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Best Cloud Web Hosting

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You need a website that’s reliable, flexible, and adapts to your needs. You need to spend your time focusing on your business rather than worrying about your website.

Cloud web hosting could be the right choice for you. This is a relatively new kind of hosting that has emerged as an impressive solution for websites that need a stable and efficient, yet adaptable and agile hosting solution. 

Unlike traditional web hosting, where you purchase a set amount of resources like bandwidth and RAM on a single server, cloud hosting spreads your website’s needs across a massive virtual server that lives on hardware in data centers all over the world. 

With cloud hosting, it’s incredibly easy to add more resources or cut back as needed, and cloud hosting is much less vulnerable to equipment failure issues as there are many servers to pick up the slack. 

If you’re looking for a cost-effective hosting solution to grow with your business, cloud hosting could be the way to go. Keep reading – we’ll break down 7 of the best cloud web hosting options and how to know which is the best one for your business needs.

The Top 7 Options for Cloud Web Hosting:

1. A2 Hosting — Best For Speed & Flexibility
2. Cloudways — Best User-Friendly Power Hosting
3. Hostgator — Best For Affordability
4. InMotion — Best Customer Support 
5. Bluehost — Best User Experience
6. DreamHost — Best if You Know How to Code
7. Nexcess — Best for Ecommerce

How to Choose the Best Cloud Web Hosting For You 

With so many hosting options available, it can be overwhelming to figure out precisely what you need. With this in mind, here are a few specific factors to consider when choosing which cloud hosting service is the best option for you and your business.

Scalability

Perhaps the greatest advantage of cloud web hosting is its capability to grow with your business, whatever that looks like for you. For example, you might be launching an entirely new venture but have detailed plans to grow quickly and need a website that can easily scale with you. An alternate scenario would be a business with dramatic peaks and dips in traffic volume, like an online shop selling seasonal merchandise. 

In both of these scenarios, you won’t want to be constrained to a set amount of resources on one single server, like you would in a conventional web hosting package. With cloud hosting, you’re sharing space with hundreds of thousands of other websites on many servers all over the world, so it’s quick and easy for your cloud hosting provider to add more resources to your plan as needed. Many of the providers we’ve included here make scaling up as easy as the click of a button.

Cloud hosting is the obvious choice if you’re planning for your business to expand quickly or if it often fluctuates significantly. But even in other cases, it might still be the right choice for you—keep reading to find out why.

Reliability and Security 

One major plus to having your site hosted in so many different locations is security. Because your website’s integrity isn’t connected to a physical object (a specific, designated server), that object doesn’t need to be protected from harm. Public cloud hosting is formed by many data centers full of servers worldwide, and they’re generally highly secure and often in remote locations. 

Furthermore, physical equipment fails and experiences issues. But because the servers that form the cloud can dip in and out of hosting your website, physical problems with a server you’re hosted on won’t impact your site’s performance. 

Together, these two factors mean that many cloud hosting providers guarantee a really good amount of uptime, the time your site is online and working normally. Usually, they’ll guarantee between 99.95% and 99.99% uptime –  but it’s often more. 

So, if a website that functions extremely reliably and is secure from external threats is important to you, you’ll definitely want to go for cloud-based web hosting. 

Cost Efficiency

Because cloud hosting means you’re taking up a tiny part of a tremendous amount of server space with many other tenant sites, the amount of resources you consume is extremely flexible. As we mentioned, your provider can easily scale up the amount of resources you’re using, but if you use fewer resources, you often only need to pay for what you consume. 

In conventional web hosting plans, you’ll often end up paying for more resources than you use because you’re allotted a specific amount of server space, but with cloud hosting, that’s not a concern. 

If this type of cost-efficiency is important to you, be sure to choose a provider from the list below who charges on a per-hour basis, rather than a flat fee. 

The Different Types of Cloud Web Hosting 

Whereas web hosting refers to hosting your site’s files on a single server somewhere, cloud hosting does not restrict you to a physical server. Your site is stored on multiple servers and offers far more flexibility, meaning that your site simply switches to another server if one is malfunctioning. Let’s take a look at the main types of cloud hosting.

Public vs. Private Cloud Web Hosting 

The public cloud is one large cloud hosting service offered to thousands of different clients, or ‘tenants,’ by your cloud hosting provider. As you probably know, a public cloud is run from many servers all over the world. If you choose this option, even though you’re sharing the resources in the cloud with so many other websites, you aren’t sharing anything else like private data. Your provider will use security measures to ensure your data is kept confidential and separated from other tenants. It’s highly likely that public cloud hosting is the right option for you if you’re reading this article.

By contrast, a private cloud is hosted on specific hardware dedicated only to its one tenant. It’s more expensive and less efficient but may be the right option for businesses that need cloud hosting and deal with sensitive data where privacy is a huge concern. A private cloud can be created internally by the entity that needs it or offered by an external private cloud hosting provider. 

A more recent innovation is the virtual private cloud, which combines many advantages of both options. Without getting too technical, virtual private cloud hosting embeds completely separate clouds, each hosting a different tenant, within a broader public cloud environment, or ‘intercloud.’

Managed vs. Unmanaged Cloud Web Hosting 

When you opt for unmanaged cloud hosting, you’re basically just paying for the bandwidth and other resources your sites consume on their own, as a utility. You’ll be charged based on your consumption, whether that’s hourly, monthly, or another metric. Your chosen host is just providing the public cloud – almost always a public cloud – where your website is hosted, along with millions of others. 

If you choose this option, it means you have the capability to handle the technical side of things in-house, whether your business is large enough to have an IT team or you’re a computer whiz who can manage it yourself.

On the other hand, managed cloud hosting brings in an element of customer service. The managed cloud hosting provider is doing some of the work of keeping your business online—work that, if you went the unmanaged route, you or your IT department would be taking care of. 

In the past, managed cloud hosting was always private, making it more expensive and less scalable. Today, managed cloud hosting uses a virtual private cloud. This allows managed cloud hosting to bring the main benefits of cloud hosting in general—scalability and affordable pricing—to a managed model that’s a better fit for individuals and smaller organizations. 

It’s essential to understand this distinction because all the choices on this list offer managed hosting options. Unless you’re a large-scale enterprise with a robust IT department or a technical genius, it’s unlikely unmanaged cloud hosting is the choice for you. So, keep that in mind when you’re shopping around.

#1 – A2 Hosting — Best For Speed & Flexibility 

A2 Hosting tops out this list for several reasons. First of all, they’re known in the industry for super-fast web hosting, and their cloud hosting plans have proven to be just as fast and reliable. 

What stands out about A2 is how adaptable they are. No matter what you want out of your cloud hosting provider, they are a good, solid option to get you where you need to go. 24/7 customer support is one feature that will be especially valuable if you’re slightly less tech-savvy. There’s also a variety of price points, with their cheapest plan, Runway 1, just $4.99 per month, and the most expensive plan, Supersonic 8, starting at $29.99 per month. 

A2 Hosting also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee—something you won’t get from any other provider, so it really sets them apart from the competition. 

Another notable thing about A2 is that you can host as many websites as you want, as long as you stay within the bandwidth you paid for. 

#2 – Cloudways — Best User-Friendly Power Hosting 

If you’ve got a large, complex website that needs powerful hosting, but enterprise-class solutions are out of reach, Cloudways could be a perfect middle ground. 

Their cloud hosting comes from big providers that would usually only be accessible to big corporations but put it into an accessible format. Their simple dashboard makes using the service easy, and prices are on par with other entry-level cloud hosting options. 

Cloudways also has servers in over 25 cities worldwide, and they let you choose which one yours is located in. That means you can select servers as close to your physical location as possible, which is good for your website’s speed. 

When it comes to plans and pricing, even their least expensive plan, at $10 per month, comes with a lot of features, like 24/7 customer support, free SSL, free migration, dedicated firewalls, 24/7 real-time monitoring, auto-healing, and more.

#3 – Hostgator — Best For Affordability

If you’re looking for budget-friendly cloud hosting that’s still reliable, Hostgator is the way to go. Because it offers unmetered storage and bills on an hourly basis, it can also handle a site with a lot of pages or significant variations in traffic without sacrificing their great 99.99% uptime guarantee. 

Their introductory discounts really set them apart, especially for their biggest plan. For your first year of hosting with Hostgator, you can get discounts of up to 70% depending on their deals. The Hatchling plan is currently $4.95 per month, with the Baby plan starting at $6.57 per month and the Business plan at only $10 a month after the discount. All plans come with a 36-month commitment. 

Unless you choose Hostgator’s Business plan, you won’t get any perks like free backups or SEO tools, but that plan’s prices are still a great affordable option with the discounts. It’s also simple to use, including the ability to scale up your cloud resources as your business grows with just one click. 

#4 – InMotion — Best Customer Support 

InMotion is a fantastic option for small business owners who need a website, especially if they’re new to the digital world. 

InMotion makes it easy to scale your resources as you need to, and the fact that their plans include a free SSL certificate and cPanel makes them a good one-stop-shop option. 

But their customer service is what really sets them apart. InMotion offers 24/7 support via both live chat and phone, along with help tickets and a knowledge database with tons of resources to refer back to. If you’re a busy entrepreneur who’s not that comfortable yet online, this kind of high-support, all-in-one option is likely to be exactly what you need. 

InMotion is a more expensive option with the lowest-priced plan for small businesses typically $59.99 per month. But at the time of this writing, they are running a sale, and this plan is $17.99 per month and still includes free SSLs.

#5 – Bluehost — Best User Experience

Bluehost is a very well-known name in the web hosting space. While most people know them for their non-cloud shared hosting plans, they actually offer the option to upgrade any of their plans to the cloud by choosing the CloudFlare option. This lets you bring the flexibility and scalability of cloud hosting to a simple, easy-to-use plan without making any changes yourself. 

Bluehost makes building your site really easy. They offer WordPress plans, which is a platform many people are familiar with, as well as their own simple, Weebly-based website builder. 

It’s a great way to bring cloud hosting advantages to a hosting and site-building experience that you might already be more familiar with. 

The Basic plan starts at $3.95 per month but is only for one website. The Plus plan starts at $4.95 per month and has unlimited sites and storage. Choice Plus is their most popular plan and is $6.95 per month, while the Pro plan is $13.95 per month. All plan prices are for a 36-month agreement, and all come with 24/7 customer support, a free domain for one year, a free CDN, and a free SSL certificate.

#6 – Dreamhost — Best if You Know How to Code

Dreamhost is another great budget-friendly option, but it really shines if you already know how to code. Dreamhost is less expensive because you’ll need some technical know-how to really make your site your own. 

If you’re comfortable managing and customizing your website through a command-line text interface, you’ll love Dreamhost – you’ll be able to keep playing around with the web development tools you’re already using. Even better, Dreamhost offers an unmetered hourly rate. 

Dreamhost’s DIY ethos and low prices mean their customer support isn’t the most full-service, but if you’re in their target market, chances are that won’t be a deal-breaker. 

Dreamhost plans start at $3.95 per month billed annually, and they have a lot of different hosting options to choose from. All plans give you a discount for annual billing over monthly payments.

#7 – Nexcess — Best for E-Commerce 

Nexcess is a cloud hosting solution tailored to the needs of e-commerce businesses. They offer Magento, WordPress, and WooCommerce integration, making them a natural fit for selling products online. Paired with cloud hosting’s scalability, it’s the obvious choice for an e-commerce business with big plans to grow. They also offer a variety of plans depending on which e-commerce platform you choose, as well as 24/7 customer support—perfect for busy online shop owners.

Nexcess has many great features, including auto-scaling, PCI compliance, SEO tools, and a great deal of development tools for complete flexibility and customization. 

Because Nexcess has so many integration options, it is difficult to give a specific price you can expect. However, as an example, if you choose WordPress as your platform, pricing starts at $19 per month for one site with 7 plan options. The most expensive option is the Enterprise plan at $999.00 per month and includes up to 250 sites, 800 GB of storage, 10 terabytes of bandwidth, 30-day backups, and unlimited email accounts. 

WooCommerce has similar pricing to WordPress, but Magento starts at $49 per month for cloud hosting. 

Conclusion

By this point, you probably have a pretty good idea of what your needs from cloud hosting are and which provider is the best choice to meet them. 

It’s important to remember that while some options are better than others, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. You’ll want to be guided by your priorities, whether that’s cost, customer service, flexibility, or something else, and let that determine where you host. It’s a decision that could determine the future of your website. But with so many great options out there, the future is looking bright. 

The post Best Cloud Web Hosting appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-cloud-web-hosting/

How to Run a Content Audit

Have you thought about running a content audit of your website?

Content needs to be updated regularly, to meet search engine optimization standards and your online marketing goals. Make sure it’s performing well, to get the most out of your content.

Brands use online content in so many ways; from explaining who we are and what we do to updating customers on our latest products and services, content is how we communicate.

What is a Content Audit?

A content audit is just as it sounds: it’s a comprehensive audit of all the content assets that reside on your website. It’s a way of evaluating what’s working well and what could use some work.

It also helps you to clearly see what the next steps should be to optimize your content, while prioritizing the highest critical needs all the way down to the options that would be nice, when you have time.

A content audit is very detailed, so it can seem tedious, but the results are worth it. At a glance, you’ll be able to get a clear picture of how your content is doing. In this way, you’ll not only know how to step back and optimize content that’s already there, but also how to proceed in the future with content that reflects what’s working well.

It may feel time consuming now, but it can save lots of time and guesswork in content creation down the road.

Why Does My Website Need a Content Audit?

You should carve out the time to do a content audit to see where the gaps are and to start creating better content.

Why should you do a content audit? There are a number of reasons a content audit can help your website perform better.

• It provides a full inventory of all the content that’s already been created, including what could be repurposed for future campaigns.
• It analyzes how content has performed in the past or is performing now, so you can identify strengths and weaknesses.
• It gives you an overall picture of your content flow by showing you who is creating content, when it’s getting posted, and more.
• It provides a framework for creating a content strategy moving forward.

Still not sure if your website needs a content audit at this point? Here are a few signs that it may be time:

• If your website has been around for a number of years.
• If you have content living there that you can’t remember or aren’t using actively.
• If your team is creating content haphazardly, without a clear plan.
• If you’re struggling to know what to create or post next.
• If your content is starting to feel dry and lifeless and you aren’t inspired to make more to support your brand’s marketing strategy.

Determine Your Content Audit’s Purpose

Before you dive into the detailed steps of a content audit, take a moment to consider your particular goal for this audit. What are you hoping to get out of it?

The only way this can be successful is if you know what the definition of success will be for this task.

Your goals will also help to determine which areas of the content audit you need to focus on most, to gather the data you need.

• Are you trying to up your content marketing game?
• Are you ready to put a content strategy in place?
• Are you pulling data together for your team to analyze?
• Are you interested in improving the SEO of your website?

If your goals are related to technical SEO, and making sure that the technical details of your content are helping your website be more visible, then check out this page about how to optimize your website. This article details how to conduct a technical, SEO-driven content audit, that can support your content marketing goals overall.

Content Audit Tools

As you are deciding whether you need a content audit right now, and what your goals will be in the process, you may want to research a couple of tools that can help you along the way. These can save you some time and manual effort so you can get to the results faster and start implementing those next steps right away.

Ubersuggest

Especially if you are looking to improve your SEO, Ubersuggest can help you see how well your website is performing overall. Just enter your URL, click “Search,” and click “Site Audit” on the left. Think of this as a quick, free overall look at how your website is doing.

You’ll also get a snapshot of which SEO issues are most prevalent on your site and how critical they are.

Google Analytics

Another tool to use, if you’re not already, is Google Analytics, which can provide valuable data about how your content is performing and how users are interacting with it.

Broken Link Checkers

As you’re analyzing your content, you’ll want to find and fix broken links. Integrity and Xenu Sleuth can help you there.

Content Inventory

You could manually pull each content link associated with your website, but that could take far too long and you could risk overlooking some things. Instead, you may want to try a content inventory link such as Blaze, DynoMapper, or ContentWRX Audit.

Content Audit Steps 

Although there are a number of tedious tasks associated with your content audit, the overall flow is pretty straightforward.

#1: Create a List of Your Content Assets

First, you need to make a list that contains all the data you need. You need to see your content assets and associated data all in one place. This will allow you to move methodically as you compare, prioritize, and update each asset.

I mentioned a few tools that will pull the content data for you. A quick Google search will uncover more. Note that some of these have a trial period, after which you have to pay for ongoing crawling and inventory updating. For very large websites, this may be worth the cost. For others, you may just want to pull the data and move on. Some websites may be small enough for you to take inventory yourself.

However you approach it, make a spreadsheet, which will allow you to list not only the links to the content, but also the meta data, descriptions, word count, creator, date posted, and more. Here’s a snapshot of a quick Google Spreadsheet you can make for your content audit.

Content Audit Templates

As I explained above, you will want to build a content audit spreadsheet so you can keep all the data in one place. You can build one from scratch, download one of the following templates, or use these as a launching point and customize your spreadsheet.  

• CoSchedule Content Audit Template
• HubSpot SEO Template
• Alexa Content Audit Template
• Distilled Content Audit Template

Keep in mind the goals we discussed earlier. There are lots of stats or data points you could pull with each content link. However, some data is going to be more relevant to you than others.

If you are using this audit to improve your content marketing engagement, you will want to check information about click throughs, social media engagement, comments, and so on.

If your goal is associated with SEO, you may want to include warnings and recommendations you gather from Ubersuggest.

#2: Create List of Content Issues to Identify

After you’ve made your comprehensive content spreadsheet, it’s time to analyze it. What’s sticking out as a major problem or gap? Where are some factors that you can address right away to improve how your website is performing?

Again, go back to your goals. Are you trying to improve technical SEO? Are you evaluating your content strategy to create better content moving forward?

Some issues will have overlap, improving all areas of your content as you update them. Here are a few things to look for:

• Duplicate Content: Search engines prioritize fresh content. If you have a lot of duplicate content living on different pages or posts, you’ll want to go back and fix that so there isn’t repetition.
• Outdated Content: This is important from a personal and technical perspective. People don’t want to read outdated content, and search engines overlook it too.
• Evergreen Content: On the other hand, evergreen content can be a versatile tool in your content toolbox, providing relevant information to customers anytime. Identifying your evergreen content will let you make use of them by sharing them again and to refresh and update it as needed.
• Content Gaps: What’s missing in your content? Are there topics you haven’t addressed yet? Target markets you haven’t spoken to? Being able to look at everything at once can help you find the gaps, and fill them in.  
• Target Keyword: In your spreadsheet, you can include target keywords that pieces of content were meant to address, and how well they were incorporated. You can also do some keyword analysis to ensure you are incorporating effective keywords and continue to do so in the future.
• Meta Data: Have you written metadata descriptions for all pages? This spreadsheet is going to help you see which ones need to be written and which ones are repetitive and should be updated.
• Image Data: Do you have alt texts on them? Now’s a good time to make sure your images are SEO and accessibility friendly. Complete the alt text for the title and description of the images you use.
• Word Count: Do your pages and posts have enough words to optimize for SEO? Or are they too long? Check that word count to see if pages need to be updated or edited down.

Maybe it’s as simple as realizing that certain people are posting more often than others, or that certain topics are being addressed too often while others are overlooked.

Whatever is standing out to you, start making a list of issues to address.

#3: Address Content Issues

You can’t do everything at once, so take your list and start to prioritize based on how critical each issue is and how time consuming or difficult it will be to address it.

When you run an SEO audit on Ubersuggest, as I showed above, you’ll receive recommendations with these priority factors listed. You can use that as a guide for all your content issues. Here’s a review of how they are ranked on UberSuggest.

How much impact will it have?

How difficult is it?

Do the critical (SEO Impact) easy (Difficulty) ones first, then move on to the harder but still critical, as well as the less critical but super easy. Finally tackle the low priority, difficult tasks.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, especially with the time consuming or technical tasks. You can hire someone to dive in and update duplicate content, add meta descriptions or alt tasks, or fix broken links.

Conclusion

The idea of a content audit may feel overwhelming at first glance. Don’t let that stop you.

A content audit is one of the best first steps you can take to improve your content marketing strategy. Once you see everything together, you can be empowered to use all that content in better ways.

Furthermore, once you do this comprehensive content audit, you’ll have the spreadsheet and data to work from in the future. You’ll be able to quickly go in, make updates, compare stats, and see what’s working. You may even choose to keep your spreadsheets updated on an on-going basis.

You’ll be poised to take your content marketing and creation to the next level.

What’s stopping you from tackling your first content audit?

The post How to Run a Content Audit appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/content-audit/

Best Document Management Software

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

Companies exchange private information with clients and customers all the time. If even one document falls into the wrong hands, they could lose a great relationship in an instant.

Everyone I work with uses document management software, and you should too. Once you get started, you’ll see that it gives you tons of advantages beyond security. 

Whether you are trying to go green, stay organized, build great looking newsletters, or meet the most stringent regulations, document management software can make a hard process much easier.

The key is finding the right one for your specific needs. I’ve put together a list of my top five document management solutions—let’s talk about why they are valuable and how they can help.

The Top 5 Options for Document Management Software

1. DocSend – Best for sales engagement
2. FileCenter DMS – Best for going paperless
3. PandaDoc – Best for closing more deals
4. Rubex by eFileCabinet – Best for automating daily tasks
5. MasterControl – Best for enterprise compliance

How to Choose the Best Document Management Software for You

Estimates, proposals, contracts, invoices—documents are the base layer of every business relationship.

The easier it is to manage documents, the easier it’s going to be to manage these relationships.

Document management software can do a lot to help you stay organized and efficient. Let’s look at some of the features that can have a huge impact. 

Scanning and Imaging

Digitizing documents is a pain without the right product. In fact, going paperless is one of the key reasons people get document management software. 

It turns a really inefficient workflow into a streamlined process with tools to identify, sort, tag, and store all kinds of file types. 

Some products come with optical character recognition (OCR) which translates the printed words into digital text. This means that any document you scan can be searched. Pretty slick, right?

Document Security Features

A lot of these tools increase the control people have over documents, even after they have been shared.

Some of the features I really like are:

• Password protection
• Flexible view, comment, and edit permissions
• Document expiry
• Restricted use

It’s really nice to be able to send a document knowing that it can’t be shared, altered, or printed. This is a huge step forward for businesses that lose all control once they have sent a document.

Document Engagement Metrics

At a glance, I know exactly who has read a proposal and how much time they spent on each page. Microsoft Word won’t tell you that.

For sales, this is an information gold mine. Or, if you are trying to raise funds, this is insight into who is actually interested that is easily gleaned.

I find these metrics ultra-valuable. There’s definitely a reason more and more document management solutions are adding these features.

Document Creation

Making great looking, on-brand, up-to-date content of any kind is hard. Document management software takes all the formatting and presentation legwork out of the equation. 

There are templates for all kinds of use cases, helping you quickly build proposals and newsletters that look phenomenal, automatically optimized for both web and mobile.

Some products have a visual document builder. Drag and drop your way to a show-stopping proposal that includes videos, or draw up the perfect contract with a signable field.

Design legal documents with confidence, no law degree necessary.

It’s really nice when a document management solution connects to your CRM software and autofills templates with customer information. Get a proposal in a lead’s inbox before the first call is over.

Logging and Versioning

As you might expect, good document management software keeps a careful record of events. 

This is important for collaboration. People always know that they are working on the latest version of the same document. This avoids needless time lost due to redundant actions and confusion.

Plus, with prior versions logged, changes to documents can be examined and the original can be restored if something bad happens.

For companies that are subject to lots of regulations, document management software provides helpful audit trails and additional compliance features.

eSignature and Payment Gateway

I really like having an electronic signature solution built into my document management platform. It removes a needless hurdle between my customers and my service. 

Closing a deal is hard enough. I don’t want to have to fret about how to get a signature.

Plus, I’m not asking a potential customer to sign up for a third-party signature service. It’s all in-house and frictionless.

The same is true of connecting a payment gateway. It’s always a good idea to streamline the process of getting paid. I mean, look at Amazon. You can pay with one click from practically anywhere on their site. Not an accident.

An eSignature solution and payment gateway really go hand-in-hand. Integrations with PayPal and Stripe allow you to get both signature and payment in a single step.

Can the same be said about the products that you use?

However your eSignature and payment gateway connect, find a document management solution that makes the basic stuff a breeze.

The Different Types of Document Management Software

There’s a lot of overlap between the two main types of document management software. Every product is going to help you track, sort, and find your documents faster.

That said, they’re focused on different problems that companies face.

Some businesses are looking for a solution that helps them move their documents to the cloud. By digitizing their paper archives and records, these companies can finally preserve and organize all their information in a searchable format. 

Others need a tool that lets them create and manage documents of every kind. These tools come with features that enable internal collaboration as well as secure client-side sharing.

The first step for finding the right document management software for you is deciding which of these categories best fits your needs.

Document Imaging Systems

One of the major tasks for traditional document management software is scanning and imaging paper files. 

Whether companies are going paperless or interfacing with vendors that still use hard copies, document imaging systems quickly create high-fidelity digital documents.

These products are going to come with two main features. 

One, they should have fairly well-developed OCR capabilities. Being able to recognize text, document imaging systems with OCR can automate the process of recognizing, naming, and filing all your important paperwork.

The second thing they do is provide an interface to organize your documents once they have been digitized. This may be a built-in interface or the software can connect with a storage system you already use, like Google Drive.

Document Management Systems

A document management system (DMS) provides the functionality businesses need to stay in control of all their important paperwork. 

This includes some document imaging capabilities as well as really well-developed tools for searching, tracking, organizing, and sharing all kinds of file types.

The truth is that the file/folder system of something like Windows is just not sufficient for the real-time needs of most businesses. 

For one thing, they are not able to create the documents they need, like PDFs with signable fields or emails that track customer engagement. 

On top of that, staying organized with traditional file systems gets really tricky during periods of growth. Documents can get lost, shared incorrectly, or walk out the door with a former employee. Then there’s nothing you can do.

With a DMS, you retain control. Beyond that, these tools take over a lot of the busywork. Documents are stored in known locations, easy to find when they are misplaced, and always available to anyone who needs them. 

Documents are also always automatically updated to their latest version, even if multiple people are working on them at the same time.

There is still a lot of variety within the DMS product category. What you are looking for is something that is focused on delivering the capabilities you need. 

Some DMS solutions are built for sales teams, some for automating administrative tasks, and others are tailor-made for companies facing strict compliance requirements.

Find one that’s good at what you need it to be.

#1 – DocSend — Best For Sales Engagement

DocSend is a turnkey document management solution that provides great information about how people interact with the files you share.

Once your documents are uploaded to DocSend—which integrates with all the top storage platforms—you can share secure links. 

No more attachments, no more asking leads to download monster files, and no more getting stuck in a client’s spam folder.

Whenever someone views a link you’ve shared, you’ll get a notification and the ability to track how they engaged with the document. See whether they forwarded your document and get page-by-page analytics that show you where they spent the most time.

What’s really holding the customer’s attention? Now you know. 

These insights can be really valuable for figuring out what’s really connecting with each customer.

Another nice feature is the ability to create Spaces. You can get all of your sales material in one place and use flexible permissions to let different customers engage with the right files.

Whenever you share a document, you can set passcodes, expiry dates, and later revoke access.

There are obvious uses for all of these features in sales, but DocSend will work wonders for organizations that need rich engagement metrics. I’m thinking fundraising and marketing, really anyone who benefits from being able to gauge readers’ interest level in their documents. 

With DocSend, you also get:

• Branded spaces and deal rooms
• Signable documents
• Team engagement reporting
• Audit trails
• Watermarking
• One-click NDA

This last feature, in particular, is super helpful for sharing sales materials. Make it so all viewers have to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) before accessing a document, even if someone else forwarded it to them. 

Increase the security of your intellectual property and eliminate the back-and-forth of traditional NDA signing.

DocSend is available with an annual subscription at the following pricing tiers:

• Personal: $10/month per user
• Standard: $45month per user
• Advanced: $150/month per user
• Enterprise: Contact sales

The Personal plan is great for entrepreneurs who need to share secure information with total peace of mind. They also get great document-level analytics to know what people are doing with proposals.

The Standard plan will work well for any business and Advanced will satisfy the most comprehensive compliance requirements.

There’s a 14-day free trial with DocSend, which will let you test drive all the premium features.

#2 – FileCenter DMS — Best for Going Paperless

FileCenter DMS is so far ahead of the game in terms of helping companies get out of the file cabinet and into the future.

First of all, it has a great interface for staying organized throughout the biggest jobs. You can divide and label information easily, even automating document separation and routing.

The interface will be super approachable to anyone who has used Windows before. Navigating your documents is the same, but you get all sorts of amazing powers because of the advanced optical character recognition (OCR) features. 

The text recognition is so good with FileCenter DMS, that you can automatically make OCR part of the digitization process. As a scan comes in, FileCenter can read the text and name the document automatically.

Scanning a document makes it searchable, indexable, and copyable. Instantly. You can also use OCR on existing scans.

And how about this? You can scan a document and turn it into a Word doc with one click. FileCenter extracts the text, pushes it to Word, and voilà!

It should be pretty clear how FileCenter DMS can supercharge your efforts to digitize your entire workplace. On top of the best-in-breed text recognition, they offer:

• Inbox for incoming files
• Integrations with Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
• Automatic page cleanup
• One-click PDF conversion
• Local and network search
• File recovery

FileCenter DMS is a one-time purchase, downloaded to a single computer. There are three different editions:

• FileCenter DMS Standard: $99.95
• FileCenter DMS Pro: $199.95
• FileCenter DMS Pro Plus: $299.95

Compared to many of the top SaaS document management solutions, the fact you only have to pay once for FileCenter DMS is very alluring. And, if you need more than one license, FileCenter offers multi-user discounts. 

If you are looking for a way to digitize documents with no learning curve, look no further.

#3 – PandaDoc — Best for Closing More Deals

PandaDoc is a wonderful document management solution that also will help your sales team build more appealing, on-brand content in less time. It really feels like a secret weapon.

Create a proposal, contract, or estimate from one of your templates in seconds. Literally whip one up while a rep is on the phone, send the secure document, and clients can sign before hanging up.

Think of PandaDoc as a smarter workspace for sales professionals. Creating the templates themselves is quite easy. Add blocks like text fields, dates, signatures, pricing tables, videos, and other content with a drag-and-drop interface.

Don’t want to design your own template? No worries—PandaDoc supplies 450 templates prebuilt for a variety of scenarios.

PandaDoc has native integrations with CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive that tie right into your workspace. Through this, customer and pricing info can get pulled over automatically.

You can also add optional products at the end of an invoice for an extra upsell opportunity. 

There are a number of other handy features that streamline the sales process, including:

• Simple workflow builder
• Content locking
• Document activity tracking
• Audit trail
• eSignature and payment gateway

PandaDoc offers a free tier, which gives you unlimited document uploads, eSignatures, and payments. Pretty nifty, right? 

If you want to create smart, trackable documents, you’ll have to go with one of the paid plans:

• Essentials: $19/month per user
• Business: $49/month per user
• Enterprise: Contact sales

With Business, you get direct CRM integration, which I think is definitely worth it. Try PandaDoc free for 14 days to evaluate how much of an impact it can have.

#4 – Rubex by eFileCabinet — Best for Automating Daily Tasks

Rubex is the document management solution from eFileCabinet that is helping companies streamline their operations. From frictionless hiring to lightning-quick data entry, tasks that used to be error-prone become flawless.

The intuitive interface centralizes all of your documents in a single place. From there, employees can search the full text of any document that has been scanned. 

With zonal OCR, Rubex can be set to recognize key zones of text, automatically naming the file.

Documents literally file themselves!

As good as the search, tracking, and text recognition features are, it is the ability to automate simple workflows that sets Rubex apart. 

Set triggers to push the paperwork through based on rejections, approvals, and other variables, so people are spending less time on repetitive tasks.

It’s a really mature document management solution, but it takes no time to figure out. Some of the other great features that save time and frustration include:

• eSignature integration
• File versioning
• Audit logging
• Missing item search
• Automated governance
• Direct integration with Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive

The pricing for Rubex by eFileCabinet is broken into three tiers:

• Advantage: Starting at $55/month per user
• Business: Starting at $99/month per user
• Unlimited: Starting at $199/month per user

Full-text search, OCR, and many of the automated governance features come with all plans. The zonal OCR and advanced workflow features are only available with Unlimited subscriptions, or as an add-on with Business. 

That said, Advantage comes loaded with lots of features to help teams stay organized. If you are looking to centralize your document management, Advantage will work as well or better than many of the other options on this list.

#5 – MasterControl — Best For Enterprise Compliance

MasterControl is full-service document management software that can handle any law or regulation. 

Anything. 

Think about medical device manufacturers, just one example of a business that relies on MasterControl. 

Believe it or not, there’s a wee bit of secure documentation that goes into convincing the US government that an artificial hip is safe to put inside people.

MasterControl provides the document trail, security, and compliance features to keep companies in the clear throughout the most rigorous audit processes.

Their document security module is one part of a larger MasterControl quality management system and, depending on your needs, it may be wise to purchase some of the other modules.

For companies that operate in competitive and highly-regulated markets, a lighter document management solution is not going to have all of the tools necessary to speed a product to market. 

MasterControl is purpose-built for this reason, and comes with: 

• Continuous validation for FDA compliance
• ISO quality compliance
• Secure web-based routing
• Automated escalation and approval
• Advanced tracking, analytics and reporting

You’ll have to get in touch with MasterControl to get a price for what the document management module will cost you.

MasterControl is not for everyone, but for enterprise compliance you’d be hard pressed to find a more fitting solution to your needs.

Summary

Managing your documents doesn’t have to be a problem. With so many great options out there, the question is which will work best for your situation?

In terms of digitizing documents quickly, FileCenter DMS is the obvious choice. It has the most comprehensive text recognition capabilities at an affordable price.

I really like DocSend and PandaDoc for sales teams. DocSend has deep engagement features that will feed insight to reps about who is interested. 

Choose PandaDoc if you are looking to give your teams a visual edge, as you will be able to create professional, on-brand documents at a moment’s notice.

If you are looking to automate your document workflows, I suggest Rubex by eFileCabinet. Quickly build elegant solutions to cut down on the lag time for every process.

For companies that need to keep firm control over the document lifecycle because of regulatory requirements, MasterControl is the answer. It is built to handle the most complex demands, helping companies bring products to market without a needless delay.

The post Best Document Management Software appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-document-management-software/

Best Free Website Builders

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Do you want to build a website? Luckily for you and the tens of thousands of online businesses out there, a digital website builder makes it easy to create professional sites that function beautifully in no time. 

The best part? There are many free website builder options. 

Website builders make it possible to create a responsive site optimized for SEO without having to invest a ton of money or time, which is perfect for small businesses. 

But you have to learn what features to look for first.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best free website builders on the market today, as well as which one can build the best site in your niche—whether you’re selling painted rocks, are a freelance writer, or want to bootstrap a dropshipping business.

The Top 4 Options For The Best Free Website Builders:

1. Wix – The best for e-commerce sites
2. Weebly – The best for general sites
3. WordPress – The best for blogging and content creation
4. Site123– The best for quick and easy landing pages

How to Choose The Best Free Website Builder For You

What is your site’s end goal? That’s the first and most important question you want to ask yourself when choosing a site builder.

Do you want to start a blog to share your extensive knowledge and thought leadership with the world?

Do you have a graphic design portfolio you want to show off to gain more freelance clients? Are you a non-profit that needs to display annual achievements and your mission statement? 

When creating your site with a free website builder, your end goal will determine what capabilities you need. Once you have your site’s end goal in mind, here are additional criteria to narrow down your choices.

Design Capabilities

If you’re a freelancer, a designer, or a photographer wanting to create an online portfolio, consider the design capabilities of each builder. 

• Customization: How deep do their personalization and customization features go?
• Templates: Do they provide eye-catching site templates you can use, so you don’t have to start from scratch?
• Media storage: Does your site builder give you a lot of image storage space? Depending on how big your site will be, this is a key question if you want to keep things free. 

When thinking about how to present your portfolio or brand, this is the site builder criteria you most want to pay attention to. 

Learning Curve

How fast do you need your website built? This determines how much time you’re willing to spend learning the ins and outs of your website builder. 

• Intuitive design: Some builders are pretty intuitive to learn, while others might have a larger learning curve.
• Ease of use: Do you want a drag and drop builder to make building and configuring your site easier? Or do you prefer writing in HTML and coding the site yourself?
• Tutorials and technical support: Do they have a robust support options where you can find answers or get a timely response from the company?

If you’re pressed for time and want something built fast, you might not want to pick a hefty builder with lots of capabilities to learn. A more straightforward drag-and-drop builder can get the job done faster and easier. 

Long-Term Options

As your business grows, your website will inevitably need to grow with it. Your site needs are going to change over time. When choosing your site builder, it’s a good idea to look into what their paid features include and if they fit the bill in terms of what your site might need as it grows. 

These can be things like:

• Additional hosting capacity: Once traffic to your site hits a certain threshold, you’ll likely need to purchase additional hosting to sustain your traffic growth. 
• Additional plugins and design features: If there is ever a need for additional plugins and features, does the free builder provide that?
• Personalized support: Once you hit a wall creating your own site, do they have sufficient support to help you take things to the next level with CSS and HTML modifications?

Type of Website

What type of website do you need to build? As mentioned, determining your site’s end goal and working backward can help you answer that.

To give you a better idea, the internet is generally made up of five kinds of websites:

• Blog: Are you going to continually publish content that informs, entertains, or inspires a particular audience?
• Portfolio: Are you showcasing your work to sell your services to potential clients?
• E-commerce site: Are you selling products or services with an online storefront?
• Small business/organization site: Are you rounding out your brand with a public mission statement or publishing general public business information for the world to access?
• Online application: While this is technically a website with more complexity, it’s beyond a free builder’s scope since it would need serious developer chops to build well. 

For most businesses, the type of site you need is a pretty basic question. But an important one to answer.

For example, most site builders have blogging capabilities, but this shouldn’t be the only thing you base your decision on. Once you’ve figured out which type of website you need to build, then we can move on to learning about the different kinds of site builders on the market. 

The Different Types of  Free Website Builders

Now, there’s a slew of free site builders out there, and they tend to fall into three general groups. 

Basic Website Builders

I’ve yet to come across one good reason not to build a website for your business. Non-profit organizations, informational sites, and even public speakers with a personal brand can all benefit from creating a professional website found by anyone online.

Basic web builders tend to have multiple functionalities. They don’t cater to one specific category. For example, suppose you’re looking to set up a portfolio site that’s low maintenance and simple, with a general contact form, a home page, a portfolio page, and an about page. In that case, a general website builder can be a great option. 

E-commerce Platforms

Are you currently selling products in a physical location? You’ll want to go with a website builder specifically made for e-commerce. Today, it isn’t enough to display your goods on a physical storefront. You need a digital storefront, too. Or maybe you want to open an e-commerce site without a physical storefront. E-commerce website builders make it easy to do that.

As an e-commerce business, you want capabilities that let you list products, accept multiple types of payments, categorize goods, and allow you to track backend inventory in real-time. 

Blogging and Content Creation

The web isn’t much without content. And if you want your site found by your audience, you want to make sure to use a website builder made to enable that end goal.

If you’re a thought leader, want to build your online brand, be an aspiring blogger, or create a community around a service or product, then a website builder geared for content generation is your best bet. 

You’ll be better off in the long-term as your business grows, and you won’t run into the problems you’d have if you choose a web builder meant for e-commerce. 

#1 – Wix — The Best For E-commerce Sites

If you’re looking for a free website builder that does everything a real-life store manager would do and then some, Wix makes that a reality.  

The thought of building an online store can be paralyzing. But once you create a Wix e-commerce site, you have access to perks like real-time tax calculations and adding several payment channels that you wouldn’t have with a builder geared toward content or portfolios. 

As a product seller, Wix helps you create beautifully designed storefronts with a selection of over 800 pre-built themes and templates ready to personalize at the click of a mouse. 

There’s no doubt e-commerce businesses are in good hands with Wix. It is a builder that goes out of its way to advertise themselves as such, instead of being a jack-of-all-trades. Still, as with every site builder, there can be some drawbacks. For example, if you ever want to move your site to another provider, you can’t do that with Wix’s builder because of how it’s configured. You’ll have to completely recreate it on a new platform.

Some of their e-commerce features designed to drive sales are:

• Sales and customer behavior analytics
• Displaying prices in international currencies
• Easily creating subscriptions and discount coupons for customers
• Integration with all social channels for greater visibility
• Automated email marketing and abandoned cart recovery

To get started with Wix, visit their site and sign up.

#2 – Weebly — The Best For General Sites

Let’s face it. You might not need a free site builder with all the bells and whistles. And that’s okay. That’s why Weebly exists. It’s the best site builder for general sites that need to do their job well.

It’s perfect for information businesses, non-profits, small portfolios, mission statements, or landing pages. This is because they make it easy to bring your site together with a no-nonsense dashboard and with options like built-in image editors and professional design options that let you create video backgrounds.

As a general site, you don’t want to deal with the technical stuff like SSL certification, encryption, and often costly third-party domain shopping. Weebly integrates takes care of all that for you right on their platform. 

One of their best features as a site builder is that you have the option to fully customize their HTML and CSS if you choose to do so. While it might not be something you need right away, it’s nice to know you have that capability as a future option. Weebly is built for site design with a more structured approach. If you’re looking for a builder with a bit more design flexibility and freedom, this might be a downside. 

Their best site builder features include:

• Easy-to-use dashboard
• Drag-and-drop site builder
• Additional integrations like payments and product search with upgrade
• Integrated analytics that kills the need for additional plugin installation
• Mobile app to manage your site from your phone 

You can sign up with Weebly here.

#3 – WordPress — The Best For Blogging And Content Creation

If I had to introduce WordPress to you, I’d say that it’s the top contender for blogging and content creation. 

Thankfully they provide a free site builder to get you started (in addition to paid options). 

For years, bloggers and companies like Disney, Dropbox, Spotify, and NBC have leveraged WordPress.com’s powerful site-building features to build audiences, expand their brand, and drive sales worldwide.

If you’re looking to blog, share your knowledge with the world, or create loads of content around your business, you’ll want to start with their free site builder. It’s designed to be straightforward and easy to use without any confusing and unnecessary features. This way, you can get started creating and publishing your content in record time. To help you if you get stuck, they provide free webinars that walk you through creating your site step by step. 

Their free site builder’s biggest downside is that you might grow out of its limited blogging toolbox. But if you want paid access to fully customize your site in the future, WordPress makes it easy to upgrade without the technical hassle. 

Some of the WordPress site builder’s best content creation features include: 

• Optimized for search engine results
• 24/7 live chat and support
• Free subdomain that you can upgrade later to a custom domain
• Free hosting without having to use a third party
• Large selection of free themes to choose from and customize designed for sharing and creating content

Sign up with WordPress and start building your website for free. 

#4 – Site123 — The Best For Quick And Easy Landing Pages

Easy and quick are the two best words to describe Site123. With its no-brainer features, it’s the best site builder for simple sites that don’t need many internal pages. 

In other words, it’s great for landing pages. 

Your business might not need a blog, robust e-commerce features, or top-notch design capabilities, but it’s still in need of a place online it can call home. 

Site123 helps you check that off your list by being the most no-nonsense site builder possible. You can avoid frustration and a big learning curve with Site123’s optimally designed web building process, especially if it’s your first time building a site. 

Their best landing page buildeing features include:

• Free speedy hosting
• Built-in media gallery with free professional icons and video
• Compatible with third-party plugins
• Beautiful pre-made landing page templates so you don’t start from scratch
• 500 MB of storage

You can start creating your online presence with Site123 here. 

What is your site’s end goal?

That’s the perfect question to start and end with because it’s the best way to determine which free website builder you’ll want to use. 

There’s no shortage of site builders in the market. What sets them apart is what they’re designed for and how you can use that to reach your goals.

Remember that many of them are geared for where you are now, but that can change when you think about how you plan to expand in the future. 

Still, a detailed overview of each builder and what they offer will point you in the right direction.

After you determine your site’s end goal, pick the right free builder to start creating your masterpiece from one of the options on this list. 

The post Best Free Website Builders appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-free-website-builders/

20 Buzzword Ideas for Your PPC Campaigns

The best pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns catch the eye, target relevant audiences, and motivate users to click or buy. Buzzwords are one way to reach these goals in the brief amount of time someone may spend looking at an ad.

Effective PPC marketing will always come down to compelling language. No matter how many features you use or Google Ad extensions you add, the best ads will always be the ones with the most powerful ad copy.

What Is a Buzzword?

Buzzwords are popular or trendy words or phrases. They are sometimes referred to as “jargon” or “business jargon.”

A buzzword can be a single word, a short phrase, or an acronym that gains popularity and replaces more traditional words.

Is buzzword marketing effective in business? It can be. There are several instances where marketing with jargon can be appropriate. For example, if you want to show your audience you belong and understand their problems or when you want to filter out irrelevant readers who aren’t likely to buy from you.

Take a look at these ads for companies offering digital transformation. Are they written for a wide audience?

No. They are clearly making an effort to stand out to a very particular audience, and use buzzwords they know will jump out at a potential customer.

These ads don’t explain or define these terms because they know their ideal client already understands them.

How Can Buzzwords Boost Your PPC Campaigns? 

When you only have a moment to make an impression, buzzwords can have a big impact. They become popular for a reason, and they are often catchy and memorable.

We tend to develop a preference for things that sound familiar, and that includes language. This is called cognitive fluency. When we’re familiar with words, we find them easier to understand — and easier to remember.

Why Is It Important to Use Buzzwords in Your PPC Campaigns?

Countless ads are competing for users’ attention. Your PPC ads need to make a big impact in a small space. Buzzwords can help your ad stand out while appealing to the people most likely to become customers.

Here are some of the benefits of using buzzwords in your PPC campaigns:

Grab Attention Quickly

Most readers only skim ads or read the first few words before moving on. Buzzwords can attract attention and quickly target relevant audiences due to swift recognition of the terms.

If you could only use a word or two to catch the attention of your customers, do you think your ad would stand out if you use words like quality, sell, buy, and fast — words used by every industry or business? Probably not.

It would be more effective to let them know your ad is relevant to them by using buzzwords they’ll recognize from their industry or interests.

Increase Your Visibility

Buzzwords can show up in timely searches for hot topics. You can then direct users to landing pages with content that uses less flashy language.

You can also use varying headlines on multiple ads with attention-getting buzzwords and change them as language evolves.

Target the Right Audience

A specialized audience who connects with your ad copy can become a highly motivated and well-targeted audience. Buzzwords allow you to signal that you’re an insider speaking to other insiders, and communicate value quickly based on that status.

Show You Understand Your Audience’s Needs

PPC is about marketing, but your ads are being read by humans who can be swayed by psychological impulses. Most are making practical decisions based on their emotions, whether they realize it or not.

People use this language because they want to belong. When you use the same language, you’ll tap into a psychological need to feel heard. They’ll respond to make sure they aren’t left out of the latest movement.

If your ad can create an emotional response that fills one or more of these needs, you’re likely to inspire action.

Customers are looking for reasons to buy from you. Reassuring them that you know what they’re facing and can solve their problems encourages them to buy from you.

How to Find Buzzwords to Use in Your PPC Campaigns

The best way to find buzzwords that your customers will recognize is to pay attention to the language they use.

What do your customers say when they email or call your business? What language do they use to describe their pain points and the frustrations they face? What are they asking for when they ask for solutions? What words do they use when they write reviews?

Talk to your service department. They talk to your customers all day long, and they’re used to hearing your customer’s language. If you can address these concerns in your ad, you’re one step closer to showing your customers you are listening. This is a powerful shift.

You can also look at conversations in the communities you serve. What are your customers or audience saying online? What are your competitors saying? What topics are at the center of the most active conversations online?

How to Use Buzzwords

If you want to use buzzwords in your PPC marketing, you should have a good understanding of the structure of an ad. Each ad you write will be made up of a few elements:  headline 1, headline 2, and a description.

You may find that your customers only read the headline of your ad, or that some devices cut off portions of your ad due to space constraints. If you use buzzwords to add impact, make sure your customers will actually see them.

20 Ideas to Get You Started Using Buzzwords in PPC Campaigns  

Ready to get started with buzzwords? Here are 20 ways to make the most of them in your paid ads.

1. Consider the audiences you want to target with your ads.
2. If these audiences resemble your existing customers, use the language they use. 
3. Consult online reviews to see how customers describe pain points.
4. Check your customer emails and form submissions for the solutions they’re seeking.
5. Review client testimonials for positive feedback and how they describe success.
6. Ask your customer service department for suggestions.
7. Look into online forums and social media chats for new buzzword ideas.
8. Develop your messaging from your customers’ language.
9. Create your ads from this new messaging.
10. Make sure your landing page content matches your customers’ search queries.
11. Create multiple ads with buzzwords that all point to one relevant landing page.
12. Keep your website content free of buzzwords and jargon that could go stale.
13. Update and refresh your ads as the advertising language evolves.
14. Do your best to send users to relevant content so they don’t navigate away.
15. Think about the buyer’s journey as you write your ads.
16. Let your customers see themselves in your ads.
17. Show up as an insider in specialized industries.
18. Become a trusted source for solutions by showing what you know.
19. Create urgency by tapping into your customers’ need to be included.
20. Target new audiences by adopting buzzwords used in their communities.

What’s the Difference Between Keywords, Buzzwords, and Hashtags?

Buzzwords are trendy words that attract a lot of attention — but only for a short period of time. They are not necessarily language that will stay fresh, and could eventually become stale or develop negative connotations. Buzzwords are ideal for short content that needs to make a fast impression, like your PPC ads.

Hashtags are words or phrases written without spaces after a hash sign (#) in social media posts. They allow you to tag your content so people can find your posts when searching for those topics online. Using hashtags on social platforms can ensure you show up in the right conversations online and grow your social media following.

Keywords are the search terms you want to research when trying to show up on the search engine results pages (SERPs.) While keywords are likely to be used in your ads and your site content and may help your content rank over time, they likely aren’t as trendy and short-lived as buzzwords might be.

Popular Buzzword Examples

From real estate to sales, healthcare, insurance, or the auto industry, every industry has its own specific advertising buzzwords.

Where else does language change quickly? Anywhere there is a lot of innovation in new areas and new capabilities being developed.

For example, in technology circles, if you aren’t using the terms your industry is throwing around, you’ll be left behind.

If your customers see you selling without language that positions you as an expert and trusted authority, they’ll go elsewhere. Buzzwords signal to your audience that you are part of the specialized group they want to be in.

In the auto industry, people have sold used cars nearly as long as cars have been on the road. However, the use of the term “certified pre-owned” vehicles is an example of how marketing language has evolved over time.

Whether you like the term or not, most people will have a different reaction to ads for “used cars” compared to “certified pre-owned” vehicles.

Without using the new term, you might struggle to sell used cars at the same level as dealers who have adopted it. In this case, not using a buzzword could hurt you.

Examples of Common Buzzwords

• Disruption
• Hyperlocal
• Freemium
• Clickbait
• Leverage
• Touchpoint
• Transformation

Examples of Common Buzzword Phrases

• Blue-sky thinking
• Pushing the envelope
• Facetime
• Ping me
• Digital transformation
• Big data
• Next-gen
• Deep dive
• Growth hacking
• Value add

Examples of Common Buzzword Acronyms and Meanings

• B2B (business-to-business)
• EOD (end of day)
• CAD (computer-aided design)
• ROI (return on investment)
• AI (artificial intelligence)
• RFID (radio frequency identification)
• SEO (search engine optimization)
• CRO (conversion rate optimization)

How NOT to Use Buzzwords in PPC

Using buzzwords is a powerful way to boost your ad copy and quickly attract attention from specific audiences. However, be sure the buzzwords you use are relevant, widely used by your audience, and don’t have multiple meanings.

Don’t use buzzwords for communities you aren’t a part of or that will confuse your customers. They want to hear the language THEY use, not the language you use internally.

Ad copy needs to make a point at a glance, and without context, so your buzzwords will need to fit these parameters as well. If it needs explaining, it doesn’t belong in an ad.

If your value proposition isn’t clear in the first few seconds, your ad will likely miss the mark.

What About Using Buzzwords In Longer Content?

Avoid using buzzwords in your landing pages and content marketing. Buzzwords often sound dated after a few months, and it’s time-consuming to update pages of content on a regular basis.

Your ads can be updated and refreshed any time there is a change in language or the general response to popular buzzword changes.

Using too many buzzwords in your writing can turn people off and make them think your content lacks substance. Some buzzwords are so overused that they may turn people off entirely.

Examples of buzzwords to avoid include:

• Low-hanging fruit
• Hit the ground running
• Bells and whistles
• Get your ducks in a row
• All hands on deck

Conclusion

Using buzzwords in your PPC campaigns can help you target specialized audiences swiftly and effectively. When used carefully, they can effectively trigger an emotional response in your customers and move them to action.

While using compelling language in your ad copy is essential, remember that plain language will always win out over complicated jargon.

Don’t clutter your ads with multiple buzzwords or try to cram unrelated buzzwords into single ads. Let them stand on their own, craft compelling copy for the rest of the ad, and watch your relevance.

Ad copy is a specialized skill, and many business owners find PPC consulting helpful to see results faster. My team offers PPC management if you’d like to get in touch.

Have you tried using buzzwords to boost results in your PPC marketing? What results have you seen?

The post 20 Buzzword Ideas for Your PPC Campaigns appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/buzzword-ppc/

Stock Photos are Dead: Create These Blog Images Instead

The use of blog images in posts is a no-brainer.

Images are an easy way to break up chunks of text, add context, or give your readers a more accessible medium through which to digest your content.

With the growth of written content online, it’s harder to have your content be unique from others. Writers need to adapt to the changing landscape.

How can you continue to engage your audience when so many bloggers have written on the same topics—and will continue to do so?

The answer is original imagery.

Blog Image Trends: Why Stock Photos Are Dead

With more content available on the web every day, it’s more important than ever to stand out.

While finding ways to put a unique spin on your blog post topics is critical, there are only so many angles on one subject. You need other types of content, such as photographs and illustrations, to make your mark.

Unfortunately, stock photos just don’t cut it anymore.

This reason is in part because blog images don’t only live on your blog. They make the rounds on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest whenever your posts are shared.

Chances are, your users have seen similar stock photos many times already, and they’re bored with them.

With so many articles to read, videos to watch, and social media news to ingest, the average reader won’t spend hours looking for the best article on your topic. They’ll choose the most visually appealing option nearly every time.

So before you use stock photography in your next blog post, ask yourself:

Will my readers interact with the same stale image they’ve seen numerous times when researching this topic? Or will they choose to interact with an original image that more perfectly captures the content?

Why You Should Use Interactive and Original Images on Your Blog

Your goal as a digital marketer is to increase conversions.

So how do you do this even better than you already are, given the changing online landscape?

There are plenty of ways to drive traffic to your website. But what’s more important is driving the right traffic—the users who will engage with your content.

Images can help. According to BlogTyrant, images can up conversions by over 300%.

But keep in mind the kinds of images you use can have an impact on your conversions, too.

For years, stock imagery was the norm. But, it’s time to move away from those pictures.

Original images offer authenticity stock ones can’t provide. They offer your readers a peek behind the curtain, allowing them to see a deeper side of your content.

Unique blog image content can offer other benefits, including increased customer trust and brand recognition.

According to Brain Rules, a slogan alone only sticks in the minds of 10% of people. When related imagery is added, though, retention rises to 65%. That’s an increase you can’t ignore if increasing brand recognition is on your radar.

Original image content has an often-overlooked SEO benefit, too, and that’s the improvement of Google’s E-A-T score. The E-A-T score lets Google assess content quality based on these three standards:

• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness

How can original imagery improve your E-A-T rating?

Whether you shoot and edit photography on your own or you work with a digital illustrator, your unique imagery will have a personal spin. If done right, this will become a vital part of your personal brand strategy.

You show expertise by including images that clearly demonstrate you understand your content.

You show authoritativeness by having consistent, unique branding people recognize immediately.

You show trustworthiness by providing information through images that are accurate and increase user’s knowledge.

A strong personal brand will bump all three elements of an E-A-T rating.

Placing Images on Your Blog

Images, just like text, can also be perceived as “fluff.” Because of this, you need to know when to use pictures on your blog to optimize user experience and benefit your SEO.

You should use images to do three very specific things.

Break Up Large Chunks of Text

According to a study by Microsoft, the average attention span of heavy screen users is a mere eight seconds.

That means you have eight seconds to captivate your audience—and large blocks of text may make them click away pretty quickly.

However, you don’t have to write two sentence posts to make them take fewer than eight seconds to read. Instead, employ clever tactics to keep your readers engaged.

One tactic is to introduce other media, such as photos or digital illustrations. This creates a less intimidating reading experience while also making the post more visually appealing.

Explain a Concept

Some concepts are too abstract or complex to explain effectively in writing, especially if your audience isn’t strictly experts in your topic.

Custom diagrams and visuals can help readers understand the material.

Enliven the Content

As much as you like to think your content is witty and engaging, some topics just won’t interest readers for very long. You can use original visuals to add some life to otherwise “dull” content in these cases.

When Should You Use Custom Illustrations or Photos?

The cost of custom graphics may be prohibitive for some bloggers, but it is possible to find some middle ground.

Use custom illustrations and photography sparingly. Ask yourself where they make the most sense and insert them accordingly.

If you’re creating a landing page for a new product or service, for example, this would be the place to splurge. After all, you want this content to stand out from your competitors—what better way than with a custom graphic?

You can also utilize custom illustrations to drive a point home or explain data.

Whether a comic strip panel, a diagram, or a flow chart, you can use custom illustrations to share ideas with your readers in a way words simply can’t.

When Should You Create Interactive Graphics?

You can take your blog’s imagery one step further with interactive graphics.

Interactive graphics are custom graphics that support reader interactions like mouse pointer movement, clicks, or keyboard input.

This form of original imagery is commonly used in infographics, though other display types include side-by-side comparisons, flow charts, and graphs.

The most obvious use for interactive graphics is to catch the reader’s eye.

Perhaps more importantly, they can also be used to break complex information down into bite-sized chunks. For example, take a look at this nifty interactive graphic that shows users how Google search works without becoming overwhelmed.

Examples of Successful Blog Images

There are plenty of ways to use images on your blog.

Here’s one creative example from Oberlo:

Instead of one lengthy infographic, the content creators chose individual infographic “slides” to answer each question on their post about social media statistics.

This use of graphics achieves two things:

1. It makes the information easy to digest.
2. It makes it simple for readers to share the information on social media.

As mentioned above, one of the benefits of original blog imagery is the personal branding aspect. When you use a particular style consistently, it becomes synonymous with your brand.

Copyblogger provides an excellent example of this:

Their featured images consistently use quotes overlaid on eye-catching images. They work as a watermark of sorts, as anyone who sees their imagery elsewhere will be able to identify them as belonging to Copyblogger immediately.

And what about interactive content? Your options are only limited by your imagination.

Take a look at this comprehensive timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

As you scroll through the timeline, new images and text content can be seen. This example tells a complex story in a linear, non-intimidating format.

How to Get Original or Interactive Blog Images

It’s never been easier or more affordable to get original and interactive blog images.

When it comes to hiring a professional, you have options. You can easily find freelancers on sites like Fiverr or Upwork or use a service like Design Pickle.

If you know of a digital artist with a style you like, you may be able to commission them. They are often more expensive than the freelancers you’ll find on the websites mentioned above, but they’re great if you need a specific style.

For bloggers strapped for time, there are services you can hire to do the heavy lifting. The service may be a creative agency or a blog content specialist. Either way, you provide details, and they’ll commission work on your behalf.

Do you have more time than money? You can also create blog images using tools like Canva, Pixlr, or PicMonkey. For a more professional finish, you can invest in a creative suite like Adobe Creative Cloud.

How Much Do Original Blog Images Cost?

As with most services, there are options for almost every budget.

If you hire a freelancer for a one-off gig, then the price varies based on the number of images, the complexity of the work, and how you plan to use the final product.

In some cases, you may be able to get a discount when you buy in bulk.

Commissioning a professional is likely to be the most expensive option. Unless you have money to burn, this should be reserved for high-impact projects, like illustrations for sales landing pages or campaign launches.

Tools to Create Blog Images

Whether you’re on a limited budget or just want to let the creative juices flow, you can opt to create your own images.

There are free and low-cost options, such as Canva and PicMonkey. These tools have limitations, including watermarks, if you don’t opt for premium memberships. You also need to be sure all assets used in your design are copyright-free.

For 100% original work, you may find creative suites like Adobe to be the best bang for your buck. With access to tools like Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, you can create and edit various blog illustrations, diagrams, and original photography.

There are plenty of tutorials available online for creating graphics using Adobe Creative Cloud—so if you’re unable to pay a designer for their services, you don’t have to just guess about how to do this.

Conclusion

There’s no need to scroll through page after page of stock photos to find the right images for your blog post. You can create original blog images, whether by yourself or with the help of a professional.

Original blog imagery, including photography and graphics, can take your blog posts to the next level. It also helps build your overall brand and take your marketing to the next level.

With plenty of options at your fingertips, from free tools to freelance artists, there’s no reason not to use original images on your blog. 

Which of the tools mentioned above are you most likely to use to create images for your blog? Or do you prefer ones we haven’t mentioned? Let us know!

The post Stock Photos are Dead: Create These Blog Images Instead appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/stock-photos/

Best Email Autoresponder

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

You know the revenue is out there and you know an email campaign can help you get it. But how do you keep a strong handle on your campaign as it plays out over weeks and months?

Email autoresponders can save you a ton of time and deliver huge returns on campaign investment. Yet automation can be a double-edged sword.

The sad truth is that many thoughtful email campaigns become inbox wallpaper. It only takes a few mistimed or off-target emails before your audience starts to tune them out.

A good email autoresponder gives you the ability to connect with customers, at scale, without overwhelming them. 

Or your team, for that matter. These products eliminate many of the tedious and repetitive tasks that are so essential to building relationships at scale.

Delight your customers with content they’re interested in. Get full visibility into your open and click-through rates and watch them climb.

Let’s walk through the best email autoresponders, what they can do for you, and how to select the right one. 

The Top 5 Options for Email Autoresponders

1. Mailchimp – Best for beginners
2. MailerLite – Best free email autoresponder
3. Klaviyo – Best for ecommerce
4. GetResponse – Best for sales teams
5. Moosend – Best for simple marketing automation

How to Choose the Best Email Autoresponder for You

Email autoresponders can help your teams get more done in less time, without sacrificing the personal touch that drives clicks. However, not all email autoresponders are created equal. 

Some will work well for a brief series of 3-5 emails that welcome a new contact and warm them to your products—good for a simple customer journey.

Others help you set up complex automated workflows that respond to customer behavior, shopping tendencies, and other triggers you define.

The end goal is setting up something that automatically sends the right message, to the right customer, at the right time. 

Here are the major features of email autoresponders that are helping companies increase their chances of success:

Automation Capabilities

It’s right there in the name—the big boon of autoresponders is automating menial, manual campaign tasks. 

However, the more robust tools tie into your customer databases or CRM, and let you define triggers based on a range of highly-personalized criteria.

Some of the popular automation capabilities you will see include:

• Welcoming/Onboarding: Greet new users, customers, or employees
• Web Trigger: Make contact when someone clicks on a link, fills out a form, updates a field, makes a purchase, or joins a group
• Reminders: Send time-sensitive emails about deals or webinars
• Celebrations: Send discounts for birthdays and anniversaries
• VIP: Trigger discounts and promotions for loyal customers 
• Abandoned cart: Contact a customer with the opportunity to buy items left in their cart
• Follow up: Reach out after a purchase or interaction
• A/B testing: Experiment with different versions of the same email to analyze performance and evolve your strategy
• Branch flows: Create workflows that split customers based on conditional or logical triggers to direct them down the most appropriate path

A really good autoresponder lets you build out workflows within a visual editor, giving you a bird’s eye view of each trigger and step of the process. 

Make sure you pick something with the capabilities you need to design each customer’s entire journey.

Email Editor

Don’t forget about crafting great emails. They have to be appealing from the subject line to the CTA, and every element must be optimized for web and mobile.

Good email autoresponders make these challenges much easier. My favorite products have intuitive visual email builders that help you make content that converts. 

Beyond designing beautiful emails quickly, you can add buttons, embed content, and preview exactly what your email is going to look like from a customer’s point of view.

Find an autoresponder with an email editor that your employees enjoy using that also delivers predictable results. 

With it, you’ll find that your teams will be able to quickly generate on-brand emails, consistently building out the perfect message for each step of a customer’s journey.

Email Segmentation 

The contacts who make up your list are different people. That should go without saying. 

But, even today, many companies rely on email blasting their full list to get the word out.

Effective email campaigns are based on putting things in front of customers that they actually want. 

Email segmentation allows you to leverage customer data in service of better targeting, through which you can differentiate your contact list into groups based on:

• Age
• Average spend
• Cart contents
• Gender
• Geolocation
• Past purchases
• Weather conditions
• Website behavior

Companies like Starbucks are sending weather-appropriate discounts on drinks: it’s no accident when their emails entice consumers to warm up on a rainy day or cool off when the temperature spikes.

This is a whole new way to approach customers where they are. 

Every company defines their important segments differently. The richer your customer data, the easier it will be to use email segmentation to increase your conversion rate.

Email Personalization

Automated, personalized emails go well beyond using a contact’s name in the subject line. 

With Klaviyo, for example, you can automate the inclusion of product recommendations in the body of your email based on a contact’s location, past purchases, current weather, and so on. 

Some autoresponders leverage machine learning to suggest products that other shoppers with similar tastes have ordered. 

The best tools help you nail the easy stuff—like greeting subscribers by name and remembering their birthdays—while helping you convert customer data into revenue.

Tip: the better your email segmentation strategy, the easier it will be to leverage personalization, especially at scale.

Campaign Management

As your contact list grows, it’s going to include more diverse customers at different stages of their buying journey. 

You are going to want an email autoresponder that gives you the ability to manage this growing list and provides visibility into the ongoing performance of your campaign.

We all know about open rates and click-through rates. Those are important, but make sure you find something that lets you drill down into what matters at the end of the day, like sales per email, ROI per email, and total sales per email sent.

Staying effective in the long term means making adjustments. Campaign management tools help you figure out what’s working and what to change.

Email and Subscriber Limitations

Typically, email autoresponder pricing is based on the number of subscribers you have and the number of emails you send each month.

This should be a pretty straightforward consideration. But if your goal is growth, factor in how many more you’re looking to add to your list over the next month, quarter, or year.

If your email marketing strategy takes off and you need to bump up into a higher pricing tier, will that be a problem for your budget and ROI?

The Different Types of Email Autoresponders

Email autoresponders have been around for a long time. These days, virtually all of your best options are going to come as one component of a larger email marketing service.

That said, you can still find tools that will help you automate email marketing without requiring you to incorporate new services into your business processes.

The questions you need to answer are: Are you looking for basic email autoresponder features that help you automate specific workflows? Or are you looking to automate complex email workflows that dovetail into your larger marketing strategy?

If you answer yes to the first question, a dedicated email automation tool should be able to help you accomplish your goals. If you answered yes to the second question, you are going to want to skip ahead to the bundled products that will better meet your needs.

Dedicated Email Automation Tools

Exemplary products: MailerLite, Mailchimp (Free & Essentials), GetResponse (Basic), Moosend (Free)

Free email autoresponders and lower-tier plans allow you to build out simple workflows. This might be a welcome series, an automated response to a new customer or purchase, or a follow-up with someone who just reached out to customer service.

These dedicated email automation tools are great because they’re so easy to use. Virtually any member of the team can put together workflows that save time each day. 

Of course, these options don’t come with as many features to segment your list, personalize emails, or manage a campaign.

Another potential problem is that it’s harder to assess your campaign performance and make adjustments without advanced tracking and reporting.

That said, dedicated email automation tools allow individuals to accomplish far more than they could ever do manually. 

If you already have a suite of online marketing tools that are working well and all you need is the email automation, these products can work wonders without a significant outlay.

Automation Bundled with Email Marketing Tools 

Exemplary products: Klaviyo, Mailchimp (Standard & Pro), Moosend (Pro & Custom)

To provide a more complete tool for the job, there are a range of autoresponders that offer automation bundled with email marketing tools.

These products make it easy to track customers, analyze behavior, and revise your campaign strategies accordingly. 

Tools like Klaviyo, for example, integrate directly with your customer data, giving you powerful segmentation and personalization capabilities with hardly any extra work.

They also let you build complex workflows that let you tailor your automation strategy to your specific needs. Often, they will include a visual builder that makes it much easier to design and manage flows.

With email marketing services, it’s important to recognize that lower-tier plans are going to function more like simple automation tools, even if it’s the same product. 

Mailchimp, for instance, lets you create multi-step journeys with their Essentials tier, but you can’t include branching points unless you get their Standard plan. If you want to take advantage of all the segmentation features—which will make your multi-step journey more effective—then you will have to get their Premium plan.

#1 – Mailchimp — Best for Beginners

Mailchimp is a powerful product that hasn’t lost its simple feel, though it has grown considerably since it first hit the market in 2001. 

Today, it functions as an integrated marketing platform, taking on way more responsibility than the email automation it became famous for.

Despite its depth, I like Mailchimp as an email autoresponder for beginners because it’s constantly offering user recommendations based on intelligence from billions of email interactions. 

Subject Line Helper, for instance, offers data-driven insights about how to increase open and click rates. 

There are plenty of other excellent features, including:

• Drag-and-drop email editor
• Segmentation capabilities to target messaging and automate product recommendations
• Send Time Optimization
• Multi-branch customer journeys
• Behavior-based automation
• Lookalike audience finder
• RSS to email 
• Transactional Emails with Mailchimp API or SMTP

Mailchimp offers a free forever version that’s limited to 2,000 contacts, but comes with features like a marketing CRM and landing pages that you won’t get with other freemium email autoresponders.

To get the Customer Journey Builder, which lets you construct workflows in a visual editor, you will need one of the paid plans:

• Essentials: starting at $9.99/month for 500 contacts
• Standard: starting at $14.99/month for 500 contacts
• Premium: starting at $299/month for 10,000 contacts

Some of the aforementioned features, like predicted demographics or the lookalike audience finder, are only included with Standard and Premium.

Millions of companies have seen Mailchimp increase their ROI. You can get started with the free version today, knowing that they also have tools to help you grow.

#2 – MailerLite — Best Free Email Autoresponder

MailerLite is used by more than one million companies, startups, and freelancers because it is an intuitive, budget-friendly platform that delivers results. 

Its free version lets you send 12 emails per month to 1,000 subscribers, which might be all some people need to get started.

For an email autoresponder that’s easy to use, MailerLite comes packed with simple, yet powerful features that help you optimize your campaign. 

I like using A/B split testing to send two variations of an email and see which one performs better.

The clean MailerLite interface gives your teams the control they need to communicate effectively with your subscribers. 

Some of its best features include:

• Automate RSS to email
• Time-zone based email delivery
• Auto resend unopened emails with alternative subjects or personal messages
• Segment subscribers based on a varied criteria
• Rich email personalization
• Target specific interest groups by tagging subscribers or inviting them to self-select
• Track email campaign activity with detailed reports
• Click maps to analyze subscriber interaction with your emails

MailerLite also comes with features to customize your website experience, like pop-ups and embedded forms, as well as an amazing drag-and-drop editor to craft striking newsletters.

Better still, it’s very affordable beyond the free version.

• Free: Up to 1,000 subscribers, 12,000 monthly email limit
• $10/month: Up to 1,000 subscribers, unlimited emails
• $15/month: Up to 2,500 subscribers, unlimited emails
• $30/month: Up to 5,000 subscribers, unlimited emails
• $50/month: Up to 10,000 subscribers, unlimited emails

As a free email autoresponder, MailerLite is hard to beat for any small business. You get a free website with five landing pages, a drag-and-drop visual email editor, and advanced segmentation features.

It’s almost unreasonably generous.

For organizations that need the paid plans, the price is still very competitive and the premium features will pay for themselves many times over.

#3 – Klaviyo — Best for Ecommerce

Klaviyo ties into a CRM or ecommerce platform and makes it easy to deliver ultra-personalized content via email. 

No more unfocused email blasts to the public. Instead, Klaviyo allows users to build out unique customer journeys for long-time fans and first-time window shoppers. 

Because it has native integration with customer data sources, you can get pretty fine-grained with the segmentation. 

And, with the simple user interface, anyone on your team can start maximizing the relevant content every visitor sees.

Klaviyo iworks across many channels, allowing you to expand your subscriber base via Facebook, for example.

Nurture individual leads from a 10,000-foot view by using the features in Klaviyo’s extensive toolkit:

• Prebuilt autoresponders
• Email personalization for first-time buyers, regulars, VIPs, and more
• A/B split testing
• Drag-and-drop, WYSIWYG email editor
• Responsive templates optimized for web and mobile
• Shoppable product recommendations in email
• Rich selection of behavior-based triggers 
• Comprehensive segmentation options

The free plan for Klaviyo maxes out at 250 contacts and 500 emails, after which you will be asked to upgrade. Paid plans start at $20/month for up to 500 contacts and unlimited email sends, climbing higher depending on the size of your contact list.

#4 – GetResponse — Best for Sales Teams

GetResponse has provided one of the simplest, most effective email autoresponders for more than 20 years. Over that time, they’ve added features and evolved the UI to keep it one of the most useful products on the market.

Their experience shows. They know what works, why, and how to help you get set up. 

For one, GetResponse offers hundreds of professionally designed templates to communicate with customers at every step of their journey.

The built-in sales features are also really nice, and really set GetResponse apart from the other easy-to-use autoresponders. Even their Basic plan comes with a sales funnel, unlimited lead funnels, and unlimited landing pages.

With other email autoresponders, you’re going to have to integrate your pipeline. With GetResponse, you can keep daily operations under one roof.

Along with a flexible email autoresponder, GetResponse has a number of other useful features to help you connect with customers:

• Unlimited email sends
• Transactional and time-sensitive emails
• Drag-and-drop email editor with mobile and inbox preview
• Add content blocks, videos, buttons, and social media icons to emails
• A/B testing
• List and calendar views for email scheduling
• RSS-email templates

GetResponse doesn’t have a free forever plan, though they do offer a free trial. Pricing starts at $15/month for 1,000 contacts with their Basic plan, which comes with all the features listed above. 

And much more. Honestly, the Basic plan is far from basic.

At the Plus and Professional pricing tiers, you have more features like webinars, as well as greater degrees of customization. 

Their top tier plan, Max, comes with a dedicated IP address, SSO, and other features designed to secure and streamline enterprise email marketing and sales.

#5 – Moosend — Best for Simple Marketing Automation

Moosend is an affordable email automation tool with an almost nonexistent learning curve. Yet for how easy it is to get started, Moosend users wind up automating their email marketing in really impactful ways.

It’s sad to think, but some companies spend thousands of dollars a month on ultra-powerful marketing automation software that they don’t really need. Plus, that stuff can be really hard to use.

With Moosend, you get a lot of freedom to customize your email marketing automation. There’s a rich set of triggers and actions all managed in a drag-and-drop interface. Workflows can be shared among team members, who can leave notes.

The Moosend interface itself is great at educating users how to automate and fine-tune customer journeys. With templates, preset workflows, and rich tracking capabilities, Moosend makes it simple to find what works for your unique subscriber base.

Leverage the AI to hyper-personalize your emails based on similar consumer preferences and other behavioral analytics.

They’ve recently added “And/Or” expressions to custom fields. This allows for a lot more customization in terms of defining triggers. Custom fields don’t have to be just one thing any more!

Without writing a single line of code, you can gain quick mastery of a deep set of email automation features that include:

• Rich tracking, reporting, and analytics
• Click heatmaps
• Five types of subscription forms
• Direct SMTP service
• Cart abandonment 
• Embed product blocks in newsletters for shoppable emails
• Mobile responsiveness
• GDPR compliance
• Native integrations with WooCommerce, Salesforce, WordPress and dozens more top products

Moosend has a free forever plan, which is capped at 1,000 subscribers, and comes with many of the best features. For additional subscribers, you’ll need a Pro plan, which starts at $8/month.

The exact price will depend on the number of subscribers you need to accommodate. For example, 25,000 subscribers is $100/month. The Pro plan maxes out at 200,000 subscribers ($608/month), with custom plans available to reach an audience of any size.

Compared to other, more expensive options, Moosend tends to be much easier to use even with many of the same essential features.

Summary

Many people begin the search for an email autoresponder only to discover that what they actually need is an email marketing platform. 

The closest option on this list to a dedicated email autoresponder is MailerLite, which still comes with way more than simple email automation capabilities. It’s a really good option (and price) for companies that already have great CRM software and really just need the email autoresponder capabilities.

Mailchimp and Moosend are more feature-rich than MailerLite, but both remain incredibly easy to use for non-specialists.

GetResponse works well for sales teams because you’ve got conversion funnels and the ability to host webinars is baked in. 

Klaviyo is probably the most comprehensive tool on this list, and it works incredibly well at automating the processes necessary to run a successful email ecommerce campaign.

I like all of these email autoresponders because they help you benefit from the unavoidable trial-and-error associated with email marketing. 

No campaign is ever going to be perfect, but the right tools will help you continually evolve your strategy to meet your customers where they are.

The post Best Email Autoresponder appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-email-autoresponder/

Best Online Reputation Management

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

You’re already doing so much for your business. How do you successfully manage your online reputation, too?

You can do it and do it well. But if you’re already managing a lot, your best bet is outsourcing it to an ORM, or an online reputation manager. 

Your online image can determine how long you stay in business and if your profits grow year after year. The problem with that is that you can’t always control what customers say about you online, or even when a damaging business mishap gets out in the open. 

To help you put your best image out there, I’ve reviewed and done extensive research on online reputation managers, so you don’t have to. Finding the best ORM for you is easy once you know exactly what you need. 

The Top 4 Options For Online Reputation Management

1. Go Fish Digital – The best ORM for managing reviews 
2. Reputation Rhino – The best for individuals and small businesses
3. Reputation Resolutions – The best ORM for crisis management
4. Big Leap – The best for SEO and content management

How to Choose The Best Online Reputation Management For You

Unfortunately, there isn’t a singular “best” reputation manager that fits every business like a glove. If there was, then this guide wouldn’t be necessary. 

Different ORMs cater to different services. This can mean some are better than others at crisis management, online monitoring, online review management, SEO focused branded content strategy, or even supplying attorneys to advocate on your behalf.

First, are you building a new online reputation from scratch? Maybe you’re trying to improve a negative reputation? Or are you being proactive and investing in maintaining a good one?

You have to determine where you are on your reputation management journey. Then you can think about a few factors that can refine your search even more.

Business Size and Type

Your company size generally correlates with the size of your reputation. Obviously, the bigger and more varied your sales channels, the more work you’ll have managing how you look online.  

Your business’s size can also dictate the amount you’ll want to invest in ORM services. Some questions to consider are: What is your estimated current business reach? What types of distribution channels do you sell through or publish content on? Are you a service-based business, an organization, or an e-commerce store?

When choosing the best ORM for you, these are some key questions to consider before moving forward. If your business isn’t a complex enterprise, you won’t need a costly ORM that specializes in litigation, video removal, or a team of expert attorneys. 

Marketing Strategy

Your marketing strategy also determines the type of online reputation management you need. 

Do you primarily sell via a content creation strategy? Do you sell on multiple e-commerce platforms? Is your business big enough that it sells through on-air advertising? Do you already have a strong social media presence that drives sales?

Outlining how you primarily reach your customers is another way to narrow down your search. If you don’t, it might affect how well your ORM can deliver results. 

Long-Term Crisis Management

Think about the future of your business and its reputation. Sure, at some point you might need to put out a reputation fire that caught you by surprise ASAP. Or maybe you’re only getting started and want your name out there in the short-term in a positive light to drive more sales.

But do you have a long-term plan for managing reputation crises that will inevitably come up in the future?

This will determine which ORM can deliver on either your short-term or long-term goals. Each one is built differently to cater to your business goals, as we’ll see further in this guide. 

The Different Types of Online Reputation Management

There are tons of online reputation managers out there that offer a lot of the same services. But most of them fall into three main types. Most reputation management companies will provide an initial analysis and general monitoring of your reputation’s current state. 

After that, they start to get a little more specific in how they specialize.

Crisis Management

Crisis management usually takes more than a one-off approach to managing any brand’s reputation. You might need more than image takedowns, burying negative reviews with positive ones, or generating positive content. 

How an ORM handles a crisis can mark the difference between a business that survives through it or one that suffers those losses and ultimately closes its doors. 

ORMs that handle crisis management usually approach them from all angles, meaning deploying a long-term reputation management strategy and additional costs. 

Online Review Management

Online reputation management specializing in managing negative reviews tends to be a great fit for service-based businesses and e-commerce stores. 

Those terrible product reviews you read first on any product you find online? The right ORM can be effective in either removing them with their own set of tools and contacts or burying them with positive reviews over time. 

Businesses with reviews on Yelp, Amazon, or their own storefronts can benefit significantly from hiring an ORM effective in negative review management. 

Though, if you’re an enterprise-grade business that needs review removal as part of a broader strategy, you’ll want to go with a more varied ORM. 

Content Management

ORMs can focus on content creation as a reputation management strategy, surrounding your business with tons of positive branding.

They don’t necessarily have attorneys at your beck and call ready to take down negative media propaganda. But their laser-focus on SEO strategies that put the best reviews and mentions of you out there can be worth it if it means you’ll make a great first impression. 

This also improves your new and returning customer experience. 

A majority of your customers are using Google to search for your products or services. Making sure search results show the best content about you online is the way to go if you’re a content-focused business. 

#1 – Go Fish Digital — The Best ORM For Managing Reviews

I’ve listed Go Fish Digital as the best agency for managing reviews, and while that’s true, Go Fish Digital also wows with the option of full-service reputation management used by the likes of Geico, Ford, and Airbnb.

With Go Fish, you can gain thorough insight into your customers’ reviews and comments online. 

They work closely with huge review sites like Yelp to manage negative reviews by advocating for review removal on your behalf through their agency tools. They also work to get your best Yelp reviews to the top for more visibility. 

They’re exhaustive in their brand monitoring abilities and monitor all corners of the internet like Wikipedia and Reddit threads to create a plan of action in your favor.  

Go Fish’s review management works by pushing positive content to higher visibility with SEO, adjusting copy in public places where you’re mentioned, cleaning up Google autocomplete, and even promoting positive information about your business wherever your target audience is. 

As they create results, they keep you up to date with a relevant score you can see on their dashboard. 

To be clear, Go Fish is a reputable ORM that does not post false reviews for you. Still, their Yelp review management service is one of their strong suits.

Some of their best review management features are:

• Managing negative Google reviews
• Negative auto-complete cleanup often generated from those reviews
• A dashboard that keeps you updated on your brand’s daily search results
• Crafting a strategy for your business to encourage the best reviews possible
• Creating and delivering a strong case on your behalf for negative review removal to the Yelp team

For pricing, you’ll have to contact them directly to get a quote. 

As with most ORMs, their prices change depending on the size of your business and the specific services you’re looking for.

Get in touch with Go Fish to get an initial quote. 

#2 – Reputation Rhino — The Best For Individuals and Small businesses

If you’re wondering who exactly needs reputation management, Reputation Rhino’s answer is ‘everyone.’ That’s why it’s the best ORM for solopreneurs and small businesses.

Reputation Rhino is a leading online reputation manager based in New York with clients like Disney, Microsoft, and Nestle. They offer a number of reputation solutions for almost any scenario imaginable, including ones that cater impressively to an individual and their personal brand.  

It doesn’t matter if you’re a doctor, university, hotel, or contractor, Reputation Rhino helps you with Glassdoor, Yelp, and YouTube review removals, social media management, and even an SEO strategy to put the best parts of your brand (or yourself) front and center. 

Do you have terrible images that need to get removed from Google? They can do that. Do you need to fight against libel and personal defamation? Their team of public relations specialists can do that, too. These are services an individual or small business may not know how to do or not have time to take care of.

Their best ORM services for individuals include:

• A personalized strategy to defend against smear campaigns
• Suppressing negative online search results
• Adding an extra layer of protection to your personal privacy
• Eliminating news articles, forum comments, and negative content

As an individual or SMB, you might be nervous about investing money into an ORM. To help, Reputation Rhino offers a 30-day money-back guarantee that can ease your worries about whether they’ll deliver. If you need a more personal approach to reputation management, Reputation Rhino is happy to work with you individually. 

Their pricing starts at $1,000. But you’ll have to contact them for a personalized package. 

Get started with Reputation Rhino and request more information.  

#3 – Reputation Resolutions — The Best ORM For Crisis Management

Unlike other ORMs out there, Reputation Resolutions is the go-to agency for crisis management that can start working on your behalf in 24-72 hours.

A combination of their speedy response, team of attorneys, wide array of solutions, and seasoned professional team makes them the best ORM for enterprise-level reputation and crisis management. 

Maybe your business is an established corporation, but there’s been a sudden increase of negative reviews, you’re dealing with a handful of loud, angry customers online, or there is negative propaganda about you in the media. Ouch. Reputation Resolutions provides everything you need to turn a crisis around. 

Here’s a quick rundown of their top-tier crisis management features:

• Cyber forensic investigation
• News article removal
• Court record removal
• Thorough and ongoing reputation monitoring
• Private information removal
• Unwanted image removal

If you’re an smaller or mid-sized business looking for a management agency to simply take care of negative reviews, Reputation Solutions isn’t the agency for you. 

Alternatively, if you’re an established, well-known business in need of comprehensive PR management, attorneys, or copyright infringement services, then look no further than what Reputation Solutions can offer you. 

To get a pricing quote, email or call them for a free consultation, and they will learn more about you and tailor their services to your specific needs. 

#4 – Big Leap — The Best For SEO And Content Management

Big Leap’s ORM services are designed around one thing: content management. Their award-winning content marketing strategy centers around burying the negative and growing the positive.

This is fantastic news for you if you’re looking for an ORM that cares deeply about gaining customer trust through a long-term strategy. 

If your marketing strategy is mainly through content, you’re not as concerned about a sudden PR crisis, or Yelp reviews are mostly irrelevant to your sales success, then Big Leap’s trust-building approach can help you create results. 

They begin by scouring the internet for every mention of your business.  They do social media and search audits, along with a competitive analysis, to give them the bigger picture of where your reputation lies. 

Then they create a positive content strategy tailored specifically for you through brand-strengthening content and social media campaigns. As they execute their content strategy, Big Leap regularly reports back to you with updated results.

Some of their best ORM content management features include:

• Brand name monitoring
• Content strategy, creation, and promotion
• Site optimization
• Constant workflow updates on content strategy execution

Big Leap doesn’t list their prices publicly, but you can request a quote on their site. 

Conclusion

You don’t have to suffer from a bad reputation that only seems to be out of your hands. There are plenty of agencies out there that can help lighten your reputation management load once you’ve reached out and established a relationship with them. 

Online reputation management agencies can indeed offer a lot of the same services. But look closer to find what they specialize in. Hopefully, this in-depth guide helped shed light on which of the top ORMs can work for you.

Check out each agency on this list and get a quote from the one that fits you best to start managing your online reputation now. 

The post Best Online Reputation Management appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-online-reputation-management/

The Best Web Hosting Services (In-Depth Review)

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

Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top picks? The best web hosting service for most people is Dreamhost or Hostinger.

Looking for a hosting solution for your website?

You’re in luck because with today’s options, it has never been easier to keep your website online.

They take care of all the technical stuff and you get to enjoy casually updating your website for conversions.

And the best part is that most of them are very affordable which helps startups get a hold of their business quickly.

That’s why I put together a list of the best hosting services of 2020 for you.

So without further ado…

The Top 8 Options For Hosting Your Website in 2020:

1. Dreamhost
2. Hostinger
3. Bluehost
4. Nexcess
5. HostGator
6. WP Engine
7. InMotion
8. Siteground

How to Choose The Best Hosting Service For Your Website:

When it comes to the best web hosting services you have to look at various important factors.

If you jump in too quick you might get into something that’s not suitable for your business.

But don’t let any of that doubt creep into your mind. 

Instead, sit back and relax while we present to you all the factors that you need to be aware of before making a decision.

You can weigh the different web hosting services and decide which is the best solution for your specific business.

Hosting factor #1 – Uptime reliability: 

If your hosting is down, no one would be able to access your website.

And obviously you want your website running 24/7.

Luckily, in 2020 this is not a huge problem since most web hosting providers offer a ‘99.99% network uptime guarantee’.

That means that your website would go down very rarely.

And even when it does, you can contact your hosting service and you will get compensation.

Most of the time that would be in the form of hosting credits.

If you want to prepare for the worst, you can check out our Website Downtime Survival Guide.

One of the best practices to making sure everything runs smoothly even when you’re taking a break is to sign up for a tracking tool like uptime robot. 

If your hosting service crosses the line, this tool will notify you that you need to find a new webserver to host.

Hosting factor #2 – Speed is key:

Website loading speed is extremely crucial when it comes to SEO optimization in 2020.

That’s simply because if your pages load slowly, people will bounce out of your website and your ranking will fall down the drain.

You need a trustworthy host provider that can guarantee optimal website loading speed.

The thing is that you can’t know the exact loading speed before you try the hosting service yourself.

But you can always optimize your website loading speed using free tools and effective loading speed practices.

And the best news is that even if your budget is tight, you can still get a good loading speed.

But don’t expect anything spectacular for say $4/month.

Generally, the higher the price, the faster your pages will load.

Anyways, we will include our personal experience regarding loading speed for each of the options down below.

Hosting factor #3 – Customer service:

Good Customer Service will come in handy when something goes wrong.

Especially if you’re new to websites, you’re bound to make mistakes that may lead to your website being down for a while.

And the more time it’s out, the more it will cost you.

So a good support team will help you get the issues solved in no time.

Even if you made a major mistake that’s impossible to come back from…

Most support teams will have a full backup of your website so you can get back to a working version.

You always want your support team to have a live chat or a telephone you can call.

Email just doesn’t make the cut if you want to resolve the issue fast, which you should want, given that your website is down.

We made sure to include only website hosting services with strong communication skills.

The Different Types of Web Hosting Services:

In 2020 there are a lot of different types of web hosting services.

The most commonly used being:

Shared Hosting

This means your website will be stored on the same server as a bunch of other websites.

It is a cheap option for startup websites.

With the right one, you can have customizable options and average loading speed.

Don’t look at Shared Hosting as a long-term solution because Shared Hosting can not withstand high levels of traffic.

It’s definitely a good solution for people that just want to get their website up and running fast.

VPS Hosting

The Virtual Private Server (VPS) is definitely a better option than Shared Hosting.

Each website is hosted in its own virtual space which speeds up your loading speed and also allows you to get more traffic on your website.

This option is best if you’re planning to scale your website fast.

Yet again, it’s not a long-term option if you want to be one of the top websites in your industry.

Simply because it still has limitations when it comes to website traffic.

Dedicated Hosting

This is considered the most reliable and overall the best option out there.

You get a dedicated server just for your website with full control over everything.

But prepare yourself for a pricey alternative.

That option is mainly for the best of the best.

If you have plans to scale your traffic to enormously high levels, this is the only option for you.

But if you’re just starting out, we recommend one of the other 2 options.

Anyways, the web hosting services below give you the option to choose between different types of hosting services.

So just choose the one that fits your business and your budget best.

#1 – Dreamhost — Best option if you want quick and responsive website changes

Dreamhost has been a big player for the longest time now. 

Founded in 1996 it is one of the oldest hosting services available online.

Some people might think it must be outdated by now.

But that can’t be further from the truth.

Exactly because of their ability to adapt quickly to new trends they’re still considered one of the best in the business.

They don’t look at your website as just another website.

They know that your website is your own vision for the future.

“We Make Sure Your Purpose, Is Our Purpose”

And that’s not just words. Over 1.5 million websites host with Dreamhost.

You can expect great loading speed and friendly, helpful customer support on your side.

With incredibly adaptable services you can literally change your business in a matter of hours.

They know that things change as time passes.

Maybe you want to try out something new.

Maybe you’re certain that your current business model is outdated.

With their fascinating adaptable features, they will be your best friend when making major changes in your website.

#2 – Hostinger — Low-Cost Shared Hosting options for Startups

Hostinger is unique with it’s Shared Hosting Services.

Their prices literally start from $0.99/month. WOW.

Of course, you’ll be very limited with this option but it shows how much they are ready to do in order to satisfy their customers.

We personally recommend one of the higher tier options:

The good thing with Hostinger is that for as low as $3.99/month you can get unlimited access to everything.

With 24/7/365 support, you can expect professional assistance at any point.

That’s less than four bucks a month for great loading speed and daily website backups.

That means even if you mess up badly, you always have access to previous versions of your website.

It is the best option if you’re searching specifically for a Shared Hosting Service that’s affordable and reliable.

#3 – Bluehost — Best for WordPress Hosting

If you’re looking to set up your website in less than a week, you’re probably considering WordPress.

After all, according to NetCraft, 35% of the Internet is powered by WordPress.

And it’s not a surprise. WordPress has been a leader in the industry for years now.

So if you’re looking for the best hosting option for your WordPress website, you can definitely trust Bluehost.

Their pricing options are competitive. Basic is $3.95/month and Choice Plus is just $5.95/month to get started.

This is really affordable considering all the unlimited features they bring to the table.

Regarding website loading speed, as long as you don’t fill your WordPress site with plugins, you should be good.

And even if you make a crucial mistake or overload your website with different plugins, you’re in good hands.

Their Customer Support is extremely responsive. They have both an active telephone line and a live chat you can rely on at all times.

#4 – Nexcess — Best E-Commerce Hosting

If you want a hands-off hosting solution for your online store, Nexcess is an incredibly smart choice. Use coupon code NEIL40 for 40% off 4 months.

They offer a wide range of hosting options with specialty solutions for Magento, WordPress, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Drupal, and more.

Plus, you get one-click auto-scaling to handle unexpected traffic spikes, 24/7 monitoring and customer support, and premium SSL certificates to keep your site and visitors safe.

So, you get everything you need to start, manage, and scale your online store.

On top of the amazing features, Nexcess has been around for 20 years with more than 500,000+ websites under their belt.

As such, they know a thing or two about how to help make your life easier.

With that said, it’s not the cheapest option on this list. But you do get more features, better support, and improved performance with the higher price tag.

So, if you need advanced security or expect to grow quickly, Nexcess is an excellent e-commerce hosting solution.

WordPress hosting plans start at $15 per month for one store, 15 GB of space, and two TB of bandwidth.

However, pricing varies based on the platform you choose. Use coupon code NEIL40 for 40% off 4 months. Sign up now.

#5 – HostGator — The most affordable option for Startups

HostGator is one of the most preferred options when it comes to blogging.

They are perfect if you’re looking for the most affordable way to begin posting online.

Pricing options start from the jaw-dropping $2.75/month.

Once again, you can’t expect the best features for such a low price.

But it’s a great alternative for startups that want to get their website up and running.

And just like Bluehost, they have a responsive telephone line with a live chat you can access at any moment.

You can also find a giant database with common questions beginners have, together with professional opinions and solutions to those problems.

Everything is explained and demonstrated step-by-step and if you’re still not sure that you can do it on your own.

Just shoot them a message and start chatting with their professional customer support.

#6 – WP Engine — Best option if you know your limits

We’re getting to the more advanced options now.

With WP Engine you can customize and get the exact features you need.

Of course, their services are not as cheap as some of the others on the list.

But if you’re certain what are the exact characteristics you need in a website, then WP Engine got your back.

You just have to contact them and work out the best plan for your specific situation.

Of course, their experts are going to help you choose the correct option without pushing you to stuff you wouldn’t need.

It’s a great Hosting Service if you’re looking to scale big.

Don’t expect cheap services, but expect great quality and support on the way to your successful business.

#7 – InMotion — Best option for Scaling BIG

Are you positive that your website is going to dominate the online space?

If you’re 100% sure, then you should definitely take a closer look at InMotion.

Their VPS and Dedicated hosting services are far from cheap.

But with Premium prices come Premium services. We are talking fast loading speed and devoted customer support.

Obviously there’s also affordable WordPress Hosting and Shared Hosting options.

But if you’ve tried these before and now you’re looking for the next step.

InMotion is going to overdeliver on every promise.

Check out their plans and choose the one that fits your needs best.

#8 – Siteground — Best for WooCommerce Hosting

Do you want to sell your products online?

Then you’re probably in need of a good, reliable WooCommerce Hosting Service.

If that’s that case, then you should take a look at Siteground.

They have separated their pricing options depending on your scalability.

Most Hosting Services cut you here and there when it comes to cheaper options.

This is not the case here!

Siteground really wants to overdeliver, even if you choose their cheapest options.

Their Customer Service has a whopping 90% resolution at first contact.

That means that 90% of the time you’ll chat or speak with an expert in their team and resolve your issue in no time.

So if you’re looking for the best WooCommerce solution, Siteground is the hosting service for you.

Your Hosting Service Is Your Best Friend

Make sure you make a well-thought-out decision.

You’re most likely going to have a long-term relationship with the hosting service you choose.

So carefully look into every option that caught your eye today and choose the one that fits your needs best.

So, whether you choose one of my top recommendations or scout out your own, use the tips and best practices we talked about to make an educated decision… like the future of your business depends on it. 

Because it does!

Have you worked with any website hosting companies in the past? How did it go and did you get the results you hoped for?

The post The Best Web Hosting Services (In-Depth Review) appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-web-hosting-services/

4 PPC Tools to Automate Your Ad Campaigns

The field of ppc (pay-per-click) is constantly evolving. If you use tools that automate some of the ad campaign processes, your campaigns may become more efficient and effective.

Pay-per-click automation tools allow marketers to automate some tasks by using third-party applications. These tools can save you time, improve campaign performance, and reduce wasted ad spends.

Rather than spending your time hovering over dozens of campaigns, you can focus on tasks like pinpointing areas for business growth, increasing audience engagement, and exploring new ad types that will benefit your sales funnels.

That isn’t to say automation is the key to the future, nor are we all going to be replaced by machines. Paid ad campaigns might always need humans to power them, but you can at least catch a break from constant campaign monitoring.

To start this off, let’s take a deeper dive into what PPC automation is.

What Is PPC Automation?

PPC automation refers to the system that charges marketers every time their ad is clicked.

PPC automation allows marketers to control their Google ad campaigns through machine learning, without spending hours tediously updating scope, timing, and targeting. By automating some of the systems and steps, you can leverage third-party applications to do the hard work for you.

For example, if you want your ad to stop running on a certain day, or if you want to change the target audience before the end of the running cycle, you can use PPC automation to control these details. This means no more activating, deactivating, and adjusting your ads by hand.

What a relief.

It also means you can shift your focus back to generating leads and growing your business and let the machine do the hard work for you.

PPC automation tools are a great way to optimize ad performance and focus your time on your larger marketing goals.

Why is PPC Automation a Popular Method?

PPC automation tools allow you to keep up with search engine marketing trends while also giving yourself the time to focus on optimization.

For example, when AdWords became Google Ads, many of the original tools and features were replaced. For a human, relearning these tools can be time-consuming and frustrating. For a machine, it’s instant.

Google actually suggests using PPC automation and smart ad bidding, as it saves you time and increases the performance of your ads.

Think about it this way. Let’s say you’re new to the paid ad world and want to launch your first PPC campaign.

You don’t know much about online paid advertising, but you understand how to target an audience and want a lower cost-per-click. With PPC automation, you can simply enter your campaign goals, choose your smart bidding strategies, and let the machine do the rest.

Even if Google Ads completely overhauls its system the next day, your machine will still know what to do. That means you can take the extra time to learn more about manual targeting or growing your online community.

Pros and Cons of PPC Automation

Manual bidding can be a great asset to a campaign and offers unique ways of winning conversions and lowering ad cost rates. That being said, it only works when done correctly.

Humans often make errors that machines don’t. It’s not that we aren’t as good as they are, but we are more prone to making simple mistakes. The benefit of automated bidding and ad management is you don’t have to worry about those small, silly mistakes, like targeting the wrong audience. In contrast, leaving the work up to a machine can mean less personalization and some important details may be overlooked.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at the pros and cons of PPC automation tools.

Pros of PPC Automation

PPC automation tools work best for long-term, ongoing campaigns. This is because to create a detailed automated system, you need to have relevant data to feed into it. If you’ve just started a new campaign with a new client and you don’t have any reference data to turn to, it might not be the best time to jump into automation.

That being said, once you get the ball rolling, PPC automation tools can save you a lot of time and money when maintaining and monitoring your PPC campaigns.

If a machine can do it just as well as we can, why not let it?

Cons of PPC Automation

Even though it might seem like a set and forget system, there are many details that go into the initial setup of automated PPC campaigns.

For example, you still need to determine which bidding strategies fit your business or what kind of results you want to target.

Also, even an automated campaign can have hiccups. It’s essential to continue monitoring your campaigns even if you choose to use automated PPC tools. The work involved in an automated PPC campaign could be less intense than a manual campaign, but don’t let this make you become a lazy marketer just because you think the computer is handling it.

If you’d rather something else handle your PPC campaigns, my agency is accepting new PPC clients.

Types of PPC Automation

PPC automation is a growing marketing trend and will only get stronger as our paid ad tools evolve. Getting familiar with these tools sooner rather than later will ensure your business can automate and optimize as much as possible.

PPC automation tools range in complexity and cost. You can find ways to automate pretty much anything – it’s just a matter of which steps you want to automate and how much work you are willing to put into your campaigns.

Here are 4 of the most basic ways to use PPC automation.

Integrations and Reporting

Reporting is undoubtedly one of the most frustrating parts of a PPC manager’s life. Think of all the hours spent compiling data, creating spreadsheets, and importing sources to create custom reports.

Automating your reporting systems through integrations can help make this process more efficient. No more manually exporting spreadsheets and no more comparing data.

Integration refers to the different apps and platforms you may want to pull data from when preparing reports. These could be platforms such as Google Ads or Instagram Insights.

When choosing an automated reporting software, be sure to check that it offers the integrations you will need.

Here are a few easy-to-use PPC reporting tools to help make your reporting easier:

Swydo

Swydo was built for PPC managers and is a simple way to automatically integrate data sets from various sources like Facebook Insights or Bing Ads.

Swydo can also help you monitor your clients’ key points of interest and translate them easily into your reports.

Swydo also lets you schedule your reports so they can be automatically sent to your team or clients, saving you an end-of-the-month scramble.

Swydo claims to help you increase client retention through their automated reporting systems. Pricing starts at $62.00 per month.

Reporting Ninja

Reporting Ninja boasts more than sixteen different integrations and has a range of reporting templates.

Plus, it includes cross-platform comparisons so you can combine data from multiple platforms into a single chart or graph.

Reporting Ninja can also help you create SEO and conversion reports on top of your PPC reports. Plans start at $20.00 per month, which includes ten reports.

Report Garden

Report Garden can help you create client reports, monitor budgets, and add new PPC campaigns, all in one app.

Their creative visual reports will help you look great in front of your clients or company leadership.

They also have a range of interactive dashboards so your clients can see their reports in real-time.

Report Garden plans start at $250.00 per month for ten clients. Dashboards and reports are unlimited for your clients to access. Learn more about how automating reports helped this agency scale from 25 to 500 accounts with Report Garden on their blog.

Scripts

Scripts are Javascript code pieces that can tell your ads to perform certain functions based on performance data that you input. Scripts can help you customize specific parts of your campaign to automate and let you pick what data points to use and when.

For example, if you want to add ad schedules for a campaign, you might use a script that looks like this.

You don’t have to be a coder to use these scripts. Google has a whole library of code scripts you can use if you’re new to this method.

Scripts are a great way to do split testing, big management, and reporting. They can be used to automate internal or external functions and save you a lot of time in PPC account maintenance.

Custom Builds

Custom builds are certainly the most complicated area of PPC automation. These builds require some expertise, so you might need a developer to help you get started.

Custom builds are coded automations that allow you to customize almost anything in your ads. These builds will enable you to focus on unique metrics and create columns that can segment account data down to its finest points.

Google describes customization like this:

For example, to see the percentage of clicks you get from mobile devices, create a custom column that divides mobile clicks by total clicks. Or let’s say you’re a shoe retailer and enjoy a 40% profit margin for each pair of shoes you sell. To understand your total profit for each sale, ensure your conversion value column tracks revenue. Then, create a custom column that multiplies conversion value by 40% and call it ‘Estimated Profit.’

Comprehensive Software

Comprehensive software platforms allow you to customize, automate, and manage your ad campaigns in a more user-friendly fashion than custom builds allow. A comprehensive software would enable you to do everything we discussed above and more from one simple platform.

Here are a few of the best PPC automation software tools out there, so you can get the most out of your paid ad strategy.

WordStream PPC Advisor

WordStream PPC Advisor is a great pick for small businesses ready to jump into PPC campaigns but don’t have large budgets or big staff rosters to support them.

WordStream offers Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter integrations as well as report building, data analytics, and landing page optimization.

WordStream PPC Advisor plans start at $264.00 per month for 12-month plans.

Optmyzr

Optmyzr is a good choice if you’re running multiple PPC campaigns and are looking for a range of automation features.

With Optmyzr, you can create, track, and report on your PPC campaigns. You can also automate scripts and alerts directly from the platform. Optmyzr offers integrations for Google Ads, Yahoo Ads, and Bind Ads.

Plans start at $499.00 per month for the pro version.

Google Ads Editor

Google Ads Editor is free for anyone using Google Ads software.

It’s a great platform for managing your Google ads to create, track, and edit your ads directly from the software. You can also make bulk changes, which is a big benefit when running multiple campaigns for a single client.

Here’s a short explainer video:

Although Google Ads Editor is great for managing your Google Ads, it doesn’t offer much integrations. If you’re running ads on multiple search engines or platforms, then you might find this software limited.

Semrush PPC Toolkit

The PPC management software toolkit offered through Semrush is a great asset to campaign planning, keyword research, and competitor research. This tool lets you easily see how you rank against your competitors and how you can modify your ads to out-perform them.

It also offers a range of SEO features like the Keyword Magic Tool, which can show you search volume data alongside suggestions for stronger keywords. (You can also pull keyword data from my tool, Ubersuggest.)

Semrush offers a tiered pricing plan, which starts at $99.00 for the pro version, $199.00 for the guru version, and $399.00 and up for the business version.

Still unsure if you can make paid advertising work for your business? Watch the video below to find out how you can get the conversions you want from paid ads.

Conclusion

Ready to launch a high-conversion PPC campaign?

Interested in using PPC to diversify your web traffic and boost your business?

With these great PPC automation tools, you’ll be able to tap into the benefits of paid advertising and start making conversions that matter.

What are some of the ways you’ve found success with PPC automation?

The post 4 PPC Tools to Automate Your Ad Campaigns appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/ppc-automation/