5 SEO Success Stories to Inspire Your 2021 Strategy Search engine optimization (SEO) may seem like a straightforward concept. You pick keywords related to your business, create content with those keywords, and you’re set to watch your site grow — a simple three-step process, right? Nope. While those are fundamental elements of SEO, it can actually be quite challenging to create a strategy that helps you drive traffic and enough of it to meet your overall business goals. It can be difficult to get your feet off the ground. Thankfully, there are various tools specifically designed to help you with SEO, build domain authority, and achieve high ROI. In this post, we’ll hear inspiring stories from HubSpot clients that have used our SEO tools to achieve business success. 5 SEO Success Stories To Inspire Your 2021 Strategy 1. Ironpaper Ironpaper is a digital marketing agency that helps their B2B clients grow. They worked with one of their clients, Goddard, to achieve significant success using HubSpot’s SEO tools. Jonathan Franchell, CEO and Founder of Ironpaper, says, “While Goddard fills a real need for their customers by designing medical devices, historically they’ve struggled to find quality leads that could use their services. Instead, their website attracted a lot of spam and unqualified contacts.” Ironpaper began making critical SEO updates with HubSpot tools on Goddard’s site, focusing on internal linking, content strategy with business-relevant keywords, and technical SEO issues like broken links and meta tags. Over an eight-month campaign, Ironpaper helped Goddard...

The HubSpot Blog's 2021 Reader Experience Survey At the HubSpot Blog, we love to hear feedback from our valued readers. Whether you read the Marketing, Sales, Service, or Website Blog, we invite you. to tell us about your reader experience and what you'd like to see more of from our team. All of your answers will remain anonymous. Thank you in advance for your feedback. We're excited to review your submissions and work towards making our content even better for our readers! Having trouble seeing this form? Fill it our here instead.  Loading… Did you just give us a good review? You might want to subscribe to one of our Blogs if you haven't already! Click here or on the banner below to visit our HubSpot Blog Subscription...

How To Download & Repurpose Your Facebook Live Content Your brand's team went on Facebook Live and now the live has ended. Instead of leaving that footage to collect dust in your video library, you can repurpose it. Think of live content like an item of clothing in your closet. You wouldn't wear a shirt once and throw it out, right? That's because you know you can style it in many different ways depending on the look and feel you're going for. Live content follows the same idea. You may think that once your live Facebook video has ended, it's no longer usable. But in fact, you can use that same video to produce 10 more pieces of content. It's all about reframing it to fit your goals. With that in mind, let's dive into how to download your live videos on Facebook and extend their shelf life. Can you download Facebook Live videos? Yes, you can download Facebook Live videos but only on a computer. Facebook does not currently allow users to download their live videos to their phones or other mobile devices. The first thing you can do after downloading your video is share it on your timeline for followers who may have missed the live session. You can then use a transcription app, like Descript, to get a written version of the content, adding to your audio and visual formats. From there, you can brainstorm ways to extend the video's shelf life. The main benefit...

11 Webinar Etiquette Tips for Presenters & Attendees Now that we're spending more time than ever at home on our computers, it's a great time to brush up on webinar etiquette. Webinars give brands the chance to connect directly with their audiences. On the flip side, consumers get to increase their knowledge on a topic. It's a win-win when done correctly, but not all webinars go smoothly. I once attended a webinar on email automation tips that was actually a full product demo. Yikes. Then, you have situations where the presenter is late, or the attendees are having a little too much fun in the chatroom.It doesn't exactly make for the best experience for either side. So let's find out how presenters and attendees can contribute to more productive webinars. 1. Set the tone. Every webinar format is different. For example, some are education-based, with the presenter only engaging with the audience for questions. In other cases, the setting is more interactive. That said, let your audience know what you expect of them early on. Send a reminder email to your attendees a few days before the webinar and include a section on guidelines. Be sure to answers the following questions: Are attendees expected to have their cameras and microphones on or off? Is participation encouraged? If so, how? Is there any prep work? You can also remind your attendees of these instructions at the beginning of the webinar, as people are logging on....

Are Blogs Dead in 2021? We Asked 10 Marketing Experts It seems we all have an obsession with killing things off. Every couple of years, we revisit something and place it on the chopping block. In the new millennium, we had the Y2K computer scare. In 2012, we feared the world would end and we would all just poof. When technology took a more important role in our lives, we assumed all print publications would go bankrupt. Now, with the rise of video and podcasts, it's blogging's turn to feel the heat. I reached out to marketers with backgrounds in product marketing, SEO, YouTube, podcasting, and more and asked them, "Are Blogs dead? " Here's what they said. In all fairness, this question surrounding blogs is not without reason. Google Trends shows that in the last five years, the interest in blogs has steadily declined worldwide. Image Source In the U.S. within the same five-year span, podcasts have risen in popularity and surpassed blogs in searches. Image Source However, marketers still consider blogging a top marketing channel. Ross Simmonds, a B2B marketer and the founder of the content marketing agency Foundation, says blogging has helped his clients triple their traffic and accelerate their sales close rates. "At Foundation, blogging with intent has helped us generate millions of dollars in the pipeline for both us and our clients," says Simmonds. "It's also armed us with the ability to elevate our brand's position in the market and, most importantly,...

7 Examples of Influencer Marketing on YouTube In a 2019 MediaKix report, 71% of marketers agreed that the quality of customers or traffic from influencer marketing was better than other marketing channels. So, we know influencer marketing can be a very profitable marketing strategy. If you have been thinking about using this tactic but are unsure where to start, consider YouTube. Unlike other platforms that are usually restricted by time (think TikTok and Instagram), YouTube celebrates long-form content. This creates space for influencers to deep dive into topics and give detailed reviews on products and services. Beyond that, engagement rates on YouTube are the highest when compared to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, according to a 2020 Influencer Marketing Hub report. Now that consumers are turning more to YouTube for uplifting content, this gives brands a huge opportunity to leverage the power of influencers on a platform known for high engagement. So, what type of videos can influencers and brands collaborate on? Let's go through seven examples. 1. Day-in-the-Life Vlogs One of the most natural ways influencers incorporate sponsored products into their YouTube videos is through day-in-the-life vlogs. Usually done with a morning or daily routine video, the influencer will take viewers through their day and mention the product or service as part of their ritual. In this video, Natalie Barbu gives her audience a peek into her daily routine, emphasizing her planning process. She covers the benefits of software like Asana...

Have Long & Unproductive Meetings? Try a Stand-Up Instead We've all been in meetings that were about 30 minutes too long. We laugh at "this could've been an email" GIFs, sigh, and continue with our days. Yet, the truth is, unnecessary meetings are costing us way more than just time. Doodle's 2019 State of Meetings Report estimated that poorly organized meetings are costing U.S. companies $399 billion. One to two unnecessary meetings a week might seem insignificant, but when you consider a whole year's worth of meetings, the impact is considerable. As more companies move toward remote work, the number of meetings are also increasing. So, how can teams ensure their meetings stay productive? Stand-ups are one way to solve that. To understand why stand-ups exist, you first have to understand the agile methodology. For a long time, many companies were using a waterfall model for projects. This meant that teams would tackle projects one stage at a time and assume that requirements would stay the same through development. The issue with the waterfall approach is that: Teams are not always aligned. Unclear requirements often delay progress. Testing only begins after development is done. Agile is built around iterative development, which makes teams more involved in the project's progress. Teams work in sprints and through stand-ups, issues are addressed quickly and efficiently. Stand-ups are typically daily. However, some teams have them on a less frequent basis. To maintain the benefits of the process,...

How To Make a Vlog I will argue with alarming confidence (and no actual data) that 90’s kids were the original vloggers. When I was about 14 years old, someone handed me a digital camera that I spent hours talking to. I would take my audience (AKA me) on my teen adventures and say things like, "Hey guys, it’s Martina. Today, my cousin and I are going over to her friend’s house." Exciting stuff. Thankfully, that footage never saw the light of day. When YouTube first launched, people like me finally had a platform to share stories, entertain, and educate. But then, vlogging evolved into what we know it as today: a sustainable income source for influencers and an effective content marketing tool for brands. So, how do you start vlogging? We’ll cover that and more here. 1. Feel out the competition and find your niche. Before you pull out your camera and start filming, you’ll have to do some strategizing. It starts with finding your niche. This means narrowing down what your vlog will cover based on your brand, audience, and demand. Starting with your audience: Does vlogging align with your user persona? This is critical, as you want to meet your audience where they are. Imagine creating these high-quality videos for YouTube, but your ideal customer lives on Facebook and prefers short-form videos. In this case, you would have wasted time and resources. So, start by reviewing your persona and ensuring this venture is a...

6 Ways to Support Black-Owned Businesses During the Holidays 2020 has presented unprecedented challenges for businesses. COVID-19 has forced most to pivot their strategies online and adapt to a growing digital landscape. While some have been able to stay afloat, others haven't been as successful and many have had to close their doors permanently as a result. Black-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the global pandemic. In the United States, 26% of Black-owned businesses closed their doors permanently between February and May of 2020, compared to 11% of white-owned businesses. That's why, this holiday season, HubSpot is joining Google, the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., and other companies participating in Black-owned Fridays — an initiative to drive visibility and support for Black-owned businesses. I spoke with Gianne Doherty, Founder of Organic Bath Co., to learn more about what businesses, and consumers, can do to support Black-owned businesses during this holiday season. Below are a few thoughts she offered during our conversation. How to Support Black-Owned Businesses 1. Tell someone about a business or product. Doherty started by saying that the simplest way to support Black-owned businesses during the holiday season is to tell people about their products. When you buy something cool or get a good deal, tell a friend. Online customer reviews are great, but a one-on-one interaction is usually the best way to convince someone to check out a business or product you love. If you don't know of any Black-owned businesses in your area, Doherty recommends...

Bringing Universities and HubSpot Clients Together: An Experiment in Applied Learning 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. At the end of 2019, the Education Partner Program team at HubSpot had the challenging opportunity of deciding our priorities for the coming year. The HubSpot Education Partner Program — or EPP — is a community of educators who teach at colleges and universities worldwide that receive free software and support from HubSpot to train the next generation of marketing, sales, and service professionals. Supporting and empowering these students and professors is crucial in maintaining a healthy HubSpot ecosystem of future clients and users. Like most teams at HubSpot, we focus maniacally on how to create a positive experience for those who rely on our program - in this case, university professors. To ensure that we were creating such experiences, we first had to identify what novel problems and pain points this audience faces. Click here to learn more about the Education Partner Program and how you can join. Identifying Our Audience’s Pain Points The EPP’s focus is on college students who need to enter the working world with the tools and methodologies they need to help a business grow. We care deeply, and invest heavily in, business education. Although HubSpot Academy serves thousands of learners across the world, the EPP focuses on education within college and universities. Our team...