Yearly Archives: 2023

I commented on a friend‘s vacation post, scrolled past a Comforter advertisement, and double-tapped an influencer’s skincare post this morning. That‘s the thing about brand influencer marketing — you follow them for a reason, so you don’t mind interacting with their sponsored content.

I follow this influencer because she‘s an editor of a major magazine that I enjoy reading, and her content interests me. Since I trust her opinion, I’ll check out any skincare brands she endorses.

Even though influencer marketing is a well-known marketing channel by now, it’s always important to reiterate that your customers trust the opinions of others — and that majorly impacts buying decisions.

Nearly 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to, or better than, other marketing channels.

Now that we understand the potential benefits of leveraging influencers, let’s consider strategies for identifying the most suitable ones for your industry.

What is an influencer?

An influencer is someone who‘s amassed a substantial social media audience and can sway their followers’ actions. So odds are you’ve seen them on many social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter.

Businesses can benefit from influencers by increasing brand awareness, reaching new audiences, and converting customers.

Collaborating with an influencer enables a business to use its credibility and influence its followers, resulting in higher sales and stronger customer loyalty.

Influencers can also create genuine content that resonates with their followers, helping businesses connect with their desired audience.

In 2022, 57% of marketers surveyed by HubSpot said their company worked with creators or influencers. Over one in four marketers currently leverage influencer marketing.

And 33% of Gen Zers have bought a product based on an influencer’s recommendation in the past three months.

However, it’s vital to note that not all influencers and collaborations are equally advantageous. Choosing influencers based on their demographics, values, and content quality is essential so they align with your brand.

Ensure the partnership achieves the desired results by setting clear goals and expectations and tracking the campaign’s performance.

Image source

The Benefits of Working With Brand Influencers

Do you want to work with brand influencers, or are you still on the fence? Brand influencer marketing is a recent development in online business, so you might not have much faith in its efficacy yet.

But that doesn’t mean brand influencer marketing isn’t practical. It’s one of the best ways to market your brand these days. If you aren’t convinced, here are a few benefits you can expect when working with a brand influencer.

Increased Brand Awareness

You could be the best in the world at what you do, but that doesn’t matter if nobody is aware. So how can you get more eyes on your brand, aside from the classic methods?

Brand influencer partnerships. Influencers are more prevalent than ever, and that can be to your advantage. Get more eyes on your business by tapping into a brand influencer’s audience.

Audience Growth

Successful influencers have large audiences — audiences they know well. After all, an influencer is nothing without an audience. Why not benefit from that connection?

A brand new audience can be intimidating but think of brand influencers as ambassadors. They lend their credibility to your business, meaning more loyal customers that you don’t have to work as hard to win over.

Increased Traffic

Could you use more leads? Of course, you could! A bigger audience is excellent, but it doesn’t necessarily mean more business for you. Once again, this is where brand influencer partnerships come into play.

For example, imagine an influencer mentioning and linking your product on their blog. Chances are, people will click through. And from there, there’s a better chance visitors will buy that product or check out the rest of your website.

More Sales

All actions in business lead to sales — at least, they should. Unfortunately, the truth is that nothing guarantees sales. The best you can do is increase your chances; influencers give you great odds.

Think about it: Most people buy things based on recommendations from individuals they trust — friends, celebrities, and of course, influencers.

So partnering with a brand influencer could help recommend your offer to a new audience, upping the number of people who become your customers.

How to Find Brand Influencers for Your Industry

How can you determine the right “fit” with a brand influencer? Business/influencer fit will become extremely important for your future collaborations, so be sure to nail down the following criteria:

1. Figure out your target audience.

A target audience varies by demographic, geographic, and behavioral factors, to name a few. Common ways to segment an audience are age, gender, location, behavior, lifestyle, values, and interests.

As you narrow your audience, you’ll dive into the marketing strategies and content that resonate most with them.

Determining your target audience will ensure that your audience is similar to your influencers. Otherwise, your content will fall flat and won’t inspire users to take action.

A great example of business/influencer fit is how many sportswear brands, like Nike and Puma, partner with famous athletes to create products and content.

If you’re a fan of Lebron James, you probably already know Nike sponsors him — and that partnership goes a long way for Nike’s business.

2. Research influencers.

There’s no doubt that social media is the best place to research your influencers — but let’s break it down into more concrete steps.

The easiest way to find the right brand influencers is to see if any are already discussing your business.

Social monitoring or searching for your brand on social media sites are great ways to get started, and listening tools can help you find influencers already interested in your industry.

Another tip for researching influencers is to search for relevant hashtags.

If you’re a health and wellness brand looking for an influencer, searching for “#health, #wellness, #sponsored, #ad” on Instagram will bring you to influencers who have already posted industry-relevant content.

If you see a post that catches your eye, check out the rest of the influencer’s engagement on other posts.

Remember that influencers can have smaller, devoted followings — so don‘t turn away from someone just because they have fewer followers than you initially had in mind.

Additionally, there’s a down arrow next book out for influencers who are alretitor’s brands.

If you see an influencer‘s post on Instagram that may resonate with your brand, try looking for similar profiles. Next to the “Follow” button on Instagram, there’s a down arrow.

You’ll see a list of suggested users by clicking the down arrow. Scroll through those and see if anyone is willing to take you on.

3. Determine relevance.

Take a look at your content. What is your brand‘s aesthetic, and what tone do you use in your copy? What are the underlying messages you’re trying to communicate?

It‘s essential to see how aligned your influencer’s content is with your own. Their social presence shouldn’t be filled with posts like yours, but their messaging should be similar since you’re targeting a specific audience.

Engagement is also an indicator of relevance for your brand. If the influencer‘s audience isn’t engaged with their content, partnering with your brand won‘t make a difference.

Determining whether the influencer’s followers are commenting and sharing their content or just liking it is essential.

Additionally, do similar users return to comment and like content time and time again? This implies that the influencer’s audience enjoys engaging with the influencer and likes the content she promotes.

Connecting with Influencers

Now that you‘ve done your initial research and hopefully conducted a list of possible influencers for your brand to work with, it’s time to connect.

You want to reach out to influencers without seeming spammy or too transactional. Relationships are key, after all.

And if you have a terrible relationship with your brand influencer, odds are they won’t continue to post on your behalf.

1. Reach out…strategically.

There are better strategies than cold emailing or direct messaging an influencer for relationship building. If you want to work with an influencer, try courting them first.

I mean that you should subscribe to their blog, follow all their social channels, and comment on their posts. Influencers work hard on their content, just like your business does.

If you want an influencer to take notice of your business, you have to be interested in what they’re doing. Beginning a partnership by interacting on the channels you hope to work together on will demonstrate your interest.

Influencers work hard on their content, just like your business does. If you want an influencer to take notice of your business, you have to be interested in what they’re doing.

Beginning a partnership by interacting on the channels you hope to work together on will demonstrate your interest.

Some influencers have a presence on multiple social media platforms. It‘s your job to know how they want to be contacted for business partnerships. If they have a business email in their Instagram bio, that’s likely the best choice.

Alternatively, maybe they have an inquiries section on their blog. Whatever the case is, make sure to send a personal message that doesn‘t feel like it’s been generated by a template.

2. Make a human connection.

Sending messages into the digital universe is scary because you don‘t know when or if you’ll ever hear back. Making a connection in the real world is much more actionable and gives a face to your business.

This doesn‘t mean you should go out and stalk your list of influencers until you meet in person. If you’re serious about connecting, try attending or hosting an influencer event.

Bringing influencers to you will make connecting with them much more accessible and allow them to interact with your brand before agreeing to work with you.

Many marketers are learning to market themselves as well as their businesses. Hopefully, you’ve also been growing your network — so you may already have connections to your influencers.

If you have someone at the top of your list, see if they‘re following someone you know. Maybe they’ve worked with a similar brand, and you know someone on that team.

The world is smaller than we think, and you might be sitting on a goldmine of potential relationships.

3. Manage your outreach efforts.

Like any other marketing strategy, influencer outreach should be organized and well-documented. The last thing you want is to accidentally reach out to the same influencer on four platforms with the same message. Yikes.

After reaching out, give an influencer some time before a follow-up. Like in a sales pitch, you don‘t want to be overbearing or clingy. Respect the influencer’s time — if they want to work with you, they’ll respond to your outreach.

You should also be documenting what outreach strategies work for you. Maybe after a first email, you’ve succeeded in hopping on a call with potential influencers.

Knowing what works for you will help you further develop your outreach strategy and enable you to be more creative.

Best Practices for Working With Brand Influencers

A new form of marketing, like influencer partnerships, can seem discouraging. You might not know the best way to do it if you haven’t worked with many influencers yet. In that case, review some of these most promising practices.

Here, you can get a sounder idea of what to anticipate when you pursue your next brand influencer partnership.

Be Goal-Oriented

Before anything, make sure your business is in order. A brand influencer partnership is doomed to fail if either party isn’t pulling their weight, so ensure you’re on the same page.

Most importantly, establish and communicate your goals. Do you want more sales? More email subscriptions? Instagram followers? Get as explicit as possible and let influencers know when you reach out.

Focus on Relevance

Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to brand influencers. The assumption that more followers translate to greater brand exposure may not always hold.

Instead of popularity, you should prioritize relevance in your search for a brand influencer. This ensures a better match between your brand and the brand influencer.

This overlap makes you more likely to secure a partnership with a receptive audience.

Diversify

Let’s think of brand influencer partnerships as investments for a minute. They won’t always return what you invest, so risks are always involved. What steps should you take under those circumstances? Diversify.

Or, at least, don’t go all-in on one influencer partnership. The other extreme is collaborating with many influencers to increase your chances of a winning coalition.

You can see what’s best for your brand, but a middle-of-the-road approach works best for most.

Trust Them

No one likes being told what to do. Influencers are no different, so don’t forget that when you collaborate. After all, if you had their influence, you wouldn’t need to partner with influencers.

That doesn’t mean they should have free reign, however.

Make sure you’re on the same page regarding standards like deadlines. Other than that, do your research before you partner with any influencers. It takes both parties to form a successful partnership, so mutual trust goes a long way.

How to Become a Brand Influencer

You have learned about partnering with influencers, but what if you aspire to become one? There isn’t necessarily a prescribed method, but here are a few advised steps to consider.

1. Get in your niche.

What sparks your interest or ignites your passion? Becoming an influencer in any industry is possible, but choosing the sector where you possess a strong understanding and proficiency is essential.

2. Get to know your audience.

There are various methods to initiate the process, but an initial step could be to analyze your social media metrics. This should give you an idea of your demographics and who’s consuming your content.

3. Post content.

You can post on the fly or develop a content strategy. We recommend a content strategy, but that might not be necessary as you start. Ensure you release relevant content consistently, even if you don’t stick to a schedule.

4. Stay consistent.

The previous three steps are the fundamentals of becoming a brand influencer, but they’re also just the start. Keep up the hard work, and be consistent. An online reputation is hard to build and easy to destroy.

Reach New Audiences With a Brand Influencer

Brand influencers can help you build and expand a devoted following, increase your word-of-mouth marketing efforts, increase sales, leads, and conversions, and create more human relationships with your potential customers.

The right influencers are inherently interested in your brand, believe in your mission, and can communicate about your business eloquently.

Focusing on long-term relationships with your influencers will continue building their knowledge of your company and bring the best results.

 

It’s hard to believe that if the HubSpot Blog were a person, it would currently be in high school.

That’s right – for well over a decade, content has been published on the HubSpot Blog to help hundreds of millions of readers discover best practices in the areas of marketing, sales, customer service, website development, agency work, and general business best practices.

Behind the scenes, our team also thinks about how we can convince as many readers as possible to become leads and access more information, tools, and resources from HubSpot – and anyone who has worked on lead generation knows that accomplishing this task is much easier said than done.

Effective blog lead generation requires both creative and analytical skills. It’s about knowing what numbers to crunch, how to analyze your existing data, and how to make projections based off of traffic, monthly search volume, and conversion potential.

Additionally, any good marketer needs to understand the human aspect behind this process and not lose sight of the people reading your blog and the problems your business can help them solve.

Over the years, the team at HubSpot has landed on a process that continuously generates leads day-after-day, with a reliable blog view-to-lead conversion rate and a steady flow of traffic. Software like HubSpot’s CTA tool can help you create professional-looking and click-worthy CTAs in seconds.

Here are the steps my team at HubSpot takes to generate leads from our blog.

1. Audit existing blog metrics.

To develop a process for growing our blog lead number, we first needed an understanding of how well we were performing.

To capture the current state of blog lead generation, we looked for the overall traffic number and number of leads generated from the blog. These two numbers gave us a baseline conversion rate (in this case, number of leads generated, divided by the total views to the HubSpot Blog in a given time period) from which we knew the team could only go up.

While the number of leads was the ultimate goal for our team, we wanted to take a deeper look at the overall conversion rate and how it changed month-over-month – this number would let us know for sure if we were growing traffic to posts and topics that were most likely to convert their intended audiences.

The big-picture conversion rate gave us an important directional view, but if we ever saw a major shift in that conversion rate, we needed to know where that shift was happening. For example, if we saw a surge in traffic to a low-converting post, that would hinder the overall conversion rate for the blog.

To drill down further, we also looked at all of our post-level data – that is, each post’s traffic number, number of leads generated, and CVR. By exporting and tracking this data monthly, we were able to see which posts were dragging down our CVR, which posts were keeping it strong, and which posts were prime candidates for a better CVR.

How to complete this step:

1. Choose a time period (last quarter, last month, etc.) for which you want to know your conversion metrics.
2. Determine your overall data for traffic and leads generated in this time and calculate overall blog CVR.
3. Export your traffic and lead numbers for individual blog posts for this time period. Depending on your analytics tool, this may require you to export data from two different sources and combine metrics using a VLOOKUP on Excel or Google Sheets.
4. For each post, divide the number of leads it generated by its traffic number to get post-level conversion metrics.

For a quick video overview on more HubSpot Blog lead generation tips like this, check out our video guide.

2. Group common posts together.

Over the years, HubSpot has published thousands of blog posts – and while this was immensely helpful for growing HubSpot’s email subscription base and ranking for countless keywords, it made the process of organizing and analyzing conversion metrics extremely difficult.

Luckily, the blog and SEO teams developed a model to group posts with similar search intent with the pillar-cluster model. In a nutshell, this model was the result of a massive audit to better organize our blog, reduce redundancy on the blog, and help search engines understand which pieces of content we wanted to be considered the most authoritative on a given subject.

As a result of this project, all of our blog posts were given a relevant “topic tag” – or the cluster for which each post belonged. For instance, any Instagram post is assigned an “Instagram Marketing” tag, and links back to our Instagram Marketing pillar page.

This process ensures effectiveness when analyzing metrics. For instance, when exporting blog metrics, we can analyze blog posts by tag (i.e. all “Instagram Marketing” posts), of which we have a few hundred — rather than analyzing each individual URL, of which we have over 10,000.

How to complete this step:

1. Export all of your blog posts from your CMS or website analytics tool onto a spreadsheet.
2. Categorize each of your keywords into a topic cluster. These topic clusters should be high in search volume, anchored by a long and high-trafficked post, and related to each other when it comes to search intent. For example, rather than put all of our posts on social media in one giant “Social Media” cluster, we created more niche clusters for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to help us categorize with more specificity.
3. With each post properly categorized, organize your data with a pivot table to look at the numbers generated by each cluster rather than each URL. Your pivot table should include the number of posts in each cluster, the views generated, and the leads generated. From there, you can calculate the cluster’s CVR by dividing total leads by total views.

3. Determine the best content offer opportunities.

One of the major benefits of grouping your posts together is identifying a content offer opportunity that can be effectively promoted on multiple blog posts, as opposed to an individual post.

As acquisition marketers, it’s tempting for us to attempt optimizing the conversion paths for high-traffic posts. However, these high-traffic posts are oftentimes too general and unrelated to what it is we’re trying to market.

This mismatch results in misplaced efforts and unmet lead goals, as we’re quick to ignore blog posts which – on their own – may have lower traffic numbers, but together have a substantial traffic number.

Ask yourself – which of these two options is a better pursuit for lead generation?

• A blog post that has little or nothing to do with your products or services, but is viewed 100,000 times a year.
• 10 individual blog posts that have a clear connection to your company’s core competencies, but on average generate only 10,000 views each per year.

In either scenario, you’d be optimizing the conversion path for 100,000 readers – it’s only by grouping these posts together that you’d realize option #2 is a much better option for lead generation.

To address this issue, we organized all of our blog topics by the potential number of leads they could generate, but readily discounted any topic cluster of which we doubted the conversion potential. This crucial step ensured we only considered ideas that we believed would be worth our time and resources to create.

Along with dedicated CTAs for each blog post we create, we also create featured resources for certain topics we believe have high conversion potential. For instance, in this Ebook Format blog post, we created a special featured resource, 18 Free Ebook Formatting & Creation Templates:

How to complete this step:

1. Calculate how many leads each topic cluster could be generating. At HubSpot, we do this by subtracting each cluster’s actual CVR from its target CVR, and multiplying that difference by the traffic number for the desired time period.
2. Organize data by each cluster’s lead generation opportunity – looking first at the highest opportunity and at the lowest opportunity last.
3. Work through your list of high-opportunity clusters and remove any low-intent clusters from your consideration, ensuring you’re only left with topic clusters that have a direct connection to your products/services.
4. Select one (or many) topic clusters which you want to support with a lead-generating content offer.

4. Create lead-generating content.

By this point, you’ve identified topic clusters which you feel would benefit from a new, dedicated piece of lead generating content. Now, it’s time to create that piece of content.

Understanding what kind of content to create comes from knowledge of your industry, your market, and your buyer personas. In our experience, we discovered HubSpot’s Blog audience responds to actionable, personalized, and customizable content in the form of templates, tools, and kits.

However, this is not the case for all organizations – so figure out which content format works best for your audience by auditing the performance of your current library or testing out different formats to see what resonates with your blog readers.

With the knowledge of what formats work best for our readership, we got to work on creating templates for our most-read but lowest-converting clusters, so that readers would see our content as an actionable next step for them to apply the knowledge they gained in the blog post. Below are a few examples of how we mapped an offer to a topic cluster.

Blog Topic Cluster	Content Offer
Customer Experience	Customer Journey Map Templates
Sales Training	New Hire Sales Onboarding Template
Product Marketing	Product Go-to-Market Kit
Pricing Strategy	Sales Pricing Strategy Calculator
Facebook Advertising	Facebook Advertising Checklist

The most important thing to remember during this step is to not overcomplicate your content. Remember, to secure a conversion, you need to convince a reader of your content’s quality and relevance. If you’re struggling to make the connection between your blog content and your offer’s content yourself, how well do you think a reader skimming your blog posts will make that connection?

How to complete this step:

1. Look through the posts in the topic cluster you want to optimize with new content and think about what a natural next step would be for the reader.
2. Cement an idea for a piece of content you can create that aids your readers in that next step.
3. Create the content in your desired format (PDF for ebooks, Google Sheets or Microsoft Word for templates, etc.) and launch it behind a lead-generating form on your website.

5. Promote content with CTAs.

HubSpot’s CTA tool enables you to create CTAs and personalize them to each visitor.

To facilitate a blog conversion, you’ll need to let blog readers know about the new lead-generating piece of content on the same page as your blog content.

Blog CTAs can take a variety of formats. Two of the most popular are:

• Anchor Text CTAs – Hyperlinked text to the landing page of the offer you’re promoting. Remember to keep anchor text direct and clear so readers know what they’re clicking – action words like “download” and “access” are useful here.
• Image CTAs – Hyperlinked images to your offer’s landing page. These CTAs might look like a banner ad and contain an image of the offer alongside copy explaining the value of it. These image CTAs could also be an image of the offer itself, which makes sense if promoting a template or a tool.

At HubSpot, the majority of our posts contain at least three CTAs – one anchor text, and two image. Depending on the intent we expect readers have on a specific post, we may include several more. However, all of these decisions are based on years of data collection and A/B testing – which we encourage you to rely on as well to ensure a non-intrusive CTA experience on your blog posts.

How to complete this step:

1. Determine the CTA types you want to include for the blog posts you’re optimizing.
2. If necessary, create CTA imagery with a design tool like Adobe or Canva.
3. Add CTAs to each post, either by utilizing a CTA tool or hyperlinking each image or line of text you add into your blog posts. We recommend the former.

6. Analyze your results.

We gained confidence that this approach worked best for us when the results confirmed so.

After 30 days of launching a new content offer on a series of blog posts, we always answer two questions:

1. How many leads did each blog generate before we optimized it with the new content offer?
2. How many leads did each blog generate after we optimized it with the new content offer?

Far more often than not, these clusters see a notable increase in CVR, with some increasing by more than 1,000%.

However, there have been times where we missed the mark and the offer did not perform as expected. When that was the case, we reverted the changes and went back to the drawing board – equipped with the knowledge of what didn’t work, which helped us determine what would help us generate more leads in the future.

How to complete this step:

1. Calculate the traffic, lead, and CVR numbers for each blog post optimized with the new offer before swapping out the CTA.
2. Calculate the same for a set time period after the CTAs were swapped.
3. Calculate the difference in leads and in CVR for each post.
4. If the post did not increase in CVR as expected, consider reverting your changes and creating a new content offer.

7. Align with SEO.

When we discovered that this process was helping us hit our goals, our immediate thought was protection. HubSpot writers and SEOs work hard to ensure our blog posts continuously rank on the first page for the search results of their intended keywords — and we don’t want to lose that hard-fought real estate.

However, like all teams, SEO needs to prioritize which blog posts are most in need of protection from losing their SERP rankings and traffic – so it became our job to ensure HubSpot’s SEO team knew which posts were most important when it came to generating leads.

We’re fortunate here at HubSpot to work with expert SEOs who are able to quickly and effectively prioritize the right content.

As my colleague Braden Becker – HubSpot Senior SEO Strategist – said when we spoke about this topic at INBOUND 2020, “Traffic doesn’t pay the bills.”

Once we were all on-board regarding prioritization, our teams came to an agreement on how to best manage an SEO strategy for high lead-drivers while respecting the importance of maintaining high traffic numbers for posts across the HubSpot Blog.

The team takes the following steps to ensure lead generation goals are met:

• Protect the traffic to high-traffic, high-converting blog posts by regularly checking performance and making as-needed updates to the content of these posts. By frequently optimizing these posts, we let search engines know we’re quick to add the most relevant information onto these pages.

• Grow the traffic to low-traffic, high-converting blog posts – or ensure that these posts have maxed out their organic traffic potential.

• Create posts for keywords that we have not written articles for – but align with related content offers or clusters – as these posts could generate substantial lead numbers for us. This step requires keyword research to ensure these new posts generate traffic.

• Stop protecting traffic to high-traffic, low-converting posts. While strong traffic numbers are great, we came to the conclusion that a lower traffic number is acceptable if it means redirecting our historical optimization efforts away from posts that might not generate as much traffic, but will generate significantly more leads than other posts.

How to complete this step:

1. Come up with a list of blog content that you’d like to see an increase or decrease of traffic to for lead-generation purposes.
2. Present this list to your colleague(s) in SEO to determine what work can be done to redirect traffic growth efforts to the right posts. Note: it’s important to set expectations here, as an SEO cannot wave a magic wand and increase demand for a low-ranking keyword. Sometimes, a post is ranking as well as it can be – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t double check to see if there’s opportunity to grow traffic where possible.
3. Present a list of high-traffic, high-converting blog content to see if there are similar keywords which could be written about in a new (or updated) blog post, in addition to potential keywords that could be the basis for net new posts.
4. Come with data. SEOs aren’t in the business of risk-taking, so explain how a sacrifice of traffic in some areas could result in a stronger CVR and higher lead number from your company’s blog.

8. Repeat the cycle!

HubSpot’s bloggers are always creating new blog posts and historically optimizing existing ones. In other words, my team is always presented with opportunities to create new lead-generating content and ensure the content we’ve already made still holds up and is of value to our leads.

Whenever we create a piece of gated content, we always follow the seven steps above, and we’re consistently rewarded with an increase in leads from our blog. 

 

Creating business listings on directory websites is an easy way to improve your local SEO.

All you have to do is list your business in online local directories such as Yellow Pages, Manta, and more. This is called building citations, and it’s a critical piece of a local marketing strategy.

By building citations, you can make sure that you appear in local packs when people look for businesses like yours in their area. Business directories may seem like a thing of the past, but they’re a great way to grow your presence online.

In this post, we go over everything you need to know about creating business listings and why they’re so valuable, even in the age of social media and other marketing tactics.

Promoting a local business isn’t easy these days. Whether it’s because of oversaturation or complicated search engine algorithms, it’s all too easy to feel like no one will find your business in the local search results.

Today, Google is inserting itself between consumer and local business websites much more often. For proof, you need to look no further than Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), featured snippets, and most importantly, local packs.

You can improve visibility in local packs by listing your local business’ NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) on directories, online business listing sites, and citation sites. Aside from improving your local SEO, these can also improve your rankings on search engines because the listings usually link back to your site.

But what is a business listing, and what does it look like?

When I was a local SEO specialist at my previous company, I spent much of my time finding new business listing opportunities to build citations and generate backlinks for our local websites. This allowed us to rank not only in the local packs, but in the main SERPs, too.

I have a few tips to help you out. Make sure your company listing has the following information once you add it to a directory:

• Consistent NAP. If you add or update your business on multiple business listing sites, make sure you’re providing the same company information across each directory.
• A link to your website. Backlinks — also known as inbound links — are crucial to your company website’s Domain Rating. Consider adding a tracking link at the end of this URL as well, so you can see how much traffic your website specifically gets from the business directories that are linking to it.
• A company description. Make sure you have a detailed description of your business that reflects your organization’s mission, culture, and values.
• Multimedia. Give company searchers a visual taste of your business with a picture or video of your office, your employees, or your daily business operations.

There are plenty of location-specific and industry-specific business listing sites where you can submit your data. To start promoting your local business, however, you should start with the big sites and slowly work your way toward the more niche directories.

I’ll soon go over our list of best local directories, but first, let’s cover our methodology.

How We Chose the Best Online Directories

I used to build citations for my former company, and I can tell you with full confidence that there are many, many business directories out there — and not all of them are good.

I used two simple parameters to curate the best business listing sites you can sign up on right now.

Domain Rating

Domain rating is a score that’s given to websites to reflect how well they rank on Google based on their backlink profile. The minimum score is 0 and the maximum score is 100. Domain rating is similar, but not the same as, domain authority.

The minimum required domain rating for the directories on this list was 50. I gathered the data from Ahrefs, but you can also double-check using your preferred SEO tool.

Category

I compiled this list for use by any business. Regardless of your industry or target market, you can submit your business to the directories below. To make it onto this list, the directory had to be categorized as General.

I’ve included traffic numbers for your reference, but in reality, they’re not that important. Local citations help you build consistent references to your NAP information online. Whether or not an organic website visitor sees that information isn’t too important.

With that, let’s go over the top free business directories you can join right now.

The below business listing sites made it onto the list because they’re free and also offer an easy process for claiming or creating your profile.

Some online business directories require phone verification or extra steps, but the below options are relatively simple to sign up on. These ten business listings are a great place to start before signing up on more industry-specific listing sites.

1. Google Business Profile

Domain Rating: 98

Monthly Organic Traffic: 81M Visits

Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) directly lists you on Google’s local pack and search results. A Google Business Profile includes your NAP, business hours, services, customer reviews, photos, and much more.

Claim your free Google Business Profile.

2. Superpages

Domain Rating: 84

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.7M Visits

Superpages is a general online directory site for a wide variety of local business categories. A Superpages listing includes your NAP, business hours, and website.

Claim your free business listing on Superpages.

3. Better Business Bureau

Domain Rating: 93

Monthly Organic Traffic: 13M Visits

Better Business Bureau is an online directory site for a wide variety of local business categories. A Better Business Bureau listing includes your NAP, company history, company email, and website. You may also apply for optional accreditation.

Claim your free business listing on BBB.

4. Hotfrog

Domain Rating: 79

Monthly Organic Traffic: 24K Visits

Hotfrog is a general online directory site. A Hotfrog listing includes your NAP, business hours, business description, and website.

Claim your free business listing on Hotfrog.

5. Merchant Circle

Domain Rating: 85

Monthly Organic Traffic: 70K Visits

Merchant Circle is a general online listing site. A Merchant Circle listing includes your NAP, logo, payment options, business hours, business description, and website.

Claim your free business listing on MerchantCircle.

6. EZLocal

Domain Rating: 77

Monthly Organic Traffic: 90K Visits

EZLocal is a general online directory for a wide variety of local business categories. An EZLocal listing includes your NAP, parking information, business hours, and website.

Claim your free business listing on EZLocal.

7. eLocal

Domain Rating: 77

Monthly Organic Traffic: 14K Visits

eLocal is a general local directory. An eLocal listing includes your NAP, business description, website, and payment options.

Claim your free business listing on eLocal.

8. Manta

Domain Rating: 87

Monthly Organic Traffic: 2.3M Visits

A Manta listing includes your NAP, business hours, services, website, business description, and social media links. You may also apply for Manta verification.

Claim your free business listing on Manta.

9. Foursquare

Domain Rating: 91

Monthly Organic Traffic: 30M Visits

Foursquare is a general online directory for a wide variety of local business categories. A Foursquare listing includes your NAP, business hours, logo, and customer reviews.

Claim your free business listing on Foursquare.

10. Yellow Pages

Domain Rating: 90

Monthly Organic Traffic: 14M Visits

An oldie but a goodie, Yellow Pages is maybe the most well-known local directory. A Yellow Pages listing includes your NAP, parking information, business hours, and customer reviews.

Claim your free business listing on Yellow Pages.

Featured Business Listing Site: HubSpot Solutions Online Directory

HubSpot also offers an online directory for marketing and advertising agencies. If you fall into this category, I highly recommend signing up for free.

Add your free business listing to HubSpot’s Solutions directory.

Online Directories for Local Businesses

When it comes to listing your business online, you aren’t limited to just using the free sites above. We’ve compiled the best directories on the web to list your business, whether paid or unpaid (most, however, should be free).

In my years as a local SEO and citation builder, I found most of these relatively easy to sign up on, but a few sites may require additional verification or a pending period. The good news is that there is little to no chance that your listing will be rejected.

1. Facebook Pages

Domain Rating: 100

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.7B Visits

Facebook Pages is one of the best places to list your business online and get visibility through both organic search and Facebook’s internal search feature. A Facebook Page includes both basic NAP information and updates from your business.

Create your free business listing on Facebook Pages.

2. Instagram for Business

Domain Rating: 99

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.4B Visits

Like Facebook, Instagram is another valuable place to list your business’ NAP information for visibility, local SEO, and social media marketing purposes. An Instagram profile will include your business’ NAP information, as well as photos and updates posted directly by you.

Create your free business listing on Instagram.

3. LinkedIn Company Directory

Domain Rating: 98

Monthly Organic Traffic: 319M Visits

LinkedIn offers a directory of business pages (called LinkedIn Pages), where most companies and businesses can add a profile for free. Like Facebook and Instagram, you not only get an opportunity to list your NAP but also to publish updates and even jobs.

Create your free business listing on LinkedIn.

4. Apple Maps

Domain Rating: 97

Monthly Organic Traffic: 424M Visits

If people visit your business in person, it’s always a good idea to add it to navigation apps and services. Apple Maps isn’t technically a business listing site, but it’s still an essential citation. You can now easily get started by using Apple’s new Business Connect online portal.

Create your free business listing on Apple Maps.

5. Yelp

Domain Rating: 95

Monthly Organic Traffic: 234M Visits

Whether you run a restaurant, a local boutique, or a repair shop, Yelp is an invaluable directory to list your business online. It not only boosts your credibility with customer reviews, but it also provides one more citation with your NAP, business hours, services, and more.

Create your free business listing on Yelp.

6. Bing Places

Domain Rating: 93

Monthly Organic Traffic: 17.1M Visits

Bing may not feel as essential as Google, but it’s still an important citation, especially because some of your customers might use Bing as their primary search engine. Adding your business to Bing also allows users to navigate directly to you using Bing Maps.

Create your free business listing on Bing Places.

7. Foursquare

Domain Rating: 91

Monthly Organic Traffic: 28.3M Visits

When I was building citations at my previous company, Foursquare was one of my favorite business listing sites. It’s quick, easy, and painless to add your online listing, and it includes all essential information without many frills. An easy citation if there ever was one.

Create your free business listing on Foursquare.

8. Angi

Domain Rating: 91

Monthly Organic Traffic: 14.9M Visits

Formerly known as Angie’s List, Angi is a valuable citation for providers of home services — from plumbing to landscaping to maintenance and renovations.

Create your free business listing on Angi.

9. Thumbtack

Domain Rating: 90

Monthly Organic Traffic: 6M Visits

Thumbtack is another great business directory for providers of home renovation and maintenance services. Other industries that could add a business listing to Thumbtack include electronics repair specialists and web designers.

Create your free business listing on Thumbtack.

10. Nextdoor

Domain Rating: 89

Monthly Organic Traffic: 6.3M Visits

Nextdoor is both a neighborhood guide and a free online business directory for local businesses of any category, but it’s specially recommended if you offer home services or products at a local shop.

Create your free business listing on Nextdoor.

Business Listing Sites

Those aren’t all the online directories you can join. Below are more of the best options for businesses of any category.

You’ll notice that some of them have low organic traffic numbers. Remember: The main benefit of adding your company to business listing sites is to build citations with your NAP information.

Even if an online directory only receives a few organic visits per month, that’s okay — the main value is having a listing with your correct name, address, and phone number (NAP).

Don’t worry about upgrading any of these listings. I never did when I was building citations. Most people don’t visit online business directories any longer; instead, they use Google or other popular websites such as Yelp.

1. City-data.com

Domain Rating: 85

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.2M

City-data is a neighborhood forum and online directory that covers the entirety of the US.

Create your free business listing on City-data.com.

2. ChamberofCommerce.com

Domain Rating: 82

Monthly Organic Traffic: 550K

ChamberofCommerce is an online directory with a membership and an accreditation option.

Create your free business listing on ChamberofCommerce.com.

3. Company.com

Domain Rating: 80

Monthly Organic Traffic: 12.3K

Company.com is a digital ads service provider that also publishes an online directory.

Create your free business listing on Company.com.

4. Dun & Bradstreet Business Directory

Domain Rating: 79

Monthly Organic Traffic: 259K

Dun & Bradstreet is a famous online directory with an accreditation option.

Create your free business listing on Dun & Bradstreet.

5. Brownbook.net

Domain Rating: 78

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.4K

Brownbook.net is a Yellow Pages alternative for businesses of any category. One of my favorite citations — it’s very easy to sign up.

Create your free business listing on Brownbook.net.

6. Local.com

Domain Rating: 78

Monthly Organic Traffic: 178K

Local.com is an online business directory with a blog and a series of advertising options.

Create your free business listing on Local.com.

7. Turbify

Domain Rating: 78

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.7K

Turbify is an online local listing provider that gives you a free report and also lists you online.

Create your free business listing on Turbify.

8. Kompass.com

Domain Rating: 76

Monthly Organic Traffic: 11.1K

Kompass is a B2B online business directory that also allows you to respond to public requests for proposals.

Create your business listing on Kompass.com.

9. Storeboard

Domain Rating: 76

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.3K

Storeboard is an online business directory that also includes a homepage “feed,” like a social media site.

Create your free business listing on Storeboard.

10. eBusinessPages

Domain Rating: 76

Monthly Organic Traffic: 261

eBusinessPages may have low traffic numbers, but it’s an easy and simple citation to add to your roster.

Create your free business listing on eBusinessPages.

11. City Squares

Domain Rating: 74

Monthly Organic Traffic: 5.3K

CitySquares is an online business directory that also has a handy partner program for companies with multiple locations.

Create your free business listing on City Squares.

12. BOTW

Domain Rating: 74

Monthly Organic Traffic: 30.2K

Best of the Web (BOTW) is an online business directory with advertising and upgrade options.

Create your free business listing on BOTW.

13. Infobel

Domain Rating: 74

Monthly Organic Traffic: 913K

Infobel is an EU-based business listing site that also includes a local US directory for companies of any category.

Create your free business listing on Infobel.

14. iBegin

Domain Rating: 73

Monthly Organic Traffic: 42.7K

iBegin is a simple online directory where you can not only submit your business, but blog posts as well.

Create your free business listing on iBegin.

15. Neustar Localeze

Domain Rating: 73

Monthly Organic Traffic: 13.3K

Neustar Localeze is a business listing service that also includes an online directory. This one is paid, and sign-up can be a little more complicated than other options, but it’s still worth it.

Create your business listing on Neustar Localeze.

16. Spoke

Domain Rating: 74

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.9K

Spoke.com is an online business directory with a “feed” on its home page, like a social media site. You can also add people and topics.

Create your free business listing on Spoke.

17. GoLocal247

Domain Rating: 73

Monthly Organic Traffic: 12.7K

GoLocal247 is an online business directory where you can also post free classified ads.

Create your free business listing on GoLocal247.

18. Call Up Contact

Domain Rating: 73

Monthly Organic Traffic: 73.7K

Call Up Contact is a free business listing site where you can also add individual pages for your products and services.

Create your free business listing on CallUpContact.

19. n49.com

Domain Rating: 73

Monthly Organic Traffic: 159K

n49 is a Canada-based directory that has a US arm. One of my favorites in terms of UX and workflow. It’s simple to sign up, and editing your listing is easy through its portal.

Create your free business listing on n49.

20. Cybo

Domain Rating: 72

Monthly Organic Traffic: 330K

Cybo is a global business listing site for companies of any category.

Create your free business listing on Cybo.

21. Just Landed

Domain Rating: 72

Monthly Organic Traffic: 42.7K

Just Landed is an online business directory that also includes an expat community and an area for classified ads.

Create your free business listing on Just Landed.

22. Tuugo.us

Domain Rating: 72

Monthly Organic Traffic: 130

Tuugo’s organic traffic numbers may be low, but like others on this list, it’s an easy citation that will help you reinforce your NAP information. It’s also very, very simple to sign up — no verification required.

Create your free business listing on Tuugo.us.

23. Lacartes

Domain Rating: 72

Monthly Organic Traffic: 15.2K

Lacartes is an online business directory that also includes a job and product marketplace, as well as a community forum.

Create your free business listing on Lacartes.

24. City Local Pro

Domain Rating: 72

Monthly Organic Traffic: 539

City Local Pro is a business directory that specializes in home improvement services, but you may be able to sign up and get a citation regardless of category.

Create your free business listing on City Local Pro.

25. Yellow.Place

Domain Rating: 72

Monthly Organic Traffic: 972K

Yellow.Place is a Yellow Pages alternative with advertising options.

Create your free business listing on Yellow.Place.

26. Hub.biz

Domain Rating: 72

Monthly Organic Traffic: 124K

Hub.biz is an online directory with a text-based “feed” that includes updates from local businesses.

Create your free business listing on Hub.biz.

27. Cylex US

Domain Rating: 73

Monthly Organic Traffic: 921K

Cylex US is an online directory that offers premium listings, as well as the ability to post special offers.

Create your free business listing on Cylex.us.

28. Fyple.com

Domain Rating: 68

Monthly Organic Traffic: 2.1K

Fyple is a local directory for businesses of any category. It also offers customers the option to post reviews.

Create your free business listing on Fyple.

29. Opendi.us

Domain Rating: 67

Monthly Organic Traffic: 23.5K

Opendi is a business directory with international arms in Europe and South America. Opendi has a long pending period for new listings, but it’s worth submitting to.

Create your free business listing on Opendi.us.

30. ExpressBusinessDirectory.com

Domain Rating: 65

Monthly Organic Traffic: 7

ExpressBusinessDirectory.com has low traffic numbers, but it’s easy to submit to, and you can never run short on citations.

Create your free business listing on ExpressBusinessDirectory.

31. My Huckleberry

Domain Rating: 64

Monthly Organic Traffic: 544

My Huckleberry is an online business directory with an online forum and a coupon marketplace.

Create your free business listing on My Huckleberry.

32. Bizhwy.com

Domain Rating: 66

Monthly Organic Traffic: 24

Bizhwy.com is a simple online business directory that also gives you the option of submitting a press release. Since its traffic numbers are low, I recommend sticking to a free listing.

Create your free business listing on Bizhwy.

33. DirJournal.com

Domain Rating: 63

Monthly Organic Traffic: 802

DirJournal is an online business directory that also offers advertising options. Since its traffic numbers are low, I recommend sticking to a free listing.

Create your free business listing on Dirjournal.

34. USdirectory.com

Domain Rating: 56

Monthly Organic Traffic: 1.7K

USdirectory.com is a business listing site that offers advertising options. I also recommend sticking to a free listing for this one.

Create your business listing on US Directory.

35. FindUSlocal.com

Domain Rating: 55

Monthly Organic Traffic: 61.8K

FindUSlocal is an online business directory with a “feed”-like home page.

Create your free business listing on FindUSLocal.

Benefits of Listing Your Business in Local Directories

As mentioned, the value of listing your business in directories isn’t about visibility in the directories themselves (although that’s certainly helpful); it’s more about building citations with your business information.

Here are some of the benefits of listing your business online. It’s a lot of work, but it’s endlessly invaluable.

Rank Higher in Local Packs

You’ve seen local packs before — they’re the groups of local businesses that appear when you make a location-based search, such as “pizza near me.”

By listing your business in local directories, you’re reinforcing your company’s NAP information again and again. This constant and consistent record of citations (really, make sure your information is consistent!) can improve your chances of ranking higher in Google’s local packs. You’ll therefore increase visibility and exposure in your area, which can result in more website visits and foot traffic.

Get White-Hat Backlinks to Your Website

We can’t forget the big benefit: Backlinks. Most local directories allow you to add a link to your website, and while some of them may be no-follow links, it’s still worth the mention.

Most directories are authoritative websites that have a high domain authority or domain rating. By listing your business on these directories, you can indirectly increase your website’s domain authority by getting a “vote,” so to speak, from an authoritative site.

By getting backlinks or “votes” from directories, you will, in turn, improve your search engine rankings and increase your website’s visibility and traffic.

Boost Company Legitimacy

Creating business listings can also improve your legitimacy. Local directories are trusted sources of information, and being listed on these directories can boost your company’s credibility and reputation.

Imagine if people look up your business and the first page of the SERPs are filled with random URLs that happen to share your business name. That doesn’t help you look established. But if the SERPs are all filled with listings from other directories, users will feel like your company is real and therefore worth their investment.

No matter what, being listed in local directories will improve your online reputation and increase your brand visibility.

Add Your Local Business to Online Directories

Making sure that you have a presence where your potential customers might find you is critical to any local marketing plan. It’s critical to build citations not only for the added visibility but for the SEO benefits, too. Add your local business to some of these business listings and directories today — and watch your business and customer base grow.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Gaining more followers on Instagram is key to successfully scaling your marketing efforts on the platform. But how do you increase followers on Instagram, especially if you have fewer than a thousand?

It’s no secret that opportunities are continuing to grow on Instagram for Business. Approximately 90% of Instagram’s 1 billion active monthly users follow a business account on the platform, and there are more than 200 million business accounts.

But here’s the deal: Unless you’re famous, it’s tough to amass a huge following on Instagram without some hard work. It’s especially difficult if you’re a small business using Instagram marketing to gain more clients. How do you even get started?

Luckily, you can do a few things right away to collect at least 1,000 quality followers for your personal or professional Instagram account. It’s all about knowing where to invest your time and effort. In this post, we’ll discuss a few strategies to help you gain those followers, from creating a follow-worthy Instagram profile to using contests and staying true to your brand.

Types of Instagram Followers

Before we talk about how to attract IG followers, let’s talk about who you want to attract. There are three main types of Instagram followers, and the first two are the kind of followers you want to avoid.

Fake Followers

Fake IG followers are usually bots or fake accounts that inflate your follower count. Fake followers don’t engage, and engagement is a factor in how IG’s algorithm pushes new users to your feed.

Ghost Followers

Most of these “ghosts” are inactive users. They’re not engaging with your content, so these followers can skew your engagement metrics. This means it may be a good idea to clean ghost followers from your list if you’re looking for growth.

Organic Followers

Organic IG followers are your active audience — the people who find your profile and engage. Within your authentic followers, there are a few sub-groups you’ll also want to pay attention to.

Customers

These followers have made a purchase and often follow your IG for product updates, sales, and discounts. To engage more customers, highlight your products on Instagram and offer exclusive offers on this platform.

Competitors

Some organic followers are also following your competitors. They might be comparing brands before making a purchase or doing some research. To engage these followers, take cues from competitor content when you’re coming up with Instagram content. You may also want to use specific hashtags or location tags to improve your visibility with this group.

Influencers

Micro and nano influencers are Instagram accounts with 10-75K followers. These niche influencers can lead to useful partnerships and increased sales for your business. To attract influencers, produce consistent, high-quality content for a specific audience.

Now that we’ve covered who you want to follow your brand, it’s time to talk about how to get their attention.

To get more followers on Instagram, you’ll need to post consistently over time while using best practices. If you’re new to Instagram marketing, this can be challenging.

Before you start optimizing your Instagram profile, you’ll want to create the Instagram Strategy you need to hit the ground running.

Next, we’ll cover Setting up Your Instagram Account to help you level up. Then we’ll go into actionable tips for Engaging IG Followers, Instagram Content Creation, and Promoting Your Instagram Account.

Even if you’ve never tried your hand at Instagram marketing, and even if you don’t have a team of content creators, you can grow your Instagram account with the right tools. With that said, let’s jump right in.

Instagram Strategy

1. Use a social media content calendar to plan your Instagram posts ahead of time.

Download a Free Content Calendar to Grow Your Instagram Followers

Most of the work of increasing your Instagram followers happens before you open the app. For one, you must plan to publish new Instagram posts consistently, and even though it’s tempting to post when inspiration strikes, it’s essential to find a rhythm that helps you capitalize on trends. Not to mention it will also help you nurture a community that will expect specific posts from you at a specific time.

Consistently planning, writing, and publishing Instagram posts requires an exceptional level of organization. For that reason, we recommend using a social media content calendar to plan your posting schedule ahead of time.

Here are some resources you can use to jumpstart your Instagram content creation process:

• What to Post on Instagram: Photo & Video Ideas to Spark Inspiration
• Best Instagram Captions: Good, Cool, Funny, & Cute
• How to Plan Your Instagram Posts [+ Free Instagram Planning Templates]

2. Use a social media management tool to schedule your posts in advance.

Get Started with HubSpot’s Social Media Tool

A social media management tool will help you post consistently without the extra work of logging into Instagram each time. If you’re serious about increasing your Instagram following while minimizing work, then you want to schedule your posts using a tool and then let the software do the rest.

Instagram has a wide variety of post types, from the traditional square photos to Stories to the more recent Reels. This wide variety gives you a lot of choices for growing your followers, but can be daunting or overwhelming without a tool to help. You can always post manually, but scheduling your posts in advance can help you use these content formats more effectively.

Here are more articles to help you choose the right tool and learn how to schedule Instagram posts:

• Best Social Media Management Tools
• Scheduling Instagram Posts: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know
• When Is the Best Time to Post on Instagram?

3. Adhere to a regular posting schedule.

Set a schedule for posting to build trust with your audience. Optimizing your schedule for your specific audience might take time and experimentation.

Experiment with these times and days to see what works for your audience. You may find that your target users are most active and engaged at different times. Once you find the best times to post to Instagram, stick with a consistent schedule to set expectations for your audience.

Keep your target persona in mind as you plan out your posting schedule, as that can drastically impact your posting timing and frequency — especially if you’re targeting an audience in a different time zone. (Download this free template for creating buyer personas if you don’t have a few already.)

Setting up Your Instagram Account

4. Download an Instagram for Business kit with templates and how-tos.

Download a Free Kit to Help You Grow Your Instagram Profile

A series of templates and how-to guides are an essential addition to your Instagram growth toolbox. HubSpot’s kit will allow you to expedite content creation and stay on top of Instagram’s latest trends, including its recent shift from static photos to short videos.

Having this on hand is helpful especially if you’re new to Instagram content creation, or don’t know how and where to start. At this point, you should also arm yourself with tips and tricks for Instagram. Here are a few articles to help you out:

• Instagram Features, Hacks, & Tips Everyone Should Know About
• Free Instagram Post Templates for Your Brand

5. Make your account into a business profile.

While you could technically grow using just a personal profile, we recommend turning your account into an Instagram business profile, or starting one anew. This will give you access to Instagram Insights, which will allow you to understand how quickly your following is growing and how well your strategy is working.

Even if you only plan to become an independent content creator, you should still consider operating your account as if it were a business.

To switch from a personal to a business account, take the following steps:

• On the Instagram app, go to your profile.
• Tap the Menu hamburger button on the upper right-hand corner.
• Tap Settings on the pop-up.
• Scroll down and tap Account type and tools.
• Tap Switch to professional account.

You’ll then have the option to switch entirely to a business account or to stay as a professional account.

6. Customize your Instagram for Business profile.

Next, customize your Instagram profile to make it look good. Tell your potential followers who you are, and give them a reason to follow you.

How? Start by making sure your username is recognizable and easily searchable — like your business name. In the example below, The Journal Shop uses the username @thejournalshop.

If your business name is already taken, try keeping your business name as the first part of your username so that people searching for your business are more likely to come across you. For example, the Australian activewear line Lorna Jane uses the username @lornajaneactive.

Below are more Instagram profile optimization tips.

Step 1. Choose a profile picture that’s on-brand with your other social networks, like your company logo.

Step 2. Fill your bio with delightful, actionable information about your brand. Information like this lets people know what you’re about and gives them a reason to follow you. Include who you are and what you do, and be sure to add a hint of personality.

Here are a few examples for inspiration:

• @cheekbonebeauty: “🧡 Indigenous Roots. 🌱 Sustainable By Nature. 💚 @bcorporation Certified 🌎”
• @oreo: “Playful moments from your favorite cookie.”
• @mrsbrittanyhennessy: “wife, boy mom x2, sagittarius. professional opinion giver✍🏾🎤🎬. creators, parenting, the interwebz.”
• @CalifiaFarms: “⁣Because life’s too short for one type of milk. 🌱”
• @coragedolls: “Instilling cultural pride with products & stories that finally reflect her. #blackowned”

Step 3. Add a link tree to your bio to make it easy for people to go straight from Instagram to your other platforms if they want to. The space allotted for URLs is precious real estate. 

There are just a few places on Instagram where you can place clickable links, so use it wisely (ever heard the line “link in bio“?). We recommend using a shortened, customized Bitly link to make it more clickable. When you receive 10,000 followers, you can add links to your Instagram Stories.

Step 4. Enable notifications so you can see when people share or comment on your photos. This’ll let you engage with them more quickly — just like a lot of companies do on Twitter. To enable notifications, go to “Settings and privacy” and then “Notifications.” Select “From everyone” for every category.

Note: We don’t recommend you link your Instagram account to Twitter or other social media platforms for automatic posts. Why? Because each platform caters to a different audience and needs different types of posts.

Instagram Content Creation

7. Designate an experienced content creator.

Just like there should be one (maybe two) people managing your other social media accounts, there should only be one or two people managing your Instagram account.

If possible, choose someone with experience on the platform who will “get” it — and be sure they stay updated on all new features Instagram has to offer from Reels to Instagram Shopping.

That said, you can also learn how to become a content creator for Instagram by learning how to become a digital creator, downloading content creation templates, and pursuing an Instagram Marketing certification.

Learn How to Increase Followers with HubSpot’s Free Instagram Marketing Course

Alternatively, you can hire freelance content creators from marketplaces such as:

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• People Per Hour

As to what gets specifically posted: You’ll have a lot of freedom if you’re an entrepreneur or solo professional. If you work for a large organization, you might find that a lot of people want a say in what’s posted. That’s when an organized social media request form or guidelines document comes in handy.

This document should inform people how to request a post on your Instagram account, when to post it, what the value of the post is, and why your company should post it.

8. Follow photography and editing best practices.

On Instagram, post quality matters. A lot. Your Twitter followers might forgive a few bad tweets, but a bad photo on Instagram is a big no-no.

Fortunately, you don’t have to take a photography course to be a good Instagram poster — nor do you have to practice for weeks before you start. But you should get familiar with basic photography tips and photo editing apps.

Photography Best Practices

Since Instagram is a mobile app, chances are, some content you post to Instagram will be taken on your mobile device. That’s expected.

If your budget allows, consider investing in professional photography for your Instagram photos, as that will elevate your profile. Otherwise, a smartphone and a few editing apps will do. Then, follow these photo tips:

• Focus on one subject at a time.
• Embrace negative space.
• Find interesting perspectives.
• Look for symmetry.
• Capture small details.
• Make your followers laugh.

Edit Photos Before You Post

Instagram has some basic editing capabilities, but oftentimes, they aren’t adequate to make visuals really great.

Most of your photos should go through at least one or two photo editing apps on your mobile phone before you open them on Instagram. Some options include:

• Canva
• Photoshop Express
• VSCO Cam

Create an Instagram Theme

Additionally, consider creating a cohesive Instagram theme across your feed, so anyone visiting your account for the first time can get a sense of your brand. The below example from the @the.plottery uses similar typography and purple colors throughout.

You can also use Instagram templates to create a consistent look and feel for your images.

9. Write engaging, shareable captions.

Captions are an essential part of your post — the icing on the cake if you will. Consistently great captions can do wonders for humanizing your brand, winning over followers, and making your content more shareable — thereby giving you more exposure.

Here are a few things you might see in a winning Instagram caption:

• Clever or witty comments
• Calls to action
• Relevant emojis
• Hashtags

Clever or Witty Comments

Some brands and influencers have used clever or witty captions, or even audience-appropriate jokes to further humanize themselves on Instagram.

Kelly Hendrickson, HubSpot’s former Head of Brand Social, says that she loves Netflix’s account and sub-accounts, particularly because of the post captions.

“They have such a clear brand voice, and you laugh along with them. They’re in on the joke, just like one of your friends,” she says.

Netflix’s voice is casual, trendy, and humorous while still staying on brand.

In the post above, the caption is funny, authentic, and relatable.

Calls to Action

Another way to increase the shareability of your caption and engage your followers is to ask questions or have some sort of call-to-action in the captions of your photos.

For example, you might write, “Double-tap if you find this funny,” or “Share your story in the comments.”

In the example below, we asked followers of the HubSpot Instagram account to drop a tip on measuring social media ROI:

Relevant Emojis

Adding just a few relevant emojis can add even more personality to your posts. It could also make them even more noticeable on an Instagram feed. Many content creators and brands include witty text with relevant emojis to make the post pop. For instance, @ugarteaurelia uses taco emojis to highlight the topic of her post (tacos, of course).

Along with the three items listed above, you’ll also want to include hashtags.

10. Use a consistent, platform-specific brand voice.

Photos and videos might be the most important part of your Instagram posts, but captions, comments, and other text should never be an afterthought. If you’re building a brand on Instagram or have more than one Instagram manager, consider developing a consistent voice that humanizes your brand.

This shows potential followers that you are credible and relatable, rather than formal or intimidating.

When developing a voice, you should keep the platform and your audience in mind.

For example, many influencers and prominent accounts on Instagram have a super casual voice and style but stay professional and on-brand. Once you’ve got your voice down, make sure it stays consistent and natural in your captions, comments, messages, and your bio, like this example from Barbie the movie:

Image Source

Once you’ve created and optimized your profile, have someone managing it, and have your creative assets ready, it’s time to start posting. We’ve already shared some resources to get started, but it’s worth going over again because posting consistently will have the largest impact on your follower count:

• Free Instagram Business Templates
• What to Post on Instagram: Photo & Video Ideas to Spark Inspiration
• How to Plan Your Instagram Posts [+ Free Instagram Planning Templates]

11. Lean into trending content formats.

With the arrival of TikTok on the social media scene, short-form videos have become one of the most effective content formats on social media.

In fact, according to a HubSpot Blog survey, 85% of marketers who use short-form videos find them to be the most effective content format. And 95% of marketers who use short-form videos plan to increase their investment or continue investing the same amount in the following year.

That’s why it’s important to lean into trending content formats. After TikTok, Instagram came out with IG Reels, and this feature is a great way to post funny, relatable content.

When Instagram comes out with new tools, like IG Reels, don’t be afraid to use those features because they can help you gain Instagram followers.

12. Post content your followers want to see.

To gain your first 1,000 followers on Instagram, it’s important to know who your audience is. Once you’ve created your Instagram account, you should take note of which posts perform best.

Is it interactive content, behind-the-scenes stories, funny and relatable posts, or something else? When you have a general idea of what performs best, continue to create that type of content.

Additionally, Instagram has many tools and features you can use: IG Reels, Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, Highlights, and more. Begin by posting several types of content formats and see which one does best. Then, come up with a strategy and become an expert at that one tool. Doing so will help you create content your followers want to see and gain new followers.

13. Post user-generated content.

Brands can publish user-generated content to show appreciation for existing customers and generate social proof at the same time.

If I see a regular person endorsing a product on Instagram, I’m more likely to believe they really like the product.

The same is true for most consumers. That’s why sites like Yelp are so popular.

Ultimately, user-generated content can be an excellent strategy when trying to increase brand awareness and trust in your products or services.

For instance, Bevel reposted a video from athlete Peyton Wood using and recommending their products to their 115K followers.

Posting Wood using Bevel is a smart move.

Firstly, the product is designed with black men in mind. Having Wood, who is part of the brand’s target demographic, recommend the product serves as the social proof the brand wants.

Furthermore, part of Wood’s audience will likely fall within Bevel’s target audience. Simply put, the two brands have similar audiences and brands that align well, which is why it’s a good opportunity for Bevel to promote Wood’s content.

14. Share educational content with Instagram carousels.

You can also create educational content in the form of Instagram carousel posts. Instagram carousels have become a popular way to educate audiences on an idea or topic.

Think about what you can educate your audience on and then create a simple Instagram carousel post with an engaging title that entices users to click on the post.

With this type of content, you can share the post on your Stories, and then hopefully other users will be compelled by the content to share on their Stories as well.

Engaging IG Followers

It’s a good idea to have a solid number of great posts up — maybe 15 or so — before you start engaging people and working down this section of the list. That way, when people visit your profile, they’ll see a full screen of photos and will know you’ll post great content regularly.

If you haven’t already, download this social media content calendar template and plan out your posts. It’s best to build a backlog of content that’s ready to post a few days or weeks ahead of the publishing date.

This will ensure you always have content during holidays, vacations, and even creative blocks.

15. Engage with users through follows, likes, and comments.

Instagram is very much a community, and one great way to get involved in that community is to find people who post pictures that interest you, follow their accounts, and interact with their content. It’s the most natural way to draw attention to your own Instagram account.

This accomplishes two things: for one, when they get the notification that you’ve followed them, there’s a good chance they’ll check out your profile. This goes back to the importance of having great content on your account before you start connecting.

Secondly, it means you’ll be seeing their recent posts in your feed, so you can Like and interact with them if you choose to.

As you build a following, celebrate your followers by responding to and pinning their comments, and even reposting their posts for user-generated content.

16. Allow outside contributors to curate your content.

Although it’s best to have only one or two people manning your account, one or two people can’t be everywhere at once taking photos. What about that fun sushi night the engineers had last night? Or the event your head of sales spoke at earlier this week?

There’s a whole breadth of content you’ll want to post to Instagram, and more often than not, one person won’t be able to keep track of it all.

One solution? Create a system where you can curate photos and content from members of your team.

There are a few ways to do this. The first option is to create a specific email address for employees to send their photos, short videos, memes, hyperlapses, and so on.

Encourage people to add a descriptive subject line so you can easily sort through the content they’re sending. While this doesn’t seem like the smoothest way to curate photos, it’s actually the easiest for the people sending you photos — and the easier you can make it for them to send content, the more content you’ll get.

If your team shares a Box or Dropbox account, you could also create a shared folder where people can automatically drop their photos and videos.

17. Run Instagram contests to encourage engagement.

Another great way to expand your reach while increasing engagement with your photos is to run an Instagram contest or giveaway. As part of your contest, you can ask users to follow your account, like, and/or comment on the post to be eligible to win.

I mean, come on. Who doesn’t love winning free stuff?

You can also add a user-generated content (UGC) element to the contest, too, where people post a photo of their own and use a specific hashtag.

18. Explore Instagram Stories’ interactive features.

Instagram has always given brands the platform to share beautiful, curated photos to represent their companies.

But with ephemeral Instagram Stories, brands can also share on-the-fly, behind-the-scenes looks for 24 hours that may not be as polished as a published photo, but give your brand more personality on the platform.

Along with sharing video clips and static images through Instagram Stories, users can also use polls, event reminders, and the “Ask a Question,” tool to gain more engagement and learn more about their audiences.

Once a user is verified or has over 10,000 followers, they can even include a link to a webpage within a story.

How Brands Can Use Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours unless they are marked as a “Story Highlight.”

Highlighted stories will show up at the top of your profile between the photo feed and your bio.

Image Source

Here are a few other brands we recommend following to see what they’re sharing:

Dana Shultz (@minimalistbaker) publishes easy vegan and gluten-free recipes on her blog. Her Stories feature neat how-to videos of her making breakfast and testing out new recipes in her kitchen. The behind-the-scenes aspect of her Stories provides a lot of human context for her blog’s brand, and everybody loves a good how-to video.

Casper publishes quirky Instagram content to advertise their mattresses — without overtly doing so. The main theme of their content? Staying in is better than going out (because you can stay in and lay on a comfy Casper mattress, naturally).

They’ve even created a gallery for followers to use as backdrops for their Snapchat and Instagram stories to make it look like they’re out at a party when in reality, they’re laying in bed.

Here are our tips for using Instagram Stories for your brand:

• Whether it’s funny, sad, or unique, be authentic. Your photo gallery is where content can be perfect and polished. Instagram Stories are for the raw, unscripted, and unretouched. Use Stories to share the other side of your brand that followers might not be able to see elsewhere. Do you have a dog-friendly office? Is your team trying out the latest challenge? Start filming to showcase the more human side of your brand.
• Go behind the scenes. These are by far our favorite types of content for ephemeral video sharing. Show followers what goes into the planning of an event or the launching of a product, and make it fun. Your followers want to feel included and in the know. You could also use Stories to cultivate a brand loyalty program that only rewards people who check out your content.

19. Use the Instagram Live feature.

Instagram also lets users record and share Live videos, another content format that’s proven to be hugely popular on other social networks. What’s unique about Live videos on Instagram? They disappear when users stop filming.

This authentic, bi-directional experience lets brands share unscripted, raw moments with their audience to incorporate human elements into a social media platform that’s highly edited and polished in its traditional use.

Since the Live feature launched, Instagram has added even more features to inspire engagement, such as:

• Request feature to go live with the live account
• Pinned comment
• Q&A box
• Up to four accounts on Live at a time
• Filters

Live video is a growing trend across a variety of social media platforms, so if something interesting is happening, start rolling. Whether it’s an event, a team birthday party, or behind-the-scenes footage, your devoted followers want to see what you’re up to.

And if you want to make it even more interesting, you could collaborate with an influencer or another brand to host a Live. With people that your audience is interested in, you can promote this Live event, and then host it on your profile.

Promoting this type of event will help you tap into someone else’s audience while interacting and engaging with your followers by answering their questions and talking to them during the Live.

20. Diversify your audience to resonate with different types of users.

As your followers grow, it can be tricky to identify what content types will resonate with them. With this in mind, divide your audience into sub-groups and target your content to various demographics.

For instance, if you have 200K followers, those followers probably come from different regions of the world, have different interests and hobbies, and likely have different careers. Rather than post all-encompassing content that will satisfy all your followers at once, conduct some analytics research to separate them into smaller sub-groups.

Take Starbucks as a good example of this. Starbucks has millions of followers. There’s no way the global coffee brand can post content to satisfy millions of people at once — and it doesn’t try to.

Instead, Starbucks regularly posts more exclusive content geared toward particular groups, such as this post they published showing a typical workday at a Starbucks location:

This post won’t appeal to Starbucks followers who don’t work from home, but that’s OK.

You don’t always need to post content to please everyone. Instead, show your company’s ability to connect and engage with sub-groups and post what aligns with your own brand’s values.

Creating a work-friendly atmosphere is something that matters to Starbucks, so by posting about coffee shop work days, they’re doing more to demonstrate their values than they are appealing to everyone. Which is kind of the point, isn’t it?

21. Don’t buy fake Instagram followers.

Authenticity and honesty are key if you want to grow your audience on Instagram. But to quickly grow their IG accounts, some resort to buying followers.

If this is a step you’re considering, first think about the philosophy of this decision. At its core, buying followers is unethical and in violation of Instagram’s community guidelines. This move can damage your brand’s reputation by eroding trust.

Then there are the tactical impacts of this approach.

Fake followers can’t engage, and they won’t like, comment, share, or repost your content. This lack of engagement sends a signal to the platform that your content isn’t interesting or useful to your followers.

While inflating your follower count, fake followers will erode metrics like:

• Organic reach
• Likes
• Comments

An inflated follower count will also make it tougher for you to measure the actual effects of social campaigns and strategies. Instead, focus on growing organic followers who are excited about your brand and content.

22. Tag relevant users.

Another way to gain more followers on Instagram is to tag relevant users in your posts. Your posts will then show up in that person’s tagged posts, and anyone who looks through there will find your page (and hopefully, follow). This is also a great way to highlight creators or vendors your business collaborates with, like in the example from Therapy Stores below:

But it’s important that you only tag people who are in the photo or relevant to the photo. For example, many times, influencers tag the clothing or makeup brands they wore in a photo.

23. Post content that’s meant to be re-shared.

Each post on your Instagram should have a purpose. It could be to generate likes, comments, engagement, or shares. But you can’t expect followers to re-share content just for the heck of it. There needs to be a reason.

Because of this, reverse engineer your Instagram posts. Think, “What type of content would my audience re-share?” Then, create that content. It could be a quote, a meme, an infographic, statistics, etc.

To gain new followers, you should post content that’s meant to be re-shared, so that when others do re-share it on their own Instagram Stories and tag you, their audience will find you and follow you.

24. Host an Instagram account takeover.

When you’re collaborating with influencers and other brands, think about hosting an Instagram account takeover. You can have an influencer take over your Stories for the day, and promote this on their own Stories.

Then, you’ll get their followers to follow along with the Stories and hopefully follow your account.

Additionally, you can ask an influencer or brand if you can take over their Stories, and interact with their audience as a way to promote your own account.

25. Get on the Instagram Explore page.

Getting on the Instagram Explore page is easier said than done. We get that. However, creating posts that are aimed at getting on the Explore page means you’ll be creating easily shareable and trendy content.

Think about viral trends and create a video that your audience might engage with. Additionally, use hashtags and tag other users and brands in those posts.

Instagram’s Explore Page algorithm also seems to grab content that has more engagement, especially if said engagement happens in the first few hours of posting. In Instagram’s case, quality is better than quantity, and getting interaction from influential users is one of the best ways to do it.

Promoting Your Instagram Account

26. Optimize posts with relevant hashtags.

On Instagram, a hashtag ties conversations from different users who wouldn’t already be connected into a single stream. If you use relevant Instagram hashtags, your posts will gain exposure to a wider audience and help you become discoverable to potential customers.

The key to using hashtags effectively is to be selective and use them sparingly. Try to limit the number of hashtags per caption to around three. Similarly, don’t use “like for like” hashtags, like #like4like or #like4likes.

This is a shortcut tactic that’ll only leave you with low-quality followers.

To find the hashtags your audience might be using, do a little research on relevant hashtags in your niche or industry. The easiest way to do this research is in the Instagram app itself, in the Explore tab (also known as the magnifying glass icon).

When you search for one hashtag, it’ll show you a list of related hashtags at the top of your screen.

For example, when I search for #digitalmarketingstrategy on Instagram, it shows me relevant hashtags like #digitalmarketingexpert, #digitalmarketing, and so on.

To help relate to your followers on a personal level, you might consider hopping on hashtag trends like #tbt (“Throwback Thursday”), #MotivationMonday, #TransformationTuesday, or other trending hashtags.

Once you build up a following, you can try creating your own hashtags — like your company name or a slogan that applies to your content. This is a great way to build up your brand on the platform and build a more cohesive presence.

27. Try Instagram promotions and ads.

Additionally, to promote your Instagram, it’s important to get started with Instagram promotions and ads. This will help you reach a wider audience. I know it might seem like ads are only effective for selling certain products, but I’ve followed several business accounts because of a sponsored post I saw.

Here are a few articles to get you started:

• The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Stories Ads
• A Step-by-Step Guide to Advertising on Instagram
• The Guide to Instagram Ad Costs
• Instagram Ad Specs & Sizes: an Updated Guide

28. Share your profile link on your website and social media channels.

Have a website? Newsletter? YouTube channel? Make sure you include a link to your Instagram on every single platform. Embed posts in your blogs, post on your other social media platforms, and share social links in your email newsletters. A great way to gain followers on one platform is to ask current followers on other platforms if they want to follow you somewhere else as well.

The first place you’ll want to make sure to add an Instagram badge is your website, specifically your footer and “About Us” page.

Here’s what the badge could look like:

If your brand has brick-and-mortar locations, put out a good ol’ print call-to-action letting people know you have an Instagram account and encouraging them to follow you. You can also place them on your business cards. You might even offer a discount code for doing so.

Also, be sure to promote your Instagram account on your other digital platforms. Chances are, the folks who already follow you on Facebook and Twitter will also follow you on Instagram without much prodding.

Let those followers know you’re on Instagram and encourage them to follow you there.

In this example, wine company The McBride Sisters encouraged their email subscribers to follow them on Instagram with a simple CTA: “Join the community.”

29. Cross-promote with influencers and brands with similar audiences.

Once you build rapport with the folks behind accounts with similar audiences to your own, consider collaborating with them.

Partnering with Instagram influencers and brands helps with discoverability, reach, and social proof.

For instance, influencer @lavishlyjackie posted a sponsored video with Olive Ateliers. The vintage shopping brand then used the video in its collateral.

With this partnership, both accounts can expand their reach and gain new followers. It’s a win-win. However, be sure to create content that seems natural and makes sense for your brands and collective audience.

30. Apply for a verification badge.

When an account on Instagram is verified, it has a blue dot, called a badge, next to the username. When another user comes across this profile or finds the verified username in search, the blue dot confirms to them that the account is the business, individual, or brand that it’s claiming to be. Author @angiethomas has one such badge.

While Instagram has a list of eligibility requirements for the badge, the platform does allow users to apply for one. You can learn more about that process on Instagram’s Help Center.

31. Create your own filters and badges.

When it’s time to promote a new product or feature, creating your own filters, stickers, or badges can help you reach a new audience. You can learn how to create your own filter to jazz up your Instagram Stories.

The best way to do this is to use these on highly shareable posts that followers will want to add to their own Stories. This way, you’ll reach their audiences and your users will promote your page for you.

Quality Over Quantity Still Matters

Ultimately, it’s important to focus less on the number of followers you have, and more on the quality of content you create. Your audience will grow naturally if you put effort and time into creating engaging, informative, or inspirational content without worrying about “quick fixes” for boosts in followers.

You want to play the long game on Instagram, and that starts with focusing on what you can control: the quality of the content you produce, the messages you promote, and the brand you build.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The pain B2B demand gen marketing pros experience whenever sales fails to act on leads or dismiss them prematurely can be quite painful. 

Sales, conversely, pulls its collective hair out whenever marketing overpromises and underdelivers on quality buyer-level information. It’s a tango that has resulted in many stepped-upon toes and many unrequited opportunities.

So why does this happen?

Aside from any cliches about sales and marketing alignment, there are two key factors that need fixing before any significant improvement in outcomes. 

• The first factor is the handover of qualified leads and accounts to sales.

• The second deeply-connected factor is the quality of the data that marketing is providing sales—because if that’s not good enough, even the most tightly refined handover process will fail to gain traction with reps. 

Why the handover to sales is vital to get right

In an ideal world, the marketing team should be continuously engaged in both creating and capturing demand. When done effectively, this will generate high-quality leads and accounts that are in-market, showing intent, and are already primed to buy at the exact time of the handover. 

In this ideal scenario, when these leads are finally handed off to sales, reps can effortlessly convert them using all the valuable and informative data marketing has collected on each lead. 

That handover process between marketing and sales is crucial. When done properly, marketing is giving sales exactly what they need and supplying them with valuable data, enabling them to make a very personalized approach. But when the handoff falls short of the mark, it can be disruptive to the sales process and result in a poor customer experience. 

Indeed, research shows that about one-fifth of B2B marketing and sales professionals say that the lead hand-off process is one of the top factors that contribute to a disjointed customer experience. 

While B2B marketers understand the importance of the sales handover, many are still struggling with the process. In fact, one-third of marketing professionals identified improving the marketing and sales handoff when asked what their top priorities were to improve lead-to-opportunity conversion.

What are some common challenges during the handover and sales process?

Both marketing and sales teams can experience numerous challenges that can get in the way of a successful handover. Here are just a few that need to be addressed before a handover can be as effective as possible.

Lack of communication, understanding, and alignment between sales and marketing teams

Marketing and Sales have always struggled with alignment and while many organizations have strived to close the divide between departments, research has found that merely one-third can boast that they are fully aligned. 

Not identifying the real people within in-market accounts

This is perhaps the most significant challenge marketers encounter. 

Knowing the “who” can have a significant impact on whether a marketing-qualified lead converts into a sales-accepted lead.

In some respects, the marketing function has a decent chance of identifying named and qualified leads, given the growing size of today’s buying committee. Some 59% of B2B buyers claim that there are at least four people involved in their organization’s buying process, with about one-quarter having at least seven people on their buying committee.

But when marketing provides a list of target customers without any named contacts, they are relying on the sales team and their sales processes to do more of the heavy lifting.

Marketing-sourced leads and accounts don’t convert to meetings—leading to sales sidelining the contacts and accounts that are given to them

Following on as a likely consequence of lacking named buyers is that sales reps can’t book any meetings from them. One of the biggest complaints sales teams have with leads coming from marketing is that they are poor quality and lack a readiness to buy.

If marketing has a track record of supplying leads and accounts that don’t convert, sales will have no choice but to lose trust in the leads they are being given. 

Even worse, a poor track record can stop sales from believing that they don’t need marketing at all.

Duplicated efforts as sales and marketing target the same accounts and buyers without a joined-up approach

When sales reps feel that marketing isn’t contributing to revenue, they are more likely to start prospecting to accounts that marketing is in the middle of nurturing.

But even when there’s mutual respect between sales and marketing teams, there are other reasons why both teams might reach out to the same target buyers, leading to a bad experience for the buyer. 

Examples can include:

• Limited sharing of first-party data and buyer insights;
• Poorly integrated or configured systems, especially between the CRM and marketing automation platforms;
• Marketing fails to align with an existing and standardized sales process; and
• At a most basic level, a lack of effective communication—meaning that neither team is aware of the activity being done by the other.

These areas all fall within the wider context of sales and marketing alignment. 

Reliance on third-party data which is often incomplete or inaccurate

There are many data providers on the market today that promise to surface the right accounts by taking advantage of third-party intent data from across the web. These solutions can be valuable, but the marketing team needs to understand the potential limitations.

For example, research has revealed that data quality is the top challenge facing marketing professionals when using intent data. Third-party data, in particular, can often be inaccurate or inadequate when it isn’t used in conjunction with first-party data.

The follow-up by sales reps has a message that doesn’t align with marketing—or isn’t sufficiently personalized

Messaging needs to reach beyond marketing efforts and throughout the sales cycle. 

Alongside that, buyers expect personalization. A McKinsey study found that about 7 in 10 people expect personalized interactions from those selling products and services. 

If this isn’t done, the handover risks feeling disjointed as sales reps fail to properly communicate with buyers.

Why first-party, buyer-level validated data can help address these challenges and the benefits it has

Fortunately, these challenges can be overcome by taking advantage of first-party data which has been validated at the buyer level.

This type of first-party data should include:

• Person-level data that at the very least includes a name.
• An email address that has been validated via a double-opt-in, proving that it has been opened and clicked by the recipient.
• Data that the person has provided directly, such as sharing their interests and preferences on a form, as well as other contact details such as phone number.
• Intent data that they have provided directly, which can include whether or not they are looking for a solution—and if not now, when in the future that might be the case.
• And where possible, any self-provided data (such as phone numbers) should be verified for its accuracy, either manually or automatically.

Put together, this type of intent data also pinpoints those buyers who are truly in-market and not just browsing content or merely your competitors checking out what you have to offer. 

As a result, here are some benefits you can expect to see.

Improved conversion rates from higher-quality data

Accurate, timely, and context-rich data leads to greater success with marketing-generated contacts and accounts. 

Having the data on who your buyer is, what they are researching, and what their pains are, makes it easier for sales to accept and qualify that lead. Backed by the right content and messaging, reps can then take a personalized approach. And, once sales sees that marketing is handing over leads that are high-quality and ready to convert, confidence and trust in marketing is bound to see a lift. 

Greater trust between the sales team and marketing function

With that increased level of confidence, sales teams will feel more comfortable in leaving marketing to reach out and engage buyers and accounts that aren’t yet in marketing. Leaving marketing to do this reduces the likelihood of duplicated outreach from both marketing and sales as well as decreases the possibility of mixed messaging. 

Sales reps can spend more time on the buyers and accounts that matter

The difficulty in identifying the real people within the account is a particular barrier for the handover. 

However, when using first-party, buyer-level validated data, sales reps have access to named in-market buyers. This allows them to focus on who is on the buying committee, rather than taking a blind guess. In turn, this allows sales reps to spend more time per account. 

Having context on interests and intent also allows for a higher-quality approach from sales. It means greater use of sales enablement tools and content that marketing provides which leads to more effective qualification. 

More efficient use of paid marketing spend with greater ROI

Another advantage of buyer-level intent data is that it allows for more efficient and dynamic deployment of paid media. 

Considering that recent data from The CMO Survey shows that paid media marketing leaders are allocating the largest share of their digital spending to paid media (44% compared to 34% towards owned media and 11% towards earned media) being able to use those marketing dollars in a way that grabs the attention of the right buyers at the right time in a more precise and personalized way is beneficial. 

Marketing delivers a greater impact on revenue

Last, but not least, with marketing able to hand over high-quality leads and vital data about exactly who the buyer is, the end result is that marketing’s contribution to pipeline improves.

How to get started on improving the marketing-to-sales handoff

So, where should one start in making sure that any handover of marketing-generated leads and accounts is as effective as possible?

Here are a few steps you can take to get started.

1. Speak to sales reps to understand their workflow, processes, and what’s important to them. Communication is key and is an important step to creating alignment.
2. Make sure your marketing automation platform and other technology is properly integrated with your CRM and the sales team workflow to enable a smooth handover. This should include feeding back outcomes to marketing i.e. whether they moved to sales qualified, an active opportunity or were disqualified.
3. Surface buyer-level insights within the tools they already use. Naturally, you should have first-party, buyer-level data which sales can use to know exactly who they should be targeting and how. But if this isn’t in their day-to-day tools, chances are adoption will suffer. Make sure it’s embedded within the CRM or any sales tech they spend most of their time in.
   

   Insights around content consumption, event attendance and engagement can help sales reps to decide what approach they should take with their outreach.

4. Display recommended content and messaging based on buyer-level behavior, buying stage and account-level insights.  A majority of B2B buyers say that a vendor’s content had a significant impact in ultimately choosing that vendor. But not any content or messaging will do. It needs to be geared specifically towards that particular buyer and where they are in their journey which has been revealed through the rich first-party intent data you have collected.
5. Get feedback from sales to further improve and optimize the handover. Keep the conversation going. Asking for feedback and input on the handover process can only strengthen marketing’s relationship with sales. 

How to source validated leads with intent right now

If you’re in need of named buyers to give to your sales team or contacts that you can nurture until they are ready to buy, NetLine’s buyer engagement platform is a great place to start.

NetLine offers lead generation services beginning at just $4 per lead alongside its unparalleled buyer-level intent platform, INTENTIVE. When used in conjunction, you’ll be equipping your sales and marketing teams with the actionable contact data of their dreams.

Reddit is in a standoff with some of its users. The platform announced plans to limit access to its API for third-party developers, charging for access to data.

The decision to charge is an effort to increase profitability for the platform, which is preparing for a potential IPO. However, the change could further derail the company’s ability to go public.

According to some volunteer moderators (who are critical to Reddit’s operating model), the change will price out third-party applications that help them facilitate conversations on the platform. In response, over 8k subreddits have become private since June 12, essentially going dark and causing a 6.6% traffic dip for the online forum.

A number of moderators planned to shutter their subreddits for two days, however, thousands of Reddit pages remain offline. Reddit’s CEO has continued to stand firm in the company’s decision to limit access to its API, leaving the end of the strike in limbo.

The events have already impacted Reddit’s reputation, the credibility of content on its forums, and trust with its user base. The company’s relationship with advertisers could be next.

How Advertisers Are Approaching the Reddit Blackout

Advertising is currently the primary revenue driver for Reddit, and if marketers move dollars away from the platform en masse, it could cause problems for the company’s bottom line.

Nearly 49% of Reddit’s traffic comes from organic search, and having a sizeable portion of content down can limit the reach of ads running on the site. With so many unknowns about the future of Reddit, and whether ads on the platform can produce a meaningful ROI, naturally, advertisers are raising concerns over running campaigns on the platform.

According to Digiday, some agencies have already begun shifting dollars away from Reddit in favor of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Quora. If the standoff continues, Reddit isn’t the only company that could lose ad dollars — the third-party apps that rely on its API could lose out on advertising revenue as well.

Marketers running advertising campaigns on these platforms should be closely monitoring performance, and the status of subreddits that are relevant to their core audience noting how campaign goals may be impacted.

It’s also worth mentioning that the dip in organic traffic to Reddit can impact organic traffic to other sites. For those who rely on subreddits to drive traffic and awareness to their sites and general campaigns, web traffic should be closely watched to account for any dips that could be attributed to the strike.

Ultimately, the events surrounding Reddit highlight the importance of having a diversified portfolio of advertising platforms and traffic sources to account for ongoing events beyond the control of marketers.

Are you tired of wrestling with Excel spreadsheets? Perhaps you’re looking for a more collaborative and user-friendly experience for your team. Using Google Sheets may be the answer to your frustrations.

The cloud-based platform makes it easy to manage and organize data. You can also work collaboratively within the same interface you’re used to with other Google products. No matter where your colleagues live, you can work together.

Getting started is easy. Keep reading to learn how to convert an Excel document to a Google Sheet and vice versa.

• The Benefits of Converting Excel Documents to Google Sheets
• How to Convert an Excel Document to a Google Sheet
• How to Convert a Google Sheet into an Excel Document
• Limitations of Converting Documents Between Excel and Google Sheets

The Benefits of Converting Excel Documents to Google Sheets

You might want to convert your Excel documents to Google Sheets for a variety of reasons. Google Sheets offers very similar functionality to Excel with additional collaboration capabilities. You can even access your Sheets on any computer.

Further, Google Sheets allows you to view previous versions, hyperlink between applications, and work at scale.

Google Sheets is the perfect option for those who work in teams or shared projects. However, Excel has more comprehensive data management capabilities. Excel is great for those managing large amounts of data.

How to Convert an Excel Document to a Google Sheet

1. Go to Google Sheets and hit File → Import.

2. Choose the Excel file.

3. Click “Import data.”

4. Data will then be imported and ready for you to edit.

How to Convert a Google Sheet into an Excel Document

1. Open Google Sheet.

2. Click File → Download → Microsoft Excel.

3. Voila! You now have an Excel doc you can edit and save on your computer.

Limitations of Converting Documents Between Excel and Google Sheets

1. Formatting Issues

Sometimes, you might encounter formatting issues when converting documents to Google Sheets. Most of these bugs have been fixed. However, if your document is filtered or has special formulations, there could be issues.

If so, they are usually easy to fix. All you need to do is Google the exact error.

2. Data Volume

Excel can accommodate a much higher volume of data than Google Sheets.

If you want to convert an Excel document with more than 400,000 cells into a Google Sheet, you might not be able to include all the data.

3. Statistical Analysis and Visualization.

Similarly, Excel has higher functionality when it comes to statistical analysis and visualizations.

If you have an Excel document that includes these features, you’ll run into limitations when converting it to a Google Sheet.

Converting to Google Sheets

Many teams work with both Excel and Google Sheets. Luckily, converting between the two is fairly painless and shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes.

Just follow the steps above to get started.

Not sure how to make your resume really pop? Wondering how to highlight your skills and experience, despite any possible gaps? You might benefit from a functional resume.

Luckily, this article closely examines everything you need to know about functional resumes, including what they are, when to use them, and the benefits they offer.

So, whether you’re new in the workforce, changing careers, or have experienced some time unemployed, a functional resume can help you attract potential employers.

• What is a functional resume?
• The Benefits of Functional Resumes
• When to Use a Functional Resume
• Limitations of Functional Resumes
• How to Write a Functional Resume
• Functional Resume Examples

What is a functional resume?

Unlike a traditional, chronological resume, a functional resume focuses on your skills and experience — not just your work history.

So, instead of focusing on companies, roles, and dates of employment, it groups things like your marketing experience together, presenting a collection of relevant experiences and skills.

It’s great if you’re changing careers or have a gap in your work history, as it steers attention away from dates and underscores why you’re a great fit for the role.

Plus, functional resumes begin with an objective or summary statement that sets the tone. Then it highlights your skills, accomplishments, and education.

The result is a much more targeted, customized resume that reflects your strengths and qualifications.

The Benefits of Functional Resumes

It’s probably clear right now — functional resumes are pretty great. Still, this deserves to be broken down into specifics. Here are the four main, undeniable advantages of functional resumes:

1. Highlights relevant skills and accomplishments.

When applying for a job, a functional resume highlights skills and accomplishments related to the position. It emphasizes your most relevant skills, even if they weren’t acquired in a traditional workplace.

2. Overcomes employment gaps.

Another benefit of a functional resume is that it can help overcome employment gaps.

So, for instance, if you’ve taken time off or had a period of unemployment, a functional resume leads with the good, so the gap isn’t as much of a heavy hitter.

3. Allows for flexibility.

You can also present your qualifications in a more flexible way with a functional resume. For example, you can group your skills and accomplishments under specific headings, like “project management” or “leadership experience.”

It makes it easier for employers to find the relevant bits they’re looking for quickly.

4. Stands out from the crowd.

Here’s something else a functional resume can do better than the rest: help you stand out. It’s easy to do when basically everyone else is using the standard one.

So with a functional resume, you can show that you’re not only willing to try different, innovative approaches but also that you can think creatively.

A functional resume is great if you’re looking for a way to underscore skills and accomplishments in a tailored way that fits the role you’re applying for.

It considers everything you’ve learned, even in non-traditional formats, making it a genius solution if you have employment gaps.

When to Use a Functional Resume

A functional resume may be right for you if you fit into any of these categories:

1. When you have limited work experience. A functional resume can help you highlight your relevant skills and accomplishments if you’re a recent graduate or have limited work experience in your field.
2. When changing careers. A functional resume can help you showcase your transferrable skills that can apply to your new career path if you’re changing careers.
3. When returning to the workforce. A functional resume emphasizes your skills and experience rather than just your work history.
4. When job requirements are specific. A functional resume can help you highlight specific qualifications and skills clearly and concisely from a job posting.

Limitations of Functional Resumes

A functional resume highlights your relevant skills, accomplishments, and experiences — even with a limited work history. However, pay close attention to the roles you’re applying for.

Functional resumes only work for some applications, so make sure you research the company first before deciding which type of resume to use. Here are three instances where you might want to skip using a functional resume.

Sizable Work History

Some people are just super lucky — and you might be one of them. If you’ve been working consistently in your field, with role after role of relevant jobs and experience building, then you’re better off using a chronological resume.

You have the dates, roles, and skills to showcase. You don’t need a functional resume to help you fill in any gaps.

ATS Compatibility

With the sheer amount of resumes floating around out there, it’s no wonder some companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to filter candidates. However, ATS doesn’t play nice with resumes that don’t follow a traditional structure.

So, even if you’re more than qualified for a role, the recruiters might never see your resume.

Employer Preferences

Also, keep in mind employer or industry preferences. Some hiring managers prefer traditional resumes, so using a functional format may hurt your chances.

Before deciding which format to use, research the company and job posting. It’ll help you tailor your resume to meet their expectations and present you in the best possible light.

How to Write a Functional Resume

If you’ve decided that a functional resume is the best choice for your situation, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create one.

1. Start with a strong summary statement.

Start your resume on the right foot with a summary statement showcasing your skills, qualifications, and experience.

It’s important to customize this section to the specific job you’re applying for so that it provides a brief overview of why you’re a great fit for the position. This statement should capture the hiring manager’s attention and entice them to continue reading your resume.

2. Identify your key skills.

Once you finish that, the next step is to list the skills you want to emphasize in your resume. This section should showcase your technical and soft skills that are relevant to the job you’re applying for.

Demonstrating how you have applied these skills in the past helps the hiring manager understand your skills. So highlight your key strengths — it’ll help you show why you’re the best candidate for the job.

3. Organize your skills into sections.

After identifying your top skills, organize them into clear sections that make sense for your work history and your desired job.

For example, you could divide your skills into Technical Skills, Leadership Experience, or Project Management Skills sections. This allows the hiring manager to quickly and easily identify the areas where you excel and can help you stand out as a highly qualified candidate.

4. Provide supporting examples.

When detailing your skills within each section of the resume, provide concrete examples of how you’ve applied those skills in real-life situations.

Include specific projects you’ve worked on, notable achievements you’ve accomplished, or other relevant experiences that demonstrate your proficiency in that particular skill.

5. Include your work history.

Even though a functional resume may not focus heavily on your work history, providing a brief overview of your employment background is necessary.

You should list your job titles, the names of the companies you worked for, the dates of employment, and a concise description of your responsibilities and notable achievements in each position.

6. Tailor your resume to the job posting.

Ultimately, it’s essential to customize your functional resume to the specific job. So brush up on the role, company, and industry.

Then use your research to adjust your summary statement, reorder your skill sections, or incorporate different examples that emphasize the most relevant experiences for each position.

By tailoring your resume to the job posting, you can improve your chances of capturing the attention of hiring managers and securing an interview.

Functional Resume Examples

Here are three functional resume templates to give you an idea of what your own resume could look like.

The Blended Resume

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This sample resume from The Balance takes a blended approach to the functional resume. In the “Experience and Skills” section, the applicant shared their past experience relevant to the job posting.

A separate “Employment History” section simply includes where they’ve worked in the past and dates.

If you don’t have an employment gap and are instead making a pivot, this format can clear up any doubt about your work history. Recruiters can see that you’ve been employed consistently.

Best for: Those making a career pivot.

Qualifications and Skills

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In this sample resume, Melba McGee has several opportunities to showcase her skills and explain her qualifications.

The summary section at the top of the resume can help her explain reasons for a career change or employment gap. There are also separate sections where she can explain her qualifications and highlight certain skills.

What we love: This resume template has a section for certifications. Be sure to list any relevant certifications or coursework you have for a given job.

Intern Resume

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As an intern, you don’t have decades of work experience to pull from.

A functional resume can help you highlight your qualifications from your growing professional career. You can also highlight experiences from clubs, classes, and volunteering.

What we love: This example resume from Clara Dupont includes specific accomplishments in each skill area. That includes percentages and other statistics related to growth.

Using one of these functional resume templates as a starting point, you can create a customized resume highlighting your key skills and achievements and showcasing your value as a candidate.

Creating Your Own Functional Resume

A functional resume is a great way to show off what you’re made of as a job candidate. Its format lets you showcase your skills and experience instead of just focusing on where you’ve worked.

With a functional resume, you can prove to employers that you’re the right fit for their organization, no matter what your work history looks like.

Whether you’re fresh out of college, making a career change, or simply looking for a new challenge, a functional resume can help you put your best foot forward. So why not give it a try?

With the help of this step-by-step guide, you can create a functional resume that truly sets you apart from the competition. Who knows — it might just be the key to unlocking your dream job.

In the paid acquisition world, clicks can seem like the holy grail. But if you really think about it, clicks only tell you if people arrive to your content.

A better way to measure your content’s converting capabilities is cost per acquisition. This metric is a better indicator of whether your content is engaging and emotionally resonant enough to persuade your audience to stay and, ultimately, buy your product or service.

Read on to learn more about what exactly it is, the formula for calculating it, how its bidding process works, and some principles for crafting creative and convincing ad copy.

Many marketers prefer the cost per acquisition pricing model because they can set their definition of an acquisition before they start advertising and only have to pay when their desired acquisition or action happens.

This pricing model is used in a handful of paid marketing mediums, including:

• PPC
• Display
• Social media
• Affiliate
• Email marketing
• Content marketing

Now let’s take a closet look at cost acquisition biddings.

AdRank is calculated by multiplying your maximum cost per acquisition bid with the quality score of your ad. Your quality score ad is impacted by your page’s relevance to the keyword, user experience, and click-through-rate.

This means organizations can’t acquire the top ranking for any keyword they want just because they have the biggest ad budgets. Their content has to be engaging.

In other words, Google wants to discourage bad advertisers from advertising bad content, so those with low quality scores will usually only acquire a high ad position if they pay a huge cost per acquisition bid. If they want to pay lower a cost per acquisition bid, they’ll have to settle with stooping at the bottom of the ad rankings.

Target CPA Bidding

To generate as many conversions as possible within the limits of your advertising budget, consider using Google’s target CPA bidding.

Target CPA bidding leverages machine learning to analyze your campaign’s historical conversion data, recommend an optimal average target CPA, and automatically optimize all your eligible bids to meet the average target CPA you set for all your campaigns.

If you use target CPA bidding, some of your conversions may cost more than others because your quality score or the competition in your ad auction might fluctuate, but Google will try its hardest to keep your cost per acquisition as close to your average target CPA as possible.

Cost Per Acquisition Formula

To calculate your advertising campaign’s cost per acquisition, take your total advertising spend and divide it by the number of acquisitions generated.

How to Lower Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) Costs

1. Optimize your ad copy.

Since your quality score — which measures how positive and relevant of an experience your content provides — is the most influential determinant in securing a top ad ranking, the best way to optimize your cost per acquisition costs is crafting compelling ad copy.

When you sit down to write ad or landing page copy, your goal should be to write something so captivating that it can grab the attention of a distracted millennial slouched in front of the TV, with their smartphone in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other.

One way to do this is by selling a feeling, not a product. Psychology tells us that emotions drive our behavior, while logic justifies our actions after the fact. Marketing confirms this theory — humans associate the same personality traits with brands as they do with people.

This is also the reason why pitching a product’s features is a lousy attempt at persuasion. Features only appeal to the logical part of your brain, which science suggests doesn’t drive action nearly as well as appealing to the emotional part of your brain does. So don’t just get creative with your copy — get emotional too.

2. Focus on customer retention as a strategy.

According to a 2021 HubSpot Blog survey, 57% of marketers say improving customer retention is an effective strategy for lowering CPA costs.

To state the obvious, acquiring new customers is often more costly than retaining existing customers. So, by focusing on customer retention, you can leverage the investment you’ve already made in acquiring your existing customers, reducing the need for additional acquisition spending. This ultimately leads to a lower CPA.

On top of that, repeat customers tend to generate more revenue over their lifetime compared to one-time purchasers. By focusing on customer retention, you can increase the customer lifetime value (CLV) of your customer base.

3. Enhance your landing pages.

Just because you’ve grabbed someone’s attention with your ad doesn’t mean your work is done. You still need to design a compelling landing page that clearly conveys the value of our offer.

In order to do this, consider piquing your audience’s curiosity with an intriguing headline and subheading, scrapping any external links from your landing page so visitors can only leave your paid acquisition funnel if they exit the page or convert, and test out video, which can explain the value of your offer in a more engaging way than text can.

If you want to learn how HubSpot creates landing pages that convert at 35% rate, check out this blog post.

4. Leverage your CRM to prioritize leads.

44% of marketers say using a customer relationship management software (CRM) to streamline their sales cycle is an effective strategy for lowering CPA costs.

The power of a CRM lies in its ability to centralize and manage your leads. Then, by organizing leads based on their stage in the sales cycle, you can prioritize your efforts on those with the highest potential to convert. As a result, you can avoid wasteful spending on leads that are less likely to result in conversions, leading to a lower CPA.

5. Conduct market research regularly.

How can you speak to your audience if you don’t know who they are?

43.5% of marketers say conducting market research to better understand their target audience is an effective strategy for lowering CPA costs. Market research helps you gain insights into the needs, preferences, and behaviors of your target audience.

Ultimately, targeted messaging increases the relevance of your ads and content, resulting in higher engagement, click-through rates, and conversions.

Plus, market research provides valuable demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data about your target audience. This information enables you to advertise on the right platforms and refine your targeting parameters.

Back to You

Marketers will chase vanity metrics until the end of time, and you might feel pressured to do the same, especially when your peers clamor on about their astronomical growth in views or clicks.

But if you ever feel tempted to jump on that train, remember, in marketing, the goal is to persuade someone to take your desired action. So incentivize your brand to resonate with your audience — that’s the thing that actually keeps people on your content and prompts them to act. And make conversions, not clicks, your carrot.

Ever click on a website, take one look, and say, “Hm, that’s going to be a no,” and look for the exit button? For me, it’s usually because of three reasons: the site looks outdated, crowded, or hard to navigate. 

This is why visual hierarchy is so important in web design, as a bad website can keep visitors from gaining interest in your brand.

Here’s an easy guide for understanding the key design principles of visual hierarchy to draw your audience in, keep them engaged, and generate conversions. 

Table of Contents

• What is visual hierarchy?
• What constitutes bad visual hierarchy?
• 7 Web Design Principles for Visual Hierarchy
• Examples of Good Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy affects what you look at and focus on in a design, whether it’s an image, graphic design, or web design. It’s a key player in information architecture (i.e., how information is organized and displayed for easy understanding and navigation) and can greatly impact the user experience (UX).

When thinking about visual hierarchy, you want to ask yourself a few questions:

• What do we want to draw attention to?
• What actions do we want our users to take?
• Where does the eye naturally go to, and where do they land?

Asking these questions will help you use the principles outlined below to create a clear visual hierarchy.

What constitutes bad visual hierarchy?

When it comes to visual hierarchy, there’s a golden rule: If every element appears important, nothing will seem important.

Visual hierarchy serves as a way to rank the information you’re consuming. If there is no way to differentiate between the elements, that is considered poor hierarchy.

Take this example:

There’s a lot going on on the left. The two main elements are the same size, and multiple colors make it hard to know where to look. 

On the right, your eye is automatically drawn to the main blue box on the left, then naturally goes to the elements on the right before landing on the orange call to action (CTA).

A poor visual hierarchy:

• Confuses the user.
• Makes it unclear where to look.
• Creates a bland design.

Instead, create a visual structure that facilitates understanding and guides the user. The right visual hierarchy on a website helps someone understand what a page is about. Below we’ll go over the basics of visual hierarchy in web design. 

1. Use alignment and composition to create focal points. 

Alignment and composition help you structure the elements on your site and create focal points for viewers. Two common composition rules are the rule of thirds and the rule of odds. 

With the rule of thirds, your page is divided by two horizontal and vertical lines, creating a grid of nine equal-sized squares. The spots where lines intersect are focal points where you’ll place the important elements of your design. 

The rule of odds says that an odd number of elements creates more interest and engagement from viewers because each element can be assessed individually rather than in even numbers of groupings. 

2. Consider reading patterns.

Reading from top to bottom is a global standard, but there is cultural variation in how people read horizontally. The “Western” standard for languages like English and Spanish is to read from left to right, while Semitic and Indo-Aryan languages, like Arabic, Hebrew, and Urdu, read from right to left.

This variation brings two different reading/scanning styles: F and Z patterns. 

• Z Pattern viewers start at the top left of a page and move across to the top right, then down and backward to the bottom left, then across to the bottom right.
• F Pattern viewers begin on the top left and move to the top right like Z pattern viewers, but they use the left side of a page as a guide and quickly scan to the right in a shorter movement (the shorter line of an F), then back to the left and down to the bottom of the page.

You can either follow traditional reading patterns and design pages that match one’s natural processing or disrupt a traditional pattern and provide a main element of focus for them to use for navigation. Remembering this will help you design projects that convert, especially landing pages.

3. Users notice bigger elements more easily.

Size is essential in visual hierarchy because bigger elements get the most attention and are deemed more important. 

Take this example from Netflix.

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The first thing you’ll read when looking at this image is “Unlimited movies, TV shows, and more.” Then you’ll read the next line, and then the next before you explore the other elements on the page.

The “Unlimited movies, TV shows, and more” is displayed as the most essential part of the message, which makes sense, because that is Netflix’s main selling point. 

As you design your webpage, consider what you want your audience to look at first and use that to guide your strategy.

4. Color and contrast draw the eye.

People are drawn to colors, which evoke emotion and have cultural and social connotations. Just look at  logos by industry, and you’ll notice that food brands gravitate towards yellows, and financial institutions tend to be in blue.

In design, color is great for drawing attention to specific elements. And contrasting colors are great for displaying a difference between the elements of your page or calling attention to one over the other. For example, using a neon green and then an off-white color would draw attention to the elements in neon green. 

In the image below, the two orange bars in the graph stand out from the gray bars, indicating that the orange is a focal point and the gray is secondary. 

On a website, you can use colors to draw focus to your CTAs. In the image below, the standout plan option is draped in purple, while the others are white. The brand likely wants users to choose that plan, so adding color to it draws their attention and interest. 

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In the example above, the CTA that stands out the most is in the middle. The brand likely wants users to choose this option. The other CTAs are still visible but muted compared to the orange.

To create the most visual impact with color, less is often more. 

4. White space creates emphasis.

White space refers to the empty space within a design.

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White space in your web design is key for drawing attention and maintaining balance. 

Less is more, as filling space with as many elements as possible can confuse and deter viewers if they can’t figure out what they’re looking at. 

Apple is also well known for its use of white space.

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The brand offers a simple user interface, emphasizing elements on the page. Apple’s use of white space also reflects a brand’s identity.

6. Proximity and repetition create unity.

Putting elements together tells users that the elements are related. 

Take the New York Times Cooking website, for example. Its “Master The Basics” header features four closely grouped recipe boxes, letting viewers know they likely share a level of importance. 

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If you’re not sure how to group certain elements, you can use UX research strategies, such as card sorting, to group elements based on your audience’s expectations.

7. Font hierarchy helps you organize text. 

Fonts add an important visual element to your website and help you organize and classify text (sometimes by level of importance). 

A font hierarchy has three parts: 

• Primary: Your primary text is the largest on the page, draws initial attention, and contains the most important buzzwords to call people in. 
• Secondary: Secondary font is your subheadings or secondary descriptions. It doesn’t stand out as much as primary text but still gives value and helps their gaze travel across your page. 
• Tertiary: Tertiary text is the smallest sized text on your page, but it is still readable. It can give more detail about your page and be short (like a caption) or long (like an entire paragraph or description). 

Below we’ll go over some visual hierarchy examples for you to use as inspiration.

Examples of Good Visual Hierarchy

1. Visme.co

Visme gives people access to templates and graphics they need to create content.

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What we like:

Visme’s striking CTA follows font hierarchy principles to encourage users to sign up for its newsletter. The largest words are the most impactful to know, and the secondary and tertiary text provides more info as readers move down the page. 

2. 8AD Studio

8AD Studio is a full-service production agency that specializes in branding.

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What we like:

By capitalizing on white space, 8AD Studio expertly draws attention to three key elements: its unique logo and two CTAs. It shares three essential elements with site viewers and lets people know it’s good at its job — creating branding that captures attention and builds recognition. 

3. Predominantly Black

Predominantly Black is a handmade home and body fragrance company. 

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What we like:

Predominantly Black gives a great example of how proximity builds visual hierarchy. By organizing products under the main title and leaving little space in between, visitors quickly understand that these products fall within the same category. 

Over to You

Visual hierarchy is all about ranking your elements by order of importance. Once you narrow down what you want to focus on and consider your audience’s needs, you can create designs that produce the desired impact.