Author: admin840

10 Tips For Writing a Winning LinkedIn Headline

LinkedIn’s 690 million members include 180 million senior-level influencers, 63 million decision-makers and 10 million C-level executives. 

Hence, there are a lot of influential people on LinkedIn that have hiring power and purchase power. Whatever you hope to achieve from using the network, you’ll want to make a good impression.

Your headline is the first thing that people see aside from your profile picture. It’s how decision-makers will find you. It’s how you get people to notice you and what will make them want to visit your profile to learn more. Thus, it’s safe to say your headline is pretty important.

So, I thought I’d share my top tips for creating an effective headline with you. But, first, let’s look at the basics:

What is Your LinkedIn Headline?

Your headline is the tagline that appears under your name on LinkedIn and at the top of your profile page. The headline used to be limited to 120 characters. But, here’s some good news, LinkedIn extended the headline to 220 characters in 2020. So, you have a little more space to sell yourself, share your vision or whatever it is you’d like to express via your headline.

What Makes a Winning LinkedIn Headline

There are some important criteria for creating an impactful headline. The best LinkedIn headlines do the following:

Make Use of Keywords

Keywords aren’t the only thing your headline should include. But they are key to helping the right people find your profile. Keywords can include your job title, skills and areas you specialize in. Place keywords towards the beginning of your headline and then expand with further information.

Express Your Value

Expressing you or your company’s value means sharing more than the tasks you carry out. Your headline should be driven by the benefits of the services you provide and the kind of results you achieve. For example, rather than saying you do tax planning, you’d say you help businesses to save money.

Are Unique

A winning LinkedIn headline is one that stands out from the crowd. Think about how many people do the exact same job as you or offer similar services. You can give yourself a competitive edge and encourage more people to visit your profile by making your headline different.

Help You Meet Your Goals

You need to think carefully about why you’re on LinkedIn and what you hope to achieve. This should inform what you include in your headline (and the rest of your profile). If you’re not sure about what you can accomplish on LinkedIn or how to go about it, you may wish to speak with a social media consultant.

Now let’s look in more detail at exactly how you can create a winning headline:

1. Get Inspiration

By default, LinkedIn uses your job title and employer as your headline. What a snooze fest. If you want to do better, the first step is to get inspired.

Search for people in your field or who have similar roles to you. Take a look at how they’ve formulated their headlines. See what appeals to you and what doesn’t. Of course, you shouldn’t just nab somebody else’s headline. But, doing this will help you come up with ideas for how you want your headline to appear.

Also, pay attention to those who appear at the top of the search results for your industry. What keywords do they use? Note these keywords as they likely contribute to why these pros are doing so well in the search results.

2. Ask Yourself These Questions

When you decide to upgrade your LinkedIn headline to maximize its impact, it’s a good idea to have a little brainstorming sesh. Here are some questions that will guide you when you’re coming up with ideas:

• How would you describe yourself to a new colleague if you only had five seconds?
• What makes you different from others with the same job title?
• Why should users click on your profile?
• What are your most in-demand skills?
• What are your biggest accomplishments?
• What makes you unique?

3. Choose the Right Keywords

Include relevant keywords in your headline so that you appear in more search results. 

To do this, you’ll first need to think about who you want to find your profile on LinkedIn. A recruiter? A potential lead? Influencers you hope to connect with? And so on…

This will guide you in figuring out the right keywords to use. For example, you may include your specific skills or specialisms to get found by recruiters with the most relevant job opportunities. 

In this example, we don’t just have a “developer”, nor do we just have a “chatbot developer”, the user goes even more specific with the terms “Facebook Messenger Marketing” and “Automation Practitioner”:

Whereas, if you’re using LinkedIn to network and boost your authority, you may want to use broader terms. Your job role might be “Artworker” but in order to be found by more people, it’d be a very good idea to include the term “Graphic Design”.

4. Include Your Unique Selling Proposition

Keywords alone aren’t enticing enough to get users to visit your profile. State the value that you provide by doing what you do, in particular something that makes you stand out from the crowd.

There’s a simple formula you can use to express this: I help X do Y by doing Z. Here’s an example from an accounting consultant:

When she says “I help women build profitable businesses”, she outlines the beneficial results of her work, not just the tasks that she performs. You should do something similar.

You can also use data to drive your point home. Here an email marketer shares the average results he achieves:

There are tons of relevant data points you could include to prove your value, such as the number of customers you’ve helped achieve a particular outcome or the results of an impressive case study.

5. Share Your Achievements/Credentials

When you make self-aggrandizing claims on LinkedIn, people will either think you’re arrogant or full of it. Instead, you should go by the old adage, “Show don’t tell”. Show that you’re great at what you do via your achievements or credentials.

What’s your most impressive achievement? Have you won an award perhaps? Been featured on top media outlets? Sold a bunch of books? Grew a well-known company? Those are the kind of things you’ll want to share.

This professional shares the fact that he’s been a LinkedIn Top Voice honoree four times and sprinkles in some serious social proof by mentioning his work with Mark Cuban:

Furthermore, certain credentials that are recognized by people in your industry will give you clout. For example, in the marketing world it’s good to be Google-certified, like this pro:

Share credentials relevant to your position to show that you’re not just messing around, you really know what you’re doing.

6. Use Natural Language

Keep your headline free of jargon, particularly if you’re using LinkedIn for sales or lead generation. If a prospect doesn’t understand what you’re selling, you won’t have much luck.

Similarly, make your job title clear and simple unless you’re seeking a specific job role. Again, users you want to connect with may not understand what you do. Even if you think the term “Business Development Manager” is clear, trust me, simplifying it to “Sales Manager” is much more transparent.

Also, avoid buzzwords. After a time, every Tom, Dick and Harry will be using the same trendy terminology to describe their services. Thus, your words become meaningless.

And saying that you’re a “Guru”, “Ninja” or “Wizard” is a bit cheesy and old-fashioned. It won’t help you in the search results either. When was the last time you searched for a ninja on LinkedIn or anywhere for that matter?

Try to use simple, everyday language to explain your role or value proposition. Here’s an excellent example from a marketing professional:

Her target audience, small businesses, may not be familiar with or fully understand industry terms so she offers a straightforward, benefit-driven value proposition.

7. Don’t Put “Unemployed”

Even if you’re currently looking for a job, you shouldn’t put “Unemployed”, “Seeking New Opportunities” or similar in your headline. 

The thing is, recruiters or companies aren’t searching for the term “Unemployed” on LinkedIn. You only get a couple hundred characters for your headline, so it would be better to utilize that space for keywords that they are likely to search for, and your experience, specialisms, credentials etc.

You can show that you’re looking for work on your profile instead. At the top of your profile, you’ll see a section that says, “Show recruiters you’re open to work”. 

Simply, fill in details about the type of role you’re looking for and the location. You can even change the settings so that your current employers won’t see that you’re seeking work.

8. Share Your Mission

Maybe you’re not looking to promote yourself. Perhaps, you’re in the process of growing a startup or maybe you or your company are trying to achieve a wider goal that you want people to know about.

If this sounds like you, then you should definitely share your vision in your headline. In this example, the professional shares what he does “mass transit” but also why he does it “to reduce our carbon footprint and create a more connected community”:

You could use a similar formula. Start with the what and then go into the why. If you’re unsure about how to phrase your goals, you can always take inspiration from your company’s mission statement.

9. Show Your Personality

Like with any other social media platform, users skim through their LinkedIn feed, groups and even search results at speed. So, you need a headline that’s going to make somebody stop and take notice.

Get creative and use your headline to express your personality. Not only will it make you stand out but it’ll also make your profile memorable.

Here’s an example from an SEO manager with a quirky sense of humor:

Don’t worry, though. You don’t have to be the Kevin Hart of LinkedIn. There are other ways to express your personality via your headline. Perhaps, you want to project positive vibes or enthusiasm. 

You could even share a little personal tidbit about yourself. Maybe you do PR during the day and rule at Settlers of Catan by night… This kind of thing will also help start conversations between you and new connections.

10. Keep Your Headline Updated

It’s easy to set and forget your headline. But to get the most from it you need to keep it up to date.

Firstly, be sure to add new skills, achievements, career developments and so on when they arise. Your skillset will develop over time and your headline should reflect this.

Moreover, you may wish to test the impact of your headline and update it accordingly. When you make an alteration, keep an eye on the number of people who have viewed your profile. 

With LinkedIn Premium, you can also see who has viewed your profile. Therefore, you can discover if your headline is attracting who you want to attract or your target audience.

Conclusion

You can use your LinkedIn headline to get noticed by influential professionals and encourage more people to visit your profile. A winning headline combines relevant keywords and your unique value proposition.

Don’t forget to think carefully about who you hope to attract with your headline. And don’t be afraid to sell yourself as long as it doesn’t come across as too boastful.

Take the first step towards creating a great LinkedIn headline. Do some research to see what works well in your industry and brainstorm ideas for your own headline.

The post 10 Tips For Writing a Winning LinkedIn Headline appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/linkedin-headlines/

Best Merchant Services

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

Merchant services exist to help businesses process credit card payments. You might know them by the name “credit card processors.” 

Regardless of what you call them, choosing the best merchant service isn’t easy. The “best” one is the one that is right for your specific business, and each of the following services offers particular features that may work for one company, but not for yours. 

That’s why, in this guide, I’m catering to each type of business and finding the right merchant service for your needs. 

The Top 6 Merchant Services:

1. Square
2. Flagship Merchant Services
3. Helcim
4. Payment Depot
5. Fattmerchant
6. Stripe 

How to Choose The Best Merchant Services For You 

Before we get into the best merchant services, we need to understand the criteria used to make these decisions. Keep all of the following factors in mind as you read through the reviews. 

Processing Rates/Monthly Fees

It’s all about the money, and credit card processing is not as simple as you think. You have to weigh the pros and cons with each gateway; otherwise, you can end up paying way more than you planned. 

We need to look at the processing rates first. To get a lower processing rate, you usually have to pay a higher monthly fee. If you’re processing payments at high volume, it’s worth it for you to pay the higher fee because your volume will make up for it. 

On the other side, if you’re not processing a lot of payments, having a higher transaction fee won’t hurt you as much as a high monthly fee would. 

Flat-rate processing is a simple solution for small businesses, but interchange pricing is generally more affordable. 

Services 

You want to look at what the payment processor offers in addition to credit card processing. Do they offer free POS systems, hardware, mobile payments, integrations, etc? Some merchant services even offer consulting, customer loyalty features, and invoicing tools. 

Sometimes the “extra benefits” you get from a merchant service provider can outweigh some of the negatives. 

The Type of Merchant Service Account 

There are two primary types of accounts, one is an aggregator (or middleman), and one is an ISO (or independent sales organization). Let’s compare the two and see why it’s important to understand the difference.

Aggregators 

These are middlemen working in between the business and the bank, offering an easy payment processing solution for businesses. Square is an example of this, and while they make it easier, they usually have higher fees and transaction costs. 

ISOs 

Payment Depot is an example of an ISO, and while they usually have a more strict acceptance policy, they offer lower rates and user-friendly software compared to a direct processor. 

Integration

One of the most important factors to consider is, “how will this integrate with my current systems”? 

Your payment processor should never get in the way or cause your conversion rates to decrease; it should complement your current process or even enhance it. Make sure you choose something that will easily integrate into your business without requiring too many changes or adjustments. 

The Different Types of Merchant Services

After much research and careful consideration, these are my top six merchant services for both in-person and online sales. 

#1. Square – The Best For Transparent Pricing/Fees

Pros:

• No monthly fee
• Transparent processing
• Free card reader
• Great added features

Cons:

• No ACH payment processing
• Higher fees than desired

Square is popular for its credit card processing and POS systems, but it offers much more. It hosts features such as the “Card on File” feature, allowing users to store customer card information that works great for repeat customers trying to accumulate loyalty points and rewards of that nature. 

The processor also doesn’t have a monthly fee, and while Square’s features might not be as advanced as some of the other payment processors we’re talking about, for a POS without a monthly fee, you can’t beat the value. 

The one thing that stands out most to me is the transaction costs and how they vary whether you’re doing business in person or online.

For in-person sales, expect to pay 2.6% and $0.10 per transaction. For online transactions, it’ll cost you 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction. There are other instances, such as:

• Virtual terminal transactions
• Card-on-file transactions
• And card-not-present transactions

These will cost 3.5% and $0.15 per transaction. 

Based on these numbers, Square is not the most affordable flat-rate processor, but the transparency makes it easier for you to understand what the rates are and how they’ll impact your processing based on volume and price. 

#2. Flagship Merchant Services – The Best For Great Customer Service

Pros:

• Dedicated account manager
• Free account setup
• Free card terminal (with fees)

Cons:

• Confusing ownership
• Little information regarding price

Flagship Merchant Services cut the tape in 2001 and was acquired by iPayment in 2012. Now, they primarily resell iPayment, so keep that in mind. 

This company was one of the first to offer free account setup without any application or fees and real month-to-month contracts. They operate tens of thousands of merchants, and they have a strong reputation. 

Since they’re not a direct processor, most of their merchant accounts are set up through iPayment. iPayment uses First Data as their processor, and it can get confusing trying to figure out who is processing what through what service.

For retailers, Flagship does offer a free credit card terminal, but you’re responsible for paying account fees and insurance on that terminal to keep it up and running. 

For ecommerce, they offer either Authorize.net for processing and integration of an online cart onto your site. 

One thing that was a little frustrating about Flagship is trying to find information on their rates. If you go to their website, you’ll see that you need to fill out a form to get any info about what they charge. 

I’d like to see more transparency, but you may end up with a more catered package deal with this strategy. 

My favorite feature is that you get a single line of contact with the company when you purchase a gateway; they act as account managers. If you ever have a problem, you contact that specific person, and this isn’t a feature I’ve ever seen with any other merchant service.

#3. Helcim – The Best For Small Business 

Pros:

• Limited fees
• Fees based on volume
• Free online store software

Cons:

• Limited integrations
• $199 for the card reader

If you’re a small business owner, Helcim might appeal to you. With this service, you’re able to process credit and debit cards online and in person. You can also do some of the following: 

• Set up recurring payments
• Send invoices
• Collect payments

With a Helcim card reader, you can accept all major cards, including Amex plus Google Pay, Apple Pay, and JCB. 

Helcim charges $20 per month with transaction fees based on volume. They don’t have any contracts or cancellation fees, and they’ll wave your monthly fee if you don’t process any payments. 

Overall, Helcim is affordable but much more for in-person payments than they are online. Here’s a quick breakdown of their pricing structure: 

• Monthly Volume: $0 – $25,000
• In-Person: 0.3% + 8 cents (+ interchange)
• Online: 0.5% + 25 cents (+ interchange)

• Monthly Volume: $25,001 – $50,000
• In-Person: 0.25% + 7 cents (+ interchange)
• Online: 0.45% + 20 cents (+ interchange)

• Monthly Volume: $50,001 – $100,000
• In-Person: 0.2% + 7 cents (+ interchange)
• Online: 0.4% + 20 cents (+ interchange)

• Monthly Volume: $100,001 – $250,000
• In-Person: 0.18% + 6 cents (+ interchange)
• Online: 0.35% + 15 cents (+ interchange) 

Helcim offers nice features for those of you looking to integrate this payment gateway into your online store. You can add a checkout to your site for invoicing and customer registration while also accepting recurring subscriptions. 

#4. Payment Depot – The Best For Established Businesses

Pros:

• No contract processing
• Competitive rates
• Easy to integrate online

Cons:

• Best for high-volume business
• Application process

Payment Depot uses a membership pricing model, making it simpler to understand but can sometimes result in you paying higher fees. Thankfully, Payment Depot’s rates are pretty competitive, and they include interchange-plus pricing for both online, in-person, and mobile payments. 

This strategy actually makes Payment Depot one of the most affordable payment processors for established businesses that are doing a certain amount of volume. 

Payment Depot accepts all major cards and contactless Apple Pay and Google Pay as well. You get next-day funding and integration with POS systems as well as ecommerce platforms such as: 

• Shopify
• Revel
• QuickBooks
• PrestaShop
• BigComemrce
• WooCommerce

And more…

I don’t think this is one of the best merchant services for small businesses because of how they structure their pricing. The transaction fees go down as you pay a higher monthly fee, and they seemingly force you to increase your plan because of strict processing limits. 

Here’s a breakdown of their pricing: 

Basic Plan

• Fee: $49
• Transaction Fee: $0.15
• Monthly Limit: $25,000

Popular Plan

• Fee: $79
• Transaction Fee: $0.10
• Monthly Limit: $75,000

Premier

• Fee: $99
• Transaction Fee: $0.07
• Monthly Limit: $150,000

Unlimited

• Fee: $199
• Transaction Fee: $0.05
• Monthly Limit: Unlimited 

So, as you can see – if you’re doing high volume, it would make the most sense to upgrade to the most expensive plan for the lowest transaction fees. 

#5. Fattmerchant – Best For Subscription-Based Businesses

Pros:

• Simple pricing
• Omni software
• A solid choice for subscription businesses

Cons:

• Higher monthly fees
• Transaction fees are relatively standard

Fattmerchant is set up a lot like many of the payment processors. As you increase your monthly fee, your transaction fees go down. They offer Omni, which is where you’ll do your invoicing, payments, and reporting. The service is incredibly user-friendly, great for beginners, and it comes included with your monthly fee. 

While Fattmerchant is a great choice for budget-conscious business owners, it’s also a great option for subscription-based businesses. If you’re selling monthly coaching packages, agency services, or counseling, you’ll benefit from Fattmerchant’s structure. 

The processor accepts all major cards, including ACH, invoicing, Text2Pay, and more. Same day funding is available, and you get a free iOS and Android POS app and Bluetooth card readers that you can use on the go. 

They have two pricing plans:

• Fee: $99
• Annual Limit: $500,000
• Card-Present Fee: $0.08 + Interchange
• Card-Not-Present: $0.15 + Interchange
• ACH Transaction Fee: $0.25

• Fee: $199
• Annual Limit: $5,000,000
• Card-Present Fee: $0.06 + Interchange
• Card-Not-Present: $0.12 + Interchange
• ACH Transaction Fee: $0.25

Fattmerchant has a higher monthly fee than some others, but the company says that is how they keep their transaction fees down. 

#6. Stripe – Best For Online Payment Processing 

Pros:

• Allows you to grow
• Reasonable pricing
• Great solution for online businesses

Cons:

• Complicated setup
• May require developers

If your business runs entirely online, Stripe is your best choice. It’s made specifically for ecommerce and internet business, and tons of startups and Fortune 500 companies trust Stripe. 

The company offers sophisticated software and APIs that allow online store owners to customize their checkout experience. You can use the pre-built integrations to connect a Stripe checkout right away and then customize it as you go along. 

That’s one of the main reasons why I love Stripe; it’s a payment processor that grows with you and allows you to change it as your business needs change. 

With all of these features and moving parts comes complications. It’s not the easiest to set up, and if you plan on utilizing the many benefits of Stripe, you’ll likely need a developer to handle it for you. 

Stripe offers a “pay as you go” strategy without monthly fees and transparent transaction fees across the board. 

• Online: 2.9% and $0.30
• In-Person: 2.7% and $0.05
• International: Add 1% per transaction
• ACH Direct: 0.8% maxed at $5.00 per transaction
• ACH Credit: $1.00 per transaction

You can use all major credit and debit cards plus ACH, WeChat Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and much more. Expect to wait two business days for deposits or pay a one percent fee to get instant deposits. 

Stripe integrates with WordPress, Magento, Squarespace, 3DCart, Zoho, Big Cartel, and more. 

So, by this point, you should know which of these merchant services is right for you. They all have their pros and cons, and you should choose according to the type of business you own.

Square is an overall solid solution for all businesses, but the transaction fees are a bit high, and scalability is lacking. 

I’m also a big fan of Helcim because they allow you to grow with your processor by increasing the monthly payment as your volume needs increase. 

Regardless of which choice you make, keep the important factors in mind and choose carefully, so you don’t regret your decision down the road. 

The post Best Merchant Services appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-merchant-services/

Local SEO Consulting

Local SEO sounds cool and all but can it really help you scale your business in 2020?

The quick answers to these questions are Yes and Absolutely.

Now the more in-depth answer depends on what your business needs.

Do you sell offline?

Are you looking to double the customers that walk in your store, office, workplace?

Then Local SEO is what you must focus on. 

And you must do it NOW before your competitors acquire all of your hot leads.

Why hot you ask?

Because Local SEO is the best way to catch people looking to BUY now and narrow their choices only to your exact products and services.

You can’t miss these easy sales and in today’s post, we’ll go over not only how you can collect them but also what you need to do to guarantee your prospects come to you and not someone else.

Ready? Then let’s begin with…

3 Ways an SEO Consultant Can Help Grow Your Business

In good times and in bad times every business wants more leads.

That’s why automating and constantly optimizing your customer acquisition process is so crucial to your business growth.

Local SEO is an easy and extremely effective way to do it.

SEO Consultants can easily help you increase your reach and bring in more sales.

So here are 3 simple examples of how an SEO Consultant can help grow your business:

#1 Website SEO Optimization for Optimal Local Reach

I’ll assume you already have a website that serves as your tool to introduce people to your business and services.

If that’s the case then you need to shove your website in people’s faces on every occasion you get.

Website SEO (search engine optimization) is an easy way to rank your website on top of Google’s relevant to your business searches.

And more importantly to rank your website for Local Searches.

That means people that are specifically looking for services in your area.

Professional SEO Consultants will optimize your website for Local Searches without any problems.

And keep in mind that 88% of local-based queries done using a mobile phone end in either a call or visit to the business within 24 hours.

You wouldn’t want to miss these hot prospects.

#2 SEO Strategy Development

Of course, no real optimization is possible without a proper strategy behind it.

Your ideal SEO Consultant will create a step-by-step strategy that will maximize your organic reach.

The strategy normally consists of what to post in your blog (if you have one), what pages need urgent optimization, and what activities will bring the biggest ROI if done right now.

Then he’ll get all of that and put it into a specialized strategy depending on your budget, time, and goals.

More on the technical stuff and what to expect when working with your SEO Consultant further down the post.

#3 Keyword Research and Implementation

Why do you need keyword research exactly?

Well, many people think that just writing blog posts about their niche is going to get them the leads they desire.

And even though it will bring in some leads… the results will be far from optimal.

After your SEO Consultant is done with your keyword research, you’ll know exactly what keywords to target in your main pages, how many times to use each one, and how to spin your content so it matches with google’s latest engine rules.

Of course for Local SEO you must rank for the typical terms plus your city added to them.

But if you try to guess the right keywords (as many businesses do), you might end up empty handed.

The best way to ensure your keyword research success is to use Proven SEO Tools like Ubersuggest.

Try it out now and see the traffic you’ve been missing out on. 

If you like the numbers just continue reading this post to learn how to find the SEO Consultant that will guarantee your best ranking.

How to Get Started With Local SEO Consulting

Let’s dive into the process of getting started with your SEO Consultant Services.

First, you’ll need to prepare some materials.

No need to mention that a website is mandatory…

The next thing is the drive to grow big… I’m talking real BIG.

If you’re a local business trying to make ends meet then Local SEO is the thing that’s going to save your inevitable business death.

Remember that… 

72% of users who did a local-based search visited a store within 5 miles.

Now that your motivation is higher than ever, you need to find the consultant that will drive the traffic your business desperately needs.

How do you do that?

You focus on finding an SEO Consultant that is known to bring results in this field.

And more importantly… someone that specializes mainly in SEO.

Because you’ll find many business consulting gurus that will promise results in everything while they haven’t done crap in the past.

That’s what you DON’T want for your business.

An easy way to guarantee results is to work with a proven agency that helps businesses close to your size.

An instant recommendation is NP Digital as it is the best SEO Marketing Agency on the planet.

This exact blog is ranked on the first page of google for thousands of marketing terms and it uses the same exact strategies NP Digital will use for your business.

Book a call with a professional consultant now and get a strategy built specifically for your business.

Again, before enrolling in a long-term contract, you need to make sure you’re at the right place.

Having a website is a MUST and also don’t expect instant results.

At the very least SEO needs a week to be scanned by google’s engine.

But the best practice is to wait a couple of months while monitoring the results.

Your SEO Consultant will do that for you.

Just ask for a weekly/monthly report of the analytics behind the content you put out.

And speaking about analytics and tracking, let’s get into the ROI (return on investment) of hiring a Local SEO Consultant.

Measuring the ROI of Local SEO Consulting Services

Everyone can use big words but the only thing that matters at the end of the day is RESULTS.

That’s the one thing you should care about when you’re trying to scale your business.

So no matter how friendly and easy-going your Consultant may be, you must always track his progress and whether he brings real profits to your business.

The last thing you want is to waste months of money and time on a leaking bucket that’s bound to break at some point.

Using tools that track all of your data is crucial.

Here’s a complete list of the best free SEO tools you can use or let your consultant use for you.

Also, you’ll need to be fully transparent with your Local SEO Consultant.

Any time something feels wrong, you go ahead and ask him so he can take a look and fix it if need be.

Keeping secrets to yourself is an easy way to fail in the long run even though it may feel easier at the current moment.

So be 100% truthful about what you want and build a relationship on trust and straightforward communication.

That’s the best way to work long-term and get the best results possible for your business.

4 Point Checklist For Finding the Right Local SEO Consultant

And now to get into the fun stuff…

An exact step-by-step process on how to find the right Local SEO Consultant for your exact business.

#1 Clear Your Mind About What You Need

I suggest you sit down and list everything you know about your business, niche, and goals before going into a call with a professional.

Even though you might think you can figure it out on the spot, you’ll always miss important details.

Just sit down for 5-10 minutes and write it down so you can be prepared for the call.

Especially for SEO Consultant Services, you need to clear out these questions:

What’s the main geographic area you want to target?

What are the main products or services you want to offer or present online?

Do you plan on activating other social mediums like paid advertising, social media accounts, email marketing?

Once you have these, you can move on to the next step.

#2 Finding The Right Expert For You

Your best match depends solely on your specific needs.

Do you only need Local SEO Consulting?

Do you even know what’s best for your online presence?

Most local businesses are unaware of the real power of social media…

So if that’s the case with you, the best approach would be to find a marketing agency that offers SEO Services combined with other online advertising skills.

Again, a quick suggestion is NP Digital, as it is the best marketing agency for SEO in the world.

Once you get on a call with a consultant that leads a team in such a big, result-generating agency, he’ll be able to look at your business and suggest the best and most efficient methods to grow your online presence.

And remember, you don’t need blank followers.

Having 1 million Instagram followers that don’t buy is like having 0 people at your store.

Don’t mistake followers with real customers.

A real professional consultant will give you the exact steps that will increase your sales together with your online presence.

But how to determine who’s a real expert and who’s not?

That’s simple.

Jump on a call with the first agency/consultant you think fits your best fit.

Have a call with him and look for:

1. Communication Skills
2. Previous Results
3. Intuitive Future Thinking

Great Communication Skills are essential if you want to have a long-term positive relationship with your consultant.

Your mission on the call is to see if he can explain and break down hard terminology into simple to follow steps.

If he’s trying to sound smart by using terms you don’t know and he doesn’t bother to explain them to you, then he’s not your perfect fit.

After all, you want to know what’s going on inside your business.

Previous Results are obviously important. You can’t trust empty claims.

A good consultant will have a proven track record of helping people in your exact situation.

And last but not least Intuitive Future Thinking.

Sometimes you might encounter some “robots” that only know their own thing.

That doesn’t mean they are bad at it but it surely means that they’ll not be able to adapt to your business scaling ideas in the future.

So the contract will be bound to fail before you even sign it.

An easy way to check if the person on the other side is intuitive would be to ask him questions outside of his specialty.

You can’t expect him to know all the answers, so don’t look for the “correct” answer but rather look for the way he handles the conversation.

If he’s open to brainstorming with you even on something he’s not an exact expert in…

And if he’s open about it, making sure you know he’s not perfect in the field but he’s able to come up with real ideas on his own, then he’s a good fit.

On the other hand, if he ignores your questions and sticks to his “homework” then he’s that exact type of species I call “heartless robots”.

You don’t want to outsource an intuitive task like the SEO ranking of your website to a guy that can’t think outside of his box.

Once you find someone that fits these criteria and you feel can help you grow your business, it’s time to…

#3 Sign A Contract

I know that may sound scary for people that haven’t signed online contracts before but I assure you that the process is as simple as tying your shoes.

A respected marketing agency will have a contract starting process that you just have to follow to get started successfully.

The terms are made so they benefit you and what you already discussed on the indoctrination call you made.

#4 Measure and Track Results

As mentioned previously you’ve got to be open for a long-term relationship that benefits your business.

Tracking your ROI with SEO tools is crucial, you should sign up for some of them right now.

I hope that guide helped you clear your mind at least a little.

The one thing you should remember is that anything is possible.

Your business can grow bigger than you’ve ever imagined, so don’t limit your scale to what you think is possible.

Let a professional who has done this exact process before, do it for you as well.

Have you optimized your Local SEO before? Have you hired professional help to do it for you? Share your experience in the comments below:

The post Local SEO Consulting appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/local-seo-consulting/

Best Online Fax Services

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

Think back to the last time you saw one of those giant, clunky fax machines sitting around. 

It’s probably been a while, right? While that old-school hardware is undoubtedly outdated, faxing isn’t dead by any means. 

It’s actually very much alive. But thankfully, we have better technology. 

The best online fax services make sending secure communications via fax a breeze for individuals and businesses of all sizes with no ugly, expensive, or finicky hardware required. 

However, there are dozens of providers to choose from, which is why making the right choice is often more challenging than actually using the service. So to help make your decision easier, I narrowed it down to my top six recommendations—and reviewed them. 

The top 6 options for online fax services

1. mFax – best online fax services for multiple users
2. RingCentral Fax – best all-in-one online fax service
3. HelloFax – best for cloud-storage integrations
4. SRFax – most secure online faxing service
5. FaxBurner – best mobile online faxing service
6. Biscom 123 – most affordable online faxing service

How to choose the best online fax service for you 

There are dozens of online fax service providers to choose from. This makes it challenging to know which one’s perfect for your business, especially if you’re not quite sure what to look for. 

All of the options on this list are excellent. However, they may not work for everyone.

So, don’t forget to use the following factors as you go through the decision-making process to help you narrow things down and find the perfect fit.  

Number of users

As a business, you probably need multiple user accounts. Different services have different pricing plans, so it’s essential to consider the number of accounts you need. 

Some options may limit the number of users with no way around it. Others may offer extra user accounts with an additional monthly fee. So, this plays a massive role in how much you can expect to pay every month. 

With that said, most smaller businesses won’t have problems with account limitations. 

But large corporations with multiple departments who need faxing capabilities may run into problems with low-limit plans. 

Cloud-storage integrations

Most businesses rely on cloud storage tools. Whether you depend on Microsoft 365 or Google’s G Suite, your employees probably use these tools daily to create and archive documents. 

So, it’s important to consider these integrations if you and your team need to store documents you send or receive via online fax. 

This can help streamline your document management processes. 

Page limits

Most providers charge an extra fee if you go over the number of pages your plan includes. So, you need to consider your business’s needs when it comes to monthly fax volume. 

A lot of providers place low limits on this to encourage you to upgrade to a better plan. 

So it’s critical to choose a plan that offers enough pages per month along with a fair page overage fee (just in case). However, online fax services with unlimited plans are a better option for businesses that expect to send and receive high volumes every month.

Document archiving

If you’re using an online fax service to send and automatically digitize documents, it should come with document archiving as well. This can significantly streamline and automate your document management processes. 

Some online fax services provide online databases so users can easily store faxed documents. However, some don’t, and others don’t provide archiving features at all. Without this, you have to print, scan, and store everything by hand. 

Which… can be an incredibly time-consuming process. 

So, pay close attention to this as you decide, especially if it’s something you need now or may need in the future. 

Industry-specific use

There are lots of different all-purpose online fax services out there. However, sometimes particular providers are more suited to specific industries. 

Healthcare is an excellent example of this because you’re dealing with sensitive information and legal regulations regarding how you handle it. So, you need a service that’s secure and compliant with those requirements. 

However, healthcare isn’t the only industry like this. As such, it’s critical to consider your industry’s requirements and regulations before making your final decision. 

The different types of online fax services 

Not all online fax services are the same. 

So, before we dive into the reviews, let’s talk about the different types of online fax services so you know exactly what to look for as you go through the process. 

Web or cloud-based services

The most common online fax services are cloud or browser-based. All you have to do to get started is create an account, and you’re ready to go. 

Web-based fax services are known for high-quality faxes as well as ease of use. 

And they often offer a wide range of cloud-based integrations with platforms like G Suite and Dropbox, making life easier if you want to archive your communications on the cloud. 

Mobile fax services

Mobile fax services allow users to fax directly from their smartphones. Essentially, mobile faxing is as convenient and as easy as snapping a photo. 

Plus, you don’t have to wait until you’re at your computer or rely on team members sitting in front of a desktop to send and receive communications. 

Some providers may also support desktop or web-based use, while others are exclusively mobile. 

So, keep this in mind as you decide which provider is best for you and your team. 

#1 –  mFax Review – Best online fax services for multiple users

mFax is one of the most flexible and adaptable online fax services for businesses with numerous team members. Their flexible monthly plans allow up to 50 individuals to use the service. 

Operating as cloud software, there’s no need to install or download any programs. And you can easily access the mFax interface from any web browser on any device. 

With an easy-to-use interface and intuitive setup, it’s an excellent option for those looking to get started with their first online fax service.

mFax comes with various features and benefits, including:

• Automatic cloud storage for sent and received faxes
• Works from any device
• Send and receive faxes from email
• Multi-layered encryption for documents in transit and rest
• Plans for small businesses and large enterprises
• Easy to create and manage users and set account-level permissions
• Print to Fax driver allows you to send a fax from a desktop to print

mFax also has a beta version of international outbound fax for 24 countries. So, you’re not limited to one particular country. 

Plans start at $7 per month for one user, making it super affordable for businesses of all sizes. Plus, you can try mFax for free or sign up for a product demo to learn more about it. 

#2 – RingCentral Fax Review – Best all-in-one online fax service

RingCentral Fax is another popular online fax service. With a solid feature list, flexible user numbers, and robust security suite, it’s my #1 all-in-one online fax service recommendation. 

Their unique fax scheduling feature makes it easy to send faxes for future delivery. This is particularly useful if you need to send international faxes to users in other timezones or have employees who don’t work standard operating hours. 

On top of that, you also get access to a ton of powerful features and benefits, including:

• Groups of up to 50 email addresses to send faxes in one message
• Choose from toll-free or local fax numbers
• IOS and Android mobile applications
• Up to 200 faxes in an online account
• Create an electronic signature and add it to documents
• View received and sent faxes online via a web browser
• Securely transmit faxes over an encrypted internet connection
• Send and receive faxes from any device
• Block faxes without a caller ID

RingCentral Fax is a great all-around option for small and large businesses who won’t mind the slightly limited online fax storage (you can always store them elsewhere). 

Plans start at $17.99 a month, and there’s an unlimited plan for just $24.99 a month. 

#3 – HelloFax Review – Best online fax services for cloud-storage integration 

HelloFax is the best online fax service for integrated cloud storage. 

The service seamlessly syncs with G Suite, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Box. Users can also access their faxes directly on the HelloFax’s service from any web browser on any device. 

Plus, it’s super easy to use. Faxes arrive directly to inboxes as a PDF where they are easily viewable, downloadable, and shareable. 

There’s also unlimited storage for businesses that prefer not to use other cloud storage providers for their faxes. 

With HelloFax, you can: 

• Send up to five pages for free by signing up
• Quickly fax to previously entered fax numbers 
• Additional faxes that go over the monthly limit are just 5 cents per page
• Send faxes by email
• Add and remove users at no extra cost
• Send faxes to multiple recipients
• Receive faxes with a paid plan 
• Sign in using your Google credentials

Despite having cloud integration with multiple platforms, HelloFax still offers unlimited storage, which is excellent for businesses planning on sending or receiving high-volume communications.

There’s a free plan for up to 5 faxes per month, so you can try it free before you invest. However, most businesses need more than that, and you’ll need to upgrade once you reach that limit. 

But their paid plans are affordable, starting at $9.99 per month.

#4 – SRFax Review – Most secure online fax services

SRFax is a great option for businesses that have high-security concerns. Transferring information over the internet always comes with the risk of interception. 

And for specific industries like healthcare, security is even more paramount. 

Healthcare providers rely on faxing to transfer sensitive patient data. So, the fax services they use must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 

SRFax provides multiple layers of data encryption while maintaining a user-friendly interface, making it an excellent choice for high-security industries. 

In addition to HIPAA compliant fax services, SRFax has multiple tiers and plans suited to all security levels and sizes of businesses. 

They also offer a variety of features and benefits to make your life easier, including:

• 2048-bit SSL Certification, 2048-bit RSA public keys, and PGP encryption
• 24-hour customer support hotline 
• Plans come with unlimited authorized email addresses
• Automatically download incoming faxes
• Send faxes through an email account 
• Intuitive dashboard for viewing existing faxes, sending faxes, and changing settings
• Send faxes through the online dashboard

For any company that prioritizes high-level security, SRFax is an excellent choice. 

Pricing is affordable, with monthly plans starting at $3.29 per month. Or you can sign up for a non-healthcare specific 60-day trial to test it out before you commit. 

#5 – FaxBurner Review – Best mobile online faxing service

FaxBurner stands out from other online fax services for its well-designed, user-friendly IOS and Android apps. With FaxBurner, sending faxes is as easy as taking a picture, and you can receive them straight into your inbox. 

Set up is quick and easy. Plus, the platform gives users a temporary fax number that expires after 24 hours without upgrading to a paid plan. 

On top of that, you also get various features and benefits, including:

• No unprofessional looking ads or watermarks on free faxes
• Digitally document signatures
• Create cover letters within the app
• Integration with cloud storage apps like DropBox
• Email to fax option 
• Phone scanning capabilities

For users who need the convenience and flexibility of a mobile-first fax application, FaxBurner is my number top recommendation. 

Free packages provide up to 25 inbound faxes and five outbound faxes a month. And their paid plans start at just $12.95 a month, making it incredibly affordable for most users. 

#6 – Biscom 123 Review — Most affordable online faxing services

If your business is just looking to send the occasional fax, Biscom 123 is an incredibly affordable option. As a leading telecommunications enterprise, Biscom makes online faxing simple for both businesses and individuals with a straightforward interface. 

You can also try it free for 30 days to see if it’s a good fit for your business, with no credit card required. However, it doesn’t maintain archival records of your communications. So, keep that in mind. 

Depending on your faxing needs, Biscom 123 offers various plans that allow you to send up to 300 pages with support for multiple team members. 

Plus, you can also:

• Easily add up to four users in addition to the primary account holder
• Send email faxes in just a few clicks
• Fax from Android and IOS mobile applications
• Integrate with Google Drive
• Send multiple file formats and rich text formats for text faxes
• Saves inbound PDF files in your email inbox
• No limitation on file size or number of documents

Pricing starts at $7.99 per month. This entry-level plan includes 30 pages per month with a charge of 7 cents per additional page. So, it certainly won’t break the bank. 

Summary

mFax and RingCentral are my top choices for most users. They’re incredibly affordable and accessible for most businesses. Plus, they come with a ton of features to make your life easier. 

However, that doesn’t mean they’re suitable for everyone in every situation. 

So, don’t forget to consider the factors we talked about and take advantage of free trials as you go through the process of picking the best online fax services for you and your team. 

What company do you use to send online faxes?

The post Best Online Fax Services appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-online-fax-services/

The Trade Offs of Buying Instagram Followers

Like any shortcut, buying Instagram followers can be very tempting.

And why not? Just look at these ads:

“Get 100% real Instagram followers within 10 minutes!”

“Pay only $5 for 500 followers.”

“Increase your Instagram following by 25% at shockingly low rates!“

See? Tempting.

But let us warn you – don’t give in.

These shortcuts are never worth it. More so, because the Instagram algorithm is updated regularly to weed out low-quality and fake accounts and interactions.

Plus, the results are hollow, scammy, and… mortifyingly obvious.

In this guide, we’ll cover all points to give you a better idea about how buying Instagram followers works – or rather how it doesn’t work – along with actionable ways to increase your number of followers organically.

So, let’s get started!

How People “Think” Buying Instagram Followers Will Help Them?

Buying Instagram followers is usually done in two ways, each having different results:

More (Fake) Followers

You can indeed get more followers very easily and cost-effectively by spending money.

But Instagram can track down your fake followers who are actually shell accounts and can ban them. Moreover, you won’t get any revenue or engagement for your business.

Automatic Following and Unfollowing, With More Likes

This method is based off on the common Instagram etiquette – #FollowForFollow.

You follow an account, and that account follows you back. The catch here is that the other account gets automatically unfollowed after a few days. 

You have the option to choose how fast you want the bot to work where you’ll follow other Instagram users, who will then check out your account and give you a follow.

We know that this method sounds better than the first one, but it still isn’t an organic way to increase your true fans. Here’s why it doesn’t work:

• People Can Tell You Bought Followers 

The bot can like several pictures in quick succession, tipping off Instagram users that you aren’t really engaging with them. Having a high-followers-to-following ratio is another indication.

• Doesn’t Identify Accounts Who Will Follow You Back 

The bot cannot identify accounts who are bots, brand ambassadors, or inactive accounts. So even if you follow them, these accounts will not follow you back.

• Inaccurate Customer Targeting 

It’s necessary to have an organic, loyal fan following if you want to boost your engagement in the long run. The bot often messes up targeting and adds accounts who have no genuine interest in your brand.

• Unfollows Rather Quickly

Not everyone checks their Instagram regularly. So they can miss the bot following and unfollowing them, which again does nothing for your account. #MoneyWasted

Basically, you won’t have sustainable results in the long run.

How Buying Instagram Followers Affect Your Brand Negatively?

Before talking about why you shouldn’t buy Instagram accounts, let’s discuss why you choose to operate an Instagram account.

• You want to connect with friends and family, giving them a glimpse into your daily lives. If this is you, why would you want to buy followers to have a bigger network? You don’t know them, and they definitely will have no interest in the posts you share.
• You want to take advantage of the 1 billion Instagram users and sell your product or service. If you‘re a business or brand, fake followers have no use for you since they aren’t going to buy anything from you.
• You want to influence your followers and potentially land lucrative deals from brands to showcase their offerings. If you’re an influencer, what’s the point of having fake followers when you cannot influence them? This will only make you look unreliable and fake.

In other words, buying Instagram followers is nothing but #Fail.

That said, let’s discuss the reasons why you shouldn’t buy Instagram followers in more detail:

Absolutely Zero Genuine Engagement

One of the main reasons why people buy followers is to boost their engagement. Well, right after increasing the number of followers.

The reality couldn’t be further from the truth, though.

Since you’re merely paying for fake bot accounts, the best engagement you can hope for is a generic “nice post“ comment.

If you‘re an influencer, your main job is influencing your followers‘ behavior and possibly steering them to buy products from brands with whom you share affiliate partnerships. 

But if they don’t engage with you, you aren’t influencing them at all.

Precisely why brands check out the validity of an “influencer“ before taking the plunge and working with them.

Your Competitors And Instagram Know You Bought Followers

There are some dead giveaways that scream you purchased your Instagram followers and likes, making your folly embarrassingly obvious.

• Your likes-to-follower or likes-to-comments ratios are unnaturally high.
• You have like-buying services following your account.
• The accounts that like your post or follow your account have little to no activity in the form of posts, few followers, missing profile photos, and so on.

Trust us, people will know.

You’ll Have Mismatched Engagement

Human behavior is predictable, which is why you‘re likely to have a typical pattern of engagement if you have a genuine following. 

Markerly analyzed the Instagram accounts of 2 million influencers and discovered the following patterns:

• Less than 1000 followers average about 8% engagement
• 1000-10,000 followers average 4% engagement
• 10,000-100,000 followers average 2.4% engagement
• 100,000 followers-1 million followers average 1.8% engagement
• Greater than 1 million followers average 1.7% engagement

Now, this doesn’t mean your engagement rates should exactly match these numbers – after all, they are just averages. But a noticeable difference would mean there’s definitely something fishy going on.

Instagram Will Punish You or Even Suspend Your Account

Instagram is ruthless when it comes to penalizing accounts with fake followers.

The platform has recently updated its terms of use to identify and remove fake accounts and is also removing any likes, follows, or comments that come from third-party applications created to grow audiences artificially.

You‘ll also violate Instagram community guidelines if you buy followers, which can trigger a reaction from moderators.

Fake accounts are purged constantly, so your followers can disappear at any time. There is also the risk of Instagram outrightly suspending your account due to these unethical practices.

Higher Vulnerability to SPAM

The majority of your bought followers will be fake, but there might be a few accounts that bring SPAM with them.

When you provide your email address for purchasing followers, you‘re basically providing opportunities for spam posts. These spammers will have access to your followers and deliver SPAM there as well.

Some of your genuine followers may end up following these accounts just because they see you doing it, and when they discover the quality of these accounts, they might end up unfollowing you.

No Income for You

Your fake followers won’t spend any money on your products, and neither will they refer people to you.

So what’s the point of spending money to buy followers when there is no benefit?

As mentioned before, brands don’t select influencers based on the number of followers alone anymore. They use a host of tools to get an accurate picture to avoid working with unworthy accounts.

When they find you bought your followers, which they will, they obviously won’t work for you. 

Hence, you won’t earn any income despite spending some serious money on increasing your fake followers’ list.

You’ll End Up Being Blacklisted

Let alone income, brands will outright blacklist you if they find you lack credibility.

Influencer marketing is based on trust, which is why brands want to partner with genuine influencers who built their following organically. And when they find you’ve taken a dishonest shortcut, they‘ll start questioning your worth as a business.

Instead, you can consider buying Instagram ads. Not only will this help you increase your reach, but you might also be able to pull genuine followers. 

Plus, if you have the budget to “buy“ followers, why not spend it on paid advertising instead?

Actionable Ways to Increase Your Instagram Followers Authentically

We can now agree that buying fake followers isn’t going to get you Instagram success, and will only affect your potential adversely.

So the question here is how you can get more Instagram followers.

The following are some of the best practices to increase your Instagram followers:

Create Useful and Relevant Content

The best way to make people stop scrolling through their Instagram feed and like your post or follow your account is to create content that genuinely interests them.

Think about your target audience, and make the value of your post clear by tying it to a specific purpose.

What do you want to post to be? Informational, educational, or entertaining?

Here are a few suggestions to help you with content creation:

Informational Content That Informs Your Audience

• Interesting articles, stories, and other relevant content from around the world.
• Research and analysis that explore a specific subject or area.
• Latest local, national, and international news in your niche.

Educational Content That Teaches Your Audience

• Step-by-step how-to guides that show the user how to accomplish something.
• Tutorials in the form of photos or instructional videos.
• Video reviews of products or services to help users with purchase decisions.

Entertaining Content That Helps Your Audience Pass Their Time

• Celebrity-focused gossip, stories, and photos.
• Quizzes, brainteasers, trivia, and other mental tests.
• Humorous content to break the daily monotony of life.

Inspirational Content That Uplifts Your Audience

• Inspiring photos and videos related to fashion, home, food, garden, and travel.
• Thought-provoking perspectives or strong opinions on critical topics.
• Personal anecdotes or stories to create feelings of empathy.

You can choose any content type according to your target audience and personal preference – just make sure it’s purposeful. Your audience should feel they‘re getting something out of your posts. 

If you still face difficulty in understanding the kind of content to post, you can hire a social media marketing agency or consultant to do the job for you. 

Our team at Neil Patel Digital has a team of experts that are highly skilled in creating Instagram posts that drive traffic and boost engagement.

Using Growth Tools Strategically

Hashtags are an excellent way to grow your Instagram and earn authentic followers. 

Effective growth tools, such as HashtagsForLife, will allow you to see how a specific hashtag is performing in your content area and provide you insights and analytics. You can also see its reach, average likes, and unique posts made using that hashtag.

These are some of the top Instagram hashtags:

• #love (1,271,692,015)
• #instagood (742,795,562)
• #photooftheday (507,358,504)
• #fashion (487,010,088)
• #beautiful (463,668,566)
• #happy (427,528,663)
• #cute (418,686,470)
• #like4like (417,887,839)
• #tbt (413,049,020)
• #followme (392,011,012)

Promote Your Instagram on Other Social Media Platforms

It’s normal for people who are on Instagram to also be on other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

So when you promote your Instagram on other networks, your followers will know that you have an account on Instagram as well, which, in turn, can drive traffic to the latter platform and simultaneously increase your followers.

Make sure your Instagram business account is linked to Facebook. This will enable you to share your Instagram post on your Facebook page, giving your Facebook friends and followers a sneak peek of what you have to offer on Instagram.

Try Instagram Ads

If you’re considering buying followers, you should give marketing with Instagram ads a try.

Choose an appropriate ad campaign objective like increasing your brand awareness or boosting your reach. 

Not only will this help you build your follower count, but will also get out there in front of people who’ve never heard about your brand and products, but want to.

Optimize your Instagram account

Optimizing your Instagram account can be an excellent way to get organic followers.

Your Instagram bio is like the homepage to your account, which is your brand. 

Think of a creative bio, add creative image captions, choose a good profile image and user name, and watch the magic unfold.

Doing this will help you build your brand identity as well as drive Instagram traffic to your site. You can also add links in your bio that direct your visitors to your site.

Top Tip: Make your Instagram as search-friendly as possible. If it’s too long, try to shorten it. Also, avoid adding numbers or special characters.

Follow a Consistent Content Calendar

Posting regularly on Instagram is a not-so-secret secret to lock in more followers. 

If you’re getting followers, you don’t want to make them forget they followed you in the first place, which is why maintaining a regular posting schedule is necessary.

You shouldn’t post more than two times a day to avoid spam – it’s the consistency that matters. 

Nearly 200 million Instagram users use their accounts daily, so even if you post a few times, it’s enough to get the followers rolling in. 

Just take a look at the above graph to know the best times to post to Instagram.

Follow the Follow + Like + Comment (FLC) Rule

You might have already heard about this rule, and it’s just as simple as it looks.

You should engage directly with your followers, follow different accounts, and like and comment on their photos. Try to do this repeatedly until you see a response.

In fact, when you FLC with a personal touch, you can have a third out of say, a hundred contacts that you engage with, follow you back.

Host Giveaways

Everybody likes free stuff, so why not get attention from other users by running a giveaway for your products, services, or merchandise?

You’ll find many businesses run a giveaway, where they ask the users to tag 3 to 5 friends and repost content. This can be a great way to boost your brand visibility and gain many followers quickly.

You Can’t Have Bots Carrying You Towards Instagram Success

Fake followers might boost engagement initially, but in the long run, there’s really no benefit – both in terms of credibility and financial gain.

Instead of trying to pay your way into Instagram popularity, follow our highly effective tips to slowly but legitimately grow your followers.

It may seem daunting to create a plan to increase your follower count, but with an effective strategic plan in place, you’ll have your followers growing faster than a bot ever could.

Wondering where to start? Contact us here and let us help disrupt your industry.

The post The Trade Offs of Buying Instagram Followers appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/buying-instagram-followers/

Best Marketing Automation Software

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

Marketing campaigns get more complex by the day. 

Which… is great news for the consumer experience but a nightmare for you as a marketing manager handling thousands of moving parts (and countless employees) on a daily basis. 

To put it lightly, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. 

Especially complex technical challenges that most consumers and employees will never see or fully understand. 

But thankfully more and more automation tools are popping up to make your life a bit easier.

However, that means choosing the best marketing automation software for your business and team is harder than its ever been. 

From enterprise-grade solutions to the most affordable options, my team and I have researched, tested, and used just about every software you can imagine. And I can honestly say… that’s not an exaggeration. 

But the good news is that I narrowed it down to my top six recommendations, reviewed them, and developed an all-inclusive list of what to consider when making your final decision. 

The top 6 options for marketing automation software

1. Freshmarketer – best for small to midsize businesses
2. Pardot by Salesforce – best for B2B companies
3. ActiveCampaign – best for email marketing automation
4. Acoustic – best for enterprise multi-channel marketing automation
5. HubSpot – best for sales, customer service, and marketing automation
6. Act-On – best for marketing agencies

How to choose the best marketing automation software for you

I stand behind all of my top recommendations. However, choosing the right one for you isn’t always easy because it depends on various factors. 

So, before we dive in, let’s talk about how to narrow things down and find the best marketing automation software for your business. 

Type of business

B2B businesses have different marketing needs than D2C companies. 

Furthermore, marketing agencies present a new set of marketing automation challenges. Because of that, specialized software may be necessary to meet your specific needs at a reasonable price point. 

The size of your business matters too. Large companies run complex, massive-scale campaigns and have bigger pockets. So, small business tools aren’t a good match.

However, smaller companies will probably find enterprise-grade features confusing and wildly out of budget, which is why those small business tools exist in the first place. 

So, pay attention to who the software is built for when making your final decision. 

Number of contacts

Most pricing plans depend on the number of contacts or leads you have. The larger your list, the more you need to pay to maintain it and stay in touch with them. 

If you have tens or hundreds of thousands of contacts, enterprise-grade solutions are probably more cost-effective. However, that’s not the case if you have a few hundred or even a few thousand leads on your list. 

Just be sure to keep this in mind and remember that specific plans may limit the maximum number of contacts you can have. 

And if you hit those limits, you’ll need to upgrade to a higher plan or pay an extra fee.

Your marketing channels

Different marketing automation software supports various marketing channels. 

And there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. 

From SMS and email marketing to social media and push notifications, it’s crucial to choose a software that handles everything you need.

Smaller businesses with simple campaigns may not utilize a wide range of channels and can get away using a more affordable tool. 

However, large businesses with complex campaigns spanning numerous channels need something more robust to manage all the moving parts. 

Furthermore, some software includes varying channels in different pricing tiers. So, you may start on one level and need to move up to gain access to more marketing channels. Or you may need to move to (or integrate) a new tool altogether. 

It may help to map out your upcoming campaigns and decide which channels you plan to use.

Automation features

Automation is at the heart of every tool on this list. But some offer more advanced automation features than others. 

Do you need to score leads and prospects? Maybe you want to combine SMS, email marketing, and Facebook ads in the same customer journey. Or perhaps you need the ability to send hyper-targeted emails on autopilot. 

Regardless of the complexity of your campaigns, don’t forget to consider:

• Split A/B testing
• Automated email campaigns
• Event and website tracking
• Contact management
• Visual customer journey mapping
• Automated segmentation and personalization
• Prospect and lead scoring
• Dynamic content
• Transactional emails
• AI-powered recommendations
• Action and logic-based triggers
• Reporting and analytics

You may not need all of them, and some tools don’t include them. So it’s critical to understand what you need (and don’t need) before making your decision.

Additional features

It’s not uncommon for marketing automation software to include a handful of features typically found in a CRM tool, like live chat or customer support capabilities. 

Before making a final decision, it’s essential to understand which additional features you need to fill the gap between marketing and sales or customer service. 

You may already have these systems in place. So, you won’t need these additional features. But if you don’t, you might be able to save money, hassle, and time by choosing a software that includes everything you’re missing under one roof. 

Hubspot is an excellent example of this. 

It includes customer service, sales, and marketing automation tools in a centralized location to streamline data movement and foster automation across your entire business. 

The different types of marketing automation software

Marketing comes in all shapes, sizes, and complexities. 

From physical mailers and print campaigns to social media and email marketing, the best marketing automation software helps you build, automate, and optimize all types of marketing campaigns. 

Marketing automation software is often confused with customer relationship management (CRM). However, the two aren’t the same or interchangeable. 

CRM software focuses on sales activities, while marketing automation software focuses on marketing tasks. Going further, marketing automation software is for generating, nurturing, and qualifying leads. 

On the other hand, CRM software is to close the sale and foster communications or relationships after the sale. 

In a perfect world, the two systems play well together and create a seamless flow of data from your marketing team to your sales team.

Taking things further, there are numerous subsets of marketing automation software, including:

• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• Advertising management
• SMS marketing
• Live chat

Each different tool is powerful on its own. But true marketing automation software lets you create and optimize customer journeys across marketing platforms for varying complexity campaigns. 

#1 – Freshmarketer Review — The best marketing automation software for small to midsize businesses

Around here, we’re big fans of Freshworks (if you couldn’t tell). 

Freshmarketer is their intelligent marketing automation platform built to help small to midsize businesses save time, attract the right people, nurture their audiences, and make more money. 

It’s my #1 recommendation for most users—and for a good reason.

From awareness to retention, you get all the automation features you need to gain more leads, turn those leads into customers, and keep those customers around for life. All while doing less work with better results. 

Plus, you don’t need any technical skills or a dedicated support team to get started. And it takes about a minute to get up and running. 

You also get access to incredible features like:

• Email campaigns and contact management
• Visual drag and drop customer journey builder
• Website, form, and offline event tracking
• Conversion rate optimization tools
• A/B and split testing
• Advanced personalization
• Dynamic heat maps
• Audience segmentation
• Real-time funnel analytics

Furthermore, the software seamlessly integrates with Freshworks’ other tools, so it’s an excellent choice if you currently use or plan to use any of their business software. 

You can try Freshmarketer on their limited free forever plan or a 21-day free trial of their paid plans, which are incredibly affordable and accessible for businesses of all sizes. However, they depend on the number of contacts you have, so keep that in mind. 

Their plans include:

• Sprout — Free for up to 500 contacts with limited features
• Garden — $49 per month for 1,000 contacts (ideal for growing teams)
• Estate — $99 per month for 1,000 contacts (best for large teams)

Just remember the cost for each plan goes up after you max out your 1,000 contacts. 

#2 – Pardot by Salesforce Review — The best marketing automation software for B2B businesses

As a B2B business, you market to other companies, which presents a unique set of marketing challenges. As such, you need a marketing automation tool built for the job. 

Pardot exists to help B2B companies build relationships and turn those relationships into revenue. Plus, it’s a fantastic marketing automation software built around the world’s #1 CRM. 

So, you know you’re in good hands. 

From lead generation to sales alignment, the software offers a wide range of features, including:

• Dynamic content and data-based personalization
• Lead-nurturing email automations
• Prospect and lead scoring
• Visual multi-part automation creator
• Advanced segmentation
• Landing page builder
• Smart forms + drag and drop builder
• Social media scheduling, profiling, and analytics
• Lead activity tracking
• Campaign performance reporting
• Lifecycle and funnel reporting
• Pardot Einstein for lead and behavior scoring

Furthermore, over 2.8+ million worldwide users rely on Pardot for their marketing automation needs, making it one of the most popular platforms on this list. 

But it is a bit expensive, so it’s best suited for larger businesses. Their paid plans include:

• Growth — $1,250/month for up to 10,000 contacts and basic features
• Plus — $2,500/month for up to 10,000 contacts with deeper automation + analytics
• Advanced — $4,000/month for up to 10,000 contacts with AI and all features
• Premium — $15,000/month for up to 75,000 contacts with supercharge features

They also offer a few add-ons that come free in the Premium plan. Those add-ons include Salesforce Engage ($50/user per month), Analytics Plus ($3,000/month), and Engagement History ($300/year). 

All plans and add-ons are billed on an annual basis. 

#3 – ActiveCampaign Review — The best for email marketing automations

Email is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. All the tools on this list include email marketing in one form or another, but ActiveCampaign specializes in it. 

So, it’s an excellent option if you want to hone in and focus on improving your email marketing strategy. It’s also a super affordable tool that includes numerous automation features for leads anywhere in your funnel.

With that said, they also offer omnichannel automation, including instant messaging and SMS, live chat, and Facebook. 

So, you’re not limited to just email marketing automation with ActiveCampaign. 

Their most popular features cover leads at every point in the funnel, including:

• Engage – Automation maps, site tracking, and subscription forms
• Nurture – List segmenting, dynamic/predictive content, and event tracking
• Convert – Contact and lead scoring, split actions, and win probabilities
• Support – Predictive sending, SMS, A/B split testing, and ecommerce 

You can also set up numerous types of emails like autoresponders, targeted or triggered emails, broadcasts, scheduled emails, and automated funnels. 

And you can design those emails using their intuitive drag and drop designer, or start from one of their 25+ pre-made mobile-responsive design templates. 

Whether you’re just getting started or interested in scaling and optimizing your email marketing strategy, ActiveCampaign is an excellent choice. They offer everything you need to capture, nurture, and close leads at scale. 

ActiveCampaign offers four plans, with the price of each starting at:

1. Lite — $9 per month with up to three users
2. Plus — $49 per month with up to 25 users
3. Professional — $129 per month with up to 50 users
4. Enterprise — $229 per month with unlimited users

Each tier includes more advanced features, and pricing is based on the size of your list, starting for up to 500 contacts. 

So, keep in mind that you will have to pay more than the prices above as your list grows. 

#4 – Acoustic Review — The best enterprise-grade multi-channel marketing automation software

Acoustic offers an array of marketing automation products for centralized cross-platform multi-channel marketing. From personalization and email campaigns to web content management and experience management, they offer something for everyone. 

Acoustic Campaign is their marketing automation tool, encompassing mobile apps, push notifications, SMS, group chats, social media, ads, email, print campaigns, and more. 

You can also combine this with Acoustic Personalization and Acoustic Analytics for a powerful combination of campaign management, data, and using that data to deliver the right message at the right time. 

With Acoustic Campaign, you get access to powerful features, including:

• Drag and drop campaign builder
• Action, logic, and AI-recommended triggers
• Seamless mobile and digital channel campaigns
• Lead management and scoring
• Split A/B testing
• Customer journey mapping
• Planning and budgeting
• One-to-one ads and lookalike audiences
• Advanced personalization
• Reporting and analytics

Furthermore, they have a community forum where you can publicly ask questions. They also provide an online academy packed full of educational videos and training so you can get the most of your custom automation package. 

Note: Acoustic is built for moderate to large volume campaigns with countless moving parts. So, it’s perfect for businesses managing complicated campaigns across numerous channels. 

But it’s overkill for a lot of businesses and anyone running single-channel campaigns. 

Pricing isn’t available online, and you have to schedule a consultation to learn more. So, keep in mind that you won’t be able to sign up and get started immediately. 

#5 – Hubspot Review — The best sales, customer service, and marketing automation software

If you’re looking for an easy way to automate your sales, customer service, and marketing processes, Hubspot Growth Suite is an excellent and affordable solution. 

And the best part? Hubspot goes beyond automating your business processes. It also helps integrate and optimize different departments in one centralized location, thus streamlining your entire business’s workflow. 

This means teams don’t have to jump from software to software to get the information they need, and you can automate the data transfer process from one team to the next. 

However, their marketing automation capabilities are powerful on their own, with features like:

• Blog post and SEO planning
• Ad tracking and management
• Social media management
• AI-powered live chat
• Email marketing
• Forms and landing pages
• Revenue attribution reporting
• Visual workflow builder
• Account-based marketing
• A/B split testing
• Predictive lead scoring

Hubspot offers basic features, like emails, landing pages, forms, and live chat capabilities for unlimited users absolutely free. So, you can try it out without spending a penny. 

Alternatively, you can sign up for a free demo to see all of their advanced features in action. 

The Growth Suite (sales, marketing, CRM, and customer service) starts at $50 per month for two users and up to 1,000 contacts, making it extremely affordable for most businesses. 

But they also have advanced plans for larger and more complex campaigns, including:

1. Professional — $1,275 per month for advanced features
2. Enterprise — $4,200 per month for all features

Each 1,000 contacts after your initial 1,000 cost $16.67 per month. And you can add more users to your sales and service hubs for $8.33 per user/month. 

Plus, if you’re a current member or alumni of Hubspot’s approved incubator, accelerator, or Venture Capital partners with a round of Series A funding under your belt, you can get up to 90% off your first year. 

#6 – Act-On Review — The best marketing automation software for marketing agencies

As a marketing agency, you handle marketing campaigns for several clients (if not hundreds of them) at any given time. As such, you need marketing automation software with the ability to manage everything, including your own marketing campaigns, in one place. 

And Act-On offers the perfect solution. 

Their scalable software features unique child and parent campaign capabilities, meaning you can easily manage and handle all of your client accounts from a single Act-On login. 

Plus, you can completely brand and customize everything to deliver custom reports to clients in just a few clicks. 

With Act-On, you can learn more about your clients’ audiences to personalize and tailor their message to match. Not only does this make their life easier, but it also means your team can work less to produce better results. 

When you sign up, you get access to powerful marketing features, including:

• Automated engagement programs
• Website and landing page tracking
• Customer/prospect scoring
• Behavior and demographic segmentation
• Pre-built email, form, and landing page templates
• Interactive reporting dashboards

Plus, you can build custom real-time analytic dashboards for internal and external use, so you and your clients always know what’s going on. 

Furthermore, you can use this information to improve customer ROI, build better technology stacks, and optimize entire marketing campaigns on behalf of your clients. From lead gathering and nurturing to transferring contact information to sales, you’re in good hands. 

Sign up for a free demo to learn more and get started today!

Wrapping things up

Freshmarketer is my top recommendation for most businesses. It’s built for small to midsize companies interested in automating their marketing processes to grow their businesses and save time. 

Plus, it’s affordable, easy to use, and packed full of powerful automation features. 

However, it’s not the perfect solution for everyone. So, don’t forget to use the criteria we talked about as you sort through finding the best marketing automation software for you and your team. 

What are your favorite marketing automation tools?

The post Best Marketing Automation Software appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-marketing-automation-software/

5 Genius Examples of QR Codes in Marketing

QR (Quick Response) codes remain a creative way to drive traffic and connect with your audience. But are they still useful in today’s ultra-digital era? Or have they gone the way of flip phones and pagers?

As it turns out, QR codes are still a valuable tool for marketers. In fact, QR usage grew 28% from 2018 to 2019.

But, QR codes are not right for every company. However, several businesses have found innovative and unique ways to not only get you to scan their code but boost their brand awareness in the process.

Here are a few of the most memorable ones – and a few tips for putting this strategy to work for your brand.

Who’s Using QR Codes?

Back in 2011, 14 million Americans scanned a QR code. But the novelty quickly wore off, with most marketers calling for the official Death of QR codes.

Why didn’t they catch on? Most smartphones required a third-party app to read them — adding another step to the already clunky process. Now, however, most smartphones have native QR code readers, making the process much smoother.

Now, an average of 11 million US households will scan a QR code every year. QR codes are making a come back.

So, how can you leverage the power of QR codes? Here are a few ways.

1. Creative Ads for Apps

Here’s an eyecatching way to use a QR code in an ad by Burger King at the VMAs. The QR code was included in a video ad several times and took users to link to download the burger king app. (I highly recommend watching the full video; it’s incredibly clever!)

2. Greeting Cards and Mixtapes

Here’s a creative and interesting thought – what if you combined greeting cards with playlists? It’s the new generation of the mixtape, and the QR images, as they’re called, were developed by the same U.K. agency that did the aforementioned unofficial ads for Instagram and Angry Birds.

If the user has the premium Spotify app on their phone, they can scan the barcode and instantly start the playlist. Music in the playlists spans nearly every interest and occasion, including music for geeks, music for cooks, and everyone’s mixtape favorite – love songs.

3. QR Codes Breathe New Life into Boring Places

When was the last time you went to a museum? If you responded “on a grade school field trip” or “only old folks go to museums,” you’re in for a treat.

Sukiennice Museum in Poland has added a whole new dimension to their paintings to turn each one into a series of stories about insanity, intrigue, deception, war, and much more.

Sukiennice Museum brought reenactors to tell the “Secrets Behind the Paintings.” Visitors scan the QR code for a particular painting and get the inside scoop direct from the “painter” themselves.

4. Get Festive with Personalized Gift Messages and Wrapping Paper

You can’t help but admire the clever ways marketers have attracted holiday shoppers using QR codes. For example, JC Penney released “Santa Tags,” which would let the gift giver record a personalized message that would be played when the recipient scanned the QR code:

5. QR Codes Share Your Life in a Single Graphic

While we’ve yet to see any QR codes on tombstones, they can be used to check-in at the funeral (much like Foursquare) and notify the family who was in attendance. They can also be used to provide families with directions to the funeral.

Currently, most of the older generation doesn’t exactly know what they are, but once they’re told about how the QR codes (or Remembrance Codes as they’re called in the industry) work, they’re amazed.

Who else thinks that names and dates will be eclipsed by QR codes that share a story about a loved one’s life in the future?

How to Get Your Own QR Code

An example of a stylized QR code by Custom QR Codes

The fastest way to get a QR code (for free) is over at QR Stuff. For a small fee, you can also get scan analytics.

If you’re looking for something a bit more stylish, RCode Monkey designs codes in much the same way as a logo by allowing you to choose colors, size, and design.

Potential Pitfalls of QR Codes

Before you jump on this new trend, be aware that there are some potential issues with QR codes.

They Might Seem Spammy

Spammers are now using QR codes as a way to flood smartphones with their gunk (you knew this was coming, right?) Savvy hackers and scammers can use them to disguise malware downloads and force your phone to send premium text messages non-stop at $1 each. Because some QR code scanners will let you use shortened URLs, there’s no telling where those URLs could point to.

That’s why, like with your computer, it’s important to know how your QR scanner works, what’s being downloaded, and whether or not you trust the source.

Not Everyone Has A QR Reader

QR codes aren’t always the best way to interact with your audience. Some people might not know how to use a QR code or might not take the extra step to pull out their phone to read it. And, believe it or not, some people still don’t have a smartphone!

Limits Communication

QR codes take users to one specific URL — and that is it. Depending on the reason for using a QR code, it might be more beneficial to direct them to your website where you have a live chat function or encourage them to like your Facebook page so you can continue the conversation.

How to Use QR Codes For Your Business

So how can you take advantage of this growing trend for your business? Keep in mind that much more than web addresses can be scanned.

For example, you use QR codes to:

1. Direct clients to your resume, LinkedIn profile, or website.
2. Use a QR code in a direct mail piece, business card, or postcard to provide a discount.
3. Give customers an inside look at your new Facebook promotion.
4. Share a digital menu for your restaurant, food truck, or catering company.
5. Direct users to download your app.
6. Take them to a page with more detailed information that wouldn’t easily fit in a print ad, such as a product sheet or pricing list.
7. Deliver step-by-step instructional videos or a printable setup sheet.
8. Have the QR code send a tweet when scanned, or check in with Foursquare
9. Let them enroll in an event such as a webinar.
10. Use the QR code to let customers send themselves a reminder via SMS.
11. Link them to a special “exclusive” YouTube video.
12. Deliver AR content.

Have you used a QR code yourself in a promotion? What sort of results did you get? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below!

The post 5 Genius Examples of QR Codes in Marketing appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/genius-qr-codes/

Adwords Consulting

Google AdWords can be both exciting and terrifying.

If you get it right, AdWords could totally transform your business by driving high traffic, generating more leads and revenue, and boosting sales.

But if you get it wrong, you‘ll end up spending thousands of dollars and get absolutely nothing in return.

Let’s consider the following statistics:

• Google ads produce 3.5 billion interactions every day.
• Advertisers can expect around 700% return on investment for all their efforts.
• 90% of consumers say that ads influence their purchase decisions.
• 66% of shoppers prefer shopping online rather than from malls or stores.

However, the tantalizing world of advertisements isn’t as straightforward as it seems.

You see, neither the promises nor problems that come with Google AdWords can fully describe the dynamic mechanism of a marketing platform and how it works.

Additionally, you may not have the time or may not be able to give the required attention to understand the intricacies related to it.

Have no doubt though – it is possible to make money on AdWords, but you need to have the right guidance. 

So if you want to use your Google ads account to its full potential, you should definitely consider hiring an AdWords consultant.

Our team at Neil Patel Digital will help you through the process of hiring a suitable consultant for your business that can help you grow and prosper, along with getting other benefits.

4 Ways an Adwords Consultant Can Help Grow Your Business

45%.

That’s the number of small businesses that have already started using pay-per-click or PPC advertising to reach customers. 

So if you find your sales dwindling, you now know the reason why.

Incorporating Google AdWords into your marketing strategy is the only way you won’t fall behind. Instead, you can boost your brand awareness, get more leads, and increase sales – all at the same time!

However, without an AdWords consultant, the whole process can become time-consuming, costly, and of course, prone to errors.

Here are our top four reasons why you should take the plunge and get yourself a consultant.

Manage and Improve Quality Score

Google wants to connect searchers with organic content and advertisements that most closely align with what they’re looking for.

And let us tell you beforehand that things haven’t been easy. 

For years, Google had a problem with companies using and bidding on keywords that were unrelated to the actual keyboard they bid.

End results? Aggravated and confused users.

Precisely why the Quality Score system was created.

It’s a dynamic variable that looks at different aspects of your ad and campaign, with each keyword having its own score that affects your ad rank and cost per click. 

Hence, it becomes crucial to know whether or not a specific keyword or campaign can be profitable for your company.

Plus, if you have a higher Quality Score, you‘ll get a discounted price on each click. So a Quality Score of 10 provides a discount of 30% on every click – this gives you plenty of wiggle room for your advertising campaign.

A Google AdWords consultant can improve the Quality Score for any campaigns by doing the following:

• Segmenting campaigns around smaller targeted ad groups to increase the relevance of ads.
• Since ads that contain keywords of the search are more relevant than ads that don’t, a consultant optimizes AdWords ad copy to increase click-through rates of the ads.
• Creating laser-targeted landing pages.
• Decreasing website load times to provide better experiences to users.

Ultimately, improving your Quality Score can have a positive effect on your AdWords campaign’s profitability, allowing you to reach more customers and improve your ROI.

Staying Ahead in the Competition

If your competitors are already using PPC advertising, there is a higher possibility for you to fall behind.

But utilizing Google ads can level the playing field even if you have a limited advertising budget – just use the expertise of your ads specialist to get ahead.

A consultant can ensure you use the right ad tools and strategies without maximizing your budget. Plus, they think of intelligent tactics to make you closer to your end goals.

This will enable you to attract high-quality leads to your business without wasting money, while your competitors still dig through low-quality prospects.

Deliver Fast Results

Visitors who land on your website through Google ads are 50% more likely to purchase than organic visitors.

Hence, if you get your campaigns right – something that an experienced consultant can ascertain – you‘re assured faster and immediate results. 

In fact, you can have your campaigns up and running within days if you contact an experienced team who is well-versed in Google ads.

This is due to several factors.

Firstly, the consultant has access to expert Google ad tools, so you don’t have to waste money paying for these tools yourself. Moreover, they can develop a list of target keywords and provide key insights into your target audience and competitors.

All these efforts will help develop a stronger campaign for your company, ensuring better customer targeting.

The best part here is that unlike search engine optimization, AdWords work immediately. 

You won’t have to wait to see results. Instead, you can generate and start nurturing leads immediately.

Write Convincing Copy and Design Effective Landing Pages

Landing pages play a crucial role in the success of your campaign. 

While some consultants offer an in-house solution for landing page design, others might contract out to a designer or company to help them.

Either way, you need an excellent landing page since your campaign’s conversion rate and Quality Score are dependent on it.

Additionally, these specialists are well-versed in the art of copywriting, which helps convey your value and offer better to your audience. They can make the copy persuasive too by including the following key components:

• An attention-grabbing headline
• A compelling story
• Social proof in the form of case studies, testimonials, and so on
• Adding a personalized touch
• Making customer-focused copy
• Adding a call to action

How to Get Started With an Adwords Consultant

Hiring a consultant can be the first step to make your Google AdWords campaign a success, but you shouldn’t bring just anybody onboard – you need to do your homework.

Getting the Hiring Right

The first you should do is make sure your consultant is Google AdWords-certified. 

The individual should’ve passed exams, undergone quarterly training to refresh their skills and knowledge, and be familiar with the technical side of AdWords. 

Eventually, all this knowledge and expertise can help them realize profits from your website or blog.

It would be even better if they are a Google Ads partner. 

You see, Google Partners is a special certification from Google that shows a Google ad manager who has experience managing campaigns, along with a Google certification in at least one specialized area of Google ads.

Use this list of questions to find the right AdWords consultant:

• How many years of experience do you have in PPC management?
• What kinds of PPC campaigns have you managed? Who are your past clients?
• Have you ever maintained internal lists of negative keywords?
• Can you explain your campaign optimization process?
• Do you offer search engine optimization services and paid search? Will you be willing to do social media advertising if I want to expand?

You can ask these questions whether you hire the freelancers on platforms, such as Reddit or Upwork, or opt for a team of seasoned consultants by filling out an inquiry form.

Holding Discovery Sessions for Efficient Goal-Setting

After choosing a consultant, you should hold frequent meetings to make sure everybody is on the same page and clear out any doubts about your business goals and budget.

Discovery sessions can be an excellent opportunity to communicate your expectations from the ad campaigns, whether it involves increasing brand awareness and reach, sales, leads, or website traffic. 

If you want to establish a loyal customer base and want your target audience to consider your company’s products and brands before your competitors, you’ll have to let the consultant know.

Review the Campaign Strategy

This stage is where your chosen consultant should shine. 

They should use their expertise and knowledge to chalk out a draft of the marketing campaign and help you develop SMART goals. 

These are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based. In other words, goals that can help you grow your business in the longer run.

For instance, you may want to increase your sales of Product A by 25% before the end of the first quarter – the framework should reflect on how to achieve it.

Review the whole plan and suggest changes if needed. If you aren’t happy with anything, make sure you let the AdWords consultant know. 

Launch the Campaign

A learning curve is involved whenever you launch an ad campaign.

Setting unrealistic expectations will always leave you disappointed, so you need to have an open mind.

The first few weeks after your campaign goes live, your consultant will get an idea about the preferences of your target audience and the type of content that creates better engagement. They can then use these insights to come up with better strategies to boost Google ad’s appeal.

The main thing here is to get the ball rolling. After all, it’s the only way to get access to first-hand data to ensure future success.

Monitoring and Reporting

Most consultants will provide you monthly reports to keep you in the loop throughout the lifetime of your AdWords campaign.

Make sure the reports cover crucial data points as total ad spend, number of clicks, click-through rate, and number of conversions. You can also ask the consultant to calculate important KPIs like cost per acquisition, to determine the overall ROI.

Continued monitoring will help smoothen the whole process and allow you to make adjustments to improve campaign performance.

Measuring the ROI of Adwords Consulting Services

How do you measure and define success?

Along with having a vision for your campaigns, a consultant worth their salt should help you define the best metrics to gauge the success of every campaign. 

The best way to do so is to determine which key performance indicators (KPIs) are best to keep track of your campaigns and make sure that they are working as intended.

Accurate Conversion Tracking

Setting a conversion tracking should be given top priority.

Website clicks don’t always translate to sales. Hence, it’s crucial to track the click from the ad to the completion of the sale. 

This can be done through phone call leads, call tracking, or until the visitor sees the final “Thank You“ page.

Targeting the Right Search Terms

Another crucial aspect for measuring ROI for Google ads, you should ensure all your ads are targeting buying-intent keywords rather than research-intent keywords. 

In the end, ROI is determined by the overall sales resulting from ad clicks.

Distinguishing between keywords is the expert‘s job, so it’s better to leave that to your consultant. Moreover, the consultant should keep testing your keywords over time and measure the results to make smarter decisions about keyboard biddings.

Considering Bid Price

Your ROI will be positive when your sales revenue exceeds ad cost.

That’s the easy part.

However, understanding what bids to use for every keyword to generate the desired ROI is incredibly tricky.

To determine this, you need to first calculate earnings per click, which is the total amount of revenue you generate per click on your ads. This will always vary from keyword to keyword.

Let’s take an example to understand earnings per click better:

Suppose you generate $200 for conversion, and the conversion rate is 2%. In this case, your earnings per click will be $4, or in other words, you‘re generating $4 in revenue for every click. 

This also means if you bid and pay more than $4, you’ll end up making a loss, and your ROI will be negative.

The next step here is to measure the cost per click or CPC. Now that you know your earnings per click, you can calculate your bid price to generate your desired ROI.

Let’s continue with the above example.

If your desired ROI is 50% and your earnings per click are $4. then your target CPC will be $4 / (ROI + 1), which is $2.67.

Other KPIs

In addition to the above, you can consider the following KPIs for improving your campaigns:

• Impressions
• Impression rate
• Click-through rates
• Clicks
• Quality Score

4 Point Checklist For Finding the Right AdWords Consultant

The following is a quick checklist to hire the best AdWords consultant for your brand who can successfully deliver results and understands the required know-how:

Expertise to Deliver What You Want

You’ve used the help of an AdWords consultant and have finally launched a campaign, but is it successful?

The only way that the campaign will be deemed successful if the outcome is aligned with your marketing goals. Whether it’s getting more leads, boosting sales, establishing a loyal buyer base – whatever you want.

Once you figure out your objectives, make sure that you clearly communicate it with the prospects.

The candidate should assure you they have the necessary expertise to get the job done. 

They should be able to create excellent landing pages, write attention-grabbing and persuasive copy, and employ expert tools for better performances and get insights about your target audience.

Team Makeup

Find out whether the consultancy is a one-man show or is really a proper agency.

It’s better to opt for a company that comprises several experienced and expert team members. This will give you access to lots of experience, lots of resources, and of course, more man power.

Ask yourself: Would you want your AdWords account to be neglected just because your lone consultant has come down with the flu?

Having a full-fledged team facilitates better strategic decisions and a higher profitability possibility as well.

Now, we aren’t saying you won’t find solo experts who know AdWords inside and out despite not having any staff to support them. They are mostly exceptions, though, and limited in number.

An Exemplary Portfolio of Clients

Experience is important.

The consultant should be able to show you tangible proof about past clients and not just hear-say. Make sure they have previous experience in your industry and can work with your budget.

Familiarity with your industry will give them a better idea of the kind of keywords to start targeting, and having worked with budgets similar to yours will help them effectively manage money every month.

So it’ll be a win-win situation for you either way.

Ability to Create a Winning AdWords Strategy 

Whether you opt for a full-fledged company or a freelancer, AdWords consultancy will have unique processes depending on who you choose?

Regardless of the process, your main priority should be to make every campaign as exclusive and appealing as possible. The consultant must have an innovative thought process backed by technical know-how and a persuasive style of doing things.

Wrapping Up

Choosing an AdWords consultant should give you a higher ROI, either in the long-run or short run.

They should know the right search terms to target, choose the best bid price, and measure the overall revenue correctly to determine the level of success of every campaign.

At Neil Patel Digital, we have a superb team with years of experience and knowledge. We’re well-versed in the best AdWords practices, and also offer additional programs like SEO and content creation to maximize performance and results. 

Get the ball rolling by contacting us here.

The post Adwords Consulting appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/adwords-consulting/

Why Are Keywords So Important for Your Website?

You may have heard keywords are an essential part of any SEO strategy: they are. Without the right keywords on your site, people won’t find you while searching the web.

But there’s a lot more to keyword strategy than figuring out what people are searching for. It means choosing the right keywords for your business, determining which ones you’ll be able to rank for, and a whole lot more.

If you’re an SEO newbie, understanding keyword strategy can be overwhelming. But in this ultimate guide to keywords, I’ll give you all the info you need to get started.

What Are Keywords?

Keywords are what people type into a search engine when they’re looking for something online. The term “keyword” is kind of misleading because a keyword doesn’t have to be just one word. For example, if I’m looking for a new Chinese restaurant to try out, I might type in:

• Chinese restaurants near me
• best Chinese restaurants in Chicago
• Chinese restaurant recommendations

Each of those phrases is a keyword. Of course, if you own a Chinese restaurant, you might want to figure out how to get your website to the top of the search engine results page (SERP) when someone types those in. This is where a keyword strategy comes in.

Why Your Website Needs a Keyword Strategy

Why is keyword strategy important? Well, think about the last time you wanted to make a purchase. If you had questions, you probably went online to research them. If you did, you’re not alone. Over half of consumers search for reviews and recommendations online before making purchases. When your website ranks highly in search engine results, you can reach traffic that may be ready to buy. With a really good keyword strategy, you could also reach people who haven’t even thought about your product or service.

With individuals worldwide spending nearly seven hours online every day, advertising through organic search is too good an opportunity to pass up. But if you’re going to advertise through SERPS, it’s important to try to rank as highly as possible. Why? Because people click on the first few results way more often.

Sistrix reports the first organic result in Google search has an average click-through rate (CTR) of almost 30%. The second result has a CTR of just 15.7%, and the third one only has 11%.

By the time you get to the tenth result on Google, only 2.5% of people click through. An excellent SEO strategy can help you move up in these rankings, which may result in higher CTR. A big part of that strategy should be choosing the right keywords for your website

How To Select Keywords for a Website

When it comes to selecting the right keywords for a page, there are a few steps you should take. Below, you’ll find a plan to follow when optimizing your website:

Step One: Review the Pages on Your Website

Before doing any keyword research, you need to look at all the pages on your website. Put relevant keywords on most of the critical pages on the site. Later, I’ll talk about where you should insert the keywords on each page. Most websites have a similar structure: homepage, “About Us” page, contact page, etc.

If you have a large site, consider making a spreadsheet listing all the different pages so you can keep track of what you’ve improved. If your website has a blog, you shouldn’t write blog posts and optimize them for keywords later. Instead, do it the other way around: use keyword research tools to give you ideas for new blog post topics. But if you already have blog posts on your site that aren’t keyword optimized, you can and should go back to optimize them.

Step Two: Choose a Keyword Research Tool

The next step is to choose a keyword research tool. Keyword research tools give you useful data to help you choose the best keywords.

In the next section of this article, I’ll talk more about some of the keyword research tools out there. For now, I’ll give you some examples using my tool, Ubersuggest.

Step Three: Research Your Keywords

Brainstorm a few keywords that are relevant to your product or service. If you’re optimizing blog posts, think of some that are relevant to the topic of the post you’re looking at. Then, enter the keywords into your keyword tool, and choose the language and region you’re interested in.

Here’s what you’ll get after you hit the “Search” button:

Step Four: Look at the Metrics

Next, you need to interpret the data your keyword tool gives you. The “search volume” is the average number of searches per month for your keyword:

“SEO difficulty” and “paid difficulty” scores range from 0-100. Lower scores mean the keyword is easier to rank for, while higher ones mean it’s more difficult:

The average cost-per-click (CPC) is the amount you need to pay Google for each click if you want to run an ad in Google search. Keywords with higher CPC are usually more valuable.

The next section on Ubersuggest gives you some information about the webpages currently ranking in the top 10. You can see the number of backlinks they have and their domain scores.

In the following section, there’s detailed information about the keyword. You can see the search volume over time, the number of people clicking on organic and paid search results, and the searchers’ age ranges.

Next, you’ll find some ideas for other similar keywords.

In the last section, you can see some content pieces that are ranking for this keyword and being shared on social media. You can use this to get inspiration for your content.

Step Five: Choose Your Keywords

Now that you’ve seen the metrics, you can get an idea of whether a keyword is good to use or not. Ideally, you’ll want to go for keywords with a combination of the following:

• High search volume
• Low SEO difficulty/paid difficulty
• Low competition (that is, your competition has few backlinks and low domain scores)

Think about your audience when looking for keywords, though. If a particular keyword doesn’t make sense (e.g., it’s misspelled, awkward, or irrelevant), you might not want to use it—even if the metrics look good.

You don’t want to lead people to your site if they aren’t interested in your product or service. This might lead to a higher bounce rate, meaning people clicking on your site and leaving right away. A high bounce rate is bad for business and may be bad for SEO as well.

What Are Some Tools You Can Use to Pick Keywords?

We’ve already talked about how to use Ubersuggest, but there are lots of other keyword research tools. Here are a few of the best ones:

Google AdWords: A Good Free Option

Google’s Keyword Planner gives you search volume and competition feedback for different keywords. It’s free to use, although you’ll have to jump through a few hoops to access it without creating a Google ad campaign, such as clicking “switch to expert.” Here’s what you get when you search for “SEO consulting:”

As you can see, you get some info about the search volume, the amount of competition, and what people are paying for the keyword on Google AdWords. Besides the Keyword Planner, you should also check out Google’s other free tools like Google Trends, Search Console, and Google Analytics when building your SEO strategy.

Moz and SEMrush: More Detailed Info and a “Freemium” Model

There are also paid keyword tools you can use, like Moz, SEMrush, and AHrefs. These tools are more expensive than Ubersuggest, but Moz offers a limited free version.

Both Moz and SEMRush have free trial periods. Here’s what Moz’s keyword tool, Keyword Explorer, looks like after you’ve typed in SEO tools:

Like Ubersuggest, Moz’s tool gives you a list of suggested keywords and currently ranking content. You also have a range for the monthly search volume, a “difficulty” score from 0-100, information on the organic click-through rate (how many people are clicking on the non-advertising results), and a “priority” score from 0-100.

The priority score is a combination of all the other metrics and is the most crucial score. A high priority score means you’re likely to be able to rank on this keyword.

How to Optimize Your Website for Keywords

Remember when I said we’d talk about where to put keywords on your webpages? Of course, you’ll want to add keywords to your website’s copy and blog posts, but there are some other places you should be putting them, too.

Before I dive into this section, I want to say there’s a difference between keyword optimization for organic traffic vs. paid ads.

“Organic traffic” is traffic that comes from regular Google search results—not ads. By adding keywords to your website, you’re helping it rank higher in organic search.

Optimizing for Google AdWords and PPC

Choosing keywords for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a whole different ball game. For more information about using keywords in PPC campaigns, check out my posts “How to Launch a Successful PPC Campaign for the First Time” and “An Introduction to Pay-Per-Click Search Marketing.”

Best Practices for Keyword Density

Of course, keywords should be throughout your content, including website copy and blog posts. But how often should you be using keywords in your content? When planning your blog content, you should choose one focus keyword for each blog post, along with a few complementary keywords.

Consider using a long-tail keyword—a longer, highly-specific keyword, like “what is SEO”—as your focus keyword. Long-tail keywords are often easier to rank on than single words are.

Use your focus keyword and complementary keywords in your content as often as possible—as long as the content makes sense and sounds good.

Long ago, “keyword stuffing” was the norm, with content creators shoving keywords into content repeatedly, making it sound spammy. That’s an outdated SEO tactic and may turn readers off—and upset Google to boot.

Best Practices for Image Optimization

In addition to content, an important place to use keywords is in your image tags. By optimizing your images, you can drive traffic through image search as well as text search. Optimizing your images means adding keywords into the filename, image title, and ALT text (a tag people use to optimize their images for search engines and screen readers).

If you’re using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, you can update the image title and ALT text directly in your website’s media editor. Make sure both your ALT text and title (title isn’t as important as the ALT) are descriptive and explain what the image is about:

Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

A final place you should be using keywords is in your website’s title tags and meta descriptions.

The title tag and meta description show up in search results when people look for your website. They can also usually be edited in your website’s CMS.

Here’s what a title tag and meta description looks like. The blue link is the title tag, while the text is the meta description:

How to Track Your Website’s Keyword Success

Once you’ve added keywords to your website, how can you tell if your SEO efforts are paying off?

You’ll want to track your performance on each of your target keywords to see how you’re doing and if you need to change anything.

SEO tools can help you do this. Ubersuggest gives you a lot of information about your website’s performance in the search engine results:

Here, you can see NeilPatel.com’s best-performing pages:

And here are some of the keywords I’m ranking on right now:

Conclusion

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to keywords. It’s not enough just to find the right keywords—you also have to know how to use them to rank. To succeed with a keyword strategy, you need to have an organized plan.

Part of this is having the right keyword research tools and knowing how to use them. But you also have to know your audience well and think strategically.

Using the tips in this article, you can get started with keyword research and hopefully boost your place in the search engine results. Good luck!

Did I miss any info about keywords? If you have some tips you’d like to share, let us know in the comments.

The post Why Are Keywords So Important for Your Website? appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/10-free-keyword-research-tools-to-help-plan-your-new-site/

Best Cheap Web Hosting

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

If you’re launching a new website, there’s no reason to pay a fortune for web hosting. There are plenty of cost-effective solutions available on the market for you to choose from.

Small websites, personal blogs, and other newer websites can definitely get away with a cheap web hosting plan.

But with thousands of web hosting providers to choose from, finding the best option for your site can feel like a tall task. 

Fortunately, you won’t actually have to search through thousands of plans. There are really only one or two dozen reputable web hosts to consider. That list gets even smaller if you’re looking for a cheap web hosting plan. For those of you on a tight budget, these are my top picks:

The Top 6 Options For Cheap Web Hosting

1. Hostinger
2. iPage
3. Bluehost
4. A2 Hosting
5. GoDaddy
6. HostGator

How to Choose the Best Cheap Web Hosting For You

Web hosting can be complicated, especially if this is your first time searching for a host. To ease the buying process, I’ve identified and explained the top factors that must be evaluated as you’re shopping around. To find the best cheap web hosting plan for your site, make sure to take the following elements into consideration:

Contract Terms

Lots of web hosts might seem cheap at first glance, but you need to analyze your contract terms to truly get a sense of the cost. 

To lock in the lowest possible rate, you’ll likely have to commit to a two, three, or even a four-year plan. These contracts are typically paid up-front and in-full. So a host advertising rates of $3 per month could actually cost you upwards of $100 today.

Some hosts offer low prices, but then charge you for extras that should be included for free (like SSL certificates).

Always check your renewal rates as well. It’s common practice in the web hosting industry for hosting plans to skyrocket upon renewal. Promotional pricing might cost $2.75 per month but automatically renew at something like $10.95 per month. So your rate could eventually triple or quadruple (which might not be so cheap anymore).

Performance

If you’re looking for rock-bottom prices, you can’t expect to have the best performing website in the world. In a sense, you get what you pay for.

But with that said, you should definitely take your website uptime rates and page loading speed into consideration. 

Weighing your site performance metrics against your budget can be tough. If it’s a small personal website, micro blog, or just a fun side project, the performance won’t matter that much. However, if you’re using the site for business purposes, it’s worth paying a little bit extra to ensure the site performs well. Otherwise, poor performance could result in lost revenue.

You should still be able to find a cheap hosting plan that provides decent site performance. Just don’t expect the best at such a low rate.

Traffic

Traffic and speed go hand in hand. If you’re getting lots of traffic, it could impact the performance of your site on a cheap plan.

The cheapest web hosting plans will be shared (more on this shortly). With shared hosting, you’ll be sharing server resources with other websites. If those sites get traffic spikes, it can impact your site’s performance as well.

Any cheap plan should be able to accommodate up to 10,000 monthly visitors. There are even some options that handle 25,000+ visitors per month. But once you start to get into the ~50,000 range, it might be time to upgrade to a better plan (not in the “cheap” category).

Customer Service

The day is going to come where you need some assistance from your web host. Maybe your site went down, or maybe you need help with a migration. Whatever the reason might be, you want to make sure the host will be there to resolve your issues when this happens.

What will you do if your traffic starts increasing and you need to upgrade to a new plan? Will your host be there to walk you through this process and offer a seamless transition?

These are the questions you should be asking yourself. 

Included Features

What comes with your web hosting plan?

In most cases, plans should come with more than just hosting. Some providers will offer a free domain name, free SSL certificate, free migrations, one-click WordPress installations, unlimited subdomains, domain privacy & protection, free backups, and more.

You’ll even find some hosts that offer perks like free marketing credits or free access to Microsoft Office 365. 

These extras shouldn’t necessarily be a dealbreaker, especially if you’re not going to use the features. But avoid hosts that don’t include the basics and force you to pay extras for add-ons that should come standard. 

The Different Types of Cheap Web Hosting

The term “cheap” is obviously subjective. A college student starting a personal blog as a side project or a hobby will have a different definition of cheap than a small business owner trying to generate sales online. 

But with that said, cheap web hosting can be segmented into the following five categories. I’ll give you some more information on each one below.

Shared Hosting

Shared web hosting will always be the cheapest option. These entry-level plans host multiple websites on a single server. 

You’ll benefit from low rates, but your site won’t have dedicated server resources. Other sites on your server could take up the server resources and cause your site to crash. Your host might even limit your bandwidth and slow down your site if you get traffic spikes.

While shared hosting isn’t the top of the line, it’s the best option for the vast majority of new websites. If you want something cheap, there’s no reason to look beyond shared plans. 

VPS Hosting

VPS (virtual private server) hosting is a step above shared hosting.

It’s a bit more expensive, but your site performance will improve dramatically. You’ll still be sharing servers with other websites; however, your site will have its own dedicated resources on a virtual server. 

For those of you who are expecting tons of traffic out of the gate, you could consider jumping right into a VPS plan. Alternatively, cheap VPS hosting is ideal for websites that have outgrown a shared plan.

WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting can come in all different shapes and sizes. There are shared WordPress hosting plans, WordPress VPS plans, fully managed WordPress hosting, and more.

As the name implies, this is obviously made for WordPress websites. 

If you want perks like one-click WordPress installations, automatic WordPress updates, free WordPress backups, and other similar features, this will be a top option to consider. The price can be pretty comparable to shared hosting or slightly higher (depending on the provider). 

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is relatively new. But this type of web hosting has quickly gained popularity in the hosting world. It can best be described as a hybrid version of VPS hosting, but cheaper.

So if you’re price-sensitive and evaluating VPS plans, cloud hosting will likely be more cost-effective. 

Cloud plans are great for those of you who want to scale your server resources on-demand. This will help you account for traffic spikes. 

Lots of cloud providers only charge you for the server resources that you’re actually using. While this can be tough to budget for, it’s a great way to save money and ensure you’re not overpaying for resources that never get used. 

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated servers are the top of the line in the world of web hosting. In short, they aren’t cheap. 

You’ll have your own server to do whatever you want with. It’s made for developers and businesses that want to customize their hosting environment at the server level. Dedicated hosting provides your site with the best possible performance. 

But all of this comes at a price, so 99% of people reading this guide should stay away from dedicated servers. 

#1 – Hostinger Review — Best Web Hosting Plan Under $1

Hostinger is one of the most reputable names in the world of web hosting. Their hosting services are simple, straight forward, and best of all—cheap.

You can get plans for as low as $0.99 per month. 

If you’re looking for the cheapest possible plan from a reputable provider, look no further than Hostinger. It’s worth noting that you’ll need to lock in a 48-month contract to get this rock-bottom rate. 

This plan is really only suitable for beginners and new websites. For those of you who want fewer restrictions, Hostinger has two other shared plans starting at $2.89 and $3.99, respectively—both still very affordable. 

Noteworthy highlights of Hostinger’s web hosting plans include:

• Easy to set up
• Simple site migrations
• Optimized for WordPress (with one-click installations)
• Built to scale
• User-friendly control panel
• Cloudflare protected nameservers
• Github integration
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Unlimited bandwidth (with select plans)
• Free domain name (with select plans)

All Hostinger web hosting plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you’re unhappy for any reason, just contact their support team for a full refund. 

#2 – iPage Review — Best Cheap Web Hosting Features

iPage is a web hosting provider and site builder bundled into a single package. If you’re starting a new website from scratch and looking for a bargain, this will be a top choice to consider.

Hosting plans start at $1.99 per month with a 36-month contract.

Even at such a low introductory rate, the plan is packed with features. Here’s a quick overview of what comes with your subscription:

• Free domain registration
• Free email address
• Free SSL certificate
• Free website builder
• Free domain transfers
• Free WordPress building tools
• Free SiteLock security scans
• $100 in Google Ads credits
• $100 Bing ad credits
• Unlimited domains
• Thousands of free templates
• 24/7 phone and live chat support

iPage is even optimized for ecommerce sites, making it a popular choice for beginner online stores. Plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you’ll have a month to try iPage risk-free.

#3 – Bluehost Review — The Best Value in Web Hosting

Bluehost is one of the most popular providers in the web hosting industry. They power 2+ million sites across the globe.

Shared hosting plans from Bluehost start at $3.95 per month. While this entry-level pricing is a bit higher compared to other options on our list, Bluehost is arguably the best host on the market today.

Personally, I’d rather pay a couple of extra dollars per month for quality. If you fall into that same category, Bluehost will be perfect for you. This is also my top pick for anyone starting a new website from scratch. Bluehost makes it easy for you to bundle your web hosting with domain registration from a single provider. 

Other features and benefits of Bluehost include:

• 24/7 customer support
• Free domain name for one year
• Recommended by WordPress since 2005
• Automatic WordPress installations and automatic WordPress updates
• Free SSL certificate
• Unmetered bandwidth

Bluehost is built to scale as well. As your site gains traffic and requires additional needs, this hosting provider makes it easy for you to grow. 

All Bluehost web hosting plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can try it risk-free. 

#4 – A2 Hosting Review — The Best Customer Service

A2 Hosting is synonymous with speed. With turbo servers, more resources, and extra power, they boast some of the fastest page loading times in the hosting industry.

Shared plans from A2 start at $2.99 per month, but you’ll need to upgrade to a higher tier if you want to take advantage of their fastest speeds.

While everyone talks about A2 Hosting’s speed, it’s their customer service and support that really stands out the most to me. All plans come with features and benefits like:

• Free and simple site migrations
• 24/7/365 guru support
• Free automatic backups
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Optimized for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, OpenCart, and Magento
• Free SSL certificate

If you’re starting a new site from scratch, A2 Hosting has site-building tools as well. For those of you who have an existing site hosted with another provider, A2’s expert site migration team will handle the transfer for you.

Like most providers on our list, A2 Hosting also has a 30-day money-back guarantee.

#5 – GoDaddy Review — The Best Cheap VPS Hosting

Most people recognize GoDaddy for their domain registration services and provocative marketing campaigns. But they are also a big player in the web hosting space.

For those of you who have outgrown your shared plan, GoDaddy has cheap VPS hosting, starting at just $4.99 per month.

This rate is closer in price to most shared hosting plans, as opposed to comparable VPS plans from other providers. It’s worth noting that the self-managed VPS plans from GoDaddy aren’t really designed for beginners. These plans are built for developers, designers, and system administrators who want full control over their hosting environment. 

All VPS plans include:

• Root access to configure your server needs at the operating system level
• Monitoring and notification alerts for servers and performance (CPU, RAM, storage)
• Advanced DDoS protection and free SSL certificate
• Easy to scale and increase RAM, CPU, and storage
• Ability to choose your data center
• Automated weekly backups
• Ability to create unlimited hosting accounts
• Optional cPanel/WHM + installation
• Unlimited traffic with a 99.9% uptime guarantee

Again, if you’re a beginner starting a new site from scratch, look elsewhere. But tech-savvy individuals with hosting experience can definitely benefit from GoDaddy’s cheap VPS plans. 

#6 – HostGator Review — The Best Cheap Cloud Hosting

As previously mentioned, cloud hosting is a cost-effective alternative to VPS hosting. So if your site is getting too much traffic for a shared plan, but you don’t want to spend a fortune upgrading to a VPS, HostGator has cheap cloud plans for you to choose from.

Starting at just $4.95 per month, you won’t find a better deal from such a reputable provider.

Some noteworthy highlights of HostGator’s cloud plans include:

• Up to 2x faster and 4x more resources than shared plans
• Free domain registration
• Free SSL certificate
• Scale your resources on-demand without any migrations, downtime, or reboots
• Easy to set up with a powerful dashboard to manage your site
• Integrated caching
• Data mirroring
• Automated failover (to prevent downtime)

At such a low price, you could even consider getting a HostGator cloud plan if you’re launching a new site from scratch. It’s the perfect combination of performance and value.

Summary

If you’re looking for cheap web hosting, choosing a shared plan from one of the recommended providers on the list above will be your best option. These start as low as $0.99 per month.

Some of you might be looking for a bit more than an entry-level option. If you fall into this category, there are some cheap VPS plans and cloud plans to consider as well. 

As long as you follow the buying guide resources and tips I’ve outlined in this guide, you won’t have a problem finding what you need.

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

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