17 SEO Myths to Leave Behind in 2016 [Free Ebook]

SEO is an evolving science. While some of the core principles will presumably stick around forever, the nuanced aspects of it are subject to continuous change. And as a result, many of the "proven" tactics people have used in the past -- keyword stuffing, link schemes, etc. -- are now stuff of legend.

Unless your organization benefits from having a dedicated SEO person who can work on this stuff day-in, day-out, keeping up with the latest changes in the world of SEO can be a struggle.

But in the end, adjusting your strategy based on search ranking algorithm updates or changes in the way search results are displayed visually can benefit your business. 

In our new guide, 17 SEO Myths to Leave Behind in 2016, we reiterate some of the best practices that should continue to guide your strategy through 2016, while also highlighting how SEO has changed over the course of 2015. 

Here’s an example of one those changes: Did you know that Google now favors and rewards mobile-friendly sites? Yep, it's finally happening. This loose guideline turned into a legitimate ranking rule in 2015. 

Check out the SEO Myths guide to learn more about what changes you'll need to make with your SEO strategy moving forward.

Click to Tweet:

Separate SEO fact from SEO fiction with @HubSpot's new free guide! http://bit.ly/1Bgpy0O

Editor's Note: This post and offer were originally published in December 2014 and have been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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2016 Social Media Marketing Predictions From the Experts

Are you wondering what marketers should plan for in 2016? Do you want to know where social media pros are focusing their attention? In 2015, new platforms made a big splash and several popular networks monetized. To get you ready for what’s coming next, we asked 14 social media marketing experts what to watch for [...]

This post 2016 Social Media Marketing Predictions From the Experts first appeared on .
- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

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6 Essential Nurturing Workflows For Every B2B Company

Not everyone is ready to buy your product or service the first time they come to your site and that’s okay. With the right amount of time and information they will warm up to your brand, assuming they’re the right persona for your product or service, of course.

Nurturing campaigns are essential for keeping these people who visit your site but aren't ready to immediately buy engaged with your brand. Essentially these campaigns are a series of emails aimed at keeping you top of mind while building trust and moving your lead further along in the buyer's journey.

There are various types of nurturing workflows based on who you are targeting and the length of each work flow (both in terms of numbers of emails and total days in between sends). Regardless of who you are targeting or the length of your workflow, there are four basic goals you want to accomplish with each nurturing campaign:

• Create brand awareness and establish a sense of trust through helpful content.
• Address one of their pain points and offer content that may help them solve this problem either through blog posts or an ungated piece of content.
• Offer a longer, gated piece of content, like an ebook or a guide, that relates specifically to you and your brand
• Get the lead to contact you to inquire more about your services/product or make the purchase online.

For companies in the B2B space, there 6 workflows that are essential for them to be using.

1) Subscriber Workflows

A subscriber workflow is when recent subscribers to your blog/newsletter recieve an emails which provides additional information about your brand or shares recent updates with them. This type of workflow is important because it makes subscribers feel welcomed to your brand, defines what to expect from you, and may even contain a piece of content that converts them to a lead.

This workflow is typically just one email, the 'welcome email' which should include a number of different components. First and foremost, it should thank subscribers for their interest and show them that they're valued. It should also let them know what to expect from your company such as how many times will you email them? Will they be emailed every time your company publishes a new blog, or will it be in a weekly or monthly roundup? Let them know so they can update their preferences if they'd like.

Including a relevant CTA is useful- just make sure it's subtle and not salesy. You already got them to subscribe to your blog where they'll see plenty of your content; you don't want to them to feel like the email is too promotional.  

2) Lead Nurturing Workflows

A lead nurturing workflow functions with the end goal of converting leads into marketing qualified leads (or MQLs), which in turn brings them further down the sales funnel, and one step closer to becoming a customer. It's important to have this be an automated email string because people want to know more about you and build trust before making a decision to purchase. You can set this workflow up to look something like the following once a website visitor becomes a lead:

• Email 1, TOFU Offer: Delay 3 days. Promote an offer that relates to the one that they became a lead from. Maybe they downloaded an infographic on Growth-Driven Design, so you would then want to send them another TOFU offer, such as a blog post. This should be a more high-level offer for someone just at the beginning stages of the buyer's journey.
• Email 2, MOFU Offer: Delay 3 days. You should promote an, such as an ebook or case study, related to what they originally downloaded. This offer can get more specific as to the products and services you offer.
• Email 3, BOFU Offer: Delay 3 days. The last email to the workflow would be a BOFU offer such as a free Growth-Driven Design Consultation, or something that gets them talking to sales.

This simple workflow will help leads move naturally through the sales cycle without looking to salesy or pushy on your end and leading to the dreaded "unsubscribe".

3) Hot Leads Workflows

A 'hot lead' is someone who is frequently visiting your website, opening your emails and engaging with you on social media which indicates that you’ve clearly got their interest. Hold onto that interset by keeping them engaged with your company. 

A workflow for someone who is actively viewing and sharing your content could be:

• Email 1: BOFU offer like a case study. This is a great offer to send someone who is almost-ready to make a sale and should be related to the topics they've been viewing most on your site
• Email 2: Offer your lead a free service, such as a consultation, demo or review for what they need help with.
• Email 3: If they took advantage of the free service, the next and final email should aim to get the lead on a call with your sales team.

4) Cold Leads Workflows

So, maybe your lead fell asleep on you… wake them up with a workflow! Maybe earlier in the process they weren’t in the condition to buy, but things have changed and now they’re ready but you haven't followed up with them in a while.

Creating a workflow to remind them you’re still there and on their side is a great way to engage them again. To respark their interest you can send them some company updates or special offers, as listed below.

• Option 1: What's new with your business? Is there an exclusive offer you can send them that'll get them excited about your brand? 
• Option 2: Email them a survey. What kind of experience did they have with your company the last time they interacted?
• Option 3: We're thinking abot you.. are you thinking about us? You can get fun with this email. Talk to your leads like they're people- believe me, they'll respond better to this. Tell them about a product/service they may be interested in based off of their prior page views and downloads.

5) Customer Workflows

They've become a customer, but you're not done with them yet! You want to encourage them to continue to interact with your brand. It's an important workflow to use because it keeps customers thinking about your brand in hopes that they become repeat customers and evangelists. A simple customer workflow could resemble the following:

• Email 1: Delay one day after becoming customer. The first email in the workflow should thank customers for making their purchase. Be sure to include company news to keep readers in the loop about what's going on. Invite them to add your company on social media. This will also encourage engagement.
• Email 2: Delay three weeks. In this email, you can ask your customer how their product/service they purchased from you is going. This makes sure you're delighting them and keeping customers happy. If they aren't happy, this allows you to fix it and make it right. Your customers will really feel taken care of if you include an email or phone number they can send questions or concerns to.
• Email 3: Delay 2-3 months. Use this as an opportunity to promote making an upgrade or another purchase. You can push this through promo specials and discounts.

6) Industry/specific Topics Workflows

If you know what industry one of your prospects is from- that's a golden piece of information. By knowing this, you can send them content specifically for them. By sending the right content to the right people, you're more likely to convert. Check out where this lead came from. Was it for an offer specific to a certain industry? What kind of tradeshow did you meet them at? Answer these questions to segment them for this workflow.

After discovering what industry a prospect is in, send them workflows in this progression:

• Email 1: Send them relevant blogs.
• Email 2: White papers, videos, checklists, guides, etc.
• Email 3: Webinars, case studies, ebooks, how-to videos, etc.
• Email 4: Demo, assessments, consultation, reviews, etc.

By basing these emails off of industry or specific topics of interest, you will provide your leads with valuable and relevant information.

The Key Takeaway

You know they’re interested in you; now it’s time to capitalize on it. By sending your contacts workflows based on their buyer persona and life cycle stage, you’ll decrease your sales cycle by 23% according to Market2Lead. That’s right-- 23%! So start segmenting your contacts into lists and target them with those workflows!

Want to learn from BluLeadz? Download their guide on Email Marketing.

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Desk Ergonomics: Posture Tips to Stay Happier & Healthier at Work [Infographic]

You may not spend much time thinking about your posture when you're getting work done at your desk each day, but it can have a significant long-term impact on your health.

Just think about how much time you spend at your desk. Often, you'll be sitting or standing in the same position, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. If your position of choice is hunched over, or puts a strain on your neck, or means you type in a way that stresses out your wrists ... then you're might run into some health issues down the line.

Turns out there are right and wrong ways to sit and stand at your desk. If you're using a sitting desk, for example, then you should position the computer screen at your eye level to prevent neck aches. If you're using a standing desk, you should stand 20–28 inches away from the screen and keeping your keyboard at or below elbow height. 

For more desk ergonomics tips, check out the infographic below from Ultimate Mats. It covers how to relieve pain points at a standing desk and a sitting desk, as well as advice on the best hand positions for typing and other tips for a healthier office life.

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20 Working From Home Tips to Boost Your Productivity

Working from home is awesome ... right up until the cat throws up on your computer. And your neighbor -- who you can only assume is building a time machine -- starts firing up all sorts of power tools and noisy machinery across the street. 

For many modern professionals, working from home every once in a while is a luxury that our respective companies afford us. But which environment actually allows us to be more productive: the home office or the office office?

In the office office, your coworkers often pose the greatest threat to keeping you from getting some real, heads-down work done. They drop by your desk. They engage you in conversation. They invite you to lunch. I mean, jeez, the nerve of these people.

At the home office, however, I find that it's easy for you to become your own worst enemy. Because when you're not surrounded by coworkers, you're free to drop those pesky inhibitions. At the home office, no one's watching. You don't necessarily feel that same peer pressure or communal obligation to get stuff done. (Also: You don't have to wear pants.)

Below, I've compiled a bunch of great work-at-home tips and tricks from some of my awesome coworkers.

Download our free guide here for even more work productivity tips. 

How to Work From Home and Still Be Productive: 20 Tips

1) Get started early.

When I work from home, I wake up, put on a pot of coffee, and start working immediately -- much earlier normal working hours. I only start making breakfast once I've hit a wall or need a break. I'm a morning person and find I can get a ton done in the early morning hours, so this works really well for me. "

- Lindsay Kolowich

2) Pretend like you are going into the office.

Get fully ready for the day and pretend you're actually going to work. Otherwise, you might find yourself back in bed."

- Anna Faber-Hammond

3) Structure your day like you would in the office.

Are mornings for writing while you're in the office? Use the same schedule at home. While you probably will get tasks done faster at home than at work, this structure will help keep you focused and productive."

- Ginny Soskey

4) Choose a dedicated work space.

Have a place you go specifically to work. It could be a certain table, chair, local coffee shop -- some place that's consistently your 'work space.' It helps you get into the right frame of mind."

- Sam Mallikarjunan

5) Don't stay at home.

I get out of my home to work, and go to a Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, or other WiFi enabled establishment with actual tables, chairs, and people. It helps simulate the work environment for me -- white noise, chatter, that kind of thing -- that usually helps me work better than utter silence. It also removes the distractions I typically have at home like the urge to finally actually clean my room, do laundry, or watch TV.

I also refuse to play into the trope of being some jerk sitting at Starbucks not doing any real work, so I feel motivated not to mess around on Facebook all day to show there are still people who actually get stuff done at a coffee shop!"

- Corey Wainwright

6) Make it harder for yourself to mess around on social media.

I remove all social networks from my toolbar bookmarks. Even if I don't mean to browse them, some uncontrollable impulse subconsciously clicks on them when I experience downtime. You can get sucked in without knowing it (or even intending to), so eliminating the gateway to those networks keeps me on track."

- Alec Biedrzycki 

7) Commit to doing more.

Our team has a daily standup meeting each morning where we share what we're working on for the day. On days I'm working from home, I tend to slightly overcommit on what I'll deliver that day. It helps keep me honest, so even if I get the urge to go do something else, I know I've already committed a certain amount of work to my team."

- Corey Wainwright

8) Work when you're at your most productive.

For me, the most productive times of the day are usually early in the morning or late at night. I recognize this and try to plan my day accordingly. Also, music that really pumps me up doesn't hurt."

- Brittany Leaning

9) Save calls for the afternoon.

Take advantage of morning hours to crank through meaty projects without distractions, and save any calls or virtual meetings for the afternoon."

- James Gilbert

10) Find a distraction ... like a baby!

When I work from home, my 20-month-old daughter is home with me, too. It seems counterintuitive, but because I have to manage taking care of her and keeping her happy and entertained while still getting my work done, the pressure helps to keep me focused. When she's napping or entertaining herself, I go into super-productive work mode. 

It's the same idea for why some people work better when they have very busy schedules -- you learn how to manage your time VERY efficiently. The 'distraction' of my daughter (I mean that in the most loving way possible) means I can't possibly succumb to some of the other common distractions of home -- putting in a load of laundry, turning on the TV, doing other household chores -- or else I'd never get any actual work done."

- Pamela Vaughan

11) Plan out what you'll be working on ahead of time.

If I'm planning on working from home on a certain day, I'll make sure to get any work done ahead of time that requires me to be in the office -- for example, if I'm working on a task that would be infinitely easier to complete with access to my large monitor screen, or need to schedule meetings with coworkers that are best had in person. Plan out your week in advance to optimize for the environments you'll be in."

- Niti Shah

12) Use technology to stay connected.

Part of what enables us to work from home so much more often now is the array of apps and tools designed to help remove distance as a barrier between team members. Finding the right tools to keep you and your team connected is important for staying productive at home.

At HubSpot, we use Slack to keep conversations going remotely, Trello to keep us organized around priorities, and Google Hangouts plus Webex to make remote meetings more productive. Getting the right stack of support tools to fit your work style makes a big difference."

- Meghan Keaney Anderson

13) Match your music to the task at hand.

Find different playlists to match your different energy levels/required work throughout the day -- and only use them when you're doing those tasks. For example, when I'm powering through my inbox, I need some intense and catchy rap/R&B (like Nicki Minaj or Miley Cyrus) blasting through my headphones, but when I'm writing, Tom Petty is the trick. Finding what music motivates and focuses me for different tasks (and then sticking to those playlists for those tasks) has completely changed my WFH productivity."

- Ginny Soskey

14) Use laundry as a work timer.

I usually do laundry when I work from home and I set mini-deadlines for myself corresponding to when I have to go downstairs to switch loads. If I'm working on an article, I tell myself I'll get to a certain point before the wash cycle ends. Then I set another goal for the dryer."

- Emma Snider

15) Communicate expectations with anyone who will be home with you.

If anyone else is going to be at home when you're working, they just have to be clear that when you're in your 'office' (in my case, my signal to the family is having headphones on), you're working -- even if it looks like and feels like you're hanging out at home. It's easy to get distracted by the many things that have to be done around the house during the day."

- Sam Mallikarjunan

16) Take clear breaks.

Breaks, like making and eating lunch, can recharge you to do better work. Don't assume you need to be working 100% of the time while you're home to be more productive."

- Ginny Soskey

17) Interact with other humans.

Go outside and find a human to interact with -- ordering your coffee, running an errand, whatever. It keeps you sane."

- Corey Wainwright

18) Prepare your meals the night before.

When you're in your own home, it can be tempting to spend time preparing a really nice breakfast and lunch for yourself, chopping and cooking included. But that's time you wouldn't have spent meal prepping if you'd been in the office that day, and I find the minutes can really add up in the end. To mitigate that, I try to cook and prep my meals the night before, just like I would for a day at the office."

- Lindsay Kolowich

19) Pick a definitive finishing time each day.

If you work from home full-time (or on a regular basis), it’s really easy to let your work life bleed into your personal life. Maintaining a boundary is important for both halves of the equation."

- Tyler Littwin

20) Keep the TV on in the background.

I spent my first two years out of college working from home as a freelance writer. Of all the tips, tricks, and secrets I've uncovered for being more productive at home, one stands out above the rest: Putting on the History Channel. No joke. Just keep the History Channel running in the background at a low volume, and I swear, you'll get stuff done. (I'm not exactly sure why this trick works, but I can only assume it has something to do with ancient aliens.)"

-  Me (Erik Devaney)

What tips do you have for being productive while working from home? Share with us in the comments.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in September 2014 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

 

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How to Develop and Use Personas to Recruit Your Ideal Students

What are kids looking at when they spend hours a day on their phones? As an education marketer – you want to make sure some of that attention is coming your school's way. With the wealth of school content available to students, you can be sure some schools are getting prospective students' time, so some of it should be yours, right?

How do you attract those eyes to your school's website and blog? You start with creating personas of the people you want to attract. 

A persona is the fundamental building block of inbound marketing. It's a fictional representation of your ideal "customer." Each persona presents the background, needs, concerns, motivations, and goals of a specific segment of the population you want to be reading your school's blog. If you want to attract your personas to your blog, you need to know who they are, and what interests them.

In this post, we take you through the process how to develop and use your personas to develop content meaningful to the students you want to enroll. 

Research Your Ideal Student Personas 

No matter how well we think we know our market, actively researching them always reveals valuable, actionable information. Building a persona must start with research.

You'll gather information in seven categories designed to elicit valuable insight into what the persona cares about, where they find information, and what motivates their behavior. Use our Persona Profile Checklist as your starting point to customize questions relevant to selecting a school.

For example, investigating the persona's "role" is the first category of questions. Instead of asking "What's your job role?" You might ask "What's your role in life? Are you a student? A parent?" Or, instead of asking "Who do you report to?" You can ask "Who mentors you? Who do you ask for advice?"

When you create your checklist, be sure to cover each of the seven categories. They're all important to gaining a complete picture.

You'll gather the information from three main areas:

• Talking to people
• Digital metrics
• Online sources

Talking to People

Always a good choice. You can survey and interview current and past students. Do you want to increase the proportion of students who opt for early decision enrollment? Then talk to some current early decision students. You might also consider reaching out to students accepted to the school, but who chose not to enroll. 

Admissions officers will also be great sources of information. When you talk with them, ask what concerns and hesitations they hear most often, and from whom. What are the most common questions prospective students ask? What are the drivers influencing decisions where to apply? 

Digital Metrics

Review your website, blog and FAQs. What pages get the most visits? What pages do visitors spend the most time on? Which have high bounce rates? What blog posts have the highest comment activity or share rate? Gather these digital metrics to get a sense of what content has traction and which content is getting ignored. What do they tell you about visitors' interests and concerns? What sources are feeding your traffic? What searches are bringing people to your site?

Online Sources

While digital metrics offer quantitative information, here you'll investigate qualitative sources. Read through blog comments. Not just on your school's blog, but other related sites where prospects talk about the school selection and application process. Research social media as well. Use relevant hashtags to find the "meaty" discussions.

This research is useful for more than answering the questions on your profile checklist. It's a great place to source content ideas and blog topics. Even better – you'll see exactly how your prospects are talking about these issues, what language they use, which you can use in your content development.

Analyze Your Persona Research

Analyze your research for patterns, trends and commonalities. Your persona is a fictional representation of real people. You don't want to focus too much on any one actual person as no individual can be representative of the group.

As you look for trends in their goals, concerns and their watering holes, pay special attention to the "why" behind each of these decisions. When you get a sense of their motivations behind their actions, you can build a highly impactful persona.

Analysis is the stage where you should start to see different personas emerging. Clearly, students and parents have different priorities and watering holes. What did you learn talking with the early admission students? Are there clear identifying trends among this group that isn't present with the general admission students?

This is also the stage where you'll start to identify negative personas. A negative person is the profile of who you don't want as a student, or who will never be a student, so you don't waste resources marketing to them. You can read more about creating a negative persona here.

Writing Up Your Personas

Start with creating a bullet list of relevant points under each research category, such as demographics and goals. You'll include some actual quotes from interviewees or that you read online. You'll also add some insights gleaned during analysis, such as what identifies a person as fitting this persona and what messages resonate with them. HubSpot has created a persona template you can use.

Once you have your bullet lists, you want to write the persona's story. That's right. A narrative that presents the persona in the context of their "life." Here's a simple 5-chapter format for writing up a persona story:

• Chapter 1: Describe their life role and demographic background.
• Chapter 2: What does their typical day look like?
• Chapter 3: What are their challenges and pain points?
• Chapter 4: Where do they go for information?
• Chapter 5: What are their common objections or hesitations when making a selection? 

It's a very short story (not a book). Don't worry. Give each chapter two to five sentences built around the bullet points you've already listed.

Complete your story by adding a photo of your persona. Remember – a persona is a fictional representation, not a real person. So select a stock photo of someone or a scene that represents the persona.

Putting Your Student Personas to Use

On a practical level, marketing and admissions should use personas to direct your content and prospect nurturing strategies. This approach ensures that you're allocating your resources where they'll provide the greatest return. 

First, select your primary persona. You probably have a few personas, but select the one whose attention will have the greatest impact on your goals. Gear more of your content to this persona. Do some keyword research based on the search habits of this persona. Design your blog tags and labels around the terms they use.

Through your earlier research, you've uncovered what topics interest them, the language they use to talk about it, and what sites and magazines they're already reading. Use all of this information to create blog topics and headlines they'll be compelled to read.

Last, don't neglect your personas. Refine them on an on-going basis to make sure they remain accurate. As new issues or interests engage your prospects, you want to address them to keep your blog fresh and relevant.

 

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5 Sales Tax Tips to Carry You Through to the New Year

The sheer volume of sales you experience during the holiday season could put you in a very different situation during tax season next year. There are several considerations you’ll have to keep in mind, such as an increase in revenue, locations where you or other staff members work, and potential exemptions. These tips won't make up for advice from an accountant, but these are some things to keep in mind when dealing with sales tax.

Know Where You’re Selling

There are so many different taxes you’ll be responsible for this holiday season, from federal all the way down to city and even specific districts. If you don’t know where your customers are buying, you might miss one of the sales tax responsibilities on your list. It is up to you to know the specific districts where your buyers live, and that means you can’t just go on ZIP codes. Postal routes are changed all the time, but that doesn’t mean your districts change, too. Those ZIP codes don’t even specify certain cities, so you can’t rely on them in any way.

Know What You’re Selling

Did you know some products might carry different tax regulations than others? For instance, if you sell foods, some might be taxed in certain states while not at all taxed in others. Then, in some states, some of those foods will be taxable while others are tax-exempt. Do you have any idea which products within your ecommerce company require a sales tax in the various locations where they’re available for purchase?

Know If Prepayment Is Required

Some districts actually require prepayment, especially if large tax amounts occur often. This may also mean you’ll be on a different filing schedule than regular returns. Because you might be located in more than one jurisdiction, you’ll have to keep prepayment schedules and regular schedules straight or suffer the audits.

Know Your Nexus

This is the trickiest of all the tips, because you may not have any idea where your nexus is. Did you know it’s possible to have more than one? That’s why so many ecommerce companies end up in trouble. For the most part, you’re subject to the laws where your ecommerce company resides. However, you could have more than one nexus if you’ve opened a new office, if a large part of your staff resides in another area, and even if your products are manufactured in another area. 

Know Your Automation Options

Now, keeping up with all of these things is a full-time job, unless you have some way to automate the process. There are some ecommerce platforms that take care of the process for you. These automated programs will take into account where the business is being done, where the buyer lives, and all the requirements of the various districts and locations that apply. This greatly reduces the stress, work, and record keeping that you’ll need to do, while also minimizing your risk of an audit.

Now, have you considered your tax situation for the coming year? It’s not too late to get your taxes in order for the holiday season so that your books are balanced in 2016.

http://bit.ly/1Px4XJC