B2B – Page 235 – i4Lead – Clever Digital Agency

“That’s canon!”

You might’ve heard this phrase used to describe a creative piece that stays true to an original piece of work or fictional universe.

If you’re familiar with canon, you are well on your way to understanding canonicalization and how it impacts web pages.

Here, let’s explore what canonicalization is, why it matters for SEO, and how to add the tag to your own website.

What is canonicalization?

Canonicalization declares an original or preferred web page, which helps consolidate duplicate pages for crawling.

Without naming a canonical URL, web crawlers could crawl and index multiple versions of your web page. Google indicates that it will crawl non-canonical pages less frequently to reduce the crawl load on your website.

Less frequent crawling of low-quality, duplicate pages means more important pages can be prioritized for crawling, instead.

Okay, but why would we purposely have duplicate content? Well … ever post your content on your website and also on Medium? Or, perhaps after guest posting you place a version of the blog post on your website, as well.

To do so, you should reference the original version as the canonical URL. Canonical URLs can reference different domains — meaning the canonical can be on another website.

Even if you aren’t actively creating duplicate pages for cross-channel promotion, duplication happens naturally due to the different parts of a web address. Does your website use a secure protocol, like HTTPS? Then you may have an HTTP and HTTPS version of your webpage.

The same goes with www vs. non-www. Does your website use trailing slashes, or not? If your website doesn’t always redirect to the preferred version of your page (secure or not, www or not, and trailing slash or not), duplication can occur.

Even if you are forcing the preferred version through a redirect, query parameters used for tracking visits or filtering views on a page can also look like separate URLs to crawlers. Declaring a canonical URL indicates to web crawlers to ignore query parameters or other versions of the URL.

What is a canonical URL?

The external resource <link> element defines relationships between the current page and other resources. A “rel” attribute is used on the <link> tag to indicate the type of relationship. Some common link types include “prev” and “next” for pagination, “stylesheet,” and, of course, “canonical.”

The <link> tag uses the “rel=” noopener” target=”_blank” href” attribute to set the URL that serves as the canonical to the active page. Although these are intended to be external resource links, the canonical URL can be “self-referring,” meaning it is the exact version of the current page. Using self-referring canonicals helps to reduce the unnecessary crawling of non-preferred versions of your page, as long as you are always using the absolute URL as the “rel=” noopener” target=”_blank” href” value.

In Google Search Console, you can use the Inspect URL tool to understand what Google considers the canonical URL, even if you have not set one. Even when you have declared a canonical URL, Google will sometimes still pick a different URL, listed as the “Google-selected canonical.” Because of that, canonicalization is not a guarantee that Google will select your preferred version or that other versions will not be indexed.

How to Add a Canonical Tag

Add a Canonical Tag in an HTML Document

As mentioned, you can use the <link > element to set your canonical URL. Link elements are self-closing tags. The “rel” and “rel=” noopener” target=”_blank” href” attributes are required.

To add a canonical link to an HTML document add the <link> element within the <head> element. Ensure the “rel” attribute value is set to “canonical.” Remember to put the absolute URL of your preferred web address as the value of the “rel=” noopener” target=”_blank” href” attribute.

<head>

</head>

Add a Canonical Tag in HubSpot

In HubSpot, you can set your canonical URL in the individual page or post settings under Advanced Options. Read more about canonical URL settings options.

Add a Canonical Tag in WordPress

Common WordPress SEO plugins, including Yoast and RankMath, simplifies setting up canonical URLs, especially for several pages. If you are a little more advanced and don’t want to add another plugin, it is possible to update the canonical URL using WordPress Hooks too.

1. Using the get_canonical_url Hook.

A filter WordPress hook allows you to modify data as WordPress is executing. The add_filter() function accepts at least two parameters, a tag and a callback function. The tag would be the hook, which in this case is get_canonical_url.

The callback function parameter would be the name of a function you create that returns the canonical URL. The callback function could use conditional statements to match to specific posts. Refer to this Stack Exchange answer example.

In the example, the “wpse_302620_canonical_url” callback function uses an if statement to return a new canonical when the post ID, which is passed as an argument on the function, matches a specific post. With that in mind, this solution seems like a fix for a few posts or post types but may not scale well. To apply to several pages, using a plugin would probably be the best option.

2. Using the Yoast Plugin.

If you are using Yoast, you can apply canonical URLs to posts, pages, and taxonomies. Select the type of content you want to edit from the left-hand menu, then “edit” the individual piece of content. In the Yoast SEO meta box, toggle the “Advanced” section. Add your preferred web address in the “Canonical URL” field and save. Learn more about Yoast’s canonical URL settings.

3. Using the Rank Math Plugin.

While editing your specific page or post, select the “Advanced” tab on Rank Math. Add your preferred web address in the “Canonical URL” field and save. Learn more about setting canonical URLs in Rank Math.

B2B

Professional Invoice Design: 26 Samples & Templates to Inspire You

i4lead Jul 14, 2021

Invoices and infographics may seem like two entirely different business materials, but they actually have one key thing in common: they both exist to convey information.

However, while infographics are known for employing colorful designs and data visualizations, invoices are typically pretty straightforward.

While your invoices might not be a front-facing part of your business, it doesn’t mean they should be plain and boring. Of course, conveying important payment information in a clear and concise way is the name of the game — but that doesn’t mean you can’t add a little brand personality to them.

To help you get a sense of the possibilities, we put together a collection of impressive invoice samples that may inspire you to rethink your current design.

But first, let’s review how to design an invoice in the section below.

How to Design an Invoice

You don’t need to be an expert to create professionally designed invoices. In fact, you can use customized templates to get started (more on that later).

However, you need to know a bit about an invoice’s structure if you want to create and send invoices that ensure you receive your payments on time.

Here are some best practices for creating professional invoices:

Decide on your invoice format.

Start by choosing the format you want to use for your invoice.

Do you want it in print? Or in digital formats like a PDF, Google Docs, Word, or Excel? Once you’re sure of the format, move on to create room for essential details on the invoice.

Add essential information.

Every invoice you create should include the following information:

Your details: This includes your name, company name, address, telephone number, and email address.

Client details: Add your client’s address, company name, telephone number, and email address. You might need to add the department and the contact person’s name if you’re working with a large organization.

List of services: Make a list of all the services you’re charging the client for. Your list should be as specific as possible to eliminate any confusion in the client’s mind.

Payment terms and methods: How would you like your clients to pay you? Bank transfer? PayPal? Check? Make it clear in your invoice. You should also make the payment’s due date clear and include what will happen when payments exceed said date.

Add your company’s branding.

You’d be missing out on an ideal branding opportunity if you create generic invoices. So instead, add a bit of razzle-dazzle to your invoice that carries your brand colors, logo, and fonts.

You can also distinguish your invoices by giving them a monochrome look.

Invoice Design Templates and Examples

We’ve put together a collection of impressive invoice designs and templates that may inspire you to rethink your current design. Many of them are free to download and customize.

1. Basic Invoice

Download Now

No frills, just business. This basic invoice template, developed here at HubSpot, gives you all the necessities of paper billing without the written fields that more complex business services might want distinguished.

The template above offers space for your name, your client’s name, invoice date, and a base of 10 itemized services. You can add more as needed.

2. Blank Invoice

Blank Invoice

Download Now

Like the basic invoice template, the blank invoice design contains all the necessary fields you need in an invoice.

However, this blank invoice template allows you to go into specifics concerning your client’s contact details. You also get to include a detailed breakdown of the cost, including tax and shipping fees.

3. Commercial Invoice

commercial-invoice-template-hubspot

Download Now

Are you selling a variety of products and services? The commercial invoice above might be just what you need. Developed here at HubSpot, this template allows space for product origin, manufacturing origin, discounts offered to your client, and more.

4. Blue Service Invoice

This soft-colored, service-based invoice template allows you to include multiple jobs and how much each cost your client.

Download this template together with a pack of 10 free templates using the link in the header above the image — each design conveniently opens in Microsoft Word.

5. Green Shipping Invoice

This green template can be downloaded using the link in the header above the image. Dedicated to shipping-based services, the vibrant document is perfect for transactions that involved the transportation of goods.

6. Orange Standard

It doesn’t get much more basic than the orange standard invoice template, shown above. Download this template for free using the link in the header above the image. It opens in Microsoft word, allowing you to insert your logo in the top-righthand corner and add additional service rows to match how many services you provided your customer.

7. Blue Minimal Standard

blue-minimal-standard-invoice-template

The minimalist invoice template shown above caters to services that are hard to describe in individual lines of services. Using the large “Notes” tile in the center of the document, you can put the focus on the nuances of your business, so it’s clear why you’ve charged your client the price you’ve listed. Download it for free using the link in the header above the image.

8. Black and White Shipping Invoice

Black and White Shipping Invoice

Sometimes, you might just want your invoice to have a monochrome feel to it. And that’s exactly what this black and white design template offers. It’s geared mostly towards shipping invoices, but can be customized for other uses as well. Click on the header above the image to download this template.

9. Amir Hossain

Invoice downloadable template

This simple invoice template allows you to add your logo and customize the design to match your brand colors. You also get clearly defined fields where you can enter a list of services you want to receive payment for, alongside your payment info.

You can download this template by clicking on the header above the image.

10. Minimalist Invoice

Minimalist invoice

This template takes the basic invoice template up a notch with its minimalistic view. Whether you’re using it for personal or business use, this template helps you save time, and it allows you to assign Customer IDs that help you quickly find who needs to receive the invoice.

11. Fabio Basile

Double Invoice Sample

Business in the front. Party in the back.

This double-sided invoice sample offers an interesting twist on an otherwise standard design.

We especially love the “handcrafted for” language on the design side, which side helps to make the customer feel valued by the business they’ve worked with.

6. Front and Center

front-and-center-invoice

Put your final price to the client “front and center” using this design by Ari Krzyzek. Contact this designer using the link in the header — her project comes with matching letters and business cards. Or, simply use her concept as inspiration to create an invoice of your own.

The document makes excellent use of contrast in font color, allowing the red price to pop against the thIn black text surrounding it.

13. JPWTemplates

Photography Invoice Sample

This is a more specific invoice sample focused on billing for services — in this case: photography.

This invoice uses an actual photograph in the header to highlight the quality of its services. This is a clever idea you can leverage for multiple services such as graphic design, illustration, interior design, and so on.

If you want to personalize your invoice further, you can use a photo or design from the customer’s specific project to give it a custom look and feel.

14. Classic Designs

Classic Design Invoice Template

Here’s an example of a straightforward invoice design that details all of the critical invoice criteria — contact information, itemized purchases, payment information, and so on.

The design leverages pops of red to call out key pieces of information to make the statement feel less overwhelming.

15. Bold Stationary

Basic Invoice Sample

This invoice sample uses a split design to divide contact information and payment information. This approach is free of any distractions or fancy elements, yet it still feels carefully designed.

If your business is a bit more traditional, this sample serves as a great guide.

16. Novomatic

Novomatic Invoice Sample

This invoice sample uses various shades of yellow to chunk out different parts of the invoice into digestible sections.

This invoice also leverages the footer of the statement to point customers towards the company’s social media channels as a way to offer a lasting connection.

17. Yellow Minimalist

yellow-minimalist-invoice

There’s something about yellow that makes a document friendlier. Vibrant but unaggressive, this template emphasizes your price in large font on the bottom-righthand corner, with a yellow border to make sure it doesn’t get forgotten in a pile of other white sheets of paper on your client’s desk.

18. Victory

victory-invoice-template

This invoice template offers space for a logo on the bottom-lefthand corner, rather than the top, for professionals who want to make it clear right away that this document is a bill to be paid (hence “INVOICE” listed on the top-righthand corner).

The invoice’s midsection allows the sender to include a thorough description of each service provided — a helpful billing format if your business spanned multiple projects over a long period.

19. Soft Banner

Professional designers, here’s an invoice concept just for you. Showing your clients a colorful, brand-aligned invoice is a surefire way to get clients remembering you and rehiring you for more work.

In this design, the centered price banner uses a soft green background to make steep costs look a bit less frightening to the customer.

20. Classic Designp

Classic Design P Invoice

Here’s another elegant invoice template to serve as inspiration for your own. The template is simple and quickly highlights how much clients are expected to pay for a product or service.

You can also insert the “terms and conditions” of your contract in this template so you can remind customers what they signed up for when choosing your business. After all, they might be confused why you’re charging them a certain fee and may want to review the terms and conditions of their contract before reaching out for help.

21. Martin Ehrlich

Martin Ehrlich's Invoice template

One look at this invoice design from Martin Ehrlich tells you that it’s built with photographers or visual creatives in mind.

This template comes with plenty of white spaces that make it easy to scan and identify the essential details like the supplier’s name, amount due, and the different services offered.

22. Invoice by ThemeDiviser

Invoice by themDiviser

It’s hard for clients to miss how much they owe you with this invoice template, thanks to the amount’s bold description at the top of the invoice.

Below the “total payment” is a breakdown of the services rendered, along with your contact information as well as your branding.

23. Invoice Template by Guuver

Invoice Template by Guuver

Your invoice doesn’t need to have a white background, and this template from Guuver is a perfect example.

The template’s slightly pink background and distinct blue font — both of which are customizable — are sure to leave a lasting impression on your client’s mind.

24. Clean Word Corporate Invoice

Clean Word Corporate Invoice

This invoice template adds a modern and elegant look to the otherwise dull template standard in the corporate world.

You can use the template on MS Word without any complications — just plug and play.

25. Invoice Template by Ariodsgn

Invoice Template by Ariodsgn

How would you like an invoice that looks like a resume? This template from Ariodsgn is the right mix of creative, modern, and professional. Perfect for making a positive first impression on your customers.

26. Retro Invoice

Retro Invoice

Take your clients back to the ’80s with this retro invoice design. Although old-fashioned, the focus of this template remains on passing across a clear message regarding your payment information to clients.

How to Write an Invoice

Want to make your own invoice? We’ve got you covered.

Check out HubSpot’s Invoice Template Generator to create a professional invoice PDF in just a few clicks. Here’s how to use it:

Click this page to visit the Invoice Template Generator.
Click the dotted square on the top-righthand corner of the template to upload an image file of your logo. Or, drag and drop this image file into the square.
Use the circular wrench/paintbrush icon to the left of the template to change the invoice’s color scheme.
Hover your cursor over the “Item Description” section to “Add More” rows if you’re billing your client for more than one product or service.
Hover your cursor over each individual field to customize details such as invoice number, company name, item quantity, and relevant notes to the recipient.
When you’ve finished customizing your invoice, click “Download Now” just below the template. Your invoice will download as a PDF.

You can also download ten other invoice templates that you can customize to meet your needs, whether you’re a freelancer or a large corporation.

At the end of the day, invoices should tell clients how much they owe, what they’re paying for, and what date they need to pay by. If you’re having trouble designing an invoice, or just want to shake things up, choose one of the pre-made templates above and get started with redesigning your invoices today.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

B2B

Your Cheat Sheet to Google’s 200 (Known) Ranking Factors

i4lead Jul 14, 2021

If you’re an SEO, I know you can relate to the following scenario.

You do thorough keyword research and create super awesome content that ends up performing well — score!

You are riding the waves of growth in SERPs and feel like you’re on top of the world.

And the next day, there’s an algorithm update that comes along … and just like that, your rankings have tanked.

Regardless of whether an algorithm update rocks or destroys your world, they’re an inevitable occurrence. So it’s time to face the facts, and take the changes in stride.

As difficult as ranking in the coveted number one spot may seem, there is a list that’ll help you get there: Google’s 200 known ranking factors.

This list serves as our guide in a field that’s constantly evolving.

In 2006, Google declared that it was using over 200 ranking factors. While that’s certainly the most comprehensive perspective, I’ve pulled all the known ranking factors together in one post and shared my personal top 10 to make it a bit more tactical.

But before you jump in, understand that everything is arguable in SEO, and there have been some controversies concerning these “200 known ranking factors”. SEO’s often differ in their perspective on which ranking factors matter the most — or whether they’re important at all.

Nevertheless, user experience is one thing Google continually improves for their users. If you want to create more helpful content for your ideal audience, it’s worth referring to these ranking factors to improve both your SEO and your overall marketing strategy.

What is a ranking factor on Google?

Ranking factors are the criteria applied by Google (and other search engines) when evaluating pages to decide the best order of relevant results to return for a search query.

Understanding ranking factors is necessary for effective SEO. All marketers, content creators, and SEO strategists should be familiar with them — not because they’re the end-all, be-all of SEO (they’re not), but because they help create a better user experience, which ensures more leads and conversions for your business. So I would strongly recommend using these factors as a guide.

How many Google ranking factors are there?

There are over 200 ranking factors that are generally considered correct (but again, it’s debatable). Since 2006, there have been thousands of algorithm updates.

With each update, SEOs test to see what’s changed. So, some of these factors are proven, but others are just speculation.

All 200 (Known) Ranking Factors

I’ll start with a rundown of all 200 ranking factors, then go in-depth into the top ten ranking factors that, based on my experience as an SEO consultant for B2B and B2C companies, have the most impact.

Here are the top categories:

Domain Factors
Page-Level Factors
Site-Level Factors
Backlink Factors
User Interaction
Special Google Algorithm Rules
Brand Signals
On-Site Webspam Factors
Off-Site Webspam Factors

Domain Factors

Domain factors are all ranking factors that connect with your domain (the basic example.com version of your website), including:

Your domain age
Keyword in your domain
Keyword is the first word in your domain
Domain registration length
Keyword in subdomain
Domain history
Penalized Whois owner
Public WhoIs instead of private Whois

Page-Level Factors

Page-level factors are factors on each page that you can optimize, such as:

Presence of the keyword in the title tag
Having the keyword at the beginning of your title tag
Keyword in your meta description tag
Presence of the keyword in the H1 tag
Keyword is frequently used in the content
Content length
Word count rankings
Presence of a linked table of contents
Keyword density
Presence of semantically related keywords
Semantically related keyword in meta title and description
In-depth quality content
Useful content
Page loading speed via HTML
Page loading speed tested on Chrome
Core web vitals
No duplicate content on the same site
Image optimization through ALT, title, and file name
Content recency (the newer, the better)
Page age
How many edits were made to the content during updates
Historical data on page updates
Proper use of rel=canonical
Presence of keyword in H2 and H3 tags
Presence of keyword in the first 100 words
Grammar and spelling
Originality of the page’s content
Entity match
Number of outbound links
Mobile useability and optimization
Hidden content on mobile (may not be indexed)
Page optimized for mobile
Presence of multimedia, for example, images and videos
Number of outbound links
The quality of outbound links
Theme of outbound links
Presence of helpful supplementary content, like free tools and calculators
Content hidden behind tabs (it may not be indexed and wouldn’t show up in search snippets)
Number of internal links pointing to the page
Quality of the internal links
Presence of too many broken links (could lower ranking capabilities)
The reading level of the page
Presence of many affiliate links
Presence of many HTML errors
Authority/trust-level of the domain
Authority/trust level of the page
PageRank
Length of URL
Closeness of URL to the homepage
Presence of keyword in URL
Opinion of human editors
Relevance of page’s category to page
Content formatting for user-friendliness and readability
Priority of the page in the sitemap.xml
UX signal from pages ranking for the same keyword
Citing references and sources
Use of a user-friendly layout
URL string in Google search engine results
Internal link anchor text to the page
Use of structured data

Site-level factors

Site-level factors go above the page level and take a look at things on the entire site. They include:

Presence of a contact us page or appropriate amount of contact information
Content on site provides value or new insights
TrustRank (how close your site is to a known and trusted site in terms of linking)
Website updates for freshness factor
Site architecture
Presence of a sitemap
Long-term site downtime
Location of server
HTTPs / use of a valid SSL certificate
Presence of legal pages (terms and conditions and privacy policy)
Unique metadata
Use of breadcrumb markup
Site-wide mobile optimization
Site-wide user-friendliness (usability and interactiveness)
Bounce rate
Domain authority
User reviews
Site reputation

Backlink factors

Backlink factors look at the sites that are linking to you to determine where to rank your page. Sites with better quality sites linking to them tend to be higher in rankings when they have quality content. The backlink factors are as follows:

Age of linking domain
Number of referring domains
Number of links from separate c-class IPs
Number of referring pages
Anchor text of backlinks
ALT tag of image links
Number of links from .edu and .gov domains
Trust factor of linking page
Trust factor of linking domain
Presence of links from competitors
Number of links from expected sites in your industry
Links from bad neighborhoods
Number of links that are not from ads
Country TLD of referring domains
Domain authority
Presence of some nofollow links
Diversity of link profile
Context of content the content of linking page
Presence of more follow links that sponsored or UGC
Lots of backlinks to URL with 301 redirects
The text that appears when you hover over a link
Link location on page
Location of link in content
Links from relevant domains
Links from relevant pages
Presence of your page’s keyword in the title of the linking page
Natural rate of growth in number of links
Spiky and unnatural rate of growth in number of links
Links from top resources on a certain topic or hubs
Number of links from sites that are considered authority sites
Linked as a source in a Wikipedia article
Words around your backlinks
Backlink age
Links from real sites vs fake blogs
Natural link profile
Excessive reciprocal links
Links in real content vs. UGC
Backlinks from a page with a 301 redirect
TrustRank of linking site
Fewer outbound links on linking page
Links in real content vs links in forums
Word count of linking content
Quality of linking content
Sitewide links = one link

User Interaction

Google always emphasizes in their update announcements how important it is to provide an excellent user experience to website visitors. These factors measure user interaction to rank your page accordingly, including:

Organic click through rate for exact keyword
Organic click through rates for all ranking keywords
Dwell time
Bounce rate
Measurement of how users interact on your site based on RankBrain
Total direct traffic
Percentage of repeat visitors
Blocked sites
Percentage of visitors that click on other pages on the SERP after clicking visiting your page
Page frequently bookmarked by Chrome users
Number of comments on page

Special Google Algorithm Rules

Some Google Algorithm rules are not directly connected to your page or domain. They include factors that look at personalizing search results for the user or better search results as a whole. Here are some of them:

Need for diversity in the SERP
Need for freshness in the SERP
Browsing history of user
Search history of user
Succinct answers, formatting, page authority and HTTPS for featured snippets
Geo-targeting
Adult content or curse words (excluded from safe search results)
High content quality standards for YMYL keywords
Legitimate DMCA complaints
Need for domain diversity in SERP
Transactional searches
Local search results
Presence of news stories related to keyword for Top Stories box
Search intent
Presence of big brands with relevant content (they are often ranked higher)
Presence of results optimized for Google Shopping
Image results
Branded search
Easter eggs and April Fools’ Day jokes and hoaxes from Google (this one makes me laugh)
Spammy queries
Spammy sites

Brand Signals

How great is your branding strategy in terms of SEO? If you haven’t taken care of your brand mentions and brand all over the internet, you need to start now. Because there are some serious ranking factors related to your brand:

Brand + keyword searches (for example, Hubspot SEO)
Branded anchor text
Twitter profile with followers
Official LinkedIn page
Facebook page with lots of likes
Branded searches
Known author or verified online profile
Real social media accounts
Top stories with brand mentions
Brand mentions without links
Physical location of offices

On-site Web

To rank high on search engine results, you need to ensure your site isn’t spammy and doesn’t look spammy – as with many things in life, looks play a role in how we’re perceived. Here are some factors around that:

Low-quality content
Links to bad neighborhoods
Multiple and sneaky redirects
Flagged server IP address
Distracting ads and popups
Popups that are spammy and difficult to close
Over-optimizing the site
Gibberish content
Use of doorway pages
Lots of ads above the fold and not much content
Hiding affiliate links
Low-value content sites
Affiliate sites
Keyword stuffing in meta tags
Compute generated content
Nofollowing all outbound links

Off-site Webspam Factors

The Off-site webspam factors affect spam based on what’s done outside your website that connects with your website. They include:

Unnatural and sudden increase in backlinks
Hacked site
Lots of low-quality backlinks
High percentage of links from unrelated websites
Low-quality directory links
Automatic links in widgets
Links from sites with the same server IP
Using “poison” in your anchor text
Ignored manual actions in search console
Selling links
Temporary link schemes

Phew, we made it! Even though this list might seem overwhelming, I’ve condensed it to my top 10 to make things a bit more palatable.

Top 10 Google Ranking Factors

Before we go into my top 10 Google ranking factors, keep this in mind: everything is debatable in SEO. While several SEO experts might accept these 10 factors as their top ranking factors as well, other SEOs might disagree. But for me, these are what I’ve found to be most important.

I chose my top 10 based on what I’ve seen improves the user experience, optimizes conversion rates, signals trustworthiness, ranks well, brings in high amounts of organic monthly traffic, and promotes customer retention and loyalty. Let’s dive in.

1. Content that provides valuable and unique insights.

As mentioned above, Google has always emphasized quality content. Providing content that provides value and unique insights not found on every other website can improve your ranking simply because your audience enjoys it.

To do this:

Ensure you are the subject expert in what you are writing about or that you understand that topic in-depth according to research.
Hire subject experts to write your content.
Provide factual information that informs your audience about the questions that are the most important to them.
Don’t write fluff.

2. Content that covers a topic in-depth.

Want to rank on the first page? Stop writing thin content. Research has proven time and time again that content that covers all areas, whether long or short form, tends to do better in search results. Here’s what to do:

Study your competitors’ content and write about what they missed.
Cover all relevant areas and answer all questions that readers might have.
Make the text readable by adding elements like images, a clickable table of contents, jump links, and CTAs to relevant information.

3. Organic click-through rates.

Your organic click through rate helps Google understand whether people like your content or not. If more people are clicking on your post in the SERP, Google will believe your content is more relevant to that keyword and rank you higher for it.

You need to write a convincing meta title and description to improve your organic click-through rate. Here are tips for writing the best meta title and description:

Use power words.
Ensure your keyword is visible in the meta title.
Keep your meta title under 62 characters.
Keep your meta description at about 150 characters.
Your meta description should be helpful to readers (use it to show them how they benefit from reading your content).

Note that to get to a point where you can improve organic click through rate, you should have all other SEO factors in place for higher rankings. I mean anyways, if you are in the 100th position, most people wouldn’t see your page to begin with.

4. Keywords in H1.

The H1 is an indication of what your content is about. So, include your keyword in your H1. Be careful, though; some SEOs say that using the same sentence in your H1 and meta title is an indication that you are keyword stuffing. So, you might want to spice it up a bit while still ensuring that your keyword is present. Do this in combination with all on-page optimization (meta data, URL, other headings).

5. The content’s length.

Content length is one thing that several people debate about when it comes to SEO. Some believe an upward of 2000 words should be the standard. However, that shouldn’t always be the case. Sure, long-form content seems to get the most backlinks, but it’s crucial that you write long-form only when you need that to cover the entire topic.

It’s also a best practice to check what your competitors have because that can be an indicator of quality content. If all competitors have between 2000-4000 words and you write 200 words, you will likely not rank high for that term.

6. Website domain authority.

Domain Authority (DA) is not a ranking factor despite what many say, and the simple reason is: Google didn’t create it. When asked if it is a signal, John Mueller replied, “…it’s a tool by Moz”.

But from my perspective, it’s good to keep in mind because Moz uses particular signals to create that score (and other tools like SEMrush and Arel=” noopener” target=”_blank” hrefs) that are similar to Google’s ranking factors.

When more trusted sites are linking to yours and you have content that ranks well, that is an indicator that you should be trusted, which in turn increases your rankings even further – all of which plays into DA. So in a nutshell, you might want to focus on growing your DA even if Google doesn’t confirm it.

7. Total number of backlinks from relevant sources.

The total number of your backlinks and referring domains are important, but only when they are from relevant sources. In February 2021, John Mueller commented about the importance of link relevance and that you can build many backlinks, but Google will ignore them if they are not relevant.

Rather than focusing on building millions of backlinks, focus on more relevant and quality backlinks.

8. Page loading speed via HTML.

Last year, Google announced that core web vitals would become a ranking signal and it’s planned to launch in mid-June. Core web vitals is a part of PageSpeed, and page speed affects user experience.

If your site is too slow to load or slow to interact with, Google is more likely to reduce your rankings, especially when your competitors have fast site speed and great content.

9. Mobile usability.

User experience is key for SEO success and users are increasingly accessing your website via mobile. That’s why Google sends constant mobile-friendliness notifications in Search Console when it sees that your site isn’t responsive.

If you want to score points with Google and, more importantly, your users, work on your mobile usability.

10. Over-optimization.

Don’t overdo it — this serves as a reminder that you must prioritize optimizing for humans, not the algorithm. When you over-optimize your pages, Google sees that you’re trying too hard and might believe you are trying to game the system. If that happens, you get penalized.

Here are other important ranking factors that didn’t make the top 10 cut, but you should make sure to work on as well:

Quality of internal links pointing to page
Site architecture
Site usability
Contextual links
Outbound link quality
Dwell time
Branded searches
Image alt text

That’s all, folks!

You’ve now gotten to know the 200 known ranking factors and my preferred top 10. Use this article as a guide, not as hard rules. I’m not Google and only Google can confirm what the exact ranking factors are. Most of this data is from what I have seen from working with several websites over the years.

Remember, user experience is key, so continually optimize for your target audience, and you will be duly rewarded.

B2B

5 Ways to Add a Personal Touch to Your Sales Email

i4lead Jul 14, 2021

In a lot of ways, technology has made it easier to reach potential customers. Automated email marketing allows you to speak to an entire database of contacts with just the touch of a button. And while email has proven to be significantly more efficient at converting customers than social media, your potential customers’ inboxes are getting fuller every day.

We’ve reached the point where most consumers can smell a sales email a mile away and will delete it within seconds. They expect that if they open it, they’ll be subjected to blanket messaging, “talking at you” verbiage, and generic content. Usually, they’re right. One-size-fits-all emails are not helping your business, and they may actually be hurting it.

As a salesperson, you understand that getting to know your customers and building relationships with them is still the best way to close a deal. While more and more relationships are being forged from behind a screen, the need to create a connection is more important than ever. The question becomes, how can you leverage the power of technology and build a relationship with your customer?

Adding a personal touch to your emails will set you apart from your competitors and help you stand out in a sea of sameness. A few minutes of research and personalization can create an entirely new playing field for you. There are a number of ways to achieve this with your sales emails, but before we discuss those, let’s get into some of the benefits of adding a personal touch.

Benefits of Personalization

Imagine if you walked into a car dealership and were greeted by a robot who referred to you as “Dear Customer” and determined which car was best for you (and everyone else) before asking you what you were looking for. You’d probably run — not walk — out of that dealership.

Yet, we do that every day with generic sales emails.

Adding a personal touch to your emails will help you:

Build Rapport

Personalized emails allow you to connect with your potential customers and see them as actual people. That connection will encourage them to do business with you and stay loyal to you.

Build Trust

Consumers want to feel like you understand their pain. A generic email blast, sent out to hundreds or thousands of people, doesn’t target their individual struggles. However, seeing a personalized email that addresses their specific challenges and offers hope of a solution builds their trust in your brand.

Make Customers Feel Like You’re Speaking to Them

Every industry has its own lingo for the problems they solve. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily the verbiage that will resonate with a potential customer. Getting to know your consumers better and then using personalization helps you speak directly to them.

Keep Customers Happy

By and large, customers are less receptive to and flat-out irritated by emails that aren’t personalized — and the last thing you want to do in a sales email is irritate your audience. Providing customization and personalization makes consumers happy, so always try to find ways to incorporate those kinds of elements.

Improve Open, Sales, and Conversion Rates

When consumers know that you understand their problems and reliably send relevant content, they come to feel personally connected to your company — a feeling that makes them more inclined to open your emails and, in turn, do business with you.

Ideas for Personalization

There are a number of different approaches when it comes to adding a personal touch to your sales emails. Here are some of the most effective ones.

1. Start with a strong template.

It may sound counterintuitive, but beginning with a template will free up your time to do your research on your potential customers. Remember, this is just a starting point. You’ll be customizing sections and altering words to fit your audience. You can find a variety of sales email templates from Hubspot to help you get started.

2. Send them content they actually want.

Sending your potential (and existing) customers content is an excellent way to stay top-of-mind and establish yourself as a thought leader in your space. However, no one wants to be inundated with information that they don’t find necessary or applicable. Base the content you send off what your customers actually want.

Icebreaker by UpContent is an integration application that allows you to re-engage your prospects when the conversation has died down. By sending them third-party content that has already been curated by your team, you can jumpstart the conversation and continue the relationship. This content is relevant to your organization and to your customer and already approved for distribution.

3. Personalize offers and product recommendations.

It might go without saying, but every customer is unique, and their problems require at least somewhat individualized solutions. As you learn more about your customers, use this information to make personalized recommendations that fit their needs rather than yours.

4. Show appreciation.

Sales emails shouldn’t just be about sales. Once you’ve established a relationship with a customer, you need to cultivate it. Send them a welcome email when they become a customer, celebrate milestones in their life and in your relationship, and wish them a happy birthday. These emails keep you fresh in their minds without being intrusive or annoying.

5. Put an end to cold calling.

There are very few salespeople in the world that actually enjoy making a cold call. Those that do know that you need to create a connection early on by starting a conversation about something other than the product you’re selling.

The same goes for emails. Reaching out to people in your database — even if they’ve signed up for a free offer — is pretty much still cold calling. Co-Pilot is an app that integrates conversation starters such as local weather, local news, and upcoming local holidays into your contact records. This provides you with a starting point to break the ice and personalize your emails to create a better connection.

Whether you utilize the technology available to you or not, real human connection will always be the best sales tactic. Connecting with potential and existing customers will allow you to build rapport, build trust, and make your customers feel appreciated so they keep coming back. Adding a personal touch to your sales emails is easy and essential to creating loyal, happy customers.

B2B

Where Do Shoppers Research Products on Social Media? We Asked 300 Consumers

i4lead Jul 14, 2021

In 2020, 42% of people used social media channels for product research.

With younger generations getting more and more connected to social media, the amount of product research done on these platforms is likely to grow. In fact, 16 to 24-year-olds already conduct more product research on social than on search engines.

Throughout the past few years, social media channels have embraced their new role as product research channels, devoting certain areas or features of their platforms to showcasing brands and products.

For example, Facebook Ads is considered an alternative to Google Ads, YouTube is a go-to site for learning about new products (and how to use them), Instagram offers Shoppable posts, and Reddit users regularly participate in discussion threads about products and brands. And let’s not forget Pinterest, which continues to position itself as a tool for advertisers by improving its ad software.

With all the social media platforms and product marketing opportunities out there, it might be hard to drill down which platforms are key to your marketing strategy.

By now, you might be on all the major social media platforms. But, as they expand and evolve, you might still wonder which you should focus your time and efforts on if you’re selling a physical product. To determine this, it helps to find out which social channels your specific audience is using, and then create strategies that meet them where they are on their preferred platforms.

To learn more about the social networks people prefer to surf for product research, I conducted a poll of 304 people using Lucid Software.

Why is shopper research important?

Shopper research is critical for a better understanding of the customer journey from initial searches to website visits and eventual purchases. The advent of digital- and mobile-first interactions has made this research even more important as the customer journey now includes multiple paths and touchpoints from start to finish.

For example, prospective buyers might hear about your brand from a friend, do their research on social media, and then interact with your ecommerce store through their mobile device. Understanding all touchpoints along this journey can help companies create more seamless and streamlined experiences for consumers and increase overall ROI.

Shopper Insights Reveal Social Media Research Habits

Source: Lucid Software

At first glance, the survey data seems simple: Facebook is far and away the market leader when it comes to product research and eventual purchasing, followed by YouTube.

But that’s not the whole story. Part of the reason Facebook and YouTube rank so highly is because of their installed user base — for example, Facebook has three times the user base of Instagram, despite being owned by the same company.

It’s also worth noting that while Facebook marketing appeals to a broader audience, volume alone doesn’t guarantee conversion. Users on Pinterest and Reddit tend to be much more engaged with their social community — meaning that if your brand can capture their attention you can create substantive consumer loyalty. LinkedIn, meanwhile, relies on authenticity and authority to inspire confidence, while Twitter is all about what’s trending right now.

Here’s a breakdown of the data:

Facebook: 51%, 155 people
YouTube: 30%, 91 people
Instagram: 6%, 18 people
Pinterest: 6%, 18 people
Reddit: 4%, 12 people
LinkedIn: 2%, 6 people
Twitter: 1%, 3 people

Facebook

Facebook has a whopping 2.7 billion active daily users and has been around since the early 2000s. Its audience includes multiple age groups and spans the globe, making it a solid place for most brands to market themselves.

When it comes to marketing your product, you have many free and paid options on Facebook. Here are a few examples of each.

Free Promotion

By now, you probably know that any company can create a Facebook Business Page. Once you create a business page, you can share posts about your products and offerings. If you have happy customers, you can even ask them to review your business on Facebook so prospects researching you can see how you’ve pleased your customers in the past.

Aside from creating a page to highlight your brand, you can also post your products in Facebook’s Marketplace. Marketplace listings can include product shots, pricing, product specifications, and purchasing information. Although individual users often use the Marketplace to sell items they no longer want to other people, Facebook Business pages are also eligible to use this feature.

You should also consider talking about your products or offerings on Facebook Stories. This might take a little extra effort because it will require you to film or create content in the Story format, but it can help you better connect with prospective buyers who want a better sense of what your brand is about.

Paid Promotion

Because Facebook’s feed algorithmically favors posts from individual accounts over businesses, you might decide that you want to put money into Facebook Ads.

Facebook Ads has a solid track record. It’s estimated that 10 million businesses were advertising on the platform in 2021.

With Facebook Ads, you can create advertisements with a certain goal in mind, such as conversions or in-store foot traffic. The detailed ads software also allows you to target specific audience demographics.

As a Facebook advertiser, you can either promote a post you’ve already created to ensure that it shows up on feeds of users in your demographic, or you can create native ads that might show up in feeds or on Facebook’s sidebars. While promoted posts look like an average post with a simple tag stating they’re promoted, the native ads look more like traditional ads to make it clear to users that the content they’re seeing is paid for.

If you want to launch video-based ads, Facebook also allows you to promote video content or buy in-stream ad placements that appear in Facebook Live videos or longer videos that other users have uploaded.

Facebook ads example

YouTube

If how-tos or video tutorials are part of your content marketing strategy. YouTube will be a natural fit for your brand. This is because YouTube users are three times more likely to prefer watching a YouTube tutorial video compared to reading the product’s instructions.

More and more companies are taking notice of YouTube’s product marketing opportunities. It makes sense, since 70% of viewers say they’ve made a purchase after seeing a brand on YouTube.

With a branded YouTube channel, you can publish video content such as demos, tutorials, or customer testimonial videos that give insightful details about why your product is valuable. By filming your own videos, you can insure that you’re highlighting all the great aspects of your product that make it stand out from its competitors.

Alternatively, if you don’t have time to create your own videos, sponsoring an influencer’s content, tutorial, or review related to your product allows you to tap into that content creator’s audience as they tell their followers more about your offerings.

Aside from creating your own account or hiring an influencer to give a review or tutorial, you could also consider paid advertisements. YouTube offers a few ad styles including TrueView, Preroll, and Bumpers.

These ads allow you to submit a short video ad to YouTube which is then placed at the beginning or in the middle of videos with metrics and demographics that match your brand’s target. To learn the ins and outs of setting up an ad and determining which style is right for you, check out this guide.

YouTube Paid Ad Example

Instagram

Although Instagram ranked in third place in the poll above, you shouldn’t disregard it — especially if you’re targeting Gen-Z or millennials who make up the platform’s primary audience.

For years, Instagram’s visual layout has made it a hot spot for influencer marketing. Influencers regularly post sponsored photos and videos about their experiences with products. Like YouTube, these influencers also regularly publish video posts or Stories that present tutorials, reviews, and unboxings related to a product.

Aside from influencer marketing, many brands also promote their products on Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, and through standard video or photo posts on Instagram Feed.

Here’s an example where Kylie Jenner, the CEO and Founder of Kylie Cosmetics, films a Story-based product tutorial for her company’s Instagram account:

Along with free strategies, Instagram now offers Shoppable posts. With Shoppable posts, you can promote a product in an Instagram post that links to your Facebook Catalog. Here’s an example of what a Shoppable Post looks like:

A necklace is shown in an Instagram Shoppable post

To be eligible for Shoppable posts, you must have an Instagram Business page that’s linked to a Facebook Catalog. This feature is also only for businesses selling physical goods.

Here’s a blog post that goes into detail about how to use and optimize Shoppable posts.

Pinterest encourages people to pin image-based posts that inspire them to digital boards, mimicking the process of creating a physical inspiration board.

Because people come to this platform to be inspired to do something, such as travel or home decorating, they might find themselves pinning all sorts of product-oriented images to a themed board. For example, someone who wants to redecorate their office might create an “Office Inspiration” board and pin photos of furniture or decorative items that they’d like to buy.

Here’s an example of what these boards look like:

Office Inspiration Pinterest Board showing various office products

To make it easier for people to find your products, you could consider starting a Pinterest account and making a few boards to highlight your products. For example, if you’re marketing a travel company, you could make a board for each country that you offer packages to. On each board, you could place images of trip activities that link to your website.

Then, if someone is trying to plan a trip to a country you sell a package for, they might come across one of your posts and pin it to their own “Travel Inspiration” board.

To give you a real-world example of how brands use Pinterest, below is a Wedding Registry board created by Target which features images of products that a bride and groom might want to add to their gift registry.

Target products presented in Target's own Wedding Registry Ideas Pinterest Board

Each of Target’s pinned images links to the company website so users can share the pin on their own Pinterest board, or click straight through the post to buy or register the product.

If you have an advertising budget, you can also consider launching pay-per-click ads on Pinterest. Pinterest Ads enables your posts to be seen by people in a specific demographic that matches your own. The platform also allows you to A/B test photos and target ads to Pinterest users on your contact lists.

Want to learn more about Pinterest Ads and effective experiments to run? Check out this blog post from a PPC and Pinterest expert.

Reddit encourages users to create discussion threads in themed online communities, called subreddits. As the platform has evolved, many users have created both threads and subreddits devoted to talking about products, like fast-food restaurants or video games.

Below is an example of a subreddit, or online community, that Reddit users created to talk about all things related to Xbox One.

However, because comments with promotional language in them often get downvoted or buried in feeds by more engaging Reddit threads, you’ll need to be creative if you want to engage with audiences on this platform.

While you might want to keep an eye on Reddit or experiment with it, don’t put all of your time and resources into it — at least right now. As it evolves, the platform may become an easier platform to market your brand on, but at the moment, Reddit marketing strategies still require more brainstorming and time than tactics on other social platforms.

Although this platform has been called one of the “trickiest” for marketers to crack, some bigger brands have figured out how to reach the platform’s discussion-oriented users.

For example, some brands will create subreddits related to their product, while others will interact by commenting on threads related to their industry.

Aside from creating content for free on Reddit, you can alternatively pay into sponsored posts or ads, similarly to Facebook or Twitter. These ads will appear in a user’s feed or as a promoted comment in a thread or subreddit.

To learn more about the ins and outs of Reddit marketing, click here for tips and examples of how other brands have cultivated the platform.

LinkedIn’s platform, which emphasizes networking and career-related chatter, might be well-suited for product marketing in B2B, academic, or professional industries. People who do product research on this platform might be looking for a service, tool, or software that can either escalate their careers or make their workdays easier.

If you’re marketing products like software, online courses, business-related publications, or anything that can help a professional or student do their job better, LinkedIn will be a great fit for you. However, if you sell more general, consumer-facing products like makeup or home decorations, you might want to put more marketing effort into other platforms on this list — like Facebook or Instagram.

While the professional nature of LinkedIn and its audience might not be suited for all brands, the platform still offers a variety of opportunities for brands to leverage it. For example, research shows that 80% of B2B leads come straight from LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is very similar to Facebook in that you can post about your product or service for free, or purchase ads or post promotion to get information about your business front and center on feeds. To see a few great ad examples, check out this post.

LinkedIn Course Offering

Image Source

Twitter

Twitter has approximately 200 million daily users from a variety of backgrounds, geographic locations, and industries. Its broad demographic might provide solid marketing opportunities to many different types of businesses. Because of its broad user base, you might want to create an account on Twitter and post regularly for brand awareness.

If you’re interested in video marketing, you can also experiment with Twitter’s live video feature and use it to film a tutorial or Q&A related to your product.

Aside from posting about your product for free, you can also pay into targeted ads or promoted tweets. Twitter claims that its advertising ROI is 40% higher than some other social channels.

While the ROI of Twitter advertising and its user base sounds promising, you might be wondering why it ranked so low on the poll shown above.

Ultimately, what might make Twitter rank last is its trend-oriented nature. The platform encourages people to connect with each other and post tweets or comments about current events, trending hashtags, or their thoughts on other specific topics.

Brands and product discussion are both prevalent on the platform, but users might go to Twitter to learn more about what’s going on in the world, rather than new products. When people are asked to pick which platform they do the most product research on, it’s not surprising that Facebook or YouTube might seem like a more obvious choice than Twitter.

While you should be on Twitter due to its sheer user base and advertising ROI, you’ll want to keep its audience’s need to stay trendy and informed in mind as you’re creating posts and advertisements for the platform. This might help you make social content that both engages these audiences while still weaving in information about how valuable your product is.

Identifying the Right Platforms for Product Marketing

While running ads and product promotions on any social platform can help drive conversion, it’s a good idea to focus on platforms with audiences that already align well with your brand.

For example, broader audiences are actively looking for products or researching brands on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest while Reddit and Twitter users tend to be more trend-focused. Similarly, if you’re marketing a B2B company, you might see a better ROI from ads on a professional network — like LinkedIn — than ads on a more consumer-friendly platform like Instagram.

Use the information provided above, and start leveraging social media for lead conversion and product marketing.

B2B

The State of Content Marketing in 2021 [Stats & Trends to Watch]

i4lead Jul 13, 2021

Content marketing is the process of planning, creating, and sharing content with your target audience. It helps you generate brand awareness, convince customers to take action, and drive revenue.

There are various types of content marketing, like social media and blogs, but new trends and techniques emerge every year that change the ways businesses reach their audiences.

As a marketer, it’s essential to know what your competitors are focusing on, so you can create a strategy and stand out from the crowd. In this post, discover important stats to know about the state of content marketing in 2021 and trends to look out for throughout the year.

Content Marketing Stats to Know

47% of buyers view three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep.
82% of marketers report actively using content marketing in 2021, up 70% from last year.
Marketers’ primary goals for running marketing campaigns are brand awareness, increasing sales, and increasing engagement.
Video is the most commonly used form of content marketing, overtaking blogs and infographics.
Google’s search algorithms are trying to transcend text to images, voice/podcasts, and videos.
The top technologies used by B2B organizations to supplement content marketing are analytics tools, social media publishing, and email marketing software.
The top three organic content distribution channels for B2B marketers are social media channels, email, and website.

Content Marketing Trends to Watch in 2021

1. Video takes center stage.

Media uploads increased by 80% YoY in 2020, as consumers spent most of their time at home passing time by watching content. Consumers watched 12.2 billion minutes of video in 2020 (as shown in the image below), equivalent to 23,211 years of content.

graphic displaying how consumer video consumption has increased from 2016 to 2020

Image Source

As a result of this changing consumer behavior, video is now the primary form of media used within any content strategy, taking center stage for the second year in a row.

Image Source

As video consumption is now such an integral part of a consumer’s journey, HubSpot Senior Copywriter and Brand Campaigns Manager Alicia Collins and Senior Motion Designer Megan Conley say, “This [consumer behavior] also indicates that video can be used throughout all parts of the flywheel…businesses have historically used it as a means of introducing their brand and product or service offerings. But that’s not the case anymore.”

The videos you decide to create and the places you choose to share it can depend entirely on your individual business needs. Some businesses are opting for shorter form videos on TikTok to raise brand awareness, as National Geographic has done in the video below.

@natgeo

“How to photograph the night sky” with the expert himself! 📸🌌 #NatGeoTikTok #Photography #LearnOnTikTok

♬ original sound – National Geographic

Wistia found that long-form video is becoming more popular, making way for extended video length, as Patagonia has done in the video below.

2. Leveraging multimedia whenever possible.

In addition to video, it’s an increasingly popular strategy to incorporate multimedia into content whenever possible. Jason Lapp, President and COO of Beautiful.ai, says, “Video and photo-heavy social platforms have narrowed attention spans globally, forcing marketers to come up with new ways to break up text and increase content comprehension.”

Lapp adds, “Inserting multimedia — such as video clips and interactive slides — into text-heavy content will become a more popular way of engaging audiences and allowing readers to process material more easily.”

The gif below is an example of a blog post that has used an interactive video to further explain instructions given in the text.

363c83db48a16f8a6e8a01a960f69038

Image Source

3. Strategic SEO tactics.

In 2020, HubSpot VP of Marketing Matthew Howells-Barby said he wanted to see the number of marketers actively investing in SEO go up. His wish came true — 69% of marketers in 2021 report investing in SEO, up 5% just from 2020.

Marketers are making these investments to create tailored experiences for website users. However, the shift in 2021 is less about SEO optimization in general but instead focused on “Capturing niche and long-tail keywords and creating content that’s more engaging than all the ‘Ultimate Guides,’ and ‘Top 55,’ lists,” says Brooklin Nash, head of content at Sales Hacker.

Businesses are looking for a way to simply appear in SERPs and create in-depth content that is unique, valuable, and different from what competitors offer on those same result pages. 71% of marketers support Nash’s assertion, reporting that their business’ 2021 tactic for SEO is capturing strategic keywords.

4. Podcasting will grow immensely.

A content marketing trend to watch in 2021 is the rise of podcasts. Consider the following statistics:

In October 2020, there were 34 million podcast episodes and over 1.5 million active shows.
In under three years, podcast listening in the United States has increased by more than 60%.
Big-name companies like Apple and Spotify are increasing their investments in podcasts and audio platforms.
The podcast market is expected to reach more than 2 billion by 2023, meaning that marketers are preparing to devote significant time and money to the channel.

So, why are podcasts so popular with consumers? Firstly, there is something for everyone. With 72,000 new episodes per day (as shown in the graph below), the likelihood of finding an episode that appeals to their interests is incredibly high, whether it’s a mystery tale or a real-life story about how their favorite business was built.

We’re now averaging ~72,000 new podcast episodes per day. Seems like a lot. pic.twitter.com/cUOd0pwq3H

— Chadd Hollowed (@ChaddHollowed)
March 8, 2021

Second, podcasts feel like a conversation between the hosts and the listener. Rather than being talked at, listeners feel they’re being talked to and walked through the content in a more natural, human manner.

Businesses are investing in podcasts because they bring significant benefits: “Podcasts have the ability to drive real results and pay off in terms of leads and revenue,” says Zachary Bellinger, CRO at Casted. In fact, 53% of podcast listeners actually enjoy hearing ads during their listening experience, and 61% of consumers who hear these ads on a podcast were more likely to purchase a featured product, helping drive business revenue.

Holly Shannon, Producer and Host of the Culture Factor 2.0, says that podcasting is also a great way to use content to establish your business as a source of industry authority: “It can highlight you and your team as thought leaders. This allows you to speak authentically and bring your value to the table for all to hear globally.”

Featured Resource: How to Start a Podcast for Your Business

Learn everything you need to create, record, launch, and promote your podcast.

Download This Free Guide

5. Content personalization.

Craig Davis, Former Chief Creative Officer at J. Walter Thompson, says, “We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.”

A focus for marketers in 2021 is sharing content with consumers that is contextually relevant to their interests and shown to them at the right time. This means that you study your audience’s likes, needs, and desires and share content that you know will speak to them. In turn, you’ll build brand loyalty, drive conversions, and generate revenue.

An example of leveraging this trend is studying user behavior on your website. If you notice that a browser lingers on specific product pages and places an item in their cart, lead them to those pages or products the next time they visit your site.

6. Valuable content trumps the quantity of content.

As businesses pivoted to entirely digital experiences in 2020, it became more important than ever to provide valuable content to consumers. This trend arises because, as consumers spent more and more time online, they see everything. If you post three Instagram stories per day and your competitors only posted one, what does it matter if your content didn’t provide your audience with any sort of value?

“Never before has ensuring your audience obtains true value from your brand meant so much,” says Kelly Hendrickson, Social Media Marketing Manager at HubSpot. For example, suppose your content marketing strategy focuses on your social media channels. In that case, you worry less about posting multiple times per day but instead about ensuring that the content you do share provides genuine value to your customers.

Lab Muffin Beauty Science, Michelle Wong’s YouTube channel, follows this strategy. She only posts once per week, and when she does, the videos are long-form, valuable pieces of content that teach her audience about something relevant to their interests.

Lab Muffin Beauty Science youtube channel video list screen

Image Source

7. Hosting virtual events and webinars.

A webinar is a video presentation, seminar, lecture, or workshop delivered to an audience digitally. Despite once being declared outdated, webinars have become extremely popular over the past year, again credited to COVID-19 health and safety regulations:

Webinar platform BrightTalk reported a 76% increase in virtual events between March and June of 2020
ON24 saw a 167% YoY increase in usage of their webinar tool.

Attending events digitally allowed consumers to continue to interact with their favorite businesses and continue to derive value from presenters and industry leaders. As safety restrictions are lifted, webinars and virtual events are still here to stay — the global webinar market is expected to reach 800 million by 2023, up 253 million from 2015.

The new ‘work from home’ model makes this possible because of the convenience of attending an event from wherever a consumer is located. Plus, the added bonus of being able to access content on-demand if they are recorded and shared.

HubSpot’s yearly INBOUND conference is usually an in-person event, but it has been virtual for the past two years. Although health and safety restrictions in the United States are being rolled back, this event will still be a fulfilling, three-day virtual immersive experience.

HubSpot inbound 2021 conference website homepage featuring event attendees sitting in the audience

Image Source

8. Repurposing existing high-value content.

As mentioned above, COVID-19 has pushed marketers towards prioritizing providing valuable content over anything, and repurposing content is a way to do so.

Nash says, “I’m most excited to see how content teams repurpose content instead of starting from scratch. In 2021, content teams will start figuring out how to most effectively use content from webinars, round tables, podcasts and conferences to stoke the content bonfire…We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just get it turning faster.”

Repurposing content is re-using your existing content and presenting it in a new format. Essentially, since you’ve already created high-quality, valuable content that you know your audience enjoys, you expand its reach.

You can repurpose content in various ways, like creating a slide presentation from a top-performing blog post, sharing screenshots of reviews from product pages on your Instagram profile, or creating text transcripts of your podcast episodes.

Holly Shannon is a fan of repurposing podcasts because transcripts can be used as SEO-optimized blog posts, and audio clips can be used as subsequent social media posts. Glowing Up Podcast has done something similar to Shannon’s suggestion, and they’ve repurposed their podcast by taking video of their recording session and sharing the clip on their Instagram page.

View this post on Instagram

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Stay Up-to-date On Your Industry

It’s always important to stay up-to-date on what is happening in your industry, and being aware of these trends is a way to do so. Should you choose to leverage one of these trends in your marketing strategy, ensure that it’s relevant to your business needs and will help you achieve your goals.

If you want to learn more about the marketing industry, read this post about general marketing trends in 2021.

B2B

16 of the Best Meeting Scheduler Tools to Organize Your Day

i4lead Jul 13, 2021

We complain about spending countless hours in unproductive and mismanaged meetings.

But the greater crime is all the wasted time we spend scheduling the meeting.

The endless back-and-forth communication and steps — reviewing calendars, determining the best place to meet, setting up a call-in number, adding the meeting to the calendar, inviting all the necessary attendees, and so on. To put it simply, the process makes the meeting a hassle before it even starts.

Best Way to Schedule Meetings

That’s where meeting scheduling software comes into play — this is the more efficient way to optimize your time when scheduling meetings (and the time of everyone who’s invited).

These tools have a variety of functions such as agenda scheduling automation, reminders and notifications, and integrations to connect your scheduling software to your other business tools (such as your CRM and sales software). So, let’s take a look at some of the best meeting scheduler software available today.

Best Meeting Scheduler

Whether you’re trying to find the perfect window of time to catch up with your busy team, or looking for the best way to coordinate with your clients, these meeting scheduler tools have you covered.

1.HubSpot Free Appointment & Meeting Scheduler

HubSpot Free Appointment & Meeting Scheduler

Price: Free, $0/month (Free), $45/month (Starter), $450/month (Professional), $1,200/month (Enterprise) for Service Hub or Sales Hub

HubSpot’s Free Appointment & Meeting Scheduler allows your prospects to book one-on-one and group meetings with you automatically to avoid the time-consuming back-and-forth that comes with determining someone’s availability.

Prospects can see your calendar and availability, and simply select a meeting time that works for them. You’ll be notified of their selection and it’ll automatically be added to your calendar. If there are any relevant data about the contact you’re having a meeting with, that’ll be surfaced for you, since the tool is integrated with your all-in-one CRM.

HubSpot works with Google Calendar and Office 365 Calendar and is available free forever or with a paid Sales Hub or Service Hub plan.

2. Arrangr

Price: Free, $3.99/mo (Pro), $6.99/mo (Pro+)

Arrangr handles the meeting scheduling process from beginning to end by reserving tentative meeting times and also releasing slots that don’t get taken.

It integrates with calendars and CRMs, and it has the capability of scheduling group events. The most unique thing, though, is its ability to suggest the perfect meeting location for all parties based on criteria you provide around your preferences (e.g. where to go for a coffee chat versus lunch meeting).

3. Demodesk

demodesk meeting scheduler software

Price: $25/mo (Basic), $45/mo (Pro), custom pricing (Business or Enterprise)

Demodesk is an all-in-one meeting scheduler and assistant designed specifically for sales demo scheduling. Not only do you get custom booking pages, calendar syncing, and meeting analytics, but you can also take advantage of its advanced screen sharing and virtual display options. It also has native integrations with many tools including CRM platforms.

4. Rallly

rally meeting tool scheduling interface

Price: Free

Rallly lets you create a simple, straightforward poll where attendees can vote on a day for an event that works best for them. It also includes an open comment section on the meeting page so attendees can plan the meeting agenda or discuss details before the event.

5. Calendar

calendar best meeting scheduling software

Price: Contact Calendar for a quote.

Calendar is a free service that integrates Google and Apple calendars. The app offers two ways to schedule meetings. With the “outbound” method, hosts indicate their own availability, list the attendees they’d like to come to a meeting, and use the Calendar software to send out an email to collect everyone’s preferred times.

After Calendar determines the ideal time for everyone to meet, the app schedules the meeting for you. With the “inbound” method, Calendar gives you a personal URL where users can check your availability and request times to meet with you.

6. NeedToMeet

Price: Free, $12/yr/user (Advanced), $19/yr/user (Premium)

NeedToMeet doesn’t require you to sign up for an account to use their service. Simply enter a brief description of your meeting’s purpose, block off your availability on a calendar, and send the link to attendees. The free version doesn’t sync with your calendar, but they do offer a premium subscription that integrates with Outlook.

This tool differs from services like Rally and Doodle because it allows attendees to indicate their preferred date and times, rather than only choosing from a list of dates and times set by the meeting host.

7. YouCanBook.me

YouCanBook.me Scheduling tool interface

Price: $10/calendar/mo

If you find yourself struggling to make your availability known to clients, try out YouCanBook.me. This tool offers users a custom URL where users can view free spots on your Google Calendar or iCloud Calendar and book time with you. It also allows you to customize your booking page with different layouts, colors, and your company’s logo.

8. Pick

pick meeting app which highlights Times That Work for the user

Price: $9/mo

Pick automatically scans everyone’s Gmail calendars to find open slots and delivers a list of mutually available times. You can then send a calendar invite to all attendees directly from the app. Something to note is that all members of your team need to be on Pick in order to share their availability. The app also provides users with an individual URL so you can share your availability with people requesting a meeting.

9. Doodle

doodle scheduler interface that allows teams to show availability

Price: $6.95/mo (Pro), $8.95/mo (Team), contact for a quote (Enterprise)

With Doodle, select a list of potential dates and times for your meeting and then poll your attendees to see which option works best for them. You don’t have to sign up for a Doodle account to participate in a poll. You can also create a public Doodle URL, where individuals can request a meeting with you based on your listed availability.

10. Calendly

calendly scheduling software dashboard interface

Price: Free, $8/mo (Premium), $12/mo (Pro), contact for a quote (Enterprise)

Calendly integrates directly with your Google or Office 365 calendar and gives you a personalized URL where people can view your availability and schedule their meetings with you. To help you stay organized, the app lets you set up custom meeting types and durations (e.g., 30 Minute Check-In or 60 Minute Project Review).

Add custom questions to the form people use to sign up to meet with you, include a link to a document or web page people should review prior to your meeting, and make events private when necessary.

11. Clara

clara labs scheduling software calendar view of schedule

Price: $99/mo (Essential), $199/mo (Professional), $399/mo (Executive)

Meet Clara, a virtual assistant fueled by machine learning that can schedule all your meetings and get acquainted with your scheduling patterns. Once you sign up, you indicate your preferences regarding the days and times that you’re available for meetings as well as your favorite locations for those meetings (e.g. for lunch, coffee, etc.).

If someone requests a meeting, you can CC Clara’s email address (which can be customized to your company’s domain), and the virtual assistant will determine a time, date, duration, participants, and location for the meeting so you don’t have to. She also understands human commands like, “I’m sick so can you reschedule my meetings on Tuesday?”

12.Google Calendar

Meet with feature on Google Calendar

Price: Free

If your team already uses the GSuite (e.g. Gmail) and would like to streamline scheduling processes by using the same platform for your calendars and schedules too, use Google Calendar.

If your work email is already part of a GSuite membership, you can go to your calendar, search for another team member under the “Meet with” tab on your left, and then click their name to view their calendar up against your own. If you click on a time slot on that calendar, you can schedule a meeting with both yourself and that teammate.

If your teammates aren’t part of your GSuite, press the “Share” button to share your calendar with their email addresses. From there, they can enter the calendar and schedule a meeting time with you.

13. Zoom

zoom meeting scheduler interface

Price: Free, $149.90 /yr/license (Pro), $199.90 /yr/license (Business), $240/yr/license (Enterprise)

Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing platforms, but it also includes tools to make the process of scheduling one a lot easier.

Choose to add the meeting to your calendar (which may send an invite to the recipient for you) or copy and paste the invite to an email. In addition, two of the Zoom Meetings features are recording and transcripts.

14. Chili Piper

chili pepper meeting scheduling software

Price: $30/user/mo (User License), $150/mo (Spicy), $400/mo (Hot), $1,000 (Inferno)

Chili Pepper is a scheduling software for B2B revenue teams — it offers one-click scheduling from any email as well as seamless handoff scheduling between your reps. The tool books meetings for your customers with one click and it automatically updates your CRM so your contact data is centrally located and up-to-date.

It also optimizes your calendar and helps increase productivity by setting meeting reminders, handling no-show attendees, creating meeting buffers, reserving time slots on your calendar as needed, and allowing for straightforward meeting rescheduling.

15. Setmore

setmore meeting scheduler tool

Price: Free, $9/1-2users/mo (Premium), $5/3+users/mo (Pro)

Setmore is automated online booking software that handles 24/7 scheduling, reminders, and payments. You can brand your bookings and schedule to make for a professional feel — this includes personalized page URLs, logos, fonts, and colors.

The tool makes hosting virtual meetings easy since it integrates with Zoom and Teleport, and you can include your calendar link on your website and social profiles such as Facebook and Instagram.

16. CalendarHero

CalendarHero meeting scheduler tool

Price: Free, $8/mo (Professional), $12/mo (Team)

CalendarHero is an online meeting scheduling software that automates the meeting scheduling process for you. Simply add your video chat provider (e.g. Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams Video) and get started scheduling and hosting virtual meetings.

Attendee insights and meeting briefings are available after your calls — that data can then be added to your integrated sales software or CRM. You can also automate meeting tasks by integrating CalendarHero with software like Slack and HubSpot to make the process of adding, referring to, and updating contact records, files, and simpler.

How to Schedule a Meeting With HubSpot’s Meeting Tool

As mentioned above, HubSpot’s Free Appointment & Meeting Scheduler makes the process of scheduling meetings and managing associated contact data easy — below we’ll review the steps involved in scheduling a meeting with HubSpot so you can see one of these scheduler tools in action.

1. Sign up for HubSpot.

You can use HubSpot’s meeting scheduler if you’re a free or paid Sales Hub or Service Hub user.

2. Click the Meetings link under the Sales tab.

This will take you to the back end of the Meetings tool where you can create your own meeting link.

3. Click the “Create meeting link” button in the top right corner.

You may see the option to choose Personal or Team. If it’s just you that’s requesting the meeting, choose Personal.

4. Fill out your meeting details.

HubSpot asks for the headline (which will show up on your Meetings Tool), name, what you want your link URL to be, and more details.

screenshot of meetings tool to add meeting details in hubspot

5. Configure your meeting in HubSpot.

There are also additional fields for optional details to be included in the invite, such as subject and description that will be sent to attendees.

screenshot of meetings tool to configure meeting in hubspot

6. Designate your availability.

This is the key feature that eliminates the back and forth. By designating when you can meet, this will display only those times for the recipient to choose from.

screenshot of designating meeting availability in hubspot

7. Add form questions for qualification.

If you’re in sales and have your Meetings Tool visible to anyone, you may want to only allow qualified prospects to book with you. This section requires a few fields to give you more insight.

screenshot of hubspot meetings tool form questions

8. Click “Save changes” and check your work.

Once you click this button, you’ll see a popup that includes your page link and the embed code.

screenshot of meeting link created in hubspot

Copy and paste the booking link into your browser and check to see if your Meetings Tool has this meeting configured the way you want it.

Start Scheduling Your Meetings

Start saving time and using meeting scheduler software — this will ensure everyone efficiently agrees to meeting dates and times, eliminating unnecessary and time-consuming back-and-forth communication.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in July 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

B2B

Is SMS Marketing Dead? New Research Says Not Just Yet

i4lead Jul 13, 2021

Whenever I share a screenshot of a friend’s funny text on social media, someone always points out the huge number of unread text messages I have.

iphone upper navigation on text app showing 45 unread messages

“Why do you have so many unread texts? And, who are you ignoring?”, my friends often ask.

The truth is that most of the texts I ignore aren’t from actual people. They’re usually quick marketing messages that I signed up to receive at some point and ended up forgetting about.

Whether you signed up for a mobile service, pharmacy alerts, furniture store promos, or another list, you’ve probably also received a few texts you’ve either deleted, opted out of, or blatantly ignored.

With experiences like those above in mind, you might think that SMS marketing is no longer effective. But, in 2021, as people are more attached to their phones than ever before, we might be wrong about the strength of text message promotions.

As it turns out, a recent study from SimpleTexting shows that text message marketing might still be alive and well.

The study, which surveyed over 1300 consumers and marketers, revealed that more than 76% of brands plan to invest in text-message marketing in the next year, while 62% of consumers subscribed to receive texts from at least one brand in the last year.

Below, we’ll dive into the study’s research, explain why some marketers might still want to consider SMS strategies, and note a few takeaways for an effective campaign.

Why SMS Could Be Coming Back Strong

While members of our blogging team once said SMS needed to be “put out of its misery” due to all the other messaging tactics in the world at the time, no one could have anticipated the changing landscape brought on by COVID-19. During the pandemic, which caused most people to get stuck in their homes, people gravitated to their phones and electronics more than ever, with 76% of consumers reporting increased screentime.

When it came to texting, 61% of consumers either increased or significantly increased the daily time they spent on their text apps.

a chart shows that most consumers increased screentime in 2020 during the covid 19 pandemic

Image Source

SMS Marketing Effectiveness in 2021

According to SimpleTexting, 62% of consumers have opted into texts from at least one business while 43% of consumers specifically have subscribed to one to three brands.

When it comes to text messaging effectiveness, consumers reply to marketing texts that require a response much faster than email. While most people reply to emails within a half-hour to an hour, 72% of consumers respond to texts within 10 minutes.

Aside from quick response rates, text messages can also receive very high engagement. 43% of surveyed business owners and digital marketers who use SMS marketing report click-through rates between 20% and 35%.

One interesting piece of the SimpleTexting survey reveals that 52% of brands reported increased opt-in rates between 2021. However, nearly 10% reported decreased opt-ins in the same year.

While the increased opt-ins are in line with screen and text-message time increases, the opt-out increases do hint that consumers could be as quick to unsubscribe from text message content as they are to subscribe from it.

The SimpleTexting study and other research points to reasons why people might opt out.

Too many text messages from one brand: 60% of SimpleTexting respondents say they’ve unsubscribed from SMS alerts from brands that send them too frequently. Furthermore, 56% of those consumers prefer to receive just one text from a brand per week.
Too many texts from multiple brands: If you do up your text cadence to two, keep in mind that your subscribers might be inundated with tons of texts from other brands as well. While your texts might still be meaningful, you might see more sensitivity to opt-outs simply because subscribers are tired of all the text alerts.
Meaningless content: Like email marketing, you’ll need to hook your reader and keep them engaged with the content they’ve signed up to receive. Sending too much over-promotional content, boring content, or content that isn’t what they signed up for might cause you to see unsubscribes.

a chart shows that most people unsunscribe from text message alerts because they receive them too often.

Image Source

Tips for Launching a Great SMS Strategy

While SMS certainly isn’t dead, text message or conversational marketing platforms can be hard to master. As you consider or build out a text-based strategy, keep these quick tips in mind.

Know your persona: Although people might quickly sign up to receive your messages, it won’t take much to get them to opt out. Be sure you know exactly what your audience members are looking for and how often they want to receive that content to avoid sending meaningless texts that go ignored.
Give subscribers what they’ve signed up for: Remember, subscribers are trusting you with their contact information, and if you aren’t transparent about what you’ll be sending or how often you’ll be texting them, they might quickly opt. out. Be sure you stay consistent with what they’re expecting.
Remember, less is more: No one wants to get their phone blown up with tons of meaningless over-promotional tests. Before you launch an SMS campaign, ask yourself questions like, “Am I contacting people too often?” and “Will they even engage with this content?” If you worry that the content will be ineffective, consider streamlining your SMS schedule and only sending the most important text content.

To learn even more about message-based marketing and SMS strategies, check out the great resource below.

B2B

Image Alt Text: What It Is, How to Write It, and Why It Matters to SEO

i4lead Jul 13, 2021

If you spend time optimizing your blog or website’s content, headers, subheaders, and meta descriptions for search engines, the following image should alarm you:

Image pack for longtail keyword excel table examples on a Google search engine results page

The screenshot above is the first search engine results page (SERP) Google produces for the search term, “excel table examples.” Notice how, in addition to the “Images” tab at the top, Google pulls in a substantial pack of clickable images to the beginning of the main results page — before any organic text results are even visible.

Today, nearly 38% of Google’s SERPs show images — and that’s likely to increase. That means, despite your best SEO efforts, you could still be missing out on another source of organic traffic: your website’s images. How do you get in on this traffic source? Image alt text.

Whether or not you perform SEO for your business, optimizing your website’s image alt text is your ticket to creating a better user experience for your visitors, no matter how they first found you.

How to Add Alt Text to Your Images

In most content management systems (CMSs), clicking on an image in the body of a blog post produces an image optimization or rich text module, where you can create and change the image’s alt text.

Let’s walk through what the next steps are for CMS Hub and WordPress below.

How to Add Alt Text in the HubSpot CMS

In HubSpot, once you’ve clicked on an image and clicked the edit icon (which looks like a pencil), an image optimization pop-up box will appear.

Here’s what this image optimization window looks like in the CMS inside your HubSpot portal:

Alt text field within Image Optimization pop-up in CMS Hubs Content Editor

Your alt text is then automatically written into the webpage’s HTML source code, where you can edit the image’s alt text further if your CMS doesn’t have an easily editable alt text window. Here’s what that alt tag might look like in an article’s source code:

Image alt text tag highlighted in the HTML source code of a blog post in CMS Hub

How to Add Alt Text in the WordPress CMS

In WordPress, clicking on an image will automatically open the Block tab in the sidebar. Under the section labelled “Image Settings,”add the alt text in the empty field.

Add alt text in Image Settings section of Block tab in sidebar of your WordPress dashboard

When you’re ready, click Update from the toolbar at the top of your screen.

The most important rule of alt text? Be descriptive and specific. Keep in mind, however, that this alt text rule can lose its value if your alt text doesn’t also consider the image’s context. Alt text can miss the mark in three different ways. Consider the examples below.

3 Image Alt Text Examples (the Good and the Bad)

1. Keyword vs. Detail

Orange mural that says 'ship it' on a wall at HubSpot's Singapore office

Bad Alt Text

alt="HubSpot office wall Singapore inbound marketing workplace murals orange walls ship it"

What’s wrong with the line of alt text above? Too many references to HubSpot. Using alt text to stuff keywords into fragmented sentences adds too much fluff to the image and not enough context. Those keywords might be important to the publisher, but not to web crawlers.

In fact, the alt text above makes it hard for Google to understand how the image relates to the rest of the webpage or article it’s published on, preventing the image from ranking for the related longtail keywords that have higher levels of interest behind them.

Worst still, if you stuff too many keywords, then you may incur a Google penalty.

Good Alt Text

With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be:

alt="Orange mural that says 'ship it' on a wall at HubSpot's Singapore office"

2. Detail vs. Specificity

Image via Winslow Townson

Bad Alt Text

alt="Baseball player hitting a ball at a baseball field"

The line of alt text above technically follows the first rule of alt text — be descriptive — but it’s not being descriptive in the right way. Yes, the image above shows a baseball field and a player hitting a baseball. But this is also a picture of Fenway Park — and the Red Sox’s #34 David Ortiz clocking one over right field. These are important specifics Google would need to properly index the image if it’s on, say, a blog post about Boston sports.

Good Alt Text

With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be:

alt="David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox batting from home plate at Fenway Park"

3. Specificity vs. Context

Marketing professor pointing to a student's computer screen during a lesson on alt text

Image via UCLA

Both images above have clear context that can help us write good alt text — one is from a HubSpot office, and the other is Fenway Park. But what if your image doesn’t have official context (like a place name) by which to describe it?

This is where you’ll need to use the topic of the article or webpage to which you’re publishing the image. Here are some bad and good examples of alt text based on the reason you’re publishing it:

For an Article About Attending Business School

Bad Alt Text

alt="Woman pointing to a person's computer screen"

The line of alt text above would normally pass as decent alt text, but given that our goal is to publish this image with an article about going to business school, we’re missing out on some key word choices that could help Google associate the image with certain sections of the article.

Good Alt Text

With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be:

alt="Business school professor pointing to a student's computer screen"

For a Webpage on Education Software for Business School Teachers

Bad Alt Text

alt="Teacher pointing to a student's computer screen"

The line of alt text above is almost as descriptive and specific as the good alt text from the previous example, so why doesn’t it suffice for a webpage about education software? This example dives even deeper into the topic of business school, and specifies that the ideal audience for this webpage is teachers. Therefore, the image’s alt text needs to reflect that.

Good Alt Text

With the bad alt text (above) in mind, better alt text for this image might be:

alt="Professor using education software to instruct a business school student"

Image Alt Text Best Practices

Ultimately, image alt text needs to be specific but also representative of the topic of the webpage it’s supporting. Get the idea so far? Here are a few important keys to writing effective image alt text:

Describe the image, and be specific. Use both the image’s subject and context to guide you.
Add context that relates to the topic of the page. If the image doesn’t feature a recognizable place or person, then add context based on the content of the page. For example, the alt text for a stock image of a person typing on a computer could be “Woman optimizing WordPress website for SEO” or “Woman researching free blogging platforms,” depending on the topic of the webpage.
Keep your alt text fewer than 125 characters. Screen-reading tools typically stop reading alt text at this point, cutting off long-winded alt text at awkward moments when verbalizing this description for the visually impaired.
Don’t start alt text with “picture of…” or “Image of…” Jump right into the image’s description. Screen-reading tools (and Google, for that matter) will identify it as an image from the article’s HTML source code.
Use your keywords, but sparingly. Only include your article’s target keyword if it’s easily included in your alt text. If not, consider semantic keywords, or just the most important terms within a longtail keyword. For example, if your article’s head keyword is “how to generate leads,” you might use “lead generation” in your alt text, since “how to” might be difficult to include in image alt text naturally.
Don’t cram your keyword into every single image’s alt text. If your blog post contains a series of body images, include your keyword in at least one of those images. Identify the image you think is most representative of your topic, and assign it your keyword. Stick to more aesthetic descriptions in the surrounding media.
Review for spelling errors. Misspelled words in image alt text could hurt the user experience or confuse search engines crawling your site. You should review alt text like you would any other content on the page.
Don’t add alt text to every image. You should add alt text to most images on a webpage for the sake of SEO, UX, and accessibility — however, there are exceptions. Images that are purely decorative or are described in text nearby, for example, should have an empty alt attribute. For a more detailed breakdown of when to add alt text and when to not, check out this decision tree.

How Alt Text Affects SEO

According to Google, alt text is used — in combination along with computer vision algorithms and the contents of the page — to understand the subject matter of images.

Alt text therefore helps Google to better understand not only what the images are about, but what the webpage as a whole is about. This can help increase the chances of your images appearing in image search results.

When creating content on a topic, consider how your audience might prefer to find answers to their questions on that topic. In many cases, Google searchers don’t want the classic blue, hyperlinked search result — they want the image itself, embedded inside your webpage.

For example, a visitor looking up how to remove duplicates in excel might prefer a screenshot so they can understand how to complete the task at a glance.

Blog post describing how to remove duplicates in Excel includes images with alt text to support content

Image Source

Because this image has optimized alt text, it appears in image search results for the longtail keyword “how to remove duplicates in excel.” Since the post also appears in the web search results for the same keyword, visitors could land on the blog post through these two different channels.

Why is image alt text important?

We’ve already alluded to several reasons why image alt text is important: namely, accessibility, user experience, and image traffic. Understanding these reasons will help you write the best alt text possible for your images. Below we’ll take a closer look at the major reasons image alt text is important.

Accessibility

Back in 1999, W3C published its Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 in order to explain how to make content more accessible for users with disabilities. One of these guidelines was to “Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.” That meant any webpages including images (or movies, sounds, applets, etc.) should include equivalent information to its visual or auditory content.

For example, say a web page contains an image of an upward arrow that links to a table of contents. A text equivalent might be “Go to table of contents.” This would allow a user with a screen reader or other assistive technology to understand the purpose of the image without seeing it.

In other words, alt text helps ensure your visual content is accessible to all users, including those with visual impairments.

User Experience

Alt text not only provides a better user experience to users with disabilities — it provides a better UX to all users. Say, a visitor has a low-bandwidth connection so the images on your webpage aren’t loading. Instead of just seeing a broken link icon, they’ll also see the alt text. This will allow them to glean what the image was meant to convey.

For example, a user might be able to see the image on the left. If they can’t — due to a disability, bandwidth issue, or another reason — then they will hear or see the alt text on the right. This will help provide a better user experience than if there were no alt text.

Image Source

Image Traffic

One of the most important things image alt text can do for you is turn your images into hyperlinked search results that appear either in Google Images or as image packs. Image packs are special results displayed as a horizontal row of image links that can appear in any organic position (including the #1 spot on a SERP, as seen in the example in the intro).

Images that appear in either Google Images or image packs provide yet another way to receive organic visitors. This can result in thousands of more visitors — at least it did in HubSpot’s case.

Beginning in 2018, the HubSpot Blog team implemented a new SEO strategy that, in part, focused more intently on optimizing image alt text. This helped to increase the blog’s image traffic by 779% in less than a year, which resulted in 160,000 more organic views. You can read more about the team’s success in this blog post.

Adding Image Alt Text to Your Website

So, where do you start when developing alt text for your blog posts and webpages? Consider performing a basic audit of your existing content to see where you can incorporate alt text into previously untagged pictures. Watch to see how your organic traffic changes among the pages that you give new alt tags.

The more images you optimize, the better your SEO strategy will be moving forward.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

B2B

How the Lead Management Platform Centralizes B2B Lead Gen

i4lead Jul 12, 2021

After years of iterating with our Publisher Management Platform and a year of preparation specific to this launch, NetLine is pleased to introduce the B2B Marketing world to our Lead Management Platform: A SaaS solution offering B2B Marketers centralized lead capture, qualification, routing, analytics, and companion content amplification campaign capabilities within one simple to use and self-service interface.

The platform furthers NetLine’s goal of democratizing lead gen for all, enabling B2B Marketers to turn their current website traffic into revenue-based outcomes, streamlining their lead capture, lead management, and content amplification programs within one tool.

How NetLine’s Lead Management Platform Works

Upon creating their account, Marketers will be able to take advantage of a number of distinct, NetLine-exclusive advantages.

Unified and Predictive Login

If you didn’t need to type your name and other basic pieces of info into a form that you were eager to complete—and we mean zero typing, by the way—how much happier would you be? Well, considering that more than 70% of audiences are immediately recognized by our Predictive Forms, most users will only need to complete 5-7 fields—that’s a 60% reduction in typing vs. traditional and non-predictive forms.

This innovation represents the industry’s only first-party user authentication solution.

After a user is recognized, our password-less and unified login registration tech goes to work and allows for a frictionless content registration experience and near-instant content accessibility. Users benefit from less typing and Marketers benefit by increasing their conversions.

Advanced Reporting Capabilities

Real-time & interactive campaign reports offer insights into campaign performance, content resonance, and persona engagement. Interactive visualization tools, such as dynamic pivot tables, heatmaps, and custom configurations offer a new level of transparency into content consumption behavior that helps improve campaign performance, faster.

Real-Time Connectors

Within minutes, Marketers can leverage thousands of 3rd party integration possibilities, including easy, ready-to-use connectors with Salesforce, ON24, HubSpot, and Marketo, to ensure that leads generated by their content can seamlessly enter the nurture path and/or sales cycle.

On-demand Scale

Sometimes you need help. Sometimes you need epic reach beyond your own site. Sometimes you just need to reach the professionals in a very niche industry. Whatever your goals are, B2B Marketers can tap into incremental scale and amplify their content to reach their preferred target audiences—all within their own individual budgets—within a matter of minutes.

Open Auction CPL Pricing

As we introduced with our Open B2B Lead Gen Marketplace, NetLine equips B2B Marketers with immediate access to the largest volume of content-generated B2B buyer-level data on the web where more than 700k first-party leads are generated across more than 300 industries each month.

With these additions to the platform, you’ll gain access to all of these features without ever needing any IOs, negotiations, or phone calls. Simply convert native content, add budget, and select your targeting.

Content Format Agnostic

No matter what type of content you’re uploading to drive your campaigns, your users will only be served one common form across every type of gated content format—including webinars and virtual experiences.

Simplify and consolidate all legacy form solutions to a common experience for your audience, and more importantly a common data structure with far richer user profiles. Plus, the platform offers everything from basic themes to fully white-labeled user experiences emulating exact site templates. Whatever you need, the platform has a solution for every need.

Flexible Plans for Every Marketer

Our Lead Management Platform was designed with democratization in mind. As such, we wanted to make sure that we offered plans that would accommodate as many Marketers as possible with plans ranging from Free to $199 per month depending on the needs of the Marketer.

At a time when first-party data capture is a top priority for Marketers, we’re thrilled to be able to offer a platform not only focused on making this attainable for B2B organizations but also proud to be offering tremendous value at a competitive price point.

Why B2B Marketers Should Use the Lead Management Platform

Before opening the platform to Marketers, NetLine’s Lead Management Platform had been reserved exclusively for the best B2B media organizations in the world. What B2B Marketers should take comfort in knowing is that they will be instantly tapping into an established and proven product—one B2B Publishers have been reaping the benefits from for years.

Publishers regularly achieve some outstanding outcomes through the platform, including increasing conversions and generating richer first-party data as a means of accelerating Sales dialogue. Aside from seeing a strong return on your investment, the Lead Management Platform allows B2B Marketers to decrease their overall investment at the start.

As our Chief Strategy Officer, David Fortino said, B2B Marketers needed at least a handful of technologies to run their lead gen programs before today. “They needed software to capture, enrich, scrub, filter, fulfill, report, within their own sites,” Fortino said, “and an entirely different suite of vendors to amplify their content beyond the reach of their inbound forms.”

With the help of the Lead Management Platform, B2B Marketers can now do all of this with one simple self-service interface. “Whether they want to centralize lead capture, or create a hub for qualification, routing, analytics, and companion content amplification campaigns,” Fortino said, “the platform does it all—allowing B2B Marketers to reduce their costs while simultaneously becoming more efficient in the process.”

To learn more about the Lead Management Platform and how it could work for you, please visit the NetLine Portal.

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Category Archives: B2B

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