Category: Marketing Automation

YouTube thumbnails, the small, clickable snapshots that viewers see when they search for videos, can be just as important as a video’s title because they provide a preview of your video and entice viewers to click through. 

If your video has an ordinary or sub-par thumbnail, it won’t persuade anyone to watch your content. YouTube could deem the video irrelevant and won’t rank it in the search results or distribute it through the “Recommended Videos” feed. Since your video’s click-through rate is one of the most important ranking factors in YouTube’s search algorithm, especially during its first hour on the platform, an eye-catching thumbnail can make a huge difference in ranking number one for a query and not ranking at all.

Creating vibrant YouTube thumbnails can also instantly grab people’s attention and this can help you differentiate yourself on a platform full of standard thumbnails all screaming for attention. Below, we’ll guide you through an easy four-step process for creating visually appealing YouTube thumbnails that will cut through the noise, boost your video’s click-through rate, and lift your rankings.
Table of Contents:

How to Make a YouTube Thumbnail
8 YouTube Thumbnail Makers

 

1. Visit a free online YouTube thumbnail maker.
There are eight free online YouTube thumbnail makers listed below, but we featured FotoJet in this guide because it’s one of the only YouTube thumbnail makers that doesn’t make you sign up for a free account before you can create a thumbnail. Their robust thumbnail maker lets you customize and download your thumbnails completely for free — no email address necessary.
The free version of this online app lets you download small and medium-sized image files, but large and extra-large are premium features. This means you’ll get to be creative with your designs to ensure they appear as crisp as possible on YouTube.

2. Upload a photo or choose one of the thumbnail makers’ templates.
YouTube will let you upload any picture from your computer as your video’s thumbnail. But if you don’t have a vivid visual on your computer or you need some inspiration, Fotojet’s got you covered. It has over 23 free templates that can serve as your thumbnail’s foundation.
To create striking a thumbnail in Fotojet, consider including a talking head. People are naturally drawn to human faces because it’s an ingrained survival mechanism to help us quickly gauge someone’s emotions and determine if they’re a threat or friend. Research Gate also discovered that Instagram photos with faces are 38% more likely to receive likes and 32% more likely to receive comments.

3. Add text, clip art, or a background to your thumbnail.
Once you’ve picked your picture or template, you can make your thumbnail stand out even more by adding text, clip art, or a background to it.

To further clarify your video’s subject matter, consider adding your video’s title to the thumbnail. If your photo, graphic, or text is bright, consider placing it on top of a dark background. The color contrast will make your thumbnail pop. The same logic applies to dark objects and bright backdrops.

4. Download the finished product to your computer.
After you finish polishing your thumbnail, press the Save button at the top of the page to export your thumbnail.

Last, title your thumbnail. When you’re naming the thumbnail, include either the title of the video, or the primary keyword related to the video. Save the final file as a PNG or JPG. Its resolution will already match YouTube’s recommended resolution — 1280 x 720 pixels — so you don’t have to worry about resizing it later.

 
8 YouTube Thumbnail Makers
Along with Fotojet’s free online YouTube thumbnail maker, there are seven other thumbnail makers that can help you customize your own YouTube thumbnails. Before you create a thumbnail with these tools, though, you need to sign up for a free account on their websites.
1. FotoJet

FotoJet is a leading YouTube thumbnail maker that comes with templates to help you summarize your video into a click-worthy image. You can get started with FotoJet as soon as you land on the homepage — no email or account setup required. Choose from a variety of stock images, font styles, and clip art elements to customize your design, then export it in either a JPG or PNG format. 
2. Canva

With more than 2 million images in their library, hundreds of fonts, and customizable backgrounds and colors, Canva gives you more than enough resources to unleash your creativity.

You can sign up for the free or paid version of the online design tool, but be prepared to take your own images as Canva’s image gallery can cost up to $1 per photo. Don’t let that deter you. This robust tool is jam-packed with free design elements that can help you create click-worthy YouTube thumbnails.
3. Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark lets you select from thousands of photos on the web and a variety of built-out themes with their own unique layouts, colors, and fonts to craft eye-catching YouTube thumbnails. Although the free version comes with a watermark on all content you download from the system, you can always upgrade to the paid version to have unique thumbnails that are truly your own.
4. Crello

With Crello, you can create engaging thumbnails by blending a multitude of designs, photos, backgrounds, text, and objects together. When compared to other popular design tools, Crello emerges as a less expensive option, but remember resizing your thumbnails could be a pain because of some improvements that need to be made within the app.
5. Visme

Choose from a wide selection of templates, photos, graphics, colors, and fonts to create a thumbnail in Visme. This app was made with video thumbnails in mind, so you won’t have to worry about sizing and finding the perfect layouts. Visme offers creators various templates to choose from so you can spend more time adding your finishing touches.
6. Fotor

Fotor provides templates under certain themes to help you create captivating thumbnails. It includes all the trending YouTube thumbnail features like photo frames, the lomo effect, and background remover. The options are virtually limitless with Fotor as the canvas for your YouTube thumbnail.
If your workflow can’t be completed all in one session, Fotor’s premium plan allows you to save the version history of your thumbnails so you can pick up right where you left off.
7. Picmaker

With over 100,000 graphics, 1,000 stock photos, stickers, borders, backgrounds, text, icons, and filters, and an automatic background remover, you can create a gripping thumbnail on Picmaker. If you have set brand colors, the free options won’t be the easiest to work with since you can’t save colors, logos, or fonts. But upgrading to just the starter tier opens up a variety of benefits including a brand kit, premium photos, and multi-sized designs.
8. Snappa

Snappa has over 500,000 stock photos, an assortment of professionally designed templates, and customizable graphics, shapes, and text to help you create a YouTube thumbnail. If you’re making over three thumbnails per month, Snappa might affect your workflow as the free version only allows three downloads per month. If three is enough for you, you’ll be glad to know there’s a drag-and-drop functionality to help you create your own custom thumbnail template.
Create Scroll-Stopping YouTube Thumbnails
Just like a peephole, the subject line of an email, and even caller-ID, a YouTube thumbnail gives the viewer a peek behind the curtain to see what’s on the other side. It’s a major component in a search result that will determine whether someone clicks and watches your video. Taking the tips and examples in this article, you’ll have to know how to make scroll-stopping YouTube thumbnails that will draw in new subscribers.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Hi there, I work in a marketing automation role for a business that only uses HubSpot and am looking to discover some new or different ways to obtain a user/access to Marketo so that I can get my feet wet and apply what I’ve learned in the training materials. I’ve always wanted to gain experience using it and have never had the opportunity to do so. Now after gaining 5-6 years of HubSpot experience, it’s becoming so painfully clear that not having Marketo experience is limiting potential advancement and new job opportunities. I’ve considered trying to land a freelance gig, but without proven/valid Marketo experience in addition to the competition for projects these days (plus a full-time job) I’m not sure it’s the best option. Please comment with any ideas or ways that you can think of for gaining hands-on Marketo experience (but more so just access to the tool itself). ​ Thank you in advance! submitted by /u/amc13id [link] [comments]

“Email marketing automation is the key to doing more with less,” says Tabish Bhimani — founder Mastrat Digital. His message encapsulates the reasons why more than 59% of marketers are expanding automation of email programs.  It’s easy to understand why many marketers are jumping on the bandwagon. Email automation saves time and creates opportunities for…
The post 4 Mistakes You’re Making with Email Marketing Automation appeared first on Benchmark Email.

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In early 2021, we started talking about building a new tool at Buffer. We wanted to build a new feature to allow our customers to create beautiful micro sites easily. We wanted to create a simple, intuitive, and delightful experience. This new feature would be the first time we’d venture beyond focusing on purely social media tools in our 11-year history.Start Page launched in October 2021. Since then, we’ve made a lot of improvements and have been closely tracking its performance.In all honesty, we were a little embarrassed when the first version went live. (That’s a common feeling if we are really embracing shipping early and often, right?) We made some pretty difficult trade-offs at the time and launched our early access without even supporting basic functionality like themes. Early adopters reading this might remember that all Start Pages created back then only had yellow buttons and no auto-save. 😛Fast-forward seven months, and there are now thousands of different combinations to customize your page to express yourself and your brand. Load up Start Page today, and it greets you with templates to help you get set up. Each template differs based on what you’re trying to accomplish. Plus, templates come packed with blocks, designs, and features to help your page shine. You’ll see statistics and new blocks for YouTube videos and Spotify tracks. Soon, you’ll even be able to create multiple Start Pages.In this post, I’ll share more about how Start Page has been performing, what’s working, and what’s next.How has Start Page performed?Today, just seven months after we launched, Start Pages has been seen by more than one million people worldwide. 💥Here are some other statistics (good and bad) that showcase Start Page’s overall performance:12,700 Start Pages have been published, and 56.4 percent are active (meaning the page received more than two unique visits).We’ve seen Start Pages for non-profit organizations, small and medium businesses, fashion brands, artists, and creators who have opened our minds and amazed us with their creativity.We’ve seen Start Pages in English, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, and almost every language that comes to mind.Start Pages have collectively received close to 3.5 million visits to date.Total traffic to Start Pages has grown four times since launch and has been growing on average 38 percent month-over-month. 🙀Start Page visits by day. The huge spike was a very large Twitter account that used Start Page to promote a BTS(the band) listening party.You learn something new with every launch. Some things are expected, but other insights surprise you. Here are some of the most surprising insights we’ve stumbled upon since launching.1. New users created the vast majority of Start PagesBrand-new Buffer users published 73 percent of Start Pages.Users who signed up between 2010 and 2020 created 17 percent of Start Pages.Currently, we only support one Start Page per organization. We believe this is why many of our longer-term customers haven’t built a page. Agencies, for example, typically need to be able to create a Start Page for each of their customers. Some businesses also have multiple locations and need a Start Page for each of them. We took this feedback to heart and are happy to share that we will be supporting multiple Start Pages starting in July 2022. 😀Supporting multiple Start Pages should lead to more of our existing customer base creating and publishing Start Pages. It will also allow new Buffer users to do much more with Start Page—creating a different Start Page for the variety of needs they might have.Looking at what year a Start Page user’s Buffer account was created.10 percent of active Buffer users created a Start PageOne of our goals with this new product was to build an experience that adds more value to our product offering in general and more value for creators and customers using Buffer.We measure success by determining whether our active customers are actively using the product. Ten percent of active Buffer users have created a Start Page, and we see this as an early sign of them finding value. That said, we’ll be monitoring other metrics, such as how often these creators come back and keep using their Start Pages.Shoutout to Maria Thomas, our Chief Product Officer, who dove into the data and found these insights!What we’ve been working onWhile building Start Page, we’ve tried to embrace shipping early and often.Most companies strive to ship value to customers every cycle/sprint, which means that ideally, you are shipping new features or improvements every couple of weeks. We’ve strived to deliver on a weekly basis, getting close with a 71 percent weekly ship rate since launch! 🚀This focus on shipping value to customers every week has helped us embrace our philosophy of building things iteratively in the open and working closely with customers to learn what to build. As a result, our best-performing new features have been shared by early adopters who’ve helped us shape and improve Start Page.The features we’ve added 🧑‍🚀A lot has happened these past seven months. Here are some of the most notable improvements to Start Page:Themes, font packs, and other customization optionsA curated gallery of GIFsTemplates for new users (e.g., musicians, coaches, NFTs, pets, and loads more)New blocks (Spotify, Images Grid with Links)StatisticsAuto-save (We released early without this and it was not a pleasant experience for early adopters)Multiple banner stylesAnd there’s even more we haven’t mentioned.New Start Page TemplatesIt’s easy to forget how much a product can change in just seven months, so here’s a visual recap of all the new value we’ve added to customers since we launched Start Page back in October 2021:List of New Start Page features launched since October 2021. Weekly Value to Customers = % of weeks where customer-facing improvements were shipped.How have some of these new features been performing?Many of the new features have been heavily adopted by our users. Here are some notable ones:1. Multiple Header Styles 💅One piece of feedback we heard loud and clear is “let me change the header design”. Customers didn’t always ask us this directly, but we heard feedback such as: “The header is too prominent”, or “Start Page is great, but on small screens the header takes up the entire view and my visitors have to scroll to view the links.” Interesting feedback, we thought. We went back to the drawing board and explored what we could do about this. We thought, wouldn’t it be great if users could select different header styles. We knew some creators were using Start Page as a link aggregator, while other used it as a microsite. So, we created different headers for the different jobs-to-be-done. If you want to use Start Page as a place for all your links, you’ll probably love the minimalist header options, but if you are building a microsite, you’ll also find options that make the header more prominent. We’re happy to share that in the past month, Multiple Header Styles was used by 53 percent of users. 🙌Multiple Header Styles in action2. Hide a Block 👀 Early on, we heard that customers occasionally want to hide some of their content.Say they’re hosting an event for one week and want to only promote that. It made more sense to hide these blocks instead of deleting them. So, we added the hide block feature. And 17.7 percent of customers use it.Hide a Block feature3. Statistics 📊21.8 percent of users that published a Start Page in April stopped by to check the performance of their page in the Statistics tab.With Start Page, you can track the traffic your page is getting and how many times people are clicking on links on your page.4. Curated GIF Gallery22 percent of users that published a Start Page used this gallery to find a GIF for their Start Page. This number jumps to 29 percent if we look at people who used Start Page for the first time.This feature was optimized precisely for new users because we noticed that a lot of users kept the same GIFs as those on the templates. We wanted each Start Page to be unique,  so we helped creators find beautiful GIFs (that also comply with accessibility best practices).A gif of our gif library(meta, right?)Where can we improve?  🤔Traffic to our landing page 📉For the first few months after we launched Start Page, we ran paid ads directing potential new users to our landing page. As a result, over 70 percent of the traffic going to Start Page’s landing page came from paid ads. After removing them, our traffic dropped from around 5,000 weekly visits to 1,000.Surprisingly, new signups increased even after the traffic reduced. Likely because we launched a new landing page, and the average conversion rate increased from about 0.8 percent to almost 3.5 percent.Around 1,000 weekly visits still show how much room we have to grow so Start Page can contribute to more signups (currently, 0.4 percent of new signups can be attributed directly to Start Page’s landing page).Phill Agnew, Senior Product Marketing Manager here at Buffer, and I are currently exploring how to expand Start Page beyond Buffer’s current customer base by tapping into existing communities around the world.Spam Control ❌We’ve recently seen an increase in Start Pages used for phishing and spam.If we look at the pages that are causing this recent spike in traffic, we’ll see that most of them are pages that violate our Terms of Service, and we’ve taken down or are in the process of taking them down:Spike in traffic to Start Page due to spam accounts.Spam is a complicated problem to solve across the internet in general.Fighting spam and abuse is not an easy task. However, we are committed to making sure we are continuously working to make Start Page safer for all our users and visitors. Our email verification, which was introduced recently, is already helping us combat this, but we’re not stopping there. We’ll continue prioritizing initiatives that help us make sure Start Page is safe for our customers.What’s next? 🌚We are working hard to launch Multiple Start Pages and turn Start Page into Buffer’s first native channel. Start Pages will count (and act) as its own channel, which will help us ship native channels much faster in the future. We’ll work on identifying initiatives that can help Start Page continue growing by leveraging new Buffer signups.We’ll also be working on identifying opportunities for Start Page to help us acquire new signups.Our focus will be more on marketing and distribution, so we can focus on validating and bringing new experiences to market (blogging from Start Page is up next 😉).We can’t wait to share more about Start Page’s performance soon.A huge shoutout to everyone that’s been part of this incredible journey across the company. Please join us in celebrating Start Page, especially our early adopters, who’ve helped us identify so many opportunities for improvement and shaped this product. 🥂Over to you! We’d love to hear any fun stories you might have from either using Start Page or seeing how our customers have been using this new service. Send us a tweet! 💕

Big Idea or Enduring Question: How to show different messages based on the logged-in user’s profile?  Objectives: After reading this blog, you’ll be able to: Render DOM elements conditionally  Apply conditional rendering in lightning web component (lwc)  and much more Business Use case Rachel Gillett is working as a Junior
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Hi,i am really hard thinking about switching from fb ads to tik tok ads. The only problem is that i don’t know anything about them. Can anyone give me some strategy or good tutorial or explain me how to do them, submitted by /u/aati_03 [link] [comments]

Quick riddle for you: What do you have in common with podcast hosts, YouTube sensations, TikTok stars, and Instagram influencers?
Stumped? Okay, okay. I’ll tell you the answer.
Statistically speaking, you probably also consider yourself a ‘content creator’, at least on some level.
Recently, HubSpot’s Blog Research team ran a study and found 30% of 18-24 year olds and 40% of 25-34 year olds call themselves content creators.
That number might seem high at first, but when you consider how deeply ingrained social media has become in our lives, it starts to make sense. 
What did surprise me, however, was this: When asked how many followers most of these content creators had, 84% reported less than 10,000, and 39% reported less than 1,000.
This confused me. In high school, I had roughly 100 followers. But I’d never considered myself a content creator. I guess, as it turns out, maybe I should have.
To investigate whether ‘everyone is a content creator’ is true — and what it means if it is — I spoke with three content creators and influencers about their relationship to the ‘content creator’ label. Let’s dive in.

Is anyone who creates content a ‘content creator’? 
Li Jin is an investor and co-founder of Variant Fund, a venture firm investing in the ownership economy. Jin, who’s been called ‘The Investor Guru for Online Creators’, believes everyone is a content creator.
As Jin told The Information, “No matter which industry you’re in, people are all going to be creators … This embrace of virtual brand-building is already starting to happen but will accelerate in coming years, as doctors, CEOs and other established professions, including venture capitalists, realize the importance of cultivating online profiles.”
Jin adds, “Everyone will have to build influence online, because we’re living more of our lives online … All of us will have to adopt some of the skill sets and behaviors of creators in order to be successful.”
If a content creator is defined as someone who “produces entertaining or educational material that caters to the interests and challenges of a target audience”, then it makes sense to label anyone with a social profile as a content creator. It doesn’t matter whether it’s just me posting a funny Instagram video to share with my 300 followers, or a major TikTok influencer doing the same thing for her 3 million fans.
Leslie Green, HubSpot’s Senior Social Strategy Manager, agrees. She says, “Nike believes ‘everyone is an athlete’, and I also believe everyone is a content creator. There may be varying levels of skill, but if you have a phone with a camera, you’re a content creator.”

A few years ago, being a content creator — or influencer — required a certain follower count to earn the title, and it was a relatively exclusive club, reserved for brands, mega-influencers, or celebrities.
Now, anyone with a smartphone has the opportunity to become one. There’s something incredibly freeing about this: As we broaden the scope of what we mean when we say ‘content creator’, we’re inevitably opening the doors for more diverse voices. Which means consumers worldwide can find content creators who mirror their unique, distinct experiences.
In other words: Content doesn’t need to reflect one singular version of reality anymore. Now, it can encompass all of them.
Nicole Phillip, The Hustle’s Senior Social Media Manager, told me she sees major benefits to the fact that there are no guardrails when it comes to labelling yourself as a content creator.

As Phillip puts it, “Content creator is definitely an overused descriptor … But that speaks to how accessible the arena is, which in some ways is great for people who otherwise would’ve hit glass ceilings or invisible walls trying to get their work out there through conventional means.”

To become a content creator, you only need a smartphone. 
Admittedly, there are levels of skill, expertise, and influence within the creator economy, just like there are levels to any profession. But what’s surprising is that, unlike other professions, there’s no entry-level requirement to becoming a content creator.
You don’t need to possess certain skills or live in a specific region or be an expert in a particular field — you just need to own a phone or a computer.
Which is perhaps what makes it so enthralling for so many. Consider, for instance, how the hashtag #contentcreator reveals more than 9 million results on Instagram:

What’s equally interesting is the growth of the creator economy over the past few years — which Bloomberg reports is now worth more than $20 billion.
The creator economy, a term that refers to the marketplace of content creators as it relates to businesses, skyrocketed during the pandemic.
The pandemic also greatly impacted the requirements of becoming a content creator. As people were stuck at home with nothing but their phones, they had to make due. And, as it turned out, audiences didn’t care about super-polished content, anyway.
Instead, audiences appreciated and sought out the more authentic posts that spoke to the true state of the world.
As Phillip acknowledges, “Being a content creator used to mean you had a super large following and created original content that would consistently go viral to large audiences. Then, we started having micro and nano-influencers, which lowered the barrier to entry, so there’s no particular follower count necessary, either.”
She adds, “In terms of content types or quality, there’s an audience for every niche and ability, so someone who only has an iPhone 8 just recording their thoughts during their morning commute can compete in the same space as a celebrity makeup artist operating with a DSLR and an entire team.”
It’s undoubtedly thrilling to consider the possibilities of creative individuals with less resources competing in spaces with high-profile, mega-rich celebrities.
But that leads me to my next point: What’s the end game with all of this, anyway?
Becoming a content creator on social media is no longer a means to an end. 
A few years ago, becoming an influencer was oftentimes a stepping stone to fame.
A few names come to mind: Consider King Bach, who became famous on Vine and has since starred in multiple TV shows, including The Mindy Project and Punk’D; or Addison Rae, a TikTok dancer who was recently featured in Netflix’s movie He’s All That.
And yet, nowadays, becoming an influencer is in-and-of itself the goal.
One TikTok creator, Brady Lockerby, decided to become a full-time TikToker after recognizing the financial incentives outweighed her previous employment.

@bradylockerby
How i became a full time content creator! #contentcreator #fulltimecreator #fulltimecontentcreator #fyp comment questions I want to make this a series
♬ Spongebob Tomfoolery – Dante9k Remix – David Snell

As she notes, she made roughly $50,000 in her corporate 9-to-5 job. By comparison, she now makes upwards of her yearly corporate salary in one month.

Lockerby told me, “The first time I posted on TikTok, I never expected it to turn into what it is today for me. It’s something that truly just fell into my lap. Once my TikTok career started to take off and I realized, ‘Wow, this could actually be my job,’ I made the plunge and quit my job. Freedom was probably the driving force.”

She adds, “It seems that nowadays most people are just in it for the money and receiving free items — but I believe that building authentic relationships is key. Whether that’s with your followers or a brand, if you don’t have that trust, no one will believe your content. You make the choice to put your life online, and it makes my heart warm to know that people genuinely care about not only what products I’m promoting that month, but about me and my life.”
It’s important to note: The money you make as a content creator is well-deserved. As easy as it is to earn the label of ‘content creator’, it’s not easy to make a living off of it.
In fact, Philip predicts that in the future, many will actually consider quitting as the market becomes increasingly saturated.
She told me, “People can get content from every corner of the internet, and to maintain an audience through such competition can be stressful and exhausting. I’ve seen this first-hand just working on branded social. There are no off days and you constantly have to feed the beast.”

It’s true: Content creation is a 24/7 gig. And if you don’t consistently post engaging content, you could lose your audience’s attention as they move onto the new creator of the moment.
But that shouldn’t deter you from embracing your role as content creator if that’s what you want.
As Green advises, “In 2022, content creators have more power than ever. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are competing for content and are actively helping to produce income for their most valuable asset — content creators. If you’re looking to break into content creation, don’t be discouraged. Brands and platforms are looking for your personality and expertise.”
Green continues, “My best advice: pick a niche, stick to one platform, and focus on volume. Social media may feel like a crowded space, but there’s room for everyone. Be patient, test a variety of formats, and stick to a cadence you can be consistent with month over month.”
Ultimately, just as art means something different to every individual, so too does content. Which means the narrow scope we’d previously defined as ‘content creator’ was too limiting. There’s value in leveling the playing field, and allowing anyone with a camera and a voice to be heard.
After all, every content creator has the unique ability to connect deeply to their audience — and whether that’s an audience of one or one million, there’s power in that.

In 1990, the key to SEO success relied on keywords. Today, it’s way more complicated.
The SEO landscape is constantly evolving, and marketers must evolve along with it. But to do that, it’s important reflect on the biggest SEO challenges this year — and create a game plan to address them.

Below, let’s review the top six SEO challenges brands are facing in 2022, according to data from HubSpot Blog’s 2022 Web Traffic & Analytics Report and other marketing experts.
Top 6 SEO Challenges in 2022
1. Staying on top of algorithm changes.
The HubSpot Blogs surveyed 400+ web traffic analysts to identify the top SEO challenges in 2022. The leading challenge — experienced by 50% of marketers — is staying on top of search engine algorithm changes.

This isn’t surprising — in 2020 alone, Google ran more than 500,00 experiments that led to 4,000+ changes to search. For many marketers, staying current with these changes is like hitting a moving target.
So, how can you succeed when Google keeps moving the goal post? The key is to respond to these changes strategically.
There’s no need to overhaul your entire SEO strategy in response to a minor change. Instead, your time is better spent staying on top of industry news. If a big algorithm change is on the horizon, the SEO industry will talk about it.
The second tip may sound counterintuitive, but hear me out – after an algorithm change, wait for the dust to settle before making any moves. Why? In some cases, Google reverts to a previous version if an update doesn’t go to plan.
2. Not ranking higher in search results.
Unlike paid search, SEO takes time to show results — and it’s usually a result of smaller efforts.
There are some “solutions” to fix a low ranking, such as pivoting to technical SEO and content marketing. SEO experts have also identified some factors that play into your ranking, like the E-A-T framework. E-A-T in SEO stands for “expertise,” authoritativeness,” and “trustworthiness.”
However, even more important is developing a long-term strategy that focuses on a handful of initiatives at a time. Remember, SEO is a long-term game. The work you put in today will pay off down the road.
3. Using keywords incorrectly.
One thing has managed to stay consistent in the SEO world: keywords. But today, rather than scanning for keywords, Google takes a high-level look at your website to get an overall sense of its authority, tone, and relevancy.
In other words, if you’re hoping that keywords alone will give you a boost in search results, you’re out of luck.
Instead, the goal with keywords is to understand user intent, or the deeper problem your users hope to solve. With this understanding, you can inform your content strategy and your larger, overall marketing strategy. Take a look at this helpful article on adding user intent to your keyword strategy.
Additionally, tracking search volume for your targeted keywords can help you understand why your website sees a sudden spike or drop in traffic. For instance, if a target keyword is experiencing a spike in search volume, you can write more blog posts on that particular topic.
4. Writing compelling titles and meta descriptions.
According to 400+ web traffic analysts, one of the most effective strategies for improving search ranking is writing compelling titles and meta descriptions. But writing catchy titles is easier said than done.

According to one recent study that analyzed 5 million headlines, emotional titles — either positive or negative — had a higher click-through rate (CTR) than neutral titles. In fact, both positive and negative titles improved CTR by approximately 7%. Additionally, web pages with meta descriptions get almost 6% more clicks than those without.
But, a word of caution here — while emotionally-charged titles can drive clicks, you run the risk of sounding too clickbait-y. For example, the same study found that “power words” — or words specifically designed to draw attention — can negatively impact CTR. Power words include terms like crazy, insane, and amazing — so use them sparingly, if at all.
5. Missing the mark on mobile.
Your SEO strategy should absolutely include mobile optimization. Why? As you might expect, mobile devices account for a large chunk of web traffic — 41% to be exact — making it essential to approach your website with a mobile-first mindset.
Further, Google now practices mobile-first indexing. This means Google uses the mobile version of your web pages when indexing and ranking pages.

The trend is clear — optimizing for mobile is key for traffic growth, SEO, and great user experience. It’s no surprise that almost 25% of companies invest in mobile as a top SEO tactic.
You don’t need to be a developer or have a large budget to optimize your website for mobile. Check out this helpful guide to learn how small tweaks can improve the mobile experience.

6. Leveraging video in search results.
If you Google “How to tie a knot,” the top search result is a video:

Increasingly, Google is incorporating video in search results — and this trend isn’t stopping any time soon. In fact, Google is working on more ways to experiment with short-form videos in search results, according to Google’s Product Manager, Danielle Marshak.
Google plans to surface videos by crawling and indexing them like any other type of content. So how can marketers leverage their video content for search? Here are a few strategies:

Add video chapters. Chapters section your video by topic, providing a layer of context for viewers. It also makes it easy for Google to understand the content in your video and use different clips in search results.

Optimize your title, tags, and description. Like web pages, videos also have titles, descriptions, and tags. Optimize these using SEO best practices.

Also, embedding videos into your website and blog posts doesn’t hurt — and can actually improve your bounce rates.
Back to You
SEO is like a mutual fund — it builds over time, one dollar at a time. In other words, it’s a long game. Marketers must have the right strategies in play for the long game. Start with the tips in this post to set you on the right path.

Think about the best boss you’ve ever had. What made them great?
Were they open to new ideas? Did they lead with humility? Showed empathy when you needed it? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, this person could be considered a transformational leader.

Transformational leaders empower and motivate others to achieve extraordinary feats and, in the process, sharpen their own leadership skills.
Here, we’ll cover the basics of transformational leadership, define the key characteristics of this style, and see how it differs from transactional leadership.
To get a better idea of how transformational leadership plays out in the workplace, we need to look at its four primary elements:

Idealized influence — this is the degree to which a leader models the behavior they want followers to emulate. In doing so, they gain trust and respect from their followers.
Inspirational motivation — this is the degree to which a leader articulates a vision and outlines future goals. By aligning followers under a singular vision, they can drive the group forward.
Individualized consideration — this is the degree to which a leader tends to each follower’s needs and acts as a mentor or coach. As a result, followers feel empowered to make individual contributions to the team.
Intellectual stimulation — this is the degree to which a leader challenges assumptions, takes risks, and solicits ideas and feedback. The goal here is to stimulate creativity in their followers.

Now let’s take a closer look at the impact of this leadership style in the workplace.
Why is transformational leadership effective?
1. Promotes psychological safety.
Transformational leaders know that psychological safety is key for encouraging participation, bringing new ideas forward, and uncovering solutions. They urge people to think independently and challenge the status quo.
Part of fostering psychological safety is replacing criticism with curiosity. For example, if an employee misses a few deadlines, transformational leaders don’t spend too much time on fault. Instead, they might say, “I’ve noticed you missed a few deadlines this month. I assume there are some factors impacting your performance. Can you walk me through what those are?”
Ultimately, it’s up to the leader to model the behavior they want to see from their employees. In doing so, they foster an environment of trust and respect.
2. Prioritizes career development.
Transformational leaders act as a mentor or coach to their employees. They make themselves available to support and advise others when they need it. Most importantly, they look for opportunities – and even create opportunities – to help their employees get closer to their goals.

3. Boosts innovation and high performance.
Transformational leaders don’t shy away from risks, and they often push themselves — and their employees — outside of their comfort zone. Sometimes, this means failure. But other times, it results in exciting, innovative solutions. This motivates employees to keep raising the bar and improving team performance.
4. Cuts down on micromanaging.
Transformational leaders value employee autonomy more than oversight. They give space to employees to work autonomously and make decisions.
That said, this isn’t a complete laissez-faire style. Leaders provide clear instructions and the necessary resources for employees to do their job. Additionally, they provide appropriate, well-timed support without overstepping boundaries.
5. Nurtures a growth mindset.
Transformational leaders embrace new ideas, solicit feedback, and admit when they’re wrong. In other words, they aren’t afraid to learn and grow.
This type of growth mindset is contagious in the workplace, allowing employees to feel comfortable making mistakes, receiving constructive criticism, and keeping an open mind.
Transformational Leadership vs. Transactional Leadership
Transactional versus transformational leadership is not a question of good versus bad. While polar opposite, both are effective in different situations.
To state the obvious, transactional leadership involves a transaction. Leaders set goals and, in exchange for achieving them, employees receive rewards.
It involves maintaining a status quo, hitting specific targets, and controlling outcomes. While this approach may seem cold or impersonal, it’s an effective approach for mid-to-large organizations operating under rigid targets or rules.
For instance, imagine a sales team grinding to hit a certain quota per week. Or line workers at a manufacturing plant inspecting a certain number of products per day.
This is quite different from transformation leadership where employees are given autonomy and space to create and innovate. This is a fitting approach for organizations looking to retain and develop talent instead of meeting a fixed quota.
Transformational Leadership Examples
1. Marissa Andrada, Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and People Officer at Chipotle.
“HR leaders need to have clarity on values, with a deep understanding of who the company is and what it stands for as an organization.”
2. Katie Burke, Chief People Officer at HubSpot.
“When things have gone sideways (big or small), we have always leaned into transparency and being upfront with people about what we have learned from the experience. We also try to actively celebrate failure. Doing so helps ensure we don’t just celebrate the things that go perfectly and that our leaders set the tone on failure as part of our journey.”
3. Indra Nooyi, Former CEO of PepsiCo.
“If you don’t give people a chance to fail, you won’t innovate. Most importantly, we want to create a company where every employee can bring their whole selves to work.”
Back To You
Transformational leadership could be the difference between a stagnant team and a high-performing one. It enables you to retain and develop talent while driving positive change. If you’re in a leadership role, consider how this style could take your team to the next level.