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A Brief Timeline of the History of Blogging

Blogging
October 20, 2020/by
A Brief Timeline of the History of Blogging Greetings, readers. Welcome to the HubSpot Marketing Blog. We’re very happy to have you here. You might not realize it, but getting here was no easy task. Today, in 2016, I blog for a living, which is pretty great. But were it not for the long, twisty journey that got blogging to its current state, I might not be here. You might not be reading this. We've found that there's quite a history behind blogs. According to the documentation we uncovered -- and will share with you below -- they've been around since 1994. They looked a lot different back then, and had many different names and meanings. Merriam Webster currently defines a blog as “a web site on which someone writes about personal opinions, activities, and experiences.” Remember that -- it’s going to come in handy later. But first, let’s talk about how we got here. The Blogging Vernacular The early vocabulary and semantics around blogging are more than a little muddy. As the practice developed, some of the more popular monikers were “weblog,” “personal web page,” and “online diary.” We'll dive into each of these a bit as we explore the more primitive days of blogging. Now, we simply say “blog” -- that's a pretty popular term in our vocabulary. But what it means continues to change. Bloggers have dozens of platforms and formats available (fun fact: HubSpot has a blogging platform, too), and there's no longer a standard for...
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Why You Shouldn’t Buy Instagram Followers (& What to Do Instead)

Instagram Marketing
October 19, 2020/by
Why You Shouldn't Buy Instagram Followers (& What to Do Instead) You might know your Instagram content is good, but imagine how much better it will seem if it looks like 10,000 people agree. Whether you’re trying to become a social media celebrity or simply looking to spread brand awareness on Instagram, it can seem tempting to take shortcuts wherever you can in order to expand your audience, including 'buying' Instagram followers. Here, we’ve gone ahead and covered all the questions you might have about buying Instagram followers to give you a better idea of how it actually works. We’ve also explored the pros and cons, so you can decide for yourself if it’s a good move for your brand. Can you buy Instagram followers? Yes, you can buy Instagram followers. There are plenty of cheap services available that allow you to buy 1,000 followers for as little as $10 USD. But you’re only paying for a number. Many of those followers are either bots or inactive accounts, which means they’ll never engage with your posts. 1,000 followers seems like a good deal for the price of a small Starbucks latte. But of course, if it really was that cheap and easy, everyone would be doing it. So what’s the catch? Is buying Instagram followers legal and safe for your business? Is it a worthwhile investment? The main reason buying Instagram followers can prove to be a wasted investment is because the accounts you follow...
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How to Host a Virtual Holiday Party & Bond With Your Team

Office Culture
October 19, 2020/by
How to Host a Virtual Holiday Party & Bond With Your Team Throughout my career, I've worked at a company that was fully remote, a company that was partially remote, and several fully in-person organizations. Each company approached holiday parties differently. In fact, most of the remote organizations didn't even offer team bonding activities. While we've all probably participated in various holiday parties and team bonding events, those might not have been virtual. Hosting a virtual team bonding or holiday party can seem daunting. How can you plan activities online? What logistics are involved? If you're planning a virtual holiday party this year, don't stress. Let's review some tips from HubSpot's remote workforce on how to host a virtual holiday party. 1. Use a spreadsheet to organize your activities. Planning a virtual holiday party requires plenty of logistics. That's why you should use a spreadsheet to stay organized. Kara Korosec, a remote senior customer success manager at HubSpot, says, "I used to coordinate Secret Santa at my last company, a 100% remote company. I set up a spreadsheet where everyone listed some of their interests, then we used a random generator to assign secret Santas. Everyone had a budget of $50 and used the spreadsheet as inspiration for what to get. After the gifts were mailed, we had a Zoom where we shared our gifts and guessed who our secret Santa was." Regardless of the activity you're doing, it's important to stay organized so it's clear who's running...
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20 Stats About Australian Instagram Users & Trends

Instagram Marketing
October 17, 2020/by
20 Stats About Australian Instagram Users & Trends In July, nearly 41% of Australia's population was on Instagram. And, with Australia being one of the biggest internet and social media growth regions, its Instagram audiences are likely to keep getting bigger. Yes. No matter what country you're marketing in, Instagram's platform is primed for brand awareness. You might think with growth stats like this, Australian brands are rushing to Instagram.But that's not the case -- many Australian businesses are actually missing out on the opportunities Instagram offers. In fact, recent research reveals that only 32% of Australian SMBs use it in their social media strategy. Although Instagram sounds promising, SMBs with limited time, budget, or bandwidth might be hesitant to add any new social platform. Why? Even though an Instagram account can majorly boost local and global brand awareness, building a scalable strategy for it can seem intimidating and time-consuming for smaller brands. Luckily, Australian businesses don't just have to launch an Instagram account and hope it works. In 2020, there's plenty of data that can help these brands determine if the platform is appropriate for their goals, and how to engage Australian audiences once they've made a Business page. If you're an Australian social media marketer looking to improve your Instagram strategy or are working to boost a brand's Australian presence from afar, here are 20 stats to know about Australian Instagram usage, marketing, and peak engagement times. Australian Instagram Usage Stats to Know Australian Instagram Users...
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7 Best Link Shorteners to Shorten that URL

Productivity
October 16, 2020/by
7 Best Link Shorteners to Shorten that URL Trying to convince people to click on a long, jumbled link is almost as bad as a door-to-door salesman trying to sell people financial services. If your audience sees a link they perceive to be spammy in one of your social media posts, they’ll do the digital equivalent of slamming the door in your face -- scroll past it. To avoid being perceived as spammy or sloppy when you have a legitimate link to share, check out our list of the seven best link shorteners that’ll clip your links into clean, consistent, and clickable URLs. What are the benefits of using link shorteners? Using link shorteners can benefit your brand in three main ways: When you post long links on social media, it can look like spam or deter users from clicking on something they don't recognize. In particular, adding tracking parameters to your links can result in URLs that look long and confusing to someone who's unfamiliar with typical link tracking practices. Link shorteners can prune spammy-looking links into clear and concise links. Many link shorteners also let you track each of your link’s performance and analytics, which can help you understand which pieces of content perform best on specific platforms. Every social media network limits the amount of characters you can include in your posts. Twitter and LinkedIn have the shortest character limits at 280 and 700 characters, respectively, so if you need to squeeze a link...
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Google Cache: How to View Cached Pages

Technical SEO
October 16, 2020/by
Google Cache: How to View Cached Pages Cached pages is an undeniably useful tool when you come across a web page that is performing poorly, or temporarily down for some reason. At its most basic, Google crawls web pages and then makes raw HTML copies of them -- a cached page. This can enable you to view a website that is slow or not responding, and it can also help SEO experts figure out indexation issues with a site. What is a cached page? A cached page is a backup of the raw HTML and content of a page taken at a single point in time to be stored on a server and retrieved later.  For example, when Google crawls a web page, it will take a screenshot of that page and index the content for future reference. Additionally, Google will provide the date of the last time the page was indexed on the cache page, i.e. "This page is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Feb 20, 2020". If you've come across a page that isn't responding, or if you want to make sure your site is being properly indexed, keep reading to figure out how cached pages can help you solve both. How to View Cached Pages In Google's search box, type the website or page you're trying to see. Beside the URL, click the down arrow. Select "Cached". You...
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6 Reasons You Really Need to Write A Business Plan

Business Tools
October 15, 2020/by
6 Reasons You Really Need to Write A Business Plan Starting a business can be a daunting task, especially if you’re starting from square one. It’s easy to feel stuck in the whirlwind of things you’ll need to do, like registering your company, building a team, advertising, the list goes on. Not to mention, a business idea with no foundation can make the process seem incredibly intimidating. Thankfully, business plans are an antidote for the new business woes that many entrepreneurs feel. Some may shy away from the idea, as they are lengthy documents that require a significant amount of attention and care. However, there’s a reason why those who take the time to write out a business plan are 16% more likely to be successful than those who don’t. In other words, business plans work. What is a business plan, and why does it matter? In brief, a business plan is a roadmap to success. It's a blueprint for entrepreneurs to follow that helps them outline, understand, and cohesively achieve their goals. Writing a business plan involves defining critical aspects of your business, like brand messaging, conducting market research, and creating pricing strategies — all before starting the company. A business plan can also increase your confidence. You’ll get a holistic view of your idea and understand whether it's worth pursuing. So, why not take the time to create a blueprint that will make your job easier? Let’s take a look at six reasons why you should...
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The Surround Sound Series: How We Created A New Content Marketing Program & Improved SERP Visibility Beyond SEO (Part 2 of 3)

Content Marketing
October 14, 2020/by
The Surround Sound Series: How We Created A New Content Marketing Program & Improved SERP Visibility Beyond SEO (Part 2 of 3) This post is a part of Made @ HubSpot, an internal thought leadership series through which we extract lessons from experiments conducted by our very own HubSpotters. The way people shop has radically changed. Back in the day, going shopping meant visiting a few shops — maybe some with brands you knew you liked. Now, customers have a wealth of options available online 24/7. They can compare features and prices, read recent reviews, or even get suggestions from influencers and magazines. They can go back and forth between their best options, until they find what suits them best. In this new context, if you want your products or services to be considered when customers weigh their options, you have to be visible where they search for options. You have to be everywhere that matters — in recommended lists, comparison articles, review websites, etc. — so your brand stays top of mind. This is what we call creating a surround sound content strategy for your brand. In this article, I’ll take you through how HubSpot uses surround sound to track and improve its products’ visibility and awareness. What is the surround sound strategy? At HubSpot, “surround sound” is the name Alex Birkett gave to a program that aims to make HubSpot products visible every time someone searches for a product-related keyword (e.g. “best help desk software” or...
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7 Steps to Use Trigger Marketing in Any Content Campaign

Marketing Automation
October 14, 2020/by
7 Steps to Use Trigger Marketing in Any Content Campaign When you hear the phrase "marketing automation," what do you think of first? A detailed diagram of emails sent to different segments, broken out by email engagement, drawing a line from lead to customer? This has become the norm, yet it is among the least effective automation paths you can set up as a marketer. The inherent flaw in this strategy is that it starts with the marketer's timeline rather than the prospect's. The marketer sits down and defines what information the prospect will consume next, what actions the prospect will take next, and the path the prospect will take from becoming a lead to becoming a customer. But if we're honest with ourselves, we would admit that the world is not as straightforward as that. You might define the funnel stages as Lead to Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) to Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) to Opportunity to Customer, where leads download an ebook, then become an MQL when they start a trial, an SQL when the sales person follows up with that prospect, an opportunity when they do a trial review call, and customer when they purchase. ... But what if they start a trial and then download an ebook? Or what if they get into a sales conversation after just downloading an ebook, never become a customer, and then go cold until they start a trial months later? The reality is that you can't control what your prospect does...
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