If you want your website to rank well on search engines like Google, you’ll need an SEO-friendly website with keyword-rich content, optimized metadata, and high-authority backlinks. 

But if you want anyone to actually use your website, let alone buy anything, it also has to be user-friendly and provide a pleasant experience. 

That means creating relevant content that answers pressing questions, solves user problems, and hopefully entertains along the way (after all, you don’t want your prospects to fall asleep before they get to the call to action). 

You also need a responsive web design (meaning it works on both desktops and mobile devices), lightning-fast loading speed, and effortless site navigation. 

An effective SEO strategy can provide an ROI of 12.2x your marketing spend, and the ROI on UX investments is 9,900%, so it’s worth having them both working for you.

To make things easier, we’ve put together this guide to help you strike the perfect balance between SEO and UX with your website design to achieve a sky-high ROI.

What Is SEO Web Design?

SEO web design marries the best practices of designing and developing websites with the principles of search engine optimization. 

Put simply, it’s about building a high-quality website that ranks well on search engines like Google and Bing. 

Besides ranking in position #1 for important keywords, your website will also provide an excellent user experience for its visitors, improving the chances that they’ll make a purchase or leave their contact information. 

The key goals of SEO web design are:

• Better online visibility. Since you put so much hard work into designing your website, the SEO side of web design exists to ensure your target audience actually gets to see it by boosting your visibility on search engines. 

• More organic traffic. It’s not so much about generating traffic per se but the right traffic. SEO web design helps you attract qualified prospects from your target audience. 

• A better user experience. The web design-side of SEO exists to provide a pleasant experience for anyone that visits your website. 

• Boosted brand authority. With a stellar website and a plethora of helpful content, SEO web design will help you achieve thought leader status in your field. 

Why does it matter?

SEO and web design have a symbiotic relationship, meaning their bond is mutually beneficial. The SEO side generates a ton of traffic via Google search, and the UX side generates leads and conversions. 

Tactics like placing keywords in alt tags will catch the attention of Google’s crawlers and help you rise through the search engine rankings. 

If you ignore SEO, you’ll have next-to-no visibility on search engines, making it extremely difficult to find new prospects and grow your business.

After all, 63% of all shopping experiences begin on a search engine, even if the purchase is ultimately made in a physical store. 

At the same time, user experience, such as easy site navigation, a pleasant layout, and clear CTA buttons, will help you keep users on your website once they arrive and increase the chances of them making a purchase or providing their contact information. 

Essential metrics related to your user experience include dwell time and bounce rate. If your dwell time is low, users aren’t impressed with your website or are too confused to find what they need.

The same is true with a high bounce rate, meaning users leave your site before taking further action (such as viewing a product page). 

For these reasons, it’s important to pay equal attention to SEO and web design when creating a new website.

How To Optimize Your Site for Users and Search Engines

Now that you know why SEO and web design are equally important, let’s learn how to optimize your website for both. 

The good news is, when done right, they’ll flow together so seamlessly that your users won’t even notice what you’ve done. 

Much like video editing, you know you’ve done it right when you don’t notice the transitions. 

Here are the top factors to consider when making your website appealing to users and search engines.

Make it mobile-friendly 

Since 2017, Google has practiced mobile-first indexing, which means it crawls, indexes, and ranks the mobile version of websites first. So, if your website doesn’t have a mobile version, you’ll have difficulty ranking high on SERPs. 

SEO experts are well aware of this, which is why mobile friendliness is always near the top of their priority list when working on new websites. 

Rather than using 2 separate versions of your website, it’s a good idea to adopt a responsive web design. This means you only have 1 version of your website, but the dimensions and images adapt to the user’s device. 

Once this is done, your website will load on mobile devices and will have a higher likelihood of appearing on Google’s SERPs in a top spot. 

Mobile friendliness is also crucial for UX and web design because most users browse the internet with mobile devices instead of PCs. So, if your website doesn’t display correctly on tablets or smartphones, your users will click back to the SERPs to find one that does.

Create relevant content with target keywords 

Content is a crucial resource for users and search engines, so most digital marketing strategies involve creating some kind of content. 

However, you should avoid creating content strictly for search engines. 

Instead, strive to create high-quality content that’s directly relevant to your target audience. Your content should answer questions, solve problems, and provide entertainment. 

At the same time, to gain visibility on search engines, you’ll need to uncover desirable keywords and place them in the right spots, including:

• Meta descriptions 
• Title tags 
• Headers
• First 100 words of text 
• Conclusion 
• Alt text 

UX-wise, you’ll need to ensure your content is easy to read; otherwise, most users won’t bother consuming an entire post (and reading your product/service pitch at the end). 

Use short sentences and even shorter paragraphs (most blogs use one-sentence paragraphs). 

Break up the text with plenty of images, bulleted lists, infographics, and call-out boxes.

Also, you should follow Google’s E-E-A-T Quality Rater Guidelines when creating content.

What is E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T is an acronym used by Google to guide its team of human quality raters when they assess website content. It stands for:

Expertise: Is the content creator an expert on the topic? Do they have relevant credentials, knowledge, or experience to provide authoritative information?

Experience: Does the creator demonstrate firsthand experience with the subject matter? This adds a layer of credibility that theoretical knowledge alone can’t fully establish. Wherever possible, share experiences from your past that demonstrate your expertise and familiarity with a topic. 

Authoritativeness: Is the website and content creator considered an authoritative source of information in their field? This is built over time through reputation, recognition, and backlinks from other established sources.

Trustworthiness: Is the website and its content credible, accurate, and reliable? Do users feel safe on the site and trust the information provided?

Why does this goofy acronym matter?

This framework helps Google determine which websites are informative, helpful, and reliable. As a result, websites that embody each letter of the acronym are far more likely to rank in the #1 position on Google’s SERPs. 

How to create content good enough to E-E-A-T 

• Focus on quality: Create informative, well-researched content that contains original insights and first-hand experiences.
• Showcase credentials: Highlight author biographies wherever possible. If the content is from field experts, clarify their experience.
• Build backlinks: Do your best to build backlinks from reputable websites in your niche, as these act as ‘votes of confidence’ for the quality of your content. 
• Maintain accuracy: Ensure all information provided is accurate and up-to-date.
• Build trust: Make your website secure with an SSL certificate, and consider including things like contact information, privacy policies, or positive user reviews.

Use headers to create a hierarchy within website content

Without proper use of header tags, a 5,000-word guide would devolve into an unreadable wall of text, and readers wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails out of it. 

A header tag is the HTML equivalent of a chapter title or a subheading in a book. 

They break up long pieces of text into smaller pieces, which makes them easier to read and comprehend. Headers also make your content scannable for readers, which is a big deal.

Why is that?

It’s because a vast majority of readers (79%, according to the Nielsen Norman Group) scan articles before deciding if it’s worth their time to consume the entire thing. 

Only 16% of readers in the NNG study read content word-by-word, which is why you need to make your content scannable to ensure as many users read it as possible. As a bonus, scannable articles can lead to longer visits to your site, increasing dwell times (which Google likes to see). 

Understanding header tag sizes 

Header tags come in several different sizes, which include:

• H1 tags are the largest and most prominent header tags and should only be used once as the title of the piece. It’s crucial to include your primary keyword in the H1 tag because it’s one of the first places Google’s crawler bots will look. 

• H2 tags are slightly smaller than H1 tags, and they introduce the various subtopics that encompass the main topic. Try to include primary and secondary keywords in your H2 tags without overdoing it. 

• H3 tags are subheadings that add further context to H2 tags. It’s important to only use an H3 tag if it’s related to the previous H2 tag. If it’s a brand-new concept or subtopic, use an H2 tag instead. 

• H4 tags are subheadings for H3 tags, and so on (there are six header tags in total). 

Proper use of header tags offers several SEO benefits:

Headers help search engines understand your content structure, making your pages easier to crawl and index.

Including relevant keywords in headings tells search engines what your content is about, improving its ranking for those terms.

Well-organized content with clear headings increases your chances of getting featured snippets in search results, which are great for boosting online visibility and brand awareness.

How to use header tags  

Imagine you have an article titled “The Ultimate Guide to Baking the Perfect Cake.” In that case, you’d want to use your H1 tag like this:

H1: The Ultimate Guide to Baking the Perfect Cake

This H1 clearly tells search engines and users the page’s main topic.

Here are some example H2s you could use for the post:

• Essential Ingredients for Delicious Cakes
• Mixing Techniques for the Perfect Batter
• Baking Tips for a Fluffy Cake
• Frosting and Decorating Your Masterpiece

These H2s break down the main topic into key sub-topics. 

Let’s continue the trend and throw in some H3s (Let’s say under the “Essential Ingredients…” H2):

• The Role of Flour
• Sugar: Not Just For Sweetness
• Eggs: The Binding Agent

These H3s provide greater detail for a specific section, and these headings will be neatly categorized underneath the H2.

Why does this matter?

The headers signal to search engines the organization of your content, helping them ‘understand’ the different topics and subtopics addressed on the page. 

They also help with user experience. Readers can easily scan the headers to find the information they need, improving their experience on the page. When similar subtopics are grouped together in a linkable table of contents, it makes it especially easy for users to go straight to the part they want to read the most.

Speed things up 

Your page speed is a significant factor that affects both SEO and user experience since slow load times will ruin your SEO profile and turn users away. 

Google uses the Core Web Vitals test to determine every website’s page speed and load times. If a site fails the test, it won’t appear on Google’s search results pages. 

Poor loading times on your website are also a surefire way to increase your bounce rate. Today’s users expect lightning-fast speeds, so if your site takes more than a few seconds to load, they’ll likely click away and look elsewhere. 

Here are some tips for improving loading speed:

• • Minimize CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. Excessive lines of code will slow things down on your site, so minimize it wherever possible by parsing it, compressing it, and getting the output. This post outlines how to do it.  

• Compress your images and videos. Keep an eye on the file sizes for any images and videos stored on each web page. If they aren’t compressed, they could start to slow down your website. Handbrake is an effective tool for compressing content without sacrificing quality. 

• Use a content delivery network. A content delivery network (CDN) is a group of servers that stores data near end users. This means that connected websites can deliver content cheaply, quickly, and reliably. Here’s a list of the best CDNs to use in 2024. 
• Cut down on the number of plugins you use. Too many plugins will start to hinder your website’s performance, so try to limit the amount you use at once.  

Check out Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to learn how fast your website loads.

Follow accessibility guidelines 

While search engines may not have direct accessibility ranking factors, these practices significantly impact user experience – a crucial factor that search engines DO measure – so it’s worth making your site as accessible as possible. 

A website that’s easy to navigate and understand signals a pleasant user experience to Google, which can positively influence your search engine rankings. 

While Google doesn’t use accessibility as a ranking factor, they do have a series of accessibility guidelines for website owners, which are as follows:

• Leveraging image alternative text: Alternative text (known as an alt tag) describes the image for screen readers and users with slow connections. This gives them the chance to understand what an image represents (and its overall role in the content). 
• Using high-contrast colors: High color contrast enhances readability for everyone, especially those with visual impairments. Avoid color schemes that are hard to read, such as bright red text on a yellow background. 
• Ensuring font legibility: A minimum font size of 16px and left alignment support easy reading.

Other accessibility features to consider when creating an SEO-friendly website:

• Clear headings and structure: Use descriptive headings (H1, H2, etc.) for content sections.
• Keyboard accessibility: Ensure that visitors can navigate your website without the use of a mouse.

Not sure if your website is accessible?

These free tools will let you know:

• W3C Validation: Use the W3C Markup Validation Service (https://validator.w3.org/ ) to check your code for compliance with web accessibility standards. 
• Google’s Lighthouse Browser Extension will provide insights into your website’s performance, including accessibility. 

Fill out your website’s metadata

Website metadata is information that describes the content and purpose of a web page, but it’s not directly visible to users when they visit your site. It’s embedded in the website’s HTML code. 

Think of it as the “information about the information” on your site. It’s also the information Google draws from when listing your content on its results pages. 

Crafting clear and informative metadata in your CMS will improve your website’s search engine visibility. While Google may sometimes adjust it, your descriptions provide the foundation for attracting potential visitors.

Here’s a breakdown of the primary types of website metadata and their importance:

• Title Tags are arguably the most important metadata element. They are the clickable headlines users see on search engine result pages (SERPs). The title tag should clearly and accurately describe the page’s content and should contain your primary keyword.
• Meta Descriptions are brief summaries that appear below the title tag in SERPs. They expand on the title tag and compel users to click through to your site.
• Image Alt Text is descriptive text for images that assists with accessibility for screen readers and helps search engines understand image content.

Make sure your website is indexed

Search engines like Google build their massive database of websites by ‘crawling’ the web. If your website isn’t indexed, that means it hasn’t been crawled and won’t appear in search results. 

You can’t get an SEO campaign off the ground if you aren’t indexed, so this is a crucial step.

Here are the essential steps you need to take to ensure your website is indexed correctly by search engines: 

• Avoid Blocking Search Engines:

• Check your robots.txt file to make sure it’s not accidentally blocking crawlers.
• Ensure there are no “noindex” meta tags on important pages, as this tag will cause Google’s crawlers to ignore them. 
• If your site is under development, make sure any logins/password protection are removed once you’re ready to launch.

• Create and Submit a Sitemap:

• An XML sitemap is a file that lists your essential pages in order. Uploading your sitemap to Google Search Console will help the search engine better understand your site architecture (and decrease the chances of pages not appearing in Google’s index). 
• Many website builders can generate sitemaps automatically, so it’s not a complicated process.
• Submit the sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

• Leverage Google Search Console:

• Create an account and verify ownership of your website. 
• Use the URL Inspection tool to directly request indexing for your homepage and other key pages.

Additional Tips to Speed Up Indexing

• Internal Linking: Create clear links between related pages on your site. This helps search engine crawlers discover and index more content. Web pages with no internal links pointing at them are called orphan pages, and they aren’t good for your SEO. 
• Backlinks: Earn high-quality backlinks from reputable, relevant websites. These act like votes of confidence, signaling to search engines that your website is worthy of indexing.
• Social Media: Promote your content on social platforms. While social media links don’t always directly influence indexing, they can drive visibility and potentially encourage natural backlinks.
• Update Content Regularly: Fresh content shows search engines your site is active and maintained.

Important note: Indexing can take time, from a few days to several weeks or even months. Be patient, especially with new websites.

Ensure your website has a good structure 

Another important aspect of SEO-friendly web design is ensuring your website is easy to navigate. 

A clear site structure improves crawlability for search engine bots and intuitively guides users, which is what you want. 

After all, you could have the most convincing landing pages in the world, but if nobody can navigate to them, it’s all for naught. 

Here are some ways to achieve a logical site structure:

• User research: Conduct user research to gain an understanding of how your site can satisfy various user personas and their common behaviors.
• Clear Navigation Design: Ensure that users can quickly and easily find the information they need no matter where they start navigating your website (i.e., have an ever-present navigation bar that guides users where they want to go). 
• Hierarchy and Categories: You shouldn’t randomly link to your web pages haphazardly. Instead, group related products and services into appropriate categories to keep things organized. 
• Breadcrumbs: Implement breadcrumbs to show users their location within the site. An example looks like this: 

Home > Products > Guitar Accessories > Strings

• Internal Linking: Create natural links within your content to guide users and search engines to related pages on your site.
• User Testing: Now it’s time to put your website to the test. Have some prospects navigate your site and provide feedback on what they thought worked and what didn’t – and then adjust accordingly. 

An example that embodies all these traits is Walmart’s website. 

They’re a giant retail operation containing thousands of products and categories, so it’s crucial that their web design and navigation are on point. 

They have a search bar and navigation bar that’s present at all times. 

Walmart’s site also makes excellent use of hierarchy, categories, and breadcrumbs to make navigating their products a breeze. 

Final Thoughts: SEO and Web Design 

When building a new website, prioritizing SEO and web design will help keep users and search engines happy, leading to more organic traffic, leads, and conversions. 

When done correctly, SEO and web design work together so seamlessly that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. 

Do you need expert help with SEO and web design at your company? 

Contact us to learn about HOTH X, our state-of-the-art managed SEO services for websites. 

Whether you need help with an eCommerce site or want more exposure for your brick-and-mortar, our experts can do it all—so don’t wait to get in touch. 

The post 7 Important Considerations For Web Design And SEO appeared first on The HOTH.

There’s only one problem. 

WordPress is a tad limited with what it can do out of the box, which will likely interfere with the plans you have for your blog. 

For instance, if you plan on selling eBooks and other digital products to readers once your blog takes off, you won’t be able to do that with vanilla WordPress, as it lacks the capacity to process payments and enable downloads. 

Does that mean you can’t sell eBooks on your blog if you use WordPress?

No, it does not. 

Enter WordPress plugins, which are optional software add-ons that provide new features and capabilities for your CMS – all without the need for additional programming. 

What’s even better is that most of these plugins are entirely free, so you won’t have to go broke spending money on plugins before you can monetize your blog. 

There are countless WordPress plugins that provide features like site analytics, SEO metrics, payment processing, form creation, and more. 

We want you to succeed with your blogging efforts, which is why we’re listing the best WordPress plugins for blogging and SEO, so read on to learn more. 

Must-Have WordPress Plugins That’ll Transform Your Blogging Experience 

While there are plenty of plugins out there, they aren’t all of equal quality. Some even cost money, so you need to know A) precisely what you’re looking for and B) which plugin handles it the best. 

To make your life easier, here’s a list of what we believe are the quintessential plugins for new WordPress bloggers. 

AIOSEO (All-in-One SEO)

First things first, you’ll need a solid SEO strategy to generate lots of traffic to your blog, and AIOSEO is the best SEO WordPress plugin available today. 

Its free version contains powerful features for monitoring and improving your SEO efforts. 

Stand-out features include:

• SEO health checks 
• Smart meta tag generator 
• A link assistant that identifies link opportunities in posts 
• Schema generator for rich snippets 
• Smart XML sitemaps 

The smart meta tag generator is invaluable for keeping your posts updated, as it uses dynamic values for things like dates, author info, and more. 

That means you won’t have to update a bunch of old blog posts just to change the year from 2022 to 2023, and so on. 

While the free version contains tons of great features, there is a paid premium version that takes things to the next level. It includes advanced capabilities like 404 error tracking, local business schema, and access to Google Search Console metrics. 

Easy Digital Downloads 

This WP plugin is a must-have if you plan on selling digital products to your readers, which is one of the most effective blog monetization techniques.

As mentioned previously, the base version of WP isn’t able to do things like process payments and enable downloads. 

That all changes with Easy Digital Downloads, as it makes it effortless to sell:

• eBooks
• Music 
• PDFs
• Software
• Other digital products (i.e., organizers, calendars, etc.)

You have the option of setting up one-time or unlimited downloads, and the tool integrates with payment options like Apple Pay and Google Play. 

So, if selling digital goods is part of the plan you have for your blog, don’t forget to download this crucial plugin. 

MonsterInsights 

If you want to successfully build an audience for your blog, then it’s essential to pay close attention to your site analytics and user behavior. 

Most SEOs use Google Analytics for this purpose, but how do you connect it to your blog?

MonsterInsights solves this problem, as it enables you to sync your blog up to GA for real-time insights into things like site traffic, dwell time, click-through rates, and other vital metrics. 

The best part about this plugin is how it simplifies the learning curve involved with using GA. Not only that, but it’s undoubtedly handy to be able to view your GA metrics straight from your WordPress dashboard, which is worth the price of admission. 

Speaking of price, there are two versions of MonsterInsights, Free and Pro. 

The free version will be sufficient for most, as it lets you connect your blog to GA and view its analytics. 

The Pro version adds these features:

• Page tracking
• Tracking 404 error pages on your site
• Custom reporting
• Google AdSense tracking 

It’s worth the upgrade if you want customizable reporting and to track your performance on AdSense. 

WPRocket 

If you want your blog posts to rank well on search engines and provide a pleasant user experience to readers, lightning-fast loading speed is a must. 

After all, if you don’t pass Google’s Core Web Vitals test, you won’t stand a very good chance of ranking high on the SERPs. 

Luckily, WPRocket is a plugin with the sole focus of optimizing your page speed. 

The one drawback is there’s no free trial or free version, so you’ll have to pay for the privilege ($49, to be exact). 

It makes the list because, despite the price, it’s the best plugin for improving loading times. 

While it’s listed as a simple caching tool, WPRocket’s ability to speed up your site can’t be understated, so don’t forget to add this plugin to your must-have list. 

WPForms

Even if you aren’t trying to monetize your blog, it’s nice for your readers to have a contact form to get in touch with you if they have questions or comments. 

Once again, without a plugin, you’ll have to jump through all sorts of hoops to create a simple form on WordPress. 

To avoid having to write your own custom HTML forms, try downloading WPForms for free instead. 

It uses an intuitive drag-and-drop editor for form creation, and it couldn’t be simpler. 

In no time at all, you’ll be able to create contact forms, payment forms, subscription lists, and more. 

Pretty Links 

Are you part of an affiliate program?

If so, then you know how long and cumbersome referral links can be (we’re looking at you, Amazon). 

You’ll also be thrilled to know that Pretty Links is a dedicated referral link shortener.

With it, you’ll be able to shorten and ‘beautify’ your links to make them far easier to deal with. 

Besides that, Pretty Links also tracks your affiliate links, which is definitely its best feature. 

It tracks each click on your affiliate links and provides a detailed report on when and where the click came from, which is excellent for affiliate marketers. 

Elevate Your Blogging and SEO with WP Plugins 

We’ll be honest: WordPress by itself isn’t too impressive.

However, add some plugins into the mix, and it becomes a total powerhouse for monetizing a blog. 

The plugins found on this list will speed up your website, help you track affiliate links, monitor SEO, and enable digital downloads and payments. 

If you need help putting together a professional blog/SEO strategy, don’t wait to check out HOTH X, our enormously effective managed SEO services.    

The post Rev Up Your Blog Posts with These Integral WordPress Plugins  appeared first on The HOTH.

You need to set realistic expectations with new clients right from the very beginning. That includes being transparent about pricing & upfront about the results clients can expect from your services. 

That’s the best way to build trust amongst your clients, which will help you develop a loyal following. 

Setting clear client expectations is the best way to improve your retention rates, which are crucial to the success of your business. 

In fact, retaining your existing clients can boost your profitability from 25% to 95%, and about half of a company’s revenue comes directly from its most loyal customers. 

Beyond that, acquiring new customers can cost 5 to 7x more than retaining existing ones. 

That’s why it’s worth developing a client onboarding system where you set clear expectations straight from the get-go. Not only will this help you avoid miscommunications & false hope for services you don’t offer, but it’s also great for avoiding undesirable clients that will only cause trouble. 

That’s because setting client expectations isn’t just for the benefit of the client; it’s also a way for you to determine if they’re a good fit for your agency. 

Managing client expectations is a crucial skill for any agency to master, so stay tuned to learn effective tips for getting real with your clients. 

Why is it Necessary to Set Client Expectations?

Miscommunications are frustrating whenever they occur, which is why setting expectations matters so much – and that applies to more than working relationships. 

For instance, have you ever been waiting hopelessly by the phone in hopes of hearing back from a job interview, only to realize they filled the position a week prior without telling you?

That’s a perfect example of a failure to set expectations on behalf of your interviewer. They could have mentioned when they planned on filling the position or when you could expect to hear back. 

Since they didn’t communicate or set expectations, you wasted time waiting for a call that was never going to come. 

Similar things can happen if you aren’t transparent with your clients about how your agency works. 

Without setting the proper expectations in place, you risk disappointing your clients in ways you couldn’t possibly anticipate. 

For example, if you aren’t clear about the end goal you’re trying to achieve, your clients may expect more than you’re able to deliver, which can ruin your working relationships. 

The good news is those types of situations are completely avoidable if you’re upfront about what you can deliver for your clients. 

Good communication is another core component of setting client expectations. 

Staying in constant touch with clients will help avoid miscommunications, and it shows that you care about the work you’re providing for them.

Failing to set clear expectations is a leading cause of poor client retention rates, which is why it’s necessary to set them as soon as possible. 

Benefits of Setting Expectations for Clients 

Now that you know why you need to set client expectations for a better customer experience, how will they benefit your business?

There are quite a few perks you’ll enjoy from setting clear client expectations, including the following:

They get rid of any surprises 

The last thing you want is for a roadblock or pricing issue to come as a surprise to your client. Surprises are rarely a good thing in the professional world, especially for marketing strategies that require intricate planning. 

Setting expectations will ensure there are no surprises from either party, which is ideal for forming lasting relationships. 

They leave little room for confusion

Setting expectations is all about being upfront and laying everything on the line. As a result, your clients will have a clear understanding of the results you’re going to deliver and how long it will take to deliver them. 

Otherwise, your clients may feel left in the dark, especially when it comes to deliverables, so be sure to cover everything during your onboarding process. 

They provide boundaries for firing clients 

Not every client you work with is going to be a perfect fit for your agency. In fact, the truth is you’ll likely have to fire more than a few clients due to a variety of different issues. 

It could be that the client isn’t willing to pay your rate or that they’re expecting too much from your team. 

Whatever the reason is, if you set clear expectations from the get-go, you’ll be able to pinpoint why the relationship isn’t working when it comes time to part ways with troublesome clients. 

Setting boundaries is an integral part of setting client expectations, as the onboarding process is also there to protect you, not just your clients. 

They provide a clear direction for your team members 

You need to include your team in the client onboarding process, as it will provide them with clear direction on what to do as well. 

If your team is present when you’re laying out expectations for your client, they’ll know which direction to take with their marketing strategy, leading to better teamwork. 

If they aren’t around for client onboarding, your team may lack a sense of direction with their work, and they may even do something your client doesn’t want – which is why you need to include them in the process. 

How to Manage Client Expectations 

Being able to set realistic client expectations is a necessary skill for any marketing agency, regardless of your niche focus. 

From developing SEO strategies to managing social media campaigns, your clients need to know what you’re going to deliver and how you’re going to deliver it in no-nonsense terms. 

Here are some proven effective tips for setting client expectations that build trust & loyalty. 

Establish a client onboarding system 

To start, you need to develop an airtight client onboarding process that you can replicate for each new client you acquire. 

Also, it’s a good idea to set client expectations multiple times to really ride the point home. 

Ideally, you should set expectations during your sales pitch, when they sign your contract, and one final time during your client onboarding process. 

If that sounds like overkill, it really isn’t. 

The more you reiterate your expectations, the more likely they are to stick in your client’s mind. If you only state your expectations one time, your client may forget – which can lead to miscommunications and disappointment down the line. 

Also, since you’ll be setting expectations more than a few times, your script needs to remain the same. 

That’s why it’s worth establishing a client onboarding process that your employees can quickly & easily implement for new clients. Be sure to include all the necessary documentation, such as onboarding scripts, contracts, and pricing information. 

Set clear goals from the start 

It’s important to agree upon realistic goals as soon as you onboard a new client. These goals should align with your client’s plans for business growth while still being feasible for your marketing agency. 

The best way to set goals that yield results is to use the SMART system. Here’s a breakdown of the acronym:

• Specific. You need to clearly define your goals by including the specific results you want to achieve, a timeline to make it happen, and key milestones to hit along the way. 
• Measurable. Speaking of milestones, you’ll have a much easier time achieving your end goal if you have a way to measure your success. Milestones and essential marketing metrics (think organic traffic, leads, and sales) will help you ensure that you’re on the right path. 
• Achievable. You want to ensure that achieving the goal is within the means of your marketing agency. Overpromising only to then underdeliver isn’t the way to forge long-lasting client relationships, so make sure you can realistically achieve any goals you set. 
• Relevant. Any goals you set must align with the overall business goals of your clients. For instance, if they want to grow their presence on Instagram above all else, setting goals for other social media platforms isn’t relevant to their needs. 
• Time-bound. Goals without deadlines lack the sense of urgency necessary to get things done. That’s why every goal you set needs to fall within some sort of time constraint. Whether you’re planning for a 12-day strategy or 12 months, giving your goal a deadline is a must. 

Be completely transparent about pricing 

There’s no reason to beat around the bush when it comes to clarifying how you’ll get paid with your new clients. 

Money is often the #1 factor that makes clients uneasy, so being upfront about it will put their minds at ease. That will enable you to move on to more important matters, such as explaining the value of your services.

When discussing how you’ll get paid, don’t forget to cover the following:

• How your invoicing structure works (how often you’ll send invoices if you have a net-30 policy, etc.)
• Your rates for the services you provide (i.e., SEO, content creation, etc.)
• If any additional fees may show up on their invoices (late fees, interest, additional services)
• Your preferred payment methods (ACH Transfer, physical check, PayPal, Wise, etc.)

Besides setting these expectations early on, you also need to notify your clients whenever changes will show up on their invoices. 

Remember, setting expectations is all about getting rid of any unwanted surprises, and a higher invoice than usual definitely qualifies as such. 

As an example, if your client gets billed the same amount each month but orders an additional service this time (such as a promotional video or extra blog post), you should notify them of this via a phone call or email. 

That’s because if the client receives the invoice expecting the same amount as usual, the unexpected increase can cause tension in your relationship – and it could affect their budgeting strategy. You can avoid these issues by giving your clients a simple heads-up whenever their bill changes. 

Under-promise & over-deliver 

This goes in hand with the Achievable part of the SMART acronym, and it’s a great way to ensure that you don’t wind up under-delivering – which is terrible for client retention. 

Instead of promising the moon to your new clients, guarantee only the bare minimum of what your efforts can yield. 

For instance, say that you offer SEO services and you regularly boost organic traffic by 50% or more for your clients. By only promising a 25% increase in traffic, you’ll be able to ‘wow’ your clients when you’re able to actually boost it by 50%+. 

Yet, if you get too big for your britches and promise a 75% increase, you’ll only wind up disappointing your clients when you’re only able to provide a 60% boost. 

That’s why under-promising is the way to go. 

Not only does it serve to impress your clients, but it gives you a bit of wiggle room should any unexpected roadblocks arise. 

As long as you under-promise and do all you can to exceed your client’s expectations, you should wind up wowing their socks off. 

Don’t forget to set boundaries 

Setting client expectations also serves as a way to protect yourself, and setting boundaries is a big part of that. 

Your clients need to know what’s on the table and what’s not; otherwise, they may wind up crossing a boundary without realizing it. 

An example?

Lots of people are working remotely now, and if you don’t send boundaries for working hours, your clients may assume that you’re available 24/7. If you don’t want clients blowing up your phone at 3 AM, it’s imperative to establish some boundaries when setting expectations. 

Avoid bad clients sooner rather than later 

During the client onboarding process, you need to keep an eye out for a few red flags yourself. 

That’s because getting stuck with a bad client will only hurt your marketing agency, so it’s best to terminate those relationships before they even start – and the onboarding process is the perfect time to make that judgment. 

Common red flags to avoid:

• Not wanting to pay your full rates by constantly asking for discounts
• Unsure of what they want 
• Unrealistic expectations (i.e., get us to #1 on Google by tomorrow for cheap!)

While it may be tempting to accept every new client you speak with (especially early on), it’s best to heed these warnings when you see them and not pursue them any further. 

Doing so will save you a lot of headaches in the future and will free up your time for better, more reasonable clients. 

Wrapping Up: How to Set Client Expectations 

Developing a rock-solid client onboarding process is the best way to form stellar client relationships that stand the test of time. 

Setting expectations will help you set the stage for success and help you avoid nightmare clients that will only bring your agency down. 

Do you need assistance setting realistic client expectations at your marketing agency?

Then you need to consult with our marketing gurus at The HOTH. We’ve dealt with countless clients over the years, and we know how to set clear expectations that yield results & fruitful relationships.

And if you’re looking to expand your product suite, we’re one of the world’s top white label digital marketing solutions. We work with thousands of resellers who work with thousands of their own clients, so don’t wait to book a call today.      

The post How to Set Client Expectations at Your Marketing Agency appeared first on The HOTH.

These are critical questions to ask because 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a difficult-to-use or bad experience. Additionally, you won’t be able to dominate the search rankings without an airtight UX design and user interface. 

So, if your SEO strategy doesn’t incorporate a winning UX design, you likely won’t get very far. 

Why is that?

Google (and other search engines) have come a long way since the keyword-stuffing days of old. In the early days of SEO, keyword density was the primary ranking factor, which led to the heavy use of keyword spam. 

Now, Google looks at 200+ ranking signals, and the quality of your UX design is one of the most important. Because UX is an umbrella term that includes site speed, mobile friendliness, site navigation, and site architecture, we’ve put together this extensive guide for UX SEO. Here, you’ll learn more about how to include the top UX-related SEO ranking signals in your website. 

How Does UX Affect Your SEO Rankings?

When search engines first started to emerge on the internet, their algorithms were quite simple. They ranked how many times a search query appeared in a website’s content. The engines gave little to no credence to the quality of the content, its trustworthiness, or the quality of its website design/customer experience. 

That all began to change when Google emerged on the scene because they had one goal in mind: to match user search intent with the highest quality results. Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin even devised the idea of using backlinks to rank content (as a way to measure trustworthiness) while they were still at Stanford. 

As the years went by, more and more ranking factors entered the mix. 

UX ranking signals 

Today, Google’s algorithm (and other search engine algorithms) pays special attention to crucial metrics to determine the quality of your UX design. 

These metrics include:

• Click-through rate (CTR) 
• Bounce rate 
• Dwell time 

If you have a high bounce rate and low dwell time, it’s a clear sign that users are leaving your website due to a bad experience. It could be that your loading speed is too slow, the layout is too confusing, or it could be due to a number of other UX-related issues. 

Google also has its Core Web Vitals test that its crawlers run on every website in its index. This test determines page speed, which falls under the UX umbrella. 

As you can see, your UX affects your SEO efforts. To ensure that you don’t get buried too far down on the search engine results pages (SERPs), you’ll need to follow some SEO best practices related to UX design. 

UX SEO: How To Create a Winning Design That Ranks High 

Now that you know how crucial your UX design is to your SEO efforts, let’s learn how to build a design that your users will love. 

To see the best results in your business, UX and SEO go hand-in-hand. You can think about it like this:

• SEO tactics cater to search engine algorithms and crawlers to rank higher on search engines like Google and Bing. 
• UX design tactics cater to the end users that will interact with your site and potentially make a purchase. 

Therefore, you need an SEO strategy that will rank your content in one of the top spots on the SERPs to increase visibility with your target audience. You also need a stellar UX design to keep users on your page while guiding them down your sales funnel. As you can see, your SEO strategy and UX design are linked because they work in tandem to generate leads and sales for your business.

Next, let’s learn about the top factors affecting your UX. 

Headers 

If you want a blog post or product page to provide a positive experience, you need to use headings to break up the text properly. There’s a reason why print media such as newspapers have used large, bold headers for countless decades—it’s because they grab attention. 

Using H1, H2, and H3 headings in your content makes it effortless for searchers to quickly scan your article to determine if it’s worth reading. Headers also make web pages easier to read because they summarize what large chunks of the text are about, creating a logical hierarchy (i.e., starting with the main topic and embellishing it and introducing subtopics). 

Headings also matter for SEO, as web crawlers scan them to determine what your content is about. As such, if you format your headings in an SEO-friendly way, you have a better chance of ranking higher. But, if you aren’t consistent (e.g., if you use more than one H1), you may confuse Google’s crawlers, which isn’t what you want. 

Here are some pointers for formatting headings in a way that both users and crawlers respond to:

• Only use one H1 heading per web page: This will help determine the primary focus of your content (i.e., an H1 titled ‘How to Groom Your Dog’ is clearly about dog grooming). 
• H2s should cover the primary talking points of the article, and H3s and H4s should be used to embellish each topic. 

Following this formula will help you build web pages with a positive UX. 

Site navigation and structure 

How easy your website is to navigate is another significant component of your UX. If most organic traffic visits your site from search engines, they likely won’t land on your homepage. Instead, they’ll probably reach one of your blogs or product pages instead. 

This means users will need a way to navigate to the rest of your website from there, so your structure needs to be on point. 

Can users reach any page on your site from the main menu/navigation bar?

If so, you probably have orphan pages (web pages that have no internal links pointing at them), which isn’t good for your SEO profile. 

Do your best to avoid cluttering your main menu with pop-up ads, social media buttons, or overly lengthy options. Your best bet is to include a clear, logical navigation bar, laid out in a user-friendly way that includes all the pages on your website.

The last thing you want is for your visitors to spend too much time trying to find out how to get to one of your product pages; that will likely lead to a bounce. 

Mobile experience 

Google now practices mobile-first indexing, which means it will first crawl and index your site’s mobile version. 

Why did they do this?

Google made this change because mobile users are now more prevalent than desktop users. As of 2022, 53.74% of all web visits were on mobile devices (only 46.26% came from desktops). 

You should incorporate a responsive design to ensure that your website gets crawled and indexed. This is where you only use one version of your website that works for both desktop and mobile by switching its dimensions depending on the user’s device. 

Load time

We mentioned earlier that Google’s Core Web Vitals test will determine the page speed and load time of your website. 

As such, your loading speed is a huge part of your UX. If your page fails to load within a second or two, you’re doing something wrong. 

Here are some quick tips for improving a slow page speed:

• Minify JavaScript and CSS wherever possible
• Cache your web pages 
• Reduce the number of redirects 
• Compress all images and videos 
• Use a performance-optimized web hosting solution 

If you aren’t sure how fast your website loads, you can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to find out. 

Concluding Thoughts: UX SEO 

By now, you should better understand how UX design and SEO work together, not only to generate more traffic but also to boost your conversion rates. 

SEO will bring prospective users to your site, and your UX design will help turn them into paying customers (if you have well-written content with clear and convincing CTAs). 

Do you need professional help with your SEO strategy?

If so, don’t wait to check out our five-star managed SEO services at HOTH X. Our team of SEO experts is also available for consulting, so feel free to schedule a call today.

The post Why You Can’t Have SEO Without a Great UX Design (and Vice Versa) appeared first on The HOTH.

Why all the fuss over mobile search?

It turns out Google has a very valid reason for focusing on mobile users first, as mobile browsing accounts for nearly half of all web traffic worldwide. 

First, there was Google’s Mobilegeddon algorithm update that took place in 2015 – which emphasized the importance of a mobile-friendly website – especially if site owners wanted to maintain their high SERP rankings. 

After that, Google began to roll out mobile-first indexing in 2021, where the mobile version of each website would get indexed first.  

This led to the prevalence of responsive design, where a website can adequately display on both mobile devices and desktops by altering its dimensions. 

Yet, simply using a responsive web design doesn’t mean that you’re fully optimized for mobile. Instead, it’s simply the first step toward true mobile-friendliness, as mobile optimization is an entire SEO (search engine optimization) category of its own. 

Customer behavior and browsing habits have changed quite a bit in our current era. As of 2020, mobile visitors spent 90% of their time in apps instead of mobile browsers. It’s also more common for users to engage in an omnichannel experience – where they may begin a task on their phone but finish it on their tablet later. 

Read on to learn how to optimize for mobile devices correctly. 

What Makes Mobile Optimization Different?

Mobile optimization has come a long way in recent years, evolving from maintaining two separate versions of a website (desktop and mobile) to one responsive website that can handle both. 

With mobile-first indexing, the Google Core Web Vitals test got thrown into the mix, which tests a website’s load speed, interactivity, and responsiveness. 

That meant a mobile-friendly site had to load everything quickly and flawlessly onto a smaller screen, which posed unique challenges. For instance, image files that may load effortlessly on a desktop can have longer load times on mobile sites – so you may need to compress them. 

Then there’s the challenge of the type of content you display on mobile screens. 

Think about this; would you want to read and fill out an extensive 5-page sales form on your mobile phone? Or would you prefer to deal with a condensed version that’s only a few sentences?

These are the types of considerations you need to make when designing mobile content. The more that you can make things quicker, easier, and more convenient for your users, the better. 

However, there’s a fine balance involved here, as you don’t want to completely ignore users visiting the desktop version of your site, which may appreciate more in-depth content. 

That’s why the most powerful tool you have when designing a responsive website is a solid understanding of your target audience and customer journey. 

The more familiar you are with your buyer personas, the easier it will be to predict their browsing and buying habits. 

Micro-Moments & Omnichannel Experiences: How Consumer Habits Have Changed 

Back in the day (think the early 2000s/2010s), most searches were conducted by users sitting at desktop computers either at home or at the office. 

For instance, if someone wanted to learn about products from an eCommerce brand, the entirety of their user experience would take place behind their desk – diligently reading product descriptions, user reviews, and watching videos. After a while, they’d make a purchase, still from their desk. 

Smartphone browsing and shopping was definitely a thing, but it was far more limited than it is today (partly because most websites didn’t correctly display on mobile devices and didn’t have apps). 

Things are not the same in the 2020s, and that’s primarily due to the prevalence of mobile devices, time-saving mobile apps, and responsive websites. Also, applications like Venmo and Apple Pay made it much easier to make purchases on the fly without having to memorize your debit card number. 

We now have a world where any query or task can be answered or completed anytime, anywhere, in an instant.

With the world at our fingertips, we’ve become accustomed to answering any question or solving any problem within seconds – which has led to the prevalence of what Google calls micro-moments. 

It’s also increasingly common for users to start an experience on one device and finish it on another – such as starting product research on their phone and finishing it later on a tablet, which is an omnichannel experience. 

What are micro-moments, and why do they matter?

Google defines a micro-moment as ‘a moment where a user turns to a device to act on an immediate need, either to know, go, do, or buy.’ 

You likely experience several micro-moments each day without even realizing it. 

As an example, say you hear the word ‘patina’ on television and don’t know what it means, which prompts you to whip out your phone and type the term into Google to find a quick definition. 

That’s an example of an I-want-to-know micro-moment, as you had a brief moment of highly targeted search intent where you wanted to learn something new. Google was there to help you, and they provided the definition you were craving (if you were curious, patina is a greenish-brown film that forms on bronze and other metals, such as the Statue of Liberty). 

Googling a restaurant for user reviews or directions is another form of micro-moment, an I-want-to-go moment. 

Here are the different types of micro-moments:

• I-want-to-know. Quick searches to educate yourself.
• I-want-to-go. This is a search for local businesses that you want to visit.
• I-want-to-do. These are searches aimed at learning new skills, such as video tutorials for playing guitar. 
• I-want-to-buy. This type of micro-moment means the customer is ready to make a purchase. 

As you can see, micro-moments occur all the time, and figuring out ways to capitalize on them is essential if you want to learn how to optimize for mobile devices. 

Why are omnichannel experiences important?

Do you only use your smartphone to browse the web? Or do you use a combination of your phone, desktop computer, tablet, smartwatch, and other devices?

The fact is that most internet users juggle several different devices during their busy day. Activities such as blog reading, online shopping, and booking appointments often occur across several devices. 

That’s why all your content needs to be responsive enough to handle this demand. For instance, let’s say a user begins reading a helpful blog post you wrote about how to use one of your products on their phone during their subway ride to work. 

They mark their spot halfway through, and then continue reading on their desktop PC at work, and then finish it on their tablet during their lunch break. 

If your website can’t properly display on one of these devices, you’ll lose a reader and a potential sale. 

That’s why it’s imperative to have a mobile-optimized website that flawlessly displays your content, no matter the device. Beyond that, it pays to have a solid understanding of your typical customer’s journey, including which devices they use the most (more on this in a bit). 

How to Properly Optimize for Mobile 

Now that you know how mobile SEO has changed, it’s time to learn how to optimize your site to perfection for both mobile and desktop users. 

Optimizing for mobile goes well beyond a responsive web design and should factor in micro-moments, customer journeys, and omnichannel experiences. 

Without further ado, here are the most effective tips for developing a mobile-optimized site. 

Tip #1: Map your customer’s journey 

Does your target customer prefer to browse web pages on their smartphone, tablet, or desktop?

Do they regularly use apps like Uber, Venmo, or Apple Pay?

These are all crucial things to know about your target audience, which is why you need to map out your customer’s journey. Doing so takes a buyer persona, so you’ll need to develop one if you haven’t yet. 

To help, check out our guide on how to create a customer avatar that accurately reflects your niche audience. 

From there, you can use Google Analytics to discover which mobile devices your audience uses the most. Navigating to Audience > Mobile > Overview will break down which devices your visitors use to view the mobile web. 

This report gets very specific, as you can see which users viewed your website on mobile, desktop, or tablet and which specific devices they used. 

For instance, you may uncover that a majority of your mobile visits come from smartphones and tablets. Digging further, you find that most users are viewing your content on Apple iPhones and Apple iPads. 

You can use this data to map a typical customer’s journey on your website. They may view a landing page on their iPhone but then come back later to make a purchase on their iPad. This insight can help you understand what type of content they’ll respond to the most. 

For example, if most users are viewing your pages on an iPhone (that has a smaller screen size), they’ll likely not want to deal with long paragraphs and fine print. As a result, sticking to concise copy and sales forms is best. That’s how you can use your customer’s journey to influence the type of content you create. 

Tip #2: Capitalize on micro-moments 

Next, you’ll want to optimize your mobile content based on the micro-moments that occur with your content the most. 

Do your web visitors flock to you for your educational blog posts and videos?

Then it’s clear they’re having I-want-to-do and I-want-to-know micro-moments, which is driving a ton of organic traffic to you as a result. 

Yet, without a convincing call-to-action (CTA), your educational blog post or video won’t impact your conversion rates. 

That’s why you should end each piece of content with a concise CTA that lets users know what you want them to do next without beating around the bush. 

Do you want your users to sign up for your newsletter? Then make that explicitly clear in your CTA. The same is true if your goal is for users to make a purchase. The worst thing you can be with a CTA is shy, so don’t be afraid to be confident and direct. 

You should also set up landing pages to capitalize on I-want-to-buy micro-moments if you haven’t already. 

That means focusing on keywords that have a strong purchase intent. If you sell WordPress plugins, then you should target keywords like ‘buy WordPress plugins,’ WordPress plugins for sale,’ etc. 

Your goal should be to have mobile pages ready for every type of micro-moment that may occur within your audience, whether they want to learn, do, go, or buy. 

Tip #3: Use responsive design techniques 

Just because a responsive website design isn’t enough to cover all of mobile SEO doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use one. 

In fact, a responsive design is a must for any site that wants to optimize for mobile. 

In the past, web admins would have two versions of their website – the primary desktop version and an m-dot website for mobile phones. 

Trying to keep track of both is a real hassle, which is why responsive design techniques took over. 

What makes a design responsive?

This design style uses ‘media queries’ to define the proper display resolutions. Each different resolution is considered a ‘breakpoint’ from the original, which is the point where the page transitions from one resolution to the next. 

You’ll have a resolution for your desktop version, smartphones, and tablets. That way, your website will look the same no matter which device users are on. With a responsive design, you’ll be able to pass any mobile-friendly test. 

Yet, a responsive design is only the starting point, as you’ll need to contend with other factors, such as loading speed. If your page doesn’t load fast enough, you’ll fail Google’s Core Web Vitals test and won’t show up in the SERPs, which brings us to our next tip. 

Tip #4: Use code instead of images to improve your loading speed 

Images have a large file size and tend to hold back the loading time of mobile sites. Even with compression, it’s best to use code (Javascript, CSS, etc.) instead of image files for your responsive website. 

For example, instead of using a repeating background image with thousands of pixels, you can code the background. While that may only save a minuscule amount of memory for one image, these optimizations add up. 

If you switch all your images to code, you can improve your page speed drastically, which is what you want. 

So if you’re having trouble passing Google’s Core Web Vitals test, think in terms of code instead of uploading images. 

Tip #5: Avoid intrusive interstitials 

Have you ever been browsing a web page only for a screen-sized pop-up offer to appear, obscuring your view of the content you were just reading?

That’s an example of an intrusive interstitial, and they tend to do more harm than good for your users. 

Besides interstitials that take up the entire screen, the ones that obscure the top half or bottom of the page are cumbersome as well. 

Not only do these rub users the wrong way, but Google doesn’t care for intrusive interstitials either, and they actively penalize them. 

Interstitials are only okay if they’re used for legal obligations, such as age verification or letting users know about your cookie usage. Otherwise, it’s best to steer clear of them and rely on ‘Buy Now’ buttons, convincing CTAs, and optimized landing pages to guide your prospects down your funnel. 

Tip #6: Follow mobile video best practices 

Videos are a highly effective form of content that you’ll likely want to implement. Yet, displaying videos on mobile sites presents some unique challenges. 

For one, Google’s web crawlers need some signals in place to properly understand your video and its content.

Next, you must ensure that your videos are accessible to the public. If you’re going to embed videos from your YouTube channel, then your privacy settings must be set to public; otherwise, your users won’t be able to view your content. 

Here are the best practices for mobile videos that Google recommends:

• The presence of a play/pause button for users. 
• Ensuring users can scrub forward and backward. 
• Use custom controls with a div root element, a video media element, and a div child element dedicated to video controls.
• Submitting a video sitemap to Google Search Console to ensure Google identifies your video as a video.
• Checking your robots.txt file to ensure your videos aren’t blocked and can be indexed by search engines.
• Using an easy-to-identify HTML tag to help Google identify your video. 

Follow these guidelines, and you shouldn’t have any trouble incorporating videos on your website. 

Final Takeaways: Optimize for Mobile 

Search engines have evolved in many ways in regard to catering to mobile devices. While mobile sites began as an afterthought, they’ve now become Google’s primary focus. 

As such, if you don’t properly optimize for mobile, you risk falling off the SERPs entirely, which will spell disaster for your business. 

That’s why you need to follow this guide to ensure your website can cater to any device at any time. 

Do you need expert help forming a mobile SEO strategy for your company?

Then you need to drop everything and check out our managed SEO services at HOTH X. Our SEO gurus are also available for consulting, so feel free to book a call today.     

The post Is Your Website Actually Optimized for Mobile? appeared first on The HOTH.

That’s why it’s imperative for small business owners to focus on the big picture beyond growing their business to the enterprise level in a matter of months. 

Instead, you’ll first need to consider things like your company culture, core values, internal processes, cash flow, and business model. 

In other words, you need to learn how to crawl before you take off on a Forrest Gump-style sprint. 

One of the best ways to learn how to scale your business successfully is to look at examples and advice from companies that have done it. 

That’s precisely what we’re here to do today, so you’ve come to the right place if you’re after a scaling strategy to enjoy sustainable growth. 

Read on to learn how you can scale your business to handle rapid growth with ease. 

The Difference Between Growing and Scaling a Business

Formally defined, growing your business is when you increase your revenue by adding new resources, such as capital, team members, or technology. 

The problem there is that a steadily growing business will require a ton of resources to sustain it, which becomes self-defeating at a certain point. 

For instance, say that your business is humming along at full capacity serving 10 clients. In an effort to grow and expand, you take on 10 new employees. 

Sounds great, right?

The only problem is that your team currently has all they can handle, so you won’t be able to cater to those new clients without hiring new employees (unless you want to overwork your staff and see a noticeable dip in performance and customer satisfaction). 

Hiring new staff means spending even more resources, which can create a vicious cycle of unsustainable growth. 

Scaling, on the other hand, is when revenue increases without a significant increase in resources. 

An example would be making the switch to cloud-based automation software, enabling you to take on new clients & earn more revenue without having to hire more staff or spend more resources. 

With this type of software on board, you will enjoy scalability and sustainable growth without drowning in debt. 

You can think of scaling as how you plan for your growth. A scaling strategy, then, is the fertile soil that you plant your business in to grow. 

Learning How a Company Scales 

Scaling your business is about staying true to your original vision while managing the impact growth has on your company. 

It’s about setting yourself up to handle new customer acquisitions en masse without blowing a ton of resources or overworking your team to get them. 

To scale a business, you need to establish systems and processes that will set you up for rapid growth – such as developing your brand identity, creating a customer avatar, setting up core values, and optimizing workflows. 

This stage is also where you must build your client experience and business plan to take your products and services to market. 

In essence, the scaling period is the most important time for your business if you want to make it in the long term. 

Do it right, and you’ll be set up for success, no matter how rapidly you intend to grow. Skip a step, or don’t take scaling seriously, and your business will never be able to grow beyond a certain point. 

When should you start the scaling process?

It’s never too early to start establishing a solid foundation for scaling up, so you can start planning whenever you’d like. When scaling your business, it’s best to wait until your business plan is in place and you have very few customer complaints. 

That’s a sign that what you’re doing is working, and with the proper foundation in place, you can begin selling your products and services on a larger scale. 

Successful Examples of Companies That Scaled Up 

Now that you know what scaling your business is and why it matters, it’s time to look at some examples of companies that have been there and done that. 

These are companies that took scaling their business seriously, and it paid off in a big way, so let’s learn what they did. 

Example #1: VanMoof 

Dutch company VanMoof sells state-of-the-art city bicycles that feature integrated alarms and intelligent motors. 

They’re an example of a small brand that was able to scale internationally due to their tenacity and smart planning. 

While they’re now a highly successful international bike company, they didn’t start out that way. Instead, VanMoof had very humble beginnings in the Netherlands, starting out with a simple bike model that had integrated lights and not much else. 

Their sales were high locally, but the founders were dreaming far bigger than that – they wanted to go international. 

So they went back to the drawing board and devised a plan to make their dream a reality. 

They completely retooled and revamped their bicycles and created a new business plan (a direct-to-consumer or D2C model) that made vital cost-cutting improvements on staffing and manufacturing through automation and other methods. 

With that, they had the capability to take their bicycles beyond the Netherlands, and they would do just that. By 2018, they had opened six new stores around the world, and 70% of their revenue was coming from international sales. To sweeten the pot, Rabo Investments partnered with them and provided a €12.5 M growth loan. 

Example #2: Zevo 

Zevo is a plug-in insect and pest remover that’s safe around children and pets. Once they developed their product, they began selling it online with successful results.

At that point, it was clear that they were onto something. They had a unique product that outdid the competition by being non-toxic and pet-friendly. 

The only things that needed to be added were a team and a budget large enough to scale the business. 

Their solution?

They heavily implemented D2C testing straight from the get-go, and the investment paid off. They A/B tested their ad copy, subject lines, calls to action, images, and other types of content with their audience and stuck with what worked the most. 

Zevo’s senior director attributes this testing to shaping their brand communications, which led the brand to strike deals with major retailers Target and Home Depot. 

Example #3: BE-CI

BE-CI is a building envelope consulting firm that was able to grow from $3 million to $11 million in revenue due to its scaling strategy. 

Once the company hit $3 million, the CEO wanted to start scaling up. 

The only issue was communication issues were holding the company back. That’s when the CEO hired a certified communication coach to work with his team. 

Besides that, BE-CI also defined its core values, built accountability by setting employee goals, and held regular ‘rhythm’ meetings with the team that included essential reading for everyone to align them on a central vision. 

The results?

The company was able to grow to nearly $11 million in revenue, and they’re now expanding their offices to the West. 

Tips for Scaling Your Business 

Your business can become just as successful as the examples above with the right strategy. 

That’s why we’ve put together these proven effective tips for scaling any type of business. As a result, you can start building the foundation to scale right here, right now. 

That way, whenever your genius business ideas cause you to start growing like wildfire, you’ll be prepared for it. 

Tip #1: Map out your milestones 

Any great strategy requires a roadmap for success, and scaling your business is no different. 

To start, you’ll want to identify key milestones along the way toward your ultimate goal, which is scaling up. 

First, define where it is you want to be, or in other words, how high you want to scale. Do you want to grow to become an enterprise-level company, or are you content with being a smaller business?

Once you’ve got a goal in mind, start by identifying when your business will completely run out of cash. 

From there, define the milestones you need to hit to ensure that doesn’t happen, complete with a timeline. That will help you keep your eye on the prize without going over budget, which is essential for scaling a business. 

Tip #2: Optimize your products & services to perfection 

You won’t be able to scale up if you don’t already have valuable products and services that your customers need. 

As such, you should strive to perfect your products and services before thinking about scaling your operations. That means taking plenty of time to work out kinks, fix bugs, and ensure the quality of your products. 

Otherwise, these issues will only become more severe as you grow. 

The early days of your business are when you should focus on perfecting what you do by improving your offerings, listening to customer feedback, and finding potential issues. 

All too often, entrepreneurs want to grow like crazy before they do anything else, which is usually a huge mistake. 

If you take the time to perfect what you do early on, scaling your business will become a breeze as you’ll have already fixed most growth issues that companies run into as they expand. 

With airtight products and services, there’ll also be plenty of demand for what you do, so it won’t be hard to reach new customers. Are you eager to scale up your small business so you can start competing with the big dogs in your field?

If so, you’ll first need to realize the difference between scaling a business and growing a business. 

Early on, many young startups & entrepreneurs become obsessed with business growth, but this can lead them to grow beyond their means, which can bring their performance to a screeching halt once they really start to gain momentum. 

Properly scaling your bu

Tip #3: Construct your dream team 

Another mistake startups make they want to grow before establishing a team that can handle the increased demand. 

A gigantic aspect of scaling your business is forming a winning and sustainable team of managers, supervisors, and base-level employees. 

Yet, your in-house staff only comprises one part of your team. 

You’ll also need to develop positive and long-lasting relationships with suppliers and form partnerships with outside organizations to scale successfully. 

Tip #4: Create a customer avatar 

You need to understand your target audience intimately if you want to scale your business with any degree of success. 

The best way to do so is to create a customer avatar that represents your niche audience’s wants, needs, and desires. 

How do you do that?

You do so by conducting audience research and then creating an actual living, breathing persona. Your customer avatar should have a name, address, job, relationships, spending habits, hobbies, and more. 

That will help you understand what types of content and new products your audience wants to see the most, which will help you scale your business. 

Beyond that, you can use your customer avatar to build your sales funnel in a buyer-centric way. Instead of focusing your sales funnel on your needs as a business, focus on your customer’s typical behavior instead. 

For instance, you may discover that your audience prefers discovery calls over filling out lengthy online forms. 

Tip #5: Develop Your Story and Brand 

To be able to scale and find success, your company needs a strong brand identity. 

That means clearly identifying what it is you offer, which problems you solve, and how you’ll improve customers’ lives through your products and services. 

Standard brand-building techniques include SEO & content marketing, social media advertising, and influencer marketing. 

If your business has a clearly defined brand identity early on, it will make scaling your business that much easier. 

Final Thoughts: Scale Your Business 

Growing your business is fantastic, but it can’t happen without first establishing a foundation to scale. 

That way, your team will be able to meet the increasing demands of taking on more clients and projects. 

Automation software, SaaS (software-as-a-service), partnerships, and brand-building are all candid ways to set yourself up to scale. 

Do you need some outside help with scaling your business?

If so, don’t wait to check out our white-label marketing services at The HOTH, as we’ll equip you with everything you need to scale successfully. Our digital marketing gurus are always available for consulting, so feel free to book a call today.      

The post How to Scale Your Business (Advice From People Who’ve Grown and Succeeded) appeared first on The HOTH.

Yet, top marketing professionals don’t stay available for long, as according to LinkedIn, the best candidates are off the market within 10 days. In addition, it can be difficult for small businesses and startups to acquire top marketing talent on a limited budget. 

For instance, most small to medium-sized businesses won’t have the funds to keep a top-tier marketing agency on retainer. 

Does that mean you have to settle for subpar talent or rely on a jack-of-all-trades that handles everything?

Not at all. 

With the right tactics, it’s entirely possible for smaller companies to form great marketing teams that are on par with larger enterprises. 

You just need to know where to look. 

Between social media channels, freelancer websites, internships, and specialty job boards, there’s a massive talent pool of marketers just waiting for you to call them. 

Moreover, you’ll succeed more if you can provide a set of reasons why your organization is the place to be for marketers – which can include desirable company culture, valuable experience, and innovative products and services. 

It’s our goal to help you form the marketing team of your dreams, which is why we’ve put together this post showing you how to do just that. 

Stay tuned to learn how to find marketing talent for your business. 

Avoid Dumping Everything On One Marketer 

It’s tempting for startups on a limited budget to rely on one professional to handle all their marketing work. 

While this can certainly work at first, and you should hold on to these types of versatile marketers, it’s not a sustainable solution. 

If you want to enjoy continued growth year-over-year, you’ll need a marketing team where each member focuses on one specific task full-time – such as content marketing, lead generation, and increasing revenue.

Otherwise, personal limitations will hold back your jack-of-all-trades from handling every aspect of your marketing strategy. 

That’s because it’s impossible for one person to provide the right amount of focus on each area, as they’ll only be able to devote small amounts of time to each part of your marketing campaign. 

For example, in order to generate more organic traffic, you’ll need to regularly create SEO-friendly content for your audience, which takes quite a bit of time and effort. 

To knock that out, your full-stack marketer will need to:

• Conduct detailed keyword research 
• Brainstorm topics and create post outlines 
• Write informative and SEO-friendly blog posts 2 – 4 times a week
• Make technical SEO tweaks like adding alt tags and improving page speed 
• Monitoring search ranking progress and altering the strategy accordingly

That’s quite a bit of work that’s enough to fill up a full-time job. Yet, that’s only a fraction of what a full-stack marketer has to do. They also have to focus on building brand awareness, generating and nurturing leads, and finding ways to increase revenue. 

That’s why it’s best to hire more marketing positions as soon as you have the option. 

Forming a Winning Digital Marketing Team 

Since you know that marketing should almost always be a team effort, let’s learn what a successful in-house marketing team looks like. 

When you break down a company’s digital marketing needs, you wind up with three core concepts:

• Content creation 
• Lead generation 
• Revenue maximization 

As such, if you’re going to form a bare-bones marketing team for your small business, you should hire at least one marketer for each one of these concepts (if you have the budget, you can hire more). 

That way, you’ll have someone focusing on creating content to rank higher on search engines, someone else to work on acquiring new customers, and another marketer to work on growing your money. 

Content creation team 

Your content team is in charge of not only creating all your content but also developing a content strategy. That means setting a goal for your efforts (such as ranking #1 for an important keyword in your niche) and then building a content release schedule to get you there. 

What types of content should they create?

That will depend on your budget, but the most popular types of content include the following:

• Blog posts
• Videos 
• Infographics 
• Podcasts
• Social media marketing 

Your content creators should also understand how content changes at each stage of the sales funnel. As a result, they should create content specifically for the funnel’s top, middle, and bottom stages.

Lead generation team 

If you want your business to grow, you’ll need a steady influx of new customers, which is where your lead generation team comes into play. 

In particular, they should focus on email marketing and nurturing campaigns to spark relationships with new customers and maintain existing ones. 

They should also oversee your paid and organic campaigns and track your primary KPIs (key performance indicators). Analytics play a huge role in marketing, so you’ll want to dedicate some of your lead generation team’s time to examining them. 

Revenue maximization team 

Last but not least, you need to dedicate at least one marketer toward maximizing your revenue. That includes tactics such as split testing ads and brand messages, optimizing SEO content, and finding ways to increase conversion rates and click-through rates. 

As long as you have at least one person working to maximize your revenue, you’ll know that you’re squeezing the most value out of your marketing efforts, which will help you grow your business. 

How to Find Marketing Talent for Your Company 

By now, you should have the roles of your marketing team mapped out. Now all you have to do is locate top talent and make the best possible marketing hire. 

Of course, this is easier said than done, as there’s fierce competition out there for the best marketers, especially at small companies and startups that can’t afford robust marketing agencies. 

That means you’ll need an airtight recruiting strategy if you want to land the right talent for your company. 

The good news?

We have plenty of effective tips for convincing skilled potential candidates to choose you over the competition. 

Tip #1: Positive company culture attracts the best talent 

Which company would you rather work for?

Company A has a strong employer brand and a notoriously excellent company culture. As a result, its employees sing its praises every chance they get. They’re constantly telling you how rewarding their job is and how enjoyable it is to show up to work every day. 

Company B is constantly harassing you with recruiters on social media and through email. They’re adamant in their claims that the company is a great place to work, but you haven’t heard a peep from their actual employees. 

It’s clear that Company A is the better place to work, as its actual employees are thrilled to work there. Since there are positive testimonials from the staff, it’s more convincing than Company B, which entirely relies on a sales pitch from recruiters. 

It’s the equivalent of seeing glowing customer reviews for a product you’re considering buying. It’s far more convincing to read a review from an actual customer than it is to read sales copy written by the company. 

If you elicit a positive and rewarding company culture at your organization, your employees will become loyal brand evangelists who will help you with the recruitment process immensely. More importantly, the most talented marketers out there will be chomping at the bit to apply to your company. 

Tip #2: Use Employee Referrals 

Speaking of using your employees to attract top talent, a great way to put that into practice is to start an employee referral program. 

That’s where you offer a bonus in exchange for your employees helping you find qualified new hires. A popular tactic is to offer cash rewards for onboarding new employees that last. 

For instance, you could offer a $1,000 bonus for any employee that brings in a new team member that lasts at least a month. 

The incentive for your employees is two-fold. 

First, they’ll be motivated to go after the monetary reward (or another type of bonus), especially if they already know some qualified candidates. 

Next, they’ll want to bring talented new marketers in to help lighten the workload for themselves. For example, if you only have one or two team members handling the entire marketing workload, they’ll be more than happy to look for prospects for you in their existing networks. 

Also, if you already have skilled marketers, the chances are high that they’ll know other skilled marketers, either directly or through their social networks. 

Tip #3: Check online communities, marketing forums, and LinkedIn Groups 

Take to online communities and groups on sites like Reddit to find marketers with a particular skill set. Groups like r/SEO on Reddit are great places to find talented SEO gurus looking for a new home. 

Twitter and LinkedIn are enormously valuable for this reason, as is Facebook.

Do a search for groups related to the types of professionals you want to recruit, such as digital marketing, graphic design, and lead generation. 

Your best bet is to follow the groups that have the most users and clicks, so pay attention to those metrics on platforms like LinkedIn. The more followers there are, the greater the chances you’ll find a talented professional that’s looking for a new company. 

Also, look for the users that are providing the most value in the discussions. 

Who’s considered the ‘guru’ of the group?

These users are often the most talented and have the most experience, so they make fantastic starting points. If you can’t tell if they’re currently employed (or even if they are, don’t let that discourage you), reach out to them via a private message and introduce yourself. 

Let them know that you’ve been paying attention to their posts and that they’d make an excellent fit for your organization. From there, throw out your best elevator pitch for why working for your company is an upgrade for them and will lead to bigger, better things. 

If you’re convincing enough, you may end up acquiring a solid new hire that wouldn’t have known about your company otherwise, so it’s worth the effort. 

Tip #4: Scout the competition for talent 

Your competitors can become a source of new talent, so don’t get discouraged if all the best marketers are currently working for the competition. 

You shouldn’t be afraid to aim big, either. 

Go to the biggest competitors in your field, and take a look at their top performers on LinkedIn. From here, you can reach out to them – or you can scour their network for marketers with similar titles and experience. 

Remember to bring up your unique differentiator (what makes your company different from the others), including your unique and rewarding company culture. 

There’s no shame in going after the best, and there’s no ethical breach in targeting another company’s employees, so don’t be afraid to be a bit tenacious in your approach. 

Tip #4: Check specialized marketing job boards 

When most people think of job boards, they think of sites like Monster and Indeed. While there’s nothing wrong with those types of boards, they’re far from the only ones out there. 

There are plenty of specialized marketing job boards where you can find marketers with unique skills and experience. 

This is an excellent option for recruiting top marketing talent, especially if you’re open to remote workers. 

Where can you find these types of job boards?

There are plenty of lists online, but here are a few of the most popular:

• American Marketing Association 
• MarketingHire
• Society for Marketing Professional Services
• ProBlogger (for content writers) 
• Insights Association 
• Communo 
• VentureBeat Careers 
• We Work Remotely 

It’s crucial to note that many of these boards will require you to pay to create job posts, but it can be worth it to access their extensive talent pools filled with skilled marketers that you won’t find elsewhere. 

The Top Sites for Hiring Freelance Marketers

We’ve only scratched the surface of how to find marketing talent so far. Besides job boards, social media platforms, competitors, and referrals – there are also many websites that allow you to hire freelancers to take care of your marketing needs. 

You can find writers, editors, marketing managers, graphic designers, web developers, and many others on these types of sites. 

They’re especially popular amongst startups and small businesses that lack the budget for hiring full-fledged marketing agencies. You can also use freelancers to bolster the efforts of your dedicated marketing team. 

For instance, your content creation team may consist of two in-house employees that brainstorm topics and outline posts. From there, you turn to freelance writers and designers to actually create the content and then have your marketers edit it/tweak it, so it fits your brand. 

It’s a winning strategy because it’s effective and affordable, so let’s take a look at the most reliable freelance websites online. 

UpWork 

UpWork is one of the largest freelance marketplaces on the internet, with millions of registered users spanning nearly every industry. 

With a few quick searches, you’ll be able to find musicians, writers, designers, developers, and, you guessed it, marketers. What’s great about UpWork is all the information they provide about each freelancer. 

You’ll be able to see their user reviews, hourly rates, resumes, skills, credentials, and examples of their past work. 

That way, you’ll be able to quickly gauge if a freelancer is an appropriate fit for your brand or not. 

They also have an internal messaging system that enables you to conduct detailed job interviews for potential candidates. In fact, you can use this system for interviewing multiple candidates at a time to ensure you wind up with the best possible fit. 

Last but not least, UpWork has an escrow system that ensures you won’t have to pay a dime until you’re 100% satisfied with the end product/service. 

iWriter 

If you need content writers, iWriter contains one of the largest networks of freelance writers across the globe. 

It’s a reliable service you can use to generate content for your blogs, ebooks, video scripts, press releases, and whitepapers. 

There’s a rating system you can use to show the level of satisfaction you have with a writer’s work. If the work is completely unsatisfactory, you can reject the article and won’t get charged. Once you find a writer that suits your needs, you can send them special requests to collaborate with them again in the future. 

ClearVoice 

ClearVoice provides managed freelance teams to its clients, and they have many talented individuals in their database. 

You can find top digital marketing experts, SEO gurus, content strategists, videographers, and other marketing specialists with ease. 

ClearVoice works in a unique way, as you start by setting your guidelines and budget level. From there, the platform will recommend a team for you based on your needs. You can accept or deny as many freelancers as you want to ensure you wind up with your dream team. 

Final Takeaways: How to Find Marketing Talent 

You should now know how to find marketing talent in several different ways. 

Between social media, freelance recruiter sites, specialized job boards, and your competitors – you’ll have more sources of great talent than you know what to do with. 

From there, you should have no problem growing your business and expanding your influence. 

Do you need help with your digital marketing strategy?

Then you need to consult with our digital marketing specialists at The HOTH. Our team will revolutionize your marketing approach, so don’t wait to book a call today.

The post How to Find Marketing Talent for Your Small Business or Agency appeared first on The HOTH.

That’s a question 68% of marketers need help answering, as they don’t actively measure their marketing funnels. 

In fact, you may not even know that you have a marketing funnel in the first place. 

If you have content on your websites, such as blog posts (with CTAs), email lists, and product pages, you have a marketing funnel (also called sales funnel or conversion funnel). 

The term ‘funnel’ represents the journey customers take from being introduced to your website to making a purchase, including everything that happens in between. 

Why should you bother with optimizing your marketing funnel?

You should because 95% of buyers prefer vendors that provide sufficient content that helps them navigate each stage of the buying process. 

Read on to learn more about marketing funnels, including how to create and optimize one for your website. 

What’s a Marketing Funnel?

In a nutshell, a marketing funnel is a roadmap laid out by marketers to guide prospects from their initial interaction with the company to ultimately converting into a customer. 

Marketing funnels contain a series of stages (top, middle, and bottom) and involve many different marketing channels, including:

• Paid ads 
• Social media posts 
• Blog articles 
• SEO
• Content marketing 
• Email marketing 
• Testimonials 
• Webinars 
• Case studies 
• Demos
• Whitepapers 
• Calls-to-action 
• Many other channels 

Each stage of the funnel requires different types of content to be successful. For example, customers at the top of the funnel are blind prospects, and they need to learn more information about your brand, products, and services. 

In this scenario, paid ads, social media posts, and blog articles are the most effective types of content for TOFU prospects. 

You wouldn’t want to start sending nurturing emails or demos to prospects that aren’t even sure if they need to make a purchase yet. 

Your prospects will also have varying pain points and reasons to purchase your products and services. For instance, if you sell a software survey tool, a lawyer will have different needs for it than a teacher will. 

These complexities are why marketing funnels are necessary in the first place. The fact is that most sales cycles are long and complicated (45% to be exact), and if you don’t have a funnel to guide prospects through the cycle – they’ll likely get bored and go elsewhere. 

Not only that, but most businesses have more than one marketing funnel in place that targets multiple channels at once (i.e., drawing in prospects with blog posts, paid ads, and influencer marketing simultaneously). 

The 5 Stages of the Marketing Funnel 

Now let’s take an in-depth look at the different stages of a marketing funnel, as well as the types of content that go along with each one. 

That way, you’ll know whether you need to release an educational blog or a targeted PPC ad. 

A marketing funnel works in the same way a paper funnel does that you would use for pouring oil into a car, for example. 

In other words, the top of the funnel is the broadest, which is meant to draw in as many people as possible. The middle of the funnel gets a bit narrower and is occupied by interested prospects and qualified leads. 

Lastly, the bottom of the funnel is the most narrow, and it’s filled with prospects ready to convert into new customers. 

The entire funnel represents the customer journey from discovering your brand to becoming a buyer. 

For the purposes of this guide, we’ll be referring to each stage as TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU to save space. 

Pro tip: Your marketing funnel will make the most sense when you look at it from the customer’s perspective. Your customer persona will help determine the type of content you create at each stage, including the proper tone of voice to use for your target audience. 

Stage #1: Recognize your audience’s problems and needs (TOFU)

The first stage of the funnel is known as the awareness stage. It’s where your prospects realize that they have a problem, prompting them to search for a solution. 

Here, your goal is to attract prospects by not only offering solutions to their problems but also pointing out that they have a problem in the first place. 

That’s because some problems and needs aren’t immediately apparent, which is why you need to point them out. 

For instance, if you offer financial services that help clients save money, your promotional material could bring up how much money the average person wastes each month. That can prompt someone to realize that they could save more if they follow your advice. 

Content-wise, this stage is all about raising brand awareness by releasing the following:

• PPC ads on Google and Facebook 
• Guest posts on popular blogs in your industry (with a link to your website) 
• Educational blogs with a link to your website as the CTA
• Landing pages featuring free webinars or live demos of your product 
• Infographics that introduce your products and services to new customers 
• Social media posts that highlight how you solve user pain points 

These are all examples of content that will raise awareness and generate leads for you. 

Remember that you’re not pushing for conversions at this point. Instead, think of it as your brand introducing itself to new people. You want to avoid going for the hard sale right off the bat, so focus on highlighting what makes your business unique and special. 

Stage #2: Searching for information/doing research (TOFU)

The second half of the top of the funnel is when users are actively searching for information. They know they have a problem now, and they’re looking for a solution. 

How long it takes to find what they need can vary depending on the sales cycle length. 

For instance, if the user is hungry, they can solve that problem with a quick search for the best restaurants in their area. 

Yet, if they want to renovate their basement and turn it into a home theater, they’ll need to spend a lot of time reading contractor reviews, comparing prices, and talking to salespeople. 

Effective marketing is about accurately predicting your prospects’ next step. For this funnel stage, your content should focus on solutions to problems instead of promoting your business. That will increase the chances of your content showing up during user searches during this phase. 

As an example, if you offer home renovation services, a landing page covering basement renovations is a great idea. On it, you should go over all the ways you can renovate a basement, including a home theater, guest room, and playroom for the kids. 

That way, with the right SEO in place, your content will show up during search queries related to basement renovation – such as for the person we mentioned previously. 

This stage is a crucial one for digital marketing, as 78% of consumers spend more time researching brands and products online than they do in stores. 

Stage #3: Evaluating alternatives (MOFU)

We’ve now entered the middle of the funnel, where your potential customers are evaluating all their options. In other words, they’re looking around the internet to see if a better deal than yours exists. 

Once again, the length of this stage will depend on the types of products and services you offer. 

If a prospect is hungry and wants food, it may take them 10 minutes to decide between Italian and Chinese food. 

Yet, if they want to renovate their basement, they’ll likely spend a few hours (or even days) comparing prices, reading reviews, and visiting showrooms. 

The content that you release during this stage is the most crucial. 

Why is that?

It’s because this is the stage of the funnel where you have to outshine all your competitors. Not only does your offer need to have more appeal than others online, but the customer experience you provide is just as important. 

Recall the statistic linked in the intro, where we stated that 95% of buyers prefer brands that guide them through each stage of the buying process. 

Well, this stage is where that statistic matters most. 

In particular, you need to knock it out of the park with your educational content. That means providing user pricing guides, case studies from satisfied customers, webinars, and white papers. 

If you’re able to nurture your leads better than competitors, you’ll likely win their business. 

This is the stage of the funnel where prospects are more serious about making a purchase. So if you have limited resources for content creation, you can skip the TOFU and go straight to the MOFU and BOFU. 

Stage #4: Making a purchase decision (BOFU) 

Now we’re at the very bottom of the funnel, which is the narrowest, but it’s where all your conversions occur. 

At this point, the prospect knows they have a problem, and they’ve researched all their options. At the BOFU, they’re reaching for their wallet to purchase a solution. 

How do you help seal the deal?

First and foremost, you should optimize all your web pages for conversions to increase the likelihood of landing a sale. Every piece of content should include a convincing call-to-action that lets users know what action they should take next – be it signing up for your email list or making a purchase. 

This stage is all about why users should choose your brand over everyone else. Content examples include:

• Risk-free trials so prospects can try out your products for themselves 
• Live or recorded demos of your products and services
• Enticing money-back guarantees that show confidence 
• Social proof, like testimonials and case studies 
• Feature and price comparison charts 
• Engage in retargeting marketing campaigns (such as customers that abandon their carts) 

These are all great ways to encourage prospects to take the final leap of faith and try out your products and services. 

Do whatever you can to make buying from your brand a no-brainer, such as including a price comparison chart showing that you offer the best deal on the market. Testimonials and glowing customer reviews also come in very handy during this stage. 

Stage #5: The post-purchase phase (BOFU) 

Your marketing funnel continues after a prospect converts into a paying customer. Instead, your marketing efforts can and should continue after the initial purchase. 

Why is that?

It’s because you want to ensure their total satisfaction so they’ll potentially write a glowing review or recommend your brand to their friends – essentially becoming brand advocates for your business. 

Not only that, but your goal post-purchase is to ensure customer retention. You’ll want to do what you can to heighten the chances they’ll become repeat customers, which are goldmines for your business. 

In fact, you have a 60 – 70% chance of landing a sale with a returning customer, and that number drops to 5 – 20% for new customers. 

Beyond that, obtaining new customers is 5x more costly than maintaining your current customers. 

Also, if a new customer has a bad experience with your brand, they may request refunds, write negative reviews, or recommend your competitors to their friends. 

To ensure a stellar customer experience, provide a welcoming onboarding process for new customers, including a welcome email and easy access to your customer support. 

You should also do your best to provide all the resources they need to use your products properly. That will increase the chances that they’ll become champions for your brand. 

Of course, the best way to ensure a positive post-purchase experience is to provide excellent products and services. 

The AIDA Model: Another Marketing Funnel Template 

Besides TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU, there’s another popular model for marketing funnels known as AIDA – which stands for:

• Awareness 
• Interest 
• Desire 
• Action 

Here’s a brief look at each creation stage. 

Awareness

During this stage, the customer is experiencing a problem, but they still need to be fully aware of what it is and how to solve it. 

Your job is to provide content that draws attention to the problem and introduces them to your brand. 

Interest 

The customer is intrigued now and eager to learn more about how they can solve their problem. 

This is where you sweep in with informational content that educates them while guiding them to the next phase. 

Desire 

By now, the customer is invested and wants to find a solution – but they’re not quite ready to commit to yours. First, they need to evaluate all their alternatives. 

To salvage their business, your content during this stage needs to decisively convince them that your solution is the absolute best. 

Action 

You’ve swayed the customer in your favor, and now they’re ready to convert. Yet, you still need to provide helpful content during this stage, too. 

The winning formula to emulate is to provide a concise call-to-action that lays out how to complete the sale. Ideally, you want to make this step as simple as possible for prospective customers. If your conversion forms are too lengthy or complicated, you might cost yourself the sale. 

Constructing a Marketing Funnel from Scratch 

A funnel should definitely be a part of your marketing strategy, so you must know how to build one intentionally. 

One of the most significant components of creating a marketing funnel is selecting the proper marketing channels to use at the appropriate funnel stage. Not only that, but you also need to consider your budget when planning your content. 

Only some companies will have the resources to create podcasts, whitepapers, eBooks, and webinars, so it’s crucial to use your money on hard-hitting content in the right places. 

If you have limited resources, it’s best to ignore the top of the funnel and focus only on the middle and the bottom. That’s because prospects at those stages are closer to making a purchase and will be easier to convert without as much content. 

For the purposes of this article, we’ll provide the ideal types of content for each funnel stage to give you an idea of a picture-perfect marketing funnel – just know that you don’t have to copy it to the T for your funnel to be successful. 

TOFU marketing channels that get results 

TOFU prospects have yet to realize that a solution exists to their problem, so the content here is all about getting the word out. 

You also want to introduce everyone to your brand, and you want to make an excellent first impression. For this reason, TOFU content tends to be outbound, as your prospects don’t yet know about you or your solutions. 

For instance, say that you invent a device that improves the fuel efficiency of any vehicle. Without lots of outbound content to get the word out, your prospects won’t even realize that they could be spending less on gasoline. 

The ideal marketing channels for TOFU prospects are:

• Paid ads 
• Podcast advertisements (sponsors) 
• Billboards 
• Influencer advertising (Instagram, TikTok) 
• TV and radio advertisements 
• Promotional emails 

Before spending money on any of these, do a bit of research to see which channel your competitors advertise through the most. 

Why do that?

You should because it’s a clear sign that it’s the channel that leads to the most conversions. Also, TOFU is the farthest away from purchase intent, so you should optimize your funnel for it last (go in reverse order). 

Effective MOFU marketing channels 

Moving down to the middle of the funnel, you can make the switch to inbound marketing tactics. This stage is particularly important for longer sales cycles, such as for B2B companies. 

Your TOFU content should include a CTA that directs users toward this stage or toward the BOFU if they’re ready to make a purchase – such as prospects that want to buy from seeing your products used by influencers. 

This content should establish your brand as a thought leader and guide customers further down your funnel. 

It’s time to put your marketing team to work here, especially if you have in-house content writers. Effective channels here include:

• SEO 
• Blogs
• YouTube videos 
• Infographics 
• eBooks 

Remember, your customers are in the consideration stage, so your content needs to educate them and convince them that they need to take action. 

This is also when they’re considering all their available options, so you should include content that makes your brand outshine others, such as:

• Positive user reviews
• Case studies of how your brand changed a customer’s life for the better
• Price comparison charts 
• Testimonials 

Also, don’t forget to make it as easy as possible for prospects to make a purchase. 

BOFU marketing channels 

At this point, the majority of the leg work is already done. All that’s left is to seal the deal by guiding the customer through the last steps. 

More than anything, your goal during this stage should be to optimize your conversion rate, and there are a few ways you can do so, such as:

• A 30-day money-back guarantee 
• Free trial offers 
• Live customer chat to answer questions/move toward converting
• An FAQ section dispelling any misconceptions to sway those on the fence 
• Provide a free demo 

These are all great ways to encourage prospects to take the final leap of faith, so they’re worth the time if you have the resources. 

Concluding Thoughts: Marketing Funnels 

Marketing funnels are essential to any digital marketing strategy, whether the marketer realizes it or not. 

After all, only 32% of companies have measured and optimized their sales funnels, which is why doing so will provide you with a competitive edge. 

If you can refine every stage of your marketing funnel, you’ll enjoy increased lead generation, more organic traffic, and a much higher conversion rate. 

While it’s not necessary to focus on every stage of the funnel, especially if you’re light on resources, the middle and bottom stages are crucial for any business. 

Do you lack a cohesive marketing funnel/content strategy at your organization?

Then don’t wait another minute to check out our managed SEO services at HOTH X. Our expert writers and SEO gurus will construct a winning strategy for you, and we’re always available for consulting – so feel free to book a call today.     

The post How to Optimize Each Stage of the Marketing Funnel for More Conversions  appeared first on The HOTH.

In fact, a staggering 93% of marketers worldwide are using social media for business. In 2022, almost 92% of marketers who work for companies with more than 100 employees in the U.S. are expected to begin using social media with their marketing strategy. 

With that said, the remaining content will explore some of the most popular social media trends for businesses, social media strategies, and everything you can expect to see in the coming months. 

Ready to jump in?

1. Growing Demand for Chatbot Communication

On-demand messaging has shifted to more of a preference for customer and service communication. 

With the emerging chatbot trends, more and more industries are choosing to integrate chatbots into their business to be able to deliver continuous, non-stop customer care. But it’s not just for customer care, in fact, AI is expected to cut customer service costs by 50%, 

In fact, according to Gartner, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be a mainstream customer experience investment in the next couple of years.” With that said, 47% of organizations will use chatbots for customer service and 40% will even deploy virtual assistants. 

Here are a few different types of chatbots that you could see emerging:

• Menu-based chatbots
• Rule-based chatbots
• Keyword recognition chatbots
• Machine learning chatbots
• Voice bots
• Appointment or scheduling bots
• Customer support bots

AI has been reinventing the ways people communicate with businesses and AI is vital for enabling machine learning on e-commerce websites. Going forward, chatbots are predicted to move from simple user-based queries to more advanced predictive analytics-based real-time conversations. 

Actually, the market size of Conversational AI is expected to reach $1.3 billion by 2025. That means its compound annual growth rate is 24%. Additionally, 75-90% of queries are projected to be handled by chatbots by 2024. 

2. Small Networks Will Become Popular for Ads

TikTok isn’t the only “smaller” network catching the attention of brands. Pinterest and even Snapchat are also gaining in popularity. 

According to data shared by Pinterest business, ads on their platform can generate twice the return on ad spend for retail brands, compared to other social media channels. 

While Snapchat isn’t super popular for marketing (compared to Facebook or Instagram) Snapchat advertising statistics show that the potential for ad growth on Snapchat has increased. 

Additionally, Apple made a recent announcement earlier this year that it will block the ability of Facebook to target a significant number of its users. With that said, it is vital for brands to begin looking at other platforms for advertising and new audiences. 

3. Brands Will Adopt More VR and Augmented Reality Technology

This social media trend of 2022 is one of the cooler trends on this list. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) aren’t just for gamers anymore. 

Brands try to offer an exciting, and shoppable experience for their customers and many e-commerce businesses are beginning to adapt to AR-powered shopping. 

Meaning that users would be able to try on products before completing a digital purchase. That will help customers make the best decision for them before buying anything. 

Already, platforms like Snapchat and Facebook messenger allow people to try on hundreds of different filters which can sometimes include updating profile pictures with brand logos or business mascots. 

Top technology experts are beginning to make VR gear more available to people at an affordable price.  That means that you can enjoy an immersive game-like experience. I mean, Facebook already offers a feature called, “Facebook Spaces,” where up to 3 people can engage with each other using a VR device. 

In fact, according to eMarketer, the number of VR users in the US is 57.4 million while the number of AR users is a whopping 90.9 million. It is expected to jump in 2022 in the US to 95.1 million users! 

4. TikTok Will Continue to Grow

While TikTok may not see the same growth as it saw in 2020 during the Pandemic and lockdowns, it doesn’t mean that its growth has stopped. 

In fact, TikTok reached a staggering 1 billion monthly active users in 2021. The company has also been improving the development of its ad platform, making it easier for businesses to create an online presence on the network. 

Here are a few reasons to advertise and expand your brand on TikTok:

• 69% of US teens or Gen-Z are on TikTok
• 90% of users log in every day
• TikTok users spend an average of 89 minutes a day on the app
• 88% of people would like to see more video content from brands in 2022

In addition, the company said that 47% of its users have bought a product because of TikTok and 67% agree that TikTok inspired them to shop even if they weren’t planning to do so. 

Given this amount of growth in recent years, it would be a wise marketing strategy to turn to TikTok as a social media platform, especially if your product or service is geared towards a younger audience. In fact, only 26% of millennials use TikTok. 

5. Reaching New Audiences Will Become a Primary Goal for Brands

When it’s time to build your brand up, you may need to add or change the type of audiences you promote to. Reaching a new group requires precision, research, and expanding on different social media networks. 

According to Hubspot, one of the main goals of most marketers in 2022 will be to reach new audiences. That includes growing relationships with customers and boosting customer service. 

In previous years, these goals were more focused on boosting sales and advertising products. With that said, it’s anticipated that there will be a change in how brands are going to use social media platforms moving forward. 

6. Instagram and Twitter Will Continue to Maintain Popularity

While a lot has been predicted for smaller channels such as TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat, one thing is for sure Twitter and Instagram aren’t going anywhere in 2022. 

Actually, according to HubSpot research, Twitter and Instagram will become even more important in the B2B space. In 2022, 70% of respondents said that they plan to increase their investment in Twitter. 

While 63% of B2B businesses plan to increase their ad spend on Instagram. So, let’s take a second to put this information into perspective. A Hootsuite study shows only 49% of B2B businesses plan to increase their investment on Facebook. 

That means more brands are distancing themselves from Facebook and finding new audiences on other social media platforms. 

7. Twitter Will Shift to a Trustworthy News Portal

While platforms like Facebook are primarily used as entertainment platforms, Twitter has always reserved the spot for serious talks on various topics of interest. 

With that said, Twitter is one platform that has always prioritized news stories among other forms of content. 

However, sometimes the authenticity of those news stories wasn’t completely accurate. Which led to controversies on and about the platform. 

In the coming years, Twitter is actually expected to keep a stricter fact-checking process on tweets and fake news. Twitter tends to allow only 100% authentic reliable news sources. 

Twitter has never topped the social media ranks in terms of popularity, however, it has continued to be an important platform. 

In 2022, Twitter is expected to bring more mainstream news media and tends to increase participation from social media users. 

8. Instagram Likes May Die Down

It may be safe to say that 2022 may be the year when digital marketing professionals who focus on marketing trends will need to shift their focus from likes to social trends and content marketing. 

Marketing campaigns aren’t strangers to social media “likes”, but it seems like 2022 might be the year that we will begin to see the “likes” fad die down. It is well known how the constant fixation on social media validation tends to have a fairly negative impact on individuals. 

That’s why Instagram has begun an experiment where they make the like counts private for some users. Although this isn’t an official update, we may see some form of this implemented onto the platform. 

To be clear, Instagram hasn’t removed likes, it’s simply hiding them from public profiles so only the poster can see how many likes a post or Instagram story has. 

9. Paid Advertising Will Become Necessary 

Social media in 2022 means that paid advertising isn’t an option anymore but a necessity. A Hootsuite survey suggests that 43% of businesses point out the decline of organic reach and the necessity to increase paid advertising budgets will be the major challenge for brands. 

Considering that the average organic reach for a Facebook post is just over 5%. With that said, that’s why it’s so important to get your PPC ads right. 

If you aren’t sure what to do, book a call with one of our experts now, we’re here to help! 

10. Social Audio Will Become More Popular 

Clubhouse was launched in 2020 and since then it has become increasingly popular. In fact, in June of 2021, Facebook followed suit by launching its Live Audio rooms, new features, and podcasts in the U.S. Additionally, LinkedIn launched a test of Audio Rooms in January of 2022. 

Brands are listening and taking notes! In Hootsuite‘s 2022 Social Media Trends Survey more than 74% of businesses say that they’re planning to invest in audio-only content such as podcasts in the next year. 

The same study showed that hosting an audio live stream as a thought leader was one of the most popular strategies. 

With that said, the trend has not quite caught as much attention of smaller brands, especially those on a budget because it may not be the most affordable form of content marketing. 

It might only be an audio clip, but there’s still a lot of time, effort, and creativity that goes into creating new content.

11. Local SEM Targeting Will Get More Prevalent 

Local SEM and local targeting have become more popular in 2022 and will continue to grow in the coming years. Local businesses are finding more ways to connect with their target customers by geo-tagging their social media posts. 

In fact, Instagram already lets people look for posts and stories that are in their area. That gives local brands a chance to become more discoverable. 

Additionally, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram give brands the ability to enable target audiences from a specific location through their IP addresses. 

12. Memes 

Memes are everywhere! It’s also really hard to find someone who doesn’t like them. They are one of the most creative short-forms of content creation and it’s really hot in social trends right now. 

In fact, niche memes are a good way for creators to connect with their audience and promote a brand without losing any sense of fun. 

Here are a few ways you can use memes in your marketing:

• Make your memes match your brand voice
• Repurpose existing memes
• Create original memes
• Keep meme types in mind
• Use the best fonts and colors 
• Repost relevant user-generated memes

Here’s an example:

(source: DigitalMarketer) 

13. Influencer Marketing Will Continue to Grow

Influencer marketing is growing at a rapid pace, it’s also expected to keep dominating in 2022. However, the way brands should collaborate with influencers may see changes.

Brands will now collaborate with creator economy and influencers over a series of social media promotion posts rather than just a single post. They may put equal effort into promoting content created by specific influencers. 

Here are a few different types of Influencers:

• Mega-Influencers 
• Macro-Influencers
• Mid-Tier Influencers
• Micro-Influencers 
• Nano-Influencers

In fact, Adam Shapiro from Upfluence believes that influencer marketing will drive online sales by offering an easy shopping experience in the social media landscape. 

Social commerce features are continuing to rise in popularity and online checkouts are becoming more and more available on almost all social media networks. Influencers are vital for converting brand awareness into sales. 

Adam predicts that influencers will lead the way in live social shopping, affiliate marketing, and sharing authentic product recommendations. 

There was a greater focus on networks that provide tools for their creators to better help them monetize and manage their brands or businesses. That will continue in 2022 and become more aggressive with competitors like TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, and Snapchat. 

These Social Media Trends Are Here to Stay

Staying on top of what’s going on with social media is an essential part of building your brand. If you haven’t adapted to any of these trends, it might be time to do so! 

If you need some help with that, schedule a call today!

Also, don’t forget to sign up for free and check out our free SEO tools! 

The post 13 Social Media Trends for 2022 appeared first on The HOTH.

Or maybe you’re frustrated that your old lead nurturing tactics don’t seem to hold up in 2022 and want to update ASAP… Wherever you’re at with your marketing strategy, we’ve got the cheat sheet for a fool-proof lead nurturing campaign.

Algorithms are constantly changing. In fact, experts estimate that Google alone updates its algorithms 500 to 600 times every year. 

What’s more, people are constantly changing too, and the channels that they paid attention to last year may seem boring today. 

So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to know that the best lead nurturing strategy in 2022 isn’t the same as the best strategy in 2021. Staying on top of your leads means staying up to date with the most current lead nurturing tactics and trends. And lucky for you, this guide breaks it down into digestible and actionable steps.

Here’s what to expect:

• What is lead nurturing?
• The benefits of a good lead nurturing strategy
• Why content marketing is the ultimate way to nurture leads
• 7 steps to a successful lead nurturing campaign
• Our top 10 lead nurturing tactics

What is lead nurturing?

In its most basic sense:

Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with your customers and adding value to your product, with the aim to increase the likelihood of a purchase. 

But for further context, think of lead nurturing campaigns as breadcrumbs leading towards a purchase. Each breadcrumb serves to keep the lead interested, build trust and authority, and assure potential customers that you can solve their problem. This can take the form of several channels working together, with email, pop-up forms, and calls-to-action that are all presented to the customer at just the right time. 

Think back to the fact we mentioned at the start of the article.

“Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads”.

When your marketing efforts generate a lead, it doesn’t mean that that lead is ready to click the checkout button and convert into a sale. Prospective buyers have questions, and lead nurturing is your opportunity to answer them and edge that lead through the buyer’s journey towards a decision. 

The benefits of a good lead nurturing strategy

Before you start shaping your lead nurturing campaign, it’s important to bear in mind the potential benefits that could be waiting for you on the other side.

A well-executed lead nurturing strategy can expect to benefit from:

• Leads that are 50% more sales-ready at a 33% lower cost.
• A 47% higher average order value.
• A 60 to 70% chance of converting repeat customers.

On top of that, it helps to further establish your brand’s authority in your industry. Consistently pushing out valuable content positions you as a thought leader, and consequently someone that customers are more likely to trust to solve their problem. 

When a customer sees you as an authority in your industry, you’re more likely to be at the top of mind for opinions and recommendations.

And with this study from Google finding that consumers are doing more research before purchases, using your marketing campaigns to position yourself as a brand authority will prevent you losing out to a competitor.

Oh, and there’s the small fact that only 35% of B2B marketers are currently implementing a lead nurturing strategy – giving you an immediate advantage.

Why content marketing is the ultimate way to nurture leads

A significant part of nurturing leads is assuring them that you have the solution they need to successfully achieve their goals. And when it comes to building trust and authority, there’s no better solution than content marketing.

Content creation places your brand in front of potential customers in a way that doesn’t feel forced. It’s not pushing a hard sale for your products and services, it’s providing them with genuinely valuable and useful information for free. The trust this instills in your authority makes conversion much easier down the line. 

Furthermore, content also promotes lasting relationships based on meaningful communications, which can prove more valuable in the long term than the immediate one-time sales from traditional ads. 

Content marketing, in many of its forms, comes into play at each and every part of a good lead nurturing campaign’s sale’s funnel. Keep reading to find out how to further incorporate content marketing and optimize your lead nurturing strategy for success.

7 steps to a successful lead nurturing campaign

Now that we’re up to speed on why a lead nurturing strategy should be a key factor in your digital marketing efforts, you’re probably wondering how to get started. 

Lead nurturing is a lengthy process that requires consistent effort. However, with these steps we hope to make building a successful lead nurturing campaign as comprehensible and attainable as possible.

1. Use multiple channels (including social media and email marketing)

A core pillar of lead nurturing strategies is to make sure you place the right content and CTAs in front of your prospective customers at exactly the right times.

In the past, lead nurturing campaigns have relied almost exclusively on an email drip campaign alone. But today, with spam filters, changing data protection laws, and a general disinterest for blatant sales emails, it’s just getting harder and harder to nurture your leads via a few emails.

Not only does this mean you have to get smarter with your email marketing (stay tuned for more tips on this later in the article!), but also taking your lead nurturing campaign to multiple channels. When you are pushing out tailored digital marketing materials across email, social media (from TikTok to LinkedIn), and even SMS, there’s more chance that you will catch the attention of your audience – while strengthening brand awareness and authority in the process. 

2. Get the help of marketing automation

Lead nurturing can be both repetitive and overwhelming.

First, you have to send out emails, social media posts, and website actions that consistently nudge your leads through the warmer and warmer ends of the buyer’s journey.

Second, you have to organize the campaigns to work together in synergy, appearing to the prospect at just the right time.

Luckily, this makes lead nurturing campaigns the perfect candidate for marketing automation. 

Marketing automation takes into account every aspect of a buyer’s persona, including what they interact with. It then compiles this data for every one of your individual leads to know exactly the kind of solutions and media that specific lead will react best to. 

In short, marketing automation understands your leads more than you will ever have the time to – so it makes sense to include it in your lead nurturing strategy from day one.

3. Follow up with your leads immediately

It may sound obvious, but not enough companies pay attention to it…

The quicker you follow up with your leads, the hotter they are. 

This tactic borrowed from sales reps can be suitable for both B2C and B2B leads, depending on the nature of your business. 

If you’re looking for an easy way to sweep up the low-hanging sales-ready leads before assessing the remaining leads that need to be nurtured with a targeted campaign, don’t underestimate the power of a timely follow-up email or phone call. 

Unlike cold outreach, quick follow-ups are more likely to catch the prospect at a time where they are considering investing in a product or service like yours. 

4. Get personal by segmenting your email list

Earlier we defined lead nurturing as relationship building, and how can you expect to grow a relationship without making personal connections?

Segmenting your email list is a key step towards sending your leads hyper-personalized emails that help them feel heard and understood. 

One popular method for segmenting an email list is to create lists of leads based on the products they were browsing when they signed up for your emails. This way, you know that you are sending them further information, deals, and CTAs based on products they are actually interested in. 

5. Use lead scoring

If you’re new to the concept of lead scoring, think of it as a way to prioritize your prospects, identifying the quality leads so that you waste less time and resources. 

Lead scoring ranks all of your leads based on how valuable they may be to your business, usually based on their browsing behavior, interactions with social media, and conversions. The lead score can then be interpreted to let you know which leads are ready for a prompt sales follow-up, and which need to be nurtured for longer.

6. Retargeting

A Retargeting strategy can often play a large part in a marketing teams’ lead generation budget, mostly due to its substantial use of paid ads. 

Retargeting is when a customer leaves your website, and is then shown an advertisement for your site on another website or on social media. It serves to remind the prospect of the products they were looking at, and hopefully nudge them back to your site and towards a decision.

7. Consider the buyer’s journey

When you consider the traditional sales funnel, marketing leads usually are positioned at the top of the sales funnel and the sales leads appear further down.

Digital marketing often segregates marketing from sales, however aligning the two in the buyer’s journey is a necessary part of both keeping a lead warm and ensuring it is sale-ready.

In terms of your workflow, this may mean identifying the key moments in the buyer’s journey where the lead changes hands between the marketing team and the sales team. Then setting shared goals and expectations across both teams.

Our top lead nurturing tactics

Now that we’ve covered the steps involved in establishing a successful lead nurturing campaign, it’s only right that we include some helpful tips that will help you truly excel in your nurturing efforts. 

Personalize emails, ads, and social media

When it comes to inbound marketing, personalization is a vastly valuable tool. When you speak directly to a prospective customer, addressing details like their name, their interests, and location, it makes them feel more like a person and less like a number. In fact, recent data has shown that email campaigns with a personalized subject line have an increased your open rate of 50%

You can do this in your email communications, whether that be in your newsletters, announcements, or follow-up emails.

And you can also add personal touches via your targeted messages on social media, retargeted ads, and strategic content on your website. All of which helps to build trust with prospects and set you apart from competitors.

Craft valuable content

Just as personalized communications help to build trust between you and your prospects, the more finely-tuned your content is to individual customers and their needs – the more you’ll see your sales rate increase.

You can do this by using data gathered through your marketing automation, segmented email list, or simply buyer personas. Crafting relevant content designed around their pain points, burning questions, needs, and demands. You can also target certain demographics on your email list with a specific tone of voice and length of content that best suits them.

Provide tactical freebies

No, we don’t mean giving away your product for free! But, it’s important to note that lead nurturing can be a long process that requires patience and endurance, and providing prospective customers with a little bit of value for free can result in a big pay off. 

A freebie like an eBook, video content, infographics, consultations, or research can all go some way to help your customer achieve their desired goal. Consequently, customers are aware that you do in fact have the answer to their problems, and further value is added to your products. Furthermore, the fact that you are willing to give away some of your valuable expertise for free only further solidifies their trust in your authority. 

Know where to put your calls-to-action

In any piece of content, whether that be on your website, webinars, a social media post, or in an email, calls-to-action serve to catch your customer’s attention with something you offer that they might be looking for. So, make sure you’re not leaving them out of your lead nurturing campaigns!

Calls-to-action should appear throughout your blog posts, social media posts, videos, captions and stories, demos, landing pages, emails – or just anywhere that you are touching base with a customer!

Use surveys to pre-qualify leads

Surveys can make for a useful tactic for new leads at the start of the buyer’s journey, helping you to customize lead nurturing and personalize communications. Just make sure that you only approach the prospect with relevant questions that allude to value rather than a hard pitch of your product. Then be certain that your follow-up actions fully reflect their answers.

This also means knowing what to do with the leads that come your way – based on their survey answers. For instance, if a lead lands on your website organically and answers the survey to say they are visiting “for research”, you should know that it is not an appropriate time to invite them to a product demo. Instead, consider inviting them to join your mailing list to get notified about future announcements and offers. 

In summary

When it comes to the lead nurturing process, the main thing to remember is that no one lead is the same. Every human has different needs, interests, browsing preferences, and behaviors. And as a consequence, every lead comes with a different requirement and budget in order to convert it into paying customers.

In 2022, lead nurturing is a multi-levelled process that requires an omnichannel presence. Your content marketing efforts need to meet the prospect at every step of their buying journey, and find them at every platform that they frequently check. Which is why marketing automation has become such a popular and effective solution for the sales cycle, with its deep understanding of personas, data, and characteristics.

Summary of effective lead nurturing tactics

To wrap up, let’s recap the main points presented in this article.

• Multi-channel targeting is essential.

It’s getting harder to convert leads by email marketing alone. Strive to meet customers in other areas of the internet that they like to browse and interact.

• Marketing automation understands your leads more than you have time to.

No team of marketers or salespeople have the time to pin down a persona for every lead on your list – but the AI involved in marketing automation does!

• Personalize as much of your content and communications as possible.

Personalization has long been a buzzword for nurturing emails, but it can extend as far as social media, retargeted ads, and strategic website content.

• Use lead scoring to identify qualified leads and structure your workflow.

Lead scoring helps you identify the leads that are ready for a follow-up and those that will require a targeted nurturing campaign.

• Understand that lead nurturing requires you to align sales and marketing in the buyer’s journey.

Despite marketing and sales having different approaches to converting and making sales, they are both required to work in synergy throughout a successful lead nurturing process.

Interested in learning more about lead nurturing, or driving in new traffic to get some leads to nurture? Give us a call. We’re here to help. 

The post Lead Nurturing 101: How To Nurture Leads appeared first on The HOTH.