As you work through the video creation process, keep in mind these steps. Many people use ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) as a framework. This sheet puts those steps into perspective for the video creation process. PART 1 | Preparing to Film PART 2 | Filming the Video PART 3 | Uploading to YouTube on a Desktop

There are countless marketing campaigns running all over the world at the same time. It's no wonder why people have become so immune to those "eye-catching" subject lines. With ad campaigns, email campaigns, trade show campaigns, print campaigns, etc... it's sometimes overwhelming, and due to their frequency, it can be difficult to decipher why you're even running them in the first place. Campaign management requires diligent planning, timely execution, and a ton of knowledge and insight into the audience you're reaching out to. Marketing campaign management normally requires a dedicated marketeer or a team of marketers, depending on how big the campaign actually is. What is Campaign Management? Campaign management is the planning, execution, tracking, and analysis of a marketing initiative; sometimes centered on a new product launch or an event. Campaigns normally involve multiple pushes to potential buyers through email, social media, surveys, print materials, giveaways, etc. all focusing on a similar topic or idea. Marketing campaigns are launched to get potential buyers thinking about a specific problem — a problem that can be solved using your product or service. These campaigns are crucial in engaging your audience and raising market awareness around your brand. In order to master multi-channel campaign management, you need to understand what your audience is interested in. What problems are they trying to solve? What does their daily routine look like? What would catch their attention? These are the basics of building a marketing campaign that leads to conversions. What Does a Marketing Campaign Manager Do? A marketing campaign manager is usually someone who has experience in email marketing and is familiar with CRM and digital marketing automation tools like Marketo, Salesforce and the like. They usually work closely with sales, sales ops, and external agencies to execute marketing campaigns and measure and report on their effectiveness. A marketing campaign manager is responsible for planning and executing the marketing campaign so that it meets the goals and needs of the marketing team. They also oversee and schedule everything customer-facing; including all copy, design, and audience segments. Some Popular Marketing Campaign Management Tools Nothing wastes more time than countless training sessions and meetings going over a new software. So make sure the tool you choose can be picked up quickly, so you can dedicate more time to perfecting your campaigns. Another important aspect to look for is multi-channel marketing automation. Make sure that you are able to interact with your customers in ways other than just email: social media, SEM, PPC, Google Adwords, and live chats, are all great ways to learn more about your buyers and drive traffic to your website, so make sure your new tool can support it. Lastly, make sure the analytics are built in and provide you will good metrics on the performance of your campaigns. Analytics tell you what content is working and how your customers are responding to your campaigns. This data is especially useful to sales, as they need to work in sync with marketing to make sure all messaging is consistent and on brand.

Most shoppers are heading straight to Amazon to search for products – bypassing Google or Bing. For 63 percent of consumers in the United States, the eCommerce giant is the default search engine for goods. This makes discoverability on the platform a daunting prospect for sellers. But it also emphasizes how Amazon search engine optimization (SEO) is more important than ever. Averaging over 200 million unique monthly users and racking up a quarterly revenue of approximately $125 billion, Amazon is poised to grow even bigger. Merchants can seize this opportunity and stay ahead of competitors. For starters, you can leverage the best Amazon keywords to improve your search ranking and visibility. In the upcoming sections, we discuss how to choose keywords for Amazon and dominate arguably the largest eCommerce search engine in North America. What Is Amazon SEO? While other online marketplaces like Walmart and Etsy exist, Amazon is the main search engine for eCommerce. The company accounts for 47 percent of online sales alone, so when it indexes information within its territory, it’s already covering a lot of ground. Like good old search engines, Amazon Search features an algorithm, known as the A9, that determines how products on the platform are ranked for a particular keyword. But unlike Google, it doesn’t concern itself with search intent: finding the most useful answer to someone’s query. Instead, it focuses on bringing to the fore the products that users are most likely to buy. It’s about making more sales, fast. When you understand its purpose, Amazon search engine optimization doesn’t seem to be too complex at all. At its core is the simple question of how to add keywords to Amazon listing copy and other SEO components. In the next section, we zoom in on the best Amazon keywords tips, identifying standard practices that get your search terms indexed and ranked high by Amazon Search. How To Use Amazon Keywords To Boost Ranking and Conversion What is Amazon SEO strategy creation without the proper deployment of the pivotal search terms? Let’s delve into the Amazon keywords tips that can catapult your product pages to the top of the platform’s search rankings. Greater visibility means you increase your chances of getting found by users, converting leads into customers and hitting your sales goals. If you’re a new seller, here’s a quick reminder to check if your product is included in the Amazon catalog. If it isn’t, go ahead and create an ASIN for it. ASIN stands for Amazon Standard Identification Number, which is unique to each product. Once you get that out of the way, you’re ready to stand out among the millions of offerings on Amazon. Here’s how:

Outsource marketing is a cost-effective alternative to building an in-house marketing team. Choosing to outsource your marketing efforts, such as building search engine optimization or SEO outsource services strategies, adopting responsive website design and deploying paid media campaigns helps you reduce spend. You can skip the costly exercise of finding and onboarding talent, training your new employees and growing a specialized team internally. Outsourcing is also an immediate solution because all the pieces are already in place. Be sure to contact an SEO outsource company so you can start reaping the benefits of customized SEO outsource services immediately. Or, you can call up an outsource web design company to get started on your website project as soon as possible. So, what is outsourced marketing going to do for your business? Read on to learn more about the value of outsourced marketing, the benefits of services like SEO outsource and how to use outsourced sales and marketing to scale your business. We also discuss how specialized services such as outsource SEO services and outsource web design help your business grow. What Is Outsourced Marketing? Outsourced marketing is the practice of entrusting your business’s sales and marketing needs to a company outside of your organization. When you choose to outsource sales and marketing, you enter into a contract for specialized services with an external or third-party company. Outsourced sales and marketing is the preferred alternative to hiring and dedicating paid employees to responsibilities that SEO outsource or web designing outsource could handle independently. Reasons You Should Outsource Your Marketing 1. Save Money So, you don’t have to think about how to outsource email marketing services or where to outsource SEO. Once you’re in touch with a digital marketing agency, you simply get started. 2. Save Time An excellent account manager will be able to take the lead and offer their expert direction for your overarching marketing strategy. Plus, having an agency on your side becomes a reliable sales-driver partly because of the accountability to produce results for your business. 3. Stay Ahead of the Competition SEO experts are always aware of search engine algorithm updates and outsource social media marketing experts place great importance on keeping up with online trends. One of the best ways to keep your competitive advantage is by staying ahead in all ways possible, and outsourcing can help you do just that. What to Outsource

If your perfectly optimized post isn’t ranking, what could be the matter? Is the problem that your site is not on Google at all, or is something else going wrong? What is keeping your content from reaching that coveted #1 position? In this post, we’ll discuss several of the possible reasons why your page is not ranking, even though it’s optimized. We’ve divided the possible issues you might be having into four sections: Indexing and crawl issues: How to check if your site is on Google, plus reasons why your site/page might not be on Google Technical issues with your website: Is Google disregarding your site because it’s not set up correctly? Linking issues: Is your internal linking structure and lack of quality backlinks limiting your success? Content and keyword issues: Is your content high quality and aligned to the right search intent? Indexing and Crawl Issues 1. Your site/page is not on Google If you’re unsure whether your site is on Google or not, you can check using the site: search operator in Google. Type site:yoursite.com and you’ll see a list of pages found on that domain. If you type in the full URL of a specific article, you should see only one search result return. If you see your pages, this means that Google does know about your site and has put — at least some of it — in its index. Once you discover that your page is in the index, but you think it is not performing well, you might want to dig deeper. 2. Your site/page is still too new If your site or page is new, it might simply be a matter chilling out and checking back in a little while. There are a lot of moving parts in getting your content crawled, indexed and ranked. Sometimes, it takes days or maybe even weeks / months for Google to finish its discovery process. 3. Your content is no-indexed One of the most common reasons for Google not indexing your site or a specific page is because it has — inadvertently — been no-indexed. Adding no-index meta robots tags to a page tells Google-bot that it can crawl a page, but that the results can’t be added to the index. How can you check if your page is no-indexed? That’s easy, simply open the page and view the source code. Somewhere in the head of the page, you’ll find the code below. This tells search engine crawlers that the content of the page shouldn’t be added to the index and, thus, keep it from ranking. 4. Your site/page is blocking Google with robots.txt You might have told Google not to index your content, but it’s also possible you’ve told Google not to crawl your site at all! Blocking crawlers in a so-called robots.txt file is a sure-fire way to never get any traffic. Blocking robots is easier than you might think. For instance, WordPress has a Search Engine Visibility setting that — once set to Discourage search engines from indexing this site — does its utmost best to keep crawlers out. Uncheck this to make your site available again. Technical issues affecting ranking 5. You’re not ranking because your site has technical issues Your website needs to meet certain technical benchmarks if you’re going to rank on Google! Loading speed, or how quickly your pages load, is an important factor. Security is important too, and that’s not all. If your post doesn’t show up in the search engines at all, technical issues could be preventing it from appearing in the search results completely. You could have conflicting plugins causing problems, and we’ve also seen some themes that actually prevent Google from indexing your site. 6. You’re being penalized for breaking SEO rules If Google catches you using shady SEO techniques that it doesn’t allow — e.g. sneaky tactics like buying links or stuffing keywords into hidden text — your page or site can be penalized. When you’re already putting in the effort to make a good website and quality content, it’s counterproductive to try. Even when everything else on your page is perfect, if you’re doing something that Google doesn’t allow then you’re going to have problems ranking (or even appearing in the Google search results at all). Most of these things are common sense, so if you’re not trying to trick Google or spam people, you probably don’t need to worry. Linking issues that affect ranking 7. Your site doesn’t have a proper internal linking structure Another reason why your content doesn’t show up in the search results: a crucial part of your SEO strategy is not in order. Don’t underestimate the importance of site structure – the internal linking structure – for your SEO strategy. Having a clear site structure leads to better understanding of your site by Google. 8. There are few backlinks to your site If you just started out with your website, your content won’t instantly rank. Not even if you have optimized everything perfectly. To be able to rank, you’ll need some links from other websites. After all, Google has to know your website exists. Content and keyword issues affecting ranking 9. Your page is great, but there’s too much competition In most cases, the reason a page doesn’t rank is that there’s simply too much competition. If you optimize your content for competitive keywords and key-phrases, such as [cat behavior], [robot vacuum cleaner], or [real estate agent], chances are high you won’t rank for that term. To find out if this is the problem, check the results pages for your keyword. Do high authority sites, such as Wikipedia or Amazon, dominate the first page? Do you see many sites that have already firmly established themselves in this niche? Odds are, your site doesn’t have the authority that these other sites have (yet). So you can optimize all you want, but unfortunately, that’s not enough to rank high in the search results if your niche is too competitive. 10. Low quality content, or wrong type of intent One final thing that could be the reason your content isn’t ranking: it doesn’t match the intent of people searching for your keyword. Search intent is becoming an increasingly important factor for search engines these days: do people want to buy something, go to a specific website, or are they looking for information? Even if you’re targeting a more long tail key-phrase, if your content doesn’t match the dominant intent of searchers, odds are search engines won’t show it in the results because it won’t be what people are looking for. Optimized content still not ranking? There are multiple reasons that could prevent a post from ranking. Have you optimized your post correctly with SEO? Then the most common cause is likely to be that the competition in a niche is just too fierce. Unfortunately, SEO is a long-term strategy. You need to work hard and be patient. In the meantime, there are a lot of other aspects of your SEO (site structure, link building) you can tackle. Try to focus on all aspects of website optimization, try to be that best result.

From regular email to email marketing and from flyers to banner ads - we've experienced a full evolution in marketing and the technology that goes hand in hand with it. Today, a lot of monotonous marketing tasks are simplified and automated. This means that after you create a website, you'll be at a fork to choose from dozens of marketing tools, to make your business most efficient. Since the list of invaluable digital marketing tools is far from short, in this article, we've gathered many best marketing tools you can use to maximize your digital marketing efforts. What are Marketing Tools? Marketing tools are technologies that companies can leverage to promote their products, goods and services. Most businesses use several different types of technologies for different purposes, such as analytics, advertising or even social media marketing. It’s essential that you are set up for success when starting or growing your business, and digital marketing software can help you automate and manage many of the time-consuming manual tasks. By doing so, you’re free to focus on the most crucial parts of scaling your business. Best Types of Marketing Tools Email marketing and lead nurturing tools Social media marketing tools Website analytics and data reporting CRM software Website testing Lead capture and conversion tools Advertising programs Video marketing tools Content creation platforms Communication and collaboration systems Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools Digital asset management Customer service Productivity and project management software Blogging Email Marketing and Lead Nurturing Tools Social Media Marketing Tools Website Analytics and Data Reporting CRM Tools Website Testing Lead Capture and Conversion Tools Advertising Programs Video Marketing Tools Content Creation Platforms Communication and Collaboration Systems Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Digital Asset Management Customer Service Productivity and Project Management Software Blogging

For years, video marketing experts have predicted that video would become the content format of choice in the digital realm and the future of social media marketing. To say they were right about the power of social video marketing is an understatement. People are consuming record amounts of digital video. A Google-commissioned Nielsen study revealed that in March 2020, YouTube reached more adults aged 18 to 49 in the U.S. than all linear TV networks combined – and that’s more than enough reason to invest in social media video marketing right now. Search engines and social media algorithms favor video content because it’s what users want. Here’s a staggering social media video statistic that really drives the point home: A YouTube survey revealed 50 percent of millennials and Gen Z said they couldn’t live without video in their daily lives. What’s more, Cisco reported that by 2022, total global internet video traffic would be 80 percent of all internet traffic. And with the next generation of internet users having a growing preference for video, social media video production is here to stay. The Power of Social Media Video Content Video marketing is an indispensable engagement strategy that can skyrocket your social media marketing results. There’s a lot of science to back up why video is such an effective tool for online persuasion, but there’s no question – social media users love video. Video research from Google and YouTube during the pandemic in 2020 gives a glimpse into why users want and need social media video content today. Based on more than 4,000 Americans’ insights, the top two drivers of increased video usage across all streaming services are learning new skills (33 percent) and consuming fresh and unique content (31 percent). As the world continues to change, it’s critical to align your social media video production to what your audience wants to see. When done right, customer-centric social media marketing services deliver profitable results. Benefits of social media videos for business: 1. Captures Attention In 2021, people watch an average of 2.5 hours of online video every day and 18 hours per week (Wyzowl). Your potential customers are already immersed in Facebook video marketing, YouTube video marketing, Instagram video marketing and other social platforms. Your job is to make sure your social media video marketing stands out. 2. High Engagement A social media viral video has elements that make it highly shareable – and it’s usually entertainment. Video is shared 1,200 percent more than both links and text combined (Simply Measured). A single social media viral video can skyrocket your engagements and brand recognition. 3. Drives Conversions The goal of video marketing and social media marketing services is always to generate sales. And social media marketing video content gets results. Eighty-four percent of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video (Wyzowl). How to Include Video in Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Let’s say you decide to incorporate the same videos into your YouTube video marketing, Facebook video marketing and Instagram video marketing strategies. You can’t expect the video to have the same results on different platforms. For example, “about us” videos and corporate presentations could work better for your website and a professional networking platform like LinkedIn. Effective social media videos for business are often lighthearted and focus on visually appealing elements. Choose from the many types of social media marketing video content out there and focus on what works for your specific audience. Types of social media video that perform well online: 1. Explainer Video An explainer video is a social media marketing tool that highlights your value proposition, often using animation. It helps make your product demos more memorable and presents your service benefits in a digestible way. 2. Lifestyle Video Lifestyle video content appeals to your social media audience by showcasing your products and services in daily life. Examples include releasing workout videos to promote a fitness brand or make-up tutorials to promote a cosmetics brand. 3. Promotional Video Promotional videos include any content designed to advertise or draw a lot of attention to your products and services. The best promotional videos are teasers to build hype around a product launch or a video announcement for a new service offering. To get the results you need, your video marketing services should deliver the right message to your potential customers. Effective social media marketing has everything to do with having a killer concept and using the social media channels that make the most sense. YouTube video marketing is a no-brainer – it’s the go-to video platform for many viewers and YouTube video marketing services offer the best return on investment (ROI) for video content (Biteable). You can’t go wrong with tried-and-tested video strategies that leverage Facebook video marketing, Instagram video marketing and the rising star of social media marketing services, TikTok. Expert Tips on the Right Social Video Marketing Approach Studies show that the average viewer remembers 95 percent of a message when watched and only 10 percent when read. It’s no surprise that 78 percent of video marketers say video has directly helped increase their sales (Wyzowl). Reap the benefits of social media and video marketing services with these expert tips: TIP #1: Lifestyle Content Is King Marketers love to say, “Send a message and not a sales pitch” – and this is what online video marketing services are all about. Lifestyle content is behind the success of Instagram. Instagram videos take brand experiences to the next level and sell without trying too hard. Draw your audience in by taking them on a visual journey. TIP #2: Create Short-Form Videos The trend of online video marketing services is undoubtedly “bite-sized” and snappy video content. In a Wyzowl survey, 69 percent of respondents said they’d prefer to watch a short video to learn about a product or service. When you keep your videos short, more of your target audience watches and shares them, keeping them circulating longer. TIP #3: Consider Personalized Video A YouTube survey reveals global viewers turn to videos to “seek out what really matters to them on a personal level” – and in this case, one or two great videos or generic YouTube video marketing services won’t cut it. Creating personalized video experiences is about tailoring what your audience sees depending on their interests and where they are in your sales funnel. Segmenting your audiences and targeting niche audiences and customer segments is a step above online video marketing services – and a social media marketing agency can best help with this. TIP #4: Venture Into Shoppable Video Interactive video is said to be the next big trend and especially relevant to the eCommerce industry. The future of video marketing services for eCommerce is the ability to click on video elements to buy it. TIP #5: Optimize for Search Search engine optimization (SEO) strategies exist to increase your online visibility. YouTube video marketing services include optimizing your video title, description and video tags with keywords that match your target audience’s searches. Any leading video marketing agency would tell you optimizing for mobile is critical. The popularity of TikTok and Instagram videos has led to vertical formats being the most popular for social media video marketing. TIP #6: Include Client Testimonial Videos Social proof will always be necessary to win customers. Videos that feature client testimonials and business reviews are great for your online reputation and sales. Hiring a video marketing agency or making use of professional video production services builds trust in your content and increases your credibility. TIP #7: Build Your Brand A Google report emphasized the importance of brand building to drive long-term success and referred to video as a powerful medium “capable of reaching a wide audience while also focusing on specific products and ROI-targeted conversions.” In other words, video is a brand management tool that drives conversions and a vehicle for growth. TIP #8: Have Fun With It Fifty-four percent of consumers want to see videos from brands more than other content types (HubSpot) – and they appreciate authenticity. A social media viral video is often candid and shows how audiences are drawn to raw and natural content. Experiment with live streaming or unscripted Instagram videos, and don’t take things too seriously! Viewers appreciate a video’s ability to dig into their interests twice as much as production quality or the platform it’s on. A social video marketing company can help you center your video strategy on giving your potential customers the content they want to see.

Whether you’re just beginning to create your very own podcast or you’re looking to grow your existing one, where you decide to host your podcast is a subject that will need to be put on the table. In case you needed a quick reminder, a podcast is an audio file available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device. Usually podcasts are available as a series of episodes revolving around a particular theme. Because the internet is filled with many places to store and broadcast your work, it’s important to know from the start what you can expect to get out of the podcast hosting site you choose. Of course, creating a website to house your podcast is also an essential step to ensure you have a dedicated space to highlight all the extra details. Luckily for you, we’ve rounded up a list of the best podcast hosts around. Plus, we’ve reviewed each platform’s unique features so you can select a host that truly shows off your storytelling skills. Best Podcast Hosting Sites Wix Podcast Player Libsyn SoundCloud Podbean Spreaker Buzzsprout Simplecast Transistor Captivate Audioboom Wix Podcast Player While the Wix Podcast Player isn’t a traditional hosting platform, it’s certainly one of the easiest and most stylish ways to showcase your podcast on your website, no matter where your host is. The best part is that the initial setup just requires your podcast’s RSS feed URL. From there, the Player will do the rest for you! Like magic, the Player will begin populating the page with your logo, all of your episodes, and their accompanying photos and descriptions. Plus, it will produce a set of dynamic pages, meaning it instantly creates a page for each episode using a uniform format. Therefore, each episode will open on its own page, yet the design will remain consistent throughout – all with zero work on your end. After it’s set up, you can go ahead and customize the player’s style and design so it merges well with the rest of your site. Plans: Wix Podcast Player is a free podcast hosting site and all features are available, without limits, at no cost. Key features: Feature and stream your podcasts, all in one place Easily connect your site to hosts using RSS feeds Instantly create show feeds and episode pages Free web hosting for all your content Libsyn You’ll see Libsyn at the top of most ‘podcast host’ lists online, and for good reason: It’s pretty great. It’s been around since podcasting first broke onto the scene, it provides a fantastic set of features, and it is competitively priced. While there are other hosts out there that offer a similar feature set or even better pricing, the combination of a longstanding (positive) track record and multiple plans to choose from, depending on your needs, make Libsyn a good first stop in your podcast hosting search. Plans: Libsyn offers a handful of different plans, each increasing in features as you go up. Plans range from $5 a month to $75 a month and the primary change between plans being storage options (with caps from 50MB to 1500MB). Key features: Custom mobile app YouTube publishing Advanced analytics SoundCloud You’ve probably heard of SoundCloud before, but it wouldn’t be at all surprising if you didn’t know it’s a popular podcasting host as well. In reality, it’s not a surprising move for the company. While its primary focus is music, it has positioned itself to be a podcast hosting company without ever really intending to be. SoundCloud’s popularity for music gives it a ‘mindshare’ advantage that a lot of names on this list simply can’t compete with. That said, popularity doesn’t mean everything and some may find this offering isn’t exactly what they need. Case in point, as a premium user of SoundCloud, the analytics are lacking quite a bit. If you are someone who wants to dive heavily into the analytics of your pod, you may want to look elsewhere. Plans: SoundCloud keeps things simple with only three types of plans: A free plan with a three-hour upload limit per month, an $8 a month plan that doubles the upload time of the free plan and adds some goodies, and a Pro Unlimited plan that allows for more upload time, scheduled releases and more. Key features: Free plans Timed comments Twitter cards PodBean PodBean’s user-friendly interface allows you to upload, publish, manage and promote your podcasts with just a few clicks of your mouse. But what really sets them apart from the crowd is its crowdfunding options for those more serious creators looking to make money from loyal listeners. In terms of capabilities, the platform is simple and intuitive. One major advantage of casting your lot with PodBean is that your podcast is included in their network, adding another layer of discoverability for you. Plans: PodBean comes with four different plans to choose from. Its free option is a no frills, straight forward five hours of audio uploaded a month, with 100GB of bandwidth. It also comes with basic stats, customizable players to embed, and your own podcast landing page site. The first paid tier, Unlimited Audio, introduces paid monetization, increased upload hours and bandwidth to unlimited, plus a few more services. If you’re a beginner, you will most likely find what you’re looking for between the first two paid options. However, if you’ve got some exemplary podcasting skills under your belt and are looking for ways to grow your podcast or need free business tools, PodBeans’s latter two paid options will be more fitting. Key features: Monetization capabilities Alexa integration Free plans Spreaker From its website, description of its features and the layout of its plans, literally everything about Spreaker feels professional. One thing that sets them apart from most of the other hosts on this list is that it gives you ‘unlimited daily sessions,’ allowing you to start a live stream as many times as you want per day. The length of time you can keep the live stream going is indicated by the plan you’re on. While this isn’t something everyone is going to use or even care for, it’s a pretty nifty and unique feature to have (freely) available to you. Outside of its unique ‘live’ feature, Spreaker offers up the expected features any budding or expert podcaster could want, with a focus on marketing and other professional services. Plans: Spreaker’s plans range from free to over $1000, but the value per plan increases significantly as you go up. The first pain plan, called On-Air Talent, increases daily session limit, audio storage, and allows you to distribute your content via iHeartRadio and Spotify. The more expensive plans, Broadcaster, Anchorman, & Station, all increase daily session limit, storage, and improved analytics, marketing and monetization tools. Key features: Chat while streaming live iHeartRadio distribution Ad-free pages Buzzsprout Buzzsprout’s name is usually found on lists of top podcast hosts, and is credited for its ease of use. It’s a modern service designed to keep things simple. The platform brings exactly what a podcast needs to the table and then some. It includes all the good stuff like stats, easy migration and embedded podcast players. Their well-designed dashboard makes it easy to upload and publish your episodes. On the flip side, you can also schedule shows in advance. That way, your listeners are never neglected. If you’re the obsessive type about stats, then you’ll love the mobile dashboard which includes the option to manage promotions and keep a close eye on your numbers no matter where you are. Plans: Just like the platform itself, Buzzsprout offers simplified paid plans. There is a free plan that allows for two hours of upload a month, and three paid plans that offer increased storage ranging from three to 12 hours a month. The most expensive of those paid plans still only reaches $24 a month. However, instead of having a hard cap of audio hours, Buzzsprout will simply charge you for additional hours. The exact amount you are charged per extra hour is dependent on the existing paid plan you have. It’s a nifty feature to have just in case one of your podcast episodes runs longer than expected. Key features: Free for 90 days Mobile friendly dashboard Easy migration from other hosting platforms SimpleCast As you might have guessed by its name, Simplecast is known for being an incredibly easy-to-use podcast hosting site. In spite of this simplicity-focused approach, this podcast hosting site offers a professional service packed with powerful tools for every stage of your podcast’s life. The platform’s long list of features includes unlimited storage, one-click publishing, analytics tools, and a customizable site. A quick glance at Simplecast’s website makes it clear that the platform boasts a modern and bold brand identity, which translates into which translates into aesthetic players that can be embedded into your site. Another key differentiating element that has put Simplecast among the best podcast hosting sites is Recast. This unique tool allows podcasters and listeners to seamlessly share clips to social channels which is an effective social media marketing strategy, allowing you to reach a wider audience. Plans: Simplecast offers three different podcast hosting plans for independent creators, as well as two high-end tailored plans for professional podcasters and enterprises. You can get unlimited storage and uploads plus features such as distribution and multiple shows management for $15 a month. If you need to add more than two members or use advanced features such as curated audience reports and website analytics tools, you’ll need to upgrade your plan. Key features: Unlimited storage and uploads Integrated social media sharing tools Custom domain name for your site Transistor Transistor launched just a couple years ago, but has quickly grown to become one of the most well-known podcast hosting sites in the market. With a wide array of powerful and easy-to-use features, this platform is meant for both large brands and creators who have just decided to start a podcast. One of Transistor’s defining characteristics is the fact that it offers unlimited storage for an unlimited number of podcasts for all users. The plans are instead tiered based on the total amount of monthly downloads podcasters receive. Other features include embed code, professional websites, distribution tools, and customizable domains. But what truly makes Transistor stand from the crowd is its analytics dashboard, where users can track stats such as average downloads per episode, subscribers, and historical performance. Plans: Transistor offers three different plans ranging from $19 to $99 per month. Subscriptions can be paid on a monthly or yearly basis. Those choosing a yearly plan will get two months of usage for free. All plans include unlimited podcasts, live customer support, in-depth analytics, and a customizable website. The main differences between plans are the monthly downloads available, additional users per podcast, and private podcasts support. Key features: Advanced analytics Multi-platform distribution Unlimited podcasts Captivate Captivate was developed by a team with a long, successful trajectory in the podcast industry, which becomes instantly apparent upon seeing the platform’s unique approach. This podcast hosting site is focused on growth, offering a long list of unique features aimed to empower creators and provide them with everything they need to build a successful online business. Among Captivate’s growth-oriented features you’ll find a mobile-friendly website you can customize with your brand colors, mailing list integrations to power your email marketing campaigns, and a downloadable PDF report with your latest stats that can be used as part of a press kit or to show potential sponsors. These groundbreaking tools are, of course, offered in addition to traditional podcast features such as cross-platform distribution, in-depth analytics, custom plugins, and more. Plans: Captivate has three pricing tiers ranging between $19 and $99 per month. Unlike other podcast hosting sites, monthly downloads are the only element linked to these tiers. The basic Podcaster plan supports up to 12,000 downloads, while Professional and Brand set the cut at 60,000 and 150,000 downloads respectively. All core features on Captivate’s catalogue are available in all plans. Key features: Unlimited podcasts and team members Built-in calls-to-action User-friendly analytical dashboard AudioBoom If you’re looking to make money online with your podcast, Audioboom might just be the place for you. This platform prides itself to be the best podcast hosting site for content monetization, operating under the slogan “Host, distribute and monetize your audio.” The platform divides its offering into two tiers: Podcasters and Podcaster Pros. The fist plan is aimed at content creators with less than 10,000 listeners per podcast episode, providing them with unlimited episodes hosting, cross-platform distribution tools, embeddable players, and advanced analytics. Once your podcast surpasses the 10,000 listeners per episode barrier, you’ll get access to Podcaster Pros and all the monetization tools that come with it. Audioboom provides established podcasters with sponsorship opportunities, a proprietary targeted ad network, branded content partnership opportunities, premium sales services, live stream collaborations, and more. Plans: Audioboom offers a series of tiered plans based on the amount of plays per month your podcast gets. The basic Podcasters plan starts at $9.99 per month for up to 10K monthly plays, and can be upgraded to a Plus Plan for a maximum of 25K monthly listeners. Both of these plans include unlimited episode hosting, cross-platform distribution, analytics, and embeddable players. The platform’s professional plan, aimed at podcasters with over 10K listeners per episode, offers numerous monetization tools for an undisclosed subscription cost. Key features: Monetization tools Multi-platform distribution Embeddable player and social media integration

As vaccination programs continue to roll out worldwide, a return to physical offices seems imminent. However, fewer than one in five executives want to revert to the office as it was before the pandemic. The way we collaborate has changed permanently, and getting through the first 30 days of return to work can seem like a daunting prospect. That’s why a return to work checklist should be an essential part of your back to office plan. After spending more than a year building remote work environments, you may have questions about what you’ll need to change to successfully head back to work in an office or hybrid setting. The great news is that most of your remote work practices and training will carry over. Digital collaboration and remote teams are here to stay, with 83% of employers stating the shift to remote work has been a success. However, a hybrid work dynamic and lingering concerns over the pandemic will bring new challenges that work environments will have to adapt to in order to succeed. In the first few weeks, you'll need to consider how to maintain a comprehensive plan for workplace safety, shape employee experience to fit a new age of hybrid collaboration, and refit your organization to provide your teams with the tools they need to do their best work. Return to work checklist 1. The workplace safety roadmap One of the most common concerns among returning employees is workplace safety and exposure to COVID-19. A report published by Littler noted that 93% of employees stated it as a significant concern. It’s critical that you establish a robust set of precautions to ensure your employees have peace of mind while working and interacting within the office. When building your workplace safety roadmap, consider the following: Implement a health screening procedure that works for your organization As employees begin to return to the office, you’ll need a health screening procedure that fits with your company environment and culture. Whether it’s through in-person temperature checks or a simple questionnaire, make sure your employees are comfortable with the safety procedures. Adapt quickly and accordingly if they aren’t. Develop a return to office exposure response plan Although unlikely if proper precautions are taken, it always helps to be prepared. If anyone in your organization is exposed, you’ll need a step-by-step plan that includes contact tracking procedures, stay-at-home requirements, and prepared communications to send to affected staff. Stock personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees Once employees settle on a work model (in-office, hybrid, etc.) and office spaces gradually fill, it’ll become easier to determine what you’ll need to keep in-office workers safe and comfortable. Keep a readily available stock of gloves, masks, and other PPE, and adjust as necessary in accordance with your headcount. Establish sanitation and distancing procedures Each physical workspace will have a different set of ideal sanitation and distancing procedures. Establish a routine and appropriate sanitation process for before, during, and after the workday, and ensure employees follow your policies for social distancing. This includes modifying and increasing physical spaces between workers, as well as restricting travel between offices. 2. Adapt the employee experience Workers who return to the office will have new and differing perspectives on what makes for a great employee experience. No matter how well thought-out your plans may be, the first few weeks of return to work will change them. Listen to employee feedback and implement their suggestions in a prompt and impactful manner. It’ll take time for employees and organizations to adapt to a post-pandemic work environment, and adaptability will be the key to workplace success. Set up multiple, accessible methods of feedback Whether through regular surveys, suggestion boxes, or town-hall meetings, provide ample opportunity for employees to provide feedback both publicly and anonymously. Understanding employee frustrations is critical to formulating a better working experience. This also includes adjusting feedback methods according to your employees’ preferences. Plan safe back to work events and offer new programs to help returning employees connect Many returning employees will be shifting from passing their entire workdays at home to spending most of it outside. They’ll also go from exclusively digital communications to in-person interactions throughout the day. Provide small but impactful, day-to-day programs (such as funds for team luncheons, coffee chats, and happy hours) to help employees re-establish their New Normal. This also extends to programs like team building activities — consider new ways to help hybrid teams interact and bond together. Establish clear communication channels across the organization Schedules and processes will change alongside shifts in work environments, as employees choose to work remotely or in-office. With teams and individuals now operating in varied locations, helping employees understand these changes and establishing clear channels of communications between teams will be the foundations of successful cross-functional collaboration. Provide benefits that establish new routines Employees will need time to ease into their new digs and lifestyles. To help the transition, encourage them to maintain routines they’ve adopted at home, like taking regular screen breaks and walks, or providing additional time for people with caregiving responsibilities. Provide transitional benefits like commuter subsidies to help employees get re-accustomed to traveling to and from work. 3. Rethink your workspace Refitting your physical spaces to accommodate both physical and digital collaboration is essential for the success of a hybrid work environment. As you prepare your return to work checklist, ensure your workforce has the tools and space they need to hit the ground running. Re-acclimate your workspace dynamics As employees return to physical offices, workspaces will have to change to accommodate a hybrid environment. For example, meetings that were once held exclusively through Zoom will now have to balance a team of digital contributors and a room of physical attendees. Make sure your physical spaces and workplace processes are fitted to facilitate collaboration in a hybrid environment. Empower employees with the tools they need Often at the encouragement of their organization, friends, or coworkers, many employees purchased amenities to improve their quality of life while working from home. This includes tools like new monitors, ergonomic keyboards, standing desks, and more. If possible, provide your employees with a workplace that matches the standards they’ve become accustomed to in order to ease the process of transition. Create your return to work first-month checklist Whether you’re in the process of completing your return to work plan or just starting to consider it, this guide will help you set up a smooth transition and a foundation for a successful, hybrid work environment. Turn items in your back-to-work checklist into actionable tasks. Use an Application or Project Software to increase visibility and improve communication as employees head back to the office.

Last year, Google made a move to prioritize the end-user experience, announcing Core Web Vitals. In June 2021, these three metrics will begin impacting search rankings, ensuring the best user experiences rise to the top. Core Web Vitals are a set of specific factors that Google considers important in a webpage's overall user experience. ... In short, Core Web Vitals are a subset of factors that will be part of Google's “page experience” score (basically, Google's way of sizing up your page's overall UX). If your website falls into the ‘Needs Improvement’ or ‘Poor’ windows of measurement, the effectiveness of your on-page SEO efforts will be diminished. Introducing Core Web Vitals Based on real-world user experiences, combined with lab tests and other research, Google is removing ambiguity around the impact of web performance on search rankings. How to Optimize for LCP (Largest Contentful Paint An LCP higher than 2.5 seconds puts your site at risk: 47% of websites have an LCP score of greater than 2.5 seconds. If we adopt that mindset in addressing Core Web Vital scores, we would focus first on LCP. After all, every business today exists in a visual economy. Unoptimized images are often the greatest contributor to page bloat. Looking at the 90th percentile of the distribution of page weight, images account for a whopping 5.2 MB of a roughly 7-MB page. In other words, images comprise almost 75% of the total page weight. Tips for Optimizing LCP # Embrace image optimization to encourage page load # Compress image assets so they take up less bandwidth, but still display in high quality # Convert images into newer formats (AVIF, JPEG XL, JPEG 2000, WebP) # Use an AI-based platform to automatically crop, resize & format images specific to the user’s browser and device # Keep a close eye on analytics to track how visual media performs over time # Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)—or better yet, a multi-CDN approach—to speed up your website, per Google’s recommendation # Cache the most used images and videos rather than sourcing them every time from the origin How do I pass Core Web Vitals examination In order to pass the Core Web Vitals assessment, you need to score “good” for all three Core Web Vitals—Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)—based on field data. Core Web Vitals becoming ranking signals is an important shift in how search engine rankings work. Now, user experience will play a tangible role in if your website reaches that coveted number one spot. A poorly designed website with no focus on user experience just won't cut it. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is a Core Web Vitals metric and measures when the largest content element in the viewport becomes visible. It can be used to determine when the main content of the page has finished rendering on the screen. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): The amount that the page layout shifts during the loading phase. The score is rated from 0–1, where zero means no shifting and 1 means the most shifting. This is important because having pages elements shift while a user is trying to interact with it is a bad user experience. Does your CLS score affect your SEO? ... That means your CLS score (together with LCP and FID metrics) will affect your SEO. While it's likely to be a very minor factor, your CLS score (along with the other Web Vitals) may reflect on the traffic you get from Google and other search engines. How do I fix core Web vitals issues? Optimize your images. Stabilize loading by specifying room for images and the like. Speed up your server to get that loading time down. Look into critical CSS to load above the fold content quicker. Improve loading of third-party scripts.

A backlink for a given web resource is a link from some other website to that web resource. A web resource may be a website, web page, or web directory. A backlink is a reference comparable to a citation. There are plenty of resources online discussing backlinks and why they should be part of your SEO strategy. When you Google “how important is link building for SEO?” you inevitably find an endless supply of websites sharing link building strategies and tips on how to get backlinks. What Are Backlinks? The main purpose of SEO is to enhance your site’s visibility through organic search. One way of doing this is through quality link building and knowing how to get backlinks. But what are backlinks? And, to be more precise, what are backlinks in SEO? Backlinks are links that point from one page to another web page on a different domain. But their primary function isn’t just to improve navigation and facilitate site crawling. In SEO, websites can benefit from an inbound link because it improves domain authority, a trust signal that helps boost your rankings on organic search. “A backlink is a vote of confidence search engines like Google use to determine if a website is trustworthy, It is an effective way of getting third parties to affirm your site’s authenticity, trustworthiness and authority.” How Important Is Link Building for SEO? Now that we know the answer to “what are backlinks in SEO? let’s move onto the importance of backlinks. So, exactly how important is link building for SEO and how much does it matter? We’ve explained that link building is the process of acquiring backlinks for your website. Generally, there are two ways to do this: • Natural Link Building – the editorial acquisition of backlinks when others discover your content and link to it organically. • Non-Natural Link Building – an umbrella term for link acquisition that covers link building through editorial outreach, guest posting or quality link building services, among others. Note: We used the term non-natural link building to differentiate from unnatural link building, which is a frowned-upon method of acquiring backlinks. Unnatural or black-hat link building services attach artificial links to web pages without the administrator’s consent for the sole purpose of manipulating a page’s ranking. But how important is link building for SEO? Extremely. In fact, it has become a critical ranking factor, which is why many link building services exist. As mentioned above, backlinks serve as a vote of confidence for your website and are instrumental in improving your visibility online through organic search. Link Building: Quality vs Quantity The debate over link building quality vs. quantity wasn’t even a thing before 1998. That year, Google started considering the importance of backlinks by introducing PageRank to estimate the quality of web pages through the number of links that point to them. One major flaw, however, was that it couldn’t differentiate between low and high-quality sources. Exploiters saw an opportunity to trick the system, giving rise to black-hat link building strategies, such as spam comments, private blog networks (PBNs) and link farms, among many others. Google introduced a series of updates, beginning in 2011, to filter out and penalize websites that didn’t follow its guidelines. Before the update, link building services could simply ask how many backlinks per month you wanted and deliver because it didn’t matter if you knew how to get backlinks from quality sources. Today, the link source’s DA and trustworthiness matter way more than the number of links. In the debate between link building quality vs. quantity, experts agree that quality is the clear winner. “Long gone are the days when link builders used PBNs and link farms to rank a website. These practices go against Google’s guidelines, which can result in penalization,” . “A quality backlink has a lot more weight when passing link equity, and the potential referral traffic and branding opportunities that come with it are signaling Google the right way.” It is more important than ever to build quality links through your link building strategy. One link from a highly reputable source such as a popular blog or a credible news website has more link juice than a million links from sketchy sources that Google can easily ignore. What Are the Benefits of a Link Building Strategy Focused on High Quality Link Building? High quality link building should be a priority in your SEO strategy for several reasons, including: • It boosts website traffic, targeting relevant audiences and industry niches. • It improves domain authority as link juice is passed to your domain from high-authority sources. • It broadens your opportunities to build relationships with other businesses, collaborators and subject matter experts. • It positions your brand as an authoritative voice, leading to better credibility and a stellar reputation. Best Practices for SEO Link Building Link building is a laborious process. According to 51 percent of marketers, even profitable link building campaigns could take 1-3 months to see significant results. But quality link building services still exist because of the tremendous impact these backlinks can have on your SEO efforts. With that said, the question of how many backlinks per month you should generate should be out of your radar because links from quality sources take time to acquire. So, how do you get started on your link building campaigns? by taking small steps and applying these best practices. Here’s how to create backlinks by following Google’s guidelines: Create Quality Content In a perfect world, you wouldn’t need to learn how to build backlinks if you “earn” them through quality content. But one of the best ways to begin your link building campaigns is by producing excellent content that assists in building quality links naturally. These pieces of content generally provide value that people want to link to, such as a blog post, white-paper or infographic. Beginning your link building campaigns this way creates assets that attract the attention of site owners and readers alike for increased traffic. And if you’re looking for content ideas to launch your campaign, remember that blog posts that answer “why” and “what” receive 25.8 percent more links than “how-to” posts, according to Backlinko. So a blog post about “what are backlinks?” is more than likely to receive more links than a post about “how to build backlinks.” Editorial Outreach Every quality link building campaign revolves around some form of outreach. Whether you’re promoting a piece of content, making a request or building relationships, editorial outreach can help you achieve your link building goals. Here’s how to create backlinks through outreach: • Ask for a link: Don’t be afraid to send an email to ask someone for a link to any of the resources on your website. But make sure to keep your email short and right to the point. • Help a Reporter Out (HARO): Reach out to journalists who are looking for extra help for their articles via HARO. HARO is a message board for journalists and a great source of high-quality links from big-name news outlets. • Broken link building method: This method involves flagging broken links on certain web pages using a backlink checker and contacting webmasters to provide a suitable replacement for those links. All you need to do is learn how to check backlinks in Google Search Console, the best free backlink checker today. Aside from the best free backlink checker, you can use similar tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs as a backlink checker. Guest Posting Guest posting remains one of the most-used tactics to build quality links, especially for small businesses. It involves writing high-quality articles that contain links that point to your website. There are many websites online that offer opportunities for guest posting. But before you start looking for such sites, keep in mind the following: • Look for websites or blogs that are relevant to your industry and topic. • Your article’s primary objective should be to provide value and not self-promotion. • Make sure you share a high-quality, well-written blog post because it can also affect your reputation. Conclusion In this article, we answered the question “what are backlinks in SEO and why your SEO link building strategy should focus on how to build quality links. Today, the quality of a backlink has a higher impact on your search rankings than the number of links you have. Links from a million low-quality sources can easily be ignored by Google or may even negatively impact your domain. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention to the quantity of backlinks you earn. On the contrary, you should know how to create backlinks from quality sources to earn more votes of confidence that improve your domain authority. And with the help and resources of reputable agencies, you can fast-track the process of quality link building. We are here to help you. Contact us so we can start helping you with your backlinks business strategy.