be the cheapest option. These entry-level plans host multiple websites on a single server. 

You’ll benefit from low rates, but your site won’t have dedicated server resources. Other sites on your server could take up the server resources and cause your site to crash. Your host might even limit your bandwidth and slow down your site if you get traffic spikes.

While shared hosting isn’t the top of the line, it’s the best option for the vast majority of new websites. If you want something cheap, there’s no reason to look beyond shared plans. 

VPS Hosting

VPS (virtual private server) hosting is a step above shared hosting.

It’s a bit more expensive, but your site performance will improve dramatically. You’ll still be sharing servers with other websites; however, your site will have its own dedicated resources on a virtual server. 

For those of you who are expecting tons of traffic out of the gate, you could consider jumping right into a VPS plan. Alternatively, cheap VPS hosting is ideal for websites that have outgrown a shared plan.

WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting can come in all different shapes and sizes. There are shared WordPress hosting plans, WordPress VPS plans, fully managed WordPress hosting, and more.

As the name implies, this is obviously made for WordPress websites. 

If you want perks like one-click WordPress installations, automatic WordPress updates, free WordPress backups, and other similar features, this will be a top option to consider. The price can be pretty comparable to shared hosting or slightly higher (depending on the provider). 

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is relatively new. But this type of web hosting has quickly gained popularity in the hosting world. It can best be described as a hybrid version of VPS hosting, but cheaper.

So if you’re price-sensitive and evaluating VPS plans, cloud hosting will likely be more cost-effective. 

Cloud plans are great for those of you who want to scale your server resources on-demand. This will help you account for traffic spikes. 

Lots of cloud providers only charge you for the server resources that you’re actually using. While this can be tough to budget for, it’s a great way to save money and ensure you’re not overpaying for resources that never get used. 

#1 – Hostinger Review — Best Web Hosting Plan Under $1

Hostinger is one of the most reputable names in the world of web hosting. Their hosting services are simple, straight forward, and best of all—cheap.

You can get plans for as low as $0.99 per month. 

If you’re looking for the cheapest possible plan from a reputable provider, look no further than Hostinger. It’s worth noting that you’ll need to lock in a 48-month contract to get this rock-bottom rate. 

This plan is really only suitable for beginners and new websites. For those of you who want fewer restrictions, Hostinger has two other shared plans starting at $2.89 and $3.99, respectively—both still very affordable. 

Noteworthy highlights of Hostinger’s web hosting plans include:

Easy to set up

Simple site migrations

Optimized for WordPress (with one-click installations)

Built to scale

User-friendly control panel

Cloudflare protected nameservers

Github integration

99.9% uptime guarantee

Unlimited bandwidth (with select plans)

Free domain name (with select plans)

All Hostinger web hosting plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you’re unhappy for any reason, just contact their support team for a full refund. 

#2 – Bluehost Review — The Best Value in Web Hosting

Bluehost is one of the most popular providers in the web hosting industry. They power 2+ million sites across the globe.

Shared hosting plans from Bluehost start at $3.95 per month. While this entry-level pricing is a bit higher compared to other options on our list, Bluehost is arguably the best host on the market today.

Personally, I’d rather pay a couple of extra dollars per month for quality. If you fall into that same category, Bluehost will be perfect for you.

This is also my top pick for anyone starting a new website from scratch. Bluehost makes it easy for you to bundle your web hosting with domain registration from a single provider. 

Other features and benefits of Bluehost include:

24/7 customer support

Free domain name for one year

Recommended by WordPress since 2005

Automatic WordPress installations and automatic WordPress updates

Free SSL certificate

Unmetered bandwidth

Bluehost is built to scale as well. As your site gains traffic and requires additional needs, this hosting provider makes it easy for you to grow. 

All Bluehost web hosting plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can try Bluehost risk-free. 

#3 – A2 Hosting Review — The Best Customer Service

A2 Hosting is synonymous with speed. With turbo servers, more resources, and extra power, they boast some of the fastest page loading times in the hosting industry.

Shared plans from A2 start at $2.49 per month, but you’ll need to upgrade to a higher tier if you want to take advantage of their fastest speeds.

While everyone talks about A2 Hosting’s speed, it’s their customer service and support that really stands out the most to me. All plans come with features and benefits like:

Free and simple site migrations

24/7/365 guru support

Free automatic backups

99.9% uptime guarantee

Optimized for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, OpenCart, and Magento

Free SSL certificate

If you’re starting a new site from scratch, A2 Hosting has site-building tools as well. For those of you who have an existing site hosted with another provider, A2’s expert site migration team will handle the transfer for you.

Like most providers on our list, A2 Hosting also has a 30-day money-back guarantee.

#4 – HostGator Review — The Best Cheap Cloud Hosting

As previously mentioned, cloud hosting is a cost-effective alternative to VPS hosting. So if your site is getting too much traffic for a shared plan, but you don’t want to spend a fortune upgrading to a VPS, HostGator has cheap cloud plans for you to choose from.

Starting at just $4.95 per month, you won’t find a better deal from such a reputable provider.

In addition to blazing fast load speeds, HostGator cloud hosting allows companies to increase their resources with the click of a button. Scale on-demand, with no data migrations or downtime necessary.

Some other noteworthy highlights of HostGator’s cloud plans include:

Up to 2x faster and 4x more resources than shared plans

Free domain registration

Free SSL certificate

Easy to set up with a powerful dashboard to manage your site

Integrated caching

Data mirroring

Automated failover (to prevent downtime)

At such a low price, you could even consider getting a HostGator cloud plan if you’re launching a new site from scratch. It’s the perfect combination of performance and value.

#5 – iPage Review — Best Cheap Web Hosting Features

iPage is a web hosting provider and site builder bundled into a single package. If you’re starting a new website from scratch and looking for a bargain, this will be a top choice to consider.

Hosting plans start at $1.99 per month with a 36-month contract.

Even at such a low introductory rate, the plan is packed with features. Here’s a quick overview of what comes with your subscription:

Free domain registration

Free email address

Free SSL certificate

Free website builder

Free domain transfers

Free WordPress building tools

Free SiteLock security scans

$100 in Google Ads credits

$100 Bing ad credits

Unlimited domains

Thousands of free templates

24/7 phone and live chat support

iPage is even optimized for ecommerce sites, making it a popular choice for beginner online stores. Plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you’ll have a month to try iPage risk-free.

#6 – GoDaddy Review — The Best Cheap VPS Hosting

Most people recognize GoDaddy for their domain registration services and provocative marketing campaigns. But they are also a big player in the web hosting space.

For those of you who have outgrown your shared plan, GoDaddy has cheap VPS hosting, starting at just $4.99 per month.

This rate is closer in price to most shared hosting plans, as opposed to comparable VPS plans from other providers. It’s worth noting that the self-managed VPS plans from GoDaddy aren’t really designed for beginners. These plans are built for developers, designers, and system administrators who want full control over their hosting environment. 

All VPS plans include:

Root access to configure your server needs at the operating system level

Monitoring and notification alerts for servers and performance (CPU, RAM, storage)

Advanced DDoS protection and free SSL certificate

Easy to scale and increase RAM, CPU, and storage

Ability to choose your data center

Automated weekly backups

Ability to create unlimited hosting accounts

Optional cPanel/WHM + installation

Unlimited traffic with a 99.9% uptime guarantee

Again, if you’re a beginner starting a new site from scratch, look elsewhere. But tech-savvy individuals with hosting experience can definitely benefit from GoDaddy’s cheap VPS plans. 

Summary

If you’re looking for cheap web hosting, choosing a shared plan from one of the recommended providers on the list above will be your best option. These start as low as $0.99 per month.

Some of you might be looking for a bit more than an entry-level option. If you fall into this category, there are some cheap VPS plans and cloud plans to consider as well. 

As long as you follow the buying guide resources and tips I’ve outlined in this guide, you won’t have a problem finding what you need.

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Best Merchant Services

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Merchant services exist to help businesses process credit card payments. You might know them by the name “credit card processors.” 

Regardless of what you call them, it’s important to choose the right merchant service for your specific business.

I’ve reviewed the top six merchant services available today. These are all proven, popular products with reasonable fees.

They all do things a little differently, however, and serve particular types of businesses better than others.

Keep reading to find the one that’s going to fit with your situation. We’ll walk through the major criteria you need to consider as you evaluate your options, and finish with an in-depth look at the best products on the market.

The Top 6 Merchant Services:

Payment Depot — Best for established businesses

Square — Best for transparent pricing/fees

Flagship Merchant Services — Best for great customer service

Helcim — Best for small business

Fattmerchant — Best for subscription-based Businesses

Stripe — Best for online payment processing

How to Choose The Best Merchant Services For You 

Before we get into the reviews, let’s talk about how to determine what makes a good merchant service.

I’ve broken this down into three major areas:

Processing rates/monthly fees

Services

Type of merchant services account

Let’s go through each of these criteria, one by one.

Processing Rates/Monthly Fees

It’s all about the money, and credit card processing is not as simple as you think. You have to weigh the pros and cons with each service; otherwise, you can end up paying way more than you planned. 

We need to look at the processing rates first. With every merchant service, you pay a small fee each time a transaction is processed. It’s usually between 1 to 3%.

You’ll also pay monthly fees, which vary depending on the service you choose.

To get a lower processing rate, you usually have to pay a higher monthly fee.

So, if you’re processing a ton of payments, a merchant service with a high monthly fee and low processing rates can be a good option.

On the other side, if you’re not processing a lot of payments, having higher process rates won’t hurt you as much as a high monthly fee would. 

There are also the rates that different credit cards like Visa and Mastercard charge. Merchant services like Toast let you choose between flat-rate and interchange processing rates.

With flat-rate, you pay a fixed amount for processing each month. With interchange, you pay whatever Visa or Mastercard charges plus a small fee to Toast.

Flat-rate processing is a predictable solution that works well for businesses that want to avoid big changes in their rates. That said, interchange pricing is generally more affordable. 

Services 

You want to look at what the payment processor offers in addition to credit card processing. Do they offer free POS systems, hardware, mobile payments, integrations, etc?

Some merchant services even offer consulting, customer loyalty features, and invoicing tools. 

Sometimes the “extra benefits” you get from a merchant service provider can outweigh some of the negatives. 

The Type of Merchant Service Account 

There are two primary types of accounts, one is an aggregator (or middleman), and one is an ISO (or independent sales organization). Let’s compare the two and see why it’s important to understand the difference.

Aggregators 

These are middlemen working in between the business and the bank, offering an easy payment processing solution for businesses. Square is an example of this, and while they make it easier, they usually have higher fees and transaction costs. 

ISOs 

Payment Depot is an example of an ISO, and while they usually have a more strict acceptance policy, they offer lower rates and user-friendly software compared to a direct processor. 

Integration

One of the most important factors to consider is, “how will this integrate with my current systems”? 

Your payment processor should never get in the way or cause your conversion rates to decrease; it should complement your current process or even enhance it. Make sure you choose something that will easily integrate into your business without requiring too many changes or adjustments. 

The Different Types of Merchant Services

After much research and careful consideration, these are my top six merchant services for both in-person and online sales. 

#1. Payment Depot — Best for Established Businesses

Payment Depot uses a membership pricing model, making it simpler to understand but can sometimes result in you paying higher fees. Thankfully, Payment Depot’s rates are pretty competitive, and they include interchange-plus pricing for both online, in-person, and mobile payments.

This strategy actually makes Payment Depot one of the most affordable payment processors for established businesses that are doing a certain amount of volume. Unlike other companies, the processing fees remain consistent and predictable no matter how much business you do.

Payment Depot accepts all major cards and contactless Apple Pay and Google Pay as well. You get next-day funding and integration with POS systems as well as ecommerce platforms such as: 

Shopify

Revel

QuickBooks

PrestaShop

BigComemrce

WooCommerce

I don’t think this is one of the best merchant services for small businesses because of how they structure their pricing. The transaction fees go down as you pay a higher monthly fee, and they seemingly force you to increase your plan because of strict processing limits. 

Here’s a breakdown of their pricing: 

Basic Plan

Fee: $49

Transaction Fee: $0.15

Monthly Limit: $25,000

Popular Plan

Fee: $79

Transaction Fee: $0.10

Monthly Limit: $75,000

Premier

Fee: $99

Transaction Fee: $0.07

Monthly Limit: $150,000

Unlimited

Fee: $199

Transaction Fee: $0.05

Monthly Limit: Unlimited 

So, as you can see – if you’re doing high volume, it would make the most sense to upgrade to the most expensive plan for the lowest transaction fees. 

#2. Square — Best for Transparent Pricing/Fees

Pros:

No monthly fee

Transparent processing

Free card reader

Great added features

Cons:

No ACH payment processing

Higher fees than desired

Square is popular for its credit card processing and POS systems, but it offers much more. It hosts features such as the “Card on File” feature, allowing users to store customer card information that works great for repeat customers trying to accumulate loyalty points and rewards of that nature. 

The processor also doesn’t have a monthly fee, and while Square’s features might not be as advanced as some of the other payment processors we’re talking about, for a POS without a monthly fee, you can’t beat the value. 

The one thing that stands out most to me is the transaction costs and how they vary whether you’re doing business in person or online.

For in-person sales, expect to pay 2.6% and $0.10 per transaction. For online transactions, it’ll cost you 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction. There are other instances, such as:

Virtual terminal transactions

Card-on-file transactions

And card-not-present transactions

These will cost 3.5% and $0.15 per transaction. 

Based on these numbers, Square is not the most affordable flat-rate processor, but the transparency makes it easier for you to understand what the rates are and how they’ll impact your processing based on volume and price. 

#3. Flagship Merchant Services — Best for Great Customer Service

Pros:

Dedicated account manager

Free account setup

Free card terminal (with fees)

Cons:

Confusing ownership

Little information regarding price

Flagship Merchant Services cut the tape in 2001 and was acquired by iPayment in 2012. Now, they primarily resell iPayment, so keep that in mind. 

This company was one of the first to offer free account setup without any application or fees and real month-to-month contracts. They operate tens of thousands of merchants, and they have a strong reputation. 

Since they’re not a direct processor, most of their merchant accounts are set up through iPayment. iPayment uses First Data as their processor, and it can get confusing trying to figure out who is processing what through what service.

For retailers, Flagship does offer a free credit card terminal, but you’re responsible for paying account fees and insurance on that terminal to keep it up and running. 

For ecommerce, they offer either Authorize.net for processing and integration of an online cart onto your site. 

One thing that was a little frustrating about Flagship is trying to find information on their rates. If you go to their website, you’ll see that you need to fill out a form to get any info about what they charge. 

I’d like to see more transparency, but you may end up with a more catered package deal with this strategy. 

My favorite feature is that you get a single line of contact with the company when you purchase a gateway; they act as account managers. If you ever have a problem, you contact that specific person, and this isn’t a feature I’ve ever seen with any other merchant service.

#4. Helcim — Best for Small Business 

Pros:

Limited fees

Fees based on volume

Free online store software

Cons:

Limited integrations

$199 for the card reader

If you’re a small business owner, Helcim might appeal to you. With this service, you’re able to process credit and debit cards online and in person. You can also do some of the following: 

Set up recurring payments

Send invoices

Collect payments

Pros:

No contract processing

Competitive rates

Easy to integrate online

Cons:

Best for high-volume business

Application process

With a Helcim card reader, you can accept all major cards, including Amex plus Google Pay, Apple Pay, and JCB. 

Helcim charges $20 per month with transaction fees based on volume. They don’t have any contracts or cancellation fees, and they’ll wave your monthly fee if you don’t process any payments. 

Overall, Helcim is affordable but much more for in-person payments than they are online. Here’s a quick breakdown of their pricing structure, which is based on how much business you do each month: 

Monthly Volume: $0 – $25,000

In-Person: 0.3% + 8 cents (+ interchange)

Online: 0.5% + 25 cents (+ interchange)

Monthly Volume: $25,001 – $50,000

In-Person: 0.25% + 7 cents (+ interchange)

Online: 0.45% + 20 cents (+ interchange)

Monthly Volume: $50,001 – $100,000

In-Person: 0.2% + 7 cents (+ interchange)

Online: 0.4% + 20 cents (+ interchange)

Monthly Volume: $100,001 – $250,000

In-Person: 0.18% + 6 cents (+ interchange)

Online: 0.35% + 15 cents (+ interchange) 

Helcim offers nice features for those of you looking to integrate this payment gateway into your online store. You can add a checkout to your site for invoicing and customer registration while also accepting recurring subscriptions. 

#5. Fattmerchant — Best for Subscription-Based Businesses

Pros:

Simple pricing

Omni software

A solid choice for subscription businesses

Cons:

Higher monthly fees

Transaction fees are relatively standard

Fattmerchant is set up a lot like many of the payment processors. As you increase your monthly fee, your transaction fees go down. They offer Omni, which is where you’ll do your invoicing, payments, and reporting. The service is incredibly user-friendly, great for beginners, and it comes included with your monthly fee. 

While Fattmerchant is a great choice for budget-conscious business owners, it’s also a great option for subscription-based businesses. If you’re selling monthly coaching packages, agency services, or counseling, you’ll benefit from Fattmerchant’s structure. 

The processor accepts all major cards, including ACH, invoicing, Text2Pay, and more. Same day funding is available, and you get a free iOS and Android POS app and Bluetooth card readers that you can use on the go. 

They have two pricing plans, which are based on how much business you do each year.

For businesses processing up to $500,000 annually:

Starting at $99/month

Card-Present Fee: $0.08 + Interchange

Card-Not-Present: $0.15 + Interchange

ACH Transaction Fee: $0.25

For businesses processing more than $500,000 annually:

Starting at $199/month

Card-Present Fee: $0.06 + Interchange

Card-Not-Present: $0.12 + Interchange

ACH Transaction Fee: $0.25

Fattmerchant has a higher monthly fee than some others, but the company says that is how they keep their transaction fees down. 

#6. Stripe — Best for Online Payment Processing 

Pros:

Allows you to grow

Reasonable pricing

Great solution for online businesses

Cons:

Complicated setup

May require developers

If your business runs entirely online, Stripe is your best choice. It’s made specifically for ecommerce and internet business, and tons of startups and Fortune 500 companies trust Stripe. 

The company offers sophisticated software and APIs that allow online store owners to customize their checkout experience. You can use the pre-built integrations to connect a Stripe checkout right away and then customize it as you go along. 

That’s one of the main reasons why I love Stripe; it’s a payment processor that grows with you and allows you to change it as your business needs change. 

With all of these features and moving parts comes complications. It’s not the easiest to set up, and if you plan on utilizing the many benefits of Stripe, you’ll likely need a developer to handle it for you. 

Stripe offers a “pay as you go” strategy without monthly fees and transparent transaction fees across the board. 

Online: 2.9% and $0.30

In-Person: 2.7% and $0.05

International: Add 1% per transaction

ACH Direct: 0.8% maxed at $5.00 per transaction

ACH Credit: $1.00 per transaction

You can use all major credit and debit cards plus ACH, WeChat Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and much more. Expect to wait two business days for deposits or pay a one percent fee to get instant deposits. 

Stripe integrates with WordPress, Magento, Squarespace, 3DCart, Zoho, Big Cartel, and more.

Summary

By this point, you should know which of these merchant services is right for you. They all have their pros and cons, and you should choose according to the type of business you own.

Established businesses should explore Payment Depot.

Square is an overall solid solution for all businesses, but the transaction fees are a bit high, and scalability is lacking. 

I’m also a big fan of Helcim because they allow you to grow with your processor by increasing the monthly payment as your volume needs increase. 

Regardless of which choice you make, keep the important factors in mind and choose carefully, so you don’t regret your decision down the road. 

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Best SEO Plugins for WordPress

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be complicated or overwhelming for the average business owner, but it doesn’t have to be.

With a decent SEO plugin for your WordPress website, the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic will be a breeze. 

An SEO plugin offers you tools and powerful features like audit checklists, sitemaps, and content insights to optimize your website. 

We’ve compiled a list of the seven best SEO plugins for WordPress options, making it easier for you to find the best plugin to suit your company’s needs. 

All seven SEO plugins in this guide are suited for any WordPress website and help you improve engagement and increase traffic. 

#1 – All-In-One SEO (AIOSEO) – The Most Comprehensive SEO Plugin for WordPress 

If you’re an experienced SEO expert but are looking for a comprehensive toolkit to help improve your company, AIOSEO is an excellent option. 

AIOSEO is a well-known toolkit with over two million active users to date and offers powerful features that anyone can use. 

Even if you aren’t quite familiar with SEO plugins, AIOSEO makes it incredibly easy to use as you can set up your data and integrate your social media platforms without hiring an expert. 

Some prominent features include: 

SEO custom user roles

SEO audit checklist

Smart XML sitemaps 

Exceptional 24/7 customer support 

Another outstanding feature of this plugin is the option to easily optimize your page with a TruSEO score, where you can get a more in-depth analysis of your data with a click of a button. 

AIOSEO offers four pricing plans:

Basic: $99 per year (for one site)

Plus: $199 per year (for three sites)

Pro: $399 per year (for 10 sites)

Elite: $599 per year (for 100 sites)

While there is no free trial listed on the website, AIOSEO does offer a 14-day money-back guarantee on all pricing tiers.

#2 – Yoast SEO – The Best WordPress SEO Plugin for Page Analysis 

Extra help with page analysis can be scarce in the form of an easy-to-use plugin, however, Yoast SEO offers exactly that. 

The plugin can help you increase engagement and traffic with its unique high-performing keyword feature and automatic keyword optimization, which enables you to save time as there’s no need to manually search for keywords anymore. 

You can become your own SEO expert with Yoast’s academy courses—where you can receive professional SEO training. Each element of the plugin is easy-to-use, and with personalized SEO training, you can’t go wrong. 

Some other helpful features include: 

Content insights 

24/7 support for premium users 

Free support forums

Available in multiple languages for inclusivity 

Social media integration

Yoast SEO offers two pricing plans, including:

Free: Includes free courses, 10 keyphrase queries a day, keyword optimization, and more.

Premium: $89 per year (one site) for no ads, keyword export, integration with Zapier and Elementor, content insights, and more.

Larger companies can save up to 50% by purchasing 150 sites. 

#3 – SEMRush – The Best WordPress SEO Plugin for Keyword Research

Most businesses will find SEMRush to be very helpful for everyday SEO tasks and projects, but it especially shines when it comes to keyword analysis. 

As an all-in-one, award-winning tool with multiple data and strategy features, SEMRush is the perfect plugin for your WordPress website. Not only can you run SEO, but SEMRush also offers content marketing, PPC, and social media marketing. 

With this plugin, you’re able to uncover millions of national and local keywords, with no cap on in-depth analysis. SEMRush also allows you to analyze domain backlink profiles with ease so that you can stay on track. 

The six keyword research tools SEMRush has are: 

Keyword overview: Find out the value and competition of any keyword or phrase

Organic research: Get analysis on your competitors’ rankings and pages for organic keywords

Keyword magic tool: A database with over 20 billion keywords

Keyword gap: Compare a keyword to your competitors

Keyword manager: Look at changes for up to 1,000 keywords in real-time

Organic traffic insights: See Google Analytics “not discovered” keywords and cross-reference that and other data

SEMRush offers three pricing plans, including: 

Pro: $199.95 per month

Guru: $229.95 per month 

Business: $449.95 per month 

You can also try the Pro and Guru plans before you buy with a free trial.

#4 – SEOPress – The Best WordPress SEO Plugin for Beginners 

If you’re new to plugins and are unsure where to begin, SEOPress is the perfect option for beginners. 

This simple, fast, and powerful plugin will catapult you into the world of SEO with ease, especially considering they offer an installation wizard that helps you install and set up your data. 

What’s great about SEOPress is that not only does it cater to beginners, but it offers content analysis with unlimited keywords, even for users on the free plan—making it affordable and inclusive. 

With SEOPress, you’ll benefit from core features, like: 

Google knowledge graph

Twitter card to improve social sharing

Meta title/description to save time on content

Video and image sitemap to improve your ranking 

Customizable URL rewrite 

SEOPress offers two pricing plans, including: 

Free: Unlimited sites and basic tools 

Pro: $39 per year with unlimited sites, all features, and one year of upgrades and support

Like AIOSEO, SEOPress offers a 14-day money-back guarantee with no questions asked.

#5 – Google Search Console – The Best Free WordPress SEO Plugin 

If you’re looking for an affordable tool for basic SEO maintenance, Google Search Console is an excellent option because it’s free! 

When it comes to free plugins, it doesn’t get any better than Google Search Console to help you monitor your website’s presence in search results. 

Google Search Console is another great plugin for beginners, as it’s more on the basic side and wouldn’t suit a user looking for more comprehensive support. 

Some features include: 

Measure your site’s search traffic and performance 

Optimize content with search analytics 

Alerts for any issues via email 

Submit sitemaps for crawling 

UL inspection

Data and analytics to understand how Google views your pages

The plugin will also help you fix any issues that may arise within your WordPress website, providing full support, so you don’t have to waste time. 

Google Search Console is a completely free plugin for all users. All you need to do is sign up with a domain or URL prefix. 

#6 – Ahrefs – The Best WordPress SEO Plugin for Competitor Analysis 

Ahrefs is another all-in-one toolset for SEO that offers many benefits, not the least of which is their in-depth off-page functionality to analyze your competitor’s marketing and content strategies. 

With Site Explorer, Ahrefs lets you see organic search traffic and backlink profiles for any and every website. You’ll be able to see what keywords they rank for, what pages get the most traffic, what websites are backlinking to the competitor, and where they direct paid traffic.

In addition to your direct competitors, Ahrefs also has a Content Explorer tool to analyze high-performing content in your industry with multiple metrics and advanced filters. Every piece of content has analytics to show you how a page performs and even clicks over time.

These features allow you to study your audience and what they are consuming—and better tailor your content to them. 

Some other features of Ahrefs include:

Site audit

Rank tracker

Alerts on new and lost backlinks, keywords, and mentions

Batch analysis

Domain comparison

There are four pricing plans, including: 

Lite: $99 per month for one user and unlimited projects

Standard: $179 per month for one user 

Advanced: $399 per month for three users 

Agency: $999 per month for five users

The price tag of Ahrefs is its only drawback, but the company does offer a seven-day trial of the Lite and Standard plans for $7, so you can test before you invest.

#7 – Schema Pro – The Best WordPress SEO Plugin for Website Markup

If you aren’t great with plugins and need that little bit of extra help, Schema Pro is an excellent and functional option. 

With a simple click and select interface, Schema Pro allows you to install and navigate the plugin easily. 

Schema Pro specializes in website markup, where the software lets you know how your pages should look and work. It’s the easiest way for Google to understand the data that is present on your WordPress site. 

The Setup Wizard enables you to automatically map schema to individual pages and posts instead of manually doing it one by one.

With this plugin, you can use its features to optimize your website, some of these features include: 

Markup configurations which are automatically applied

Potential increase in CTR ratings and votes

Includes all post types for functionality 

JSON-LD implementation

Highly optimized Google code 

Intuitive interface that’s easily extendable with custom field support 

Schema Pro has two pricing plans, including: 

Schema pro: $79 per year

Agency bundle: $249 per year 

You can also save between 20-30% with Schema Pro’s lifetime option and only pay once.

What I Looked At To Find the Best SEO Plugin for WordPress 

Now that you know our top seven best SEO plugins for WordPress, it’s time for you to make a decision that aligns with your company’s needs. Identifying these criteria is the most critical part of your decision-making process because it will dictate whether it will improve your website traffic and engagement and inform your strategies. 

Consider the following factors and whether prospective tools align with your personal preferences to make the right decision for your business. 

Keyword Explorer 

An SEO plugin allows you to find keywords to optimize your WordPress site. With that said, a keyword explorer is crucial to the ultimate success of your plugin and website. This is because it makes the act of finding and including keywords much easier. 

When comparing plugins, it’s important to do some research on keyword explorer functions and make sure you invest in a plugin that offers one. This function’s primary focus is to improve the ROI of your content strategy and receive actionable recommendations. Also, check if the plugin has a limit on keyword searches and analytics.

Without one, you will waste a lot of time manually finding keywords. 

Social Media Integration 

Social media integration is another integral part of your SEO success. Social media integration lets you share to social media more conveniently by storing all your data under one platform—helping you save time and money.

SEOPress offers a customizable Twitter card that helps to improve social sharing. This is a great example of what kind of plugin you should look for to optimize your content to its full potential. 

Customer Support 

Unfortunately, not all free versions of the above plugins offer 24/7 customer support or even particularly efficient support. A simple way to combat this issue is to pay for the premium versions or simply find a plugin that offers customer support for all plans. 

A great example of what you should look for is offered in the Yoast SEO plugin. Yoast has 24/7 support for premium users and a free support forum for unpaid users. This allows everyone to receive customer support if they’re feeling stuck. 

Customer support is imperative, as it’s common for some issues to arise for people who have little experience with WordPress software. 

Conclusion

Our top recommendations for the best SEO plugin for WordPress are AIOSEO and Yoast SEO. To recap the full list:

All-In-One SEO (AIOSEO) – Most comprehensive SEO plugin 

Yoast SEO – Best for page analysis 

SEMRush – Best for keyword analysis 

SEO Press – Best for beginners 

Google Search Console – Best free SEO plugin

Ahrefs – Best for competitor analysis

Schema Pro – Best for website markup 

AIOSEO is the perfect toolkit for an expert looking for extra help, while Yoast has a unique page analysis functionality and is great for any size business.

SEMRush offers content strategy features and is affordable. SEOPress is an excellent choice for novices and is very straightforward with some customization options.

Google Search Console is the only free tool on this list and is great for monitoring and maintaining your website’s presence. Ahrefs offers great customer service, and Schema Pro has diverse functionality. 

No matter what you decide, any tool in this guide will be on the right path to optimize your website and increase traffic.

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How These 9 Savvy Entrepreneurs Sell on Instagram Without an E-commerce Shop

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Are you hoping to sell products online, but don’t want to deal with the hassle that comes with setting up and using an e-commerce shop? If you have an e-commerce shop, do you want to streamline the process to make it easier for your customers to purchase your product?

If that’s you, then Instagram may be the answer. In fact, I generated $332,640 in three months from Instagram, and at least 80% of all users follow at least one brand on the platform.

I’m not the only one who has found success selling on Instagram by leveraging features, tools, and creating an awesome Instagram bio.

Why Sell on Instagram?

According to PewResearch Center’s 2016 Social Media Update, 32% of Internet users are using Instagram.

At least half of all Instagram users use the platform every day.

It’s worth noting that women are typically more likely to use Instagram than men are. 59% of all Instagram users are 18 to 29 years old.

If these are your target demographics and you’re not using Instagram, you’re missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime to build brand awareness. More importantly, however, you’re missing out on lots of opportunities to sell on Instagram.

Online-only businesses, brick-and-mortar brands, and companies specializing in providing a service have all found success with Instagram sales.

If you want to avoid an Instagram marketing mistake, you need to sell like the brands that use the platform to bring in some big bucks.

First, let’s look at Artifacia as an example.

1. Notify People that Your Instagram is Shoppable, like Artifacia

Selling tools that Instagram has introduced have made Instagram’s sales potential even greater.

No matter the method you decide to use to make your posts shoppable, you need to let your followers know that your page is shoppable in the first place. You can accomplish this in several ways, but each method requires you to have a perfect Instagram bio.

This strategy can be as simple as posting a photo for your followers like Artifacia did.

The photo not only lets followers know that their page is shoppable, but it also gives instructions for customers to visit your Instagram bio page.

How can you ensure your posts and Instagram bio drive sales on Instagram? More suggestions are below.

2. Sell on Instagram by Allowing Users to Pay via WhatsApp and BK Store

Traditional shoppable Instagram posts require you to link back to an e-commerce store on a platform like Shopify.

However, there’s a way around that if you use WhatsApp to collect payments from followers as BK Store does. Just add your WhatsApp number to your brand’s Instagram bio and you’re done.

Instead of a regular e-commerce store, users can view products in your Instagram feed and text their payment and shipping details to buy products. It’s a popular way to create an online store without an e-commerce platform.

And better yet, Instagram is currently testing a new feature with Brazilian users that will allow you to post Instagram Stories right to your WhatsApp page.

You might be able to post product images directly into WhatsApp soon once the feature rolls out to all users.

Here’s how it will work:

When you press the “Add to Story” button, a menu will appear with the option to share your Stories on WhatsApp.

After you select this option, your Instagram Stories image or video will appear on WhatsApp with an Instagram logo in the bottom corner.

3. Upload a Gallery of Product Images, like Nordstrom

It’s important to build up a gallery of your product pictures on your Instagram page. A killer gallery of images is what will help you funnel your customers.

Be sure not to use any filters, though, since they can distort your images and make your products look different than they actually are.

Studies have shown that posting pictures of real customers using your product can get you as much as 30% more engagement.

They also found that blue-dominant photos get 24% more attention than ones with a lot of red in them.

Also, make sure that your captions are detailed. Give your customers every piece of information that they would want to know in your description.

If you want to post other photos besides product images to your page but don’t want your product photos to get lost in the crowd, use a tool like Like2Buy.

A tool like Curalate could help you sell on Instagram.

Once you create a Like2Buy profile, all you have to do is add your Like2Buy link to your Instagram bio, as Nordstrom does.

This link is what will lead people to your “storefront.”

When someone clicks on it, it will send them to your gallery of product images where they can browse through the photos to shop.

All they have to do to find out how to buy a product is click on an image they’re interested in.

You can add more than one product to a single image, use user-generated content to build trust, or use fan photos.

If you upload a photo with more than one product, it will list every product on the right side of the image with corresponding numbers.

This way, you can add as many products as you want to one photo. This is especially helpful if you have a series or matching lines that you want to show off.

With Like2Buy, users will also be able to keep track of all of their likes so that they can see all of the photos and products that they have liked on Instagram under the “My Likes” tab.

That way, if they want to like a post to come back to it later and make a purchase, they don’t have to worry about scouring Instagram or Like2Buy to find it, which helps to increase sales.

You can see detailed analytics of who is viewing your posts as a seller, customize your storefront, or even add an email capture to it to gain some leads from the platform.

Nordstrom isn’t the only big brand using the platform. Forever21 and Williams Sonoma have also found success on Like2Buy.

However, Like2Buy isn’t the best tool for a small online business that wants to sell on Instagram because of how pricey it is. Some have reported that it costs as much as $1,000 per month.

However, if your brand is already well-established or you’re selling items that have a large payoff, this tool might be worth the cost.

4. Increase your Reach and Sell on Instagram using Hashtags, like Bedcolors

On Instagram, hashtags are what users type in to search through content and discover new posts that are related to the topics they’re interested in.

If you use hashtags on product images, you’ll help users discover your post and your Instagram bio get a clear understanding of what your product is before they ever click on it.

Do some keyword and hashtag research to find out which hashtags your customers are searching for with a tool like Hashtagify.

Try to use enough hashtags to be descriptive, but don’t overdo it. Here’s how Bedcolors uses hashtags in their posts:

The brand puts its tags at the end of its product descriptions so that they don’t get in the way of any important information.

Speaking of product descriptions, you need to make sure to beef yours up.

5. Beef Up Your Product Descriptions, like back2bareskincare

It’s important to get the message across about exactly what you’re selling, but you also need to keep it interesting to attract the attention of customers.

One way to do that is to incorporate emojis into your descriptions. Everyone loves emojis, and they help to break up your words.

For example, use some seasonal emojis or add a few that directly relate to your product, like back2bareskincare.

6. Sell on Instagram using the Comments, like Gigi’s Boutique

Soldsie is a tool that lets users purchase products directly from their Instagram feeds without ever having to exit out of the app. It also works for Facebook.

Both sellers and buyers must integrate Soldsie software with their Instagram pages before they can use the “comment selling” feature.

Start off by uploading your product images and including important product information, like what colors and sizes are available.

Then, ask your followers to buy your products by commenting the word “sold” on the post and writing their desired size, color, or other selection information.

Some online retails take it a step further by adding the hashtag “#commenttoorder” to their posts.

Once buyers have commented on your post, Soldsie will send them an email with an invoice. You can then receive their payment for the product via a credit card or PayPal.

Pricing for Soldsie depends on the plan you choose. The basic package is $49 per month, and Soldsie takes a 5.9% commission on sales.

You should also chat with your buyers regularly to build trust and long-lasting relationships with them.

7. Chat with Buyers Online, like Archie McPhee

When followers comment on your posts with questions about your products or company, it’s obvious that you should comment back and help them out.

This increases the likelihood that they will trust you enough to make a purchase, and it ensures that you’ll have happy customers.

Providing great customer service isn’t the only goal you should have when chatting with buyers in the comments, though.

Focus on having engaging conversations with your followers like Archie McPhee.

The brand even includes products and product links that might relate to a customer’s contribution to the conversation, which is helpful for making even more sales.

This technique will make users feel like there are real people behind your brand and your Instagram page that they can interact with.

They’ll start to think of your page as more of a “friend” that they trust and follow, which means that they’ll be more comfortable trusting you with orders.

Using influencers to share posts about your company and your products is another simple way to build trust with Instagram users.

8. Partner with Influencers for Indirect Sales on Instagram, like NECTAR Sleep

You can grow brand awareness and boost sales by partnering with influencers on Instagram.

By partnering with influential people on the platform, you can reach specific target audiences that are interested in your products and services but don’t know it yet.

Instagram influencer marketing has become a game-changer for social selling. And the payoff is enormous.

On average, brands generate $6.50 for every $1 that they spend on influencer marketing.

For example, NECTAR Sleep recently partnered with Daryl-Ann Denner on a post about their memory foam mattresses.

In the description of her video post, she gave information about the company and the product, talked about their free trial, added a tag to their Instagram bio, and used one of their branded hashtags.

At the start, NECTAR Sleep had only 11,200 followers, while Daryl-Ann had 112,000. That means that her post introduced thousands of new people to the brand.

The post gained over 10,000 views in just one day, so it was a huge success.

You can also accept payments for the products listed on your Instagram posts by using a payment gateway.

9. Accept Payments for Your Sales on Instagram with a Payment Gateway like AKrazyMug

Unfortunately, you can’t share links in your Instagram pictures back to a place where users can pay for the items.

However, there are a few ways that you can accept payments on Instagram by using payment gateways. One option is Instamojo.

To get started, sign up for an account with Instamojo and follow all of the verification steps. After you have uploaded your KYC, it will take a few minutes for them to approve your account.

From there, you need to get your own payment handle. When you sign up, your @username will become your payment handle just like your Instagram handle.

Once you’ve created a payment handle/username, the link to your Instamojo profile will be www.instamojo.com/username.

Your profile page will be a product listing page where your payment links will show up with all of your photos.

Create product links by selecting the “Create a Payment link” button from your Instamojo dashboard.

Be sure to upload a profile picture and cover photo for your brand’s Instamojo page, too.

Next, share product links with your customers in direct messages.

You can reach out to all of the customers who like your Instagram post by sending them a message linking to your Instamojo page. Or, you can send links to the customers who DM you first with questions.

As soon as a user actually buys your product, you’ll receive an email confirming that they have purchased it.

From there, all you have to do is use Instapay to request a payment. Send buyers your payment handle where they can enter their payment information.

You can also request payment directly from your Instamojo dashboard. If you aren’t sure how to do this, you can read more on how to request a direct payment.

Conclusion

It might seem impossible to sell products online without having to set up and run an e-commerce shop. However, that’s not the case. A large chunk of Internet users are active on Instagram every day. Most of them follow at least one brand, so it’s a perfect place to find engaged buyers.

You can generate tons of sales from Instagram if you play your cards right, like the nine savvy entrepreneurs in this post.

If you want help implementing some of these strategies or would like help in other aspects of social media or content marketing, let’s talk. We are available to talk through your goals and how to reach them.

How do you make sales on Instagram?

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