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We’ve all been there: You’re mindlessly scrolling the web, clicking on a variety of links from Google, social media, or other sites, when suddenly — you’re prevented from continuing a search due to an HTTP error code.
This can be a frustrating experience as a user. However, HTTP status codes go beyond simply communicating an error — these codes can also signify a successful transmission, or a re-direct to a new site URL.
Here, let’s explore an exhaustive list of HTTP status codes, so when you come across one, you’ll know what it means.

What is an HTTP status code?
When trying to access a webpage, your browser sends out a request to the web server where the webpage is hosted.
Depending on whether the transmission was successful or not, the web server can return a select number of responses.
These are called HTTP status codes. They vary from informational and successful ones to re-directs and error codes.
Each status code is marked with a numerical identifier, ranging between 100 and 599. All of the codes and their meanings are maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Let’s dive into what each identifier means.
The 1xx HTTP Status Codes: Informational Responses
The 1xx response codes are informational. They indicate that your web browser has made a request to the server and is waiting for a response.
TTP Status Code 100 (Continue)
The server has received your browser’s request header and is now awaiting for the body of your request.
TTP Status Code 101 (Switching Protocol)
Your browser has sent a request for a change of protocol and the server has complied.
TTP Status Code 102 (Processing)
Your browser’s request is being processed by the server, but no response from the server is available yet.
TTP Status Code 103 (Early Hints)
The server is sending some “early hints” to your browser to preload certain resources before the server provides a final response.
The 2xx HTTP Status Codes: Successful Responses
These status codes inform the client (your web browser) that everything is processing as it should.
TTP Status Code 200 (OK)
The request is successful and the appropriate response has been provided. Depending on the HTTP method (GET, HEAD, PUT/POST or TRACE), the response will vary.
TTP Status Code 201 (Created)
Your browser’s request has succeeded and, as a result, a new resource has been created. This is the usual response to a POST and some PUT requests.
TTP Status Code 202 (Accepted)
The server has received your browser’s request, but has not yet acted upon it.
TTP Status Code 203 (Non-Authoritative Information)
The server is returning meta-information not from the origin server, because the meta-information currently available may be different. This is used for when the information is collected from a third-party or a local copy.
TTP Status Code 204 (No Content)
Following a successful request, the server has no content to return. However, it may return current header information, so that your user-agent updates its cached headers.
TTP Status Code 205 (Reset Content)
Your browser has received a response from the server to change the document view.
TTP Status Code 206 (Partial Content)
The server has returned a part of the content, because your browser has requested it with the Range header.
TTP Status Code 207 (Multi-Status)
For specific situations, where multiple status codes are needed, the server returns information about multiple sources.
TTP Status Code 208 (Already Reported)
To avoid unnecessary enumeration, the server returns information that the internal members of a WebDAV element have already been reported. Typically, this response follows a 207 (Multi-Status) response.
TTP Status Code 226 (IM Used)
The server has successfully processed a GET method by your browser to retrieve an updated version of an already cached resource. Generally, the response is returned when there were one or more slight modifications to the requested resource.
The 3xx HTTP Status Codes: Redirection Responses
The status codes in the 300-399 range convey that the desired content has been moved to a different place and lets the browser know where it can be found.
TTP Status Code 300 (Multiple Choices)
There are multiple responses available for the request your web browser has made.  
TTP Status Code 301 (Moved Permanently)
The server redirects your browser to a different URL because the desired resource has been moved permanently to a new location.
TTP Status Code 302 (Found)
Your browser has received a response that the requested resource has been temporarily moved to a different location. However, the same URL should be used for any subsequent requests.
TTP Status Code 303 (See Other)
The server informs the browser that the desired resource is located at a different URL and should be requested with a GET method.
TTP Status Code 304 (Not Modified)
The returned response tells the web browser that the desired resource hasn’t been changed since the last time it was requested. As a result, the browser should use the cached version it has in store.
TTP Status Code 305 (Use Proxy)
The server requires a proxy in order to return the requested resource.   This response code is not currently in use because most current browsers do not support it due to security issues.
TTP Status Code 306 (Switch Proxy)
The server requires the use of a specific proxy in order to fulfil subsequent requests. Similarly, this response message is not supported on account of security concerns.
TTP Status Code 307 (Temporary Redirect)
A replacement for the 302 (Found) status code, the server informs the browser the desired resource is temporarily located at a different location. However, the same HTTP method must be used when requesting the resource.
TTP Status Code 308 (Permanent Redirect)
A successor to the 301 (Moved Permanently) status code, your web browser is trying to access a resource, which has been permanently moved to a new location. This type of redirect does not allow the HTTP request method to change.
The 4xx HTTP Status Codes: Client Error Responses
These status codes indicate that errors caused by the client are present.
TTP Status Code 400 (Bad Request)
There is an error on the client’s side and, as a result, the server cannot return a response.
TTP Status Code 401 (Unauthorized)
The server requires authentication in order to let the wb browser proceed to the requested resource.
TTP Status Code 402 (Payment Required)
As the name suggests, this code is reserved for digital payment systems.  However, it’s not widely used.
TTP Status Code 403 (Forbidden)
The web browser is denied access to the requested source due to the client not having the necessary permissions.
TTP Status Code 404 (Not Found)
The desired resource cannot be found, but may be available in the future.
TTP Status Code 405 (Method Not Allowed)
The server recognizes the HTTP request method used by the web browser, but requires the use of a different one in order to provide the desired resource.
TTP Status Code 406 (Not Acceptable)
The server informs the client that no resource fits the criteria requested by your web browser.
TTP Status Code 407 (Proxy Authentication Required)
Similar to the 401 (Unauthorized) status code, but the server requires authentication to be done by a proxy.
TTP Status Code 408 (Request Timeout)
The server timed out waiting for the client to send a request within the specified time frame.
TTP Status Code 409 (Conflict)
There is a conflict with the current state of the desired resource, as a result, the server cannot return a response.
TTP Status Code 410 (Gone)
Not unlike the 404 (Not Found) status code, but it indicates the requested resource will not be available again in the future.
TTP Status Code 411 (Length Required)
The server informs your web browser it requires the request to include specific content length in order to return the desired resource.
TTP Status Code 412 (Preconditioned Failed)
Your web browser has issued a request with preconditions, one of which could not be met by the server.
TTP Status Code 413 (Payload Too Large)
The server is not willing to process the request because it’s too large.
TTP Status Code 414 (URL Too Long)
The request sent out by your web browser cannot be processed by the server because the client has encoded too much data as a query string, which is then sent as a GET method.
TTP Status Code 415 (Unsupported Media Type)
The request has been refused by the server because it does not support the desired media type.
TTP Status Code 416 (Range Not Satisfiable)
The server cannot provide the portion requested by the client.
TTP Status Code 417 (Expectation Failed)
Your web browser has sent out a request to the server with the Expect header, but the server cannot fulfill the requirements.
TTP Status Code 418 (I’m a Teapot)
An HTTP Easter Egg, which was part of an April Fools’ joke. HTTP servers are not expected to implement this protocol, but if you’re curious what it looks like, check out Google’s Teapot page.
TTP Status Code 421 (Misdirected Request)
Your web browser’s request has been redirected to a different server, which was unable to produce a response.
TTP Status Code 422 (Unprocessable Entity)
There were semantic errors in the request sent out by your web browser and, as a result, could not be followed.
TTP Status Code 423 (Locked)
Access to the desired resource is denied because it’s locked.
TTP Status Code 424 (Failed Dependency)
The request sent out by your web browser failed because it depended on another request, which also failed.
TTP Status Code 425 (Too Early)
The server refuses to process a request because it might be replayed.
TTP Status Code 426 (Upgrade Required)
The current protocol is not accepted by the server, thus the server returns an Upgrade header to the client with a request for a protocol update.
TTP Status Code 428 (Precondition Required)
The web browser must specify conditions for the server to process its request.
TTP Status Code 429 (Too Many Requests)
The server has received too many requests by your web browser in the allotted waiting time.
TTP Status Code 431 (Request Header Fields Too Large)
The client’s request is not being processed by the server because the provided request headers are too large. The server is willing to process the request after the headers are resized.
TTP Status Code 451 (Unavailable For Legal Reasons)
The server refuses to provide the desired resource due to legal reasons.
The 5xx HTTP Status Codes: Server Error Responses
The 5xx status codes indicate that the server has failed to process a request.
TTP Status Code 500 (Internal Server Error)
This is a generic error message, provided by the server, when an unexpected condition was encountered.
TTP Status Code 501 (Not Implemented)
The server indicates it is either unable to fulfill the request or it does not recognize the HTTP method.
TTP Status Code 502 (Bad Gateway)
The server returns a response that it served as a gateway or proxy for an upstream server, which provided an invalid response.
TTP Status Code 503 (Service Unavailable)
The server cannot process the request because it is either overloaded or it is under maintenance.
TTP Status Code 504 (Gateway Timeout)
The upstream server hasn’t provided a timely response to the second server, currently serving as a gateway or proxy. As a result, it cannot provide a response to the client.
TTP Status Code 505 (HTTP Version Not Supported)
The server doesn’t support the HTTP method used in the request.
TTP Status Code 506 (Variant Also Negotiates)
Given that HTTP allows multiple variants of a resource to reside under one URL, the server can’t decide which (best) version to provide as a response. This is usually due to a server configuration problem.
TTP Status Code 507 (Insufficient Storage)
The server is unable to store the representation of the desired resource needed to successfully fulfill the request.
TTP Status Code 508 (Loop Detected)
The server has detected an infinite loop and cannot process the request.
TTP Status Code 510 (Not Extended)
The server implements additional extensions, which need to be specified in the request header in order for the server to fulfill it.
TTP Status Code 511 (Network Authentication Required)
Authentication must be provided by the client so the server can grant access to the the client.

Meta tags can be used to increase the visibility of a website on search engines, so they’re undeniably important for SEO.
On the other hand, they can negatively affect your website’s SEO ranking if written improperly.
Let’s discover what meta tags are, why they matter for SEO, and how to use them correctly to reap the benefits.

What are meta tags?
Meta-tags are snippets of HTML code capable of being crawled by search engine robots such as Google.
They are influential in determining the visibility of a web page on the SERPs. Meta tags are added to the <head> section of pages and can only be seen in the HTML code:

Why do meta tags matter to SEO?
Meta tags are one of the main channels that a website has to communicate with search engine robots — those responsible for crawling the content of the pages to be indexed. Meta tags are used to indicate to search engines whether a page should be indexed or not, and adds additional information about its content.
This turns meta tags into core aspects of an SEO strategy for two main reasons. With a good writing and configuration of meta tags, we can help robots to have a better understanding of the content of each page of a website, so that we are more likely to rank higher in the SERPs.
Additionally, meta tags can offer additional and quality information to the users in order to achieve more clicks and a higher CTR in the searches, as well as to offer them a better experience within the website.
Examples of Meta Tags
Meta tags are an essential part of a successful SEO strategy, that’s why it is important to write them in a unique way, keeping Google in mind in order to rank higher, but also thinking about the user. Let’s see some examples of how you should and shouldn’t write meta tags.
Examples of Original Meta Title and Meta-description Tags
With meta title and meta-description tags we indicate both robots and users the main topic of the page and what it is about on the SERPs.
They should be written in a unique and original way so that they describe the content and attract the attention of visitors. This way we can manage to appear even above large websites or directories.

On the other hand, if we do not optimize the title tags with the main keywords and topics of the page, nor in an attractive way, it will be more difficult to appear in the first positions of the SERPs.
And not only that: avoiding keyword stuffing is also recommended, which means that we shouldn’t repeat a word too much because otherwise it looks unnatural.

Examples of Meta-tags that Can Damage Our Whole Digital Strategy
A bad setup of a meta tag, either by mistake or lack of knowledge, can considerably damage the entire visibility of the website.
In this case, we are talking about the robots meta-tag with content=”noindex” through which we indicate to search engines that we do not want a page to be indexed — therefore visible — in the SERPs. With this example of robots meta tags, it’s difficult to get organic clicks on a web page from Google since it will not be listed.
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex, nofollow”/>

On the other hand, with content=”index” we do tell the robots that we want to be indexed to appear in the SERPS results:
<meta name=”robots” content=”follow, index, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1, max-image-preview:large”/>
For this reason, it is very important to know how to avoid these examples of meta tags that can considerably decrease the visibility of the website on search engines.
How to Write Meta Tags
If you are wondering how to write meta tags to have a better performance it is important that you always write content thinking about your users. Then, if you have designed a well implemented SEO strategy, it will help you rank your pages automatically.
That’s why, when you write meta tags you should remember to include the page’s theme or its topic. If it is possible with your main keyword or synonyms, specially in the case of title and meta-descriptions tags.
When writing them it is important to follow the following tips to follow Google’s guidelines to try to rank better.
Title Tags
By using the title tag, we indicate the title of the page content to both Google and the users on the search engines. This tag should not be confused with the heading 1, the main title of the text. The title meta tag is only visible to users on the search results, but not within the page.
Best practices to write title tags:

Summarize the main topic of the page with the main keyword or terms.
Write unique, original and attractive titles to attract the attention of users and increase the CTR of the page in the SERPs.
Be accurate and descriptive based on the content of the page.
Do not exceed or repeat keywords.
Write not more than 60 characters approximately (maximum of 580 pixels).

How to Write Title Tags
In WordPress or similar CMS tools, you can install SEO plugins such as Rank Math or Yoast SEO that will help you to edit and preview your title tags.

Or you can also paste the following code into the <head> of your webpage:
<title>What’s a Website Title (Title Tag)& Why Does It Matter for SEO?</title>

Meta-description Tags
Meta-description tags offer the option to add a brief description of the page, which will be visible on the search results.
Although Google does not always display the content that the creator has proposed, sometimes it can be generated automatically through the content of the page if they value that those generated by the user are not of enough “quality” or are not related to the user’s query.
Best practices to write meta-description tags:

Write the meta-descriptions in a personalized way summarizing the content of the page.
Include the keyword at the beginning of the sentence in a natural way and without repeating it abundantly.
Make them attractive and original.
Keep it between 140 and 160 characters approximately (maximum 920 pixels).

How to Write Meta-description Tags
You can also use SEO plugins that will help you to edit and preview this section:

Or you can also paste the following code into the <head> of your page:
<meta name=”description” content=”A meta description is basically what helps the searcher decide whether or not to click the link to an article or webpage. A meta description helps convince or persuade readers to choose your site. “/>

Meta-robots

The robots meta-tag is one of the key meta-tags in an SEO strategy. This tag specifically tells a search engine whether a page should be indexed or followed, or not.  

In general, the default values are index, follow and it is not necessary to specify them in most cases. With this we indicate to the robots that we want the page to be indexed on the SERPs and that it can be followed.
On the contrary, if we indicate the values noindex, nofollow, we are telling Google that we do not want those links to be followed nor to appear on the search engines.

Best Practices to Write Meta Robots Tags

Don’t confuse noindex tags with robots.txt. Through robots.txt files we indicate to a search engine if we want to crawl some pages or not, while through robots tag we inform if a website should be indexed or not. That’s why it is important not to block noindex pages on robots.txt files, as robots won’t be able to read them

How to Write Meta Robots Tags
You can edit the robots tag with Rank Math or Yoast SEO:

Or you can also paste the following code into the <head> of your page in case you want your page to be indexed and followed:
<meta name=”robots” content=”follow, index, max-snippet:-1, max-video-preview:-1, max-image-preview:large”/>
Meta Viewport Tag
The meta viewport tag is used to control the way we tell the search engines how to render and display a page on different devices (mobile, tablet and desktop).
Best practices to Write Meta Robots Tags

Use a meta viewport tag on your whole website to adapt the content for the mobile version.

How to edit viewport tag?
If you do know what you are really doing, you can edit your viewport tag on the <head> of your document. If not, use the option recommended by default:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=”en”>
<head> …
<meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1″> …
</head> …
….
Full list of Meta Tags
But there are still many more meta-tags. We offer you a complete list of key meta-tags for your SEO strategy:

Title Tags, to name your page on search engines

Meta Description Tags, to describe your page on search engines

Robots Meta Tags, to index or not index a page

Nofollow, sponsored and user-generated content meta tags, for outbound links.

Twitter cards meta tags ad Open Graph meta tags, for your content shared on social media

Viewport Meta Tag, to indicate how to render a page on a mobile.

Language meta-tags, to indicate the content language of the page

Notranslate meta tag, to tell Google to not provide an automatic generated translation.

nositelinkssearchbox meta-tag, to not show the sitelinks search box.

meta charset tag, to define the character encoding of the web site.

meta refresh tag, to send the user to a new URL after sometime, usually from a redirection. Although it is recommended to not use this tag, and do a 301 redirect.

Other meta tags, not essentials for SEO, but recommended to take into account:

Author meta-tag, to name the author of the page

Copyright meta- tag, owner of the rights to the source code of an HTML page.

Meta name rating tag, to specify adult content

Date meta-tags, to indicate the date of the content

As we can see, there are different meta tags that can be used to help us communicate in a better way with both the user and search engines so that everyone understands better the information that is provided. But it is important to know each one of them and optimize in an attractive and optimal way.

Offering email marketing services is a great way to boost your revenue for your agency. 
However, the longer you spend on creating each email for your clients, the narrower your profit margin. Using templates is the key to streamlining your email marketing services so you can create client emails faster and earn more from email services. 
Let’s take a look at the email marketing templates that are most likely to be used again and again, no matter which industry your clients are in. 
Email templates agencies should always have on rotation
While the needs of your clients may differ, there are certain emails that nearly every company will have to send to their customers: Welcome emails, email newsletters, and promotional emails. 
So, it’s a good idea to have at least one customizable template in rotation for each of these email types. Let’s take a look at some email templates available in our responsive template library.
Welcome email template
Welcome emails are a definite best practice for all companies. Not only do they have impressive open and click-through rates, but 74% of all consumers say they expect a welcome email after subscribing. 
Ideally, a welcome email template is short and to the point, allowing readers to quickly attain the benefit they were promised for subscribing. This is why we recommend a template like this one, with a headline, some short body text, and a clear CTA button:

Email newsletter template
Regular emails help build trust with your list and keep brands top-of-mind for their subscribers. This is why a newsletter is a staple email type for all companies. 
To reach these goals, brand consistency in email newsletters is crucial. So, we recommend using newsletter templates that offer plenty of opportunities to customize the design for the brand. 
For example, this email newsletter template offers a prominent place for a brand logo, emphasis on-brand colors, and the ability to use an on-brand font: 

Sales email template
No matter what industry your clients are in, they will need to periodically ask for sales from their email list. This is where a conversion-focused email template comes in handy.
We recommend following a design best practice and using an inverted pyramid design in your sales email templates. This design structure intentionally draws readers’ eyes toward a single call-to-action at the bottom of the email, making it more likely they will take the action. 
For example, this offer email template uses a wide headline, followed by slightly narrower body text, and then ends with the most narrow section at the bottom: A CTA button.

Customer journey templates 
Customer journey templates are equally important for maximizing the time you spend on delivering email marketing services to your clients. Customer journeys use email automation to send emails around the clock based on subscriber actions rather than manual scheduling.
This means your clients can reap the benefits of email marketing for years after you set up a customer journey — without ongoing effort on your part. 
Additionally, automated emails perform better than standard emails, with 86% higher average open rates and 196% average click-through rates. 
Let’s take a look at some of the common customer journey templates for agencies. 
Reengagement journey
Reengagement journeys include emails designed to get unengaged subscribers to start reading your emails again, or, if they don’t, to delete them from your list so they don’t skew your email marketing metrics. This is why using a reengagement journey is crucial for getting good results for your clients. 
For example, this email from Other Goose alerts readers that are in danger of being purged from the list and asks them to click a button to re-engage and stay on the list: 

Feedback journey
Feedback journeys are typically triggered when a customer makes a purchase. The purpose of a feedback customer journey is to encourage customers to leave a review or a testimonial for the company. 
Since all companies sell something, collecting feedback will almost certainly be part of their customer experience strategy.
For example, Marc Weldon sends this feedback email to customers: 

Promotional journey
Promotional journeys trigger when your client is promoting an upcoming launch, such as a new product, special sale, new offer, or upcoming event.  
Promotional journeys are designed to drum up excitement for the launch and drive sales. They are typically sent to your client’s entire list, but sometimes they are sent only to a relevant segment. 
For example, Slack sent out this promotional email to highlight an upcoming event, with a call-to-action to “Register Now”:

Wrap up
Agencies who want to streamline their email marketing services should incorporate templates into their process to save time. 
Whether you serve e-commerce, B2B, or non-profit clients, there are several email types and customer journeys that you can count on sending on behalf of your clients (such as welcome emails, email newsletters, and sales emails). 
Save time (and therefore increase profit margins) by creating email and customer journey templates for these email types that you can use again and again for multiple clients.
The post The Best Email Marketing Templates for Agencies appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

Hi everyone! I thought this was a good place to ask because you guys are knowledgeable on email marketing so your judgement would be very valuable. I work for a Polish sales support & email tracking software startup called Sellizer. We’re currently expanding internationally and we’d like to improve our app and make it more worthwile. The key features related to email marketing are:
email open tracking, proposal analytics – when, where, and how long people read proposals sent by sales reps, automated follow-up emails, mass emailing without going to spam, message templates to help mailing campaigns.
Firstly, I’d like to ask for feedback on our pricing plans: https://www.sellizer.io/pricing. Do you think they’re reasonable, or maybe we should change them somehow? Secondly, if you’d be willing to try out the app (for free, of course) and give us constructive criticism on the features, we’d be very grateful! Here you go: Sign Up Thanks a lot for any replies!
submitted by /u/allcatshavewings [link] [comments]

When you’re trying to grow a following on Instagram, you depend on Explore and hashtag pages to expand your audience and reach. So it can feel more than a little disheartening when it suddenly seems like your content isn’t showing up anywhere.
If you feel like your posts are receiving fewer likes and comments suddenly, or aren’t appearing for certain hashtags or on the Explore page, you might be shadowbanned.

From Instagram’s perspective, the objective of hiding “inappropriate” content makes sense (although its enforcement has been criticized.)  Shadowbanning allows Instagram to filter out accounts that don’t comply with their terms. Some people use inauthentic measures to expand their Instagram following, like buying followers or using hundreds of hashtags that are irrelevant to their content. If that’s the case, it makes sense that Instagram hides content from those accounts so that only genuine and helpful content is promoted to users.
While Instagram doesn’t openly admit to shadowbanning, they released a statement on their Facebook business page in February 2019 that addressed the problem users were having with their content not showing up for certain hashtags.
Their statement at least confirms the hashtag dilemma as a real one — but many speculate that the statement is Instagram’s way of admitting to shadowbanning, without actually admitting it.

It’s important to note that Instagram changes its algorithm often, so those alterations could be the reason you have witnessed a drop in your engagement rate.
However, shadowbanning could be a real tactic meant to hide users’ content from the wider Instagram audience, and if you’re being shadowbanned, it’s important you take the necessary measures to get your content seen.
Let’s explore how to know if you’re shadowbanned, as well as our tips for getting yourself off the list.
Luckily, there’s an easy test to figure out if your account is shadowbanned.
If one or two of your employees can see your post, you might simply be dealing with a drop in engagement. If that’s the case, you can take a number of steps to fix this.
Check out our Instagram Marketing: The Ultimate Guide for tactical advice on improving your reach and engagement.
While the method above is a simple way to test whether you’ve been shadowbanned, it may not be feasible for your business. Maybe you’re the sole proprietar and employee of your small business. In that case, you can’t ask employees to check their hashtag feeds and you might not want to ask your customers. Below are other ways you can test whether you’ve been shadowbanned. 
Instagram Shadowban Test
There is no foolproof test to tell if you’ve been shadowbanned on Instagram. While there are tools that advertise they can do exactly that, these tools are not reliable. Instead, try the steps below. 
Check your hashtag pages. 
If you look at pages of hashtags you regularly use and see a message that posts have been hidden, it’s possible you’ve been shadowbanned for using those hashtags. 
Take a look at the message below for the hashtag “mustfollow.” Since users reported recent posts using this hashtag as not meeting Instagram’s community guidelines, it’s possible Instagram may be hiding your content with this hashtag (even if yours is not in violation of any guidelines). 

Image Source
Check Instagram Insights.
Looking at Instagram Insights, if you notice a sudden and sustained drop in engagement, then it’s possible you’ve been shadowbanned. One of the best metrics to look at is percent of accounts reached that weren’t following you. 
Take a look at the difference in “discovery” of the two posts below. This blogger duo went from reaching over 70K accounts, 32% of which weren’t following them, to reaching a little over 40K, of which only 4% weren’t already following them. This drop cued the bloggers in that their account had been shadowbanned. 

Image Source
If you  believe you’ve been shadowbanned, don’t worry — we have a solution for you.
Why am I shadowbanned?
There are a few potential reasons your account could have been shadowbanned. To ensure this doesn’t happen again, let’s explore some actions you might have taken that led you to being shadowbanned.
1. You use bots or another automated “Instagram growth” tool.
If you aren’t putting in the hard work yourself, you’re not growing a following authentically. Instagram frowns on this — in their statement above, for instance, they encourage users to have a strategy that focuses on connecting with the right audience. Using bots is a spammy tactic, and could result in a shadowban.
2. You use broken hashtags.
Occasionally, a popular hashtag will become overrun with inappropriate content. When this happens, Instagram can remove the hashtag or limit its use. If you use a broken hashtag, it will prevent your other hashtags from ranking, and could also result in a blocked account.
3. Your account is often reported.
When users repeatedly report an account, Instagram will assume your account is posting inappropriate content or violating their terms of service. They might disable your account, or they could shadowban it.
4. You’ve been posting, commenting, engaging, or following people too quickly.
Instagram places time constraints on how often you can follow, unfollow, like, comment, or post within an hour or day. This makes sense — if you’re following 80 people within an hour, it’s likely a bot doing the work, not you.
These actions might help you grow a following quickly, but they can’t help you connect with the right people, which is why you’re on Instagram in the first place. Additionally, these behaviors likely result in shadowban, which severely restricts your exposure to a new audience.
How to Get Unshadowbanned
To get your account back to normal, you’ll want to reverse the damage. Here’s how:
If you use a bot or another automated service, stop and delete it immediately.
To make sure the accounts aren’t still attached to you, go to your desktop Instagram and click “Edit Profile”, and then “Apps and Websites”. If you see any of your bot accounts in the Active tab, click “Remove” to remove them from your account completely.
Image Source
Remember, it’s better to have 100 followers who love your brand and purchase your products, than 1,000 followers who never buy from you or interact with your content.
Don’t use hashtags that have been banned.
Take a look at Markitor’s list of banned hashtags for 2021, and make sure to remove all broken hashtags from your content. Here’s a few from the list:

Moving forward, be selective and careful with the hashtags you choose, and when in doubt, take a look at the hashtag’s page — Instagram will likely post a message like, “Recent posts from #summer2020 are currently hidden … “, which will indicate to you that the hashtag is no longer in use.
Take a two-day break.
People have reported a full 48-hour break from using their Instagram accounts can reset the system and get you back on track, and it’s worth the temporary social media cleanse anyway, isn’t it?
Follow Instagram’s rules and regulations.
Read and follow Instagram’s Terms of Use,  Community Guidelines, and Recommendation Guidelines. Some notable takeways from these documents are:

Only share content you created or have permission to share
Don’t post content that’s false or misleading
Do share content that’s appropriate for anyone to see

The Foolproof Way to Avoid the Instagram Shadowban
The simplest way to avoid being shadowbanned on Instagram is to post helpful, authentic content, and abide by best practices when growing your audience. It will take longer to do this, but slow and steady wins the race — and doesn’t get shadowbanned.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

If you’re a savvy email marketer, you know that your job is not only to create stunning and effective email marketing campaigns, it’s also to build a loyal, high-quality subscriber list of people who want to hear what you have to say.  There’s no point at which you should rest on your laurels: it should…
The post Why Your Email List isn’t Growing: A Troubleshooting Guide appeared first on Benchmark Email.

You know the expression, “What you see is what you get”?
Well, when it comes to email marketing campaigns, that might not always be the case.
Since everyone uses different email providers such as Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo, emails can appear differently for various subscribers.
Sometimes images are blocked, alt text is missing, or fonts won’t render. If this happens, you could damage your credibility and lose subscribers. That’s why it’s important to test your emails before you send them.

In this post, we’ll discuss the best free and paid email testing, previewing, and rendering tools you can use to make sure your emails are ready for the eyes of your leads and customers.
Before we get started let’s take a moment to review HTML versus plain text emails and previews.

There are benefits to both HTML and plain text emails and specific use cases in which it’s wise to use one option over the other.
No matter which email type you choose, you should preview your emails to make sure they’re ready for your audience. This is especially important if you go with an HTML email since it inherently includes multimedia elements, colors, fonts, branded elements, images, and more.
HTML Email Preview
As your HTML emails become more sophisticated and as your email list grows, it’s important to preview and test your emails prior to them being sent to recipients. By previewing your messages, you’ll ensure your emails are professional, error-free, easy-to-read, and ready for your leads and customers.
An HTML preview allows you to adjust anything necessary prior to the final version being sent to your audience. That way, you can send your messages to the people who matter most — your customers — with complete confidence.

Free Email Testing Tools
It’s important to note that the following free email preview tools are also free email testing tools. Meaning, they have the ability to assist with email previews and email testing.
1. HubSpot Email Marketing Tool

With HubSpot’s Email Marketing Tools, you can create, personalize, and optimize all of your marketing emails without the need for any code or help from designers.
Since this tool is part of your all-in-one HubSpot CRM platform, you’ll know the data that you’re using to customize your emails is accurate. For instance, personalize emails by referring to the recipient’s lifecycle stage, membership status — then schedule your campaign so your customized emails are sent automatically.
Pre-made and customizable email templates as well as the tool’s drag-and-drop editor allow you to quickly create and send beautiful and professional emails to your recipient list. Lastly, A/B test different elements of your emails — such as subject lines or the time that you send your emails — to determine what works best for your audience.
2. SubjectLine.com

Testing the visual design of your emails is important. However, don’t forget to preview your actual content as well.
With SubjectLine.com, you can test your subject lines and receive a free rating out of 100. The tool considers the total length, word length, urgency, and more.
Word choice matters in your subject lines and this tool will help you come up with more clickable subjects so your readers are more likely to open.
3. MailNinja Email Previewer

MailNinja is a free, easy-to-use, uncluttered email preview tool. With this tool, you can see instant previews of your HTML emails. Additionally, you can double-check your alt text, send test emails, and see how your email will look on different devices.
If you don’t trust or want to use a different preview tool than your email marketing software, this is a simple, free option.
4. Inbox Analyzer

Inbox Analyzer, another free email preview tool, helps take the pain out of inbox and spam testing your emails.
Send your emails to the most popular inbox providers to see how they appear and if they deliver — this tool will let you know if your email hits the inbox, spam folder, or is undelivered.
Additionally, you’ll receive instant reports on your sender scores, reputation alerts, and even blacklists. With this tool, you’ll be able to find issues and learn how to resolve them.
5. PutsMail

PutsMail is a free email testing tool by Litmus. With PutsMail, you can see how your email will look across 50+ different platforms and devices. This is a great tool if you’re just looking for a quick and easy way to preview your emails.
1. Get Response

Price: $15/mo (Basic), $49/mo (Plus), $99/mo (Professional), request custom pricing (Max)
Get Response is an email marketing software that can help you create content, boost sales, and increase traffic to your site. Preview your emails in more than 25 popular email clients, and determine if and when multimedia elements like images are blocked.
2. Litmus

Price: $99/mo (Litmus Basic), $199/mo (Litmus Plus), request custom pricing (Litmus Enterprise)
Litmus is a tool for testing and developing email campaigns. With a paid account, you’ll gain access to an email preview testing tool that allows you to see screenshots of your emails across 90+ different apps and devices.
If you have a Litmus account, you can add a Chrome extension to your browser and test your emails without ever leaving your email service provider. With the extension, you can validate your links, images, and tracking. Plus, the extension will instantly run a new checklist with every edit.
3. Stripo

Price: Free, $12.50/mo (Business), $40/mo (Agency)
Stripo is an email builder with email testing and a variety of available email service provider (ESP) integrations (including HubSpot, Gmail, Outlook, and Mailchimp). There’s a library of custom modules so you can use them across various campaigns.
All of the emails you design with Stripo’s HTML editor are responsive so you’ll never have to worry about how they render for recipients across different devices. Additionally, after building dynamic AMP emails with Stripo, the tool’s code validator checks the email for errors for you.
4. Preview My Email

Price: $25/mo (Standard), $45/mo (Business), $160/mo (Professional), $399/mo (Enterprise)
Preview My Email is another email testing solution that can help you improve your performance. With it, you’ll get real screenshots of your email across all the popular email providers in one click. Additionally, this tool offers email analytics that can help you understand your email audience better.
5. Email on Acid

Price: $73/mo (The Basics), $112/mo (Premium), $424/mo (Professional), request custom pricing (Enterprise)
Email on Acid is an email preview tool designed to help you display emails properly, across all clients. The email previews are live clients, so you’ll see exactly what your subscribers see.
This tool gives you screenshots so you have no questions about what your email will look like on 90 clients and devices. It also tests for poor formatting, broken links, and code problems.
Email on Acid also offers the ability to comment, edit, and review email previews directly in the software for a faster and more efficient testing process.
Start Previewing, Testing, and Rendering Your Emails
Previewing your emails is an important part of email marketing. If people can’t see your emails or your credibility is ruined, those emails haven’t done their job. Use an email previewing and testing tool to ensure they’re perfect for recipients. 
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.