40 Clever 404 Error Pages From Real Websites

Running a successful website means staying alert for errors like broken pages or slow performance. However, sometimes there are problems that you just can’t avoid, and 404 errors are one of them.

A 404 occurs when a user requests a page on your website that doesn’t exist, thus throwing a 404 error page prompting users to return to the right place. No matter how many resources you put into ensuring your website never goes down ... there's always a chance that users could end up here.

It's inconvenient, but a fact of life. And the reaction of visitors when they land on a nonexistent page can range from "taking it in stride" to "totally losing their minds."

While there's nothing you can do about the latter, you can make things a little less of a pain by having a creative error 404 message. This can do wonders to make your website visitors crack a smile in an otherwise frustrating situation.

To get your website design juices flowing, this post will showcase some of our favorite website error pages. Hopefully, you'll be able to take away a few ideas to snazz up your own 404 message.

What is a 404 Error?

A 404 error is a standard HTTP error message code that means the website you were trying to reach couldn't be found on the server. It's a client-side error, meaning either the webpage was removed or moved and the URL wasn't changed accordingly, or the person just typed in the URL incorrectly.

For the most part, you can configure your server to create a customized 404 error page. (If you're a HubSpot customer, click here to learn how to customize your 404 page in HubSpot.)

Some customized 404 error pages include a hero image, witty description, site map, search form, or basic contact information.

The Best 404 Web Page Examples

Over the years, websites have found different ways to inform visitors of a 404 error and channel them back to the right place, some simply, some creatively, and some hilariously. Let’s start by looking at some creative 404 pages, then check out some funny examples that are sure to delight anyone who comes across them.

Page Not Found: TK Creative 404 Error Pages

1. Pipcorn

While a 404 page can easily stick out from a website, Pipcorn’s error page aligns perfectly with the rest of the site’s branding. There’s a nice animated background, a friendly text prompt directing visitors to search the website (complete with a clever pun), and a piece of popcorn used as the “0” in “404.”

2. Spotify

Music streaming giant Spotify has covered its bases with a clever 404 page. With a witty pun off Kanye West’s album “808s and Heartbreak” and a record animation, the website briefly entertains and then sends visitors back to the page they came from.

3. Genially

One simple way to ease the tension on your 404 page is to add a quick “Oops!” message — it helps your site feel more personable as you guide users back to the right place. In the case of Genially’s site, the page also includes a nifty illustration paired with some playful copy.

4. Adobe

As you would expect, Adobe’s 404 error page is both useful and visually pleasing. It lists out popular links that visitors might want alongside some cool digital artwork serving as a visual metaphor for a broken or lost page. Honestly, websites should use visual metaphors more often.

5. Clorox

The 404 page for Clorox cleaning products rotates between three lighthearted photos to signal to visitors that they’ve made a misstep. It’s a smart use of branding to add a brief delight moment while helping out lost users.

6. Duma Collective

Other times, you might not need a witty blurb — just tell visitors that there’s no page at the address and let them move on. Entertainment consulting agency Duma Collective does just this with its error page, though it’s complemented by a background image for some minor flair.

7. Chillhouse

Speaking of flair, self-care brand Chillhouse has put in the extra work to reroute its visitors in style. The 404 page is branded appropriately and even takes visitors on a little journey through a few image stills before they go back to the homepage.

8. Bitly

If you enter an incorrect Bitly link, you’ll be taken to Bitly’s 404 page. We assume this happens a fair amount, which is why the 404 page gets straight to the point. It explains what might have gone wrong and prompts users to visit the Bitly homepage if that’s what they’re after.

9. Ikea

Ikea’s 404 page is similarly minimalist but still manages to sneak some smart branding in there. This example shows that your error pages don’t need to be elaborate to get the point across, but there’s nothing wrong with injecting some fun either.

10. Moxie Design Co.

Sure, “blew up the Internet” might be a bit hyperbolic, but it tells visitors that Moxie Design Co. doesn’t take itself too seriously with small slip-ups like this one. Also, a search bar is conveniently placed at the bottom to send you on your way.

11. McKissack & McKissack

Ah, the classic “we lost the page” trick. Again, an easy way to present a 404 without alienating your audience. If you’re an agency like McKissack & McKissack that manages many client interactions, clear and concise copy is essential for all of your site’s pages, including error pages.

12. CSS Tricks

Ever ripped away a website's wrapping to see what's underneath? That's the concept that CSS Tricks was going for in their 404 error page. This is both witty and reminiscent of what the website is all about: smart use of page styling.

13. Good Old Games

For other websites, you unwrap the front end and there's … just the vast emptiness of space. This page is a clever reference to GOG Galaxy, which is Good Old Games’ native video game client. Thankfully, a little video game character is there to give visitors a place to report an error if they want.

14. Canva

For something a little different, check out Canva’s 404 page. It includes not just an error message, but a nifty tile puzzle visitors can play for some brief entertainment. There’s no harm in letting your visitors slack off for a couple of minutes, right?

15. Innotech

Similar to Canva’s approach, Innotech features a Pong-esque game on its 404 page to provide some brief entertainment. Chances are you’ll remember a website like this. Plus, the fun detour complements a truly impressive website — seriously, when you’re done playing, head to the home page and take it all in.

16. Myriad

Video agency Myriad has opted for a quirky, on-brand 404 page design that mimics the classic SMPTE color bars that appear on old tapes and TVs. It’s a funny throwback to older technologies while representing the more modern problem of a nonexistent web page.

17. KonMari

Known for her popular cleaning and organization methods and brand, Marie Kondo has brought a similar feel to her website’s 404 page. The copy briefly and humorously harkens back to her tidying philosophy — a small but well-branded detail that fans will recognize.

18. BrandCrowd

Not only is the illustration on this error page detailed and engaging — the copy is clever, too. We love the reference to the Semisonic song “Closing Time”: “You can click anywhere else, but you can't click here.”

19. Hot Dot Productions

Hot Dot's error page stays true to its tagline, “the intersection of new technologies and design.” The page is animated by hundreds of tiny dots that change direction in response to where you move your cursor. It's mesmerizing and a great showcase of the agency’s design capabilities.

20. OrangeCoat

If you're going to give an error message, why not entertain the user for a few seconds while you help them out? Following a friendly greeting, OrangeCoat offers a flowchart that actually helps users figure out why they reached an error page in the first place.

21. Ervin & Smith

This 404 page does more than redirect users back to active pages. Instead, Ervin & Smith’s 404 page invites you to scroll down and learn why you need a digital marketing agency, and why to choose Ervin & Smith in particular, capped off with a contact form. True to its mission, this agency shows that any page can be a conversion opportunity.

22. DayCloud Studios

… or, your 404 can just be a place to waste time for a minute, as can be seen on the website for DayCloud Studios. Moving the cursor around the screen reveals a 404 message illuminated by lasers shooting from a cat’s eyes. Because why not?

23. Headspace

Another instance of a website smartly incorporating its brand messaging into a 404 page — guided meditation app Headspace makes the effort to calm users, encouraging us to take a deep breath, then return to the main site.

24. Wildwood Bakery

Some websites thus far have integrated clever branded copy in their pages, while others have hosted full-blown online games on theirs. But, there’s nothing wrong with a brief push back in the right direction. Wildwood Bakery’s exquisite site keeps things short and sweet (literally).

 

Page Not Found: TK Funny 404 Error Pages

25. Astuteo

Design agency Astuteo’s 404 page is a perfect balance of elegant visuals, humor, and helpfulness. The minimal layout gives users the information they need alongside another amusing visual metaphor, a sinking cargo ship and a fleeing figure.

26. LEGO

There’s few words needed on LEGO's 404 error page — the character’s expression makes everything clear. Plus, fans of the LEGO movie franchise will enjoy the fun reference in the copy.

27. Magnt

In this funny error message, Magnt pokes fun at the fact that, yes, they could have broken something — or, you just can't type. The visual serves as a quick way to quickly illustrate their point.

28. IconFinder

IconFinder's error page is simple but delightful. The company’s mascot wearing a robe and appearing weary is a relatable nod to lost visitors. No worries though, since the site lists some of its links to visit down below.

29. Sweet Dreams

Apparently, the team at sleep aid company Sweet Dreams took too many of its products according to the website’s 404 page. Not only is this page humorous — it also blends well with the rest of the site’s front-end aesthetic and messaging for a cohesive feel.

30. GitHub

The line "These aren't the droids you're looking for" refers to Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi mind trick on Stormtroopers in Star Wars Episode IV, and it's become a well-known phrase used to tell someone they're pursuing the wrong course of action. GitHub plays on this famous line in their 404 error message.

31. Patagonia

Patagonia’s custom 404 page captures the brand’s vibe perfectly, complete with a boomerang video of a frisbee twirler, a clever pun combining “404” and “aloha,” and links to its product pages. It’s a friendly and funny way to greet visitors who wound up in the wrong place.

32. Cloud Sigma

Check it out: Cloud Sigma's letting us in on some behind-the-scenes action. Their 404 error page pretends to be a "junior developer's homepage" — that junior developer being, well, a cat.

33. AMC Theatres

You might have been to an AMC movie theater before, but you’ve hopefully never seen their website’s 404 page. The website makes use of a quick, funny, and relevant one-liner before it sends you back to the right place.

34. Bruno

It’s no coincidence that creative agencies are great at coming up with cool 404 pages. Here’s another one from the creatives at Bruno that plays off the 2000 cult comedy classic Dude, Where’s My Car? No, it has nothing to do with the company or website, but it’s sure to get a chuckle.

35. NPR

At first, NPR's error page seems like nothing special. But keep reading and you'll see how they cleverly link to some of their great stories about lost people, places, and things, like a piece on Amelia Earhart and one on Waldo. This might just make lost users feel a little less alone.

36. Medium

Medium takes a similar approach to NPR’s 404 page, recommending articles about getting lost and losing things. Check these articles out if you have time — they’re quite good reads.

37. HomeStarRunner

HomeStarRunner.com, home to a Flash-animated cartoon series, has had a series of hilarious 404 error pages over the years. The most recent features characters from the cartoon series in a scene that could've come straight out of one of their episodes. If you turn the sound on when you load the page, you'll hear their character Strong Bad — known for yelling phrases out loud — saying, "404'd!"

38. Blizzard Entertainment

Here's a simple idea that ends up looking slick: Blizzard Entertainment's 404 page features an animated character lost in an actual blizzard and some humor that World of Warcraft fans will appreciate.

39. Hello Big Idea

A quick trip around marketing and social media experts Hello Big Idea’s website will tell you what you need to know about its bold and blunt style of copy. And, of course, its 404 error page is no exception.

40. HubSpot

It happens to us, too! This is the message we put up to tell our site visitors that there are some website issues. Our goal was to stay true to HubSpot's brand voice by being as lovable, empathetic, and helpful as possible.

Turn a 404 Error Page Into a Delight Moment

Nobody wants to land on a 404 page — they’re annoying and unexpected. However, you can’t really avoid them, so it’s always a good idea to have a 404 page to fall back on for your website.

And, from a user experience perspective, your 404 page should be a small speed bump, not a brick wall. The right design can be the difference between a frustrated bounce and a possible conversion, so why not make it fun?

Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

40 Clever 404 Error Pages From Real Websites was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

13 Social Media Strategies & Resources for Black-Owned Businesses

Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint — a new blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of Black business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success.

Since the early 2000s, social media has impacted every aspect of people's lives, including business. Entrepreneurs from all over the world have and continue to use social media as a tool to launch their brand, connect with people, and garner new customers.

Social media quickly replaced flyers as a form of marketing, and now business owners are investing their time into marketing strategies to reach 4.2 billion social media users worldwide.

Additionally, a Forbes article stated that 84% of respondents who completed a CMO Survey report using social media for brand building. One might even argue that social media is just as critical as a company's website.

Social media has served as a staple in the Black community to connect in creative and hilarious ways through pictures, videos, words, and more. In fact, we're so connected that it can take only a few minutes for people, services, or products to go viral on major social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, or Snapchat.

These sites have also helped Black-owned businesses gain visibility and engage with users in free, innovative ways.

I spoke with three social media experts who shared a list of strategies, resources, and success stories Black business owners can use to increase their following and expand their audiences. Let's dive in.

6 Social Media Strategies for Black Business Owners

1. Build a community by creating engaging content.

Social media manager coach and content strategist Bolaji Ajibare believes creating engaging content is one of the main strategies Black-owned businesses should leverage.

Ajibare, who is popularly called TheSocialMediaOga, says that business owners should create material that allows them to interact with their followers. Entrepreneurs can grow their community by asking their audience what kind of information they'd like to see on their page to serve them properly.

Ajibare says it's a good idea for users to incorporate various information to appeal to followers — including promotional, inspirational, and educational content, to display balanced material on their page.

Content and design strategist Alicia Noelle further emphasizes that business owners should post creative content that influences people to interact with them. Creating polls and responding to followers in the comments section are a couple of ways that business owners can communicate with their followers. Noelle says these efforts are the critical difference from simply gaining followers.

"I think that that's what small businesses are going to have to realize as they change their marketing tactics in 2021, and beyond — that people are no longer going to buy from you because it looks pretty," Noelle said. "They want to feel like they belong in your community, and you have to create that atmosphere for them."

Social media expert and CEO of Thames Media Solutions, Michelle Thames, shared similar sentiments. Thames states that people forget that humans are on the other side of social media, and they still want to feel like they're a part of a community.

"You have to nurture your audience by giving them tools and the resources," she said. 

Thames adds, "Whether you have a product-based business or a service-based business, you have to solve [your audience's] problem and let them know why they need to come to you."

Noelle and Thames mentioned natural hair care line Mielle Organics as an example of a Black-owned business that has successfully curated a community around their social media pages.

Image Source

Social media influencers promote their line, and the company also offers promotions and giveaways. Mielle Organics features customers who use their products on their social pages, as well.

2. Write captions that resonate with your followers. 

Noelle recommends that business owners develop prompts for their captions to complement their graphics or videos before they post.

According to the content and design strategist, every caption needs to tell a story that resonates or connects with a business's audience. The text should be more than two sentences and should also include a call-to-action encouraging followers to subscribe to the company's email list, sign up for discounts, or buy an item.

Noelle used Breanna Aponte as an example of an entrepreneur who writes good captions. She says that Aponte tells stories with her posts that resonate with her followers. Even though her posts may be unrelated to her business, she can still sell her social media services because of her authenticity.

Image Source

Noelle suggests that business owners create captions that put followers in a different mindset and influence them to want to read what they have to say.

Business owners can share a behind-the-scenes look of their brand on their IG Stories, Twitter Fleets, or Facebook Stories.

Mattie James is an example of an entrepreneur who uses her Stories feature effectively as an influencer. James posts consistent content highlighting her family, daily routine, links to brand promotions, and more.

The Stories feature for all platforms is also a great way for entrepreneurs to promote what they have to offer and communicate with followers who respond to their posts via DM.

Thames recommends that businesses should spend 30 minutes to an hour each day engaging with customers and followers to prove that they're a trusted, reliable source. This effort also makes followers feel like business owners care.

3. Create videos and reels.

Using videos and Instagram Reels is critical for businesses to maintain engagement and attract new followers.

"If you're looking to do videos, Reels are going to help you get in front of more people because Instagram prioritizes their new features. Reels is a new feature, and they want to make sure that users use it," Thames said.

Thames revealed she gained roughly 1,200 followers in 30 days using Instagram Reels, and she doesn't even post every day. She emphasized that business owners' Reels need to either be entertaining or educational. They should also be short, quick, and to the point, since people often have short attention spans on social media, proving why the feature is so popular.

She incorporated Instagram Reels into her clients' social media strategy by encouraging them to make posts three to four times a week. She also mentions that entrepreneurs should be using IG Video and TikTok.

Marketing strategists Candace Junée and Ashley France are two entrepreneurs who use videos and IG Reels very well.

4. Post multiple times a week.

No matter if it's a photo, Reel, story, or video, business owners should post on their page multiple times a week to not only secure sales, but to stay relevant.

Noelle identifies this strategy as the rapid-fire strategy for social media. She suggests business owners who sell products to post a minimum of once a day, but ideally two to three times a day by creating content using the other aforementioned strategies.  

If it is a service-based business, Noelle recommends businesses to post at least three times a week since solopreneurs usually lead this type of company, which can make this effort a daunting task. This strategy can also work for product-based businesses if they're unable to post multiple times a day.

Mahdi Woodard is a marketing and branding guru who does a great job posting frequently on his page. Woodard posts simple but highly effective content to keep his followers engaged. He uses inspirational quotes and videos to promote his brand.

5. Leverage hashtags.

Hashtags are frequently used on platforms such Instagram and TikTok. Entrepreneurs use hashtags to attract potential followers and customers because it's an easy way to be found, especially when they use niche and location-based hashtags.

Users tend to use hashtags a lot on Instagram and TikTok. Hashtagged words or phrases are one of the best free marketing tools if used correctly.

For instance, I found all three social media experts by using the #socialmediaexperts hashtag on Instagram for this blog post.

6. Use templates.

Bolaji says templates can be a beneficial tool for entrepreneurs because it makes your content layout look clean and consistent. It also makes life easier for business owners because they can use templates to publish their material quickly and efficiently.

Millennial money expert and founder of My Fab Finance, Tonya Rapley, uses templates on her Instagram page. Her page has a consistent color scheme which makes her page look cohesive and appealing.

Image Source

Every strategy mentioned above is guaranteed to help businesses grow, but Bolaji admits that sometimes business owners can't use the same approach that got them to 1,000 followers to get 10,000. Even if they're using all of these strategies, business owners have to stay up-to-speed and learn what method works best for them at various levels of their success.

7 Social Media Tools Black-Owned Businesses Can Use

The strategies listed above are beneficial, but business owners can't produce quality content for followers if they don't have the effective tools to make the process easier. Social media tools are essential for business owners to cater to their customers' needs and provide excellent customer service through proper planning.

Take a look at the tools the social media experts suggested Black-owned businesses use, below.

1. Canva

Canva is a platform used for graphic design. Users can use the tool to create social media graphics, templates, documents, and other visual content.

Price:

Free Version: $0.00

Pro Version: $9.99/month or $119.99/year

Enterprise Version: $30.00/month per person

2. Flodesk

Flodesk is an email marketing service provider that's built for creators to design and send automated marketing emails to help grow their following.

Price:

$38/month

$418/year

3. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a social media management platform that has a social network integration feature that gives users the ability to share content onTwitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinetrest and YouTube.

Price:

Professional: $49/month

Team: $129/month

Business: $599/month

4. Later

Later is an all-in-one social marketing platform that allows businesses to plan, analyze, and publish content for the top social networks.

Price:

Free Version: $0/month

Starter: $12.50/month

Growth: $20.83/month

Advance: $33.33/month

5. Planoly

Created as the first visual planner for Instagram, Planoly plans, schedules, and measures content across social networks such as Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

Price:

Free Version: $0

Solo: $7 billed annually or $9 month to month

Duo; $15 billed annually or $19 month to month

Custom: $23 billed annually or $29 month to month

6. Pixistock

Pixistock is a Black-owned visual content creation service that offers photos and graphics for websites and social media feeds.

Price:

Member Pricing

• 1-5 photos: $35 each
• 6-9 photos: $30 each
• 10-19 photos: $28 each
• 20-29 photos: $25 each
• 30-49 photos: $20 each
• 50+ photos: $18 each

Non-Member Pricing

• 1-5 photos: $45 each
• 6-9 photos: $40 each
• 10-19 photos: $38 each
• 20-29 photos: $35 each
• 30-49 photos: $30 each
• 50+ photos: $28 each

7. Airtable

Airtable is a low-code, cloud collaborative platform that allows users to build software tools that fit their needs. Users can customize their workflow and collaborate with other creators and creatives.

Price:

Free Version: $0

Plus: $12/month or $10 per seat/month billed annually

Pro: $24/month or $20 per seat/month billed annually

Although it takes commitment and time, social media provides Black entrepreneurs and creatives a space where their voices can be heard. I hope these suggestions will help Black-owned businesses share their talent — whether it be a service or a product — with the world.

13 Social Media Strategies & Resources for Black-Owned Businesses was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Marketing Effectiveness: How to Measure It & Present to External Stakeholders

You can apply marketing strategies all day, but if they aren't effective, those efforts don't matter in the long-term.

Measuring marketing effectiveness is crucial to improving your go-to strategies over time. Are your methods hitting KPIs? Are they helping your clients reach short- and long-term milestones? Use each campaign to learn and grow.

By measuring marketing effectiveness, you can better ensure high ROI or return on marketing investment, ROMI.

Measuring Marketing Effectiveness

How do you measure marketing effectiveness? Sure, you can look at traffic or sales metrics, but it goes further than that.

Ultimately, the KPIs you choose to measure can vary by company and strategy. But there are some metrics to pay attention to when measuring marketing effectiveness.

First, when you consider revenue, look into how much of the revenue is a direct result of the marketing efforts. This can help provide clear, high-level insight into how successful the marketing efforts are for the company.

Next, consider pipeline ROI or pipeline growth. Do you continue to generate more and more new leads via your marketing efforts? If not, your marketing effectiveness might be falling flat.

Conversion rates are also a strong KPI to review. Keep in mind that impressions, views and even clicks don't necessarily translate to a successful marketing strategy. If users are clicking but not following through with a purchase, why aren't they converting? Conversion rates can offer a better look at the success of your marketing.

When considering long-term effectiveness, look at retention rates. Are customers sticking around with your company for the long haul, or are they making a few purchases and leaving? Don't forget to continue marketing to ongoing customers while also reaching new audiences.

Marketing Effectiveness Metrics

The types of metrics you consider can also vary by medium. Marketing efforts used to center on tangible but harder to measure media, like billboards, magazines, or television.

Today, digital marketing is front-and-center, and with it comes a wide array of things to measure to determine effectiveness. Here are three top marketing segments and metrics to consider for each.

1. Social Media Marketing Effectiveness

Social media marketing is newer to the scene, but it can be huge for company revenue and lead generation. Measuring marketing effectiveness on social media is pretty straightforward.

It's easy to track the number of inquiries or leads through gated content on social media, and engagement can also be tracked through reposts/shares, comments, and follower count.

Conversion rate plays a role here too. If your account has a high follower count but comparatively low engagement rates, you can start investigating where to tailor your social marketing strategy for improved engagement, leads and revenue.

2. Content Marketing Effectiveness

Content marketing is vast, with options to market through a website, videos, articles, courses, and other digital content. The goal is not to say, “Hey, purchase my product and engage with my brand!” but rather to provide valuable, informational content for customers.

Because there are so many methods for content marketing, measuring effectiveness can vary widely depending on the source at hand. You might check conversion rates from your website to your paid online course, or you might consider engagement with your informational video or webinar.

3. Email Marketing Effectiveness

Email marketing is thriving. There are a number of metrics to consider when measuring email marketing effectiveness. First, you can review delivery, open, and click-through rates.

High delivery rates means your emails are reaching inboxes, but don't depend solely on this metric. Open rates are important, as a low open rate can reveal that you need to focus on writing shorter, more intriguing subject lines.

Of these three, click-through rates are arguably the most important. Are potential customers clicking on links in the email, or are they opening it and then deleting the email? Click-through rates offer a higher chance of converting to revenue. Conversion rate is, again, important here and can help gauge marketing effectiveness for emails, content, social and traditional marketing methods.

How To Present Marketing Effectiveness

So you know how to measure marketing effectiveness, but how do you best share this information with external stakeholders? An insightful marketing report can show clients exactly how impactful last quarter's marketing campaign was on business.

These metrics can also be used in requesting a higher marketing budget or determining strategies for the future.

Here's how to prepare your presentation, from the data to include and how to organize it to truly show marketing effectiveness.

Data to Include

Typically, a marketing report will review quarterly campaigns. First, you want to include the goals of the marketing strategy for that quarter to measure the actual results against the expected outcomes. Include all methods of marketing, such as content, social and/or email, and their accompanying KPIs.

Also, include market research to identify the target audience within the report and ensure external stakeholders know why your strategy addresses this specific audience through these specific methods.

The aforementioned KPIs like conversion rates, social engagement, revenue as it relates to marketing campaigns, click-through rates for emails, and customer retention rates can all be included in the report for external stakeholders.

Organizing the Presentation

The presentation should be a sensible roadmap, starting with the goals and expected outcomes and leading through the metrics measured for each type of marketing. Goals can include traffic numbers, revenue, customer satisfaction, or lead generation.

Organize metrics by social, email, content, and any other inbound or outbound marketing types you pursued over the quarter. You can also note specific goals and results for each type of marketing.

Don't forget to include explanations. Share what is doing well, and why; also outline what is underperforming, why, and how you plan to tackle that next quarter.

KPIs to Prove Effectiveness

Again, KPIs are crucial to share with external stakeholders, as they will clearly showcase marketing effectiveness.

For content marketing, show lead generation, conversion rates, bounce rates, and even SEO-related metrics like page rank on the search engine results page (SERP).

Email marketing should outline delivery, open and click-through rates. You can also analyze bounce rate, both emails that bounced back from unavailable email addresses and from your website's pages that include email signups. Additional email marketing KPIs to consider are the number of emails sent, new subscribers for the quarter and unsubscribes per email sent.

Social media insights can also focus on lead generation and engagement rates. As social continues to develop, some revenue rates will be gauged directly from social, as platforms add shopping functions.

Measure Marketing Effectiveness To Inform Goals

You might spend weeks pouring energy into an email marketing campaign that just doesn't generate the leads you had expected while leads are pouring in through social despite a lack of focused efforts there.

Without reviewing and analyzing your marketing strategies, it's hard to know where to best channel your time, creative energy, and budget to continue boosting your pipeline and revenues.

Marketing effectiveness uses key metrics to identify high and low points of your marketing strategies, so you can share this information with external stakeholders and better inform future strategies and goals.

Marketing Effectiveness: How to Measure It & Present to External Stakeholders was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Blog SEO: How to Search Engine Optimize Your Blog Content

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is incredibly important for marketers. When you optimize your web pages — including your blog posts — you're making your website more visible to people who are using search engines (like Google) to find your product or service.But does your blog content really help your business organically rank on search engines?

In this article, you’ll find the answer to this question and more. Get ready for an in-depth exploration into the world of blog SEO, the factors that affect it, and tips to start optimizing your blog site for the search engines.

Although it's clear blog content does contribute to your SEO, Google's many algorithm updates can make publishing the right kind of blog content tricky if you don’t know where to start. Some blog ranking factors have stood the test of time while others are considered "old-school." Here are a few of the top-ranking factors that can, directly and indirectly, affect blog SEO.

Pro tip: As a rule of thumb, take time to understand what each of these factors does, but don’t try to implement them all at once. They each serve a specific purpose and should be used to meet a specific SEO goal for your blog. Listen to HubSpot's Matt Barby and Victor Pan take on this topic in this podcast episode.

Factors That Affect Blog SEO

1. Dwell Time

Although dwell time is an indirect ranking factor for Google, it's a critical factor in the user experience — and we know that user experience is king when it comes to SEO. Dwell time is the length of a time a reader spends on a page on your blog site. From the moment a visitor clicks on your site in the SERP, to the moment they exit the page is considered dwell time. This metric indirectly tells search engines like Google how valuable your content is to the reader. It makes sense that the longer they spend on the page, the more relevant it is to them.

However, there’s a reason this metric is an indirect indicator for SEO — it’s completely subjective. The search engine algorithms don’t know your content strategy. Your blog could be focused on short-form content that takes just a minute or two to read. You might also include pertinent information at the beginning of your blog posts to give the best reader experience, which means less time spent on the page. So yes, dwell time can affect SEO, but don’t manipulate your content to change this metric if it doesn’t make sense for your content strategy.

2. Page Speed

We mentioned earlier that visual elements on your blog can affect page speed, but that isn’t the only thing that can move this needle. Unnecessary code and overuse of plugins can also contribute to a sluggish blog site. Removing junk code can help your pages load faster, thus improving page speed. If you’re not sure how to find and remove junk code, check out HTML-Cleaner. It’s an easy-to-use tool that doesn't require coding knowledge. It simply shows you the unnecessary code and lets you remove it with the click of a button.

I also recommend taking an inventory of your blog site plugins. Decide which ones you need to keep your blog running day-to-day and which ones were installed as a fix for a temporary issue. Plugins that affect the front-end of your site are a threat to page speed, and odds are, you can uninstall more of these plugins than you think to increase your overall site speed.

3. Mobile Responsiveness

More than half of Google’s search traffic in the United States comes from mobile devices. On an individual level, your blog site might follow that same trend. There’s no way around it — optimizing your blog site for mobile is a factor that will affect your SEO metrics. But what exactly does it mean to optimize a website for mobile? The industry rule-of-thumb is to keep things simple. Most pre-made site themes these days are already mobile-friendly, so all you’ll need to do is tweak a CTA button here and enlarge a font size there. Then, keep an eye on how your site is performing on mobile by taking a look at your Google Analytics dashboard and running a mobile site speed test regularly.

4. Index Date

Search engines aim to provide the most relevant and accurate information available. A factor search engines use when determining what’s relevant and accurate is the date a search engine indexes the content. Indexing means a search engine finds content and adds it to its index. Later, the page can be retrieved and displayed in the SERP when a user searches for keywords related to the indexed page.

You might be wondering: Is the date the content was indexed the same as the date it was published?

The answer: yes and no. If a blog post is published for the first time, it’s likely that say, a Google crawler, will index that post the same day you publish it. But content can be backdated for several legitimate reasons, too, like archiving information or updating a sentence or two.

One way to positively affect this SEO factor is to implement a historical optimization strategy. This strategy works well on blogs that have been established for a few years and have a fair amount of content already. By updating these older posts with new perspectives and data, you’ll be able to significantly impact your blog SEO without creating a lot of net new content. Site crawlers will reindex the page — taking into account the updated content — and give it another opportunity to compete in the SERP. It’s truly a win-win.

5. Recent Data

Recent data, another indirect ranking factor of SEO, should be included in blog posts. Recent data gives visitors relevant and accurate information which makes for a positive reader experience. When you include a link to a credible site that has original, up-to-date data, you’re telling the search engine that this site is helpful and relevant to your readers (which is a plus for that other site). You’re also telling the search engine that this type of data is in some way related to the content you publish. Over time, your readers will come to appreciate the content which can be confirmed using other metrics like increased time on page or lower bounce rate.

Sign up here to take our free Content Marketing Certification course and learn about content creation, strategy, and promotion.

How to Optimize Blog Content for Search Engines

1. Identify the target audience for your blog.

No matter what industry your blog targets, you’ll want to identify and speak to the primary audience that will be reading your content. Understanding who your audience is and what you want them to do when they click on your article will help guide your blog strategy.

Buyer personas are an effective way to target readers using their buying behaviors, demographics, and psychographics. Without this insight, you could be producing grammatically correct and accurate content that few people will click on because it doesn’t speak to them on a personal level.

2. Conduct keyword research.

Now that you’ve selected your target audience and prepared a buyer persona, it’s time to find out what content your readers want to consume. Keyword research can be a heavy task to take on if you don’t begin with a strategy. Therefore, I recommend starting with the topics your blog will cover, then expand or contract your scope from there. For an in-depth tutorial, check out our how-to guide on keyword research.

3. Add visuals.

Search engines like Google value visuals for certain keywords. Images and videos are among the most common visual elements that appear on the search engine results page. In order to achieve a coveted spot in an image pack or a video snippet, you’ll want to design creative graphics, use original photos and videos, and add descriptive alt text to every visual element within your blog post.

Alt text is a major factor that determines whether or not your image or video appears in the SERP and how highly it appears. Alt text is also important for screen readers so that visually impaired individuals have a positive experience consuming content on your blog site.

4. Write a catchy title.

The title of your blog post is the first element a reader will see when they come across your article, and it heavily influences whether they’ll click or keep scrolling. A catchy title uses data, asks a question, or leads with curiosity to pique the reader’s interest.

According to Coscheduler’s Headline Analyzer, the elements of a catchy title include power, emotional, uncommon, and common words. In the right proportions, these types of words in a blog title will grab your readers’ attention and keep them on the page.

Here’s an example of a catchy title with a Coschedule Headline Analyzer Score of 87:

The Perfect Dress Has 3 Elements According to This Popular Fashion Expert

• Highlighted in yellow are common words. They’re familiar to the reader and don’t stray too far from other titles that may appear in the SERP.

• “Expert” is an emotional word, according to Coschedule. In this example, the word expert builds trust with the reader and tells them that this article has an authoritative point of view.

• Purple words are power words — this means they capture the readers’ attention and get them curious about the topic.

• Another element in this title is the number three. This signals to the reader that they’ll learn a specific amount of facts about the perfect dress.

5. Include an enticing CTA.

What’s a blog post without a call to action? The purpose of a CTA is to lead your reader to the next step in their journey through your blog. The key to a great CTA is that it’s relevant to the topic of your existing blog post and flows naturally with the rest of the content. Whether you’re selling a product, offering a newsletter subscription, or wanting the reader to consume more of your content, you’ll need an enticing CTA on every blog post you publish.

CTAs come in all types of formats, so get creative and experiment with them. Buttons, hyperlinks, and widgets are some of the most common CTAs, and they all have different purposes. For instance, you should add a bold, visible CTA like a button if you want the reader to make a purchase. On the other hand, you can easily get a reader to check out another blog post by providing a hyperlink to it in the conclusion of the current article.

6. Focus on the reader's experience.

Any great writer or SEO will tell you that the reader experience is the most important part of a blog post. The reader experience includes several factors like readability, formatting, and page speed. That means you’ll want to write content that’s clear, comprehensive of your topic, and accurate according to the latest data and trends. Organizing the content using headings and subheadings is important as well because it helps the reader scan the content quickly to find the information they need. Finally, on-page elements like images and videos have an impact on page speed. Keep image file sizes low (250 KB is a good starting point) and limit the number of videos you embed on a single page. By focusing on what the reader wants to know and organizing the post to achieve that goal, you’ll be on your way to publishing an article optimized for the search engine.

Now, let's take a look at these blog SEO tips that you can take advantage of to enhance your content's searchability.

Note: This list doesn't cover every SEO rule under the sun. Rather, the following tips are the on-page factors to get you started with an SEO strategy for your blog.

1. Use 1–2 long-tail keywords.

Optimizing your blog posts for keywords is not about incorporating as many keywords into your posts as possible. Nowadays, this actually hurts your SEO because search engines consider this keyword stuffing (i.e., including keywords as much as possible with the sole purpose of ranking highly in organic search).

It also doesn't make for a good reader experience — a ranking factor that search engines now prioritize to ensure you're answering the intent of your visitors. Therefore, you should use keywords in your content in a way that doesn't feel unnatural or forced.

A good rule of thumb is to focus on one or two long-tail keywords per blog post. While you can use more than one keyword in a single post, keep the focus of the post narrow enough to allow you to spend time optimizing for just one or two keywords.

You may be wondering: Why long-tail keywords?

These longer, often question-based keywords keep your post focused on the specific goals of your audience. For example, the long-tail keyword "how to write a blog post" is much more impactful in terms of SEO than the short keyword "blog post".

Website visitors searching long-tail keywords are more likely to read the whole post and then seek more information from you. In other words, they'll help you generate the right type of traffic — visitors who convert.

2. Use keywords strategically throughout the blog post.

Now that you've got one or two keywords, it's time to incorporate them in your blog post. But where is the best place to include these terms so you rank high in search results?

There are four essential places where you should try to include your keywords: title tag, headers & body, URL, and meta description.

Title Tag

The title (i.e., headline) of your blog post will be a search engine's and reader's first step in determining the relevancy of your content. So, including a keyword here is vital. Google calls this the "title tag" in a search result.

Be sure to include your keyword within the first 60 characters of your title, which is just about where Google cuts titles off on the SERP. Technically, Google measures by pixel width, not character count, and it recently increased the pixel width for organic search results from approximately 500 pixels to 600 pixels, which translates to around 60 characters.

Long title tag? When you have a lengthy headline, it's a good idea to get your keyword in the beginning since it might get cut off in SERPs toward the end, which can take a toll on your post's perceived relevance.

In the example below, we had a long title that went over 65 characters, so we placed the keyword near the front.

Headers & Body

Mention your keyword at a normal cadence throughout the body of your post and in the headers. That means including your keywords in your copy, but only in a natural, reader-friendly way. Don't go overboard at the risk of being penalized for keyword stuffing.

Before you start writing a new blog post, you'll probably think about how to incorporate your keywords into your post. That's a smart idea, but it shouldn't be your only focus, nor even your primary focus.

Whenever you create content, your primary focus should be on what matters to your audience, not how many times you can include a keyword or keyword phrase in that content. Focus on being helpful and answering whatever question your customer might've asked to arrive on your post. Do that, and you'll naturally optimize for important keywords, anyway.

URL

Search engines also look at your URL to figure out what your post is about, and it's one of the first things it'll crawl on a page. You have a huge opportunity to optimize your URLs on every post you publish, as every post lives on its unique URL — so make sure you include your one to two keywords in it.

In the example below, we created the URL using the long-tail keyword for which we were trying to rank: "email marketing examples."

Meta Description

Your meta description is meant to give search engines and readers information about your blog post's content. Meaning, you must use your long-tail term so Google and your audience are clear on your post's content.

At the same time, keep in mind the copy matters a great deal for click-through rates because it satisfies certain readers' intent — the more engaging, the better.

3. Optimize for mobile devices.

We learned earlier that more people use search engines from their mobile phones than from a computer.

And for all those valuable queries being searched on mobile devices, Google displays the mobile-friendly results first. This is yet another example of Google heavily favoring mobile-friendly websites — which has been true ever since the company updated its Penguin algorithm in April 2015.

(HubSpot customers: Breathe easy. All content created on HubSpot's platform is automatically responsive to mobile devices.)

So, how do you make your blog mobile-friendly? By using responsive design. Websites that are responsive to mobile allow blog pages to have just one URL instead of two — one for desktop and one for mobile, respectively. This helps your post's SEO because any inbound links that come back to your site won't be divided between the separate URLs.

As a result, you'll centralize the SEO power you gain from these links, helping Google more easily recognize your post's value and rank it accordingly.

Pro tip: What search engines value is constantly changing. Be sure you're keeping on top of these changes by subscribing to Google's official blog.

4. Optimize the meta description.

To review, a meta description is additional text that appears in SERPs that lets readers know what the link is about. The meta description gives searchers the information they need to determine whether or not your content is what they're looking for and ultimately helps them decide if they'll click or not.

The maximum length of this meta description is greater than it once was — now around 300 characters — suggesting it wants to give readers more insight into what each result will give them.

So, in addition to being reader-friendly (compelling and relevant), your meta description should include the long-tail keyword for which you are trying to rank.

In the following example, I searched for "email newsletter examples."

The term is bolded in the meta description, helping readers make the connection between the intent of their search term and this result. You'll also see the term "E-Newsletter" bolded, indicating that Google knows there's a semantic connection between "email newsletter" and "E-Newsletter."

Note: Nowadays, it's not guaranteed that your meta description is always pulled into SERPs as it once was. As you can see in the above image, Google pulls in other parts of your blog post that includes the keywords searched, presumably to give searchers optimal context around how the result matches their specific query.

Let me show you another example. Below are two different search queries delivering two different snippets of text on Google SERPs. The first is a result of the query "no index no follow," and pulls in the original meta description:

The second is a result of the query "noindex nofollow," and pulls in the first instance of these specific keywords coming up in the body of the blog post:

While there's not much you can do to influence what text gets pulled in, you should continue to optimize this metadata, as well as your post, so search engines display the best content from the article. By creating reader-friendly content with natural keyword inclusion, you'll make it easier for Google to prove your post's relevancy in SERPs for you.

5. Include image alt text.

Blog posts shouldn't only contain text — they should also include images that help explain and support your content. However, search engines don't simply look for images. Rather, they look for images with image alt text.

You may be wondering why this is. Since search engines can't "see" images the same way humans can, an image's alt text tells the search engine what an image is about. This ultimately helps those images rank in the search engine's images results page.

Image alt text also makes for a better user experience (UX). It displays inside the image container when an image can't be found or displayed. Technically, alt text is an attribute that can be added to an image tag in HTML.

Here's what a complete image tag might look like:

When you incorporate image alt text, an image's name in your blog may go from something like, "IMG23940" to something accurate and descriptive such as "puppies playing in a basket."

Image alt text should be descriptive in a helpful way — meaning, it should provide the search engine with context to index the image if it's in a blog article related to a similar topic.

To provide more context, here's a list of things to be sure you keep in mind when creating alt text for your blog's images:

• Describe the image
• Leave out "image of... "— start with the image description instead
• Be specific in your description
• Keep it under 125 characters
• Use your keywords (but avoid keyword stuffing)

HubSpot customers: The SEO Panel will recognize whether or not you have optimized your images. Though these elements are not as important as some other optimizations, they're still necessary (not to mention, easy to add).

6. Limit topic tags.

Topic tags can help organize your blog content, but if you overuse them, they can actually be harmful. If you have too many similar tags, you may get penalized by search engines for having duplicate content.

Think of it this way, when you create a topic tag (which is simple if you're a HubSpot user, as seen here), you also create a new site page where the content from those topic tags will appear. If you use too many similar tags for the same content, it appears to search engines as if you're showing the content multiple times throughout your website. For example, topic tags like "blogging," "blog," and "blog posts" are too similar to one another to be used on the same post.

If you're worried that your current blog posts have too many similar tags, take some time to clean them up. Choose about 15–25 topic tags that you think are important to your blog and that aren't too similar to one another. Then only tag your posts with those keywords. That way, you won't have to worry about duplicate content.

Here at HubSpot, we use a Search Insights Report to map specific MSV-driven keyword ideas to a content topic each quarter. The process helps us target a handful of posts in a set number of topics throughout the year for a systematic approach to SEO and content creation.

7. Include user-friendly URL structures.

Before you publish your blog post, take a careful look at its URL structure. Is it long, filled with stop-words, or unrelated to the post’s topic? If so, you might want to rewrite it before it goes live.

The URL structure of your web pages (which are different from the specific URLs of your posts) should make it easy for your visitors to understand the structure of your website and the content they're about to see. Search engines favor web page URLs that make it easier for them and website visitors to understand the content on the page.

This differentiation is baked into the HubSpot blogs' respective URL structures. If I decided to go to the Marketing section from this main page, I would be taken to the URL http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing.

If we want to read the Sales section, all we have to do is change where it says "marketing" in the URL to "sales":

http://blog.hubspot.com/sales.

This URL structure helps me understand that "/marketing" and "/sales" are smaller sections — called subdirectories — within the larger blog.

What if there's a specific article we want to read, such as "How to Do Keyword Research: A Beginner's Guide"? Its URL structure — http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-do-keyword-research-ht — denotes that it's an article from the Marketing section of the blog.

In this way, URL structure acts as a categorization system for readers, letting them know where they are on the website and how to access new site pages. Search engines appreciate this, as it makes it easier for them to identify exactly what information searchers will access on different parts of your blog or website.

Pro tip: Don’t change your blog post URL after it's been published — that’s the easiest way to press the metaphorical “reset” button on your SEO efforts for that post. If your URL is less descriptive than you’d like or it no longer follows your brand or style guidelines, your best bet is to leave it as is. Instead, change the title of the post using the guidelines we covered earlier.

8. Link to related blog posts.

You may have heard that backlinks influence how high your blog site can rank in the SERP, and that’s true — backlinks show how trustworthy your site is based on how many other relevant sites link back to yours. But backlinks aren’t the end-all-be-all to link building. Linking to and from your own blog posts can have a positive impact on how well your blog site ranks, too.

Inbound links to your content help show search engines the validity or relevancy of your content. The same goes for linking internally to other pages on your website. If you've written about a topic that's mentioned in your blog post on another blog post, ebook, or web page, it's a best practice to link to that page.

(You might've noticed that I've been doing that from time to time throughout this blog post when I think it's helpful for our readers.) Not only will internal linking help keep visitors on your website, but it also surfaces your other relevant and authoritative pages to search engines.

For example, if your blog is about fashion, you might cover fabrics as a topic. Adding a hyperlink from a blog post about cotton to a post about the proper way to mix fabrics can help both of those posts become more visible to readers who search these keywords. The search engines will also have one more entry point to the post about cotton when you hyperlink it in the post about mixing fabrics. This means the post about cotton fabric, and any updates you make to it will be recognized by site crawlers faster. It could even see a boost in the SERP as a result.

HubSpot customers: The SEO Panel automatically suggests linking to other internal resources on your website.

You can think of this as solving for your SEO while also helping your visitors get more information from your content.

9. Review metrics regularly.

Google's free Search Console contains a section called the Search Analytics Report. This report helps you analyze clicks from Google Search — it's useful to determine which keywords people are using to find your blog content. You can also learn how to use Google Search Console by reading this blog post written by my colleague Matthew Barby, and by checking out Google's official support page.

If you're interested in optimizing your best-performing older blog posts for traffic and leads like we've been doing since 2015, this tool can help identify low-hanging fruit.

Remember, many content marketers struggle with optimizing their blog posts for search. The truth is, your blog posts won't start ranking immediately. It takes time to build up search authority.

But, when you publish blog posts frequently and consistently optimize them for search while maintaining an intent-based reader experience, you'll reap the rewards in the form of traffic and leads long-term.

10. Organize by topic cluster.

The way most blogs are currently structured (including our own blogs, until very recently), bloggers and SEOs have worked to create individual blog posts that rank for specific keywords.

This makes things unorganized and difficult for blog visitors to find the exact information they need. It also results in your URLs competing against one another in search engine rankings when you produce multiple blog posts about similar topics.

Here's what our blog architecture used to look like using this old playbook:

Now, in order to rank in search and best answer the new types of queries searchers are submitting, the solution is the topic cluster model.

For this model to work, choose the broad topics for which you want to rank. Then, create content based on specific keywords related to that topic that all link to each other to establish broader search engine authority.

This is what our blog infrastructure looks like now, with the topic cluster model. Specific topics are surrounded by blog posts related to the greater topic, connected to other URLs in the cluster via hyperlinks:

This model uses a more deliberate site architecture to organize and link URLs together to help more pages on your site rank in Google — and to help searchers find information on your site more easily. This architecture consists of three components — pillar content, cluster content, and hyperlinks:

We know this is a fairly new concept, so for more details, check out our research on the topic, take our SEO training or watch the video below.

11. Publish evergreen content.

When planning and writing your blog articles, ensure it's evergreen content. Meaning, the content is about topics that will remain relevant and valuable over a long period of time (with only minor changes or updates). Let's look at a few reasons why evergreen content is so important:

• It'll help you rank over time, not just in the near future.
• It contributes to steady amounts of traffic coming to your blog (and website) long after it’s been published.
• It'll help you generate leads over time as a result of the traffic it continually generates.

All blog content — whether it's a long-form article, how-to guide, FAQ, tutorial, and so on — should be evergreen. Even the images you use in these posts should be evergreen. Check out this blog post for some examples of and ideas for evergreen content on your blog.

12. Update existing content.

To improve your SEO, you may assume you need to create new blog content. Although that's partially true, you should also focus a great deal of your time and energy on your existing blog content. Specifically, repurposing and updating your current content, as well as removing your outdated content.

This is because it takes a lot longer for a completely new piece of content to settle on the search engine results page (SERP) and gain authority, whereas you could update a piece of content and reap the benefits fairly immediately in comparison.

Not only will your updated content rank on the SERP faster, improving your number of visitors and leads, it also takes a lot less time and fewer resources to update an existing piece of content rather than create a brand new article.

Additionally, updating and repurposing some of your most successful pieces of content extends its lifespan so you can achieve the best results over a longer period of time (especially if it's evergreen content).

The final step entails removing your outdated content that's no longer relevant to your audience. Although your goal is to ensure your content is evergreen, some of it is bound to become outdated over time. This includes statistics, product information (if you have any listed in your blogs — as your products and business evolve), or information that changes across your industry over time.

Create Blog Content Your Readers (and Search Engines) Will Love

We don't expect you to incorporate each of these SEO best practices into your content strategy right away. But, as your website grows, so should your goals on search engines. Once you identify the goals and intent of your ideal readers, you'll be on track to deliver relevant content that will climb the ranks of the SERP.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Blog SEO: How to Search Engine Optimize Your Blog Content was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns