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How the HubSpot Blog Generates Leads [+ How Yours Can, Too]

Call to Actions
January 9, 2021/by
How the HubSpot Blog Generates Leads It's hard to believe that if the HubSpot Blog were a person, it would currently be in high school. That's right – for well over a decade, content has been published on the HubSpot Blog to help hundreds of millions of readers discover best practices in the areas of marketing, sales, customer service, website development, agency work, and general business best practices. Behind the scenes, our team also thinks about how we can convince as many readers as possible to become leads and access more information, tools, and resources from HubSpot – and anyone who has worked on lead generation knows that accomplishing this task is much easier said than done. Effective blog lead generation requires both creative and analytical skills. It's about knowing what numbers to crunch, how to analyze your existing data, and how to make projections based off of traffic, monthly search volume, and conversion potential. Additionally, any good marketer needs to understand the human aspect behind this process and not lose sight of the people reading your blog and the problems your business can help them solve. Over the years, the team at HubSpot has landed on a process that continuously generates leads day-after-day, with a reliable blog view-to-lead conversion rate and a steady flow of traffic. Here are the steps my team at HubSpot takes to generate leads from our blog. 1. Audit existing blog metrics. To develop a process for growing our blog lead number, we...
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How to Design a Process Infographic (And Where to Find Templates)

Infographics
January 9, 2021/by
How to Design a Process Infographic (And Where to Find Templates) Have you ever wished you could just use a picture to explain a process instead of words (or your hands)? A process infographic could be just what you need to show your audience how to do something or how a process works. A well-designed one can establish you as an authority on whatever subject you choose to cover -- whether you’re trying to show how your business’s coffee is sourced or train the new hire remotely. Even better, they’re easy to create using a template or from scratch, meaning you can get started on one today. What is a process infographic? A process infographic simplifies and explains the steps of a process in primarily visual terms. Generally, it illustrates what happens during each step or phase with an intuitive layout that’s easy for the viewer to follow from start to finish. A well-designed process infographic makes the concept you want to share more accessible and saves you and the audience time. Chances are, you encounter process infographics in some form pretty regularly in your daily life. Just imagine how much (more) complicated it would be to build your new Ikea desk if the instructions only included words and no visuals. Pretty daunting, huh? Process infographics allow us to visualize how a process works more quickly and with more clarity. This makes them excellent training and educational tools -- but also a smart marketing strategy. Here's an example of...
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How to Find & Add Nofollow Links to Your Website [Step by Step]

Link Building
January 8, 2021/by
How to Find & Add Nofollow Links to Your Website Ever watch those game shows where contestants have to find the designer product in a sea of knockoffs? Watching the contestants squint to examine the products is my favorite part. One, because I love game shows, but also because upon first glance, you really can’t tell the difference. Well, nofollow links are kind of like that. You can’t tell them apart from regular links just by looking at them. As Google continues to prioritize links in its ranking criteria, keeping track of them should be on your SEO to-do list. So, how do you check for nofollow links and add them to your webpages? All those answers, and more, below. This matters because links greatly impact your search engine ranking. And whether you’re linking internally or externally, doing so tells Google the destination page is valuable. This, in turn, may increase the page’s ranking — it’s called "link juice." The better your link building, the better your chances of ranking higher. So, when you tell Google to ignore a link, the destination page will not get any link juice. For instance, let’s say a food blogger uploads a blog post. The blogger can add a nofollow attribute to the comment section to tell Google, "Hey, any link included here isn't associated with me and I don’t vouch for it." With Google tightening up its linking requirements, it’s important that brands understand how they work. How To Tell...
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A Comprehensive Guide to LinkedIn Sponsored Updates

LinkedIn Advertising
January 8, 2021/by
A Comprehensive Guide to LinkedIn Sponsored Updates When it comes to growing your brand and boosting your revenue, social media matters. Here's why: More than three billion people worldwide now have social media accounts, and 54% of those users leverage social media to research products. The biggest challenge? Finding the right platform for your social media posts where you can connect with your ideal audience. While many businesses leverage sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to promote their content and increase conversion rates, there's also a case to be made for more business-focused frameworks like LinkedIn. In this comprehensive guide to LinkedIn sponsored updates we'll tackle the big questions — what are LinkedIn sponsored updates, how do they work and how much do they cost? We'll also offer a list of sponsored updates best practices to help your brand make the most of this social content solution. What are LinkedIn Sponsored Updates? Let's start at the beginning: What exactly are LinkedIn sponsored updates? Also called sponsored content, the official LinkedIn help page says a sponsored update is, “a LinkedIn Page update that is sponsored as an advertisement and is delivered to the LinkedIn feed of members beyond those who follow your company.” In practice, LinkedIn sponsored updates are advertisements created by your company or marketing team which are then served to LinkedIn users who either follow your page or follow pages in a similar content space. These ads are served as part of the native LinkedIn feed and...
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How to Create a Stunning Presentation Cover Page [+ Examples]

Presentations
January 7, 2021/by
How to Create a Stunning Presentation Cover Page When you're focused on creating a meaningful, persuasive presentation, it's easy to overlook the cover page. But giving that first page of your deck a little more love can actually go a long way towards grabbing your audience's attention early on and setting the tone for the rest of your presentation. A stunning presentation cover page can intrigue your audience into wanting to know more and increase engagement with the information you’re presenting. On the other hand, a lackluster slide, or even the lack of one, can dampen audience enthusiasm for your presentation, and maybe even your own. You've put so much work into your presentation -- why waste that valuable real estate on the first slide of your deck? In this post, we'll cover the basics of creating a presentation cover page that's informative and attention-grabbing. Let's dive in. What's included in a presentation cover page? A good presentation cover page accomplishes three simple things: It introduces the topic with a straightforward title. It introduces you (and your organization, if applicable) It sets the tone of your presentation. Title We probably don't need to tell you this one, but your presentation cover page should be centered around a title. And ideally, a title that's straightforward, descriptive, and simple. If you're finding it hard to keep your title short, add a subtitle (in smaller print) to clarify what you'll be speaking about. Speaker...
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11 Stats That Make a Case for Landing Pages

Landing Pages
January 7, 2021/by
11 Stats That Make a Case for Landing Pages A landing page is a standalone website page dedicated to a specific marketing campaign that is meant to convert site visitors into leads. Landing pages typically offer visitors something that they may be interested in, like an Ebook or a free trial, in exchange for contact information. Getting this information then gives businesses the tools they need to further nurture leads and urge them down the purchasing funnel. Since landing pages are tailored to customer interests, using them in your marketing strategy can help you convert a significant number of qualified prospects since you can assume that they’re ending up on a landing page because its content interests them. If you’ve yet to consider using them or you want to update your current landing page strategy, this piece will go over 11 stats that make a case for using landing pages as a means to increase your conversion rates and generate more leads. 11 Stats That Make a Case for Landing Pages 1. The average landing page conversion rate across all industries is 9.7%. Given that 10% is a benchmark for a good conversion rate, taking the time to create a landing page that carefully considers the interests of your target audience will benefit your business. Whether you sell SaaS or clothing, a higher conversion rate from landing pages means a longer list of leads to nurture into paying customers. 2. Landing pages are the least popular type of...
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How to Successfully Migrate a Website Without Harming SEO [Checklist]

Technical SEO
January 7, 2021/by
How to Successfully Migrate a Website Without Harming SEO An outdated website won't represent your brand well. Web design experts recommend a site redesign every 2-3 years to keep up with web standards and design trends. This can often be accomplished with a simple facelift or re-skin. However, in some cases, you may be up against a site migration. The end result of a site migration may include a cleaner interface, a new or improved user experience, an easier editing experience, and more. However, the choice to migrate your website should not be taken lightly. If executed poorly, you could end up with status code errors, negatively impacted SEO performance, and even irritated website visitors. Why might you migrate a website? Here are the circumstances in which you might need a site migration over a simple redesign: You need to move your site's location from one server to another. You are changing the CMS platform your site operates on. You are changing your domain name or URLs. You need to make major changes to your site's architecture (not just aesthetics). Website migrations can be done on your own or professionally. (For example, HubSpot offers migration services to customers switching to HubSpot's CMS.) If you're considering a website migration, keep in mind that you must leave yourself time to prepare and execute. Migration specialists usually take about three weeks, so plan accordingly. Now, let's get into the details of migrating a website....
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How to Easily Create a SlideShare Presentation

Presentations
January 6, 2021/by
How to Easily Create a SlideShare Presentation You know how hot visual content is, and you want to jump on board to enjoy the engagement, traffic, and leads that follow. But maybe you're not keen on writing a blog post, and you don't have the production resources to create videos. What to do? Create a SlideShare presentation. I know, I know. You may have felt personally victimized by PowerPoint sometime in your career. When you open it up, you're hit with stark black Calibri font on a white background, killing any creative spark you may have felt. It's daunting enough to create a 10-slide deck to report your monthly marketing metrics -- never mind putting together slides that can be seen by the large volume of SlideShare users. Well, there's good news: Creating a SlideShare presentation in PowerPoint doesn't have to be that daunting. With the right templates and tools at your disposal, you could easily create an engaging, visual presentation -- all without fancy design programs, huge budgets, or hiring contractors. How to Create a Stunning  SlideShare Presentation in PowerPoint To help you make a SlideShare of your own, we've created some free PowerPoint presentation templates for making awesome SlideShares. That way, your presentations will look great and be a breeze to put together. Download the free PowerPoint templates, scroll down, and we'll walk through how to use them. When we're done, you'll know exactly how to create a sexy presentation that gets featured on SlideShare's homepage. Ready? Let's...
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Marketing Trends to Watch in 2021, According to 21 Experts

Marketing Strategy
January 4, 2021/by
Marketing Trends to Watch in 2021, According to 21 Experts Marketers are community-minded people. We collaborate across multiple departments in our own companies, while keeping track of competitive players and ensuring we're deeply connected to the needs and goals of our customers. So, to better understand what to expect or pay close attention to in 2021, I've connected with 20 marketing experts for their perspective. While there is significant diversity of ideas and visions presented below, I love the common theme of how we're working toward a better future together, which is why my prediction is this: Marketing in 2021 will be more empathetic than ever. I continue to believe in my mantra that marketing is powerful and must be used for good, not evil. That might sound overly simplistic, but I do believe it's paramount that marketers understand their influence and what a wonderful positive power it can be. We are humans, serving humans. Whether B2B or B2C, customers are looking for brands they can trust to meet their needs and make their lives easier or more delightful. If we treat each person with loving kindness and respect, we'll be making the positive impact I know we can while building a stronger, more loyal base. Here's what else 2021 has in store based on the predictions of this fabulous group of marketing leaders. Virtual Events 1. Marketers will plan asynchronous events that plug into the funnel. Latané Conant, Chief Market Officer at 6sense, predicts: "This year saw...
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