Amber Callan says, “Designing your website can be a long and expensive process. To ensure the process goes smoothly and that your end product is the best it can be, test early and test often. By revealing flaws in competitors’ websites as well as flaws in your current website, you can save time and money during your redesign. Because a website design is all about the visitors who will view and interact with it, your redesign should focus on their experience. In order to be sure that you get the most out of your new website, here are seven user experience tests to do during the process of... [...]

Kaitlyn VosWinkel says, “Your school has already been publishing some content to start capturing email addresses from potential students and parents. Perhaps you’re even seeing a boost in enrollment already. It’s working! It must be working – right? The beauty of digital marketing is you can actually connect the dots all the way through your enrollment funnel. You can discover where it’s strong and where it’s weak. If you’re seeing enrollment numbers go up — that’s great. But you still don’t want to leave success to chance. You want to know what’s... [...]

Ellen Bartolino says, “Consumers turn to social media when making a purchase — that much we know. They might search for information prior to purchasing and then again, post-purchase, for customer service and company updates. Knowing this, it’s imperative that your company is there, providing them with the resources they need to choose your product over your competitor’s. The best way to do this is to break down the customer lifecycle into four stages: Attract, Convert, Close, and Delight. This makes it much easier to create content according to each customer’s mindset.... [...]

Jesse Mawhinney says, “Conversion rate optimization (CRO) and inbound marketing go together like peanut butter and jelly. After all, nobody is more concerned with (and obsessed with) conversion rates than the inbound marketer. But many inbound marketers find themselves navigating a new world of CRO with a sense that there’s so much to test, and they’re not quite sure where to start. Here are 6 CRO initiatives you can undertake today to help give your conversion rates—and inbound marketing performance—a boost. 1) Start learning with visitor heatmaps In 2016, there’s really no excuse... [...]

Ellen Bartolino says, “With 500 million active monthly users, Instagram offers a unique opportunity for marketers to reach their target audiences through ad campaigns. The other perk of advertising on Instagram? The ads can look almost no different than regular posts, making them much less invasive than other ad types. But setting up ads on any platform requires a lot of thought: What should your target audience look like? What should your copy say? What image should you use? Not to mention, the more technical aspects like what size your image needs to be or how long your ad should run for.... [...]

Aja Frost says, “There’s a ton of sales advice floating around out there (trust us, we’d know.) But just because you read an article on a psychological technique or fancy method doesn’t mean you should take it at face value. Let’s be honest: Strategies that sound smart often flop. And not only do these unsuccessful techniques waste your time and energy, they also hurt your chances of closing. Want to avoid the advice that seems clever but really sucks? Read on for the five worst offenders. 1) Close More Quickly by Manufacturing Urgency When you’re scrambling to meet your quota at... [...]

Samantha Shannon says, “Over the years Google AdWords has evolved into a marketing tool that helps businesses drive leads and outrank their competitors. But what if I told you that the majority of business owners, marketers, and strategists weren’t taking full advantage of all AdWords has to offer? Queue the motivation for this article. Check out these 7n AdWords features you didn’t know existed to help elevate your campaigns to the next level. 1) Call-only campaigns Google has cited that 70% of mobile searchers call a business directly from search results. Because of this proven consumer... [...]

Molly Wojcik says, “Live chat technology has been around for a while. And while customers increasingly demand immediate attention, businesses have been relatively slow to adopt a live chat strategy – particularly in the SMB space, where deals are still built on relationships. Live chat is often solely thought of as a customer support tool and tends to be overlooked from a sales and conversion perspective. Why Engagement Matters Forrester data shows that 55% of US online adults are likely to abandon their online purchase if they can’t find a quick answer to their question. 77% say... [...]

Olivia Allen says, “No matter what they say, people do judge emails by their subject lines. In fact, 33% of email recipients decide whether or not to open an email based on subject line alone. That’s why it’s so important to craft subject lines that are compelling enough to get people to click through. Click here to download our complete guide to creating email newsletters people actually read. While they may seem like a small part of your message, they’re one of the very first impressions you have on your email recipients. And they’re a marketer’s ticket for... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “Search engine optimization is incredibly important for marketers. When you optimize your web pages — including your blog posts — you’re making your website more visible to people who are looking for keywords associated with your brand, product, or service via search engines like Google. But it can be a pretty tricky tactic to master with Google’s copious algorithm updates. How do you know what matters and what doesn’t? What are today’s blog SEO best practices, and what’s considered “old-school”? How on earth can... [...]