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The Best Help Desk Software (In-Depth Review)

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Unorganized support teams are a nightmare for everyone involved. 

From two agents wasting time on the same request to customers or employees sitting around for hours waiting on an answer, things can get really hectic without the right tools and software. And it could even damage your reputation forever. 

You don’t want that and I don’t want that for you, either. 

However, choosing the best help desk software for your team isn’t an easy task. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of options to choose from. 

So to help make your life a bit easier, I looked at dozens of the top options on the market and narrowed it down to my top six recommendations. 

From small customer support teams to IT services and mobile field support, this guide covers it all. By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly which help desk software is right for you, regardless of your situation. 

The Top 6 Options For Help Desk Software

1. Freshdesk – best for small to midsize businesses
2. Hubspot – best all-in-one customer service CRM
3. Zoho Desk – best for fast-growth businesses
4. Freshservice – best for IT service management
5. Happyfox – best for mobile and field support teams
6. Cayzu – most affordable help desk software

How to Choose The Best Help Desk Software For You

Before we dive into my top recommendations, let’s talk about what makes these tools great and what to look for when deciding which help desk software is right for you and your team. 

There are tons of options to choose from, so don’t forget to keep these considerations in mind as you go through the process. 

Your use cases

Help desk software exists for a number of reasons, like internal employee support and external customer support. Furthermore, different tools include varying features depending on your use cases. 

So, it’s essential to consider how you plan to use the software before making a decision. 

Number of agents

How many support agents do you have? Most help desk software charge by the agent, so you need to have a good idea of the number of seats you need.

Some providers also impose agent limits on specific plans, so you’ll have to upgrade to a higher tier if you need to add more agents to your account. This upgrade can be extremely pricey, especially if you’re not expecting it. 

So, make sure to choose a plan that offers a bit of breathing room as you grow. 

Ticket management

Tickets help you organize, route, and store help desk inquiries. So, you should make sure your software includes basic ticket management systems to help make the process faster and easier. 

Furthermore, some software includes ticketing features for a wide variety of support channels, including email, live chat, social media, instant messaging, SMS, and more. 

An efficient ticketing system is crucial, from automatic ticket creation and organization to smart routing and everything in between. 

However, some of the options on this list limit the number of tickets you can create daily or monthly, which may be too limiting for large teams. And you may be better off choosing an unlimited plan instead. 

So, keep this in mind as you make your final decision. 

Support channels

What channels do you use to provide support? 

Internal support teams may use instant messaging, live chat, or email while customer service teams may utilize social media, SMS, and phone calls. 

Regardless of the channels you use, it’s crucial to implement software that handles everything you need. 

If you already have systems in place, make sure the help desk software you choose plays well. And if you don’t, consider where your customers/employees hang out and the communication methods they’re most comfortable with. 

Furthermore, you should also think about internal communication tools. One agent may need to pass an inquiry on to someone else, or they may need help answering someone’s questions. 

So, it’s important to think about how your agents communicate with each other and how you plan to share information from one department to another, as well. 

Other features

The best help desk software includes a variety of helpful features beyond ticketing and communication. And it’s essential to consider which features you need to streamline and optimize your support systems. 

Some typical features and extras include:

• Knowledgebase and self-service support
• Escalation levels to the right people
• Automated workflow creation
• Open API integrations
• Internal chat software
• Cross-department collaboration
• Client and contact management
• Analytic dashboards
• Role-based access
• Ticket sorting
• Time tracking

It’s also crucial to consider the specific features you need for your use cases. 

Internal teams need different things than customer support teams, so keep this in mind as you go through the decision-making process. 

Analytics and reporting 

Data helps managers and owners understand how your service agents perform and what your customers are asking. Advanced ticket tagging and categorization can also help with the latter. 

From there, you can optimize your support process and work on building a self-service knowledge base or in-depth how-to guides to quickly and efficiently answer common questions. 

This frees up agents and gives them more time to handle less-common requests. 

Furthermore, reports and data visualization help display information in a way that’s easy to understand. This can give you a birds-eye view of your support system and may even help you know how to better serve your team and customers. 

The Different Types of Help Desk Software

There are several different types of help desk software. The best type for you depends on various factors, including the size of your business, your budget, customization, and security requirements. 

Cloud or web-based — this is the most common type, and it’s often referred to as a SaaS tool because the user pays a monthly subscription to continue using the software. 

Furthermore, everything is stored on the cloud or the provider’s server, so the user doesn’t need additional infrastructure or dedicated IT. Plus, the vendor is in charge of managing and maintaining the software, making it an easy and affordable option for businesses of all sizes. 

All of the recommendations on this list offer a cloud or web-based solution.

On-premise — unlike cloud or web-based software, on-premise systems are installed on the user’s servers. Typically, the end-user purchases a license for the software and they’re in charge of management and maintenance. 

While they’re harder to install and manage regularly, they tend to be more secure and customizable. So, it’s an excellent option for high-security industries and anyone interested in a hyper-customized solution. 

However, this means a dedicated team is required to update and maintain the infrastructure.

Enterprise-grade — these are built specifically for extremely large businesses. They come with a ton of hyper-customizable features and solutions to suit the needs of enterprise businesses with massive budgets. 

Enterprise help desk software comes in all shapes and sizes, from single-location businesses to international conglomerates operating worldwide. 

For most users, this type of software is 100% overkill. 

Open-source — this type of software is best for developers or companies with knowledgeable IT departments because you get access to its source code. This means you can modify how the software works to meet your unique requirements. 

Essentially, it’s a more affordable way to get a highly customizable solution, as long as you have the skills and know-how to make it work for you. 

#1 – Freshdesk Review — The best help desk software for small to midsize businesses

If manual email and social media customer service are becoming too much for your team to manage, Freshdesk is a great way to ease the burden.

Its ticketing system is straightforward to use, and it comes with numerous helpful features.

Plus, it’s incredibly affordable, and there’s a limited free forever plan with unlimited agents to try it out before you invest a single penny. 

With Freshdesk, you can streamline conversations across channels in one place, create contextual conversations with anyone, automate repetitive processes to save time, automatically share solution articles, and easily monitor your team’s performance. 

Furthermore, you also get access to countless support features, including:

• Multi-channel team inbox
• Agent collision detection
• Custom ticket statuses
• Scenario automations
• Canned responses
• Shared ownership and huddles
• Linked tickets
• Time tracking
• Scheduling dashboard
• Event and time-based automations
• AI-powered chatbots
• Knowledge base capabilities

On top of that, they also offer several educational courses and a fully-staffed customer support team to help you and your team get the most out of your new software. 

Freshdesk has five different help desk plans to choose from, including:

1. Sprout — Free with limited features
2. Blossom — $15/agent per month
3. Garden — $35/agent per month
4. Estate — $49/agent per month
5. Forest — $99/agent per month

You can start with the free plan to try it out, but I highly recommend upgrading to a paid plan when you can justify it to gain access to more of their advanced features. 

Each plan comes with a free 21-day trial to test the waters before making your final decision.

#2 – Hubspot Review — The best all-in-one customer service CRM

If you need a full-blown customer relationship management (CRM) tool to go along with your help desk software, Hubspot is a smart choice. 

And the best part? You can get everything you need to get started for free. 

With their free Service Hub, you get ticketing, meeting scheduling, reporting, a team inbox, live chat + chatbots, email templates, and team email connections. 

So, it includes everything you need to start optimizing your customer support process. 

But you also get several other features like tasks and activities, email tracking, contact website activity, contact management, custom fields, and more. 

While Hubspot’s free plan is excellent, their paid plans offer a fantastic suite of amazing features you can use to improve your entire support system further. 

Each pricing tier adds more advanced features, but their most affordable plan ($40 per month for two users) includes:

• Eight hours of VoIP calling and recording
• Conversational bots to create and route tickets
• Simple open and close automations plus internal notifications
• 1,000 canned responses for frequently asked questions
• Up to 1,000 email templates
• Ten reporting dashboards
• 1,000 documents
• Conversation routing
• Two ticket pipelines
• Up to five currencies

So, it’s quite a step up from Hubspot’s free plan. However, if you meet those limits, you have to upgrade to a higher-tiered plan. The next tier starts at $320/month, so it’s quite pricey. 

Alternatively, you can opt for their Starter Growth Suite, which includes the starter plan for Hubspot CRM, the Marketing Hub, the Sales Hub, and all the service features above. 

It starts at $50 per month, so it’s a super affordable way to get access to a ton of different marketing, sales, and CRM features if you need access to all of them. 

Note: this is special COVID-19 pricing with regular rates starting at $112.50 per month. 

#3 – Zoho Desk Review — The best help desk software for fast-growth businesses

Zoho provides countless business tools to businesses of all sizes in every industry you can imagine. 

All of their software is fantastic, and their help desk software is no exception. 

From affordable plans at every level and a robust free plan to incredible support features, you can rest assured that Zoho Desk has the ability to scale alongside you as your business grows. 

At its core, Zoho Desk is a multi-channel ticketing system. So, you get top-of-the-line ticketing features that let you organize and streamline support inquiries, whether they’re coming from email, social media, live chat, phone, or an online form. 

And as your business grows, the need for a self-service knowledge base increases. With Zoho Desk, you can quickly turn support requests into knowledgebase articles in just a few clicks to continuously grow your database. 

On top of that, you also get access to a wide variety of features designed to help improve and consolidate your support processes. Some of the most popular features include:

• Zia, an AI-powered digital assistant
• Help center tools to design and create your knowledge base
• Several ticket views and automatic ticket organization/prioritization
• Advanced response editor with canned snippets
• Visual process automation builder
• Customization via APIs and built-in integrations
• Dashboard headquarters for analytics and reporting
• Custom field options for web forms

With that said, it’s important to note that lower-tiered plans don’t include every feature. So, be sure to look through each plan’s features before choosing one. 

And keep in mind that you may have to upgrade to a higher plan to get what you need. 

Zoho Desk plans include:

1. Free — For up to three agents with email ticketing and limited features 
2. Standard — $12/agent per month with social channels, workflows, and dashboards
3. Professional — $20/agent per month with BPM, time tracking, and ticket sharing
4. Enterprise — $35/agent per month with Zia, live chat, and advanced customization

Sign up for a free trial to see which plan is right for you and your team today.

#4 – Freshservice Review — The best for IT service management

If you’re looking for a better way to handle IT support, Freshservice is one of the top options on the market. Like Freshdesk, it’s a Freshworks product, so you have a massive brand behind the software. 

However, it’s built specifically for IT teams, rather than customer service. 

With more people working from home, strong IT support is more critical than ever before. And you may even see an influx of inquiries coming through as people adjust. 

Which… is where Freshservice comes in and saves the day. They offer everything you need, including multi-channel support, hardware and software records, contract management, and a top-rated mobile app for iOS and Android. 

Furthermore, you can automate agent assignments and approval workflows to help streamline the process. Plus, you also get access to powerful features like:

• Incident, knowledge, and SLA management
• A user-friendly service catalog
• Self-service portal and knowledgebase
• Internal contextual collaboration
• Problem, change, and release management
• Project dashboards and analytical reports
• Asset and inventory management
• Lifecycle management
• Asset auto-discovery
• Interactive visualizations

And you can easily integrate any Freshworks software with Freshservice, along with tons of other third-party software integrations as well. 

So, it’s an excellent choice if you already use or plan on using any of their other business tools. 

Freshservice offers four different plans to choose from, including:

• Blossom — $19/agent per month with essential features
• Garden — $49/agent per month for growing teams
• Estate — $79/agent per month for large teams
• Forest — $99/agent per month for enterprises

These prices indicate annual pans paid in advance. They also offer monthly plans for a higher fee, except for the Forest plan. 

Try Freshservice free for 21 days to see if it’s right for you!

#5 – Happyfox Review — The best for mobile and field support teams

Field agents have a unique set of challenges vs. support teams in the office or one set location. As such, you need a specialized tool that adapts to meet your needs. 

Happyfox is a field service software designed to help you track agents, schedule work, and leverage real-time communications with a fully-featured mobile interface for seamless use on the move. 

When agents are continuously traveling from one job to the next, they must have an easy way to share and track status information from one agent to the next. 

And the good news is that Happyfox does just that, with a wide range of features like:

• Ticket ques, statuses, and categories
• Multi-channel ticketing capabilities
• Ticket threads and attachments
• Canned actions and responses
• Searchable and customizable knowledgebase
• Agent collision detection
• Built-in asset management
• Auto-assignments and smart rules
• Simultaneous routing rules
• SMS support

And dozens of other helpful features specifically for mobile teams. 

Unlike the other options on this list, Happyfox doesn’t display their pricing online. But they offer standard per agent pricing and special packages for unlimited agents, making it suitable for field service teams of all sizes. 

For agent-based pricing, they offer four plans with varying feature sets. 

And each plan automatically includes SSL security, unlimited tickets, smart rules, knowledgebase capabilities, multilingual support, rich text formatting, and mobile applications. 

However, their unlimited agent plans cap the number of tickets you can have in a year. So, you have to decide which option makes the most sense for your situation. 

Schedule a live demo to see if Happyfox is right for you and your team today!

#6 – Cayzu Review — The most affordable help desk software

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly cloud-based help desk software, Cayzu is exceptionally affordable with paid plans starting at $4 per agent per month. 

It’s also straightforward to use. With that said, it’s not the most feature-rich option, but you sacrifice some of the advanced features for an incredibly affordable price. 

At just $4 per month, you get access to all the essential features you need, including:

• Secure data protection
• Automatic backups
• A mobile application
• Unlimited customer support
• Ticketing system
• Canned responses
• Knowledgebase capabilities
• Email ticket creation
• Multi-language support
• Open APIs and rest APIs
• Support widget

Or you can upgrade to one of the higher plans for just a few dollars ($9 per agent per month) and get time tracking, assignment rules, basic automations, due dates, custom SSL certificates, and more. 

And they also offer a freedom plan (up to 70 agents) if you’re interested in an easy way to get all of their features. It starts at $469 per month, but it’s probably overkill for most users. 

Plus, over 20,000+ companies (including Verizon, Yahoo, and PBS) trust Cayzu with their help desk needs. So, you’re not alone and you’re in good company when you sign up.

Sign up for a free trial to see if Cayzu’s right for you today!

Wrapping things up

Freshdesk, Hubspot, and Zoho Desk are my top recommendations for most users. They all offer numerous powerful features at affordable prices for businesses of all sizes. 

However, they’re not perfect for everyone. Different situations call for different solutions. 

So, don’t forget to use the criteria we talked about as you sort through choosing the best help desk software for you, your team, and your customers. 

What’s your go-to help desk software?

The post The Best Help Desk Software (In-Depth Review) appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-help-desk-software/

How to Use Instagram Live for E-Commerce Sales

Are you looking to boost your social media sales and get the most out of your digital storefront?

Updates to Instagram Live have made it one of the hottest sales trends right now, and Instagram’s e-commerce features plus the high success rate of social media marketing have made digital sales easier than ever.

If you’re ready to start using Instagram for business and start tapping into organic reach, we’ve got the strategy to get you started.

Read on to see how you can get the most out of Instagram Live for e-commerce.

Instagram Usage and E-commerce Stats

You’ve heard about Instagram for business. Maybe you’ve even started playing around with some of their sales functions. If you’re smart, you’ve already got an Instagram business profile and perhaps even a few product tags.

Is it worth all the hassle?

Let’s check out the numbers. According to Hootsuite:

• One billion people use Instagram every month. 
• Of those users, 63% log in daily and spend an average of 28 minutes on the app.
• 200 million users visit at least one business profile every day.
• Instagram is the second most downloaded free app in the Apple app store.
• It’s also the 10th most popular Google query.
• 500 million people use Instagram Stories every single day.
• One-third of the most viewed stories every day are from businesses.
• 62% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories.

What about Instagram Live?

Social media is about being seen. Instagram Live moves your content to the top Stories in your users’ feeds. Plus, followers get notifications telling them when you go live, meaning they’ll immediately be able to see your content in their Stories tabs.

Instagram’s co-founder and CEO, Kevin Systrom, once said, On average, people miss about 70 percent of the posts in their Instagram profile feed.” That means getting to the top of your users’ feeds should be a top priority.

Instagram Live also saw a 70% increase in views from February to March in 2020, making it one of the fastest-growing e-commerce hubs on the internet today.

How can you start making e-commerce sales on Instagram?

Instagram Shop

With the launch of its online shop, Instagram has pushed further into e-commerce.

Instagram Shop has streamlined the way users can find products by making a designated “Shop” tab and other new features for businesses to generate sales.

The new Instagram Shop tab features a “Brand Collections” page that shows curated collections put together by Instagram’s @shop team.

With the addition of Instagram Checkout, US shoppers can simply tap “Buy on Instagram” to make a purchase without ever leaving the app. That means your conversions are quick, precise, and frequent.

Instagram has also been testing replacing the “Activity” tab with a “Shop” tab, which would mean even more daily clicks than before.

Like any social media selling machine, quality content and a killer Instagram following are essential. The best way to continue selling on Instagram is to make sure you’ve got a product people like and the right marketing strategy to sell it.

To get the most out of your e-commerce experience, Instagram suggests posting regularly, revealing the process behind your product creation, and showing variation in your products.

Here are a few more easy tips for marketing your Instagram content.

Instagram Expands Live Shopping, Making It Easier to Shop and Sell

Instagram marketing is a powerful tool. With engagement rates going through the roof, it’s time for your brand to get on board and start making sales with the added ecommerce features across the platform.

Instagram Live Shopping

This feature allows you to make sales while in the middle of a live broadcast.

Instagram Checkout

If you’ve set up your Instagram Shop, you can start promoting and selling your products directly from your video stream with the Instagram Checkout tab. Featured items will appear at the bottom of the screen, and viewers can simply tap to purchase any of the items shown.

Desktop Compatibility

Instagram Live broadcasts can now also be viewed on desktop, making them more accessible and wide-reaching. This feature allows you to take center stage and grab your audience’s attention. It can also help you tap into new markets and expand your content’s reach.

How do you get started?

1. Determine a purpose for your video. Otherwise, your audience won’t have a reason to keep watching.
2. Promote your video on your social accounts beforehand so you’ll have someone to sell to once your live video starts rolling.
3. Upload your products. You can add up to 30 products to a collection. Be sure to do this before you start because Instagram needs to approve your products before you go live.
4. Pin one item at a time to your video feed when you start broadcasting.

When you’re on Live, you’ll be able to display your products through some of Instagram’s built-in features, which we’ll talk more about down below.

Why Use Instagram Live for E-commerce?

Live videos are great for forming honest and personable audience interactions. This unedited, raw content can help you connect with your audience and build brand integrity.

Instagram Live also lets your audience submit comments and questions in real time, allowing for natural and immediate interaction on an otherwise one-sided platform. This kind of audience connection enables you to gather feedback straight from your customers.

Using the Instagram Live feature can also help your discoverability, as users will be notified when you go live, and your video will be featured at the front of their Stories tab.

Instagram Live videos stay on your page for 24 hours after you end the broadcast, ensuring more people can see your content in more places.

The benefits of using Instagram Live for e-commerce range from increased brand integrity to real-time sales possibilities, and beyond. We’ve seen more and more brands gravitating towards this platform in recent years because it works.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to connect, convert, and curate content, Instagram is the place to be.

Live Shopping Features

Instagram Live has completely changed the ways brands communicate with their audiences online.

With new, customizable features and add-ons, there are many ways to connect and convert.

Multiple Broadcast Hosts

If you’re interested in tapping into influencer marketing, or if you want to leverage a brand ambassador’s following, you can invite co-hosts to join you in your live broadcasts.

Video Customization

You can also impose filters, stickers, and custom content directly onto your live video. You can either use Instagram’s presets or create your own branded versions and upload them to your live settings.

Still Images and Videos

You can share images and videos on screen while you broadcast. This allows you to showcase product images or show the product in action, making the purchase more appealing to your audience. You can even add multiple videos and create a slide show while you present.

Audience Interaction

You can add comments and questions directly to your video broadcast. You can also pin them to the screen for all of your viewers to see. This way, you can let your audience know you’re listening and make them feel seen.

All of these features make your content more inviting and exciting for viewers, increasing the possibility for conversions as you dive into Instagram Live for e-commerce.

With a little bit of skill and a whole lot of personality, your brand could be the next big thing on Instagram Live.

How to Use Instagram Live Shopping to Drive Sales

When you use Instagram Live for e-commerce, you can forge connections with your customers, create lasting sales funnels, and boost your online conversions while staying true to your brand.

If you’re going to go live, make sure you do it right and attract people to your products beforehand. No one wants to go live to an empty audience, right?

Here are a few tips to get you started.

Promote Your Instagram Live Stream Beforehand

Promoting your content will ensure people have time to plan to watch you and make sure you get the most out of your live experience.

One way to do this is to share Instagram Stories that tell your audience the details of your Instagram Live experience. You could even use an Instagram Stories countdown sticker to mark the event. This allows others to share the countdown as well, expanding the reach of your audience.

Maintain Instagram Live Focus

Avoid directing traffic to anything that isn’t relevant to your content. Promoting your website instead of a product page is an excellent example of this. You must ensure your audience can easily find your products and purchase quickly. This will increase your chances of selling once you go live.

Offer Live Streaming Quality Content

It’s also important to focus on the quality of your content. If your audience members find your stream boring or uninteresting, they might move on to the next piece of available content. Make sure whoever is hosting your video is practiced, inviting, and uses a breadth of exciting features to keep your audience watching.

Keep it Short

When using Instagram Live for e-commerce, shorter videos work better. Audiences like easy-to-consume content. You can even post multiple short videos to keep your audience coming back for more.

Keep it Simple

Once you go live, speak slowly, speak clearly, and don’t make things too complicated. Like any spot on the internet, Instagram content has fierce competition. If you want to maximize your Instagram Live e-commerce possibilities, you need to be able to hold your audience’s attention for as long as possible.

Using Instagram live for e-commerce, you can position yourself at the top of your audience’s feeds and keep their attention longer.

The more you use Instagram’s built-in features, the better chance your brand will have of ranking on the platform.

Conclusion

If you haven’t figured it out yet, using Instagram Live for e-commerce opens up many new possibilities in the world of social media sales.

Instagram’s latest Shop features let you sell your products directly from the app, instead of fighting for placement in user feeds.

What’s more, e-commerce updates to Instagram Live have paved a whole new way for brands to engage with consumers and get their products into the market.

By tapping into your live-streaming market, you could not only drive conversions, but you’ll have a chance to speak to a bigger, less saturated audience.

Get creative, get live, and start converting!

Have you had success with Instagram Live marketing for e-commerce? Share your tips in the comments.

The post How to Use Instagram Live for E-Commerce Sales appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/instagram-live-ecommerce/

PPC Consulting

You have developed a killer website and drafted an effective marketing strategy to generate leads and drive sales.

So what next?

Considering paid advertising offers a 200% ROI, it’s a no-brainer that your marketing strategy should incorporate the same.

“But I have no idea where to start with Google ads – in fact, I don’t know where to begin at all!”

Well, even if that’s the case, you still have nothing to worry about.

You can hire a PPC consultant who can enhance your paid advertising campaigns by offering a unique set of skills coupled with experience and expertise.

Choosing the right consultant, however, can be challenging if you don’t know what to look for in a PPC expert, which is where we come in.

Our team at Neil Patel Digital has created this handy guide to help you find the best PPC consultant for your business – one that can manage your campaigns, keep up with continuous algorithm updates, and deliver results.

Let’s start with how a PPC consultant can help you grow your business.

5 Ways a PPC Consultant Can Help Grow Your Business

What is the primary reason that people hire PPC consultants? Maximizing business performance.

People who run an online business question the need for launching pay-per-click campaigns, and whether it’s the right thing to do.

We have to clear one thing out before we talk about the benefits of hiring expert help – it IS worth it!

That said, let’s take a look at what a good PPC consultant can do to help you grow your business. 

Thorough Market Research and Plan of Action

A PPC consultant can be your go-to when you‘re unable to do market research, execute the right type of strategies, or launch successful marketing campaigns that help you achieve your business objectives. 

Additionally, you can also make critical mistakes when you work without experience – something that can cost you significant money or achieve zero results.

On the other hand, there are other solid reasons why you should hire a professional. 

A PPC consultant will prioritize your marketing campaigns and think of the intelligent implementation of paid marketing tactics that can enhance campaigns. You’ll also get better and more relevant marketing strategies to drive your online sales.

In the end, you‘ll have better pay-per-click management that will give you more exposure in search engines.

Precise Targeting for Higher Conversion Rates

A savvy PPC manager can be doubly beneficial for your business.

With their help, you‘re assured of wiser PPC decision-making that can cause a decrease in expenses and increase conversion rates. 

Plus, PPC experts can analyze your data and make required adjustments that can lower your cost per lead for a higher ROI.

As for conversion rates, they can use their experience and expertise to implement tactics, such as using precise keywords and put your sales team in contact with quality leads. All the efforts are targeted towards a specific audience in your niche that can be niched down according to location, gender, age, interests, and of course, keywords.

Audience targeting should always be strategic and carefully executed. It’s the only way to avoid wasting your money on paid campaigns – something that a PPC expert can help you with.

The best part is all this requires minimal effort on your part, and even the PPC consultant’s due to their specialized knowledge.

Compelling Ads That Actually Convert

Make no mistake, writing an attention-grabbing ad copy is an easy task – but only at the surface. In fact, knowing how to create a PPC ad can have a massive impact on the ads click-through rate.

You need expert help to create a truly artistic strategy to attain ad campaign success. A PPC consultant is well versed in the know-how to create an effective ad copy that appeals to your target customer and can relate to their interests. They can also use the necessary keywords for optimization to rank higher in search engines.

So with the help of a professional, not only will your ad get more exposure, but you’ll also experience an increase in your conversions.

Years of Experience

You may already be aware of how experience often translates to expertise.

Reputable PPC professionals have years of experience working with a diverse clientele, which helps them contribute to their profit-making campaigns. 

These experts have the backing of innovative skills and knowledge to keep your ads updated and in sync with the latest web trends that can be the driving factor of your paid campaigns.

You shouldn’t worry about the money you might pay for a consultant. Instead, it’s the time wasted when trying to learn Google or Amazon that should be a worrying factor. Unsatisfactory results are another disadvantage when you take on PPC without prior knowledge.

Moreover, a professional will dedicate their whole time to your projects and make sure you set the right bid amount according to the order value, ACoS goals, and conversion thanks to their greater understanding of bid management.

Time-Saving

Pay-per-click marketing can be equal parts challenging and time-consuming, especially for those who aren’t experts.

A PPC professional can help you launch and monitor all your ad campaigns, along with making minor adjustments that could potentially boost your sales. Also, when you turn the work over to these consultants, you’ll be able to focus on other aspects of your online business.

How to Get Started With a PPC Consultant

If you haven’t worked with a PPC company before, it’s hard to know what to expect.

Right from hiring the right PPC consultant to holding meetings right till the final launch – you need to draft a roadmap that explicitly illustrates your end goal as well as milestones to stay on the right track.

Below, we have streamlined the details of every phase to help you understand what to expect when working with a PPC consultant.

Hiring the best PPC consultant for your business

The first step here is to find the right PPC consultant to get started in your paid marketing journey. And the best way to go about this? Research and look at the credentials of respective candidates.

There are two ways to go about this. You can use online hiring platforms like Freelancer, Upwork, and Reddit, where you’ll post a detailed project description, along with the requirements. You can then choose a freelancer profile from the applied candidates.

If you plan on recruiting seasoned consultants – something which we highly recommend – you’ll have to fill up an inquiry form and then schedule a discovery call.

Whatever be your marketplace of choice, determining the abilities of the prospective candidate remains the same. Ask the prospect the following questions to understand whether they are the right fit or not:

• Are you Google-certified?
• Do you offer a free assessment?
• Who will own the account?
• Will you provide ongoing management of the account or solely look after the setup?
• How do you measure success, and what are the deliverables?
• Are you familiar with Google Analytics?

It’s best to look for consultants who possess the Google AdWords Certified Partner designation since they are likely to understand the latest trends, techniques, and technology relevant in the world of PPC advertising. 

A thorough understanding of account setup and management, analytics and reporting, and optimization in areas such as video, search, and mobile advertising, are also crucial.

Remember, it’s your money, and the prospective PPC consultant should respect that and be willing to clear any doubts.

Have a Discovery Session

It’s the job of the PPC consultant to do everything they can to learn more about your business objectives and what you’re looking for, which is precisely why discovery and onboarding are a crucial part of any new PPC project.

Here are a few key points that your meeting should cover:

• Your budget, which includes monthly ad spent
• Goals you wish to achieve through your PPC campaign
• What are the USPs of your business when compared to your competitors
• Landing page optimization tactics to increase conversions
• Detailed observation of your target audience that includes platforms to use, shopping trends, and location

Take this chance to share everything you have with your PPC consultant – even if it doesn’t feel relevant. The consultant must be aware of your expectations and budget.

Planning and Testing

After understanding your business, target audience, and marketing goals, the next step is to plan the upcoming campaign. In addition to this, defining critical metrics and KPIs are essential as well.

The consultant may run a small, inexpensive pilot campaign to test different aspects, such as audience segments, copy, and execution. This can give you key insights about the preferences of your target audience and a deeper understanding in general of how to proceed forward.

The Final Execution 

Finally, at this stage, you launch the full campaign.

The full-scale execution of the campaign can be short-term, long-term, or ongoing, depending on your needs. You can expect consistent feedback and thorough reporting from the consultant that outlines everything about the campaign, and the final results once it’s over.

Remember, monitoring results and adjusting the budget are all a part of the campaign. The consultant should use the insights collected, along with your feedback, to improve the ad strategy for better results.

In case the consultant doesn’t offer management services, they will only set up the account.

Measuring the ROI of PPC Consulting Services

What’s the point of launching a PPC campaign if you cannot measure the return on your investment?

Is your campaign strategy correct? Are the ads effective in generating leads and sales for your business? Is it profitable? – these are important questions that you need answers to.

The only way to determine the success of a campaign is to measure the ROI.

That said, there are various KPIs, which is why you need to have an efficient tactic in place to choose the relevant ones. For this purpose, you need to figure out the following:

• Understand the goals of your campaign – whether you want more click-throughs, more leads, or higher sales. The ultimate goal, of course, is to increase conversions and reduce CPA. But there are other things you should consider as well, such as monitoring impression share and the effectiveness of your ads in generating clicks (CPR).
• You can even consider setting SMART goals to measure the overall progress and success of your goal.
• Figure out about what success means to you and then define it to your consultant.
• Monitor the KPIs closely and then reevaluate if there is still any discrepancy.

The following are the most crucial PPC KPIs that you should consider:

• The average click-through rate
• The quality score of your ad content
• The impression share that tells you how many people has have seen your ad
• The average cost-per-click (CPC)
• The conversion rate
• The cost for action/cost per conversion
• The average position of your ad

Tracking ROI is a dynamic process with no uniform rules to follow. Make sure you choose your KPIs after setting realistic goals for your business, which, in turn, can help you achieve your goals.

4 Point Checklist For Finding the Right PPC Consultant

If you’re still wondering how you can hire the best PPC consultant for your company who has the necessary understanding and expertise to deliver results, here’s a quick checklist to make things easier for you.

Experience in Driving Results

You’ll find several PPC consultants claiming to be the best and how they can help you achieve your goals.

But do they really have the expertise and experience to back their claims?

Figure out whether the consultant has previously worked with clients in your niche and is aware of how your business ecosystem, your competition, and your audience work. The idea here is to fast-track your campaign strategy, creation, and management processes.

Knowledge About PPC Best Practises and Tools

PPC can be a very complicated process, which is why you need a consultant that has the knowledge to keep up with the latest practices.

Having access to the right PPC tools is also important. Essential aspects like analytics and reporting and intent-driven keyword selection, along with first-party data sources and strategic partnerships, work together to enhance the efficiency of campaigns.

Find out the tools that the consultant uses, whether it’s Google Analytics, Certified Knowledge, Excel, and Adalysis.

Diverse Client Portfolio

Examine the companies on the prospective consultant’s portfolio. You‘ll be surprised at how useful this can be to detect whether they are the right fit for your business or not.

You see, a good PPC consultant should always demonstrate hands-on experience and have a diverse clientele. This equips them with a better understanding to create effective paid campaigns that appeal to your target audience, irrespective of their thought process and ideologies.

Testimonials From Past Clients

Testimonials help gain a sense of the caliber of the businesses that have trusted them in the past.

By going through what past customers have said about their services will give you an idea about their professionalism and whether they are capable of providing a comfortable and satisfactory working experience.

Wrapping Up

The world of PPC marketing isn’t simple.

You need experienced consultants to create and execute well-thought-out campaigns that can help you achieve your business objectives and keep any losses at the minimum.

Hiring a consultant can be your first step to ensure positive returns on your investment and establish a loyal customer base.

Want somebody seasoned and enjoys a stellar reputation when it comes to delivering results? Get in touch with experts from Neil Patel Digital here.

The post PPC Consulting appeared first on Neil Patel.

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

How to Optimize Your Videos Through YouTube Analytics Data

What if I told you there was a way to reach an audience larger than the one Netflix has through YouTube analytics?

It’s possible!

YouTube videos reach more than 2 billion users a month—about one-third of the entire internet’s traffic.

However, if you want to use YouTube videos to drive traffic and revenue, you need to deep into the data.

How do you know whether your video has impacted your business?

Through the effective use of YouTube analytics!

In the next few sections, I’ll explain what YouTube analytics is all about, how to access it, what metrics you need to track, and how to leverage this information for better ROI.

What Is YouTube Analytics?

YouTube analytics is the native analytics platform on the site, providing access to vital metrics about video performance including watch time, viewer demographics, traffic sources, impressions, and more.

What is the point of all this information?

This data is here to help you understand what type of content your audience is interested in so you can improve your YouTube strategy.

If you hate wading through data, you’ll be happy to know YouTube analytics is pretty straightforward.

Instead of overwhelming yourself with a ton of information, you can choose to focus on the data that matters most to your brand.

Why Is YouTube Analytics Important? 

Simply put, knowing about your YouTube videos’ performance levels is vital to understanding how effective your efforts have been. When you know that, you can create more of the content your viewers love.

Why does YouTube Analytics matter so much?

For starters, YouTube is the second most popular website online. Period.

Further underlining YouTube’s popularity is that teens spend much more time watching YouTube than live TV—or even Netflix or Hulu.

This fact is of particular importance if your products appeal to this demographic.

But YouTube isn’t just for teens—people of all ages and demographics watch more than a billion hours of YouTube videos every day.

How to Access YouTube Analytics

Ready to dig into the data? Here’s how to access YouTube analytics.

From the YouTube homepage, navigate to the top right corner, where you see your account’s avatar.

Click on the image, and you’ll see a drop-down list of account options.

Select “YouTube Studio.”

On the next page, you’ll see the Studio dashboard.

There’s a sidebar on the left, which allows you to access different parts of your account.

Click “Analytics,” which takes you to an overview of your YouTube channel’s performance.

The overview page provides details like views, watch time, subscribers, estimated revenue, and real-time reporting.

You’ll also see four primary analytics tabs:

• Reach
• Engagement
• Audience
• Revenue

The statistics you see here are for the last 28 days. That’s YouTube’s default setting.

However, you can view metrics for a different period by clicking on the drop-down on your screen’s top right corner.

What if you want to see how well your videos have performed within 60 minutes or 48 hours of hitting the publish button?

The real-time report provides these details.

YouTube has information in place to help you understand the metrics, even if you’re a beginner.

All you have to do is hover over your chosen metric or click the “i” in a circle appearing near the metric’s name.

Here’s an example:

If you want to understand the metrics further, the “Learn More” link at the bottom of the box comes in handy.

In addition to overall channel metrics, you can also view individual videos’ metrics.

To access video metrics, click on any video from the overview page.

Click on “See More” to dive deeper into the analytics of a specific video.

Alternatively, you could click “Advanced Mode” at the top right corner.

Want to see how two videos performed against each other?

The comparison feature allows you to compare two videos, one video against itself over different periods, or a video with a group of other videos.

If the video is part of a series, you can discover how it compares to the others.

Additionally, you can discover if there is a difference in seasonal video performance.

To access this feature, click “Compare to” at the top right corner of the page.

Here, you can select the periods, video, or group to compare.

Another useful option is to add filters to your metrics.

You can find the filter option beneath the video’s title in the upper left, underneath the image from your video.

Clicking the “+” icon at the top of the table of metrics brings up a big list of metrics you can check out.

Want to save or share your data? You can easily export it for further analysis.

To do this, navigate to the top right corner of the page you want to export and click the download icon—a downward-facing arrow with a line beneath it.

This will bring up two options—Google Sheets and .csv—so you can choose the format you prefer.

Vital Metrics to Track on YouTube Analytics

It’s easy to get lost in the sea of data on various marketing platforms. There’s so much information, and it’s understandable if you get overwhelmed by all the filters, options, and tools.

And the same applies to YouTube analytics.

Don’t worry, though: YouTube analytics is comparatively easy to use.

Keep in mind you only need to view metrics answering a specific question you have.

These questions might include:

• How do viewers engage with our videos?
• When do they exit the videos?
• Which videos convert the most viewers to subscribers?
• Do our YouTube audience demographics match with our buyer personas?

With these and more questions in mind, it should become easier to view the metrics you need.

Below, I’ll share seven essential metrics in YouTube Analytics and insights you may derive from them.

1. Demographics

When creating a video, you need to know who you’re targeting—and who’s watching.

YouTube’s demographics data reveals details like the top countries and cities your viewers are watching from, viewers’ ages and genders, the times and days they most often watch videos, and more.

Location

If you have many viewers from a particular country or city, and your brand allows for this, you could tailor content to those locations. If you’re advertising a local product, but your videos aren’t generally being viewed locally, it may be time to investigate your keywords.

Age and Gender

Knowing who your audience is can help you create relevant and appropriate content. After all, you wouldn’t want to produce R-rated content if your viewers are typically 13-17!

Furthermore, the times and days viewers are on YouTube provides insights into when you should publish new videos.

If you run YouTube ads, having demographics information can also improve your ability to target content accordingly.

Finally, you can compare your demographics data to your buyer persona.

Do they match?

If so, great! If not, will you change your buyer persona or your content?

2. Traffic Source Types

Traffic source types indicate where viewers find your videos, such as YouTube search, Suggested videos, Channel pages, direct visits, views from external sources, and others.

In addition, you’ll see how viewers from each source behave.

These metrics provide information about the sources responsible for your video views. For example, you might find your blog drives a ton of traffic to YouTube, which means you may want to embed more videos in blog posts.

For more details about how people found you, you can click on each source. For instance, clicking on “YouTube search” will show you what keywords led users to your videos.

You can also see which sources contributed little to your views and try to figure out how to boost those areas.

For example, a low number of views from YouTube search might mean you need to improve your YouTube SEO.

Or, a small number of views from Suggested videos might indicate you need to engage your audience better. Higher engagement means YouTube may see your videos as valuable and suggest them to people viewing similar content.

There are even more insights to uncover once you dig into the data.

3. Watch Time

Getting a lot of YouTube views is good, but getting a high watch time is even better. “Watch time” is how long users spend watching your videos.

YouTube’s algorithm uses this metric to help it understand your content’s quality. This means a long watch time improves your chances of showing up as suggested videos and on search pages.

You can analyze each video’s watch time and compare it to the video’s length.

What types of videos have high watch times? What types have low watch times? Why do you think that is?

Considering the differences between videos with high and low watch times can help you create better content in the future.

You should also examine videos with a high watch time at a particular time of year. This could be a seasonal video—and if it did well, consider creating a similar video next year.  

4. Subscribers

When a viewer clicks the “Subscribe” button, they’re confirming their interest in your content. They’re then more likely to see when you post new videos—and watch them.

YouTube Analytics displays the number of subscribers you’ve gained and lost during a given period.

You’ll also see which videos contributed to your subscribers count.

Which videos are responsible for a high number of subscribers gained? Which ones are responsible for subscribers lost?

Analyzing these changes can help you improve the content you create. For example, if longer videos tend to drive more subscribers, then you should focus on longer videos

You can also view subscription sources, which tells you where subscribers found your content.  

There’s another way to understand what drives subscribers—comparing them with non-subscribers.

For example, you can compare these two audiences on metrics such as watch time, including the time spent viewing and what percentage of the video they watched.

Thirty seconds means something very different on a 45-second video than it does on a 45-minute video!

In the image above, there’s an anomaly. You see, non-subscribers are outnumbering subscribers significantly. This data indicates a need for further investigation—perhaps check their traffic sources.

5. Top Videos By End Screen

If you’ve ever watched YouTube, you know many videos end with images of other videos to watch. Those images are there to entice users to keep watching.

The metric related to this tells you which end screens accounted for the most clicks.

By clicking on “See More” in the engagement tab, you’ll see details such as end screen elements shown, end screen element clicks, and clicks per end screen element.

As a result, you can identify videos that keep viewers watching.

Why is a specific end screen more effective than another? Once you figure this out, apply the insights to other videos.

6. Top Cards

Card elements are interactive and allow you to promote other YouTube videos or links to your website. You can see an example in the image below—the “Suggested” bar is a card element.

Card element metrics show you details such as card clicks, cards shown, clicks per card, and more.

From these numbers, you’ll discover which cards were most effective at converting viewers.

Ask these questions:

• What makes these cards effective?
• Are cards more effective on some videos than others?
• At what time are cards most effective in a video?
• What makes some card teasers effective?

By diving deeper into these metrics, you can find answers to these critical questions.

7. Revenue

YouTube ads are essential to revenue. However, to run YouTube ads, you need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time. Focus on making great content using your metrics as a guide to get to these numbers.

You can see an example of an ad overlaying a YouTube video below.

If you’re running ads as part of the YouTube Partners Program already—or when you get to that point—the revenue section of analytics is crucial.

Here, you’ll find details such as your revenue sources, top-earning videos, ad types, monthly estimated revenue, YouTube Premium revenue, and more.

What are the top-earning videos? How are they different from the low earners?

You may get answers to these questions and more by diving deeply into revenue analytics.

All that said, you don’t have to monetize your channel through ads—I don’t do this myself. Instead, I use YouTube for branding, education, and to drive traffic to other resources.

Other YouTube Analytics Tools

YouTube analytics provides a ton of metrics about your channel performance, but it’s not the only source of data available.

That’s why you should use other analytics tools to gain more insight into your YouTube campaigns.

Using these tools, you can obtain analytics for other channels in your industry, enhance YouTube SEO, and get recommendations to improve.

Here are three other tools to better understand your YouTube video performance.

Vidooly

Using your YouTube analytics information, Vidooly provides suggestions about how to improve your videos.

They also grant access to video tag analysis—meaning the words in your video’s metadata—so you can discover high-performing tags.

To help you rank higher in YouTube keyword searches, Vidooly also has a keyword tool that may boost your videos’ SEO.

If you run influencer marketing campaigns, Vidooly can help you figure out which influencers may help grow your channel.

ChannelMeter

ChannelMeter provides access to extremely detailed audience insights.

Beyond that, you can monitor how videos from influencers perform. This is handy if you run YouTube influencer marketing campaigns—or if you want to emulate some of their ideas.

ChannelMeter also allows you to check on your benchmarks and follow trends among similar videos so you can adapt accordingly.

Unmetric

One of Unmetric’s most significant features is the benchmarking tools. These tools allow you to compare your strategy against your competitors.

For example, you can look at your competitor’s click-through rate, engagement rate, and video completions. This tool can help you develop campaign goals and identify new trends.

Furthermore, you can see how you fare against your competitors and obtain insights that may boost your campaigns. They even provide ideas for content creation.

Conclusion

YouTube Analytics is essential to running any successful YouTube campaign.

You can learn about your audience, what you’re doing well, and where you can improve—without being bogged down by unnecessary data, thanks to YouTube Analytics’ helpful filters.

What aspects of your videos do you think YouTube analytics can improve?

The post How to Optimize Your Videos Through YouTube Analytics Data appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/youtube-analytics/

The Best Conference Call Services (In-Depth Review)

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

Just a decade ago, conference calls were challenging to set up and manage.  

But today, I can click a few buttons and hop on a call with my entire team in a matter of seconds from the comfort of my home while my teammates stay safely in theirs. 

However, the best conference call services go beyond basic phone calls. 

They also offer a suite of collaboration and connectivity tools that make our current situation easier to navigate… together. 

As the demand for remote connectivity rises, new services are popping up left and right. 

Plus, there are already hundreds of options to choose from, making it feel impossible to choose the right conference call services for your team. 

So to help make your life a bit easier, I looked at dozens of options and narrowed it down to my top eight recommendations.

The 8 top options for conference call services

1. GoToMeeting – Easiest conference call software
2. RingCentral – Best all-inclusive communication software
3. ClickMeeting – Best for hosting webinars
4. Grasshopper – Best virtual business phone system
5. Zoom – Best for video conference calls
6. Google Meet – Best for G Suite users
7. Vast Conference – Best for instant conference calling
8. Bluejeans Meetings – Best for video and sound quality

How to choose the best conference call service for you

The best conference call service for you and your team depends on various factors, including the size of your business, the level of security you need, and extra features you’re interested in. 

It may help to start with a comprehensive list of everything you need. Then, you can use that as you go through the decision-making process. 

And as you create your list, don’t forget to include the following considerations. 

Number of participants

A conference call with ten people is vastly different than a conference call with hundreds of participants. 

So, it’s essential to consider your team’s size and the number of participants you expect for any given meeting. Some service providers include low limits, while others allow thousands of participants depending on the plan you choose. 

Security

Whether your meetings are confidential or not, security is an important feature to consider. Furthermore, it should be a priority rather than an afterthought. 

So, make sure you consider:

• The level of control over who can join the call
• 256-bit TLS encryption to make sure the line is secure
• Security policies of the service provider

Furthermore, pay attention to how the provider stores your data and what they’re allowed to do with it if you use their services. 

Mobile access

The world is more mobile and more distant than ever before. That said, mobile access is a crucial factor to consider when choosing a conference call service. 

Giving employees and other meeting attendees the ability to join using their mobile device is convenient for everyone involved. And it may mean fewer cancellations plus more of the right participants joining in, even if they’re not at their desk. 

So, ensure the service provider you choose includes mobile access. 

Audio and video quality

A conference call with low audio and video can be incredibly frustrating. So, it’s crucial to choose a service provider with top-notch video and audio quality. 

Of course, your internet connection plays a role. But you should carefully consider choosing a conference call service with HD video and audio capabilities for a smoother experience all around. 

Additional features

If you need other features, like a virtual phone system or the ability to host webinars, you can bundle conference calling services with software specializing in something else. 

You may also want to consider other features, like:

• Call recording
• Hold music
• Auto-assistant
• Internal communication
• Call forwarding
• Extension numbers
• Custom greetings
• Text messaging
• Internet faxing

Hardware requirements

It’s also important to consider if you need to buy new equipment to handle a conference call service you’re considering. Some software integrates directly with the hardware you already have, making setup and everyday use a breeze. 

However, others may require special equipment or something newer than what you currently use. And they may require professional installation, as well, depending on the number of users you need. 

Some may work with your employees’ personal phones, mitigating the need for separate business phones. 

The different types of conference call services 

There are two main types of conference call services: assisted and reservationless. 

The one you’re probably most familiar with is reservationless. It’s the most common and easiest to use because you can do everything on your own. All you have to do is create a bridge and then share the link with anyone you want to join. 

It’s perfect for small, informal meetings and regular conference calls. 

Assisted conference calls are much more formal. However, they require you to rely on someone else to organize. Assisted calls are most commonly used for large events with attendees all over the world. 

The operator organizes the call and may even help invite the right people. Plus, they usually greet attendees when they join and help manage the flow of your meetings. 

While an actual human being traditionally does this, today’s technology has helped automate the process. 

As such, many conference call services offer an auto-assistant to greet callers, create custom joining experiences, gather caller contact information, store it, highlight action items, and more.  

#1 – GoToMeeting Review — The easiest conference call software

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use online conference call software, go with GoToMeeting. It’s an excellent option for both small and large businesses alike. Plus, it’s incredibly simple to set up. 

In fact, you can host or join meetings in one click from your phone, your laptop, a conference room, or any remote location. 

Furthermore, you can easily host and join audio, video, and web meetings as well. So, whether you’re the administrator or an attendee, it’s a smooth and seamless process for everyone involved. 

With GoToMeeting, you get a ton of influential conference calling features, including:

• Screen sharing of your desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet
• VoIP conference calling 
• Face-to-face HD video conferencing
• Intuitive, yet powerful, mobile access
• Meeting recording and transcription
• Internal and external instant messaging
• Smart meeting assistant
• Toll-free conferencing
• 25 video feeds per meeting
• Drawing tools

Plus, meeting participants can join using commuter mode, which helps them save mobile data and provides a distraction-free experience on their mobile devices. 

Unlike most of the other options on this list, GoToMeeting doesn’t offer a free plan. 

But their paid plans are incredibly affordable and accessible for businesses of all sizes. Those premium plans include:

1. Professional — $12 per organizer per month (up to 150 participants)
2. Business — $16 per organizer per month (up to 250 participants)
3. Enterprise — Custom pricing only (up to 3,000 participants)

Start your 14-day free trial to see if GoToMeeting is right for you!

#2 – RingCentral Review — The best all-inclusive communications tool

RingCentral is an all-in-one business communications platform encompassing instant messaging, video, and phone. So, it’s an excellent choice if you’re looking for a comprehensive communication tool. 

Furthermore, it’s secure, easy to use, reliable, and accessible on any device. 

Plus, you’re in excellent company with more than 400,000 customers worldwide. 

And the best part? They offer an incredibly robust free plan for video conferencing. With it, you can meet with up to 100 participants (for up to 40 minutes) anytime from anywhere on any device.

The free plan also comes with incredible features, including:

• Simultaneous screen sharing
• Host controls and user management
• Custom meeting IDs
• HD voice and video
• Whiteboarding and annotations
• In-meeting chat capabilities
• Unlimited file sharing 
• Meeting recordings

And their premium plans include advanced features like phone support, reporting, single sign on, and advanced team messaging tools. 

RingCentral’s all-in-one office pricing is a bit expensive, with plans starting at $19.99 per user per month. However, those plans come with a ton of extra features, including everything you need to streamline business communications. 

So, it’s an excellent choice if you need everything from SMS messaging and video conferencing to business phones and internet faxing for your entire team. 

Alternatively, you can upgrade to a paid conferencing-only plan with RingCentral Meetings. Their Meetings plans include:

1. Essentials — $14.99 per organizer per month (for small businesses)
2. Advanced — $19.99 per organizer per month (for enterprise businesses)

Sign up for a free forever plan to get started with RingCentral today!

#3 – ClickMeeting Review — The best conference call service for hosting webinars

Webinars are an excellent way to demo products, deliver online training, and host online events. They’re useful for everything from marketing and sales to education and large meetings. 

So, if you’re looking for a tool that offers webinar capabilities and conference call features, ClickMeeting is your best option. 

However, it’s a bit expensive, so I only recommend it if you plan to use it for both purposes. 

The software comes with a ton of excellent features for both conference calls and webinars, including things like:

• Paid and automated webinar sequences
• Webinar timeline views
• Independent subaccounts
• Custom branding
• Customized invitations
• Registration pages
• Waiting room with agenda
• Whiteboarding and screen sharing
• Chat translation
• Advanced analytics

Furthermore, they offer an extensive knowledge base so you can learn everything to make the most of your new software without calling customer service. 

However, keep in mind that all plans cap conference calls to 25 participants. 

ClickMeeting offers a free 30-day trial, but there isn’t a free forever plan. There are three options to choose from, including:

1. Live — $25 per month
2. Automated — $40 per month
3. Enterprise — Custom pricing only

Start your 30-day free trial to take ClickMeeting for a test drive today!

#4 – Grasshopper Review — The best virtual business phone system

Grasshopper is a bit different than the other options on this list. Their software is a simple way to turn your personal phone into a business phone without worrying about buying new hardware. 

So, if you’re a solopreneur or small team looking for an easy way to set up business phones for your team, Grasshopper is an excellent choice. 

However, I don’t recommend going this route unless you actually need a virtual business phone system. 

The software is incredibly easy to set up. All you have to do is select your phone number, choose a pricing plan, download the app, configure your settings, and you’re good to go. 

It seriously takes just a few minutes and is incredibly easy to use. Aside from conference calling, you also get access to powerful features, including:

• Toll-free, local, and vanity numbers
• Custom greetings
• Personal extensions
• Call routing
• Multi-call handling
• Instant response text messages
• SMS messaging
• Internet faxing
• Voicemail transcription
• Auto-receptionist

While most of the app features are incredibly easy to use, conference calling is a bit less traditional than the other options listed here. Rather than participants joining your call, you have to call them, making it more aligned with old-school conference calls. 

But you get unlimited conference calls with up to ten participants and the added business-phone functionality all for an extremely affordable price. 

Grasshopper’s paid plans include:

• Solo — $26 per month for one phone number and three extensions
• Partner — $44 per month for three phone numbers and six extensions
• Small Business — $80 per month for five numbers and unlimited extensions

Sign up for a free 7-day trial to see if it’s right for you today!

#5 – Zoom Review — The best for free video conference calls

As more people shift to remote work, Zoom has become a household name. 

It’s one of the most popular video conferencing tools on the market—and for a good reason. 

Their robust free plan is more than enough for most users, making it an excellent and budget-friendly option for individuals and small businesses alike. 

Their free plan includes unlimited meetings with up to 100 participants for up to 40 minutes and unlimited 1:1 meetings with a 24-hour time cap. Furthermore, you also get free access to features like:

• Automatic calendar syncing
• Robust security encryption
• Role-based user access
• Waiting rooms and password protection
• HD audio and video
• Up to 49 videos on the screen
• Screen sharing and recording
• Hand raising and in-meeting chat
• Video and audio settings
• Dedicated dial-in numbers

All for free. So, if you’re looking for a robust and intuitive conference call service without paying a penny, Zoom is definitely one of the best options on the market today. 

However, if you outgrow the free plan and need something more advanced, you can upgrade to one of their paid plans, including:

1. Pro — $14.99/month or $149.90/license per year (up to nine licenses)
2. Business — $19.99/month or $199.90/license per year (minimum of 10 licenses)
3. Enterprise — $19.99/month or $199.90/license per year (minimum of 100 licenses)

Sign up for a free forever plan to see if Zoom is right for you and your team today!

#6 – Google Meet Review — The best conference call service for G Suite users

Google Meet is the upgraded version (and replacement) of Google Hangouts. 

And if you’re an avid Google fan and already use G Suite, Google Meet is entirely free for you to use, making it an excellent and affordable option for businesses of all sizes. 

Furthermore, you don’t have to do anything to sign up if you already have a G Suite or Gmail account. All you have to do is head to the Google Meet page to open up a meeting room.

Doing so automatically pulls in your contacts and information, too. 

The best part is that all of Google’s tools and software integrate seamlessly. So, you can quickly and easily jump straight into a video chat from their Chat tool, your calendar, or even your mobile device. 

Plus, the free Google Meet tool includes intuitive features like:

• US and international dial-in numbers
• Secure Google global infrastructure
• Encrypted video conferencing
• No third-party plugins or software required
• Live captioning
• Low-light mode
• Built-in noise cancellation

On the Basic G Suite plan, you can host calls with up to 100 participants. If you need more than that, you’ll need to upgrade to the Business or Enterprise plan, which supports 150 and 250 participants, respectively. 

If you already use G Suite, head over to Google Meet to get started!

#7 – Vast Conference — The best for assisted conference calls

If you’re interested in hosting formal, assisted conference calls, Vast Conference is the way to go. While they also offer reservationless meetings, their assisted conference call features are where they shine. 

Operator-assisted calls require a bit more planning in advance. However, all you need to do is call their reservation desk to set up a time and date. 

From there, you can choose the level of assistance you need for your event. 

Operators can help with the planning of your event, show up live during your event for technical assistance and call quality, and deliver call recordings and participant lists afterward. 

It’s like hiring the assistant you never knew you needed. On top of that, operator-assisted calls may also include:

• Welcoming and identifying callers
• Continuous assistance from staff
• Up to 6,000 participants
• A pre-conference room meeting
• Triple-checked event transcriptions

These types of conference calls start at $0.16 per minute per line for a standard event and $0.19 per minute per line for premium events. Plus, there are no contracts or obligations as these are managed separately from their reservationless meeting services. 

Vast’s reservationless plans are quite expensive compared to other options on this list. So, I don’t recommend it unless you’re using their operator-assisted services. 

Choose your plan to start planning your operator-assisted event today!

#8 – Bluejeans Meetings Review — The best conference call service for sound quality 

If you need meetings with crystal clear sound quality, Bluejeans Meetings is definitely the way to go. Every plan includes Dolby voice audio with built-in noise reduction, spatial audio, and dynamic leveling. 

Plus, you also get HD video, so you never have to worry about low quality.

Besides excellent sound and video quality, you also get access to a ton of influential conference calling features, even on the lowest-tier, including:

• Unlimited 1:1 and group meetings
• No time caps whatsoever
• 5 hours of hosted meeting recordings
• Meeting highlight reels and action item tagging
• Outlook and Google calendar integrations
• Video pinning and content slider
• Desktop and application sharing
• Remote desktop control
• Whiteboarding and annotations
• Advanced host controls
• Safe driving mode

Bluejeans is one of the most feature-rich options on this list. However, that comes with a steeper price point and fewer meeting participants allowed on each plan. 

Plus, keep in mind you get excellent crystal-clear audio and video quality, making it feel like everyone’s in the same room. It also helps reduce dialog delays and ensures everyone speaks at the same level. 

So if that’s something you need, the extra price is well worth it. Their pricing plans include:

1. Standard — $9.99 per month billed annually (for up to 50 participants)
2. Pro — $13.99 per month billed annually (for up to 75 participants)
3. Enterprise — Custom pricing only (for up to 100 participants)

Try it free for seven days to see if Bluejeans is right for you!

Wrapping things up

GoToMeeting and RingCentral are my top recommendations for most people because they’re simple, affordable, and effortless to use. 

Plus, they include a ton of intuitive and powerful features that make connecting with coworkers and colleagues more straightforward than ever. 

But that doesn’t mean they’re the perfect choice for you. 

So, don’t forget to consider the features and must-haves we talked about as you go about finding the best conference call services for you and your team. 

Which conference call software do you prefer?

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

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-conference-call-services/

How To Create A Marketing Calendar That Will Streamline Your Campaigns

If you’ve ever led a marketing team, you know it’s easy to get overwhelmed by tasks and plans.

Numerous blog posts, social media marketing campaigns, and emails crowd your pipeline. But distractions and urgent issues get in the way, and when you check the clock, several hours have passed.

It happens all the time: you miss one deadline and end up missing more. The result is a half-baked campaign that fails to hit your goals.

Without a concrete schedule, this becomes an inevitable cycle.

To solve this problem, consider using a marketing calendar.

Why Use a Marketing Calendar?

In my experience, you need a marketing calendar to get a full overview of your team’s deliverables, deadlines, and tasks.

Recent research in an article by Evinex states that marketers who record their strategies are 538% more likely to complete tasks on time. Consider goal-setting as well, as 81% of people who set goals do achieve them.

I’ve worked on plenty of marketing campaigns, and I can tell you that it’s easier to hit your goals when you can streamline your tasks and manage deadlines.

So today, I’ll show you how to create your marketing calendar.

Step 1: Understand Your Customers

Every task in your marketing calendar should revolve around attracting your target audience. Your marketing efforts’ ultimate purpose is to reach the most customers and get them past the sales funnel.

For example, if you’re offering video games to students, you’ll want to launch aggressive marketing campaigns during school breaks. Similarly, if you’re targeting employed adults, you’ll want to post content during normal break times, after work hours, and or weekends.

Here are questions to consider when planning the activities in your marketing calendar:

• What does my audience need?
• What are their interests?
• When is the best time to engage with them?
• How will they interact with my content?
• Are they more likely to sign-up for your program or service during a specific period or season of the year?

You have to think long term to reach the most number of consumers for your marketing campaigns. 

Step 2: Identify Marketing Calendar Responsibilities

Every member of your marketing team has a role to fill. Their responsibilities are often based on their skills, which will determine their tasks in your marketing calendar.

Here are some typical marketing roles:

• Marketing Specialist
• Social Media Manager
• Search Engine Optimization Specialist
• Email Marketing Manager
• Web Content Writer
• Web Producer
• Product Manager
• Marketing Analyst
• Advertising Coordinator

Here an example of how to make it work for you.

1. Web Content writer: works on blog posts, guest posts, social media copy, and landing pages.
2. Social Media Manager: responds to social media messages, schedules posts, and plans social media marketing campaigns.
3. Email Marketing Manager: builds customer segments, oversees email marketing campaigns, and develops contact strategies.

Since most marketers on your team work on different content types or areas, you may want to organize their tasks through other marketing calendars and templates.

Here are common types of marketing calendars to consider:

• Content marketing calendar: With this all-purpose calendar, you get full visibility of your entire marketing strategy. This calendar includes your team’s marketing functions, content marketing campaigns, podcast series, SEO tasks, etc.
• Editorial calendar: Use this to streamline the production and publication schedule of blogs or articles.
• Social media calendar: If your business is active in several social media platforms, you’ll want to plan posts and organize tasks. This calendar lets you track high-performing posts and determine the best times to post throughout the week.
• Email marketing calendar:  Use this to plan, organize, and schedule the content you’ll share with your subscribers.

The specific goal of each calendar is to organize and schedule your marketing initiatives.

Unlike your marketing plan, which lists down your deliverables, a marketing calendar shows when your team can expect to work on a task. Marketers may use several types of calendars to track related activities in one document.

Step 3: Determine Marketing Calendar Content Quantity and Publication Frequency

Most successful websites have a specific quantity and frequency for publishing content.

It would be best to plot out the content you must create per week or month. Then, once you’ve determined how often you will promote, consider your marketing budget and your team’s capabilities.

The types of content which you can publish per week include:

• Blog posts
• Case studies
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Social media posts

A good tip is to finish a consistent number of deliverables each week.

For instance, you can host a podcast episode on Tuesdays and post a long-form blog post every Thursday. Meanwhile, you may aggregate the results of your social media campaigns every Friday.

Yes, it can be challenging to plan and fulfill different types of marketing content. But a consistent weekly plan enables your team to establish a routine and consistently finish their tasks.  

Step 4: Identify Marketing Calendar Themes

For B2C retailers, core themes of marketing campaigns revolve around specific seasons or dates. A millennial fashion brand could regularly promote back-to-school outfits near the end of the summer.

In contrast, B2B brands could focus on their industry’s opportunities and challenges. Due to the pandemic, some businesses may want to cover topics such as “digital transformation,” “future of work,” and “long-term impacts of a recession.”

Now get a spreadsheet and list potential themes that are specific to your industry. Set a meeting and invite your team to brainstorm topics relevant to your target market.

Now use Ubersuggest to find out the search volume of each keyword. Themes with a high search volume are likely to be relevant topics that your target audience searches for.

For this example, I used Ubersuggest to research the phrase “digital transformation.”

I discovered the topic has a pretty high search volume and a moderate SEO difficulty, so it is a good theme to keep in mind.

I highly recommend having various themes and topics to cover each month, especially for brands catering to different buyer personas.

In the long-run, this will help you establish a variety and keep posts fresh.

Step 5: Creating a Marketing Calendar Backlog

Next, it’s time to create a marketing calendar backlog.

Think of content projects and marketing deliverables. During the process, you may discover some tasks are better suited for execution at a later date.

Having a content backlog ensures you can document all the ideas for your next campaigns, podcasts, or blog posts.

Here’s an example in Google Sheets to create a content backlog, but you can use other software and apps too.

The document should include the type of content, topic or headline, priority level, and deadline for each content idea.

Coschedule has a useful marketing project prioritization matrix for identifying tasks with the most significant impact on your marketing goals.

They suggest using a “10x versus 10% framework,” which goes like this:

• 10x ideas are relevant to a significant portion of your target consumers. These ideas are likely to increase your results by at least 10x.
• 10% of ideas refer to projects with minimal or almost no impact on your marketing results.

Let’s see how you can put this theory into action:

• Step 1: Create an X/Y chart and place “Value” in the vertical Y-axis and “Target Audience” in the horizontal X-axis.
• Step 2: List down each idea in a sticky note and place them on the X/Y chart. The most valuable projects are placed on the top, while projects relevant to most people are on the right side.

The most prioritized content should be situated on the top right corner of the chart.

Step 6: Create a Marketing Calendar

While there are many calendar tools and software in the market, we’ll use Trello for this article as an example.

A Trello kanban board usually consists of tasks that are organized into lists. 

However, Trello also has a calendar view that gives users a complete overview of their tasks and deadlines per month.

Here’s how it’s done:

First, create a Trello board.

Hover to the Menu Bar and click “Power-Ups.”

On the “Essential Power-Ups” section, add the “Calendar” to visualize Trello cards in a calendar format.

To create a task, click a date, and choose the “Add Card” button.

Then type the name, deadline, and task description.

You can open up the tool again and complete the following fields:

• Card description: provides more in-depth information about the task.
• Comments: gives feedback to team members. You can @mention your team member so they will receive a notification.
• Add members: lets users assign tasks to members of the Trello board.
• Add checklist: adds subtasks for activities that require several stages to accomplish.
• Add due date: adds deadlines to cards.
• Add attachments: attaches files from Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box.

Trello calendars provide a complete overview of your marketing team’s activities and deadlines. By monitoring deadlines, marketers can set priorities and accurately determine the time it takes to complete each task.

Note: Mark vacations and holidays. These events could impact the schedule for your marketing content.

Step 7: Updating Your Marketing Calendar

Planning your marketing initiatives often involve a multi-step process. Prior to publication, most marketing content starts with a draft and requires reviews from superiors.

Here’s how it’s done in Trello with a sample account.

First, a deliverable gets written on the Content Backlog of your Google Sheet. Content with a high level of priority is the first one to get assigned to an author. When a content creator claims a task, the status of the deliverable becomes “In Progress.”

Next, return to Trello and create a card for the task. Add a due date, description, comments, and assign it to a member of your team.

Trello lets you sort cards into “Lists.” The title of each list can be based on the current status of the task, which includes:

• Open: a task still needs a deadline, description, due date, and other additional information before it gets assigned.
• In Progress: a task has been assigned, and your colleague is working on it.
• In Review: a task has been completed, but it still needs to be reviewed by your organization’s superiors.
• Completed: the task is done.

If your colleague is working on the task, set the status to “In Progress.”

After submitting the draft, you can classify it as “In Review.”

In this phase, a superior will check the article to make edits or ask revisions. If there are significant changes, the card returns to the “In Progress” column with a new due date.

Once the task receives approval, then the card can be transferred to the “Closed” column.

You can also de-clutter the Trello board by archiving cards upon publication of the post. This removes them from the list.

Step 8: Plan Ahead 

Now that you’ve launched a marketing calendar, you’re ready to plan your projects for the upcoming weeks or months.

Holiday marketing campaigns take months or weeks to plan.

For instance, the entire bundle of holidays for the end of the year include Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and Christmas. Many marketers may begin holiday planning as early as August to prepare for the influx of customers during their busiest time.

There’s no need to come up with specific content to publish yet. Just be aware of the main marketing campaigns and tweak the plan as you see fit.

Aside from preparing for upcoming campaigns, a calendar will help you set a realistic amount of projects. You can create content weeks in advance to hit your marketing goals during peak sales time. Your team won’t be stressed out with a practical schedule or be forced to downsize the campaign due to missed deadlines.

Conclusion

If you want to build a marketing campaign, you need an elaborate plan to succeed.

A marketing calendar lets you determine how far in advance you need to begin your marketing campaigns and the amount of time you have to fulfill them. Setting up tasks and deadlines is the only way to streamline your campaigns and make sure your team is on track to hit their goals.

How will you use your marketing calendar?

The post How To Create A Marketing Calendar That Will Streamline Your Campaigns appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/marketing-calendar/

Link Building Consulting

Despite how much SEO has evolved over the years, link building remains one of the most important components in order to rank well in search engines.

It’s a simple concept: get as many quality and relevant websites to link back to your content. 

The difficulty however is in the execution, which involves various skills such as content creation, research, and outreach. All of these things can be time-consuming and hard to pull off. 

If you need help with your link building strategy, then you may want to look into link building consulting.

6 Ways a Link Building Consultant Can Help Grow Your Business

Link building is a key component of SEO, which serves one primary goal: to grow your business.

At a business level, you can expect the following benefits when you hire a link building consultant:

• Better search rankings – Getting more authoritative and relevant websites to link to your pages will improve how well you rank in Google for certain keywords. As your pages rank higher over time, you can expect an increase in traffic, particularly if you end up on the first page. 
• Qualified leads – Backlinks which come from relevant sites also serve as a way to get organic traffic via word of mouth referral. Another website that links to your page is either directly or indirectly prompting their users to check out your content or services. This can result in a steady stream of qualified leads once you have built up a network of links.
• Partnerships – Backlinking strategies typically involve some form of outreach to develop relationships with relevant websites in your niche. Through this process, you will uncover potential opportunities that go beyond backlinking, such as cross-promoting each other’s email lists.

At the operational level, here are some of the ways that a link building consultant will help you achieve these business outcomes.

1) Create Linkable Content

There are no secrets or shortcuts around this. If you want quality backlinks, you need to create content that people think is valuable. 

This is probably the area where many business owners and marketers will fail, as creating quality content isn’t easy. 

A link building consultant will help you create content that is more likely to be linked to such as:

• Definitive guides – The era of 500-word blog posts is over. When people are looking for information on the web, they want to be able to collect everything they need to know on one page. As a result, complete in-depth guides rack up more backlinks and inevitably rank higher in search results.
• Data and Research – Data serves as a good way to get more backlinks as people will often incorporate your data into their own content, which means they have to link back to you. If you have also produced some type of research report that too can serve as a talking point in your industry. 
• Infographics – Visually presented information in the form of infographics are another simple way to get backlinks. The reason for this is that people will often embed the infographic on their website as an easy way to add value to their readers. At the same time, you will get an easy backlink.
• Ego bait – Ego baiting involves creating content that is directly about the people you want to get a backlink from, such as an interview or including them in a list. The logic is that you are appealing to somebody’s ego by talking about them, so they would feel more compelled to share and link to that content.

2) Fix Broken Backlinks

All across the web, there is an enormous amount of broken backlinks. 

This is because at one point in time a website may have linked to another. But for one reason or another, the page they linked to may not exist or have changed name.

The website owner is still likely interested in linking to a relevant piece of information, which presents an opportunity to get a new backlink.

A link building consultant will help you identify these opportunities and create content that can fill in these gaps. 

3) Guest Posting

Instead of waiting around for backlinks, you can actively create your own by writing blog posts on other websites and linking back to your own. 

This is called guest posting and has been a staple of link building for a long time. It works well because you do the hard work of creating content for another site, but reap the benefits of gaining a relevant backlink. 

But there are some caveats to keep in mind:

• If Google thinks that you are trying to game their system they will penalize you. For instance, spamming guest posts on low-quality sites will get you in trouble.
• Paid guest posts are not allowed. This includes “payment” in the form of reciprocal links.

If you do guest blogging from an authentic place, then you shouldn’t have much trouble. You will also gain the added benefit of leveraging another website’s audience, in addition to a backlink.

4) Social Commenting

It is true that the best backlinks come from authoritative and relevant websites. Ideally, this link comes directly from the owner and editor of the website.

However, getting backlinks from social media websites and comment sections can also add up – if done correctly. 

Your link building consultant will leave relevant and thoughtful comments on sites such as:

• Niche forums
• Q&A sites such as Yahoo or Quora
• Social media websites such as Facebook 
• Comment sections in relevant blogs

Like with other aspects of link building, the key thing here is to avoid coming across as spammy or trying to game the system.

5) Link Reclamation

If you have at least somewhat of an established brand, then chances are that you have been mentioned across the web without being linked to. 

For your link building consultant, this will be low hanging fruit as you simply find all the sites that have mentioned you and ask for a link. This can include sites such as:

• News websites – Your brand may have been mentioned in a story about your industry for instance. Even though you may not be the main focus, it is worth trying to get a link from a news outlet. 
• Social media – Your social profiles can contribute to your site-wide authority and how well your website name ranks in Google.

6) Content Aggregation 

Another quick win that your link building consultant can get for you is having you listed in relevant directories and resources. 

Some of these directories can hold tremendous weight as they provide a lot of tangible value. 

Typically, they appear in these forms:

• Industry directory – These are the standard directories that most industries have which simply list out the different companies in the space and their contact details.
• Top provider lists – These are more in-depth content pieces which could be structured as a comparison review or just a list of the most popular brands. 

How to Get Started With a Link Building Consultant

Link building requires a lot of work. You may decide that it is best to work with a link building consultant who can advise you on strategy and execute the process for you. 

In this case, here is what a working relationship with a link building consultant will look like.

Preparation

First and foremost, you will need to ensure that you create the right environment for link building success. Here are some things you will need to get in order:

• Technical SEO – There is no point generating backlinks and driving traffic if your website takes 10 seconds to load, or is poorly organized. If you don’t have the right technical SEO fundamentals, your link building efforts will not live up to their potential. 
• Existing content assets – As content is a key part of your link building strategy, you will need to gather any assets you have that can be used for content creation. This includes things such as raw data and client case studies.
• Budget – Link building requires a lot of work. There is the outreach and strategy side of finding backlinking opportunities. And there is also the content creation side of creating content that people want to link to. You will need to have a sufficient enough budget for both.

Audit and Strategy

Next, your link building consultant will analyze your current situation and create a strategy based on your goals. They will take various factors into consideration such as:

• Your best content – First, they will take a look at some of your best performing content. Chances are, you haven’t maximized it’s potential in terms of getting backlinks, so this is usually a good place to start.
• Keywords you want to rank for – Your link building consultant will then take into consideration keywords that you want to rank for. This is used as the foundation for content creation and competitor research.
• Competitor backlinks – Next, they should analyze competing content that you want to rank for to see which websites have linked back to it. This is a good starting point to finding people who can give you backlinks. 
• Backlink opportunities – They will also conduct an analysis of your space to look for opportunities in the form of directories and broken backlinks.

Content Creation

Depending on how your team is structured, you may need your link building consultant to create content for you too. 

The content creation process typically involves:

1. Identifying the keywords you want to rank for – both long tail and short tail
2. Analyzing top performing content in your space and creating better versions
3. Keeping an eye on topical events and creating relevant content
4. Creating high quality evergreen content such as in-depth guides and data visualizations
5. Finding opportunities for guest posting

When it comes to creating content for backlinks, there’s no substitute for high quality content that people want to read. 

In this sense, the best content will likely come from combining your industry insights with the skills of a link building consultant.

Outreach

Link building has a relationship building component to it which involves reaching out to the people who will be linking to your site. 

The best content in the world is useless if nobody is there to read or link back to it. When conducting outreach, your link building consultant needs to:

• Find the right people – Remember that you need backlinks from authoritative and relevant sites. Not all backlinks are made equal, so there is a process of research that has to take place initially.
• Get the messaging right – There has to be a compelling reason for somebody to link back to your site. How the outreach is conducted and how the value is presented affect whether or not somebody will give you a backlink. 

Measuring the ROI of Link Building Consulting Services

Now let’s talk about the crux of the matter: what is the expected return on investment with a link building consulting service?

Luckily, with link building, there are clear metrics that you can use to measure success such as:

• The amount of backlinks that you receive – The more relevant backlinks you receive the better – even if they aren’t from the most authoritative sites.
• Increase in link traffic – You should be able to observe traffic coming directly from the website that has linked to you.
• SERP rankings – Gradually, you will notice an increase in your search rankings content that is receiving links. This should then boost traffic coming from search engines.
• Trust flow – This represents the quality of the inbound links to your website. This is captured with software such as Majestic.
• Domain score – This metric is captured by software such as Ubersuggest and rates how authoritative a website is. Backlinks from domains with higher scores are worth more.
• Page authority – Backlinks from specific web pages within a domain that are highly ranked are worth more too. This can be observed with tools such as Moz and Ahrefs.

Finally, you will need to take into account how all these metrics impact the bottom line of how much revenue you have generated, specifically that can be traced back to link building activities.

3 Point Checklist For Finding the Right Link Building Consultant

As mentioned earlier, the link building process requires multiple skills to do successfully. When evaluating a potential link building consultant or agency, there are 3 key things to look out for.

1) Do they have a logical and analytical process?

The initial part of link building requires a combination of data analysis and strategy. Things to screen for include:

• How they structure their link building process
• What technology they use for research
• What type of strategies they use
• How they make decisions

Typically, consultancies that have their own in-house technology that does this will be strongest in this aspect. 

2) Are they creative?

At some point, you are going to need to produce high quality content that people will want to link to. You may not have the skills to do this, so the most logical place to delegate this to is to your link building consultant.

Some things you should look out for include:

• Are they producing content now? If so, how good is it?
• What’s the best performing content they’ve produced?
• Can they produce content in your niche?

3) Do they have excellent communication skills?

Outreach is the component of link building that relies on relationship building and a level of sales finesse. As they will be reaching out to websites on your behalf, you need to look for certain competencies:

• Do they understand the psychology and logic behind grabbing attention through email?
• Do they communicate in a value driven way?
• What is the copy like on their website and in their emails?

Each consultant you work with will score differently on each criteria. Some may produce awesome content for you, but aren’t so great at getting their outreach emails opened. 

Each aspect of link building relies on the other to fulfill its potential, so try to find somebody who is well balanced in each of the aspects.

Conclusion

Link building works best as part of a holistic digital marketing strategy.

For that reason, it needs to be done in conjunction with other methods such as content marketing, technical SEO and cold email outreach. 

This is why it is useful to work with a link building consultant that has a wide set of skills.

So when thinking about your link building strategy, ensure you keep in mind these different components so that you are able to get the best results. 

The post Link Building Consulting appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/link-building-consulting/

How to Get More Traffic Using Bing Analytics

It’s easy to forget that Google isn’t the only search engine.

Sure, it dominates the market. In the time it’s taken you to read these two and a half sentences, Google has processed about 280,000 searches.

But you should also look beyond Google when it comes to driving traffic to your site.

Take Bing, for instance. It has a 2.83% share of the global search market. Its search engine powers Yahoo, which holds 1.65% of the market share. Combined, that’s just shy of 5%. Do you want to miss out on 5% of the global search market?

If not, you should be focusing on Bing and Bing Analytics to boost your web traffic.

What is Bing Analytics?

We all know about Google Analytics. It’s the tool we rely on to track and analyze our traffic. So you’d assume Bing would have a direct equivalent, but that’s not the case.

Bing Analytics technically doesn’t exist (although Bing itself returns almost 40 million results for the phrase “Bing Analytics”). What does exist is Bing Webmaster Tools, a dashboard with a bunch of Google Analytics-like features. But, it is more like Google Search Console.

So when I say “Bing analytics” in this article, I’m referring to all the stuff within Bing Webmaster Tools.

Why You Need to Review Bing Analytics

If Bing is a significant source of traffic for your site, or you hope it’ll become one, the site’s analytics tools will help maximize your search performance.

Bing Webmaster Tools offers plenty of features to improve your rankings and grab more traffic from Bing.

I won’t give you an exhaustive guide to the Webmaster Tools feature set here, but we’ll review Bing analytics’ most critical aspects and show you how they work.  

Glean Insights From Bing & Yahoo

With Google Search Console, you’re limited to exploring your search performance within Google. Sure, that’s a lot of data. But it’s not the whole story.

Bing analytics in Webmaster Tools helps fill in some of the blanks by combining data from Bing and Yahoo. That means you can see the impressions, clicks, rankings, and the specific keywords that bring users to your site (plus a whole lot more) from two different search engines.

Submit Your Sitemap

By submitting your sitemap to Bing, you make it easier for the search engine to crawl and index your site. That makes it more likely that searchers will find your content and services.

You can see all the sitemaps you’ve submitted to Bing via Webmaster Tools. And it’s simple to submit a new sitemap from the Webmaster dashboard.

Control Bing’s Crawl Speed

Does your site get a ton of traffic at specific times? For example, if your site gets a ton of traffic on weekday mornings, you don’t want search crawlers putting your servers under even more strain.

That’s why the Crawl Control feature within Bing analytics is so useful. It lets you tell Bing when you’re busiest, so it’s like asking a cold caller to call you back later when you’re off work. It’s worth noting that you can’t do this within the new Google Search Console.

Demote Sitelinks

Sitelinks, or “deep links” to use Bing’s terminology, are those links that show up just below a site’s main listing on the search engine results page (SERP).

Here’s how they look on Bing:

Google doesn’t give you any control over the sitelinks it displays. Bing does. Specifically, Webmaster lets you block individual pages, so they don’t show up as sitelinks.

Let’s say I don’t want my article 10 Powerful Instagram Marketing Tips to appear on a sitelink any more. Maybe it’s not relevant to my current strategy, and it doesn’t make sense for it to be displayed so prominently within SERPs. With Bing, I can control that.

Set up Geo-Targeting

You can’t do good local SEO without geo-targeting. It’s the feature that lets you tell search engines which parts of your site should be shown to users in different locations.

Webmaster Tools is the home of all your Bing geo-targeting needs. Whether for a whole domain, a subdomain, a directory, or an individual page, just enter the URL and choose your desired target country or region.

Of course, you can do the same with Google Search Console, but it’s much more fiddly. It’s important to geo-target on Google and Bing.

Connect Social Accounts & App Stores

Chances are, your online presence doesn’t start and end with your website.

You’ve probably got several social profiles, or your products are on all the big app stores.

Those pages are a big part of your brand. So wouldn’t it be great if there was an easy way to see how many impressions and clicks you’re getting from them?

You can, thanks to Bing analytics. By linking your social and app profiles, you can get a whole extra level of insight into how people are finding you online.

Understand How Bing Sees Your Site

The world of search algorithms and ranking factors can be pretty impenetrable. At times, the search engines seem to be going out of their way to make life more confusing.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could lift the lid on a search engine and see what it sees?

The Bing analytics Index Explorer allows you to do exactly that. It shows you how Bing sees your site, laid out in a Windows Explorer-style series of folders and files.

This feature makes it simple to find all the data Bing has collected while crawling your site, so you can identify what needs fixing. If Bing’s crawlers are stumbling across a bunch of redirects, blocked URLs, or pages infected by malware, you’ll find out with Index Explorer.

How to Add Bing Analytics to Your Website

Adding Bing analytics verification to your site is an easy process. Head to the Webmaster Tools site, sign up with a Microsoft, Google, or Facebook account, and then you’ll be given two options:

1. Import from Google Search Console: If your site’s already verified by Search Console, you can skip any extra verification with Bing.
2. Add your site manually: You’ll need to make detectable changes to your site so Bing can verify you.

Bing offers four ways to verify your site:

• Log into your hosting provider account for automatic verification
• Upload the XML file on your webserver
• Add a custom meta tag to your site’s homepage
• Edit your site’s CNAME record with a custom verification code

Boosting Your Traffic With Bing Analytics

Here are some of my favorite tips for using the Bing analytics Webmaster Tools features to increase your organic traffic.

Find Low-Hanging Fruit With SEO Reports

Google Analytics and Search Console are great, but it can be hard to tell what changes impact your search rankings.

In contrast, Bing analytics runs automated reports that flag areas on your site that don’t follow Bing SEO best practices.

Better still, the SEO reports feature ranks issues by severity (either Low, Moderate, or High). It will tell you how frequently the error occurs on your site, and how many pages are affected.

But remember, it won’t do all your SEO legwork for you. Even if you make every change Bing recommends, you won’t automatically rocket to the top of the rankings.

For example, it won’t tell you if your backlink profile is weaker than your rivals’ or targeting the wrong keywords.

But it’s fantastic for identifying common issues that can harm your search performance, like missing title tags or multiple H1s on the same page.

View Page-by-Page SEO Improvements

But you don’t just have to seek out SEO improvements at the site-level. Bing analytics also offers a page-level tool called SEO Analyzer. Enter a URL from your site, and Bing will check it against approximately 15 SEO best practices.

Interestingly, you can even use it on pages that aren’t indexed. So if you’re building a new campaign landing page but don’t want it to be crawled yet, you can still check that it’s ticking all the right SEO boxes.

Assess Your Mobile-Friendliness

Around half of all web traffic is on mobile devices. That’s been the case for the last three years, so there’s no excuse for your site not to be mobile-friendly by now.

Like Google, Bing offers a mobile-friendliness test in Webmaster that analyzes how well your site performs on mobile. You can use it to analyze any site, not just your properties, so it’s useful for checking in on competitors, too.

Now, it’s worth noting here that Bing doesn’t place quite as much value on mobile-friendliness as Google. Whereas Google has switched to mobile-first indexing for all websites, Bing isn’t planning to follow suit.

On the flip side, Bing does treat user experience as a ranking factor, unlike Google. If mobile users are having a horrible time on your site and are bouncing straight off, your rankings will likely suffer.

Find Page Two Keywords

An SEO’s job is to make the most significant impact on a site’s organic traffic with the time and resources available.

With Bing analytics, you can use the Search Keywords tool to identify terms you’re ranking just off page one of SERPs (i.e., in positions 11-20).

Those keywords are probably generating very little organic traffic for you at the moment because few searchers make it past page one. But they’re not far off, and a little tweaking could make all the difference.

Analyze the pages where those terms appear, look at the sites ranking above you, and figure out how to leapfrog them. Maybe you need a few more quality backlinks, or perhaps you need to optimize your content.

Do Keyword Research

Once you’ve grabbed all the low-hanging fruit by fixing simple errors and optimizing page two keywords, it’s time to explore new opportunities.

To do that, you’ll need to start with some keyword research. And did you know Bing is the only search engine to offer a keyword research tool based on organic data?

Even better, that data comes from searches on both Bing and Yahoo.

Bing’s keyword research tool has a few useful features. It shows you:

• Organic search volumes for any given keyword: Helps identify if a given keyword has sufficient search volume to make it worth targeting.
• Related keywords: Bing uses your “seed keyword” to provide suggestions for other relevant terms and their search volumes.
• Results filtered by country, region, or language: You can even select multiple countries using the same language, such as the US, UK, and Australia.

As search engine keyword tools go, Bing’s is one of the more powerful, although it doesn’t offer advanced insights of a dedicated tool like Ubersuggest.

Conclusion

Ask 100 people in the street to name a search engine, and chances are they’ll all say “Google.”

Just because Bing isn’t a frontrunner doesn’t mean website owners can afford to ignore it. It still processes billions of searches a month, so you must include it in your ongoing SEO analysis.

If you’re serious about generating traffic from Bing, you need to be using Bing analytics.

Which of the Bing analytics features and tips are you most excited about using?

The post How to Get More Traffic Using Bing Analytics appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/bing-analytics/

Best Employee Scheduling Software

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Managing the shifts of your workforce on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis can be challenging. There’s a fine between being shorthanded and overstaffed without letting your labor costs get out of control.

Staying organized is tough even with just a handful of employees, but this challenge amplifies exponentially at scale.

We’ve reached a point where managing shifts via spreadsheets or with pencil and paper has become outdated and downright inefficient. 

Enter employee scheduling software. These tools make it easier for managers to create schedules while always keeping the big-picture in mind. Whether your business has ten employees for 10,000+ people employees, there’s a solution out there to accommodate your scheduling needs.

Which employee scheduling software is the best? Find out my top picks and read my in-depth reviews of each one below. 

The Top 6 Options For Employee Scheduling Software

1. ShiftNote
2. Shiftboard
3. Deputy
4. HotSchedules by Fourth
5. Homebase
6. CakeHR

How to Choose the Best Employee Scheduling For You

As you’re shopping around and evaluating different employee scheduling tools, there are certain factors that must be taken into consideration. Keep the following elements in mind to help narrow your search:

Number of Employees

As previously mentioned, employee scheduling software is a versatile category. There are solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes. But a small coffee shop with six employees at a single location won’t have the same needs as a restaurant chain with 500 workers across a dozen sites. 

Some software is built to scale, while others are intended for smaller businesses and single sites. 

Think about the future of your business as you’re evaluating options as well. While you might only have 50 employees today, how many will you have in six months? 12 months? If you’re scaling rapidly, make sure the software you choose can accommodate your growth. 

Time Tracking Functionality

Generally speaking, schedules are just one component of employee scheduling software. Lots of the best tools on the market today are all-in-one solutions for other functions. 

Time tracking and time clocks are on that list. Why? 

Scheduling and time tracking typically go hand-in-hand. So rather than getting one software for scheduling and a completely different time tracking tool, it makes sense to bundle them all under one roof. At the end of the day, this simplifies things for your managers and employees alike.

Flexible Access

The best employee scheduling software is usually offered as a web-based solution. You want to make it easy for your staff to access their schedules from anywhere. This isn’t possible with desktop software.

I also recommend looking for an employee scheduling solution that comes standard with a free mobile app. Then your staff can essentially carry a schedule with real-time updates on them 24/7. 

These apps are great for things like team communication features and push notifications with schedule changes or shift reminders. 

Industry-Specific Solutions

There are plenty of general-purpose employee scheduling tools on the market today. But if you fall into certain categories, look for an industry-specific tool.

Restaurants and hospitality industries are two that come to mind. Lots of software is geared towards these types of businesses because the scheduling needs are more involved in these cases. 

If you have the opportunity to use a software that’s designed specifically for your particular industry, I tend to lean in that direction as you’re making a final decision.

Additional Features and Extras

As I said before, lots of employee scheduling software does much more than just allow managers to post weekly schedules. 

The best tools will also have shift swapping, employee self-service tools, HR features, labor cost management, leave management, attendance tracking, team messaging, overtime control, time clocks, etc.

Some extras are definitely more important to consider than others, depending on your business type and needs. So keep a close on these various options as you’re shopping around. 

The Different Types of Employee Scheduling Software

Before we dive into the specific software reviews, I want to quickly highlight the different categories of employee scheduling software. Here’s a deeper explanation of the options you’ll be presented with:

Standalone Employee Scheduling Software

This is pretty self-explanatory. There are tools out there that are made for employee scheduling and nothing else. 

Generally speaking, these are the easiest to use since there are no extra features or bells and whistles to confuse you. However, the software will be limited compared to other solutions in this category. 

Unless you’re just looking for a digital way to improve your scheduling process, you’ll likely want to consider an all-in-one solution with additional functionality. 

HR Software

Human resources software has been growing in popularity over the years. These solutions usually have features for HR reporting, benefits tracking, applicant tracking, employee onboarding, training, and more. 

Employee scheduling has become a core component of many popular HR solutions. However, it’s worth noting that not every HR software has employee scheduling capabilities.

For those of you looking for a one-stop-shop for all scheduling and human resources needs, HR software with built-in scheduling tools might be the answer for you.

Time Tracking Software

As I said before, time-tracking and employee scheduling software go hand-in-hand. 

Physical punch cards are outdated. Modern time tracking has gone digital. There are tools out there that track hourly workers and also have employee scheduling capabilities. 

It all depends on how the software is branded. In some cases, you’ll see a solution advertised as time tracking software (that includes scheduling features). Other times you’ll see employee scheduling software (that includes time tracking features). But it’s nice to get both from a single tool.

Leave Management Software

Leave management is sometimes in a category of its own. There are actually a handful of great tools out there that focus on leave management and nothing else. 

This type of software is designed to manage vacation requests, PTO, and more. 

In general, a standalone leave management software won’t be as feature-rich as other tools available on the market today. I’d recommend a broader employee scheduling software that comes with absence management features. 

#1 – ShiftNote Review — The Simplest Employee Scheduling Software

ShiftNote is one of the most straightforward employee scheduling tools on the market today. It’s trusted by 75,000+ users across a wide range of different industries. 

I like ShiftNote because they have industry-specific solutions for categories like restaurants, hotels, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and breweries. 

Here are some of the top reasons why ShiftNote ranks so high on my list:

• Free mobile app, free team messaging, and free customer support
• Employees can update their availability and swap shifts
• Scheduling templates so managers don’t have to build from scratch
• Free setups and one-on-one training
• Multi location dashboard
• Time off request management
• Sales and labor forecasting tools
• Daily log reports

Overall, ShiftNote drastically improves the speed of your scheduling process while optimizing the efficiency of your schedules. It’s a reliable way for your management team and staff to communicate from anywhere as well. 

It’s worth noting that ShiftNote lacks some of the HR and time-tracking features offered by other tools on the market today. But if you’re just looking for a straightforward scheduling solution, this should definitely be a top consideration. 

You can try ShiftNote for free with a 30-day trial. 

#2 – Shiftboard Review — The Best For Labor Cost Management

Shiftboard is another excellent workforce management solution designed for scheduling hourly employees. It’s a feature-rich software with lots of different options to solve common business challenges associated with scheduling. 

This includes things like labor cost management, employee retention, fatigue management, compliance, and more. 

Shiftboard actually has two different scheduling tools—SchedulePro and ScheduleFlex. The Pro version is designed for high compliance industries like corrections, oil and gas, and petrochemical. The Flex version is built for organizations with changing scheduling needs, like healthcare, staffing, call centers, warehouse and distribution, public safety, and manufacturing.

Other noteworthy highlights of the Shiftboard software include:

• Real-time communication about schedule updates and newly available shifts
• Auto-fill shifts with call outs and no-shows
• Employees can confirm last-minute shift requests directly from the mobile app
• Employees can pick up extra shifts and trade shifts (with approval)
• Tailored fit schedules based on departments and locations
• Smart team groupings based on staff qualifications, certifications, and more
• Accurate labor forecasting based on demand
• Avoid over/understaffing
• Scheduling automation tools

60,000+ teams rely on Shiftboard for employee scheduling. They even have additional features for applicant tracking and time clocks with geofencing. 

Request a free demo today to get started.

#3 – Deputy Review — The Best For Time and Attendance Management

Deputy is one of the most popular employee scheduling tools on the market today. It’s trusted by 200,000+ brands across the globe, including big names like Nike, Amazon, HubSpot, and Peloton.

I like Deputy because it’s feature-rich, but also has simple and straightforward pricing. 

You can bundle employee scheduling with time tracking software for just $4 per user per month. Alternatively, each of these functions can be purchased separately for $2.50 per user.

Here’s a quick look at some of the other top features and benefits that you’ll get from this software:

• Easy to fill open shifts based on staff availability, qualifications, and cost
• Instantly share schedules with your team 
• Real-time labor costing data
• Auto-scheduling capabilities using AI
• Break planning and rest compliance
• Manage schedules from anywhere with the iOS and Android apps
• Request, approve, and track PTO
• Automate wage calculations
• Collect timesheets and export them to payroll with a single click
• View who’s currently on shift, taking or a break, or late in real-time

Any business that wants a simple way to manage employee scheduling and time tracking from a single solution will definitely benefit from Deputy. 

Try it free for 31 days; no credit card required. 

#4 – HotSchedules by Fourth Review — Best Labor Management System For Restaurants and Hospitality 

HotSchedules is a complete workforce management solution built specifically for businesses in the restaurant and hospitality industries. 

In addition to employee scheduling, HotSchedules has tools for applicant tracking, onboarding, time and attendance management, manager logbooks, and more. They even have solutions for inventory management, HR, and payroll.

In terms of the employee scheduling features, here’s a closer look at the top benefits provided by HotSchedules:

• Simple drag-and-drop scheduling tool
• Ready-made scheduling templates
• Reduce scheduling errors, understaffing, and overages
• Limit unplanned overtime
• PTO management and employee availability
• Approve or deny shift requests from any device
• Quick access to your daily roster reports
• Compliance tools for meals, breaks, fair work weeks, and more

Depending on your needs, HotSchedules can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. You can take advantage of just the employee scheduling tools, or build a robust and custom solution with lots of features and add-ons for your business.

Whichever option you choose, HotSchedules is definitely my top pick for restaurants and hospitality businesses. Request your free demo to get started.

#5 – Homebase Review — Best Employee Scheduling Software For Small Businesses

Homebase is an employee scheduling tool designed with small businesses in mind. It’s versatile enough to accommodate scheduling needs across a wide range of industries, including retail, health and beauty, service businesses, and restaurants. 

More than 100,000 businesses rely on Homebase.

With Homebase, you’ll benefit from top features and functionality like:

• Simple scheduling templates that can be edited on the fly
• Easy schedule sharing with your entire team
• Ability to forecast your labor costs
• Employees can access real-time schedule updates from the mobile app
• Track employee availability, time-off requests, and approvals
• Automatically remind your staff about upcoming shifts
• Manage shift trading from anywhere
• Calculate overtime and get alerts about scheduling conflicts

You can also improve your labor forecasts by integrating your sales data from POS systems like Square, Clover, Shopify, Upserve, Revel, Lightspeed, and more. 

In addition to these robust scheduling features, Homebase is an all-in-one solution for time clocks, hiring, onboarding, team communication, HR, and compliance.

Best of all? The employee scheduling solution from Homebase is 100% free for unlimited employees. To get the most out of the software, you can upgrade to a paid plan, starting at $14 per month per location. 

#6 – CakeHR Review — The Best All-in-One HR Solution

As the name implies, CakeHR is a complete HR software. Within this all-in-one HR solution, you’ll find robust tools for shift scheduling.

Overall, CakeHR is a great choice for any business that wants to automate its human resources tasks, in addition to improving their scheduling process.

Other noteworthy standouts of the employee scheduling features include:

• Interactive shift planning with an easy-to-use interface
• Compatible for single sites and multiple locations
• Easy to split up schedules into groups and departments with multiple shift managers
• Employee-self service tools with the ability to add preferred times and unavailable times
• Drag-and-drop shift management
• Daily, weekly, and monthly reports
• Complete data exports

Aside from the scheduling tools, you’ll also benefit from features related to leave management, timesheets, recruitment, performance management, employee records, and other HR essentials. 

CakeHR starts at $8.50 per month for core HR and shift scheduling. Additional modules cost extra. The software is easy to set up, and you can try it free for 14 days. 

Summary

What’s the best employee scheduling software?

The answer really depends on what you’re looking for. But regardless of your needs, you can find the right option for your business based on my recommendations in this guide.

Just refer back to the methodology I described earlier to simplify the buying process. This will make it much easier to narrow down your options. 

The post Best Employee Scheduling Software appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/best-employee-scheduling-software/

How To Use 3D Photos On Facebook For Your Business

Changing consumer behavior and evolving tech platforms require us to uncover new strategies to reach our customers.

One trend that presents just such an opportunity is 3D photos on Facebook.

Partially influenced by 3D technologies and mixed reality resurgence, 3D photos can help you capture attention and tell your brand’s story on Facebook.

What are the 3D Photos on Facebook?

3D photos allow you to view an image through three dimensions instead of two, so you can see things slightly around an image that would otherwise be out of view in a standard 2D photo.

For example, in a 3D photo of a person looking into the camera, you’ll see parts of the sides of their face, and slightly above their head.

3D photos allow you to explore an image by scrolling, tilting, and panning using your mouse or trackpad.

One important note: 3D photos are not to be confused with 360-degree images. The latter allows you to explore a scene in its entirety, but requires special equipment and a unique setup, which we won’t be discussing here.

How do 3D Photos on Facebook Work?

In short, a lot of funky, complex algorithms make them possible.

Developed by research scientist Johannes Kopf at Facebook, the algorithm works by analyzing the depth maps and tiny movements produced by your phone’s camera and motion detection system.

These depth maps are then processed and turned into 3D meshes, which create the final 3D photo.

Not all phones are capable of achieving this. Mid-range smartphones, such as the iPhone 7 and above, are needed to create 3D Photos.

Why Should You Care About 3D Photos on Facebook?

You may be skeptical about using 3D photos on Facebook. It may conjure images of other forms of 3D media, such as cinema or TV.

Those aren’t the best 3D media, and both of them failed to catch on. In recent years, though, artificial intelligence and augmented reality have begun to show promise.

However, 3D photos—particularly on Facebook—are a unique case.

There are a few reasons why you may want to use them for your business:

Disrupts Facebook Saturation

Facebook has been around for a while, which means that most brands and advertisers are already using it. More than 90 million small businesses use Facebook. As there is only a limited amount of attention span to go around, you must continuously compete to capture attention. 3D photos offer a powerful way to do this as they allow you to pattern innovatively interrupt the user’s attention.

Fights Limited Organic Reach

Facebook has reduced brands’ organic reach and is instead prioritizing posts from friends and family. With fewer opportunities to wow your audience, you need ways to stand out, such as 3D photos.

Provides A New Form of Storytelling

A 2D photo can tell a story, but a 3D photo can make that story come to life. 3D photos offer new ways to connect with your customers by opening up a new channel of creative storytelling. 

Brands are catching on to how effective this type of media can be on Facebook, but 3D photos haven’t been fully exhausted yet. They’re likely here to stay, and now is the perfect time to get the most out of them.

Can You Advertise With 3D Photos on Facebook?

Although 3D photos can be a powerful tool for organic content, they’re currently not available to use in Facebook ads.

Facebook hasn’t stated the reasons for this, and we don’t know when or if they’ll be available to use as boosted posts. 

However, it’s safe to assume that Facebook currently measures 3D photos’ performance on the platform. If they show promise and measurable user engagement, Facebook may allow advertisers to use 3D images at some point.

Who Should Use 3D Photos on Facebook?

Like any marketing channel or technique, the results you can expect will depend on your product, industry, and customers.

If you’re offering an intangible service such as management consultancy, there may not be many creative use cases that work in your space.

However, if you’re showcasing a visual product like a designer handbag, 3D photos can be a natural extension of your marketing strategy.

Here are some industries that can benefit from 3D photos:

Fashion

3D photos can help inform consumer decision-making when buying clothes and accessories. It’s often difficult to get a feel of such items online, and seeing them in 3D can help.

Film

3D Photos can also be a natural extension of animation. They can help bring an animated character to life without having to animate.

Travel

If you’re selling a vacation destination, making the image more immersive in 3D can help the user visualize themselves being there. Scenery, ambiance, and colorful visuals in exotic locations can come to life.

Entertainment

Other immersive experiences, such as festivals or theatre, can use 3D photos to provide a better glimpse of what they have to offer.

Real Estate

Selling a home typically starts with attractive visuals, which help prospective buyers imagine living there. 3D photos can enhance this effect.

Visually heavy industries can use 3D photos to their best effect. Also, industries that offer immersive experiences can use 3D images to replicate their value proposition more closely.

How to Post 3D Photos on Facebook

If you decide your business can benefit from using 3D photos on Facebook, here are the steps to post them.

Get the Right Equipment

Luckily, Facebook has made posting 3D photos accessible to everyone. You won’t need any fancy camera equipment.

All you need is a mid-range smartphone that has single or dual-lens, portrait mode capabilities. An iPhone 7 or equivalent (and above) is suitable to take 3D photos.

Decide on Marketing Concepts

If you want to get the most out of 3D photos on Facebook, you must view it as part of your marketing strategy instead of a gimmick.

The concepts you come up with will require some creativity and application to your industry, but here are some general ideas:

• Show Your Office: Take a picture of your team at work, smiling into the camera to build trust and familiarity with your brand.
• Showcase Your Products: If your products or services are visual, you can showcase the best parts in 3D. For instance, if you’re advertising a new home, you could take a 3D photo of an antique or furniture piece.
• Offer Special Promotions: You can also use 3D photos to amplify a promotion. Saving your 3D pictures for when you want to capture attention preserves the novelty effect.

When taking 3D photos, keep the backdrop in mind.

Typically, the Facebook 3D photo tool performs best if there is an object at the forefront. Having various other background depths also helps.

Images with high color contrast work well too. 

Take Your 3D Photos

Use appropriate lighting and a contrasting backdrop, then put your camera in portrait mode.

Take the photo, and that’s it! Your phone’s camera and the Facebook algorithm will do the rest when you upload the image.

Using Existing Non-3D Photos

You can also turn existing photos into 3D photos. Facebook has taught their artificial intelligence (AI) to create 3D structures from 2D images, so you can upload any image you already have.

Keep in mind that although the effect can be quite convincing, the app is essentially “guessing” what the 3D image would look like. This means that there could be some blur, which you’ll need to check before publishing.

Upload Your Photo

This is a pretty straightforward process:

1. Navigate to your business page via the Facebook app.
2. Tap “Publish” to create a new post.
3. Choose “Photo/Video” and select your image.
4. Tap “Done.”
5. Tap “Make 3D” at the top of the photo.
6. Wait for Facebook to convert your image into 3D.
7. Preview the 3D effect by panning and tilting.
8. Add post text in line with your marketing strategy.
9. Tap “Publish” again.

Your 3D photo and post will then be published to your page.

Facebook offers these tips for creating 3D photo posts:

• 3D photos can’t be edited.
• If you’d like to share a 3D photo, you can’t share multiple photos.
• 3D photos can’t be in photo albums.
• 3D photos can’t be boosted or used in ads at this time.

Examples of 3D Photos on Facebook

To help get your brain buzzing with ideas and possibilities, take a look at how some pages are using 3d photos on Facebook:

Now, you can view your favorite furniture up-close and easily interact with Wayfair items before you buy! How? We’re…

Posted by Wayfair on Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Wayfair has created a 3D rendering to allow their customers to view and interact with their furniture before buying it.

Omnivirt created this 3D Game of Thrones image, an excellent example of how these photos can work in marketing promotions.

The character’s cinematic effects are amplified, making him come to life and almost jump out of the screen.

This Facebook video showcases the use of 3D photos in a real environment. In this way, you can turn an otherwise standard image into a more attention-grabbing media form.

Conclusion

3D photos on Facebook are an innovative way to help your posts stand out in a crowded news feed.

Although 3D photos may not move the needle in any significant way due to the limited reach of organic posts, they’re a useful tool in a holistic marketing campaign.

In the future, 3D photos may become one of the most effective ways to advertise on Facebook. We’ll have to wait and see what Facebook decides.

Have you used 3D photos on your brand’s Facebook page?

The post How To Use 3D Photos On Facebook For Your Business appeared first on Neil Patel.

source https://neilpatel.com/blog/3d-photos-facebook/