7 Tips for Hosting a Virtual Brainstorm, According to HubSpot Marketing Managers

At HubSpot, we love brainstorms

Getting your team together in one room to come up with ideas not only allows you to identify creative content or strategies that you might not have thought of, but it also can improve feelings of psychological safety as people who might not be high-level managers are invited and encouraged to offer their input.

Brainstorming is one of the most productive team-building activities we use at HubSpot. But, recently, when we had to leave our physical offices and embrace remote work, many managers wondered how they’d recreate the same in-person communication, productivity, and sense of psychological safety virtually.

Luckily, many of our managers were able to adapt quickly, leading a number of successful virtual brainstorms in 2020.

To help managers build solid idea-generation techniques -- even from home -- here are a few steps HubSpot employees on the blog, acquisition team, and DI&B team take when coordinating remote brainstorms.

How to Run a Virtual Brainstorm

1. Give your team a headstart.

If your teammates already know the goal of the brainstorm, the prompts they'll be given, and their idea generation instructions, they'll come ready and eager to immediately make suggestions.

Before the brainstorm, consider sending a detailed email or a creative brief about what you'd like to achieve during the session.

"I’ve found that giving members of your brainstorm a chance to prepare in advance results in higher quality ideas presented in the brainstorm," says Emmy Jonassen, Sr. Director of Marketing at HubSpot. "A creative brief will also help you make the best use of your time, so you'll focus on the act of brainstorming rather than discussing the assignment."

2. Designate a facilitator before the brainstorm.

When you're attending a brainstorm in person, it's easier to determine who's talking, who's being asked questions, and who's running the meeting simply by body language and other social cues.

When you're on a video call, some cues can be harder to notice. You might not know who should be answering a question, who you should ask questions to, and who is trying to keep the meeting on schedule. That's why it's helpful to clearly designate a host or facilitator.

"The trick to having a great brainstorm is getting everyone involved," Jonassen explains. "A facilitator can help create an environment where everyone feels comfortable chiming in. They can also help keep the conversation going through awkward silences, keep the group on track, and bring people into the conversation who tend to be more reserved."

Once you've planned your brainstorm and designated yourself or someone else as a facilitator, be sure to note this information in the brainstorm's creative brief, calendar invite, or at the beginning of the session. If you choose to use breakout rooms -- which we'll discuss in step four -- consider having a facilitator for each of them.

3. Take virtual notes.

During in-person brainstorms, it's easy to look down and type on your computer while still talking and engaging with others. But, on a video call, you might want to stare less at your notes and more at your camera so it doesn't look like you're losing interest. And, if you must take notes, you might worry about missing something as you toggle between screens. Because of these issues, notes can get pretty muffled.

That's why Alexandra Garnier, a French automation marketing manager, says brainstorm coordinators should, "Either use a virtual whiteboard, a shared online notes document, or (if needed) a designated note-taker."

By creating joint notes or designating a note-taker, everyone can have a shared source of information to look back on and can focus on the discussions at hand, When selecting a note-taker, it's best to pick a fast typer or an attendee who isn't tasked with coming up with ideas, such as a co-coordinator. This will allow them to focus on the notes without heavily missing out on a great team activity.

4. Embrace virual breakout rooms.

During a large in-person brainstorm, you might be asked to break into small groups, go to another room, and come back with a few ideas to offer from your group. Luckily, many video call tools have been able to mimic this experience with breakout room features.

"It’s harder to get everyone to participate if you have more than five or six people involved," Jonassen says. "If I have a big group, I’ll typically use this feature to break people into smaller groups and brainstorm for a set period of time. After that time has ended, I’ll have everyone rejoin the larger group to share their ideas."

Garnier similarly added, "If you do a brainstorm with a larger group, it's better to then do breakout rooms. Some people tend to shy away when there are many participants." This can be especially true in a virtual setting, where people might feel uncomfortable speaking up.

If you're using Zoom for your meetings and interested in breakout rooms, here's a great tutorial for how to activate them on your next call.

5. Use digital noises and other signals to transition between activities.

Some brainstorms might involve a combination of individual and group activities. However, when the ideas are flowing in one task, it can be naturally hard to stop and jump into a new portion of the session. According to Margot Lieblich, a Sr. UX Researcher who coordinates monthly brainstorms and ideation sessions, it's even harder to manage time in a virtual meeting.

“Oftentimes in brainstorms, you are on a tight schedule and need to make quick transitions to the next activity. This can be especially hard in a remote setting, when you can’t always visually signal to get everyone’s attention at once," Lieblich says.

"Use an audible timer to clearly mark the end of an activity. You can even get creative with the sound," Lieblich advises. "I’ve used the Oscars' theme music, and one of my coworkers uses the sound of a duck quacking."

"After hearing the timer once, the group will quickly learn to wrap up and start transitioning to the next activity when they hear the sound again,” Lieblich explains.

6. Include both group and individual brainstorm activities.

Some people work better by themselves while others work much better in groups. In a virtual brainstorm, this can become more apparent when those who don't respond to group activities zone out, and those who don't like to give individual pitches will wait until the end hoping they run out of time. By doing two activities, you ensure that everyone can ideate in their own confort zone.

"I like to start out with an individual activity so people have a few minutes to explore their own approaches to the problem space without influencing each other," Lieblich says. "After running an individual activity, I incorporate a group activity so people can inspire each other and come up with even richer, more interesting ideas.”

7. Remember, you don't always need to schedule a video call.

While you might think all remote brainstorms must happen on video calls, this isn't always true. Yes, many of them certainly will. But, if you're asking teammates to come to a brainstorm prepared with something quick -- like a blog post pitch or a one-off email idea, you might be able to cut a time-consuming video call out of your brainstorming process entirely.

Recently, when the blog team was drawing out our quarterly content strategy, we wanted to ask our writers to come up with ideas for blog posts. But, because each writer has an incredibly busy schedule, asking them to come to a very long brainstorm meeting where each person would offer five to 10 post suggestions didn't make logistical sense.

So instead, I coordinated a virtual brainstorm that took place completely over Google Sheets. To kick off the brainstorm, I sent my team an email and an Idea Generation Spreadsheet with instructions on what content needs we'd have for the next quarter, how many post ideas to insert on the spreadsheet, and a deadline for submitting post suggestions.

From there, writers had two weeks to offer ideas for at least five blog posts. Here's a quick look at the spreadsheet with an example post I gave writers to guide them through the elements of giving a post suggestion:

After the deadline, our editors went in and used the spreadsheet's comment features to give feedback that writers could keep in mind for the next virtual brainstorm. Since this brainstorm, most of the blog posts suggested were added to our content calendar.

Planning Your Virtual Brainstorm

Many of the tips above relate to boosting one critical aspect of brainstorms: participation.

As you plan your next content or campaign brainstorm, ask yourself how you can make the brainstorm engaging for everyone.

By making it easier for your team to engage with others, give their thoughts, or suggest ideas in a brainstorm, you'll get more participation and -- ultimately -- more winning ideas from teammates that might not offer them otherwise.

To learn about more brainstorming tactics, read this blog post. If you're interested in how you can encourage psychological safety in other areas of your business, check out these expert tips.

7 Tips for Hosting a Virtual Brainstorm, According to HubSpot Marketing Managers was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

The Ultimate Guide to Email Design and 13 Best Practices

By 2022, the number of email users around the world is expected to hit 4.3 billion.

Among all of those users are members of your target audience, a.k.a. quality leads and prospects you can work to reach and convert via email.

To ensure your emails stand out and grab the attention of these audience members, your email design needs to be on point.

In this guide, we'll talk about what email design is, cover 13 best practices, examples of successful email design, and offer some tools you may be interested in experimenting with. Let's get started.

Email Design

Email recipients often scan information and abandon emails that don't offer them value or simply appear to be too dense. That’s why having great email design is so important — it'll help you capture the attention of, and engage, your email recipients. 

Your email design should be attention-grabbing, aesthetically-pleasing, and on-brand, among other things — let's dive into those things next with these 13 best practices for email deign.

1. Craft a strong subject line.

Your email subject line is the first thing anyone sees when you send them an email. It’s the brief statement that’s supposed to pique the interest of your recipients. It should capture their attention so they want to open your email and continue reading.

Here’s what a subject line looks like in your email inbox:

Here’s what a subject line looks like in your mobile device’s email inbox:

A great subject line will have these characteristics:

• Grab the attention of your readers in as few words as possible (remember: less is more).
• Provide value for the recipient that makes them want to open the email.
• Summarize what recipients are going to read and/ or see once they open the email.

2. Write an attention-grabbing pre-header.

Your email pre-header is a preview of what the email is about, similar to the meta description of a web page. It’s the second thing recipients see.

Rather than rewriting the first sentence of your email, you can customize the pre-header to provide an inside look into what your recipients are about to read in your message.

Here’s what a pre-header looks like in your email inbox:

Here’s what a pre-header looks like in your mobile device’s email inbox:

3. Be concise.

How many times throughout the day do you find yourself opening an email thinking, I can’t wait to sit down and take the next 5-10 minutes to really dive into this email from Business X!

If you're anything like me, your answer is likely rarely or never.

Give email recipients the information they want and need from you without getting into the weeds. This will show them you value their time which has the potential to help you improve email subscriber retainment.

4. Keep your email on-brand.

When your email recipients open your message, they should know the email was sent from your company. Meaning your email should be branded.

To keep your email on-brand, consider using the following tactics:

• Use a tone in your emails that complements your other content and marketing materials (like your website and social media).
• Incorporate the same colors and fonts that you use in your other branding and marketing materials.
• Include your logo, a link to your website, links to your social media accounts, and calls-to-action (CTAs) that are relevant to your products or services. This is a great way to increase brand awareness while also boost conversions.

5. Use the layout to enhance your email’s user experience.

Nobody wants to read a cluttered and unorganized email — this makes recipients feel overwhelmed and can lead to increased abandonment.

Instead, organize your layout with user experience (UX) in mind — meaning, leave empty/ white space and strategically place your written and visual content so it’s organized and easy to consume and navigate.

6. Personalize every email.

When you customize an email and tailor it to your recipient, it'll feel more thoughtful, professional, and personal. Email personalization also helps you humanize your brand. This touch helps you foster a relationship between your business and email recipients and boost retention rates.

7. Incorporate unique visual content.

If recipients open an email and only see paragraphs of information, it’s likely going to be difficult to hold their attention and keep them interested in your message. Rather, incorporate on-brand and engaging images, videos, GIFs, animations, etc. to break up the written content and create a memorable experience.

And speaking of incorporating creative and unique visual content in your emails, let’s talk emojis.

8. Don’t be afraid to use emojis. 🧡

At first, emojis may seem like an unnecessary or unprofessional addition to an email. While this may be a fair assumption, it’s actually untrue in a number of scenarios.

In fact, when you add emojis to your email subject line and/ or email copy, you can increase your open and click-through rates. But remember: When using emojis for marketing purposes, make sure you know the meaning and connotation of the specific one(s) you incorporate. 😃

9. Use a responsive design.

A responsive design means your email changes format to fit the screen it’s being viewed on, whether it's on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device. Recipients will be able to read your emails with ease no matter where or how they’re viewing them. By incorporating a responsive design, you'll be able to enhance UX and improve email retention across all devices.

10. Optimize your email with CTAs.

Calls-to-action (CTAs) are used to convert your email recipients. For instance, you can use a CTA to get recipients to follow you on social media, visit your website, chat with a sales rep, or become paying customers.

CTAs should be visible, enticing, and clearly show why they’re valuable to click. Additionally, you might choose to personalize your CTAs to tailor them towards specific recipients — this tactic has been proven to increase conversions.

11. Add an "unsubscribe" button.

Email marketing is highly effective as long as you’re providing relevant content to your recipients. The unfortunate but true reality of email marketing is that your recipients and customers change over time — especially as your business grows and evolves. Therefore, your content may not always be relevant to certain audience members.

For this reason, allow your recipients to leave (or unsubscribe from your emails) on a good note so they can remember your business in a positive light — who knows, they may need your email content, products, or services again in the future. To do this, simplify their lives with an easy-to-use and visible "unsubscribe” button.

In addition to offering a better experience for users, you're actually required by law to add that unsubscribe button.

According to the Federal Trade Commission and CAN-SPAM Act, you’re legally required to include a “clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt-out of getting emails from you in the future”. Meaning, that unsubscribe button isn’t an option.

(If you need some inspiration, check out these effective unsubscribe pages.)

12. A/B test your design.

Similar to most marketing efforts, email design is an iterative process. You might determine you need to make changes and updates to get the most out of your email design.

Whether it’s modifying your CTA, colors, images, layout, or tone, don’t be afraid to A/B test designs to determine which one works best in terms of ability to reach, resonate with, and convert the greatest number of recipients.

13. Design an email signature.

Great email signature design is another way you can establish a professional and personal feel over email. Email signatures shouldn't just include your name — they should contain other defining and memorable characteristics about you, your role, contact information, and company.

Here are some specifics you can include in your email signature:

• First and last name
• Contact information (and secondary contact information)
• Job Title / Role
• Company Name
• Link to your meeting calendar
• Social media links (e.g. LinkedIn profile)
• Pronouns
• Photo
• Industry disclaimer or legal requirements

And here's a free email signature generator tool to help you design your signature.

A great way to streamline the process of working on and incorporate all 13 of the above best practices is to use email design tools and software.

In fact, many of the best practices we reviewed will come up naturally while you’re designing, writing, and planning your messages with email design software.

Email Design Tools

There are a number of email design tools with a wide range of capabilities (some completely unrelated to email design!) — here are some popular examples.

1. HubSpot

HubSpot’s Email Marketing software allows you to create, design, personalize, and optimize all of your emails. You don’t need any IT or coding knowledge, and you can easily customize mobile-friendly emails. The software allows you to A/B test emails to determine which designs work best.

2. BEEPro

As a BEEPro user, you can design responsive emails in just minutes. Smart design tools provide you with a quick way to format your emails and ensure your layout complements your content. You can also customize and save various email design templates so your messaging and branding is consistent.

3. MailChimp

With over 100 templates offered, MailChimp allows you to customize your email design for your target audience. If you’re someone who does have coding experience, and you want to take your design a step further, MailChimp offers you the ability to code your template as well.

4. Stripo

Stripo requires no HTML knowledge to create and design professional email templates. All of their pre-made templates are responsive so readers can easily view them via any device. You can also sync your current email service provider (ESP) with the software to access all of your email and contact information from a central location.

5. Chamaileon

As a collaborative email builder, Chamaileon gives you the ability to invite members of your team to collaborate on your designs. The software ensures your emails will have a responsive design and automatically comes with over 100 pre-made templates to customize for specific recipients.

Email Design Examples

Let’s take a look at some successful email designs to inspire your work.

HubSpot Marketing Blog

HubSpot sends subscribers Marketing Blog emails every day. These include a few blog marketing-related articles to read and learn from. If recipients choose, they may also subscribe to HubSpot’s Sales Blog and Service Blog emails.

The emails are branded so readers immediately know who the email is from and what it will include. To make the daily emails engaging and unique, they include previews of the articles and an occasional quiz.

Starbucks Rewards

Starbucks customers and members may have seen this email, or something similar, in their inbox before:

The email complements Starbucks’ marketing and branding, and there’s plenty of white space separating the written information from the engaging imagery. And the CTA that recipients can click on to activate the offer is clearly placed.

Vital Proteins Email Design

Although Vital Proteins' email design contains many images and a lot of information, it’s neatly organized so it doesn’t feel overwhelming to recipients. The email’s colors, font, and visuals are on-brand and feature the company’s products.

There's an obvious CTA that redirects recipients to their Instagram page — in turn, this type of CTA helps the company increase their follower count and brand awareness on the social platform.

Get inspired with 15 free and downloadable email templates designed for marketing and sales with previously written copy to save you time.

Grow Better With Really Good Email Design

With great email design, you’ll reach and resonate with your audience members more effectively, allowing you to grow better. Eye-catching and impactful emails will help you build long-lasting relationships and convert more people into paying customers and brand advocates. So, begin designing your emails while keeping the best practices and examples we reviewed in mind.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August, 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The Ultimate Guide to Email Design and 13 Best Practices was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

8 Resources to Use to Ensure You're Using Inclusive Language

We've talked about it before, but diversity, inclusion, and belonging shouldn't be about filling a quota. Instead, the goal should be to foster a true sense of belonging among your team, which is likely filled with people from all backgrounds.

One way to do this is by using inclusive language.

Whether it's intentional or not, we all carry implicit biases in our everyday language. However, it's important to make a conscious effort to avoid this.

This isn't just the right thing to do. It also makes good business sense.

In fact, over 70% of students said they prefer a company that is diverse, inclusive and makes them feel included regardless of race, geographic location, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, and appearance.

Additionally, creating a sense of belonging can lead to greater retention rates and even result in higher customer satisfaction.

So, how can you use more inclusive language?

Below, we'll review the top tools that can automate this process for you and resources that can help you use more inclusive language.

1. Better Allies

During an allyship meeting at HubSpot, we discussed tools that help people use more inclusive language.

A colleague brought up a Slackbot, Better Allies. This Slackbot can help you shift your language to be more inclusive.

The tool was inspired by the book Better Allies by Karen Catlin. This book can help you spot situations where you can create more inclusive culture.

The Slackbot will automatically flag non-inclusive language and make alternate suggestions. You can even customize the tool by adding your own words to avoid and alternate suggestions.

For example, I want to remove the words "guys" and "crazy" from my vocabulary. With this tool, I can put those words in the Slackbot and then include suggestions for myself to use instead.

2. Inclusive Language Guides

An inclusive language guide is a document that will advise you on terms to avoid and alternative terms to use. The goal is to use more inclusive language that doesn't have biases, slang, or discriminatory terms.

While an inclusive language guide won't help you automate this process, you can use this resource to inform your automation process. For example, you can add terms from an inclusive language guide to your Better Allies Slackbot.

If your team doesn't have an inclusive language guide, we suggest you create one. Our inclusive language guides at HubSpot have sections on Gender, LGBTQIA+, Race, Ethnicity, Culture, and Accessibility.

Here are some great examples to get you started:

• Buffer's Inclusive Language Guide for Startups and Tech
• Business Insider's Race and Ethnicity Inclusive Language Guide
• Everyday Feminism's Inclusive Language Guide on Ableism and Homophobia
• NASAA Inclusive Language Guide
• HubSpot's Guide on Gender Neutral Pronouns
• How to Talk About Socioeconomic Status
• Religion Stylebook
• Self's Weight and Health Style Guide
• Google's Guide for Developers in Writing Inclusive Documentation
• Writing About Sexual Violence
• Gender-Based Violence Language Guide
• GLAAD Media Guide

3. Company Bots

To automate your inclusive language, you can create a bot that will alert you when you use exclusionary terms.

As you saw above, Better Allies created one to help you on Slack. However, you might want a bot when you're using Google docs or other platforms.

In that case, you can create your own. At HubSpot, we have a bot that HubSpotters can download on Chrome that will review content for HubSpot's style guide.

4. Textio

As a company, you produce a lot of content. Your employees have to write a lot. To automate your process, you can use Textio.

Textio is an augmented writing platform that can give your team a score on the content they write. Plus, it provides suggestions on how to improve.

This includes bias interruption, expanded language insights, and team analytics. The whole point is to help you write more insightful, inclusive content.

You can use this for recruiting purposes or just to review your company blogs.

5. Gender Decoder

A quick way to check your language for gender bias is to use this gender decoder. You can just copy and paste your content in it and get quick results.

While this was created to analyze job ads to ensure you use inclusive language, you can put any content in there.

I even put this blog content in to see the results. The tool told me, "This uses more words that are subtly coded as feminine than words that are subtly coded as masculine (according to the research). Fortunately, the research suggests this will have only a slight effect on how appealing this is to men, and will encourage women."

6. TEDTalk with Kimberlé Crenshaw

While using tools to help automate your inclusive language process is important, it's also necessary to focus efforts on continued learning.

That's why we recommend watching this short (only 18 minutes) TEDTalk on the urgency of intersectionality. This talk discusses the reality of race and gender bias so we can understand how the two combine and create more harm.

Ultimately, the goal is to broaden your understanding of intersectionality and implicit bias so you can recognize it when it occurs and speak up for victims of prejudice.

7. MTV Decoded

For an even shorter way to continue your education (5 minutes), you can watch this great video from MTV on phrases that have a racist origin.

Again, this is an easy and quick way to continue learning about implicit bias so you can adjust your language to be more inclusive.

You can consider sending these types of short videos to your employees to encourage them to use more inclusive language and continue learning.

8. Implicit Bias Test

A great way to see if you're using inclusive language is to test yourself on implicit biases. This test will measure unconscious bias.

This is an excellent step to take so you can examine, understand, and recognize your own biases and when you're using exclusionary language.

We recommend sending this to people on your team as well. This will help your whole team begin to understand and use more inclusive language as a whole.

Taking active steps to use inclusive language is an important part of allyship. Additionally, it's important for your employees and customers to see that you participate in and encourage others to continue learning about other people's experiences.

8 Resources to Use to Ensure You're Using Inclusive Language was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

3 Types of Blog Posts That Earn the Most Backlinks, According to HubSpot's Link-Building Expert

As the HubSpot Blog's Audience Growth Manager, one of my duties involves developing highly shareable blog posts that pull in non-organic traffic from sources like email, social media, and other websites.

Through building non-organic traffic tactics for my team, I've learned that referral traffic -- which comes from other sites backlinking to our content -- can majorly benefit the overall blog site.

It goes without saying that having another site highlight your content is great for brand awareness. But, additionally, backlinks can also increase your search engine authority.

When high-authority sites link to your content, search engine algorithms take this into account when ranking your content on result pages. This means that the more backlinks you get from credible websites, the higher your search rankings could get.

However, although referral traffic can be vital for your blog’s success, it's also the hardest to earn.

Here's why:

When a HubSpot Blog post gets a backlink, this typically means that a person has found our content, valued it, and shared the post's URL on their own website. Then, when others find and click this shared URL, it results in referral traffic.

In short, a person working for a website or online publication has to find our content and determine that it's valuable, credible, or engaging enough to share with their site’s audiences.

Because getting referrals can be challenging and complex, I've worked closely with Irina Nica, a Sr. Marketing Manager of Product Awareness -- and HubSpot's resident backlink expert -- to develop the blog's link-building playbook.

Although it takes time and solid research to create posts that earn quality backlinks, Nica and I find that the traffic returns are worth the effort.

To help other bloggers in their quest for referrals, search authority, and non-organic traffic, here are three types of blog posts that get the most backlinks, according to Nica.

3 Types of Blog Posts That Earn the Most Backlinks

Tell Stories Backed By Original Data

"The blog posts that typically get the most backlinks are backed by original research and data," says Nica. "If these blog post angles speak to wide audiences, they can even increase the chance of press mentions."

Why? People use data to make decisions, inspire their own content, and learn more about their industry. So, when you publish original data, it's not shocking to think that other sites might be interested in sharing your research by citing, quoting, or directly linking to it.

But, while it might be tempting to just throw a handful of original stats into a blog post's body and hit "publish", Nica says the backlinks for a post will be even stronger if you tell a story about how those stats impact your readers.

"The key is to help readers find meaning in the data you present by telling a compelling story," Nica says. "Stories make data appealing and memorable. A good story is often one that’s related to recent events that made the headlines, or provides context on an issue that affects a wide range of readers in your industry."

"We recently launched a data-driven piece that’s relevant to recent news: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Sales and Marketing Performance," Nica says. "Because it’s timely and it provides useful information for marketers and business owners around the world, this article earned more than 500 backlinks from over 200 referring domains," Nica explains.

The HubSpot Blog also publishes informative, data-driven posts that relate to industry trends, common strategies, or topics related to our subject matter expertise, rather than just news or events. These types of posts are also very linkable because they aim to help readers with day-to-day tasks, tactics, or decisions.

For example, I recently wrote a post called, Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat: Which Stories Are People Actually Watching? In the post, I shared results from s survey of more than 300 consumers about their social media Story preferences.

"Pam's article answers a relevant question for social media marketers -- which are a major part of the HubSpot Blog audience," Nica says. "To create this piece, Pam used a survey tool called Lucid to gather data. Then she used internal expertise to dig deeper into these results and explain how this impacts our work as marketers."

Nica says that the post received more than 960 social shares in the past six months and over 500 backlinks from 100 Referring Domains. It was also mentioned in a post from another marketing blog, Buffer.

 

Molding Dull Data Sets into Intriguing Stories

Even if your data doesn't relate to an event or viral social media trend, it can still be compelling to readers if your post clearly explains why it's valuable.

When HubSpot bloggers are tasked with telling an intriguing story around data sets, we first try to explain how each major stat could impact marketers, sales reps, or service reps, depending on the audience we're trying to reach. In some posts, we also might give tips on how to adjust or embrace business tactics based on major facts or figures.

Here's an example of how we draw out a full story from a few basic stats about Black Friday ads. Although this post relates to a newsier topic, you can use the format as inspiration for data-driven posts related to almost anything in your industry.

To make the data given in this post easy to consume and interesting to the reader, we created a list item and intriguing subhead around three major Black Friday survey data points. Then, we took the time to explain exactly what each point means for advertisers and marketers. To add visuals to the story, we also created quick infographics for each section:

By expanding on what each stat means for your reader, you'll supply your audience with interesting data, establish your brand's expertise, and -- most importantly -- provide your valuable takeaways that readers can share with others or use in daily life.

Can't access original data? Try this alternative.

There are a number of free or affordable tools online that can help blog teams gain data quickly. But, if you don't have a survey or polling tool at easy access, or the time to conduct research, we've found that external research compilation posts also work well.

Here's just one example of a high-performing post where I compiled and discussed a number of studies that compared millennials and Gen Z. In the post's first six months, HubSpot data shows that it drove over 5,000 views from social media alone, and more than 900 views from referral sources.

Thought Leadership or Expert Interview Posts

Odds are, people within your industry want to get tips from experts with high achievements in their field. If you have access to an industry expert or thought leader, publishing their original thoughts on your blog could benefit you.

For example, if your thought leader says something bold, profound, or even slightly tactical, another publication or blog might quote them and link to the post on your site. Additionally, the thought leader and their followers might share the post via email, social media, or on their own website.

Planning Out Strategic Thought Leadership

While you could technically accept guest posts from whoever wants to write for you, Nica encourages bloggers to consider finding experts that can write about high-interest topics in their industry.

"If you’re not sure where to start, look for high search volume topics in your area of expertise," Nica says. "Then, use this information to pick the topic for your thought leadership piece."

Picking thought leadership angles that have high search volume might help you build content that's SEO friendly. But, according to Nica, this tactic most importantly helps you "ensure that you're publishing about topics readers are actually interested in."

By conducting search volume research, our blog team has identified a number of topics that could be covered by industry experts. For example, the idea for the blog post, "How HubSpot Academy Grew YouTube Subscribers by 450% in 17 Months" came from researching keywords related to YouTube marketing.

Once we defined a few potential YouTube angles, the blog team asked HubSpot acquisition marketing manager Bella Valentini to write about how her team implemented SEO tactics on HubSpot Academy's channel.

"The keyword 'Youtube SEO' has over 3,000 searches per month. This means a lot of people are eager to learn about tactics that work for this channel," Nica explains. "Our thought leadership piece talks about Youtube SEO in a practical context by telling the story of how Valentini's strategy increased our subscribers by 450% in just 17 months," Nica says.

Due to the YouTube SEO post's practical tips and original data, "this article earned 96 backlinks from 51 referring domains without any targeted outreach to promote it," according to Nica.

Thought Leadership Alternatives

Sometimes, you can't get a busy thought leader or expert to sit down with you for an interview. But, you might be able to create a helpful, highly-linkable post by asking a number of thought leaders a quick question via email and compiling their quotes into a roundup.

Since we have a huge team at HubSpot, we love creating roundups with our internal experts. They're easy to create and pull in solid non-organic traffic similarly to full thought leadership pieces. Additionally, we've also seen similar results from rounding up quotes from external experts.

In a recent Marketing Blog post, we highlighted tips for working remotely directly sourced from seasoned members of our remote staff. This post has received over 17,000 total views with 204 referrals and more than 1,300 visits from social media platforms.

Posts That Serve as Foundational "Ultimate Guides"

Once we've written heavily about a topic, such as Instagram Marketing, we'll compile all the data, information, tips, and advice our writers have collected into Ultimate Guides.

These long-form posts, which each include internal links to a handful of other blog posts on our website, aren't just beneficial to SEO and direct traffic. They also can pull in solid backlinks, according to Nica.

"Usually, the most recommended blog types for getting backlinks have original research and data at their core. But this isn't always the case," Nica reveals. "For some blog sites, the blog types that get the most backlinks are actually ultimate guides."

"If they are visible and easy to find on your website, these guides can easily serve as a supporting piece for other articles. This makes them a great link-magnet," Nica explains.

Tips for Creating Highly Linkable Content

Along with testing out the content types above on your blog, you should also keep these tips in mind as you create web content:

Original content is key.

Web writers and journalists are more likely to link to original quotes and data that they can't repeat or create on their own.

Even though you're a blogger, your goal should be to publish content that no one can get anywhere else. This type of content could include original research, quotes, expert-written posts, images, and videos. Ask yourself, what will make journalists type, "According to [your brand]"?

Visibility is vital.

"One of the most frequent mistakes marketers make when creating linkable content is that they invest 90% of their resources in production and only 10% on promotion," Nica warns. "Links need to be earned naturally to support the business’ SEO performance long-term, but no links can be earned if the target audience doesn’t know that content exists in the first place."

"Whatever you publish, make sure it’s visible. You can start by promoting content on your company’s social media channels or through targeted outreach. Either way, your audience needs to find out about your content before they can link back to it," Nica advises.

Nica says you'll also want to optimize your posts for search engines. Here's why:

If a blogger from another company is covering a topic like "email marketing trends," they'll need to find data to support the trends they list. They might begin their research by Googling, “email marketing statistics.” If your original email data post is one of the first results, there's a strong chance that this writer will click it, find your data valuable, and share it in their own piece

Don't forget about web design.

"Every time I stumble upon an old looking website, I don't think it's up to date. So, I don’t trust it enough to mention it in my article and link back to it," Nica admits.

Although Nica can't confirm or deny if web design can impact backlinks, many of us can relate to the experience of bouncing off of a poorly designed website. And, when we do this, we're likely not sharing the content we saw or helping the blog's search rankings.

"Whether it’s thought leadership or a research report, make sure you invest in the aesthetic 'packaging' of your content with a solid design. This will pay off."

For example, Nextiva's Customer Service Statistics and Trends in 2020 is not unique. However, it's design and packaging guides the audience through a nice reading experience.

"What sets Nextiva's guide apart from similar online content is its carefully crafted design and the experience they provide the reader. It’s no surprise they have over 700 backlinks to this page, from over 370 referring domains," Nica notes, using data pulled from Ahrefs.

To learn more about why you should embrace a backlink strategy in 2020, check out these promising link-building stats.

3 Types of Blog Posts That Earn the Most Backlinks, According to HubSpot's Link-Building Expert was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads [Examples]

If you’re considering spending any amount of money on ads to reach your target audience, you’d better spend it in the right place.

That is, somewhere with over 259 million unique visitors and 4.8 billion daily interactions.

Somewhere like ... Google.

Google Ads was launched just two years after what has become the most popular website in the world: Google.com. The advertising platform came on the scene in October 2000 as Google Adwords, but after some rebranding in 2018, it was renamed Google Ads.

Given Google’s expansive reach, chances are you’ve seen (and probably clicked on) a Google ad … and so have your potential customers.

In this guide you'll discover how to begin advertising on Google. We’ll cover features specific to the platform and teach you how to optimize your campaigns to achieve the best results with your ads.

It's no secret that, these days, the stronger and more focused your paid campaigns are, the more clicks you generate — leading to a greater probability of obtaining new customers.

This is why Google Ads has become increasingly popular among businesses across all industries.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is a paid advertising platform that falls under a marketing channel known as pay-per-click (PPC), where you (the advertiser) pays per click or per impression (CPM) on an ad.

Google Ads is an effective way to drive qualified traffic, or good-fit customers, to your business while they're searching for products and services like the ones you offer. With Google Ads, you can boost your website traffic, receive more phone calls, and increase your in-store visits.

Google Ads allows you to create and share well-timed ads (via both mobile and desktop) among your target audience. This means your business will show up on the search engine results page (SERP) at the moment your ideal customers are looking for products and services like yours via Google Search or Google Maps. This way, you reach your target audience when it makes sense for them to come across your ad.

Note: Ads from the platform can span across other channels too, including YouTube, Blogger, and Google Display Network.

Over time, Google Ads will also help you analyze and improve those ads to reach more people so your business can hit all of your paid campaign goals.

Discover how HubSpot can help you better manage your Google ads.

Additionally, no matter the size of your business or your available resources, you can tailor your ads to suit your budget. The Google Ads tool gives you the opportunity to stay within your monthly cap and even pause or stop your ad spending at any point in time.

Now, onto another important question: Is Google Ads really effective? To answer this, let’s consider a few statistics:

• Google Ads have a click-through rate of nearly 8%.
• Display ads yield 180 million impressions each month.
• For users who are ready to buy, paid ads on Google get 65% of the clicks.
• 43% of customers buy something they’ve seen on a YouTube ad.

Why advertise on Google?

Google is the most used search engine, receiving over 5 billion search queries a day. Not to mention, the Google Ads platform has been around for nearly two decades, giving it some seniority in the area of paid advertising.

Google is a resource used by people around the world to ask questions that are answered with a combination of paid advertisements and organic results.

And, according to Google, advertisers make $8 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads. So, there are a few reasons why you’d want to consider advertising on Google.

Need another reason? Your competitors are using Google Ads (and they might even be bidding on your branded terms). Hundreds of thousands of companies use Google Ads to promote their businesses, which means that even if you’re ranking organically for a search term, your results are being pushed down the page, beneath your competitors.

If you’re using PPC to advertise your product or services, Google Ads should be a part of your paid strategy — there’s no way around it (except maybe Facebook Ads, but that’s another article).

Google Ads Best Practices

If you’ve tried unsuccessfully to advertise on Google, don’t give up. There are many reasons why your Google Ads could be underperforming. Let’s cover some common Google Ads best practices.

1. Avoid broad keyword terms.

You really need to nail it when it comes to your keywords, which is why testing and tweaking should be a part of your strategy. If your keywords are too broad, Google will be placing your ad in front of the wrong audience which means fewer clicks and a higher ad spend.

Review what’s working (i.e. which keywords are generating clicks) and adjust them to best match your ads with your target audience. You likely won’t get the mix right the first time, but you should keep adding, removing, and tweaking keywords until you do.

Tip: Review the keyword strategies that we cover below.

2. Don't run irrelevant ads.

If your ad doesn’t match the searcher’s intent, you won’t get enough clicks to justify your ad spend. Your headline and ad copy need to match the keywords you’re bidding on, and the solution your ad is marketing needs to solve whatever pain point that searcher is experiencing.

It’s a combination that will yield the results you’re looking for, and it may just be a few tweaks away. You have the option to create multiple ads per campaign — use this feature to split test which ads work best. Or, better yet, use Google’s Responsive Search Ads feature.

Tip: Read our best practices for ad copy.

3. Improve your Quality Score (QS).

Your Quality Score (QS) is how Google determines how your ad should rank. The higher your rank, the better your placements. If your quality score is low, you’ll have fewer eyeballs on your ad and fewer chances to convert. Google will tell you your Quality Score, but improving it is up to you.

Tip: Keep reading to learn how to improve your QS.

4. Optimize your ad landing page.

Your efforts shouldn’t stop with your ad — the user experience after a click is equally important.

What does your user see once they click your ad? Is your landing page optimized for conversions, meaning does it use the same keywords? Does the page solve your user’s pain point or answer their question? Your user should experience a seamless transition through to the conversion.

Tip: Review landing page best practices and implement them to increase your conversion rate.

These common terms will help you set up, manage, and optimize your Google Ads. Some of these are specific to Google Ads, while others are related to PPC in general. Either way, you’ll need to know these to run an effective ad campaign.

1. AdRank

Your AdRank determines your ad placement. The higher the value, the better you’ll rank, the more eyes will fall on your ad, and the higher the probability that users will click your ad. Your AdRank is determined by your maximum bid multiplied by your Quality Score.

2. Bidding

Google Ads is based on a bidding system, where you as the advertiser selects a maximum bid amount you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad. The higher your bid, the better your placement. You have three options for bidding: CPC, CPM, or CPE.

• CPC, or cost-per-click, is the amount you pay for each click on your ad.
• CPM, or cost per mille, is the amount you pay for one thousand ad impressions, that is when your ad is shown to a thousand people.
• CPE, or cost per engagement, is the amount you pay when someone takes a predetermined action with your ad.

And, yes, we’ll review bidding strategies below.

3. Campaign Type

Before you begin a paid campaign on Google Ads, you’ll select between one of three campaign types: search, display, or video.

• Search ads are text ads that are displayed among search results on a Google results page.
• Display ads are typically image-based and are shown on web pages within the Google Display Network.
• Video ads are between six and 15 seconds and appear on YouTube.

4. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Your CTR is the number of clicks you get on your ad as a proportion of the number of views your ad gets. A higher CTR indicates a quality ad that matches search intent and targets relevant keywords.

5. Conversion Rate (CVR)

CVR is a measure of form submissions as a proportion of total visits to your landing page. Simplistically speaking, a high CVR means that your landing page presents a seamless user experience that matches the promise of the ad.

6. Display Network

Google ads can be displayed on either search results pages or a web page within Google’s Display Network (GDN). GDN is a network of websites that allow space on their webpages for Google Ads — these ads can be text-based or image ads and are displayed alongside content relevant to your target keywords. The most popular Display Ad options are Google Shopping and app campaigns.

7. Extensions

Ad Extensions allow you to supplement your ad with additional information at no additional cost. These extensions fall under one of five categories: Sitelink, Call, Location, Offer, or App; we’ll cover each of these ad extensions below.

8. Keywords

When a Google user types a query into the search field, Google returns a range of results that match the searcher’s intent. Keywords are words or phrases that align with what a searcher wants and will satisfy their query. You select keywords based on which queries you want to display your ad alongside. For example, a searcher that types “how to clean gum off shoes” will see results for advertisers that targeted keywords like “gum on shoes” and “clean shoes.”

Negative keywords are a list of keyword terms that you do not want to rank for. Google will pull you from the bid on these keywords. Typically, these are semi-related to your intended search terms but fall outside of the realm of what you offer or want to rank for.

9. PPC

Pay-per-click, or PPC, is a type of advertising where the advertiser pays per click on an ad. PPC is not specific to Google Ads, but it is the most common type of paid campaign. It’s important to understand the ins and outs of PPC before launching your first Google Ads campaign.

10. Quality Score (QS)

Your Quality Score measures the quality of your ad by your click-through rate (CTR), the relevance of your keywords, the quality of your landing page, and your past performance on the SERP. QS is a determining factor in your AdRank.

Click to get our free guide on how to use Google Ads.

How does Google Ads work?

Google Ads displays your ad to potential leads or customers who are interested in your product or service. Advertisers bid on search terms, or keywords, and the winners of that bid are placed at the top of search results pages, on YouTube videos, or on relevant websites, depending on the type of ad campaign selected.

Many factors impact your ability to create effective and high-performing Google Ads. Let’s cover them below, plus some Google Ads examples.

AdRank and Quality Score

AdRank determines the placement of your ads, and Quality Score is one of the two factors (the other being bid amount) that determines your AdRank. Remember, your Quality Score is based on the quality and relevance of your ad, and Google measures that by how many people click on your ad when it’s displayed — i.e. your CTR. You CTR depends on the how well your ad matches searcher intent, which you can deduce from three areas:

1. The relevance of your keywords
2. If your ad copy and CTA deliver what the searcher expects based on their search
3. The user experience of your landing page

Your QS is where you should focus most of your attention when you first set up your Google Ad campaign — even before you increase your bid amount. The higher your QS, the lower your acquisition costs will be and the better placement you’ll get.

Location

When you first set up your Google Ad, you’ll select a geographical area where your ad will be shown. If you have a storefront, this should be in a reasonable radius around your physical location. If you have an ecommerce store and a physical product, your location should be set in the places where you ship. If you provide a service or product that is accessible worldwide, then the sky's the limit.

Your location settings will play a role in placement. For instance, if you own a yoga studio in San Francisco, someone in New York that enters “yoga studio” will not see your result, no matter your AdRank. That’s because Google’s main objective is to display the most relevant results to searchers, even when you’re paying.

Keywords

Keyword research is just as important for paid ads as it is for organic search. Your keywords need to match searcher intent as much as possible. That’s because Google matches your ad with search queries based on the keywords you selected.

Each ad group that you create within your campaign will target a small set of keywords (one to five keywords is optimal) and Google will display your ad based on those selections.

Match Types

Match Types give you a little wiggle room when it comes to your keyword selections — they tell Google whether you want to match a search query exactly or if your ad should be shown to anyone with a search query that’s semi-related. There are four match types to choose from:

• Broad Match is the default setting that uses any word within your keyword phrase in any order. For example, “goat yoga in Oakland” will match “goat yoga” or “yoga Oakland.”
• Modified Broad Match allows you to lock in certain words within a keyword phrase by denoting them with a “+” sign. Your matches will include that locked-in word at the very least. For example, “+goats yoga in Oakland” could yield “goats,” “goats like food,” or “goats and yoga.”
• Phrase Match will match with queries that include your keyword phrase in the exact order but may include additional words before or after it. For example, “goat yoga” can yield “spotted goat yoga” or “goat yoga with puppies.”
• Exact Match maintains your keyword phrase as it is written in the exact order. For example, “goat yoga” will not show up if someone types “goats yoga” or “goat yoga class.”

If you’re just starting out and don’t know exactly how your persona will be searching, move from a broad match to a more narrow approach so you can test which queries yield the best results. However, since your ad will be ranking for many queries (some unrelated) you should keep a close eye on your ads and modify them as you can gain new information.

Headline and Description

Your ad copy can be the difference between a click on your ad and a click on your competitor’s ad. It’s important that your ad copy matches the searcher’s intent, is aligned with your target keywords, and addresses the personas pain point with a clear solution.

To illustrate what we mean, let’s review an example.

A search for “baby swim lessons” yielded this result. The copy is concise and uses the limited space wisely to convey their message and connect with their target audience.

The Swim Revolution knew to put the keyword in their headline so we instantly know that this ad matches what we’re looking for. The description tells us why this is the best option for swim lessons because it addresses the concerns of their persona — a parent looking to enroll their baby in a swim class.

They use words like “skills,” “fun,” “confidence,” and “comfort in the water” to ease our nerves about putting a baby in a pool and to prove to us that we will get what we want out of this class — an infant that can swim.

This kind of ad copy will get you clicks, but conversions will result from carrying this level of intention into your landing page copy.

Ad Extensions

If you’re running Google Ads, you should be using Ad Extensions for two reasons: they’re free, and they give users additional information and another reason to interact with your ad. These extensions fall within one of these five categories:

• Sitelink Extensions extend your add — helping you stand out — and provide additional links to your site that offer users more enticing reasons to click.
  
  
• Call Extensions allow you to incorporate your phone number in your ad so users have an additional (and instant) way to reach out to you. If you have a customer service team that is ready to engage and convert your audience, then include your phone number.
  
  
• Location Extensions include your location and phone number within your ad so Google can offer searchers a map to easily find you. This option is great for businesses with a storefront and it works well for the search query “...near me.”
  
  
• Offer Extensions work if you’re running a current promotion. It can entice users to click your ad over others if they see that your options are discounted compared to your competitors.
  
  
• App Extensions provide a link to an app download for mobile users. This reduces the friction from having to perform a new search to find and download the app in an AppStore.
  
  

Google Ads Retargeting

Retargeting (or remarketing) in Google Ads is a way to advertise to users who have previously interacted with you online but have not yet converted. Tracking cookies will follow users around the web and target these users with your ads. Remarketing is effective since prospects need to see your marketing at least seven times before they become a customer.

You can select from one of five campaign types on Google Ads. Let’s cover the optimal uses for each and why you might choose one over the other.

1. Search Ad Campaigns

Search ads are text ads that are displayed on Google results pages. As an example, a search for “pocket squares” returns sponsored results:

The benefit of search ads is that you’re displaying your ad in the place where most searchers look for information first — on Google. And Google shows your ad in the same format as other results (except for denoting it as an “Ad”) so users are accustomed to seeing and clicking on results.

Responsive Search Ads

Responsive search ads allow you to enter multiple versions of headlines and ad copy (15 and four variations, respectively) for Google to select the best performers to display to users. With traditional ads, create one static version of your ad, using the same headline and description each time.

Responsive ads allow for a dynamic ad that is auto-tested until you arrive at the version that is best suited for your target audience — for Google, that means until you get the most clicks.

2. Display Ad Campaigns

Google has a network of websites in various industries and with an array of audiences that opt in to display Google Ads, known as the Google Display Network. The benefit to the website owner is that they’re paid per click or impression on the ads. The benefit to advertisers is that they can get their content in front of audiences that are aligned with their personas.

These are typically image ads that draw users attention away from the content on the webpage:

Source

3. Video Ad Campaigns

Video ads are displayed before or after (and sometimes in the middle of) YouTube videos. Remember, YouTube is a search engine, too. The right keywords will place you in front of a video, disrupting the user’s behavior just enough to grab their attention.

Here's a video advertisement that pops up in the middle of another video on how to tie a tie:

Source

4. App Ad Campaigns

Google App Campaigns promote your mobile application through an ad displayed on Google Search Network, YouTube, Google Play, Google Display Network, and more. You can run ads that encourage your audience to install your app or, if they already use it, to take a certain action within your app.

Unlike other ad types, you don't design an App ad campaign. Instead, provide Google with your app's information and audience, and place a bid. Google does the rest to get your app in front of the right eyes:

Source

5. Shopping Ad Campaigns

Another type of Google Ad is Google Shopping Ad Campaigns. Shopping campaigns, like these other types of ads, are displayed on SERPs and include detailed product information such as price and product imagery. You can run a Shopping campaign through Google Merchant Center, where you input specific product information that Google pulls from to create your shopping ads.

Instead of marketing your brand as a whole, Shopping Ads allow you to promote specific products and product lines. That's why, when you search for a particular product on Google, you'll see ads for different brands pop up along the top and/or side. This is what I see when I search "running shoes." The ads at the top are Google Search ads, but the specific products advertised on the side are Shopping ads optimized for the keyword "running shoes":

How to Use and Create Google Ads

Setting up your paid campaigns on Google is relatively easy (and quick), mostly because the platform takes you through the setup and provides helpful hints along the way. Once you visit the Google Ads site and click “Start Now,” you’ll be taken through a series of steps to get your ads up and running. If you have your ad copy and/or images created, set up should take you no more than 10 minutes.

What may be less obvious are all the additional things you need to do to make sure your ads are optimally set up and easily trackable. Let’s cover these together. These are the steps you’ll take once your ads are submitted for review.

1. Link Google Analytics.

You likely have Google Analytics set up on your website so you can track traffic, conversions, goals, and any unique metrics. You also need to link your Analytics account to Google Ads. Linking these accounts will make tracking, analyzing, and reporting between channels and campaigns much easier because you can view these events in one place.

2. Add UTM codes.

Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) codes are used by Google to track any activity associated with a specific link. You’ve probably seen them before — it’s the part of a URL that follows a question mark (“?”). UTM codes will tell you which offer or ad led to a conversion so you can track the most effective parts of your campaign. UTM codes make it easier to optimize your Google Ads since you know exactly what’s working.

The trick, though, is to add your UTM codes at the campaign level when you set up your Google Ads so you don’t have to do so manually for each ad URL. Otherwise, you can add them manually with Google’s UTM builder.

3. Set up conversion tracking.

Conversion tracking tells you exactly how many customers or leads you’ve acquired from your ad campaigns. It’s not mandatory to set up but, without it, you’ll be guessing the ROI of your ads. Conversion tracking allows you to track sales (or other activities) on your website, app installs, or calls from your ads.

Manage and organize your ads with our free Google Ads Kit and Templates.

4. Integrate your Google Ads with your CRM.

There is something to be said about keeping all of your data in one place where you can track, analyze, and report on it. You already use your CRM to track contact data and lead flows. Integrating Google Ads with your CRM gives you the ability to track which ad campaigns are working for your audience so you can continue marketing to them with offers that are relevant.

Source

Google Ads Bidding Strategies

Once you’ve set up your ad campaigns and have tracking in place, it’s time to start bidding. Remember, your ability to rank in Google Ads depends on how you bid. While your bid amount will depend on your budget and goals, there are a few strategies and bid settings you should be aware of when launching your paid campaign.

Automated vs. Manual Bidding

You have two options when it comes to bidding on your keywords — automated and manual. Here’s how they work:

• Automated Bidding puts Google in the driver’s seat and allows the platform to adjust your bid based on your competitors. You can still set a maximum budget, and Google will work within a range to give you the best chance at winning the bid within those constraints.
• Manual Bidding let’s you set the bid amounts for your ad groups and keywords, giving you the chance to reduce spending on low-performing ads.

Bidding on Branded Search Terms

Branded terms are those with your company or unique product name in them, like “HubSpot CRM.” There is much debate on whether to bid on your branded terms or not. On one side of the debate, bidding on terms that will likely yield organic results could be seen as a waste of money.

On the other side, bidding on these terms gives you domain over these search results pages and helps you convert prospects that are further along the flywheel. For instance, if I’ve been doing research on live chat tools and am heavily considering HubSpot’s Live Chat, then a simple search for “HubSpot live chat software” will yield exactly the result I’m looking for without the effort of scrolling.

The other argument in favor of bidding on your branded terms is that competitors may bid on them if you don’t, thereby taking up valuable real estate that should belong to you.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

If the idea of spending money to convert prospects into leads makes you uneasy, then you can set a CPA instead and only pay when a user converts into a customer. While this bidding strategy could cost more, you can take comfort in knowing that you only pay when you acquire a paying customer. This strategy makes it easy to track and justify your ad spend.

Additional Resources to Optimize Your Google Ads

Your ad copy and headline is not the only component that will make your paid campaign successful. Getting a user to click is only the beginning … they should arrive on a landing page that’s optimized for conversion and then be taken to a Thank You page that tells them what to do next.

If you want your Google Ads to produce qualified leads and customers, then check out these additional resources and use them as guidelines as you set up your Google Ads campaign.

• Landing Page Best Practices will teach you how to set up a landing page that’s prime for conversions so you don’t waste those precious clicks.
• Optimized “Thank You” Pages shows you what to do with your new lead post-conversion, how to keep them on your site, and ways to maintain their attention.
• Tips for Mobile Google Ads teaches you the key differences between desktop and mobile ads and how to optimize both.
• Optimizing Google Ads Costs will show you how we, at HubSpot, maximize our Google Ads spend to get the best ROI.
• Quality Google Ads Examples That Convert shares examples of Google advertising campaigns that got it right.

Start Your Campaign

Given its reach and authority, Google Ads should be a part of your paid strategy. Use the tips we covered to get started, and remember to refine and iterate as you go.

There’s no such thing as a Google Ads campaign that doesn’t work — there are only ones that need a bit more work. Using the strategy and information provided above, you have what you need to create a successful Google Ad campaign that drives clicks and converts leads.

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

The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads [Examples] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

The Ultimate Guide to Successfully Livestreaming From Home

This post is written by Kerry Shearer, "The Livestream Expert". Kerry is a conference speaker, workshop presenter, online course creator and smartphone video trainer based in Sacramento, California. 

In 2020, the way we work, shop and entertain ourselves has been completely up-ended.

Work and school transitioned online, placing many people in unfamiliar situations with frustrating technical challenges as they livestream from home.

The results have sometimes been cringe-worthy.

On live webinar meetings, for example, we've been treated to up-the-nose camera angles, inadvertently-shared bathroom breaks, echo-y audio and dark, grainy webcam video.

Not the best way to make an impression!

The good news is that it's actually pretty easy to give your viewers an outstanding experience, whether you're participating in an online meeting on Zoom or livestreaming on popular platforms like Facebook Live, Twitter Live, Periscope or Instagram Live.

When you have the right mindset, the right approach, and the right accessories, you can absolutely look and sound like a pro.

Here, I'll share my best practices when it comes to live streaming, including the platform(s) you should consider when livestreaming, and all the equipment you need to get started.

But first — let's dive into the benefits of livestreaming for businesses.

Benefits of Livestreaming

I've spoken with many entrepreneur and communications colleagues, and months of lockdown have definitely taken an emotional toll.

Staying motivated when your lifestyle and habits have been disrupted means it's more important than ever to get exercise, eat well, and practice self-care so you can be your best self in these trying circumstances.

And it also means you need to put yourself in the place of your customer or client.

When livestreaming, it's critical to remember that it's not about you — it's about the difference you're going to make in the life of the person you're impacting with the information you're delivering!

Many of us are doing two types of livestreaming these days: online meetings or webinars with colleagues, and livestreams related to promoting our products or services.

For our purposes we'll focus on the second type of livestreaming: promoting a product or service. 

Livestreaming is a powerful tool to help entrepreneurs and small businesses differentiate themselves and connect with customers (or potential ones).

And doing it well can make a huge difference in your impact — and your earnings.

Vancouver therapist Julia Kristina, who holds a Master's degree in Psychology, used live video as a springboard to create a thriving online business to compliment her existing in-person clinical practice.

She told me, "I began showing up live on Periscope and Facebook, nearly every day at first, doing short talks about different mental wellness topics."

"Doing all those unscripted livestreams, either from home or from my office downtown, made me an even better public speaker. At the same time, it grew a loyal audience whose lives were being impacted by what I was teaching."

Kristina eventually began creating and selling live online group coaching and recorded video courses on topics such as having healthy boundaries, overcoming anxiety, and building confidence.

Last fall, Kristina launched her membership program, "The Shift Society," which features both live video coaching and recorded video content for members.

"Livestreams don't need to be perfect," Kristina says. "You just need to show up, be yourself, and let your passion for the topic be the magnet that draws your ideal audience in."

Particularly in 2020 when many brick-and-mortar shops needed to shift largely online, livestreaming can provide opportunities for small businesses to connect with their customers and prospects in real-time.

Miranda Pinto, owner of La Piccolina Baby Boutique in Lincoln, CA, turned to Facebook Live in an effort to keep sales afloat after having to close her doors to walk-in customers.

Initial livestream attempts were hampered by poor internet upload speeds at her store, so she and an assistant grabbed piles of clothing and headed to Pinto's house to do their first big online sale.

"I felt totally out of my element as a video host, but I know my product, so I just kept talking and describing each item."

Pinto says the sales just kept coming in. "We use a subscription-based tool called 'Comment Sold' to track sales and send invoices." 

"I credit livestreaming with saving my business and giving homebound moms an easy and fun way to shop locally for baby clothing."

Pinto says each sale she conducts on Facebook Live lasts 1-2 hours, and creates the income normally earned in 2-4 days of walk-in sales when the store is open.

Live Streaming Platforms 

So if these stories have inspired you, it's time to choose a livestreaming platform to focus on. That involves figuring out where your potential audience is (or, upon which platform you want to build a presence). There are more choices than ever, but it's better to get started with one. 

Next, let's go over a brief overview of each popular livestreaming platform.

1. Facebook Live

Facebook is undeniably the most popular social platform worldwide, with more than 2.7 billion monthly active users.

Facebook Live allows you to broadcast to the world in real-time, and live video is more often prioritized by the algorithm and shown in your news feed.

Facebook Live is an effective way of providing training and information in Facebook Groups, and many Business Pages use it to reach out to followers with how-to demonstrations, product unboxings, trainings, and sales events.

It's easy to go live via the Facebook app on your phone, or through Facebook Studio on a desktop or laptop.

2. Twitter and Periscope

Periscope is Twitter's live broadcasting app, which launched in March 2015. When you go live, you broadcast to the app and your followers get a push notification that you're live.

Your livestream is also shown in user's Twitter feeds if your accounts are linked with the same username.

For this reason, use of hashtags in the broadcast title can result in a bigger audience.

You can also broadcast directly from the Twitter app using the "Live" button. Twitter is known as the place to go for "what's happening now", so livestreams involving timely events are popular.

3. Instagram Live

2020 marks Instagram's 10^th year of operation, and the service has about 1 billion active users.

That userbase could grow even more with Instagram's recent release of Reels, its answer to Tik Tok for creating short videos that can go viral.

Instagram Live also offers a feature that lets you bring one guest at a time into the broadcast.

Instead of expiring after 24 hours, any Instagram Live broadcasts that you want to save can now be shared to your Instagram TV channel.

Best Livestreaming Equipment

Once you've chosen the right platform for your needs, you'll need to ensure you have the equipment necessary to create high-quality live videos.

Livestreams don't have to be perfect, but it is critical to have good lighting, great audio, and a steady shot. Here are some of the options I recommend regularly to clients who want to put on a great broadcast.

1. Lighting

Natural light on your face always looks great, so if your computer desk faces a window that lets in ambient outdoor light (rather than direct, harsh sunlight), it will provide a natural look.

If natural light isn't available, you can add LED lighting. Dimmable LED ring lights are popular, and the better ones are bi-color.

That means they have control knobs to let you "warm" the color of the light to match the tone of the room, or "cool" the color to mimick the look of outdoor light.

Ring lights, such as the Dracast Halo 180, come in a popular 18" size, which generally requires mounting on an aluminum light stand.

A smartphone or video camera can be mounted inside the ring and set at eye-level, giving your face a nice, even glow.

There are also smaller desktop ring lights available, such as the Neewer 10" ring light, or GVM rectangular ring light, which can hold your smartphone or serve as a webcam light by peeking over the top of your computer monitor.

The Lume Cube company has created LED lighting specifically for video conferencing, including a rectangular light with a suction mount that sticks to the back of your computer monitor.

2. Audio

Viewers will often put up with less-than-perfect video quality, but if the audio is poor, don't expect them to hang around your livestream for long.

Poor audio is an issue for either smartphone broadcasting — where the built-in microphone picks up lots of annoying background noise — or for streaming from a laptop computer, where the cheap internal mic often produces thin-sounding audio that's hard to listen to for long periods of time.

One solution for smartphones is a simple wired lavaliere smartphone mic, such as the YouMic.

The mic clips onto your shirt, blouse or blazer, and the cord connects to the audio jack on your smartphone.

If you have an iPhone 7 or newer, you'll also need the Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone adapter that came with your phone.

Connect your mic to the adapter, and the adapter to the Lightning port.

If you'd prefer to go wireless, a dependable lightweight system like the Rode Wireless Go is a great solution. The receiver and transmitter are very small and operate for seven hours on built-in rechargeable batteries.

Additionally, the transmitter has a built-in mic, so you can just clip it to your jacket.

Or, to be more discreet, Rode's plug-in Lavaliere Go mic can be purchased separately so you can ditch the transmitter in a pocket and use the small clip-on microphone.

Another option is the similar Pixel wireless lavaliere microphone.

If you've had experiences sitting on a Zoom call for hours, you know how hard it can be on the brain to listen to tinny audio from participants speaking from echo-y home offices.

A solution for this is to use a plug-in USB microphone with your laptop or desktop computer so you can get your voice closer to a microphone.

One option is the Fifine wired clip-on lavaliere USB microphone. Simply plug the connector into any available USB port on your computer, and then change the audio selection in your webinar software or livestreaming app to the new audio source.

Another high-quality option would be a USB microphone typically used for recording podcasts.

The Audio-Technica ATR-2100X, the Fifine PC Microphone, and the Rode NT USB microphones are all examples of podcasting-style mics that connect quickly to your computer and will skyrocket the quality of your audio.

Note that although these microphones all come with small desktop stands, the best approach is to mount them to an articulating boom arm that clamps to the edge of your desk. That will prevent the mic stand from transmitting any thumps and bumps created by your hands or elbows tapping your desk surface.

3. Tripods

Shaky video can be incredibly distracting and frustrating when someone is watching a livestream.

Fortunately, there are lots of options to help you have a steady shot. If you already have a video or camera tripod and will be livestreaming from a smartphone, you can simply attach a smartphone mount.

My favorites are the Square Jellyfish metal smartphone mount, or the Arkon Road-Vise heavy duty smartphone mount.If you don't have a tripod, one place to begin is with a mini-tripod that sits on a desk and has an extendable middle column.

The Benro BK-15, when placed on a desk, will extend to the equivalent of full standing height for standup presentations or interviews.

The advantage to a small tripod like this is that you can easily move it from room to room, walk with it while you talk, or throw it in your messenger bag so you're always prepared to livestream.

For other uses, you might need a floorstanding tripod. The least expensive option is to buy a basic tripod like this Endurax aluminum tripod. It extends to 66 inches.

Tripods in this price range often have a plastic pan/tilt assembly, which is fine if your camera will be locked down and not moved, but often doesn't allow for smooth camera movement.

If you'll be panning and tilting and following the action during your livestream, go for a more expensive tripod that has a fluid head.

A fluid head mechanism gives very smooth camera movements which look professional. One of my personal favorites is the Manfrotto Be Free aluminum Lever Lock video tripod. It is only 16" long when folded for transport.

And for livestreaming on the go, there's nothing like a 3-axis electric smartphone gimbal. A gimbal holds your smartphone level and steady while you walk, giving you silky-smooth Steadicam-like results.

I use the Benro 3XS gimbal, and one of the main reasons I love it is because it does not block the Lightning port on a smartphone like many gimbals do — that's important if you want to connect a microphone to the port do to a walk-and-talk narration during your livestream.

A single push of a button rotates the phone from horizontal to vertical, and the mounting arm also folds for compact storage.

New equipment is constantly coming out for smartphone video shooting and livestreaming, allowing you to ensure that your video will be wonderfully watchable.

On-Camera Confidence

Assuming you have selected your platform, have a smartphone mic, LED light and tripod, it's time to curate your confidence so you come across well on video. Keep in mind the following tips:

• No, you don't look weird or sound weird on video, so stop judging yourself!
• We usually need to ramp up our energy a bit for video. If it helps, before you go live play a favorite song from your playlist that gets you pumped up. Dance around like a crazy person for a couple of minutes. Anything to get the blood moving and get a dose of energy!
• Remember, like I told you earlier, it's not about you. Focus on the people you're helping.
• If you're livestreaming from a laptop, do whatever you need to do to get the webcam lens at eye level. That may require propping your laptop up on a box or a stack of books if you're using the unit's internal webcam.
• Be sure to smile (as appropriate). You want to appear open, approachable, and authentic.
• If you normally gesture wildly as you talk, reel it in so your movements are appropriate for a tighter webcam image.
• If you're in charge of the livestream and are primarily the one presenting information, do whatever you can to keep people engaged. Ask questions and tell viewers to put their answers in the chat. You can also "flag" important points, by saying things like: "If you're multi-tasking right now, come back to me because I'm about to give you some really important information."

Remember, livestreaming is a mix of using your best presentation skills and some smart tech to make sure that you're communicating clearly and effectively.

It is also a skill that you can develop over time. If you're looking for more tips related to livestreaming, take a look at our checklist for getting started with your first livestream. 

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