YouTube SEO: How to Optimize Videos for YouTube Search

YouTube is a video-sharing platform that ranks videos by how many views they receive. To rank higher on search engines, it’s important to optimize your videos for YouTube by following proven techniques that Youtube loves.

In this article, I’ll give you some tips and ideas on how to optimize your YouTube channel so that you can get maximum exposure for your videos, increase traffic to your website and generate more leads.

Add keywords to videos that are relevant to the content

With 4 billion videos being viewed every day, including your keywords appropriately is crucial if you want to be successful.

Make sure to include appropriate keywords in the title and description of each video. The first few sentences should be written as though they would be used for a search engine snippet if possible.

If you have a video about “Lead Generation,” add the word in your title and description. If possible, include keywords that are relevant to your product or industry. When people search for keywords related to videos found on YouTube, they will sometimes see other recommendations based on their search.

Both Google and Bing use information from YouTube when ranking keyword-related searches so it’s important to optimize the metadata of your videos appropriately if you want them to be found by customers searching for topics related to your business.

Include a call-to-action in the annotations of each video

Within YouTube’s annotation tool, you can overlay text onto your video that viewers must click before accessing additional details relating to the content displayed in this space.

This is an excellent way to direct your viewers to a specific page on your website including a “resource center” that will provide tutorials, videos, reports, or press releases.

If you want people who’ve watched your video to get in touch with you, download a PDF file, or move down your sales funnel, this is an incredible opportunity to do so.

Don’t forget the tags and description

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When it comes to tags, be careful not to make them sound spammy by stuffing keywords where they don’t belong. Write naturally while still incorporating important phrases into your tags. Also, remember that you can upload up to 30 tags per video – though I don’t recommend that you use up all 30.

Create keyword-focused playlists

On your YouTube channel, you can create various sections or “playlists” that separate the videos you choose to have listed under each of these headings. Don’t forget to label them in such a way to make it easy for people searching for specific topics to find what they’re after.

A good playlist will help people find more videos on topics that interest them. Additionally, you can include relevant playlists to optimize your channel’s overall presence online.

Get other YouTube users involved

Invite other people who have relevant or appropriate content to collaborate with you by adding their video links on the “resource center” page of your channel. This will help both of you connect with like-minded viewers and provide useful information in one spot for anyone browsing through these various videos.

You can also ask these partners if they would be willing to mention any website promotions or offers happening on your site in their content.

Inform influencers about your channel

If you are in a related field where it may make sense to approach other YouTube channels and personalities with the offer of collaborating, this is a great way for them to promote content from their viewers and followers.

Sometimes people feel less inclined to link back or mention products featured in videos hosted on YouTube, however, if another YouTuber has demonstrated interest by featuring content from your website in one of their videos, they’re far more likely to provide some type of acknowledgment as well.

Create an appealing banner image

You should have already uploaded an eye-catching graphic that will be displayed at the top of your channel page when someone views it through either Google search results or YouTube itself.

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This image seems minor but it’s very important to include keywords in this space so that people who are browsing through search results can find your channel and start to remember your personal brand.

Use a similar graphic on all videos uploaded to your channel(s). This way people who click through from one of these videos can still recognize the organization responsible for uploading this content in the first place. Be sure to title it appropriately and include tags that make sense with each video.

Don’t forget video transcripts

You don’t want someone trying to engage with your videos because they’re interested in a specific topic, only to be frustrated by the fact that it hasn’t been captioned and now they must rely on audio alone. This will likely lead them to click elsewhere to view an option where they can avoid this hassle.

Also, transcriptions are an awesome tool for showing videos to people who may not have visual access to the entire video. This might include people that are using screen readers due to vision impairments.

Participate in related YouTube channels

There is a huge community of YouTubers online and many of them will be more than happy to help promote your content if you participate in their channel as well. Highlight any relevant information that ties into yours.

Be sure to add a link back to your site within the description or annotation fields of whichever video you choose to promote and encourage viewers to follow up with either you or whoever owns that particular channel directly. This will allow you to grow your YouTube channel and get more people to come across what you’re creating.

Get creative when it comes to embedding your videos elsewhere

Embedding your videos on other websites is a great way to go viral and get the most out of your YouTube content.

Be sure to add this to your website, blog, or relevant forum posts. You can even include links within your description field that direct interested viewers back to your channel as well as show them more videos and related information.

Optimize videos for search engines by using a keyword research tool

You’ve probably heard the term “SEO”, but what does it mean, and why is it important for your YouTube channel? SEO stands for search engine optimization and is a marketing term that relates to optimizing your video as best as possible.

This will allow more people to find it in YouTube searches as well as search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

There are many ways to do this; one of the most effective methods is through keyword research. Keyword research allows you to discover long-tail keywords or phrases people use when they’re searching online. For example: if someone searched, “How to make chocolate chip cookies” and you optimized your video for that keyword, your video will rank higher in search engines and you’ll get more traffic.

Using tools to find the right long-tail keyword

Here are some great tools to use to find long-tail keywords:

• Ubersuggest – Ubersuggest is a free tool that helps you find related keywords in relation to the main keyword. Enter your keyword and select which search engine you want to use: Google, YouTube, or Bing.
• Keywordtool.io – This is another free tool that offers suggestions for additional keywords if you enter in the main keyword phrase.

This is also an easy way to discover new long-tail keywords related to your business idea without any extra work. You can just enter your keyword and hit the “show me more” button to get some great long-tail recommendations.

Once you have discovered these phrases, simply add them into YouTube’s video editor box under “tags.” This will help boost your overall views as well as your SEO.

What happens if you don’t do the right keyword research?

You might create a great video or even a series of videos, but no one ever finds them. So don’t leave this critical step out of your video creation process. There’s nothing worse than creating a video and then realizing that your title, tags, or descriptions aren’t optimized for these long-tail keywords.

If you don’t optimize your videos correctly, they won’t rank highly in YouTube search results; not only that, but the SEO process will take longer to work because Google needs to understand what the content is about. If you do this correctly, when someone searches for something on Google, they can find your video right away even if it doesn’t show up in YouTube’s main feed.

The most important tip we can give you when it comes to optimizing your YouTube channel and finding keywords: do your research beforehand. You can do a quick search on Google and find tons of keywords you didn’t even know existed (for example: “how to make homemade ice cream” is not just one keyword, but you can come up with many different long-tail keywords based on that).

If you’re planning a series of videos, try and plan so that you can easily add the new keywords into each video description, tag, or annotation.

Expected results with proper keyword research

If you’ve done the proper keyword research, YouTube’s search engine will start to recognize the kind of videos that your channel has and you’ll begin showing up on Google when someone is searching for a topic related to your video.

This allows you to get more traffic right away without having to wait for views and then hope it shows up in the feeds or search results.

Final thoughts on YouTube SEO

In conclusion, you want to spend some time on YouTube keyword research before actually creating your videos. It’s one of the most important steps you can take when creating your channel and making new videos – and the results will start showing both in the short-term and the long term.

It takes some time to plan, but eventually, it’ll pay off with more views, more traffic, and better overall SEO results for your videos. This means that people will find your videos and take the actions you want them to.

Guest author: Hanson Cheng is the founder of Freedom to Ascend. He empowers online entrepreneurs and business owners to 10x their business and become financially independent. You can connect with him here.

The post YouTube SEO: How to Optimize Videos for YouTube Search appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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21 Amazing Sites That Will Pay You $100+ Per Article [Updated]

Whether you’re a writer looking for established outlets to spread your word, or you’re a guest blogger looking to promote your brand and get traffic, you can get paid to do so.

Many sites will pay you to contribute content, while still allowing you to have a bio and retain a link to your site – but very few sites will pay you really well.

Tip: Jeff uses BuzzSumo to generate content ideas, create high-performing content, monitor its performance, and identify influencers.

Listed below are 20 sites that will pay you at least $100 per article, upon acceptance or publication, and most will allow a bio with a link back to your site.

I also have a bonus for you at the end of this article, so look out for that!

Here we go:

1. Fiverr

Fiverr is a freelance marketplace where you can get paid to write by creating a “Gig” and becoming a seller.

A gig is purchased every 4 seconds on Fiverr, with freelancers and experts making anywhere from $5 to $15,000+ per project.

The best writers on Fiverr easily make more than $100 per article, so if that’s what you’re after, it’s a great place to start.

2. Greatist

Niche: Mental Health/Relationships/Getting Healthier

Amount: $125+

Payment Method: Unspecified

Greatist is a blog focused on relationships, mental health, and life as it affects 20- and 30-somethings.

They are looking for articles about mental health, relationships, and getting healthier. They also accept career-related articles (especially when it comes to achieving work/life balance and being more productive), struggles with substance abuse, and social media/technology.

They expect articles to be between 1,000 – 1,500 words and pay at least $125 for each article they accept.

3. Longreads

Niche: Anything

Amount: $250 – $1,500+

Payment Method: Unspecified

Longreads is looking for well-written, well-told, and easy to follow stories that illustrate relatable human experience that their readers can identify with.

They want blog posts, reading lists, short interviews, personal essays, memoirs, critical essays, book reviews, investigative projects, and long-form journalism.

Depending on what category your submission falls into, it can be between 800 to 6,000 words. They pay a minimum of $250 and up to $1,500+ per article.

4. Listverse

Niche: General

Amount: $100

Payment Method: Paypal

Listverse is possibly the foremost authority when it comes to lists online, and they boast an audience of over 15 million readers a month.

They are looking for unique lists of 10 items, usually at least 1,500 words, and they pay $100 upon acceptance of your list.

5. Copyhackers

Niche: Copywriting/Startups/Marketing/Freelancing

Amount: $325

Payment Method: Paypal

Copyhackers is interested in practical content for startups, marketers, freelancers, and designers.

They are looking for articles that discuss topics that include launching and growing a business, freelancing for lifestyle/money, conversion copywriting, UX and A/B testing, product design, persuasion and psychology, etc.

They expect articles to be in-depth and thoroughly researched. They rarely accept articles less than 2,000 words and want articles to feature a first-person story/account.

They pay $325 per article.

6. Photoshop Tutorials

Niche: Photoshop/Design

Amount: $25 – $300

Payment Method: Paypal

They are looking for tutorials related to Photoshop, and they pay anything from $50 to $300 per accepted article depending on whether you submit a “quick tip” or a full tutorial.

7. Informed Comment

Niche: Policy/Foreign Policy

Amount: $100

Payment Method: Paypal

Informed Comment is a leading publication about policy and foreign policy. They are looking for articles that can contribute to policy decisions and foreign policy.

They are particularly interested in content focused on US foreign policy as well as Middle Eastern and South Asian politics. They also want content that addresses religion, human rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, religious discrimination, energy, and climate change.

They expect pieces to be between 800 – 1,000 words and pay $100 per accepted piece.

8. The Travel Writer’s Life

Niche: Travel

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

They are looking for articles about the business of getting paid to travel, whether this is through writing, photography, tours or other means.

They pay $50 – $200 per article depending on the type of article.

9. Bitch Media

Niche: Feminism

Amount: $150 – $1,000

Payment Method: Unspecified

Bitch Media is looking for feminism pieces that are well-researched and backed up with evidence and statistics.

They want articles to be discussion-provoking and to make a connection between the writer’s personal experience and larger social forces; they want articles to be a feminist response to pop culture. Articles can be around 1,200 – 3,000 words.

They pay between $150 to $1,000 per article depending on what category your article falls into.

10. UX Booth

Niche: User Experience

Amount: $100

Payment Method: Unspecified

UX Booth is an authority when it comes to User Experience, and they are looking for research-backed articles on how to create better user experience.

They prefer articles to be in the 1,200 – 1,800 words range.

11. Cracked

Niche: General/Humor

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Paypal

Cracked is looking for funny and clever articles, mainly in list format, and they pay $50 – $200 per article depending on the type of article.

12. Tuts+ Code

Niche: Web Development

Amount: $100 – $250

Payment Method: Unspecified

They are looking for articles on anything related to web development; this could be PHP, HTML5, CSS3 or anything in between.

They pay $100 for a “quick tip” tutorial and $250 for a regular tutorial.

13. Smashing Magazine

Niche: Design/Coding/User Experience

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

Smashing Magazine is looking for articles related to web design, graphics design, UX design, WordPress or mobile, and they pay $50 – $200 per article.

14. A List Apart

Niche: Internet

Amount: $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

They accept articles about coding, design, content strategy, user experience and basically internet industry/business.

They prefer articles to be between 1,500 to 2,000 words and they pay $200 per article within a month of publication.

15. Scotch

Niche: Web Design/Web Development

Amount: $150

Payment Method: Unspecified

Scotch is looking for articles about web design and development. Articles can be about React, JavaScript, Node, Laravel, Angular, Python, Vue, CSS, and other web development related topics.

They pay $150 per article.

16. Metro Parent

Niche: Parenting

Amount: $35 – $350

Payment Method: Check

Metro Parent is a leading parenting publication looking for parenting articles. They pay $35 – $350 per article and they want features to be within 1,000 – 2,500 words.

They have a preference for articles from local freelance writers in the following communities: Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne Counties.

They pay via Check upon publication of your article, within the first week of the month of publication.

17. International Living

Niche: Living Overseas

Amount: $250 – $400

Payment Method:

International Living is a publication focusing on living and retiring overseas, and they are looking for articles about living and retiring overseas.

They pay $250 for 840 words, and $400 for 1,400 words. They also pay $50 for one-tine use of your photographs, and they pay upon publication of your article.

18. Sitepoint

Niche: Web Development

Amount: $150 – $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

Sitepoint is an authority when it comes to web development, and they are looking for in-depth articles about HTML, CSS and SASS.

They pay $150 for articles and $200 for tutorials, and they often pay more for articles that are more comprehensive and that they feel will do well traffic-wise.

19. Digital Ocean

Niche: Linux

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Paypal

Digital Ocean is looking for beautifully-written tutorials about Linux and FreeBSD cloud hosting and, besides potentially gaining exposure to their millions of readers, you can also make up to $200 per article.

Your article can come in form of Updates, Simple Tutorials and In-Depth Tutorials, and you can earn $50, $100 or $200 respectively depending on what category it falls into.

20. Tuts+ Vector

Niche: Vector

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

Tuts+ Vector is looking for articles related to Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, CorelDRAW and other vector-related tutorials.

They pay $50 – $200 depending on the nature of your contribution.

21. The Penny Hoarder

Niche: Finance

Amount: Up to $75

Payment Method: Paypal

The Penny Hoarder is a leading personal finance publication, and they are looking for articles mostly based on personal experience. Especially ones containing detailed numbers, strategies and advice about saving or earning money.

They prefer articles to be 700 – 900 words, and they pay up to $75 per article depending on a lot of factors; you might need to reach out to their editor first to discuss payment.

Bonus: 50 Websites that Pay You to Write [PDF]

Do you love the above list? Awesome. There’s more where it came from.

As a bonus to Jeff Bullas’ readers, you can also get my report featuring a total of 50 websites that pay writers, most of which pay more than $50 per article, for free.

The report features websites in more than a dozen categories and contains all the information you need to pitch these sites and get paid to write for them. If you’re a writer looking to get paid for your content, this list is invaluable.

Download the PDF List

Guest author: Bamidele Onibalusi is a world-renowned blogger and freelance writer. Huffington Post calls him an “ultimate business success story” and he’s been featured in Forbes and Digital Journal amongst others. He blogs at Writers in Charge.

The post 21 Amazing Sites That Will Pay You $100+ Per Article [Updated] appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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How to Design a Sales to CSM Handoff That Works

Once the deal is closed, you must ensure that new customers use your product as effectively as possible.

If not, they’ll think your product or service is no good and that you made empty promises during the selling stage, resulting in your retention rate going down the drain.

This is where customer success managers come in. It’s crucial for your retention rates that your customer success team coaches new customers through using your product or service. This is important since the ease of interpretation and implementation is one of the customers’ most important concerns.

However, most businesses drop the ball when handing over a client to customer success. They’ll ask the same questions that sales asked, and the new client won’t be able to utilize your product or service to their advantage.

What is a sales to CSM handoff?

A sales to CSM(Customer Success Manager) handoff is when new customers transition from pre-sale to post-sale and implement your product or service.

Sales reps’ specialty is using persuasion to get a prospect to buy. However, they might not have the know-how to coach a new client on leveraging the product effectively.

This is where customer success takes over. They coach your customers on how to use the product, and this increases your retention rates. Handoffs take place over a kickoff email or video call.

Why is it important?

Efficient handoffs are essential, especially if you’re selling something that requires knowledge and training, like SaaS products.

As soon as a new customer jumps on board, they’ll understand the benefits of your product; however, without proper guidance and training, they can’t take advantage of these benefits. This causes them to get frustrated and lose interest.

They might cancel their subscription before it’s time to renew. Depending on your refund policy, you’ll lose a large amount of money. By then, it’s already too late to educate your customer on how to use your product.

This is why salespersons and customer success must work in harmony to ensure that customers use your product without any frustration. They are also more likely to renew their subscription with you.

Now that we understand why effective handoffs are essential, let’s look at where most businesses go wrong.

This is what most businesses do wrong

Designing a sales to CSM handoff isn’t complicated. The simpler it is, the fewer hoops you and your customers have to jump through. However, many businesses tend to overcomplicate this process, resulting in miscommunication and annoyance.

This is where many businesses drop the ball:

1. There’s no team rapport
2. Sales don’t introduce customer success at the right time
3. Sales don’t set realistic expectations

#1. There’s no team rapport

You want your sales reps and customer success managers to work in perfect harmony.

This is because up until this point, the prospect’s experience is personalized, and you want to maintain that tailored feel and consistency through the handoff and customer success process.

To maintain this experience, your sales and customer success departments must have a strong bond.

Sales reps need to trust customer success to continue providing a personalized experience, while customer success needs insight on how to confidently complete the handoff.

The best way to ensure a seamless handoff is to build team rapport and encourage communication between departments. If you aren’t already, consider using an internal messaging system so departments can discuss how to improve.

Also, try matching up random people from each department and have them chat over a 30-minute video call. Doing this allows your employees to build a strong connection and get insight into each other’s work. This insight is crucial since it’ll equip them with the knowledge for a perfect handoff.

#2. Sales don’t introduce customer success at the right time

If a sales rep is struggling to close a deal, then introducing customer success before the close can give the prospect peace of mind knowing that experts will help them on their journey.

Sometimes a lead knows you’re the right fit, but they have doubts about the beginning stages of using your product. They are thinking you might leave them on their own as soon as you receive payment.

By introducing customer success before closing a deal, you put your prospect’s mind at ease, knowing that you’ll help them leverage your product to reach their goals.

#3. Sales don’t set realistic expectations

It’s super important for sales reps to tell each prospect precisely what happens after the deal is closed since it puts the customer’s mind at ease. They’ll know what’s going to happen and when.

Now that we know what most businesses do wrong, let’s look at ensuring a seamless handoff.

Here’s how to ensure a seamless handoff

Designing a sales to CSM handoff that works is quite simple.

After the deal is closed, the sales team should ask new clients to fill out a form that captures all the client’s critical information. This could be name, business size, expectations, etc.

Next, the sales team should book a kickoff call with the new customer and the customer success manager. Also, it’s essential to send an introduction email so clients know the name of the customer success manager.

During this kickoff call, sales will lead at the beginning and verbally hand over to customer success. Customer success informs the client about what’s happening going forward and sets expectations. Customer success then closes the meeting, clarifying that they are the point of contact going forward.

Last, customer success should send an email to the client and recap everything that happened in the meeting and what happens going forward. It’s also vital to CC sales so they can answer specific questions.

Common mistakes to avoid

Although designing a sales to CSM handoff is relatively easy, try to avoid a few common mistakes:

1. Inform the customer about the handoff
2. Allow your team to get to know each other

#1. Inform the customer about the handoff

It’s important to let your prospect know exactly what will happen and when. This prevents any surprises. Also, explain to your client what the customer success manager does and how they’ll coach them.

Allow your team to get to know each other

The biggest tip for designing a sales to CSM handoff is to ensure your team knows each other and works in harmony. For example, it’ll look unprofessional if sales reps ask a set of questions, but customer success isn’t informed and asks the same questions.

To avoid this, encourage your team to chat with one another and get to know the other department’s procedure.

Final word on designing a sales to CSM handoff

The handoff between sales and customer success is one of the most crucial customer experiences. Depending on how your handoff is, your customer will either be happy and renew their subscription when it expires or cancel it before the expiration date.

However, designing a sales to CSM handoff shouldn’t be challenging. With a combination of team rapport and clear communication, you’ll be well on your way to coaching your customers to success.

Guest author: Yaseen is a personal trainer turned professional writer and he’s obsessed with everything health, fitness, and business-related. If he isn’t at the gym, you can find him playing video games or spending time with friends and family.

The post How to Design a Sales to CSM Handoff That Works appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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How to Use Video to 3X Your Instagram Growth

Instagram used to be just a square photo-sharing platform. You took a photo, edited it in Photoshop, and posted.

Well, those times are gone.

And it has all started with Adam Mosseri’s announcement about how videos will take Instagram by storm as they begin to highly promote this feature.

It doesn’t mean that photos will no longer work… but videos will be better.

Let’s take a closer look at how it’s going to look.

Instagram CEO’s announcement

As I mentioned before, just a few weeks ago, Adam Mosseri (the Instagram CEO) said that Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing app and that their main attention is going to be around videos.

After that, a huge way of promotion for Instagram reels begun.

Not just because they have created a separate tap on the bottom menu to discover more reels, but because they even started to suggest them in your feed, and they started to appear on the explore page.

In short, video is something that has such a massive growth potential now that if you abandon it… you might miss an opportunity you’ll never be able to get any time in your life again.

Without any ads, shoutouts, or sponsored posts you can reach tens of thousands of people the organic (free) way!

But now you might ask, “What kind of a video should I use? There is IGTV, Reels, I can do IG Live… what’s the difference?”

No worries. I will show you now.

Instagram Reels

I would be a liar if I said that reels aren’t dominating the Instagram platform.

Reels are short-form videos that are a maximum of 30 seconds long.

It seems like Instagram has created them to beat TikTok at their own game as they did with Snapchat and their “story” feature… and it works pretty well.

They get an incredible amount of reach, the engagement is over-the-top, and they often go viral which makes them a fantastic way for you to get your company discovered by new potential customers.

To be honest, I literally saw new people grow from 0-7,000 followers in just 14 days by using Instagram reels. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It is crazy!

The problem is how can you create reels that will get the reach, engagement, and go viral like this?

It is really simple:

1. Be Entertaining
2. Show Your Face
3. Use Popular Music (you can go to tokboard.com to get some great tips)
4. Add Subtitles to The Reel
5. Write an Amazing Caption
6. Record The Reel About a Topic Your Audience Likes or Wants
7. Get Your Lighting Right
8. Make Sure The Video is High Quality
9. Remember, You Only Have 30 Seconds So Do It Quick

This is the science behind creating amazing reels. Instagram has also created a great editor that you can use if you don’t have an app that you use to create the video in its entirety.

It can take some time to figure out your “reel” style, but once you do, your page’s growth is going to explode.

IGTV

IGTV (Instagram TV) has been around for a while now, yet it has massive potential.

You could sell on a webinar you upload to Instagram or go into depth about a certain topic with an amazing tutorial.

However, it takes some skill to get good at it.

Instagram is not promoting IGTV as much as Reels now, but the views of videos are definitely on the incline.

The most interesting part is hidden in the description that you can write for IGTV.

For marketers, this little thing that Instagram allows us to do is a game-changer.

When you create an IGTV video (it has to be longer than 60 seconds), you can put a CLICKABLE link into the description.

This can be a massive source of traffic for you if you leverage it!

So, definitely go and try using IGTV now.

Instagram Live

Instagram Live is really powerful for three main reasons.

First, when you start an Instagram Live, you can be easily seen as the first person in the “Instagram Stories menu“ which means that your Instagram Live is going to be exposed to virtually all of your followers.

Second, you will be able to build a huge bond between you and your audience if you are willing to go live and talk directly to them.

(The whole thing feels way more personal than just a conventional post or story.)

And third, Instagram decided to let you MAKE MONEY by going live! “What? Did I hear that right?” Yes, you did!

Instagram is supporting video content so much, that they have created a feature called “badges“.

When you go live, your followers can buy badges and support you as a creator/marketer. That way, you can make a lot of money from your live videos without even selling anything.

So, try going live and use this feature now.

Final thoughts

Instagram has started to promote videos at a rapid pace and if you are going to use them, you can see some astonishing benefits.

With Reels, you can easily reach hundreds of thousands of your dream customers without having to pay a dime for advertising as Instagram is trying to beat TikTok at their own game, so they promote them like crazy.

With IGTV you can drive way more traffic to your website and sell to your followers effectively as you can put links into the description.

And with Instagram Live you can make money directly on the platform.

The time to use Instagram video in your content strategy is now and if you don’t, the chances are that you are going to regret it forever.

Guest author: Filip Konecny is an experienced marketer, copywriter, and author of 4 astonishing books. After years of learning and building his skills, and after writing many sales copies and working on a lot of marketing projects, he had decided to start helping other people to improve their marketing skills and achieve massive results.

The post How to Use Video to 3X Your Instagram Growth appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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How to Leverage Local Business Directories

Businesses always seek out the “next big thing” to capitalize on their investment. It could come in the form of a production method or a successful marketing campaign to turn their endeavors into money.

In business, if something can be done to grow your revenue, it should be done. That’s why companies invest their resources to make their existence more sustainable, financially speaking.

The marketing field has become an arena of cut-throat competition, where an ever-increasing number of businesses are fighting for the same pie. They are exploring avenues to stand out from the crowd to either increase the size of the pie or just grab it off the hands of the competition.

Local business directories have come a long way since their inception. Now, they serve as a solid marketing tool to improve a company’s overall digital presence.

What are local business directories and citations?

These are online platforms that, traditionally, contain the authentic Name, Address, Phone (NAP) of a business. These days, the given information may also include work hours and other related information that could help prospects connect with the company.

In most cases, local business directories offer a free platform for companies to create their profile but it must be claimed to fully enjoy the perks.

Since local business directories are repositories of search keywords and are visited by millions of people every month, they have the trust of both humans and bots.

Following are some of the most popular online platforms for local business citations:

1. Google My Business
2. Yelp
3. CityLocal Pro
4. Better Business Bureau
5. Bing Places for Business
6. Yellow Pages
7. Yahoo!
8. Angi
9. Foursquare

How to leverage local business directories for different purposes

In theory, marketing is as simple as trying to give out your message loud and clear. But, when you need to do it, it is a technical process combined with some art to persuade. There are many facets to it and every aspect must be addressed to create a well-rounded well-oiled marketing strategy.

Here are some of the ways companies can use local business citations and directories to leverage their position in the market.

Business Directories for Branding and Reputation Management

A company is all that it stands for and its perception in the minds of the public. The internet can be a cruel thing sometimes and a business must tread decisively to take the next step.

Social media platforms and local business directories are used to create a brand image. The most frequently used strategy is the marketing funnel strategy. In this, companies cast a wide net through educating the masses about their brand and then close in on it, resulting in lead generation and conversions.

Tips:

A company can improve on its branding and reputation management as follows:

• After every transaction, ask your client or customer to review your service on your page at local business directories.
• Positive reviews are great but companies are often bombarded with negative reviews. In this case, follow up on that review publicly and let others know that you do not turn your back on your customers once the job is done.
• Rumors can become news on the internet. To curtail misinformation regarding your brand and its activities, make sure you claim your profiles/listings, and use consistent NAP across the board.
• Local business citations can fetch your prospects by giving you a spotlight to showcase your achievements. You can upload your portfolio in the form of images and links so that anyone can access and evaluate your skills.

Business Directories for Traffic and Leads

All local business listings combine to form a web of links over the internet with your official website at the center. This gives an impressive boost to the organic traffic directed to your website.

Marketers always rely on listings to augment the leads and traffic you can get. Get started by claiming your business and eliminating the duplicates.

Tips:

Here are some pro tips to get the most of your local business citations:

• Get alerts when someone on a listings websites gives feedback on your business profile.
• Always look for new directories and listings to list your business in order to enhance the brand’s digital presence.
• Smart devices and mobile devices are now leading the pack. When deciding which platform to pursue, keep in mind its integration and compatibility with mobile devices.
• All business listings and citations platforms are not created equal. Always lookout for the most relevant and active ones and sever your ties from the websites that have become redundant.

Business Directories for Local SEO

Every local business marketing strategy is under-performing if it hasn’t covered its bases for local SEO. Since a whopping majority, 4 out of 5, users rely on search engines to buy goods or hire services, your business needs that advantage in your corner.

Simply put, if you want to improve the search rankings of your business, which is the key in the digital realm, you need local SEO.

You can employ local business directories to improve on local SEO. It starts with creating a business profile and then linking every profile back to your business website. This creates a web of links that improves the authority of your brand which is at the center of the web.

How to build local citations

Building local citations means creating profiles on local business listings and managing them. There is no cap on what you can achieve by doing this and no restriction on how many listings you want to employ. The rule of thumb is to prefer quality over quantity because these citations will give positive signals to the search engine. Moreover, it is good to represent your brand and business details in an optimal way on quality platforms.

For a citation to trump the competition and the algorithm, it should be credible, relevant, and localized.

Some pro tips:

• There is an intricate network of categories, both primary and secondary. To get the maximum from the listings, it is best to choose the categories properly so that your business is shown against the relevant search results. This is especially helpful if your business name is novel and does not give the idea of work.
• Local SEO relies on locality. It means you need to be consistent and true to the location of your business. Otherwise, it won’t fly.
• The majority of business listings websites cater to all kinds of businesses. Still, there are some niche platforms that can help your company stand out from the competition.

Wrapping up

Local business citations and directories are a great way to boost the online local presence of your brand.

It doesn’t take much time and effort to create or claim your profile. After that, it is just periodic updates and editing when needed. The benefits of local business listings are hard to fathom head-on. But the key is that your brand can grow and multiply in a cost-effective and hassle-free way.

In short, it is an all-in-one scenario. Branding, lead generation, local exposure, and SEO benefits can all be achieved by utilizing local business directories efficiently.

Guest author: James Luis has been serving the digital marketing industry for the past 4 years. He works for different niche clients and is currently working with an IT company. His passion keeps him motivated to keep excelling in his field of content writing and marketing.

The post How to Leverage Local Business Directories appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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The 6 Best eCommerce Website Builders in 2021

Long gone are the days when you had to pay thousands of dollars for a web developer to get an eCommerce site up and running.

There are now dozens of eCommerce website builders with beautiful templates, easy-to-use editors, and helpful marketing tools.

The website builder ecosystem has come along in leaps and bounds over recent years, with new players popping up and big brands doubling down on a space that is growing in popularity.

You can develop a professional-looking and well-optimized website with very minimal design experience.

The trouble is, there are so many website builders available, it’s hard to know which one is the best for you. In this article, I’ll list the 6 best eCommerce website builders on the market and give you an insight into which one is most suitable for your situation.

Let’s jump in!

#1. BigCommerce (Recommended)

BigCommerce is a one-stop shop for online store owners and our number one pick as an eCommerce website builder. On top of its easy-to-use and highly functional site builder, BigCommerce acts as a web host and marketing engine, too.

One of BigCommerce’s top-selling points is its flexibility. What you’ll find as we make our way through this list is that most site builders have limitations in terms of site design – meaning you could end up with a very similar-looking site to your competitors. BigCommerce enables you to differentiate your site with a more open and flexible solution.

Here are a few more of its key features:

• Drag and drop visual editor – Easily create site pages without technical experience.
• Customizable URLs – Don’t get stuck with a store builder generic URL for your website.
• No transaction fees – Pay a subscription rather than a fee every time you make a sale. This is particularly important as you scale up.
• Product variations – Add over 600 products to your store.
• Sell to businesses – Use its B2B functions to ramp up your wholesale business.
• Multi-currency – Sell to a global audience with over 100 supported currencies.
• Increase conversions – Access 70+ native coupon promotions, send customizable abandoned cart emails, and have blazing fast site speeds using Google Cloud Platform infrastructure.
• Integrate with other platforms – BigCommerce integrates with WordPress, Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment, and more.

All in all, BigCommerce provides a feature-rich eCommerce site builder that will scale with your business. It’s the best solution for a high volume of products.

If, however, you’re building a blog or have a lot of non-product pages, then you may want to check out the other builders on this list.

Try BigCommerce Here.

#2. Squarespace

If design is your thing, then Squarespace won’t disappoint. It’s extremely easy to use and its template library is stunning. While BigCommerce focuses on the nuts and bolts of running an eCommerce site, Squarespace is all about branding and how it looks.

While Squarespace can be used to build eCommerce websites, it’s most popular with designers and creatives looking to launch portfolio websites.

Here are some of Squarespace’s features for eCommerce:

• Templates specific for eCommerce – Created by world-class designers.
• Built-in store functionality – Add products, services, subscriptions, or digital content and collect payments on your website.
• Smartphone app – To manage your store on-the-run, track inventory, and connect with customers.
• Marketing tools – Built in email marketing and SEO tools to expand the reach of your store.

You can get started with Squarespace on a 14-day trial to see if it’s right for you.

Try Squarespace Here.

#3. Zyro

Getting an eCommerce store up and running is super-easy with Zyro. In fact, I’d almost say it’s the easiest process of any builders on this list.

While Zyro doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of BigCommerce, it’s perfectly adequate for launching an online store and is very affordable. Just be aware that you’ll run into some limitations with functionality and may need to upgrade if your store grows.

Some of Zyro’s notable eCommerce features include:

• Multi-platform selling – Set up your store on Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon.
• Ready-to-go templates – The Zyro online store templates are pre-built and easy to use, but don’t have a ton of flexibility.
• Money-back guarantee – Try out Zyro for 30 days and if you’re not happy, get your money back.
• Smart automation – For shipping and delivery updates.

If you’re launching a basic online store with only a single or small group of products, then Zyro could be the builder for you. While it’s simple, it looks nice and functions smoothly.

Try Zyro Here.

#4. Duda

For the most part, Duda gets the job done. It has a clear interface, mobile optimization, and even comes with an option for a free site. Much like Zyro, you can launch a store with Duda in a fairly pain-free manner.

Where Duda falls behind is with its limited eCommerce templates (only three) and integrations.

In saying that, here are a few of Duda’s best eCommerce features:

• Flexible finance options – You can use 40+ payment gateways and Duda takes 0% commission on all sales.
• Omni-channel – Automatically sync your products with multiple platforms including eBay, Facebook, and Amazon.
• Convenient shipping costs – Get real-time shipping quotes from leading carriers such as UPS and FedEx.

Try Duda Here.

#5. Shopify

Out of the box, Shopify offers a powerful website builder with a strong reputation and long list of features. It has a library of professionally designed eCommerce templates, a 14-day free trial, and functionality to build out an entire website – with product pages, a blog, and more.

A key area where Shopify falls behind our top recommendation, BigCommerce, is with the user experience of the site builder. Even though it has tons of customization options and apps – the site editor is a little clunky in my opinion.

Some interesting eCommerce features with Shopify include:

• Custom domains – You can host your site elsewhere but still use a unique domain name.
• Marketing tools – Optimize your site for SEO, run ad campaigns, and analyze reports all from the Shopify dashboard.
• Sell offline – There is a Shopify point-of-sale app you can use to manage sales at a physical store or marketplace.
• Mobile app – The Shopify mobile app lets you manage inventory, track orders, and stay on top of your business.

Shopify is a widely used eCommerce website builder that won’t let you down.

Try Shopify Here.

#6. Wix

If you’re looking for a free website builder with tons of features, Wix might be a good place to start. It has paid plans, of course, but its free starter pack is one of the best options available.

The Wix editor is beautifully designed, it has over 500 eCommerce site templates categorized by industry, and an extensive app market that requires no coding skills to increase the functionality of your site.

Here are some of Wix’s best eCommerce features:

• Simple set up – You can be up and running with a Wix-built store in seven easy steps.
• Source dropshipping suppliers – Expand your range of products by searching the Modalyst marketplace which easily integrates with Wix.
• Critical business insights – Wix has an integrated analytics dashboard that helps you track and analyze your sales.
• Automated promotion – Access a new audience with automated Facebook and Instagram advertising or increase conversions with built-in email campaigns.

Without a doubt, you can build the eCommerce site of your dreams using Wix, but it’s not the simplest site builder on this list and lacks in some other areas. Yes, the drag-and-drop editor is intuitive but when it comes to advanced eCommerce features, Wix simply can’t compete with BigCommerce.

Try Wix Here.

Wrapping up

This list of eCommerce website builders could go on forever. There are so many alternatives in the market, it’s extremely overwhelming for business owners who just want to get a site up.

I’ve chosen these 6 site builders to reduce the noise and simplify your choice. The truth is, all of them would probably be an adequate solution for you. But as you can see, each has its pros and cons depending on your needs.

My recommendation is BigCommerce because it is jam-packed with features, specifically optimized for eCommerce, and will scale with your business.

The post The 6 Best eCommerce Website Builders in 2021 appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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