In this post, we present all the features and tools that are available on Hubspot. So if your company is considering implementing automation to its marketing activities – read on.

HubSpot – what is it?

HubSpot is a system for automating the activities of sales and customer service departments with marketing activities, thanks to which your company can closely monitor the impact of one on another and optimize specific processes.

In addition to these possibilities, HubSpot is primarily a huge database of contacts and companies. Anyone who interacts with your business can be saved as a contact on HubSpot. Examples of contacts are visitors who converted on the form, visitors who contact your team, or potential customers your team met at events. A good database of contacts will allow your team to easily record and retrieve information about them, keeping everyone up-to-date.

What modules does Hubspot consist of?

The system consists of 4 main modules:
– marketing – helping to increase traffic, the number of conversions resulting from a larger number of visitors and effectively lead and monitor the effects of marketing campaigns,
– sales – helps to automate sales tasks (sending e-mails to potential customers, call register),
– service – thanks to which you will introduce order and improve customer service processes (notes, detailed data, reports),
– CMS – used to manage content, create newsletters and landing pages.

Each of the modules is a separate tool and can be used separately, however, for comprehensive sales and marketing support, it is worth using the potential of all of them. And about the potential in them below.

Marketing Hub in Hubspot

The marketing module allows you to manage all marketing processes in your company: automate activities related to publishing content, combine various advertising channels and analyze their effectiveness. What features will you find in the marketing module and what are the benefits?

– Option to post the content your audience is looking for to make them easier to find in search engines, social media and more. And by adding call to action buttons, encourage them to convert.
– Positioning the website thanks to SEO tools that help you plan your strategy and optimize your content as you write it.
– Manage your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google ads directly in the HubSpot system. The ability to track which ads turn leads into customers.
– Planning social media publications, managing, analyzing and monitoring posts and prioritizing them to increase the chance of reaching customers.
– Function to insert and manage files directly in HubSpot and easily embed them on social media, websites and blog posts.
– Live chat function, thanks to which you can chat with your website visitors in real time. Use bots to qualify leads and scale your efforts to focus on the conversations that matter most.
– Option to design and launch a landing page without the help of programmers or IT specialists. Access an extensive library of mobiles optimized templates that convert, or build pages from scratch.
– Create forms with a simple drag and drop editor. Add them to your website to turn anonymous visitors into leads that will automatically be added to your contact database.
– Automate repetitive company processes, plan large-scale mailing campaigns, streamline cross-functional operations, bulk data management, and more.
– Create mobiles-optimized email campaigns that look professional. Ability to personalize content for each audience and run A / B testing to improve click-through rates.
– A complete picture of each potential customer in one integrated database. Thanks to the segmentation of contacts based on the collected data and automation, you can evalsuate the potential of leads and assign them to a specific person from your sales team.
– Advanced, custom reports and built-in analytics.
– Flexibility to store and customize any type of data in HubSpot. Ability to prepare reports With custom data and create dashboards to share insights with your team.

Sales Hub in Hubspot

The sales module combines all tools and data on one easy-to-use, efficient platform. Thanks to it, you gain constant control over acquiring leads and converting them into customers by sales departments. What exactly does it have?

– Ability to create email templates from the most effective emails that can be shared with your team.
– Monitoring the time a prospect opens emails, so you can respond to them in a timely manner and close the deal faster.
– Library of useful sales materials for the entire team, the ability to share documents directly from the inbox.
– Making and recording calls directly from the browser and automatic registration of them in the CRM system, thanks to which you will discover what is behind the team’s results.
– Share a link that allows potential customers to choose an appointment that suits everyone – it will be automatically synced with your calendar.
– Set up a series of personalized emails and follow-up tasks to keep the entire sales process in mind.
– Ability to contact potential customers when they are actively using your website. Direct your chat conversations to the right team members to build better relationships and close more deals.
– Knowledge base full of the right tools, chat scripts, marketing guides, and more.
– Full insight into the sales process to be able to effectively forecast and achieve even better results.
– mobiles application to manage your contacts, offers and tasks from any place and device.
– One-click contract adding, task assignments and progress tracking on your dashboards.
– and more!

Service Hub in Hubspot

Today, customers expect a problem to be resolved within minutes and personalized service 24/7 through a variety of channels. However, most customer service teams struggle to meet these growing demands because their tools and data reside in multiple sources or tools.

The service module collects all customer service data and channels in one place and helps you scale support through automation and self-service. What do you gain from this? More time for proactive service that retains and expands your customer base. Here are the features that can make it easier for you:

– Ability to add routing and automation to tickets, so the help desk will prioritize critical issues.
– Possibility to transform the FAQ database – frequently asked questions into a library of articles, videos and documentation that will help to solve them.
– Combine team email, live chat, Facebook Messenger, and more into one universal inbox so your entire team can see conversations and respond in one place.
– Ensure that each user has access to the appropriate resources. Ability to quickly view and manage permissions, statuses and availability across the team.
– Create custom surveys to collect customer and contractor feedback.
– Reports and custom funnels to monitor the health of your business and improve the efficiency of your customer service teams.

CMS module (CMS Hub)

The CMS module is the content management system needed to easily create and personalize websites for each visitor – optimized for conversion on any device. Thanks to it, you will create websites with the tools you prefer and your marketing team will be able to update themselves thanks to flexible themes. Additionally, in the module you will get access to the resources and ideas of the HubSpot developer community. What do you gain with the functions available in CMS Hub?

– You can improve your site and take action in one place using SEO recommendations.
– Pre-made themes with the option to create custom themes that will help you build a consistent site without worrying about mismatched designs, logos or navigation.
– Managing multiple language domains and optimizing each of them for SEO. Users will be able to switch between languages.
– Ability to update and build the page without the help of a developer or custom code.
– A / B tests – a function that allows you to select up to five different page variations, which HubSpot will monitor and display the most effective option.
– Analyze the types of content, sources and campaigns that attract the most potential customers.
– Tools like GitHub to handle version control and make changes to web resources.
– Add interactive elements such as event registrations, guest books and calculators without setting up an external server, SSL certificate or data transfer processes.
– Create a site-wide content editing environment that allows the marketing team to manage and update the user interface.
– Access to extensive documentation and an active developer community to get started immediately, as well as get answers and ideas.
– Website security thanks to automatic and manual checks for attacks, potential abuse or other anomalies.

Which HubSpot Modules are Best for Your Business?

If you are considering introducing sales and marketing automation in your company, the HubSpot system will definitely have most of the functions you need. So if you have questions about the system’s capabilities and how to implement it in your company – contact us.

In order to achieve good PR, marketing and sales effects in social media, we must adapt to the constantly modified environment. The functions, appearance and regulations of social networking sites and advertising services are subject to dynamic changes, and we must keep up with them. The choice of graphics or video for a post can completely change its reach and the feelings of the recipients, so – especially in the case of photos and videos – we should strictly follow the technical recommendations of Facebook and other websites.

Below, we present a clear list of graphics and movie formats that will allow every marketer to achieve good results. What dimensions should photos on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook have? And what should we decide on in Google Display Network and programmatic Display & Video 360 ads?

Facebook – graphics dimensions

Profile picture
Currently, the Facebook profile picture is displayed in the shape of a circle with the most common dimensions:
– on computers (desktop): 170 x 170 pixels,
– on smartphoness and tablets (mobiles): 128 x 128 pixels,
– in the light version (older phoness): 36 x 36 pixels.

If we use Facebook in the browser, the dimensions will differ depending on the device – for example, in the timeline in the Safari browser on the iphoness SE 2, the avatar has a size of 80 x 80 pixels, while on a computer with a 1920 x 1080 FullD monitor, the photo is displayed in resolution 40 x 40 pixels.

The most important thing is that the profile picture has a 1: 1 (square) aspect ratio, and that the key elements are in the center – Facebook will cut the edges by displaying the picture. The photo should be much larger than its displayed dimensions – even with the aspect ratio of 1000 x 1000 – the website will properly scale it, so we can be sure that the avatar will not be “pixelated” on any device.

Background image
Most desktops display the image at a resolution of 820 x 312 pixels. On smartphoness and tablets (mobiles), the background photo will be cropped to 640 x 360 format, so it’s good to put the most important elements in the middle area of the photo.

Background video
The recommended background video size is 1250 x 463 pixels, the smallest: 820 x 312 pixels. On mobiles devices, the video will not be played – then the role of the background photo will be taken over by one of the still frames from the movie (we can choose it), which will be cropped in the same way as the background photo. Please note that currently only certain profiles can add video as a cover photo. If you can’t, you can try changing the template – if that doesn’t help, the feature is not available for the profile.

Group background image
The recommended photo size is 1640 x 856 pixels. If our photo is larger, it will also be displayed correctly, as long as we keep the aspect ratio of width to height 1.91: 1.

Event background
Recommended size: 1200 x 628 pixels – the photo will not be centered and will look the same on different resolutions.

Photo in the post
– horizontal photo 1200 x 900 pixels
– vertical photo: 800 x 1000 pixels
– square photo: 1080 x 1080 pixels

Video post
The video in your post should have an aspect ratio of 16: 9 (horizontal video) or 9:16 (vertical video) – preferably 1920 x 1080 or 1080 x 1920 or higher. The system will allow us to load a movie up to 240 minutes long and up to 4 gigabytes in size.

Facebook Stories
The dimensions for Facebook Stories are the same as for Instagram Stories – they are full-screen with a 9:16 aspect ratio. Recommended dimensions: 1080 x 1920 pixels.

Collection – instant material
The mobiles canvas format is not used very often, but many marketers appreciate its multimedia character and high level of user interaction. The collection should be in square (1: 1) or vertical (9:16) format.

Picture with a link (linkpost)
The best results will be achieved with the size of 1200 x 628 pixels (large horizontal thumbnail) or 1080 x 1080 (square format).

Carousel
From 2 to 10 photos or videos (can be stitched together). Photos and videos will be displayed in square format and should be at least 1080 x 1080 pixels.

The slideshow
The animated format gives us a lot of freedom, allowing you to choose from 3 to 10 photos. You can choose an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 1:1.

A campaign aimed at acquiring likes
In its case, the most popular format is horizontal photos with dimensions of 1200 x 444 pixels or square photos with dimensions of 1080 x 1080 pixels.

Messenger – graphics dimensions

The thumbnail will appear between the conversations in the conversation list and displayed in a 1:1 aspect ratio (preferably choose an image with a resolution of 1080 x 1080 or higher). After clicking, the user will see the full ad.

In the expanded view (i.e. after clicking), the full image will be shown – it may have an aspect ratio from 16: 9 to 1: 1, vertical images will not be accepted by the system. According to the official guidelines, the minimum dimensions are 254 x 133 pixels, but in practice Facebook rejects such small images in this advertising format – the image sent must have a resolution of at least 500 x 262 pixels.

Maximum file size: 30 MB. You must also add text to the image – up to 150 characters with spaces in the content and up to 40 characters with spaces in the header.

Messenger – Relationships
As with other relationship formats, the image should have an aspect ratio of 9:16 and a high resolution, optimally 1080 x 1920 or higher.

Instagram – image dimensions and formats

Unlike Facebook, Instagram as a portal doesn’t have that many different formats.

Standard posts:
– Square photo – still the most popular photo format on Instagram, until 2015 the only one. Recommended dimensions: minimum 1080 x 1080 pixels.
– Landscape photo – Recommended aspect ratio is 1.91: 1 with a width of 1080 pixels.
– Vertical photo – should have an aspect ratio of 4: 5 (this way it will not be cropped) with a width of 1080 pixels and a height of 1350 pixels.

InstaStories
As the vast majority of users view Instagram on their phoness, the best InstaStories aspect ratio will be 9:16 with the dimensions 1080 by 1920.

Video Posts
Videos that you want to post on Instagram can range from 1.91: 1 to 4: 5.

IGTV
We will achieve the best visual effects by using a 9:16 or 4: 5 ratio.

Twitter – image dimensions and formats

Twitter is the third social networking site in terms of the number of real users. Due to its specificity, the profiles of politicians, marketers and journalists are the most visible on Twitter, but the portal offers much more. It is a great place to browse news (many news appear there faster than on news websites), comment, create a personal brand or build an expert image of the company.

To take full advantage of Twitter’s marketing potential, we must not only comply with the regulations, but also take into account the technical aspects. Posts and graphics tailored to the platform’s requirements will not only look more aesthetically pleasing, but will probably also achieve better results.

Profile picture
1: 1 format, the fields in the square angles will be cropped so that Twitter can display the circular avatar. The officially recommended size is 400 x 400 pixels, and the image can be uploaded in JPG, PNG or GIF format (maximum 2 MB).

Background photo – cover photo
File in 3: 1 format, recommended by Twitter dimensions is 1500 x 500 pixels. It will look the same on each device (except for rescaling, of course) – Twitter does not cut off fragments of photos in the background.

Photos in posts
Twitter also allows you to publish photos and animations in GIF format. The maximum file size is 5 MB when publishing from a mobiles application and 15 MB when publishing via the website. The image in the timeline is displayed at a 16: 9 aspect ratio and graphics with higher height will be cropped. GIFs and videos can be square.

You can post up to 4 photos at a time in a traditional post. They will be displayed in the form of a gallery:
– 2 photos: side by side, aspect ratio 7: 8,
– 3 photos: one photo 7: 8, the other two photos 4: 7,
– 4 photos: 2 x 2 grid with images with a displayed aspect ratio of 2: 1.

Twitter feed – Twitter Fleets
The format is available worldwide only from November 2020, introduced on Twitter, similar to such portals as Instagram or Facebook. Stories are called Fleets here and they disappear 24 hours after publication. Unlike standard posts, it is not possible to share or leave a “like” – as a recipient, however, we can choose one of the 7 reactions presented using emoji icons or write a message to its author from the relationship level, if he has not previously blocked the DM (Direct Message) function.

Fleet can contain text (like a standard entry, up to 280 characters), video, animated GIF or photo.

Fleet is displayed vertically on mobiles devices at 1080 x 1920 pixels. This is also the optimal size of a photo or video to be published in the Twitter feed. Currently, it is not possible to publish or read Fleet in the desktop version.

Twitter Cards
Twitter Cards is a simple Twitter link appearance modifier. After pasting the address into the content of the post, the website searches for the relevant metadata in the code of the website, so that instead of a standard text link, we can choose one of the following types.

Summary card – such links include a photo (minimum dimensions are 120 x 120 pixels, square format, maximum 1 MB), page title (up to 70 characters), short description (up to 200 characters) and a fragment of the URL address.

Summary with large image card – a format similar to the above, but with a different image size. It is larger and better exposed, which, combined with the right choice of graphics, may result in a greater number of clicks on the link. The description is truncated to 3 lines in the desktop version and is not displayed if the card is displayed on a mobiles device with ioses or androids.

The image should be cropped to a 2: 1 aspect ratio (minimum dimensions: 300 x 157 pixels, maximum: 4096 x 4096 pixels). Available formats: JPG, PNG, WEBP and GIF (in the latter case the first frame of the image will be used as the thumbnail, if the GIF is animated).

Player card – Summary Card with a graphic thumbnail of the audio or video file that can be played. If you click on a link in the Player Card in the mobiles application, we will be taken to a simulated Twitter browser, where we can start playback. Clicking on the desktop version will allow us to see the content directly on the timeline.

The thumbnail in the Player Card should have an aspect ratio of 1: 1 or 16: 9 and a minimum size of 640 x 360 pixels, while the playable file itself should not exceed 5 MB.

App Card – a format adapted to promote applications. Clicking on the link will take the mobiles user directly to the website of the application in the Google Play Store or Apple Store, where it can be purchased or downloaded for free. A post in this format includes the title, description, and app icon, and optionally, price and average user ratings.

LinkedIn – Image dimensions and formats

LinkedIn is definitely different from Facebook or Instagram, but due to specific target groups in many industries, it is a great advertising tool.

Profile photo: 400 x 400 pixels, although it is definitely better to choose slightly larger dimensions in the 1: 1 aspect ratio.

Background photo on Linkedin
Cover photo 1584 x 396 pixels (4: 1 aspect ratio). Depending on the screen, the background image on the LinkedIn profile may be cropped by the website, so it’s better to place important elements closer to the center and test the display on different devices.

LinkedIn Stories
As with InstaStories and Facebook Stories, 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16 aspect ratio) will be the best size.

Company websites:
– Company profile picture (logo): 300 x 300 pixels,
– Page background photo: 1128 x 191 pixels.

– “corporate culture” tab – main photo: 1128 x 376 pixels,
– “corporate culture” tab – non-standard modules: 502 x 282 pixels,
– “corporate culture” tab – company gallery: 900 x 600 pixels (recommended size, minimum 264 x 176).

Photos in posts:
– Graphics in the post: aspect ratio 1: 1, dimensions 1200 x 1200 pixels (in the form of a square it will be displayed on the desktop) and 1200 × 628 pixels (this will be displayed on mobiles devices),
– Line art: 1200 x 628 pixels.

Video:
from 256 x 144 pixels to 4096 x 2304 pixels.

Advertising formats:
Single photo ad: In 1: 1 aspect ratio, the maximum image size is 7680 x 7680 pixels.

Carousel:
the maximum image size is 6012 × 6012 pixels, and the recommended size of a single image is 1080 × 1080 pixels, with a 1: 1 aspect ratio.

Video ads:
width: between 640 and 1920 pixels, height: between 360 and 1920 pixels, aspect ratio: between 1.778 and 0.5652.

Dynamic ads:
100 x 100 pixels.

Promoted content:
1200 x 627 pixels.

Business Banner image:
646 x 220 pixels.

TikTok – advertising formats and graphics dimensions

TikTok is an application that has gained immense popularity in recent years, especially in the youngest age group.

Profile picture on TikTok
Profile photo: 200 x 200 pixels, 1: 1 aspect ratio, JPG or PNG format.

In Feed ads
Video from 5 to 60 seconds that “fakes” organic content in the “for you” tab. Video with sound. Video aspect ratio: 1: 1 or preferably 9:16 – resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels. Formats: MP4 / MPEG / 3GP / AVI / MOV.

Brand Takeover Ads
Ads shown to users immediately after launching the application. Video aspect ratio: preferably 9:16 – resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels. Video length: 3-5 seconds with no sound, can be .gif or static .jpg image.

TopView Ads
Ads shown to users immediately after launching the application. Video aspect ratio: preferably 9:16 – 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution. Video length: 5-60 seconds.

TopView Lite
A format similar to TopView, but starts without sound, and the ad is displayed in much less time – up to 5 seconds. Video aspect ratio: preferably 9:16 – resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels. Video length: 3-5 seconds or JPG image displayed for 3 seconds.

In addition, there are also Branded Effects Ads / Branded Hashtag Challenge / Branded Hashtag Challenge Plus.

It is worth remembering that usually in ads on TikTok, the content itself is often slightly covered, for example by buttons on the right side, logo or description. Therefore, it is good practice to center the most important elements to make sure that they will be visible in every situation and on every device.

YouTube – image dimensions and advertising formats

Banner dimensions on YT
The recommended minimum banner size for YouTube is 2048 x 1152 pixels with an aspect ratio of 16: 9. With such dimensions, the “safe zone” in which we can place different elements and be sure that they will not be cropped on different devices is 1235 x 338 pixels. The maximum file size is 6MB.

Profile picture / channel picture
Square or round image with the recommended dimensions of 800 x 800 pixels.

Movie thumbnail
The recommended thumbnail dimensions are 1280 x 720 pixels (16: 9 aspect ratio) with a minimum width of 640 pixels – the higher the resolution, the better.

Community posts
1: 1 aspect ratio, no minimum dimensions. In such posts, apart from static images, we can also place animated images in .gif format.

Display ads
Resolution: 300 x 60 pixels or 300 x 250 pixels.

Advertising overlays
Resolution: 468 x 60 or 728 x 90 pixels.

Video ads
Aspect ratio: preferably 16: 9 or 1: 1, FullHD resolution – 1920 x 1080 pixels in the first case, 1080 x 1080 pixels in the second or higher. Format: preferably MPEG-2, MPEG-4 or .AVI.

Google Display Network and Display & Video 360 (programmatic) – graphics dimensions

Google Display Network ad uploads – dimensions
The available formats are GIF, JPG, PNG, the file size cannot exceed 150 KB. The same dimensions apply to HTML5 display ads uploaded.

Square and rectangular format
– 200 × 200 pixels Small square,
– 240 × 400 pixels Vertical rectangle,
– 250 × 250 pixels Square,
– 250 × 360 pixels Triple wide screen,
– 300 × 250 pixels In-text banner,
– 336 × 280 pixels Large rectangle,
– 580 × 400 pixels Netboard.

Skyscraper (portrait format)
– 120 × 600 pixels Skyscraper,
– 160 × 600 pixels Wide skyscraper,
– 300 × 600 pixels Half page advertisement,
– 300 × 1050 pixels Vertical.

Long banner (landscape format)
– 468 × 60 pixels Banner,
– 728 × 90 pixels Long banner,
– 930 × 180 pixels Top banner,
– 970 × 90 pixels Enlarged long banner.

– 970 × 250 pixels Billboard.
– 980 × 120 pixels Panorama.

For mobiles devices
– 300 × 50 pixels Banner for mobiles devices,
– 320 × 50 pixels Banner for mobiles devices,
– 320 × 100 pixels Large banner for mobiles devices.

Selected Rich Media formats (programmatic)

Lightbox
– Logo: at least 50 x 50 pixels (maximum: 1024 x 1050 pixels), image up to 200 kb,
– Image gallery: aspect ratio 1.9: 1,
– Video: posted on YouTube with public access.

Flipbook (kineograph)
– Logo: maximum dimensions are 170 x 65 pixels, maximum size: 20 kb, JPG or PNG file,
– Movie: aspect ratio 16: 9, length up to 1 minute, maximum size: 1 GB. Available formats: AVI, M4V, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, OGV, WEBM and WMV.

Blank slate, cuecard (clue card), and panorama formats
They can be displayed in the following variants:
– 160 x 600 pixels,
– 250 x 250 pixels,
– 300 x 50 pixels,
– 300 x 250 pixels,
– 300 x 600 pixels,
– 320 x 50 pixels,
– 320 x 320 pixels,
– 320 x 480 pixels,
– 336 x 280 pixels,
– 728 x 90 pixels.

The exact dimensions and proportions of individual elements (graphics, fonts, accent images, etc.) in this type of ad are best seen on the Google support site.

At the end

Internet marketing platforms, including social networking sites, provide great opportunities. Of course, this is only one of the hundreds of aspects that a marketer must pay attention to when planning a given campaign, but a good fit of the files to the guidelines of a given website will allow – at least to some extent – to avoid wasting budgets. Have a nice design!

What is effective marketing?

Marketing includes a number of activities based on the company’s communication with the client. Its goals are primarily to increase sales, but also, for example, to improve recognition or image. Achieving business goals requires, first of all, formulating them and then creating a strategy for their implementation. It should include, inter alia, defining the target group and its needs, as well as analyzing the company’s situation and its business environment. Only on this basis, it is possible to design specific actions within the short- and long-term marketing strategy, along with their schedule or budget. When the strategy is developed, you can proceed to its implementation, constantly monitoring the effects and analyzing the obtained results based on previously developed indicators.

If the above description sounds complicated, it’s because that’s the job of a marketer. A good specialist should not forget about any of the above aspects – only then can he count on obtaining the expected results. Therefore, in his work, he uses many tools that perform various functions and facilitate work in specific areas.

Internet Marketing – Analysis Tools

Analytics is a very important part of a marketer’s job. The actions taken should result from the conducted research and conclusions drawn from it. The analysis should be carried out at the beginning – assessing the company’s situation before implementing the assumptions of the marketing strategy – and then constantly monitor changes in indicators (the so-called KPI). This is the only effective way to assess which of the adopted assumptions prove to be correct and which actions bring the most profits.

There are many analytical tools. Each of them has slightly different functions and is suitable for slightly different tasks. Importantly, some of them are completely free!

Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an indispensable tool for anyone who runs a website. The marketer can use it to obtain important data that is helpful both in planning and in measuring the effectiveness of implemented activities. An example may be data on recipients containing information on the demographics of internet users visiting the website. In addition, you can see what devices users are using, what they are interested in and how they spend their time on our website.

From the marketing point of view, very important data are also those concerning the sources of traffic. They tell you how users come to your website. The information in this section is really detailed, so you can check the results of your campaigns and analyze each keyword. You can also check how effectively the traffic generated from a given source translates into conversion. As a result, actions that do not bring the expected results can be eliminated, and the resources freed in this way can be allocated to the intensification of more effective methods. It is also worth checking multi-channel paths for this purpose. There you will find data on how the different traffic-gaining channels support each other and which paths convert best.

Google Analytics is a free tool for the marketer that offers a wide range of possibilities. It’s worth taking the time to get to know them inside out because they provide a lot of valuable information.

Tools for the marketer – content marketing and SEO

SEO and content marketing are currently the main areas of interest for most marketers. Actions taken to increase the visibility, value and credibility of the website bring long-lasting results. Therefore, they are the main pillar of the long-term strategy of any company that is serious about marketing. Effective SEO or content marketing, however, requires tracking trends and careful content development. Fortunately, there is no shortage of tools that facilitate work in this area.

Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner
These two tools for the marketer, SEO expert or content creator are absolutely essential. Google Trends is about trends – you can use it to see which phrases are currently typed most often in the search engine window. The application also allows you to check historical data on searching for specific phrases. Therefore, you can see if a specific keyword is gaining or losing. It’s a great tool for finding publication ideas.

Google Keyword Planner is related to the Google Ads platform. It allows you to plan keywords necessary for SEO or SEM campaigns. Its functions enable, among others creating a database of keywords related to the industry in which the company operates, as well as checking their popularity. What’s more, you can check the competitiveness of your phrases and average advertising rates

Senuto
Senuto is also a tool supporting both SEO and SEM activities as well as content marketing. It is quite an advanced application that allows you to analyze the visibility of any page on the Internet. The data presented by it concern, among others the distribution of positions in the search engine and their changes in terms of decreases and increases. They also allow you to check the history of SERPs for a given keyword and indicate tabs exposed to cannibalization of phrases. Thanks to the program, it is also possible to perform a fairly advanced analysis of the phrases themselves – not only in terms of the average number of searches, but also their difficulty or relationship.

Senuto can be used both when planning content marketing activities and checking their effectiveness. It also allows you to optimize SEO, eliminate errors and increase effectiveness in this area. In addition, it offers an analysis of the results of competing websites.

BuzzSumo
How to check if your publications are popular? Just use BuzzSumo. This is a kind of tool for the marketer that allows you to primarily monitor content sharing on social media. Based on this, you can easily draw conclusions about which publications attract the most interest and take steps to maximize their potential. In addition, BuzzSumo allows you to check the amount of content published on the website in a selected period and their total number of views. It also provides slightly more advanced analyzes – it helps, for example, to check how long the content is most popular or on which day of the week it is most often shared. The built-in alert system facilitates work and saves time, which is certainly an additional advantage.

SurferSEO
To be successful in marketing, you don’t always need to be original. Often a better solution is to use someone else’s experience and duplicate the best-working patterns. SurferSEO facilitates analytics in this area. It is a program that analyzes the current results of the top 50 in the Google search engine in terms of potential ranking factors for the query phrase. It gives a wide range of analysis of the competition and the position of a specific website among similar websites. It has the option of a quick SEO audit that clearly presents data related to the most important ranking factors and allows you to identify areas where your site deviates from the competition. The Content Editor function is also interesting, as it allows you to automatically create a brief for a copywriter. The guidelines are based on the given keyword. However, they can be adjusted according to your preferences.

Canva
Content-based marketing requires presenting it in an appropriate form. With Canva, no help from a graphic designer is needed to create engaging content. It is a very intuitive program that allows you to instantly create aesthetic graphics, ideal for example as binding for posts in social media. The biggest advantage of this tool for the marketer is its simplicity – it includes an infinite number of ready-made templates for any occasion.

Internet Marketing – Management and Organization Tools

Proper organization of work and task delegation is not easy, especially in marketing, which is such a dynamic and multifaceted field. That is why it is worth using applications that help to control the chaos of information and the precise separation of responsibilities.

Asana
Managing collaborative projects can be a headache. However, it is much easier when you use the Asana. It is a project management application that is very functional and intuitive. It works great both when acting alone and when working with a team. It allows you to create projects and tasks and then delegate them. It allows you to check progress, set deadlines, exchange files, as well as communicate between project participants. All this is presented in a clear and convenient form.

Slack
Slack is a kind of marketing tool that will work in almost every industry. It is a business messenger that facilitates collaboration. It enables public, closed-group and one-on-one discussion, so it can be used by the entire company.

Marketo
Marketo is a slightly different way of organizing work, or actually its automation. It is a comprehensive platform characterized by wide availability of functions. It enables the automation of various marketing activities, incl. content marketing, e-mail marketing, website analysis and internet advertising. It has extensive analytical functions, thanks to which it provides a lot of valuable information – e.g. information on the effectiveness of specific channels and marketing campaigns in terms of increasing revenues. The tool is integrated with the most popular CRMs. It is great for deep analysis of the customer’s purchasing path. It allows you to draw conclusions leading to better resource management and optimization of campaign costs.

Internet Marketing – Mailing Tools

Newsletters and mailing campaigns are an important element of a marketer’s work. Their coordination requires assistance in the form of dedicated software. The available tools make it possible not only to coordinate the dispatch and manage address databases, but also to prepare attractive messages.

MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the most popular newsletter management tools. It includes a number of options for managing shipping and recipient lists, as well as creating a sequence of messages. In addition, it allows you to create pop-ups and landing pages encouraging you to subscribe to the newsletter. An interesting feature is also reports that allow you to check the results of individual campaigns and compare them with the results of the competition. It is not without reason that so many specialists use this application.

OptinMonster
OptinMonster is primarily used to create effective pop-ups that are designed to encourage subscribers to the newsletter. The tool is easy to integrate with almost any email marketing program. It includes a number of useful options. Thanks to it, you will create an attractive and inviting pop-up and specify the rules for its display. It also allows you to conduct A / B tests. They consist in checking which of the two versions of the prepared material is more effective. You don’t want to use pop-ups? With OptinMonster you can also prepare other types of messages promoting the newsletter.

Klaviyo
An e-mail marketing platform that supports business development by delivering recipients precisely selected e-mail messages at the right time? This is Klaviyo. It is a tool designed mainly for e-commerce that allows you to manage and automate e-mail communication. The program can be easily integrated with pop-ups or other similar elements on the website to obtain e-mail addresses for the database. Plus, it provides tons of options, including sending message sequences to people who have abandoned their cart or viewed a product but didn’t put it in their cart, creating second purchase campaigns, creating reactivation campaigns targeting inactive subscribers, and more. The great advantage of the tool is the possibility of very precise segmentation of users. Klaviyo also allows you to create attractive messages, conduct A / B tests for almost every element and analyze the effectiveness of activities.

Woodpecker
Woodpecker is the perfect tool to automate cold mailing. It allows you to prepare messages addressed to a completed database, which do not look like offers, but rather like traditional e-mails. It enables full personalization of the content and connects to the user’s e-mail box, so replies are sent to the selected address. Advanced settings allow you to adjust the mailing parameters to your preferences in such a way that the correspondence looks natural. This also applies to subsequent messages sent when certain criteria are met. This makes the tool also suitable for communication with a group of clients. It is easy to use and intuitive.

While it is said that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, in fact many of us do, and a similar mechanism works for the newsletter as well. If it is not visually attractive to the recipient, the chance that he will devote enough time to read the content is minimal. Besides, there is also the question of whether the user will see our message at all. Nowadays, e-mail has sophisticated anti-spam filters that redirect the mass of messages to the “spam” or “offer” tab. So in order to reach our potential customers, we need to send messages from a source that they will read as trusted.

So that the newsletters we send do not hit the vacuum and bring measurable benefits, we should choose a tool for sending them that has a high delivery rate and allows you to create visually attractive e-mails. Here is an overview of the most popular programs on the market with which you can create and send such newsletters.

MailChimp

MailChimp is one of the most popular systems for creating and sending newsletters. Its huge advantage is the extensive free plan. It is available without time limits and allows you to send as many as 10,000 messages per month. As part of this offer, you can build a database of 2000 contacts.

Newsletters sent by MailChimp can be easily adapted to various industries and current needs. The program provides access to over 100 e-mail templates and an advanced text editor, so the newsletters created in it can be graphically interesting and adapted to the visual identification of the brand. The tool also allows you to independently combine graphic and text elements using an editor that works on the principle of “drag and drop”. This means that without any programming knowledge, you can place frames for texts, photos, CTA buttons, headers or other components anywhere.

Features and packages
MailChimp also provides its customers with extensive reports and the ability to test different types of messages to find the most effective version. It can be integrated with various platforms, including WooCommerce, Magento or Zapier. Most importantly for marketers – e-mails sent by this system have an acceptance rate of 96-99%, which means that messages almost always go to the recipient’s main mailbox instead of offers or spam.

The tool has three paid packages, the cheapest of which costs $ 9.99 per month. They differ in the number of available functions, for example, only in more expensive plans are dynamic content available, i.e. content adapted to a specific recipient.

The most important information at a glance
– over 100 templates,
– English platform,
– the ability to create newsletters in the mobiles application,
– acceptance rate 96-99%,
– free plan for up to 2000 contacts,
– Unremovable MailChimp footer in the free package.

MailerLite

MailerLite is a system that also has a free version for an unlimited period. In this case, however, the number of subscribers is much smaller – it is a maximum of 1000 contacts. The platform is intuitive to use and has a built-in drag-and-drop editor. It can be integrated with many tools (including Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier, WordPress).

There are only two packages in this tool: Free and Paid. The latter, however, does not have a fixed price – subscription costs are constantly increasing along with the extension of the contact list, so choosing it, you have to take into account a gradual increase in expenses. You can compare the features of the packages during the 14-day trial period of the paid version.

The most interesting features
What interesting features does this tool have? The built-in photo editor is definitely worth mentioning here, thanks to which you can crop and correct photos that are to be sent in messages directly in MailerLite. The platform also allows you to conduct A / B tests to help determine the most effective version of the message, and to create pop-ups encouraging you to subscribe to the newsletter. Options that are useful for marketers are: automatic resending of messages to people who did not open the email, and delivery of messages by time zone.

The most important information at a glance
– 14-day trial period for extended versions,
– free version up to 1000 subscribers,
– English platform,
– built-in photo editing,
– automatic resending to people who did not open the message,
– A / B tests,
– delivery of messages according to time zones,
– 24/7 chat support with a paid package.

GetResponse

GetResponse includes a drag-and-drop editor, but also a database of over 220 ready-made templates – this is the program that has one of the largest libraries of this type. However, there is no permanent free plan, you can take advantage of a 30-day trial period, but then you have to decide on one of the paid plans. However, it is worth knowing that within one package, the price increases as the number of subscribers increases.

The most interesting features
GetResponse allows you to adjust the dispatch to local time, and also offers a perfect timing tool. This means that messages are sent by the system when recipients respond best to them, which is estimated by algorithms based on their previous behavior. An interesting option is also the ability to create dynamic content, i.e. content that changes depending on the preferences of the recipient. Thanks to this, each subscriber can, for example, receive an e-mail recommendation of products that he was interested in.

What distinguishes the tool from the previously mentioned programs is multifunctionality. Thanks to GetResponse, you can not only send newsletters, but also, for example, run webinars (in more expensive packages). So, if you’re looking for a program that can do things more comprehensively, this is an option definitely worth considering.

The most important information at a glance
– 99% deliverability,
– 30-day trial period,
– access to ready-made e-mail templates (220),
– built-in photo editor,
– database of free photos,
– perfect timing tool – sending messages when recipients respond best to them,
– adjusting the shipment to local time,
– A / B tests,
– you can also do webinars in more expensive packages.

FreshMail

In Freshmail, we do not have access to the free version, after a 14-day trial period, you must subscribe to one of the paid packages. However, the prices are quite attractive here – the cheapest version costs $ 10 a month and allows you to build a list of up to 1000 recipients. This program also allows you to create newsletters using the drag-and-drop method and has a rich database of message templates – there are over 150 of them. This program has one interesting option that you will not find in most tools of this type. There is an option to buy a specific pool of messages to be sent without subscribing. In this model, we can, for example, buy 10,000 messages and simply do a one-time mailing. This is a very profitable option for people who send newsletters less than once a month.

What else does the tool offer?
This shipping system offers great opportunities when it comes to user segmentation. You can divide by interests, gender or locations, among others, and send mailing only to those people who are the target group for a specific message. Freshmail also has the functions of optimizing the sending time of newsletters and creating dynamic content. In addition, it is also worth paying attention to the large possibilities in terms of creating a shipping schedule – the platform allows you to plan any number of them.

What else does Freshmail offer? A useful function is, for example, anti-spam tests, thanks to which, before sending, you can make sure that the message will not be read by email filters as junk. In addition, many interesting options are included in the highest package. Onboarding, which introduces the secrets and functions of the tool, contact with a dedicated customer manager and the possibility of creating webinars, are also included in the price.

The most important information at a glance
– 14-day trial period,
– over 150 ready-made templates,
– anti-spam testing before shipment,
– shipping time optimizer,
– schedule of any number of shipments, – in higher packages: onboarding, webinars, dedicated account manager,
– option to buy a news package instead of subscribing.

ActiveCampaign

As part of this program, you can count on a 14-day trial period, after which you must buy one of the paid packages, the cheapest of which costs $ 15 and allows you to create a base of 500 subscribers. In addition to the standard “drag and drop” editor, ActiveCampaign offers ready-made templates, the base of which, however, is relatively small – it is currently 25 versions. What is an advantage of this tool, however, is free photo hosting, thanks to which you can store photos and graphics that you want to use in the future in the cloud. A useful feature of ActiveCampaign is also the history of changes – if at some point in the newsletter creation we find that the earlier version was better, we can easily return to it.

In ActiveCampaign, there is no problem with integration with various platforms or with importing contacts, if we previously used a different tool. There are also options for personalizing messages, delivery control and Lead Scoring. What is the last of these functions? Well, we can automatically assign points to our contacts depending on their engagement, thanks to which we create a list of our most loyal recipients. Active Campaign also allows you to do A / B tests, and in the highest of the packages we also get basic CRM functions – for example, assigning tasks to people from the company. What to take into account is that the price within the package increases as the contact base grows. It is quite a powerful tool that is best suited for large companies that need more than standard solutions.

The most important information at a glance
– e-mail templates (about 25),
– message change history,
– free image hosting 14-day trial period,
– personalization of e-mails,
– deliverability control,
– the function of adding ticks.

MailPoet

MailPoet, on the other hand, is not a standard program, but a WordPress plugin. It is free for up to 100 subscribers and there is no distinction between packages – it’s just that the price of the paid version grows in proportion to the number of subscribers. Its advantage is that it allows you to send an unlimited number of e-mails, no matter how wide the contact base is. It also works on a drag-and-drop basis and offers around 50 templates for free.

A useful feature not found in other programs is the automatic removal of uninvolved subscribers, so we don’t have to spend money sending newsletters to people who do not respond to them. The time after which a person is considered disengaged can be freely set in the panel according to current needs. The plugin has a high message delivery rate and is easy to use, so it is a good choice for WordPress users.

The most important information at a glance
– platform in English,
– free templates (around 50),
– free of charge up to 100 subscribers,
– unlimited number of e-mails,
– there is no division into packages
– the price increases with the number of subscribers,
– automatic removal of uninvolved subscribers,
– high deliverability ratio.

EmailLabs

EmailLabs is a platform that has very high message deliverability. We can even decide on a dedicated IP address, thanks to which only we have influence on the reputation of the address and message deliverability. The tool offers 4 packages, including one completely free, which allows you to send 24,000 messages per month. At EmailLabs, we also have ready-made templates that make creating mailings simple and fast.

In the case of this tool, great emphasis is placed on ensuring the client’s security during the transmission of messages and encryption of communication. In higher packages, we also have access to full onboarding, training for employees and the support of a dedicated specialist who helps, among others, in carrying out the necessary integrations. Reporting options are also expanded, including not only basic data, but also open tracking, link tracking and e-mail deliverability alerts.

The most important information at a glance
– very high deliverability,
– 24,000 messages a month for free,
– dedicated IP in higher packets,
– very extensive options to ensure security,
– free plan forever.

What is UX?

UX (User Experience) is a concept based on the concept of usability used primarily to evalsuate websites and applications. Useful websites are websites where you can easily find the information, products or services you need and quickly convert, such as a purchase. The concept of usability is also related to intuitiveness – the website should be easy to use and unambiguous.

The term User Experience is used to define the user experience and their impressions while using the website. It boils down to determining the friendliness of the internaut’s interaction with the website and its accessibility. UX consists of many factors: from design and aesthetics, through navigation, to the quality of information. This is an issue that has received more and more attention recently, mainly due to its impact on the effectiveness of websites or applications. Taking care of UX (User Experience) usually translates into higher conversion, as it makes the website meet the expectations of visitors.

In addition to User Experience, it is worth paying attention to the concept of User Interface. It means the user interface – it is all the elements that allow interaction with the website (including page layout, graphic design, typography, colors). UX and UI are sometimes treated as the same concepts, but more often they simply appear next to each other, playing a significant role in the perception of the website by Internet users.

UX audit – what is it?

Even if you think that your website is friendly, sensible and intuitive, it does not have to appear this way to random internet users who come across it. So how do you check user experiences? UX audit will be the best way.

UX audits consist in checking websites or applications in terms of meeting the expectations and needs of their visitors. This requires knowledge of, inter alia, habits of Internet users, trends and issues related to the clarity of the message. UX audit is quite a complicated procedure, but it can bring many benefits:
– allows you to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of a given website,
– indicates the mistakes made and their potential impact on the conversion,
– also indicates opportunities and threats for the future,
– suggests what actions should be taken to develop and improve the effectiveness of the website.

The tests carried out during the audit should concern, inter alia:
– website structure and navigation between individual tabs,
– page views, especially in terms of readability,
– the clarity and unambiguity of the information provided,
– usability of the website – the possibility of obtaining the necessary information, placing an order, contacting the company, etc.

They are carried out in various ways, but it always requires expert knowledge and experience.

UX audit – what does it look like?

UX audit is carried out using various methods. The most reliable results are obtained when combining several of them. The first step should be expert analysis, that is, in-depth research of the site by UX experts – equipped with the appropriate knowledge and experience. In this case, several developed UX methodologies are used. What kind?

Heuristic evalsuation
It consists in checking websites for heuristics, i.e. specific rules and guidelines. The most common is the so-called Nielsen heuristics covered in 10 points. They constitute very general guidelines for the functionality of a given website or application:

– Show system status.
– Maintain compliance between the system and reality.
– Give the user full control.
– Stick to standards and be consistent.
– Prevent mistakes.
– Allow you to choose instead of forcing you to remember.
– Provide flexibility and efficiency.
– Take care of aesthetics and moderation.
– Provide effective error handling.
– Take care of help and documentation.

However, you can also use the 8 golden rules of expert Schneiderman, 30 rules of Connell’s utility or the 9 cognitive rules of Gerhardt-Powals. These guidelines all convey similar content, but are worded slightly differently. Which rules will be applied for the audit does not really matter.

Cognitive walkthrough
This method is also known as the Cognitive Walk. It consists in testing scenarioses of a potential user’s journey on the website. In this case, the expert plays the role of the user who visits the site for the first time. The adoption of various scenarioses allows you to examine each path of the “walk” through the website and allows you to catch many problem areas or obvious errors in UX or UI.

Usability checklist
It is a method of checking the website according to specific points from the so-called checklists. The list is usually quite detailed and sets out the guidelines according to which the website should be constructed. It is also objective, which is certainly its advantage, but at the same time it is rarely tailored to a specific site, which may make it impossible to detect certain errors. The checklist procedure is fairly simple but often time consuming.

User tests can also be part of the UX audit. These are procedures that allow you to check how “ordinary” Internet users navigate the site. The survey can be moderated (led by a specialist) or unmoderated (the user freely moves around the site). After its completion, the participant is asked to fill in a questionnaire and comment on the website. This type of test can be combined, for example, with the analysis of eye movement, clicks, scrolling and other data, on the basis of which the so-called heat maps. This allows you to recognize not only the biggest obstacles faced by site visitors, but also the most important points of their interest.

UX audit results

The result of a UX audit is usually a comprehensive report, which should accurately indicate, above all, the mistakes made, areas for improvement and recommendations. By standard, errors are divided into three categories:
– critical errors – have a significant impact on the functioning of the website and require immediate repair;
– average errors – important, but to be corrected second;
– basic errors – details noticed during the research, which, however, do not have a significant impact on the functioning of the website.

It is also common to classify errors by type (e.g. communicative, visual, logical, etc.). Thanks to this, they can be immediately assigned to the appropriate teams and the necessary changes can be implemented faster.

It is also worth remembering that the audit report should contain both quantitative data (e.g. statistics) and qualitative data obtained e.g. through user research. The more information contained in the website analysis results, the more complete and objective the image can be obtained. Thus, the introduced amendments have a greater chance of having a real impact on the conversion rate and user satisfaction.

What after the UX audit?

After the UX audit, it should be time to implement its results and further usability tests that will allow you to check how effective the changes are. It is worth trying to prepare UX mockups presenting elements that require improvement, and then conduct A / B tests. This is a procedure during which two groups of users are presented with different versions of a page – and preferably they differ in just one element. Then, the behavior of the study participants is monitored and it is checked which version allows for higher conversion. After completing the website modification, you can re-audit to check its effectiveness.

The most common mistakes in UX – what should you pay attention to?

Every website is different, but there are some mistakes that recur too often. If you want to do some basic self-analysis of your website, be sure to check out our list and see what to avoid!

Interface not adapted to the user’s needs
First of all, the website should be legible and easy to navigate. Difficulties in this respect, especially those encountered at the outset, can effectively discourage the user from staying on the site. It really matters! For a website to be simply friendly, the first thing you need to know is what you want to achieve by publishing it. It is worth asking yourself questions about what the page is about and how the user should navigate on it, bearing in mind that the conversion should not take too many steps.

Some websites even throw their users more obstacles, making it difficult to find basic information about a product or price list, and then dragging the conversion procedure indefinitely (for example, requiring “clicking” through several subpages before hitting the registration or purchase tab). It is also worth remembering that the interface should enable the website to be expanded in the future, e.g. with new categories, products, services or language versions.

Triumph of form over content
A related error is the excess of form over content. This is primarily the result of an overly ambitious approach to design or the willingness to present your skills as a developer. The result may be a site that looks great at first glance, but definitely loses the next time you “get to know”. Too complicated structure, lack of readability, animations and other visual “tricks” only really distract from the main message of the page. The simple is sometimes the best – especially when it comes to usability.

Failure to adjust to reading patterns
The human eye usually “scans” the presented image according to one of several so-called reading patterns. The three most popular are Gutenberg’s diagram, Z pattern and F pattern. They tell about how the human eye travels. Knowledge of these rules allows you to place important elements (e.g. buttons leading to registration, purchase, etc.) in places where the user’s eyes will almost certainly fall. Meanwhile, many creators ignore them completely and opt for solutions that may look good, but they certainly do not provide the desired conversion.

No responsiveness
According to the global Digital 2020 report, more than half of all visits to websites are made from a smartphones. Meanwhile, some sites are still not adapted to users of a few inches of screens! If the page is unreadable on your phones, it’s no wonder you can’t boast a satisfactory conversion. Importantly, it is not only the presence of the mobiles version of the website that counts “as it does”, but above all its quality. Content and functions from the desktop version copied in the smaller version will not work. It is worth considering the placement of individual elements carefully, and if necessary, give up the less important ones to obtain a clearer and more friendly design.

Ignoring the fold line
This is a point that somehow relates to the previous one. A fold line is a line that marks an area of your website that is visible without scrolling down. Above all, it should be encouraging. Some people, not wanting to risk that the Internet user leaves the website before reading the most important information, put the majority of content here. However, this is a big mistake. It is also worth remembering that the fold line is in a completely different place on the screen of a computer, tablet or smartphones. Therefore, the amount of information above it and their graphic representation should be adjusted separately for each screen size. Remember – often less is more.

Content overload
Content is king – at least that can be deduced from the wise analyzes of marketing specialists. However, this does not mean that website users should be bombarded with information. Long, detailed descriptions of products or instructions related to the services provided may be your advantage, but they must also be properly presented. Otherwise, nobody will read it, and many people will leave the site and never return to it.

Use short paragraphs and bullets instead of huge blocks of text. Highlight the most important elements with appropriate graphics or pictograms. Add buttons with CTA (call to action). If there is too much content on the page, why not break it down into several tabs about individual services, products or offer aspects? It can also be beneficial for SEO if you use the right keywords.

Confusing forms
Forms are a minefield, especially for inexperienced web developers. If you expect website users to fill out a form (e.g. registration, quote, contact), make it as simple as possible! The rule in this case is quite clear-cut – the more fields, the less chance they will be filled. Labels, additional comments and buttons must convey an unambiguous message. If a date is required when filling in, please specify the format in which it should be entered. For weights, measures, etc., be sure to specify which unit applies.

After creating the form, take a close look at it and remove any fields that are not necessary. Use checkboxes and radio buttons where possible. It is also absolutely necessary to mark the errors accurately. If, after completing and confirming all the fields, the user receives feedback saying that an error has occurred (without indicating which field and which field), he will most likely not only give up on further actions, but also become irritated.

Incorrect placement of important components
The most important elements of the website should be placed in visible places – so that the user does not have to guess “what to do next” or look for the right button (eg allowing to add a product to the basket). There is probably nothing more daunting than a page that arouses interest and then makes conversion difficult. It is worth remembering that there are some unwritten rules on the Internet – all approval buttons (“OK”, “Next”, “I agree”) should be on the left, while those with negative actions (such as “Cancel”, “Delete” etc.) – on the right. It has also been assumed that the button for adding a product to the basket is located near the price. It really doesn’t pay off in making your users’ lives difficult – even if it makes you think your site is genuine.

Take care of UX, and success will come by itself

Building effective websites is really not as easy as it may seem. Success is a combination of many factors that must perfectly harmonize with each other. However, taking care of User Experience will certainly pay off. A functional website means greater conversion and a better brand image – and therefore both short and long-term benefits.

Chatbot – what is it?

One definition gives:
A computer program designed to simulate conversations with human users, often over the Internet.

Chatbots have been around for many years. The first of them was created in 1966 under the name ELIZA. He was supposed to parody the behavior of the psychoanalyst, who mocked the patient, often repeating his statements in the form of questions. However, only recently have companies started to pay attention to the business benefits of their use. The real merit for popularizing chatbots, however, should be attributed to Facebook, which allowed them to be integrated with their messenger.

Depending on how the individual chatbots have been programmed, we can divide them into two main groups:

Simple chatbots
They operate on the basis of a previously prepared set of keywords that they are able to understand. Each chatbot reaction to a particular query must be designed separately by the programmer. If the user asks a question without using one of the known keywords, the robot will not understand the query and will usually respond with a “sorry, I don’t understand” message.

Advanced chatbots
Self-learning algorithms were used in their design. Instead of using pre-prepared answers, chatbot creates them on an ongoing basis, based on flexible rules and their knowledge. All customer queries are saved for later processing. Nevertheless, in this case artificial intelligence does not work perfectly, and preparing such a chatbot requires a lot of work. It must be admitted, however, that great progress has been made in this area. The proof is the world famous voice conversation of the Google machine with people who wanted to reserve a place at the hairdresser. It perfectly imitated even momentary reflection in the style of “mmmmm” or “eeee”. People were convinced that they were talking to another person. She definitely passed the Turing test.

What encourages users to interact with chatbots?

According to one study, the main factors are:
– Productivity – chatbots provide quick and effective help and access to information.
– Entertainment – chatbots entertain people by giving them funny tips, and help to pass time when users have no classes.
– Social and relational factors – talking to bots gives some people the chance to talk without being judged and helps work on conversation skills.
– Curiosesity – many people are interested in the very idea of “talking programs”, which encourages them to interact with them.

Let’s move on to how chatbots can help your business grow:

Answering questions
The simplest and most popular chatbot application is to make it an interactive FAQ. Chatbot filled with answers to individual questions will be particularly useful in situations where customers use a particular jargon. He will be able to answer the most common questions, leaving the employee service for really demanding cases.

The introduction of a chatbot will also help you improve your visibility on social media. It is difficult to make the customer service team be able to answer any query on the platforms on which you are present. Even if you succeeded, it would be rather time consuming and, consequently, expensive. Chatbot, in turn, can be active 24/7. This will not only save employee time, but also maintain better communication with customers and improve statistics related to reply rate.

Reduction of operating costs
Service and contact with clients (current and potential) takes time and generates costs. However, according to Paraphrase-Online.com research, implementing virtual advisors or chatbots helps reduce customer service costs by up to 30%.
Of course, such solutions will not completely replace people. Chatbots will successfully deal with simple and repetitive tasks, so that employees can be assigned to more complicated jobs.

Collecting and analyzing consumer data
Your chatbot is a great tool with which you can collect customer information. If you don’t really have a specific reason for doing so, you won’t be willing to complete the survey. Chatbot approaches feedback collection in a gentler and natural way by entering relevant questions during the conversation.
Additionally, thanks to the use of machine learning algorithms, your chatbot can analyze opinions and other information that it collects from users. This will give you better insight into what they really want. It will also help you improve your marketing strategy to focus more on your needs.

Personalized customer contact
Customers don’t always know what to do to find information that interests them. In fact, they may not even know what they are interested in. Maybe they just heard about your brand and decided to take a closer look.

Therefore, chatbots integrate with social media, collecting data about each person with whom they interact. When a user enters a specific query, chatbot can respond by offering personalized advice based on purchase history and customer preferences.

Even if chatbot does not use such a solution, it can get to know the potential customer better with a series of questions.

Streamlining the payment process
Advanced chatbots use features that allow them to make payments. Customers can pay for their products without leaving the chat interface. Bots that store the payment details of regular customers significantly improve the ordering process for subsequent products.

Summary

Chatbots are undoubtedly a useful tool in business and their popularity will grow. They help to meet recipients, adjust marketing activities, reach new consumers and save employees time. It’s definitely worth using their options as soon as possible. Chatbots currently support businesses, but in the near future it may turn out that … they will be businesses themselves. An example is the movie “Her”, where the hero enters into a conversation and is connected with an advanced algorithm (woman’s voice) managed by a company that was established to provide satisfying, platonic relationships in a world in which interpersonal relations were qualitatively getting worse . Sounds familiar? Ha! Maybe the demand for such a service is just around the corner.

Youtube Video Builder – what is it?

Youtube Video Builder is a new tool from Youtube, created for companies that want to advertise on this site, but are not able to make their own advertising film. With YouTube Video Builder you can create a video that can then be used for an advertising campaign. This tool allows you to create a movie tailored to your device and for the needs of the selected campaign type in very simple steps.

What is the process of creating a video ad on Youtube Video Builder?

Step 1: Registration
To create a movie in Builder you must first register. The verification process takes about 24-48 hours, and confirmation of account creation is sent to the e-mail address provided earlier. The required email must be a Google email, and therefore connect to our Google account and YouTube channel. Youtube channel has virtually everyone who also has a gmail account. It is worth, however, that the email with which we log into Youtube Video Builder was immediately connected to our company’s channel.

We create a video with a view to its later use in an advertising campaign, so we can add our Google Ads Customer ID account number when registering. However, this is an additional option and if we do not have an account at this stage, or if we do not want to add it yet, our email is enough.

Step 2: Choose the movie layout
By entering Youtube Video Builder, we first select the layout, i.e. the type and format of the video that we want to create. We have over 10 different layouts to choose from:

– a video promoting the application (in vertical and horizontal version),
– a video of the brand (15 or 6 seconds),
– video showing the function of a product or service using phones animation,
– a video showing the product or brand (15 seconds),
– a video informing about the current promotion,
– a video emphasizing the product’s value or benefits of the service,
– and more.

Each layout contains a short description and a demonstration video in the style of which you will be able to create your own promotional video. In addition, with each example we will find information:

– how many photos we will be able to upload,
– how long will the video last,
– what dimensions will it have,
– how many blocks of text we can add (including call to action),
– can we add our logo (in a version with a transparent background and a selected color).

Step 3: We create the video ad layout!
We choose the layout that suits us and move on.

Then we can set two brand colors and upload our two logos.

We move to uploading the photos that we want to use for the campaign. In each case, we have provided the exact dimensions of the photo and the maximum file size for photos (this, in most cases, is 2 MB.)

Tip!
It is worth that the photos or graphics that you intend to use in the video, were designed by a graphic designer who will match the colors and icons that match your company’s image. Your photos should help tell a story that includes the benefits of your product, service or brand. So if we have such an opportunity, it is better not to use so-called stock photos.

If our graphics do not meet the requirements of Video Builder, we will be notified. At our own risk, however, we can try to go further and create a video with the graphics.

Step 4: We choose the font, soundtrack and compose advertising texts
Depending on the movie layout we choose, we can add the appropriate number of texts, including the text that appears on the movie and the final CTA.

Then we have the option to set the font (all suggestions available on Google fonts are available). The inability to upload your own font or own sound and the need to choose one of the proposals available in the database is one of the biggest disadvantages of Builder.

Creating movies is simplified so that every person, even one who has never had anything to do with video creation before, could create an advertisement. This is a big advantage of Youtube Video Builder. However, to create a relatively personalized video, which will be based on the assumptions of the visual identity of the brand, you will need to work a bit and review and adjust the available variants.

Step 5. We have the first video!
Youtube Video Builder automatically creates a video for us in just a few seconds. Of course, after all the slides have been put together, we can edit the movie. By clicking “save” our video is saved on our channel as “unlisted video”. We also get a link redirecting us to the video – already embedded in our channel, which we can enrich with a description, tags and another title.

Step 6. Video advertising on Youtube
The created movie can be left on the channel and made available to our viewers or used in an advertising campaign on Youtube.

The ads displayed on YouTube belong to the Google Ads family. Yes! Google Ads is not only search engine advertising or product cards. It is also a giant advertising network, which consists of over two million websites, films and applications in which YouTube can be displayed as an advertising medium. Google Ads is also a promotion in the Gmail inbox and on the website and in the YouTube application. So your video has great potential to appear not only on Youtube!

Within the advertising campaigns displayed on pages and in the YouTube application, several different types of ads can be distinguished. Each of the available formats has a slightly different way to attract the attention of viewers and can be displayed in a different place on the website. Available types of video ads are: True View In-Stream, True View Discovery and Bumper Ads. In addition to the basic types of ads mentioned above, there are several additional options that advertisers can use.

Tips for video advertising

A. Attract attention – right from the start!
Remember that the first seconds count (statistics say that only three!) And it depends on them whether the user will pay attention to your ad. Regardless of the format and type of the advertisement, users can view the advertisement in full or click the “continue” button. Only in the case of Bumper Ads type ads lasting 6 seconds, the user cannot click “skip”. For TrueView in-stream ads, viewers can choose whether they want to view the ad in its entirety, or after 5 seconds of viewing, they want to skip.

B. Friendly faces you want to watch
If your company creates the concept of an advertising movie, it would be worth including people in it! Why? According to YouTube research, friendly, connected and recognizable people at the beginning of the film can lead to increased viewership. In addition, people’s faces can convey emotions that can be relatively difficult to convey in a simple video created in Youtube Video Builder.

C. Sound also matters!
Although in social media it is often recommended to add subtitles to videos, because of the way they are viewed by users (usually in mute mode), however on YouTube the sound matters (and what!). Viewers expect sound on YouTube, and research shows that sound is associated with stimulating attention and a positive response to the brand. So if you decide to choose a sound from the available base, choose one that will refer to your brand and will be associated with it positively.

D. Add some humor.
Viewers are more likely to watch ads that make them laugh. Youtube research even says that humor is associated with greater brand awareness and recalling ads. Of course, this tactic cannot be used in every case, so use it only if it matches your brand’s language and communication.

E. Remember the ABCD formula
ATTRACT – attract attention from the very beginning of the film,
BRAND – build a brand, show your brand in a natural and meaningful way,
CONNECT – connect with recipients through emotions and telling stories. Invite them to interact, check what they say about your video online and be inspired by their comments!
DIRECT YOUR AUDIENCE – direct viewers to the place where you care (for a specific product or service page, company profile or a specific tab on the website). Use the right call to action.

F. Show product in use!
One of the basic principles of creating product videos is that instead of focusing on the benefits of the product, show how it can help or solve the problems of potential customers.

G. Encourage recipients to interact!
Thanks to the interactive features available on the YouTube platform: info cards, end screens and call-to-action overlays, you can make it easier for your viewers. You can find all additional functions in Youtube Studio.

Builder Youtube Video and other video creators

Most of the available online tools for creating movies or animations are based on a very similar “step by step” scheme in which you can create video yourself. Same with Youtube Video Builder. At the beginning we choose a pattern (so-called template or layout). In the case of paid tools (most offer several days or selected options also for free), we adjust the video according to our preferences. And here, most often, there are differences between the creators! And at this stage we can start comparing the functions they offer.

And the differences are big! Starting from the available templates, the number of which in YouTube Video Builder is relatively small (currently 16 different variants). In popular creator, we can choose from among 30 – 50 templates, which can then be converted to another size (suited e.g. for mobiles or desktop, or also to a given advertising space or ad format).

What’s more, Youtube Video Builder allows us to combine several graphics (previously prepared) into an animated video. Unfortunately, we do not have the option of animating the movements, e.g. on graphics, which makes the whole movie look like a slide show.

Speaking of history, its presentation on several slides will certainly be more difficult than through several interconnected animations. Therefore, the videos created in Youtube Video Builder will be rather more raw, advertising. It will be very difficult for us to create an animation that will arouse emotions (unless it is information about large promotions!). For videos promoting products or reminding about promotions or special offers, Youtube Video Builder should be enough.

Summary

Youtube Video Builder is very average compared to other available creators. It is a simple and quick solution for those who want to diversify their advertising activities with video advertising, but do not have excessive requirements for the creation itself. The upside of the tool is definitely that it is completely free, and by creating video we can be sure that it will comply with the standards of video advertising in Google Ads. Nevertheless, if you want to use the created video on a larger scale in an advertisement on Youtube, it is worth investing a small sum and creating the video in another creator. These will allow you to personalize the film more and relate to the emotions of viewers.