Hiring a social media marketing consultant could be a game-changer for your business. You could use the help of an expert if:

• You’re struggling to acquire or retain customers
• You aren’t getting the ROI you’d like from social media 
• Your social media strategy is all over the place
• You or your team don’t have much social media experience

Social media consultants have the knowledge and skills to turn your lagging social media campaigns around. You’ll be able to access advice and strategic planning at the highest level.

If you’re considering working with a social media consultant, here’s everything you need to know:

4 Ways a Social Media Marketing Consultant Can Help Grow Your Business

Consider a social media marketing consultant your business’s Yoda. They’re the wise teacher and guide that can help you 10x your business through social media. Here’s what they’ll do:

1. Develop a High-Performing Social Media Strategy

A social media marketing consultant will take a deep dive into your current strategy and performance. They’ll help you figure out what’s working and what’s not to see where there’s room for improvement.

The consultant will work off of your business objectives or help you to set smarter goals if that’s what’s needed. From there, they’ll develop a custom social media strategy to help you smash your goals.

Your social media expert will help you with tactics tailored to your business and establish a high-performing social media sales funnel, which is key because on average it takes seven and a half visits to your website before somebody makes a purchase.

2. Achieve Big Results

Working with a social media consultant can be very rewarding. They will help you get the most ROI from your social media campaigns.

First of all, they can help you build a larger social media following. They’ll teach you how to grow a community around your brand and engage followers.

They can also come up with content and advertising strategies that: 

• bring new potential customers to your business 
• re-engage leads
• drive conversions and more…

3. Provide Expert Advice

The best social media consultants are experts that have tons of experience helping clients grow their businesses. They’re able to share that wealth of knowledge and experience with you.

If you’ve hit a roadblock on social media, a consultant can bring a fresh perspective and use their know-how to come up with solutions to your issues. They’re well-versed in established best practices as well as new trends, so they can for sure point you in the right direction.

Some social media consultants offer training so that you can continue to manage your campaigns effectively.

4. Help You with Analytics

It’s essential that you track your social media performance using the right metrics. 95% of the most successful B2B marketers use metrics to measure content performance.

When you monitor your analytics, you can see if you’re meeting your goals and where you might need to up your efforts or tweak your strategy.

But for some, all of the data and reports can get a bit much. A social media consultant can guide you towards the best tools or software for social media analytics and monitoring.

They can help you decipher reports and pick out the key information and metrics for your business or campaign objectives.

All in all, a social media marketing consultant will develop a strategy and implement tactics that will help you meet your goals and grow your business.

How to Get Started with Social Media Marketing Consulting

If you make the right preparations, you and your social media marketing consultant can hit the ground running. Your collaboration will run smoothly and you’ll get much more from it. So, here’s what you need to do to get started:

1. Figure Out What Kind of Consultant You Need

The first step is establishing what areas you need help in. You must decide what kind of role you want the social media marketing consultant to take. This may fall into one or more of the following categories:

Strategy

The consultant takes an advisory role. They do their due diligence regarding your company and target audience, for example, by interviewing the right executives within your team or creating buyer personas.

With all of the information gathered, they’ll create a detailed social marketing strategy, provide the necessary training and/or continue to advise you over a set period of time. 

Project Management

It’s also possible to hire a social media consultant that not only comes up with the right strategy but also turns that strategy into an actionable plan. They’ll figure out timelines, budgets, resource allocation and so on.

Execution

In this case, the social media marketing consultant will do all of the above and then jump in the trenches with you. They’ll oversee and participate in the implementation of your strategy.

So, the question is do you need an advisor or somebody who is going to roll their sleeves up and see the project through, too?

2. Set Your Goals

Your social media goals are the jump-off point for a marketing consultant. They determine the overarching strategy to be implemented, as well as the key performance indicators to measure.

If you have an idea of what you hope to achieve through social media, then try to document your objectives as clearly as possible. For example, you may wish to increase your Instagram ad clickthrough rate by X%.

But, as mentioned above, if you’re lost, a social media marketing consultant can help you set goals and create a sales funnel from scratch.

3. Get Your Ducks in a Row

The final thing you need to do before working with a social media marketing consultant is to prepare any documentation or reports that you wish to share.

For instance, you might put together a package of analytics reports from the past year. Or perhaps you want your social media strategy to align with your wider digital marketing strategy. In this case, you’d need to share your documented strategy with the consultant.

The more useful information you’re able to share, the better.

Essentially, there’s a bit of groundwork you need to do before working with a social media marketing consultant. But, ultimately, it’ll make your work together that much more successful.

Measuring the ROI of Social Media Marketing Consulting Services

When done well, social media marketing produces a high return on investment. In fact, I used social media to generate $632,481 in sales in one year.

But, one thing you have to bear in mind is that the way you measure ROI depends on your goals. Sometimes, social media marketing activities have an influence on sales, but you don’t necessarily see the dollars that come directly from those activities.

For example, you might share blog content on social media to generate traffic and increase brand awareness. The way you would measure the ROI of such activities would be according to the number of views or levels of engagement.

Naturally, it’s easier to calculate monetary returns when working with lead gen campaigns or paid ads. In this case, you’d measure the number of leads generated or, simply, conversions.

It’s vital that you discuss ROI with a social media marketing consultant in terms of your goals. You need to understand what you can expect to achieve for the rate that you’re paying.

6 Point Checklist for Finding the Right Social Media Marketing Consultant

There are tons of social media marketing consultants out there. Not all are made equal. Hence, you need to know what to look out for and what kind of questions to ask in order to make the right choice for you:

1. Relevance

As mentioned above, there are different kinds of social media marketing consultants. Therefore, you need to see if the consultant offers the services you require.

Furthermore, do they have experience of working in your industry? Relevant experience with similar clients to you means they know which tactics are likely to be most effective for your target audience.

Check their website to see former clients and what they’ve achieved for them. Some review sites, such as Clutch, also indicate the size and category of clients.

2. Experience

In the world of consulting, experience is everything. A consultant might make big claims but can they actually follow through?

Anyone can take a quick online course or read blog posts about social media marketing. It’s an entirely different thing to have implemented successful campaigns IRL.

The first step is to check the consultant’s own social media channels. If their following, engagement rates or content seems a bit crap then they’re likely inexperienced and will do a crappy job for you.

Next, check their credentials. How many years of experience do they have in the industry? Do they have hands-on experience?

3. Connections

If you can find a consultant with industry connections or links to social media influencers, then it’s a huge bonus. 

This is the kind of thing that the average business would find very difficult to achieve on their own unless they wanted to pay through the roof on influencer marketplaces and the like. Find out from your consultant what kind of collaborations are on the table.

At Neil Patel Digital, for example, we’ve fostered connections with thought leaders and influencers in a number of spaces over the years, including B2B, marketing, tech and more. We know what benefits such relationships can bring.

4. Examples

Firstly, it’s a good idea to source examples of a consultant’s previous work as proof of their experience. This might come in the form of case studies or blog content in which they talk about their professional experience.

You should also seek examples of what the consultant can do for you specifically. Obviously, they’re not going to map out an entire strategy for you before you agree to work together.

However, they should be able to give you examples or ideas of the kind of work they can do for you and what kind of results they would expect to achieve.

5. Pricing

Social media marketing consultants’ rates vary. Usually, you can expect to pay a higher rate for more experienced and more skilled consultants. But, be sure to do your research on all of the other points to check a consultant is worth the rate they’re charging.

You also need to consider how their pricing works logistically. Does the consultant offer tiered packages or an hourly rate? Is there a minimum length of contract? Are there additional costs involved?

Always choose a consultant that’s transparent about their terms and pricing.

6. Balance

The consultant you’re vetting should have a positive attitude. You should seek out somebody that is enthusiastic and confident about helping you grow your business via social media.

However, be wary of those that over-do it. A good social media consultant will also be realistic about what they can help you achieve and the time-frame you can expect to achieve it in.

Overall, don’t be afraid to ask a bunch of questions. A good social media marketing consultant will be willing to answer them clearly and openly.

Conclusion

It’s worth hiring a social media marketing consultant if you hope to revamp a failing social media strategy or to take your existing strategy to the next level. Using the right tools and tactics, they’ll gain an in-depth understanding of your business and target audience to help you achieve your goals.

When it comes to choosing the right social media marketing consultant for you, make sure they not only have hands-on experience with social media marketing but also experience relevant to your industry or the services you need.

Now it’s over to you to find a consultant that will help you grow your business. The first step: Set your goals and work out exactly where your business needs help.

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Texas Man and Van Removal Services

The service is exactly what the name suggests – one man, one van, no lorries, no teams of people at your disposal. This service is ideal for small moves – for example, if you’re moving from a one-bedroom Texas flat or studio to another property of the same or similar size, go ahead and book a man and van with Local Independent Man and Van removal Companies.

When it comes to finding a reliable man with van removal service, you may have trouble differentiating among them all. We can guarantee you that just one phone call to the Texas Man and Van Network will be all that you need to do make the decision. Our staff based in Austin Texas are friendly and able to help you with any questions that you may have on a range of subjects within the removals industry. Our team are perfect for all sorts of jobs in Texas that may require a moving company or a flexible Man and Van operator, so get in touch with us today on 737 202 9538

Whether you’re relocating to a new home or office, are collecting large items you have purchased, or merely require a Texas man and van to ferry loads to a storage depot, we are certain that we have an Operator diverse enough to cater to your needs. Our operators have a wide vehicles range from small vans for personal loads, right through to large removal trucks. No job is too big or too small for our man and van network operators so call us today and book us on 737 202 9538

Removals companies in Texas are a plenty but aren’t always as professional as they should be. Contrary to most of them, we have the knowledge, expertise, people, and equipment to provide a fully tailored large or small removal service to suit your needs.  Our Texas Man and Van Network Movers are great value for money.

For house removals and our other services, Texas man and van provide ‘ public liability ’ and ‘ goods in transit ’ insurance. This way, customers have additional security. For house removals, customers mostly prefer to travel with their goods. Man and van companies can be one-man services, a family run delivery firm or part of a larger removals company. The secret to this service is that you’re hiring the van in addition to the man who’ll drive it, load it and deliver it, taking all the stress out of your move.

Reliable Removals Man and Van Services

Our Associate removals operators are a reliable removal service serving all Texas areas. We know that it can be difficult to get reliable service at a good price. This is why we have established our man and van Network services to suit your needs. Our efficient and friendly staff will help make your move a smooth one. ​ read more.

Van and man provides a reliable van and man service. Van and man is a skilled professional that can transport both large and small items around Texas and Interstate.  The texas Van and man removals services comprises of furniture removal, apartment removals, and house removals. Bags, boxes, suitcases, chairs, beds, desks, drawers, lockers, shelf units, furniture, tvs, bikes, etc –  whatever item you need moved.

A ‘man with a van’ for Texas offer an outstanding man and van with a difference; fast, reliable, neat, tidy and professional, a premium quality man and van service for all of your small removal, collection and delivery needs. We offer a commendable man with a van to help with your small removal, office removal or that over sized single item by collecting and delivering it for you. We are experts in providing removals for students, professionals, doctors, nurses and businesses. Our other services include exhibition transport, on set film transport and prop running.

Sometimes you only want the use of a smaller removals service to shift various loads from A to B in Austin or Dallas. Man with a van hire is the first choice when you want a lighter and smaller load shifted. One of the main advantages to our services in Texas is that our drivers comes with the appropriate straps and blankets to secure your load safely. They will skilfully deliver your load safely to its new location in anywhere in Texas.

Need help with moving room – bedsits – flats – house – office we provide the highly flexible, reliable, and affordable moving services that can be precisely customised to the client’s requirements, our man and van hire service always accomplished the customer wishes, for a personal, friendly but professional, skilled removal experience and assistance call us 24/7. We are one of a top quality national moving company, our offices are located in Austin Texas but we have Local independent Man and van Operators throughout the state.

Quality Removal Man with a Van Services at Your Door

Our man and van removals are here to help you with all of the difficulties of moving into a new home. With so many different things to think about and so many different things to possibly cause stress, our services provide an expert solution that you can depend upon to make the move to the district far easier than you’d ever imagined. We have spent years delivering high quality domestic removals services in and around Texas which are perfect for those who need expert help when moving house. With all this in mind, why would you hire any other contractor to handle your relocation?.

Since packing your household items properly is very crucial to their safe transport, our packing services ensure that you receive the best removal boxes in sw3 and other packing materials such as tape, bubble wrap, fillers, papers, peanuts, etc. Our supplies are specially designed for carrying bulky and fragile items and for long-term storage and moving to the State. Apart from our top quality materials, we also provide you with our best packing professionals who ensure that your items are properly secured. So hire our Texas man and van removals and rest assured that you will get a safe move!.

Even when you’ve got a million other things to do when moving home, never underestimate the importance of proper packing. A secure packing job using proper packing materials keeps your goods safe on the move. To help you, our packing and boxes offers a wide range of packing services throughout the area. We can provide you with everything you need from professional packers, to high quality moving boxes and other removal supplies. A good removal service is the first step to a successful move, but proper packing is still an important part of the process. Give our ilford man and van a call, and we will supply you with all of the assistance you’ll need!.

Man And Van Services in Texas

Our affordable Texas man and van service provides you with a fast and flexible solution to your move. Perfect for small and medium-sized moves like apartments in Texas where you need a hand moving across the city. Our man and van service offers the best value and quickest option for your move and we can even pack and unpack your items for you. Often our man with a van hire is for typically for home moves, but many people also use us for moving to university, events and exhibitions.

Ever had to move house in Texas before?

if yes, then you’ll know what a trial that can be, especially when you do it on your own, without the help of a Texas man and van service. If not, you’re in for an unpleasant surprise, especially if you intend to tough it out solo. While it may seem pretty macho to move your belongings on your own from one point to another – packing the boxes, lifting them up, placing them in your car and doing the opposite at your new place, unless you’re a super human who also happens to live alone, this will be next to impossible. Even if you somehow miraculously manage to perform this feat without the assistance of a professional man and van service, you’re bound to damage some of your goods in the process, and if you’re really unlucky, you may even injure yourself.

Man and Van Texas Services include:

We offer man & van hire throughout Texas (we’ll deliver to the whole of the State), including Austin, Dallas , San Antonio or Fort Worth. We have the right vans with tail lift as well as  low-loader vans, and our work is fully insured. – our services include –.

Whatever you need transporting, we strive to make the task of moving as easy and cost-efficient as possible. With our man and van services , you can receive instant man and van prices together with free basic compensation cover and an industry professional to manage the job from start to finish.

No matter what you require to move, our transport partners will have specifically what they require to get the job done. This includes materials to pack, secure and protect your items, in addition to tools that may be needed to take apart and reassemble specific items to help them fit through narrow areas.

Do you need an efficient man and van service? if so, man with van east Texas are the team for you. Our main objective is efficiency because there are several man and van services out there and you need to make the right choice for your move. We specialise in small and large-scale moves. Call us at any time as we are a 24 hour 7 day a week company. We are happy to discuss and talk about all your move requirements. East Texas man and van cover all east Texas man and van services:

Regardless of what you require from The Texas Man and Van Network of Independent Movers and Light haulage providers, you can be certain you’re obtaining the best solution at an affordable cost; we are always mindfully trying to find new and innovative ways of saving money for our customers.

To find out more details, get in contact with our team on 737 202 9538

Or Visit our Texas Man And van Website by Clicking HERE

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Do you want to know how to use articles for marketing, through writing great content which produces real results for a business’s bottom line? Check out this article for our strategies that show you how to create a great content strategy and spread the word through a top syndication service.

If you are engaging in any type of content marketing which includes blogs, articles, social media posts, press releases, web pages and many more, there is a need for a defined content marketing strategy behind it. Increased sales, brand awareness and customer retention are some of the top listed marketing goals for any organization. When done in a focused and strategic way, using articles as your principle article marketing method can propel any company into profitable growth. But the articles created must be done in a way, which includes the following: the keywords chosen as the basis for the articles must be such that they will improve the company’s visibility for the target readership, and assistance in building brand awareness and increase in its reputation. Once written the articles will have no benefit whatsoever unless they are successfully distributed to a wide audience via online properties of high authority.

If you build it, they will come. That’s what I believed when I was first starting out. I assumed that if I opened a business, customers would just show up—no major marketing effort required. I soon learnt the error of my ways. And yet, many other entrepreneurs take the complete opposite approach and treat marketing as if it’s the 1940 Battle of Britain. They throw all of their resources in the general direction of their intended audience and hope something hits its mark, and that often also fails due to a lack of focus and an unwillingness to truly understand their buyers. I eventually learnt my lesson through the school of hard knocks. But on the way, I discovered a form of article marketing which falls somewhere between the two. It spreads the net widely, meaning that most often the attentive marketer will soon discover the peculiarities of what their market likes and dislikes. Also, by largely avoiding direct advertising costs it avoids the treadmill of a company which is only as good as the ad campaign currently running. When done well in this way, article marketing once implemented can be remarkably evergreen, and result in a stable flow of leads, or sales, over a long period and at a very reasonable cost. Most of all, the costs are closely manageable, unlike embarking on an advertising campaign on a social networking platform and going through an initial unprofitable ad and funnel development only to have your account banned.

Creating the Right Marketing Mix

Attracting the right visitors through your article content publishing will only get you so far. Within any article marketing strategy the following two stages are crucial:

• getting your high-quality articles out there to be seen by enough people interested enough in what you say to take action and sign up to a list, download a free gift etc.
• the next stage is to achieve the conversion of an interested reader to a customer. Targeted email marketing campaigns to lists generated through article publication are a great way to get more bang out of your email marketing efforts. When drilling down to target individual interest groups, using personalized content in emails can go a long way to create loyal customers and increase sales. There are many ways to segment your email list. You want to find the ways that will allow you to send the most relevant content to your list.

Pandemic Buying Habits That Are Here to Stay

People today are relying a lot less on the on-sale promises. Article marketing, on the other hand, is gaining prominence. It refers to the simple process of writing articles that are influencing and appealing and then publishing them to draw customers. It can be an excellent marketing strategy for any business if implemented effectively.

How to Recognise What’s a Value Proposition

One of the best ways to tell if a show or movie is worthwhile is if people never get tired of re-watching it. Whether it’s the hit television show “Friends”, or the classic movie “Forrest Gump”, most people never turn down an opportunity to watch Ross pivot his couch or witness Forrest develop into a Ping Pong celebrity. And, remarkably, that applies for many people even if they’ve already watched it over a dozen times. Content marketing is in its infancy compared to television and film, but some of the best writers and publications in our industry have already crafted articles that we revere as the “Friends” or “Forrest Gump” of the space.

Create Must-Read Marketing Articles for Every Stage of Business Growth and Avoid Escalating Advertising Costs

Although it’s been a tried and true strategy for years, it seems that bloggers are now catching on to the benefits of article marketing as the competition for traffic intensifies. For those who may not be familiar with the technique involved in article marketing let us explain the recent history. In the mid-1990s it began as involving submitting short articles to ever-growing directories such as Ezine Articles. The article directories accepted articles for nothing on the basis that every article was provided for free re-publication by anyone. The deal was that authors would provide their articles with permission for others to republish your work on their blog, website or in their email newsletter.  It was before the search engines were able to apply any real form of AI to judging the quality of an article from its intrinsic worth, and backlinks were the main criteria, almost without consideration of the authority and trustworthiness of a backlink source. For 10 years or more, the search engines fell easy prey to article directory content giving them very high SERP rankings. But, as search engine technology grew in sophistication, it was realised that the directory articles were, in fact, in most cases being written by non-experts and often provided incorrect and/ or outdated information. Furthermore, by being so short it was easy for non-experts to produce those articles at speed, allowing rankings to be manipulated. The end result is that a good way to use Articles For Marketing nowadays is to avoid the article directories, and instead, craft much longer in-depth articles designed to be longer than those previously available in the niche and hence be more authoritative. More authoritative because only true experts in a subject know their subject well enough to write several thousands of words about their topic.

The Importance of Trust to the Search Engines To Use Articles For Marketing

Meanwhile, much more trustworthy and professionally considered information was becoming available in the new Wikis. For the first time online here was a push for rigour, and no point could be made without the citation of a trusted source. Apart from the Wiki the universities and colleges were going public online with their research papers. Research in the form of institutionally backed peer-reviewed papers was also brought online, and the websites of all the major institutions and professional bodies now contained added resource sections.

Niche blogs grew knowledgeable followings and social media became a means of understanding public sentiment for individual web properties. A move by the internet search companies toward trusting these latter popular information sources began which continues. Wikipedia with its millions of pages has also grown to become the most important repository of every facet of human endeavour. Its vast army of moderators constantly combs its pages for errors and makes updates and adds yet more information. Not only that, but every fact and claim is also rigorously associated with its source through the citations systems used by all Wikis. So that now, Wikipedia reigns supreme as the most authoritative website, and article directories have fallen in importance.

Content sources which are now trusted most by Google’s Search Engine bots are the modern equivalents of article directories, such as Medium. Authors write for Medium and similar publications and in return, you get one or more links back to the site of your choice. The articles on Medium and niche blogs vary in length but very few of their articles which appear in the Page 1 SERP locations are nowadays less than  1,000 words long and most are at least 4 to 10 times the length of the once-trusted average 300 to 500-word Article Directory articles.

The Importance of the Right Marketing Strategy and Advanced Article Content Research Tools

Successful product launches require a robust marketing strategy. Even after all your due market research and savvy product development, a new launch can fail to take off without an effective promotional plan for the same. For new products, promotion work must begin well before the launch date. One efficient way to inform your target consumers about new products is through creative articles. For this purpose, working with professional article writing services can be very useful irrespective of your business size and industry. The benefits can be great in terms of time, efficiency and an output skilled work which will be well-respected by its readers. Efficiency gains can be realised by the development and use of research tools which can now do much to find the most relevant and authoritative content rapidly. They then go several steps further and formulate that information in ways which will make that content inherently authoritative, and highly valued by advanced search engines such as the Google Search Engine.

Cost-Effective Articles For Marketing Needed in Such Little Time!

No one really knows how many websites or individual web pages make up this seemingly infinite digital universe that is the internet, but what cannot be ignored is the sheer quantity of the content of ever-improving quality that is now available. For any marketing strategy to work the level of competition in all of the established profitable niches, sheer quality is not enough, quantity also matters if your marketing efforts are to have a good chance of being seen by automated search algorithms (bots). Think of your web presence as being much like a railway network and each published piece of content as a station. The more you build stations and spread them out along main lines and branch lines, the more influence will be fed into them. A station is similar to a node point in the structure, and each node can be made very strong through a variety of backlinking sources. And, out beyond those think of social networking chatter as the outer level of authority feeding into all.

Automated Source Research to Raise the Quality and Efficiency of Articles For Marketing

To create authoritative and unique content to feed the large number of high-quality web properties all adding to the overall web presence without magnification using tools is no longer possible for all but the existing major players. The necessary content sources are available to suitable software out there in the output produced between individual bloggers, agencies, businesses and more. An efficient research tool can gather so many resources all at your fingertips and if then presented to the author in well-structured articles each author becomes surprisingly efficient. This can be done rapidly through the latest in content creation tools and a newcomer, developed through the coronavirus pandemic this year, is our favourite. Its name is Buffer Site Wizard and it is published by its creator Abbas Ravji.

Efficient Production of Content Paired with a Vehicle to Disseminate Knowledge: Syndication Networks

With the internet, you can learn pretty much anything you need to when it comes to successful marketing. Although it takes action, testing, and planning to truly see what works for your business, there are a lot of great marketing articles out there that will get you off on the right track already, but once created the information is of no help unless it can be pushed out widely, at minimum cost and be seen!

We have already identified the cost and ethereal nature of modern advertising methods today as the major factor for new and small business to take the article marketing route. Unfortunately, despite the history and rich tradition of blogging, the use of blogs by organizations of all sizes often suffers from erratic quality and excessive expectations. For example, finding specific information on a typical blog is frequently frustrating for new visitors. This is not the experience you want a prospective customer to have when they are seeking educational content on your website. Whether you are dedicated to your organization’s blog or not, the inbound marketing suggestion here is to do “more” for example, an outbound marketing “portfolio” that includes extended articles, white papers, and case studies is one prudent path to pursue. And, the way to do it is undoubted and should be via the age-old use of standardized distributed web properties under central control otherwise known as a syndicated website network. A network existing with high diversity, also within the realms of the respected social networking sites, plus the magnification effects of multi-formats such as podcasting, and videos.

Why Audience Size Matters for Successful Content Marketing

Content marketing is advertising through publications on social media. One of the main benefits of content marketing on the internet is cheap leads. However, leads will be cheap only for companies that already have a large audience. Then you will be able to convert visitors into buyers using useful and interesting content. If there is no traffic on your social media yet, then content marketing will become an expensive and long term unproductive tool. There will be no audience to read good articles while the distribution of content will be as expensive as SEO.

A core tenet of product/market fit is that a great market can actually draw out a strong product. In other words, deeply understanding the real demand of the people you’re selling to can help you create a great product. And, of course, even a best-in-class product can’t survive without a market. While you’re gearing up to launch, make sure to check out marketing articles on how you can best prepare beforehand.

Keep Track of Marketing Trends

Whether or not you like English literature or follow Fashion, overlooking marketing trends in 2020 could prove disastrous for your revenues. Fortunately, all you need to do is read to optimize your brand for conversions, engagement, and customer retention. These 21 articles might have been a little too timely for Oscar Wilde, but they’ll serve us just fine. As we marketers look to the coming year, we expect to emphasize personalization, visual marketing, ai, and other recent trends while adding new chapters to the classic strategies.

Research suggests that social media users scroll various sites and platforms for one common reason – extracting news about current trends. Moreover, businesses measure their social media roi through the number of likes, shares, tweets, retweets and other popularity indicators their posts rides hide on. As per the raw numbers published by Fracti and Buzzstream, news articles received significantly higher social shares than any other content type. Businesses can thus count on newsworthy content when producing articles and blogs for distribution to achieve their social media marketing targets.

Summary

Article marketing is one of the oldest strategies used by online marketers to acquire new visitors and increase sales on their websites. The practise typically involves writers and publishers as primary participants, with article marketing services working as intermediaries that help match writers with interested publishers. The fundamental purpose of article marketing is to attract wider online audiences and increase the number of sales opportunities for products or services offered on websites. The most popular articles support an author’s or company’s reputation as an expert in a specific field and help cultivate a loyal audience. Increased site traffic boosts where their web page ranks in search engine results, which means more people will see the site and have the opportunity to buy what the author is selling.

Marketing strategies that attract your target audience and buyer personas are tied to content creation and development. To reach your audience, start by creating and publishing content — such as blog articles, content offers, and social media — that provide value. Examples include guides on how to use your products, information about how your solution can solve their challenges, customer testimonials, and details about promotions or discounts. To attract your audience members on a deeper level through inbound marketing, optimize all of this content with an SEO strategy. An SEO strategy will require you to target specific keywords and phrases related to your products or services, the challenges you solve for customers, and the ways you help target audience members.

Article marketing is a branch of content marketing. It is a type of advertising in which companies write and distribute short articles to a range of outlets such as article banks, forums, and newsletter publishers. Its main purpose is to gain a huge number of online audiences and boost the number of sales opportunities for products or services on websites. Another main purpose of this kind of marketing is to build backlinks. This type of marketing strategy can help marketers acquire new visitors and increase sales on their websites. Article marketing is also one of the least costly ways to market a company.

When it comes to creating the perfect promotion strategy for your lease company? well, the advice contained in this post is just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to stand out from the competition and establish yourself as an authority in your industry, then you’ll need to constantly look for ways to stay a step ahead. What about things like live video content? working with influencers? publishing articles on leading industry websites? finding the right internal and external links to include in your email marketing campaign?.

This is a procedure, which is accomplished for content marketing, plus it is also helpful in the SEO process. The major benefit of content marketing is building your authority online. First, you need to maintain a blog section on your websites. Besides, create the external blogs and update it regularly. On the other hand, add the articles on the articles sites and do the guest blogging.

The post How To Use Articles For Marketing – The Magic of Authoritative Content Creation Plus Syndication appeared first on GQ Central.

Who will be in the cast of “Call The Midwife Season” 10? Those and many other questions are answered in this our bumper article for all those keenly waiting for more information on this popular series.

“Call the Midwife”, is coming back to the BBC and PBS for season 10, and fans are ready to dive back into the drama and intrigue. After “Call the Midwife Season Eight” was commissioned in March 2019, it transpired that the BBC had signed the studio up for 3 more series of the renowned show, including 3 Christmas Specials.

What will happen in Call The Midwife Season 10?

Will there be another season of “Call the Midwife”? It has already been recommissioned by the BBC for a 10th and 11th series, so expect to see the nuns hard at work until at least 2020. What will happen will be that, in common with the previous series, they will follow historical events and how they influenced midwifery at the time. The best place to find out whatever advance news that is made available on the Series 10 characters and plots will be to follow their Facebook page. But, so far they have been keeping a close lid on what will happen in Season 10 except we did find this: Paul the midwife is returning to filming said Stephen McGann who plays Dr Turner in a video shared to Twitter:

This year’s special will take place in 1965 while everyone at Nonnatus House is looking forward to celebrating and enjoying the circus which has arrived in Poplar nothing seems to go as planned Sister Monica Jones (Judy Parfit) is rushed to the hospital while Trixie (Helen George) isn’t thrilled that she’s received a subscription to the Marriage Bureau as a gift! Meanwhile, Sheila (Laura Main) has a surprise reunion that involves her in a deeply moving birth.

When the show does start to be screened we recommend that your search for “Everything that’s happened (so far) on PBS’ “Call the Midwife” (CTM). Looking back we can see that even just for Season 9 Episode 1 the recap list happenings as: “a foundling, an outbreak, and tights (Oh My!)”.

Is there a trailer for Call The Midwife season 10?

While Americans don’t have the luxury of curling up with a hot cuppa tea post-Christmas day feast to watch the Downton Abbey Christmas special (since PBS doesn’t air the new season until January, we don’t get to see the Christmas special till sometime in February), the folks over at PBS offered up a nice compromise for December 25: the “Call the Midwife Christmas Special”, which had a rare, first-run airing both in Britain and in the US.

The viewers also expected some exotic location to be seen in the Christmas special episode but to everyone’s disappointment this season, “Call the Midwife” will be filmed in the show’s very own suburbs of Poplar says the writer of the show, Heidi Thomas.

‘Call the Midwife’ Season 10: New Details Revealed About the Christmas Special

Details about the 2020 Call the Midwife Christmas special were revealed on the show’s Facebook account on August 18.

‘Call the Midwife’: Everything We Know So Far About Season 10

Was call the midwife cancelled or was it renewed for season 10? When does call the midwife season 10 start on PBS? Find the latest call the Midwife season 10 cancellation and renewal status news on this page. Over a year ago. Season 9 of call the midwife opened with Winston Churchill’s death.

Call the Midwife season 10 starts filming

Following the news that filming for call the midwife season 10 has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, the makers of the popular show have given fans something to look forward to. Given the fact that the show was renewed through its 11th season back in 2019 – including an 11th series which should start filming later next spring – this means that call the midwife is now confirmed to air through at least 2022.

Call the Midwife season 10 resumes production

As the “Call the midwife season 10”  has not yet been completed through all its production, there is no trailer available at time of writing for the new season. Production on call the midwife’s 2020 Christmas Special and Season 10 resumed in the summer.

Call the Midwife Season 9 Episode Count

With the broadcast of call the midwife season 9, full episodes can be streamed for a limited time on the call the midwife page on PBS. 30pm, and is 90 minutes long. Following the festive season, call the midwife will launch back into eight new hour-long episodes which will begin airing in January on BBC One.

Call the Midwife season 10 Chrismas special

Call the midwife has followed historical events just that throughout the series, especially last season when it portrayed the thalidomide drug crisis of the early 1960s. Call the midwife is no stranger to romance, but the love story between nurse Lucille Anderson and her boyfriend Cyril Robinson has been an especially slow burn for the show since they first started dating in season eight.

Call the Midwife: Season 10

Call the midwife: Season 9 aired in the US on Sundays, March 29 – May 17, 2020, at 8 p.m. With a VPN, you can live stream season nine of call the midwife from anywhere in the world, but the BBC would like to curtail such use.

Season 10 Call the Midwife

The BBC has actually recommissioned the show for a season 11, so call the midwife will be on screens until 2022. May 17, 2020. Following tonight’s big CTM finale, are you interested in learning the call the midwife season 10 premiere date over at PBS? We know that there’s something comforting about the British import, and we’re going to miss it however long that the show is off the air.

Audience Reviews for CTM: Season 10

The UK’s two biggest broadcasters have ordered new seasons of audience favourites “Call the Midwife”, “Endeavour ”, and “Vera”, guaranteeing new episodes of some of the most-watched shows on British TV.

Christmas Special Season 10

Twitter. Com/s2szav74hh. — (@callthemidwife1) august 31, 2020. In September, Jenny Agutter also shared a statement: “I have just started filming on call the midwife & am so happy to be back at Nonnatus House, seeing all the cast and crew, albeit six feet apart following all the guidelines! But we are delighted to be working on our Christmas Special.

List of “Call the Midwife” Episodes

View all episodes so far on Wikipedia. Visit call the midwife website. Based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth, CTM is a story of midwifery in London’s East End in the 1950s. And there’s more good news, as season 10 and 11 have just been commissioned, meaning brand new episodes will be coming our way until 2020!

‘Call the Midwife’ Renewed for Two More Seasons

If it follows previous seasons, season nine will air in the US. So far there hasn’t been much more information released about the future seasons, though it has been confirmed that, as with previous instalments, seasons 10 and 11 will each consist of 8 hour-long episodes and Christmas special, but some are saying that due to lost time during lockdown there will be one fewer instalment in 2021 than usual.

Call The Midwife Season 10 Cast

The excellent news is the chronicled series call the midwife is now revived for the tenth as well as for the eleventh season. What did you like best about Season Nine of “Call the midwife?

What Can We Expect From Season 10?

Coming soon. -Order now and be the 1st to own, the call the midwife series 10 DVD. That will be the complete tenth season of this great British show. East London’s Nonnatus house is saved… at least for another year. That was the joyous high point of the Midwife’s Season 9 Finale, which took viewers on another roller coaster ride of emotion with a couple of major storylines.

Notify me when “Call the Midwife” Season 10 is available

The darkness is beautiful. For how else can we shine. Closing lines read by Vanessa Redgrave, Season 9, Episode 8. Call the midwife season 9 premiered on March 29 in the U.S.

When Will “Call the Midwife” Season 10 Release on Netflix?

The British period drama series has been running on the BBC since 2012 and will reach an incredible 11 seasons with the series commissioned up until 2022. There have been points where the series looks to leave Netflix as it has done already in Canada. The original author and creator Heidi Thomas will always be remembered for developing the series idea. For those unaware, the series is set back in the 1960s in East London and chronicles the lives of those helping to deliver children. There are many wonderful characters including, sister Monica Joan. Due to coronavirus stoppages, it could be 2021 before CTM season 10 is available to stream on Netflix. We’ll worry about all that later. The good news is “Call the Midwife” has returned to filming, and unless the pandemic alters its production course again, there will be a Christmas special this year as well as a season 10.

The post Call The Midwife Season 10? Who Will Be in the Cast and Other Questions appeared first on GQ Central.

Throughout the past two years, two of the most popular apps used by Gen Z and younger millennials were Instagram and TikTok.

While Instagram steadily pulled in more than 1 billion active users since its 2016 debut, TikTok made news when it surpassed 1 billion global downloads within 18 months of its launch.

Both networks have solid benefits and entertainment factors.. While Instagram’s visual layout allows users to see images, videos, Stories, and live streams from their favorite accounts, TikTok provides an endless feed of short, entertaining video clips.

But, late this summer, as countries including the U.S. considered banning TikTok due to privacy concerns, Instagram launched a handful of new audio and video editing features that are quite similar to what users would find on TikTok. This new set of mobile features, which can be accessed in the Stories section of the Instagram app, has been dubbed Instagram Reels.

Aside from allowing users to record videos with sound or audio overlays, the Reels camera and editor also includes the following features:

• More editing tools: These include augmented reality effects, transitions, and the ability to speed up or slow down videos.
• Audio attribution: If a user uploads native audio, other users can overlay the sound in their videos while the app credits the original user’s account for it.
• Stitchable takes: This enables users to share a video with just one long take or a combination of quicker takes.
• Shareability on the Instagram Feed, Explore, Stories, and your profile: Depending on the privacy settings of your profile, you can share Reels with just friends on your Stories or profile, or publicly in the Reels area of Explore.
• Mobile-only: Unlike Instagram profiles and Stories, you can’t view or upload Reels on a desktop.

Right now, it’s worth noting that ads are not yet supported in the Reels area of Instagram Explore. But since Reels show up in this public part of the app, and can be seen by people who don’t follow your brand, your business has the opportunity to reach new audiences across the globe.

At the time of this post, we also don’t know how the Instagram algorithm works for presenting Reels to audiences. But, based on our exploration of the Reels feed within Explore, it seems much like TikTok in that it prioritizes posts by location, people you follow, and content similar to what you’ve engaged with recently.

Why Instagram Launched Reels

According to Instagram — which started testing Reels in Brazil in November 2019 and launched the feature globally this August — the brand wanted to give users more content creation opportunities on its app.

“We’re excited to introduce Instagram Reels: a new way for anyone — people, creators, and businesses — to create and discover short, entertaining videos on Instagram,” notes an August announcement from Instagram.

While Instagram hasn’t acknowledged TikTok’s success or competition as a reason for launching Reels, several tech journalists have suggested that this was a strategic move.

“Instagram’s short-form video feature, Reels, launched Wednesday. Instagram is swooping in at a vulnerable time for its largest competitor, TikTok. Reels allows users to create 15-second clips, like TikTok, and share them publicly or with friends within the Instagram app,” wrote CNBC’s Jessica Bursztynsky.

While Reels is Instagram’s first attempt at launching similar features to TikTok, this certainly isn’t the first time a Facebook-owned company has launched similar video editing offerings.

In 2018, amid TikTok’s early success, Facebook quietly launched a competing app called Lasso.

Lasso, which offered similar portrait-style feed and video editing tools to TikTok, had fewer than 80,000 app downloads by June 2020. In July, one month before the launch of Reels, Lasso was discontinued.

“We place multiple bets across our family of apps to test and learn how people want to express themselves. One of these tests was Lasso, our stand-alone short-form video app, which we have decided to shut down. We thank everyone who shared their creativity and feedback with us, which we’ll look to incorporate in our other video experiences,” a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch.

At this point, knowing the history mentioned above, some marketers might wonder, “Will Instagram Reels be a great TikTok alternative for my brand, or will it fail like other TikTok competitors?”

The question above is fair. After all, as a marketer, you’ll only want to invest time and money into platforms with a solid track record, loyal audience, and great brand awareness opportunities, rather than those that could be discontinued a short time later.

While Reels might have been flocked to by Gen Z if TikTok were banned, TikTok’s partnership deal with Oracle and Walmart has ensured that this app will remain active in many countries — at least for now. This means that even if Reels is successful, some audiences might still spend all of their time surfing TikTok.

On the other hand, Instagram is a widely-used platform that has successfully launched competitive social media features before. Remember when the brand launched Stories and eventually surpassed the user count of Snapchat, which launched this feature first?

At the moment, it’s not clear whether Reels will be as successful as TikTok. But, since the feature only requires you to expand your Instagram strategy, rather than building out TikTok tactics from scratch, it could still be a great place for brands to test out highly experimental short-form content.

If you’re intrigued by Instagram Reels and ready to try it out, below I’ll walk through how brands are already using the feature, steps for creating Reels content, and a few takeaways marketers should keep in mind as they build it into their Instagram marketing.

How Brands Already Use Reels

Emmy Mae Bridal

Fashion and beauty are perfect for Reels, as is evident by this Reel from Emmy Mae Bridal in Queensland, Australia.

In Emmy Rae’s Reels, the brand presents videos and imagery of their wedding attire to the sounds classy music. Although we can’t embed Reels, here’s a screenshot of recent content the company posted

Earth Official

The travel industry is also finding Reels to be an excellent way to reach people. In this piece of Reels content, Earth Official, an account that highlights travel content, deals, and influencers, shows beautiful footage of Thailand’s lantern festival with native audio.

Critical Care Now

If your business isn’t exactly consumer-facing, Reels might still fit into your Instagram strategy, depending on how well you’ve cultivated your audience and how creative your content team is.

In the Reels post below from CriticalCareNow, an informative Instagram account run by resuscitation expert Haney Mallemat, Mallemat educates viewers about central and peripheral arterial lines used in the emergency response field.

Think the topic of the Reel above was too informative or formal for Instagram’s audience? Think again. At the time this blog post was written, this Reel had more than 30,200 views. Pretty amazing for content that isn’t the latest dance move.

Haney’s Reel might be so engaging because he’s done a great job of building a large, niche audience of over 24,000 Instagram followers and learned what types of content they value. While more followers could certainly get you more views, creating Reels around what your audience and similar users want to watch can also take your engagement a long way.

1. Enter Reels mode within Instagram Stories.

To get started with Reels, open the Instagram Stories camera and tap Reels.

2. Explore the editing tools.

Before and after you record footage on your Reels camera, you’ll see four editing icons on the left side of your camera screen.

The tools you’ll see include:

• Sound: Which enables you to add a pre-recorded sound from other users or Reels’ featured song list to your content.

• Playback Speed: This allows you to speed up or slow down content.

• Effects: Tapping this icon, which looks like an emoji outline, allows you to add stickers and filter effects to your video. The filters for Reels are similar to Instagram Stories and many of these effects crossover between both video formats

• Timer: If you can’t hold down the Record button for the full clip, but want to make a video that lasts for a certain amount of time, you can tap this icon to set recording time for your clip. When you press record, a countdown of three seconds will appear on your screen before Reels starts to record. Then Reels will automatically film for the amount of time you designated.

3. Hold Record to begin filming, or upload a pre-recorded video.

Once you press and hold the record button, you’ll start filming a clip. If you let go of the record button, but still have time left in your Reel video, you can hold the record button again to start a second clip that will begin immediately after the first ends.

As you record one or multiple clips for your Reel, the progress bar at the top of the screen shows you how much recording time you have left.

Alternatively, if you’ve already recorded a great video or TikTok that you think will be engaging on Reels, you can tap the camera icon to upload clips from your camera roll.

4. Add last-minute effects.

If you didn’t add effects before the video started recording, but want to after seeing how it came out, you can add stickers, drawings, and text to your Reel before publishing.

When you are finished, tap the arrow at the bottom when you’re ready to publish. Again, these effects are nearly the same as those you’ll see on Instagram Stories.

5. Prepare to publish your Reel.

When you press the arrow after reviewing the video and adding any last-minute effects, you’ll be taken to the post screen, where you can choose a cover image, write a caption, add hashtags, and publish your video to Reels.

6. View your Reels.

Once you’ve published one or more Reels, this content will appear on the Explore page, as well as a tab on your profile.

7. Share your Reels.

Along with posting Reels for Explore audiences, you can also post them to your feed which will also cause them to appear on your main profile grid. Reels can also be sent as direct messages or even posted to your Instagram Stories. Unless you share a Reel so it appears on your main grid, the content will behave like a Story and disappear within 24 hours.

8. Monitor your performance.

Currently, to view any insights for a Reel, you need to view the post itself. At this time, there isn’t a way to view the analytics of your Reels within Instagram Insights. Instead, look at the likes and comments to get a sense of engagement.

9. Watch Reels from other accounts.

To access Reels, simply go to search and you’ll see a featured Reel. Tap that and then you can easily scroll through the clips. From there, you can follow users and like, share, and comment on reels directly. You can find Reels on specific topics by searching for hashtags.

What to Keep in Mind with Instagram Reels

As you consider Reels, TikTok, and other emerging social media platforms in your marketing strategy, it’s important to weigh the pros, cons, and key marketing takeaways when determining if a channel or feature is right for your team.

Here are just a few things to remember as you consider Reels:

Reels competes against a unique, viral sensation:

Although Instagram has a huge audience that is loyal to its platform, many Gen Z users are used to going to TikTok for viral videos and general entertainment. Because the app has pulled in astounding fan loyalty in its short lifespan, you might find that Reels don’t have the same viral opportunities that TikTok videos might have. 

What works on TikTok might not work on Reels

TikTok is a highly experimental platform with a younger, but huge, global audience. Because of these factors, there aren’t many rules about what you should and shouldn’t post on there. Meanwhile, Instagram has been around for years, has a slightly older audience, and has some content norms or audience expectations set in place

If you’ve already posted a handful of TikTok videos and want to test them on Reels, you can consider uploading a few, watching how they perform, and learning more about what works well on both platforms.

However, as you learn the differences between TikTok and Instagram audiences, you might find that high-performing TikToks aren’t as engaging to your Reels audience. If this is the case, you might want to consider creating specialized content for Reels.

There aren’t ad opportunities just yet.

Although you’ll want to keep the points above in mind as you consider testing out Reels, you’ll also want to remember the opportunities it offers. For example, Reels might be a great option for you if you’ve mastered Instagram, know what content your audiences want, and are eager to test out TikTok-styled content without using time and resources to build a full TikTok app strategy.

If you do begin to test out Reels, it can’t hurt to brush up on your Instagram marketing skills and Instagram platform knowledge to ensure that your profile, other content, and — ultimately — your Reels will be on point for your brand and optimized for brand awareness.

Be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide for Instagram Marketing, or sign up for the free HubSpot Academy course below.

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

Whether you want to become a blogger for a big-time news publication, share your independent thoughts online, make millions as a blogger, or something in between, it all starts with a blogging platform. 

And choosing the right one sets precedence for everything else you do. 

But with so many options to choose from, picking the best blogging platform can feel overwhelming. 

So to help you out, I created a list of considerations to think about as you go through the process and reviewed the top five blogging platforms on the market today. 

By the end of this article, you’ll be well on your way to starting your own blog. 

The top 6 options for blogging platforms:

1. Wix – Best drag-and-drop blogging platform
2. WordPress.org – Best open-source blogging platform
3. Squarespace – Best for visual-based businesses
4. Medium – Best traditional blogging platform
5. Blogger – Best for personal blogs

How to choose the best blogging platform for you 

Choosing a blogging platform is an important decision. And the one you choose depends on what you hope to do with your new blog and how much control you want to have. 

So, let’s walk through what to consider as you make your final decision. 

Do you want to make money?

This is probably the most crucial question to ask yourself. 

If you want to start a personal blog to share your thoughts and experiences, you’re completely fine going with a free blogging platform, like Medium or Blogger. 

However, if you want to make money blogging, you have to be careful. Most free platforms don’t let you monetize your blog. So, you need to choose a premium blogging platform that gives you more control, like Wix, WordPress.org, or Squarespace. 

Do you already have a website?

If you want to add a blog to a website you already have, I highly recommend looking into your website platform’s blogging capabilities. 

This is the easiest way to add a blog to a website that already exists. 

Alternatively, you can look into migrating your website to Wix, WordPress.org, or Squarespace. However, I recommend staying with the platform you’re already using if you can. 

Customization capabilities

Paid blogging platforms give you more control and design flexibility, allowing you to build a complete website and brand around your blog. And you can customize the look and feel of nearly every aspect of your website. 

If you’re serious about blogging as a business, you need that level of control. 

For complete flexibility and customization options, go with WordPress.org. And if you want something easier than WordPress, yet still flexible, Wix and Squarespace are great drag-and-drop options. 

On the other hand, free blogging platforms don’t give you the ability to customize to that extent. You may be able to change the colors and pick between a few different layouts. 

But, you can’t do much aside from that. 

With that said, if you’re interested in personal or hobby blogging, you don’t need anything fancy. Free blogging platforms offer everything you need to quickly write content and share it online in just a few clicks. 

The different types of blogging platforms

There are several different types of blogging platforms. 

And the right one for you depends on what you want to do with your blog. 

So, before we dive into my top recommendations, let’s walk through the different types and what they’re used for. 

Free

Free blogging platforms come in a variety of shapes and sizes. 

They’re perfect for anyone interested in personal or hobby blogging. And it’s the easiest way to write and publish content online quickly. 

However, free blogging platforms usually don’t let you make money with your content. You can’t make money with ads, use affiliate marketing, or sell your own products. 

Furthermore, they’re very limited in design flexibility and customization capabilities. 

You may even be stuck with random ads placed on your blog. And migrating your content from a free platform to another isn’t an easy process. So, they’re not suitable for business bloggers or anyone interested in making money blogging at any point in the future. 

Website builders

Website builders are all-inclusive, drag-and-drop design tools that let you quickly build an entire website without touching any code. They’re easy to set up, simple to use, and include a full suite of blogging tools. 

However, they’re not free. But web hosting is included with your subscription, and some even offer a free custom domain name for the first year. 

Furthermore, you get a significant level of flexibility and customization. But some areas may be limited depending on the blogging platform you choose. 

This is a great place to start if you want to make money, but you’ve never built a website before. Just keep in mind that you sacrifice some flexibility in exchange for ease of use. 

Open-source

Open-source blogging platforms are free to download and install. They’re completely customizable from the inside out, making them perfect for serious bloggers and business owners interested in building a full-fledged custom website. 

However, there’s a steeper learning curve.

But once you get the hang of it, you’ll realize how flexible and customizable this type of blogging platform really is. You can create ecommerce stores, business websites, portfolios, service-based websites, interactive blogs, and more. 

With that said, you have to buy web hosting before you can install an open-source software. 

But most web hosts make this type of software easy to install with one-click installation. 

#1 – Wix Review — The best drag-and-drop blogging platform

If you’re looking for the easiest premium blogging platform, you should go with Wix. 

It’s an all-in-one website builder with more than 100 million users worldwide, making it one of the most popular options on the market. 

Furthermore, it’s excellent for beginners interested in creating a full-fledged website with a blog included. And Wix’s intuitive drag-and-drop builder makes creating engaging blog content a breeze. 

Plus, it includes everything you need to make money with your new blog. 

With Wix, you get premium blogging features, including:

• 500 professional design templates
• Industry-leading SEO tools
• Rich-text editor
• Embed HTML codes
• Categories and hashtags
• Advanced search capabilities
• Writer and editor user roles
• Easy image editing
• Social media tools
• Visitor analytics

Wix is arguably the easiest and fastest way to get your professional website and blog running.

You can also take advantage of their ADI (advanced design intelligence) tool, which creates everything you need to get started in a matter of minutes. 

Simply answer a few questions, customize the design, add your website copy, update your images, and you’re ready to start blogging.  

Wix offers a free plan, which is excellent for building your site and getting everything ready to go. However, I highly recommend upgrading to a paid plan so you can remove Wix ads and connect a custom domain name. 

Paid plans start at $13/mo and increase depending on the features you need. 

#2 – WordPress.org Review — The best open-source blogging platform

WordPress.org is an open-source blogging platform with complete design flexibility. 

It also powers 38% of the entire internet, including the blog you’re reading right now, making it the most popular blogging platform on the market. 

And the best part? It’s free to download and install. 

However, you do need web hosting to be able to use it. This usually costs around $3 – $10 per month, so it’s the most affordable option on this list. 

With that said, it’s not as easy as Wix. There are a few more steps to get started, but the extra work is well worth it if you’re looking for complete design control and flexibility. 

With WordPress.org, you also get:

• 55,000+ plugins to extend the functionality of your site
• Thousands of free and premium themes
• The Gutenburg block editor
• Advanced user roles and permissions
• Powerful media management
• A massive community of experts
• Infinite design control

The best part is that you have 100% control over your website and blog. Plus, you aren’t tied down by rules and regulations. You can decide what to display, what you don’t reveal, and how you make money. 

There are countless ways to get started with WordPress.org. But I highly recommend starting with Bluehost. 

It’s the easiest way to get everything you need. 

They also include a free domain name for the first year. So, all you have to do is pick a hosting plan, snag your free domain, and use their one-click WordPress installation feature. 

#3 – Squarespace Review — The best blogging platform for visual-based businesses

Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder, like Wix. However, it’s famous for aesthetically pleasing templates, making it perfect for visual-based businesses like photographers, designers, and artists. 

It’s also straightforward to use. Plus, it includes web hosting services and a free domain for the first year (if you choose an annual premium plan). 

It’s perfect for bloggers who want an easy, aesthetic way to share images, videos, and portfolio pieces, along with long-form and short-form blog posts. 

And with Squarespace, you create blog posts the same way you create pages. 

So, once you learn how the drag-and-drop editor works, you know how to use the entire platform. You also get access to powerful blogging features, including:

• Free blogging templates to help you get started
• Five unique post layouts for your home and archive pages
• Categories, tags, and featured posts
• Built-in post scheduler
• Contributor permissions
• In-depth analytics
• SEO and social media tools
• Email marketing (additional fees)
• Expert customer service
• Mobile app

Squarespace isn’t as customizable as Wix or WordPress.org, but it’s perfect for creative bloggers and visual-based businesses looking for something captivating and easy to use. 

Paid plans start at $12 per month and increase depending on the features you need. 

#4 – Medium Review — The best traditional blogging platform

Medium is a platform that helps readers and writers find new ideas, knowledge, and perspectives. It’s unique because there are no ads present on the platform. 

To date, they have over 120 million readers, making this an excellent way to get your content in front of more people. It’s also great if you want to share personal stories and perspectives to get your thoughts out to the world. 

However, it’s not a great platform for making money as a blogger. Medium does have a partner program that rewards writers for the amount of time paying members spend reading their content. 

But you’ll have a hard time making a decent amount of money on Medium alone. 

And you can’t include your own call-to-actions in partner posts. So, you have to choose between making money and growing your email list. 

It’s not a flawed model. However, I highly recommend treating Medium as an extension of your Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.org blog. 

To get started, you can create a profile or a publication. Publications look more aesthetically pleasing, and you get more organization and display features. With publications, you can also send newsletters to your followers. 

However, it doesn’t really matter which one you choose. 

Note: if you use Medium as an extension of your blog, make sure you use their import feature to add existing blog posts. This way, you can add content from your blog to Medium without creating duplicate content for SEO purposes. 

#5 – Blogger Review – The best for personal blogs

Blogger is one of the original blogging platforms. It’s been around since 1999.

It’s completely free to use with no paid plans, upsells, or anything like that. And it’s incredibly easy to use. This makes it perfect for personal or hobby bloggers looking to share their thoughts and ideas with the world. 

They have several free templates to choose from that govern how your blog looks. However, they’re not very customizable. 

You can change the colors and the layout of a few things, but that’s about it. 

The platform focuses solely on blogging, so that’s where the majority of their features lie. With Blogger, you get free access to essential features, including:

• A free SSL certificate and free domain mapping
• Google integrations
• Image storage with Google Photos
• Integrated ad campaigns
• Simple text editor

And while those features are great, the platform is seriously lacking in other departments, including customization, custom post types, and overall design. 

Essentially, it’s an old-school blogging platform. It works well for simple blogging, but you can’t create a full-fledged website, so I don’t recommend it if you want to build a brand and make money blogging. 

However, since Google’s acquisition in 2003, you can display Google Ads on your blog to make a little extra money on the side. 

But, it’s not a sustainable or long-term way to make a full-time income with your blog. 

Summary

The best blogging platform for you depends on where you want to take your blog. For personal and hobby bloggers, a free platform like Blogger or Medium is the perfect place to start. 

They’re easy to set up, incredibly simple, and the fastest way to start publishing online. Plus, you don’t have to pay anything to share your thoughts and ideas. 

However, if you want to make money and turn your blog into a business, free platforms won’t cut it. The easiest premium blogging platforms are Wix and Squarespace, making them perfect for beginners. 

However, if you want the ultimate level of control, go with WordPress.org hosted by Bluehost. 

The post The Best Blogging Platforms (In-Depth Review) appeared first on Neil Patel.

Today, consumers have a lot of power — they can research your product or service and make purchase decisions entirely on their own. And rather than talking to one of your sales reps, they’re more likely to ask for referrals from members of their networks or read online reviews. 

With this in mind, have you adapted your marketing strategy to complement the way today’s consumers research, shop, and buy?

In order to do just that — and to meet your potential buyers were they are — you must have a deep understanding of who your buyers are, your specific market, and what influences the purchase decisions and behavior of your target audience members.  Enter: Market Research. 

Whether you’re new to market research, this guide will provide you with a blueprint for conducting a thorough study of your market, target audience, competition, and more.

What is market research?

Market research is the process of gathering information about your business’s buyers personas, target audience, and customers to determine how viable and successful your product or service would be, and/or is, among these people.

What does market research tell you? 

Market research provides insight into a wide variety of things that impact your bottom line including (but not limited to):

• Where your target audience and current customers conduct their product/ service research
• Which of your competitors your target audience looks to for information, more options, or to make a purchase
• What’s trending in your industry
• Who makes up your market and what their challenges are
• What influences purchases and conversions among your target audience 

As you begin honing in on your market research, you’ll likely hear about primary and secondary market research. The easiest way to think about primary and secondary research is to envision to umbrellas sitting beneath market research: one for primary market research and one for secondary market research.

Beneath these two umbrellas sits a number of different types of market research, which we’ll highlight below. Defining which of the two umbrellas your market research fits beneath isn’t necessarily crucial, although some marketers prefer to make the distinction.

So, in case you encounter a marketer who wants to define your types of market research as primary or secondary — or if you’re one of them — let’s cover the definitions of the two categories next. Then, we’ll look at the different types of market research in the following section. 

Primary vs. Secondary Research

There are two main types of market research that your business can conduct to collect actionable information on your products including primary research and secondary research.

Primary Research

Primary research is the pursuit of first-hand information about your market and the customers within your market. It’s useful when segmenting your market and establishing your buyer personas. Primary market research tends to fall into one of two buckets: exploratory and specific research.

Exploratory Primary Research

This kind of primary market research is less concerned with measurable customer trends and more about potential problems that would be worth tackling as a team. It normally takes place as a first step — before any specific research has been performed — and may involve open-ended interviews or surveys with small numbers of people.

Specific Primary Research

Specific primary market research often follows exploratory research and is used to dive into issues or opportunities the business has already identified as important. In specific research, the business can take a smaller or more precise segment of their audience and ask questions aimed at solving a suspected problem.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is all the data and public records you have at your disposal to draw conclusions from(e.g. trend reports, market statistics, industry content, and sales data you already have on your business). Secondary research is particularly useful for analyzing your competitors. The main buckets your secondary market research will fall into include:

Public Sources

These sources are your first and most-accessible layer of material when conducting secondary market research. They’re often free to find and review — lots of bang for your buck here.

Government statistics are one of the most common types of public sources according to Entrepreneur. Two U.S. examples of public market data are the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor & Statistics, both of which offer helpful information on the state of various industries nationwide.

Commercial Sources

These sources often come in the form of market reports, consisting of industry insight compiled by a research agency like Pew, Gartner, or Forrester. Because this info is so portable and distributable, it typically costs money to download and obtain.

Internal Sources

Internal sources deserve more credit for supporting market research than they generally get. Why? This is the market data your organization already has!

Average revenue per sale, customer retention rates, and other historical data on the health of old and new accounts can all help you draw conclusions on what your buyers might want right now.

Now that we’ve covered these overarching market research categories, let’s get more specific and look at the various types of market research you might choose to conduct. 

1. Interviews

Interviews allow for face-to-face discussions (in-person and virtual) so you can allow for a natural flow or conversation and watch your interviewee’s body language while doing so. 

2. Focus Groups

Focus groups provide you with a handful of carefully-selected people that you can have test out your product, watch a demo, provide feedback, and/or answer specific questions.

3. Product/ Service Use Research

Product or service use research offers insight into how and why your audience uses your product or service, and specific features of that item. This type of market research also gives you an idea of the product or service’s usability for your target audience. 

4. Observation-Based Research

Observation-based research allows you to sit back and watch the ways in which your target audience members go about using your product or service, what works well in terms of UX, what roadblocks they hit, and which aspects of it could be easier for them to use and apply. 

5. Buyer Persona Research

Buyer persona research gives you a realistic look at who makes up your target audience, what their challenges are, why they want your product or service, what they need from your business and brand, and more. 

6. Market Segmentation Research

Market segmentation research allows you to categorize your target audience into different groups (or segments) based on specific and defining characteristics — this way, you can determine effective ways to meet their needs, understand their pain points and expectations, learn about their goals, and more. 

7. Pricing Research

Pricing research gives you an idea of what similar products or services in your market sell for, what your target audience expects to pay — and is willing to pay — for whatever it is you sell, and what’s a fair price for you to list your product or service at. All of this information will help you define your pricing strategy. 

8. Competitive Analysis

Competitive analyses are valuable because they give you a deep understanding of the competition in your market and industry. You can learn about what’s doing well in your industry, what your target audience is already going for in terms of products like yours, which of your competitors should you work to keep up with and surpass, and how you can clearly separate yourself from the competition. 

9. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

Customer satisfaction and loyalty research give you a look into how you can get current customers to return for more business and what will motivate them to do so (e.g. loyalty programs, rewards, remarkable customer service). This research will help you discover the most-effective ways to promote delight among your customers.

10. Brand Awareness Research

Brand awareness research tells you about what your target audience knows about and recognizes from your brand. It tells you about the associations your audience members make when they think about your business and what they believe you’re all about.  

11. Campaign Research

Campaign research entails looking into your past campaigns and analyzing their success among your target audience and current customers. It requires experimentation and then a deep dive into what reached and resonated with your audience so you can keep those elements in mind for your future campaigns and hone in on the aspects of what you do that matters most to those people. 

Now that you know about the categories and types of market research, let’s review how you can conduct your market research.

Here’s how to do market research step-by-step.

5. Summarize your findings.

Feeling overwhelmed by the notes you took? We suggest looking for common themes that will help you tell a story and create a list of action items.

To make the process easier, try using your favorite presentation software to make a report, as it will make it easy to add in quotes, diagrams, or call clips.

Feel free to add your own flair, but the following outline should help you craft a clear summary:

• Background: Your goals and why you conducted this study.
• Participants: Who you talked to. A table works well so you can break groups down by persona and customer/prospect.
• Executive Summary: What were the most interesting things you learned? What do you plan to do about it?
• Awareness: Describe the common triggers that lead someone to enter into an evaluation. (Quotes can be very powerful.)
• Consideration: Provide the main themes you uncovered, as well as the detailed sources buyers use when conducting their evaluation.
• Decision: Paint the picture of how a decision is really made by including the people at the center of influence and any product features or information that can make or break a deal.
• Action Plan: Your analysis probably uncovered a few campaigns you can run to get your brand in front of buyers earlier and/or more effectively. Provide your list of priorities, a timeline, and the impact it will have on your business.

Lastly, let’s review a resource that can help you compile everything we just discussed in a simple yet effective way (plus, it’s free!).

Market Research Report Template

Within a market research kit, there are a number of critical pieces of information for your business’s success. Let’s take a look at what those different kit elements are next. 

Pro Tip: Upon downloading HubSpot’s free Market Research Kit, you’ll receive editable templates for each of the give parts of the kit as well as instructions on how to use the templates and kit, and a mock presentation that you can edit and customize. 

Download HubSpot’s free, editable market research report template here. 

Source

1. Five Forces Analysis Template

Use Porter’s Five Forces Model to understand an industry by analyzing five different criteria and how high the power, threat, or rivalry in each area is — here are the five criteria: 

• Competitive rivalry
• Threat of new entrants
• Threat of substitution
• Buyer power
• Supplier power

Download a free, editable Five Forces Analysis template here. 

2. SWOT Analysis Template

 

 A
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis looks at your internal strengths and weaknesses, and your external opportunities and threats within the market.

A SWOT analysis highlights direct areas of opportunity your company can continue, build, focus on, and work to overcome.

 

Download a free, editable SWOT Analysis template here. 

3. Market Survey Template

Both market surveys and focus groups (which we’ll cover in the next section) help you uncover important information about your buyer personas, target audience, current customers, market, competition, and more (e.g. demand for your product or service, potential pricing, impressions of your branding, etc.).

Surveys should contain a variety of question types, like multiple choice, rankings, and open-ended responses. Ask quantitative and short-answer questions to save you time and to more easily draw conclusions. (Save longer questions that will warrant more detailed responses for your focus groups.)

Here are some categories of questions you should ask via survey: 

• Demographic questions
• Business questions
• Competitor questions
• Industry questions
• Brand questions
• Product questions

Download a free, editable Market Survey template here. 

4. Focus Group Template

Focus groups are an opportunity to collect in-depth, qualitative data from your real customers or members of your target audience. You should ask your focus group participants open-ended questions. While doing so, keep these tips top of mind:

• Set a limit for the number of questions you’re asking (after all, they’re open-ended). 
• Provide participants with a prototype or demonstration.
• Ask participants how they feel about your price.
• Ask participants about your competition.
• Offer participants time at the end of the session for final comments, questions, or concerns.

Download a free, editable Focus Group template here. 

Conduct Market Research to Grow Better

Conducting market research can be a very eye-opening experience. Even if you think you know your buyers pretty well, completing the study will likely uncover new channels and messaging tips to help improve your interactions.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January, 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.