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50 Best Online Local Business Directories & Listing Sites

Local SEO
February 15, 2024/by
50 Best Online Local Business Directories & Listing Sites Creating business listings on directory websites is an easy way to improve your local SEO. All you have to do is list your business in online local directories such as Yellow Pages, Manta, and more. This is called building citations, and it’s a critical piece of a local marketing strategy. By building citations, you can ensure that you appear in local packs when people look for businesses like yours in their area. Business directories may seem like a thing of the past, but they’re a great way to grow your presence online. In this post, we go over everything you need to know about creating business listings and why they’re so valuable, even in the age of social media and other marketing tactics. Table of Contents What is a business directory? What is a business listing? How I Chose the Best Online Directories Free Business Listings Online Directories for Local Businesses Business Listing Sites Benefits of Listing Your Business in Local Directories I know that promoting a local business can be challenging these days. Whether it’s because of oversaturation or complicated search engine algorithms, it’s all too easy to feel like no one will find your business in the local search results. Today, Google is inserting itself between consumer and local business websites much more often. For proof, you need to look no further than Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP),...
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How Financial Services Businesses are Using Automation

Marketing Automation
February 14, 2024/by
How Financial Services Businesses are Using Automation The finance industry lends itself well to AI. The industry manages much data, customer service, and daily trend analysis. One search for AI tools in the finance sector, and you’ll find millions of results. The key is knowing what to trial, where to bring AI to benefit your finance business and customers, and how to get started. We contacted finance professionals and asked how they use AI and automation and their tips for starting with AI. Plus, the tools that you should trial for your finance business. Table of Contents Companies Already Using Marketing Automation Tools That Can Help Trends to Know in Marketing Automation for Financial Services Marketing Automation Examples for Finance Businesses Email and SMS Marketing Email and SMS marketing is a powerful tool for finance businesses. Done well with automation, finance businesses' marketing tasks can take half the time to complete. Email and SMS are most effective when a finance business sets up audience segmentation. You can group audiences through interests or types of services. When you’re rolling with a good marketing automation hub, even segmentation happens manually through email sign-ups, landing pages, and automated workflows. On the subject of email and automation, CardUp’s Marketing Lead Jancis Yap says, “HubSpot’s workflow automation and list segmentation helps the team build the right user journey that converts more customers.” Yap notes that segmenting lists used to be a long process. “You had to...
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Google’s Head of Technology Platforms On How First-Party Data & AI Will Transform The Ad Industry — For The Better

Advertising
February 13, 2024/by
Google's Head of Technology Platforms On How First-Party Data & AI Will Transform The Ad Industry — For The Better Welcome to HubSpot's Expert Edge Series, where we interview top execs at major brands to explore their perspectives on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the industry.   Earlier this month, Google Chrome took another step in its plans to phase-out third-party cookies. And yet HubSpot Blog Research reports that 83% of marketers are still leveraging third-party cookies in some capacity. I get it – it takes time to shift both mindset and strategies. And change can be scary. But when I spoke with Steve Yap, Google's Head of Google Marketing Platform - Americas, he expressed his enthusiasm and excitement for the future of advertising. “We're at this inflection point, and we are working across the industry to rebuild advertising as we know it,” Yap says. “We will redefine it, and we'll do so with a consumer-centered, privacy-forward viewpoint and perspective — and that's pretty motivating.” Here, I spoke with Yap to explore what the current data privacy landscape looks like, how marketers can build consumer trust with first-party data, and the role of AI in a cookie-free world. Let's dive in. A Consumer-Focused Marketing Strategy Needs Privacy at the Forefront Privacy has become a top concern for most consumers. Not only are 81% of consumers worried about how companies use their personal data, but 72% say they're more likely to buy from companies they trust with...
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Marketing Agencies We Admired in 2023

Blog, Free Marketing Software, Inbound Marketing
February 10, 2024/by
Marketing Agencies We Admired in 2023 Born in the digital age, “Inbound Marketing” is nearing its 20th birthday. HubSpot Co-founder Brian Halligan coined the term in 2005 because the internet has forever changed buyers’ journeys. As recently as 2008, influential marketers were using inbound marketing to describe drawing in customers instead of outbound mass marketing. As recently as 2008, influential marketers were using inbound marketing to describe drawing in customers instead of outbound mass marketing.  In his article “Dawn of the Inbound Marketing Agency,” Paul Roetzer explained how wired PR firms, digital PR firms, and Internet PR firms will redefine the industry and give birth to a new category of agency — the inbound marketing agency. While every inbound marketing agency is slightly different, they have one thing in common: a focus on helping businesses attract customers by creating helpful content. So, what do today’s inbound marketing agencies look like? And what work are they doing in the current marketing landscape? Let’s explore! What do inbound marketing agencies do? 16 Top Inbound Marketing Agencies Inbound marketing agencies help businesses position themselves as experts with helpful content that makes it easy for customers to find them. By tailoring content to buyer needs, companies using inbound strategies can harness the power of the know-like-trust factor to generate sales over time. Most inbound strategies fall under three main categories: attract, engage, and delight. So, what strategies do inbound marketing agencies perform? It depends largely on the company and...
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Diving Deep Into Marketing for Dentists (My Takeaways)

Marketing Strategy
February 9, 2024/by
Diving Deep Into Marketing for Dentists (My Takeaways) An avalanche of both booked and patient walk-ins is the dream of dental practitioners. But let’s be honest — getting these patients requires hard work because the dental industry is fiercely competitive. To help you win and bring your dream to fruition, I will discuss the most interesting dental marketing campaigns I’ve seen and highlight what makes them so effective. I’ll also share some out-of-the-box marketing strategies for growing your dental business. Let’s get started. Table of Contents Dental Marketing Strategies: 5 Campaigns You Can Learn From 4 Dentist Marketing Ideas and How to Execute Them Dental Marketing Strategies: 5 Campaigns You Can Learn From Below are the top dental marketing campaigns I’ve discovered — from Google ads to unique website updates. Here’s how these dental offices and companies found success. 1. Increase lead capture with Google Ads. Google Ads is one of the most effective marketing strategies I’ve seen dental companies use. Beyond helping to create brand awareness, Google Ads lets you generate leads fast. Case in point: Smile Doctors. Image Source Smile Doctors started in 2015, and in the first few years, the brand had minimal brand recognition. To connect with people who may need its orthodontic services, they used Google Ads, and I’ll tell you why. From my experience, marketing channels like SEO take time to bring results — often six and up to nine months to attract just traffic. Waiting...
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How to Use the SUBTRACT Function in Excel

Excel
February 8, 2024/by
How to Use the SUBTRACT Function in Excel Excel is a powerful spreadsheet program from Microsoft that makes it easy to work with numbers and other values. While Excel contains a lot of power, it’s also quite useful for simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In fact, Excel’s simple formulas make it easy to add and subtract numbers and cell values without breaking out a calculator. How to Use Subtract Function in Excel Many of Excel’s most powerful capabilities come via the use of functions, which are a kind of predesigned formula. For example, the SUM function automatically sums or totals a range of cells without you having to manually add each cell to the previous one.  Unfortunately, there is no SUBTRACT function in Excel. That’s because subtracting is one of the easiest things you can do in a spreadsheet.  I‘ve found that performing subtraction in Excel is as simple as entering a simple mathematical formula. Excel does the rest.  The formula for subtracting one number from another starts with an equal sign and looks like this: =value1 – value2 It doesn’t get much easier than that. You can subtract discrete values or the values contained in individual cells.  For example, let’s say I want to put an aquarium in my home so I can enjoy tropical fish. I made a spreadsheet of the different tasks I need to complete and how much I expect each purchase to cost. I then gather the receipts to note what I...
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The 15 Best WordPress Email Plugins in 2024

wordpress website
February 8, 2024/by
The 15 Best WordPress Email Plugins in 2024 If you’re on the lookout to enhance your business blog with an email newsletter, using a WordPress email plugin is indispensable. These plugins not only simplify content distribution but also offer insights into your target audience’s preferences, enabling you to optimize your content strategy effectively. Discover the 15 best WordPress email plugins on the market from the list below, and choose the one that’s right for your needs and goals. 1. HubSpot WordPress Plugin The HubSpot WordPress Plugin offers a variety of features to help you collect leads and grow your customer base. In addition to allowing you to create forms and pop-ups with a simple drag-and-drop interface, HubSpot collects submissions from any form on your WordPress site and instantly adds those leads to your CRM, allowing you to start nurturing them into loyal customers right away. The plugin features a live chat function, which allows you to start interacting with site visitors and potentially create leads from such talks. You may also use bots to answer simple inquiries from your website visitors, ensuring that you’re helping them even when your team is unavailable. When someone fills out one of your pop-up forms, you can automate a simple kickback email to contact them and give them the stuff you promised. You can also upgrade to a paid version of Marketing Hub to begin emailing those contacts right away. Best for: We recommend the HubSpot WordPress Plugin for anyone....
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SEO Step-by-Step Tutorial: 8 Easy Basics for Beginners to Master

SEO
February 8, 2024/by
SEO Step-by-Step Tutorial: 8 Easy Basics for Beginners to Master You want to learn about search engine optimization (SEO), but where do you start? You’ve probably heard of a few basic terms, like keyword research, but what else do you need to know? I this post, I'll walk you through the basic vocabulary you need to know and tips for learning SEO on your own. Then, we'll review a step-by-step SEO tutorial to help you get your SEO strategy off the ground. Table of Contents SEO Basics How to Learn SEO SEO Step-by-Step Tutorial SEO Basics Having an understanding of foundational SEO vocabulary is important. Let’s dive into a few key words to know: Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The tactics you use to optimize your website to ensure you provide the high-quality information searchers look for and rank higher in search results for specific keywords so people can find your content. On-page SEO: Any optimizations you’d make within your website to improve search rankings, like the keywords used in your content or back-end elements like site structure. Off-page SEO: Any actions you take to improve your search engine rankings outside your website, like backlinks from other websites or guest blogging. Link building: Getting links to your website from other high-quality websites to build authority and credibility. SERPs: SERPs stands for Search Engine Result Pages, and it’s the results page after someone conducts a search. White-hat...
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The Hustle’s YouTube Team Tells Us Their Favorite Short-Form Videos of 2023

Video Marketing
February 7, 2024/by
The Hustle's YouTube Team Tells Us Their Favorite Short-Form Videos of 2023 2024 is here, and I want to look back on some of the previous year‘s short-form videos with the creatives behind The Hustle’s YouTube team. Why, you may ask? Short-form videos will remain key to many marketing campaigns this year. In fact, 31% of the 1,400 marketers in our most recent survey say short-form videos yield the highest ROI, and most respondents (26%) say they will invest in short-from videos the most in 2024. Furthermore, I wanted to pick The Hustle team‘s brains and learn their favorite because who better to consult than the pros? So, without further ado, here’s The Hustle‘s YouTube team’s favorite short-form videos and what we can learn from them. 4 Best Short-Form Videos, According to The Hustle's YouTube Team 1. “Edge Hated the Rated R Spinner Belt!” “This is a very niche topic, so shoutout to my algorithm,” says Jon Weigell, senior host and multimedia producer for The Hustle. The video is titled Edge Hated the Rated R Spinner Belt! and tells a fun behind-the-scenes story about a piece of wrestling history from the perspective of professional wrestler Edge. “Topic aside, this short grabs you from the start with a strong opening quote,” Weigell says. “It begins with an opinionated declaration that gets attention, and the rest of the video mixes VO with sound effects and a large catalog of video...
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