Category: Marketing Automation

Last Updated on October 14, 2021 by Rakesh Gupta Big Idea or Enduring Question: How do you deploy Flows or Processes using the Packages?   Objectives: After reading this blog post, the reader will be able to: Understand how to use packages to deploy flows Understand how to use packages to deploy processes Deploy
The post Getting Started with Salesforce Flow – Part 73 (Distribute Flow(s) or Process(es) Using Packages) appeared first on Automation Champion.

Last Updated on October 14, 2021 by Rakesh Gupta Big Idea or Enduring Question: How do you deploy Flows or Processes using the Change Sets?   Objectives: After reading this blog post, the reader will be able to: Understand how to use change sets to deploy flows Understand how to use change sets to
The post Getting Started with Salesforce Flow – Part 72 (Deploy Flow(s) or Process(es) Using Change Sets) appeared first on Automation Champion.

I was thinking of finding some group on linkedin, grabbing those users, then data mining for their emails? I’m not a marketer so I’m learning. My plan was to do a cold email marketing campaign using close or reply. I’m selling “premium/onshore custom software development services” for HIPAA compliant application, etc Let me know what other information I’m missing that could be helpful in providing advice, and i’ll get it right into the OP. Appreciate your patience with a noob.
submitted by /u/papercloudsdotco [link] [comments]

Whether you’re working with an online business or a brick-and-mortar bolstered by an online presence, one question is destined to come up: how many visitors should your site get?
Some tracking software makes it easy to gather metrics, but what does it all mean? A screen of numbers doesn’t magically transform into a successful marketing strategy and more visitors. Understanding and interpreting your site’s analytics (users, sessions, bounce rate, etc.) is the key to building, adjusting, and implementing the proper plan for growth.
To understand how many visitors your site should get, you will need to:

determine how many visitors are typical to websites in your industry
establish a goal based on the variables (industry, size, user experience) of the company
create a reasonable plan with actionable steps to execute a successful marketing strategy

How many visitors does a website typically get?
It depends. With the number of websites available on the web, it would be impossible to narrow this question down to one answer. Fortunately, there are tools and resources to help you make an educated guess.
Before diving into monthly website visitors, it could help to understand the breakdown of website traffic. As of 2019, the statistical data platform Statista outlined the distribution of worldwide website traffic by its source. The breakdown is as follows:

Direct (55%)
Search (29%)
Referral (13%)
Social (2.5%)
Paid Search (0.5%)

As you analyze other companies and industries, you can assume that typically, over half of their visits come from direct searches. Most visitors are landing on a particular webpage because they typed the URL into the address bar. Understanding that more than half (55%) of visitors come from direct traffic and more than a quarter (29%) come from search engine result pages (SERPs), use this knowledge when combing through the metrics of other companies.
How do you find these statistics? Platforms such as SimilarWeb, SEMRush, Ahrefs, and Alexa offer website traffic information for many domains. While these websites will push out an impressive list of metrics, take this information with a grain of salt. Unless the information is coming from the company, and even then, you can’t assume that the data is foolproof.
The following table compares traffic breakdowns from SimilarWeb (SW) and SEMRush (SEM) for five companies.

Company
Total Visits
Pages Per Visit
Bounce Rate

SW
SEM
SW
SEM
SW
SEM

Black Enterprise
2.48M
1.6M
1.42
1.57
79.08%
67.32%

Hello Fresh
9.47M
8.3M
5.81
3.41
43.43%
47.84%

Alibaba
101.19M
66.2M
5.23
3.99
43.38%
49.84

Amazon
2.65B
3.3B
8.66
7.05
35.54%
37.49%

Youtube
35.11B
20.8B
11.4
3.75
20.96%
48.22%

You’ll find that the same website differs in every single metric provided by Similar Web and SEMRush. While you can’t assume which platform is more accurate than the other, you can use a combination of information from different sources to make an educated guess and average.
Amazon (amazon.com) and Youtube (youtube.com) are two of the most visited websites globally. While SimilarWeb doesn’t offer monthly visitor data with their free version, SEMRush does. For August 2021, the platform lists Amazon and Youtube domains with 669.2M and 1.6B unique monthly visitors, respectively. To clarify, 1.6 billion different people made their way onto the Youtube website in August 2021 — according to SEMRush.
While the numbers will vary, you can still create a snapshot of how many visitors a website typically gets. Unfortunately, it is harder to find this information for small and medium-sized businesses versus large corporations.
How do you scale this information to your business? There are a series of factors to consider when determining how many visitors your site should get and setting a “good” number as your goal.
How many unique visitors per month is good?
The answer to this question depends on a few factors. First, are you evaluating a B2B, B2C, or hybrid company? B2B companies have a target audience of other businesses and organizations. B2C companies target direct consumers. One can infer that the potential for more unique monthly visitors for B2C companies is greater than that of B2B companies simply because their target audience is exponentially larger. B2B companies use niche marketing to sell particular products or services to a specific group of businesses while B2C companies focus their strategy on the needs, interests, and challenges of people in their everyday lives.
Taking note of the business model, determining how many monthly unique visitors is “good” for your company depends on your answers to the following questions:

What is the standard in your industry?
How much content do you produce?
How well is your content strategy working?
What is the search volume for your targeted topics?
How competitive are your target keywords?

What is the standard in your industry?
To make an accurate guess of where your company should be, determine the industry standard. To do this, evaluate your competition. Using tools like the previously mentioned SimilarWeb and SEMRush, you can create a general overview of your competitors, and use these statistics to establish an average for your industry.
How much content do you produce?
The more content you have available on your site, the more opportunities you create for visitors to find it. How much new content are you producing? One? Three? Five or more? The size of your team will affect the amount of content you’re able to create. If you find that you’re unable to produce new content, consider expanding the size of your team to meet your needs.
How well is your content strategy working?
To fix something, you need to know if it’s broken. Evaluate whether your content strategy is working. Are you ranking for your keywords? Have you seen an increase in views over the last few months? Where is the bulk of your traffic coming from? Once you can determine how your site is currently performing, you can take active steps to create an effective content strategy.
What is the search volume for your targeted topics?
Search volume for your targeted topics is directly related to the demand for that information, product, or service. High search volume can mean more visitors; however, this is directly affected by the competitiveness of your keywords.
How competitive are your target keywords?
A combination of these factors affects your website’s unique visitors per month, but it boils down to competition. The more competitive your target keywords, the harder it is to rank on the first page of a SERP. The more competitive the industry, the greater the chances of having potential website visitors split among the competition.
Other factors that can affect your number of unique visitors per month are security, accessibility, mobile-friendly web pages, and user experience.
Security
Establishing a safe and secure website with an SSL certificate can boost your reputation and relationship with future consumers. Not only does it mean less time worrying about potential security incidents, but it allows your visitors to insert their information into your systems with confidence.
Accessibility
Fifteen percent of the world’s population are persons with disabilities. Many still use the web, and businesses must ensure that their content is accessible. Accessibility is not a feature, and making your website convenient to all visitors is not a bonus but a necessity.
Mobile-Friendliness
If your site isn’t mobile-friendly for cell phone users, you’re cutting off a large portion of potential visitors. In 2019, the World Advertising Research Center (WARC) estimated that around 2 billion people accessed the internet via only their smartphones. The report also stated that this number will be equivalent to 3.7 billion people (or 72.6%) by 2025.
User Experience
Click-through rate and bounce rate are metrics that help determine the user experience on your website. Evaluate them together. While a high click-through rate is positive, a high bounce rate is negative. Click-through rate is the percentage of people who visit your page after it comes up in a search. Bounce rate is the percentage of people who arrive and leave your web page quickly after landing on it. A high bounce rate sends search engines a signal that your content isn’t relevant to the users and negatively affects your rank.
Once you can evaluate your industry, website, and content strategy, the next step is to set goals and execute them.
Setting Reasonable Goals For Website Traffic
Focus on the word “reasonable.” A goal to reach 10,000 monthly visitors next month might not be a stretch if you garnered 9,000 visitors this month; however, if your website receives an average of 2,500 monthly visitors, this goal might be less probable. Setting a realistic and attainable goal is the key to creating the proper marketing strategy for your business.
Define Your Goal
First, define your goal. Analyze your current metrics and that of your competitors. Let’s use HelloFresh and other meal kit delivery services as an example. The company’s direct competitors include Home Chef, Blue Apron, and Sunbasket. The ranking for their monthly unique visitors, according to SEMRush, is as follows for August 2021:

HelloFresh (4.9 Million)
Home Chef (2 Million)
Blue Apron (1.2 Million)
Sunbasket (696.6K)

As previously mentioned, do not analyze these numbers as fact. They are a guide. If a new meal kit delivery service looked at the monthly unique visitors for these companies, they’d get an average of 2.1 million monthly views. Now, this can be a goal for the future but not the immediate future.
A monthly goal for a small business receiving 5000 unique monthly visitors could be 10% or 500 new visitors. Set goals with a content plan in mind. With this goal in place, you can use it to determine the success of your content strategy.
Build a Content Plan Around MSV
Monthly search volume (MSV) is the number of times a specific keyword is entered into a search engine each month. MSV allows you to anticipate the amount of traffic available for a particular keyword term. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to gauge which keywords are worth targeting for your content strategy. You’ll also be able to assess the needs of potential clients and customers and cater your content to them.
Some free online keyword tools that help calculate MSV include Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs Keyword Generator, and Answer the Public.
Determine a Publishing Cadence
In conjunction with creating your content strategy, lay out a schedule. How often you update your website is key to attracting more visitors because you increase the number of opportunities to land on your page. At the bare minimum, you want to post new content to your website every week. The amount of content is, of course, dependent on the size of your team and audience. The more resources you have, the more content you can create. The larger your audience, the more content you should create.
While determining a publishing cadence is necessary, it is equally important to stick to it and remain consistent.
Assess Your Performance
The first step to assessing your goals is having a data reporting software set up. Once you do, it’s time to see if your unique monthly visitors increased. Whether or not you met your goal, ask yourself the following questions to review your progress:

Did your unique monthly visitors increase or decrease? By what percent?
Are you ranking for targeted keywords?
Was there a trend (increase or decrease) in visitors across your industry?

An increase or decrease in your unique monthly visitors isn’t enough to gauge the complete success of your goal or content strategy. Are you ranking for your targeted keywords? If yes, your content strategy is working, and your location in SERPs can lead to further increases in the future. If not, reassess and adopt new SEO methods for growth.
When assessing your performance, it might also be necessary to measure factors out of your control, for example, industry trends. Was there a mutual dip in unique monthly views among you and your competitors? It is possible that your keyword MSV wasn’t as high as in previous months. A decrease in MSV for your keywords is out of your control. However, it is your responsibility to pivot and discover what your target audience is searching for.
How many visitors should your site get?
In content strategy and marketing, consistency is key. How many visitors should your site get? Ultimately, it comes down to how consistent you are in the tips featured above. Do you keep up with industry best practices to guide your knowledge on MSV? Do you periodically evaluate your content to boost your SEO? Are you updating your information to guide your goals?
There is no magic number when it comes to monthly website visitors. Evaluate your website and use your current metrics to determine where you want to be in one, six, or 12 months from now. Changes rarely happen overnight. Set reasonable goals with realistic timelines, and you’ll eventually see growth.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2009 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Stale, boring email newsletters are all too common nowadays, and for a lot of the same reasons. Here are some of the most common email newsletter mistakes that marketers make.
For as long as brands have been using email to market to their audience, they’ve been using newsletters as a means of updating customers on their products, educating their audience, one of the other countless goals they might have. 
Newsletters are so common these days, you might even say that they’re getting a bit…boring? This may sound blasphemous coming from someone working at an email marketing software company, but the truth is that there are a lot of bland, boring newsletters out there.
But how do you know if that’s you? How do you know if your newsletter is one of the ones getting deleted instead of getting read? And more importantly, how do you fix it?
Let’s take a look at some of the most common email newsletter mistakes, and what you can do to fix them.
Common newsletter mistakes

You’re talking too much about yourself
You’re pushing too hard for a sale
You don’t have a goal in mind
You’re not writing like a human
You’re not segmenting your audience
You aren’t A/B testing
You’re not monitoring your results

#1: You’re talking too much about yourself
We can understand why you’d think a newsletter should primarily be about you or your business. It’s right there in the name, after all. But one of the most common newsletter mistakes marketers make is talking way too much about their business.
Here’s a little secret about newsletters that rings true for all of marketing: nobody wants to hear you talk about yourself or your company. People subscribe (and stay subscribed) because there’s something in it for them.
Think about the newsletters you enjoy reading — are they full of news about what that company had for Friday lunch together? Or are they full of helpful resources and content that appeal to your interests?
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t talk about yourself at all. The 90/10 rule is a good one to follow here. Spend 90+% of the time educating your audience with helpful resources, and no more than 10% talking about yourself.
#2: You’re pushing too hard for a sale
One way to rack up newsletter unsubscribes quickly is to do nothing but promote your own products.
Yes, email is the king of ROI, and ultimately, your goal is to grow your business, but your newsletter is not the place for direct, aggressive sales.
Your newsletter is a place to build your brand and gain the trust and respect of your audience. Like we mentioned in point #1, your aim should be to be helpful. By asserting yourself as an engaging, helpful resource, you’ll gain the trust of your audience, and earn the right down the road to talk business.
Newsletters are a long-term game about building your community and your brand, not direct profit.
#3: You don’t have a goal in mind
With each newsletter you send, it’s worth asking yourself “what is the goal of this email?” With that in mind, each email should have a very obvious action you want the reader to take. This is typically referred to as a call-to-action (CTA).
If you want the reader to click through to a blog post, you should make it easy by adding a button that clearly directs them. If you’d like for them to register for a webinar, clearly communicate that, and give them an easy way to register.
There are actually two ways brands frequently get this wrong. The first way is by not having any CTAs. Some (typically the “this is what we ate at our Friday lunch” crowd) will ramble on about something, without having a real reason why they’re in your inbox.
The second way people get this wrong is by having too many CTAs. If you’re including links to everything you’ve ever published on the internet, it’s going to leave people confused on what to click. And after you’ve successfully given them decision paralysis, they’re likely to just close your email altogether.
Narrow in on your goals, and you’re bound to see better results.
#4: You’re not writing like a human
This one is particularly true of brand or company newsletters — they forget to write like humans! Too many marketers write their newsletters in safe, bland language while hiding behind the brand name.
While people can sometimes feel connected to companies and products, they feel stronger connections with people. If you’re writing a newsletter, take ownership of it. Let people get to know the person writing the email.
Gigi Rosenberg, a public speaking coach and Campaign Monitor user, has great advice on this. She thinks of her newsletter as a party that she’s the host of — as opposed to social media, where she thinks of herself as more of an attendee.
“The people on my email list are my invited guests or my VIPs,” says Gigi. “Each month I share one public speaking tool with this group of my favorite people. It’s a way for me to offer something useful and stay in touch with this community.”
Watch Gigi’s video to learn more about how she makes her newsletter a personal, engaging experience.

#5: You’re not segmenting your audience
56% of people say they’ll unsubscribe from an email list if the content isn’t relevant to them. Yet marketers continue to send the same content to their entire list, hoping that people will be interested.
Your audience is full of individuals who all have different interests. To keep your content relevant and avoid unsubscribes, start thinking of ways to break up your list by personas. Segmenting your audiences by age, location, or profession can give you better ideas of what content to send them, and in turn, keep them engaged.
For more on segmentation and what it looks like in practice, make sure to check out our Guide to Segmentation in Marketing for the Evolving Marketer.
#6: You’re not A/B testing
A/B testing is an easy way to test different elements of your email and see what your audience prefers. A lot of brands neglect to do it, but those who do have seen big results.
We ran an A/B test a while back, simply testing the tone of an email. One email used positive language, while the other was designed to try and create a sense of urgency and gravity. Turns out, our audience is pretty positive. The email with the positive tone won with a 22% higher conversion rate.

Other things you can A/B test include:

Subject lines
Length of the email
Content
Images
Personalization
Template style
CTA buttons

The options are endless really.
#7: You’re not monitoring your results
One last newsletter mistake that marketers make with their newsletters is that they don’t monitor their results. Reviewing your metrics after each campaign gives you invaluable insights into what kind of content your audience is responding to.
This allows you to understand your subscribers on a deeper level, and learn what preferences they have: if they prefer shorter or longer subject lines. Or if they like all-text emails as opposed to ones with images.
Monitoring your email metrics is key to your newsletter’s success.
Wrap up
There are a lot of bad email newsletters out there, but that shouldn’t discourage you from sending them! When done right, the newsletter has incredible power for building your brand and cultivating a sense of community amongst your audience.
Just make sure to avoid these common newsletter mistakes and you’ll do just fine.
The post 7 Mistakes You’re Making With Your Newsletter (And How to Fix Them) appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

Celebrate good times — c’mon! The milestone email is one of the different types of emails you should be sending, and it’s the easiest and most fun message to send out to your customers. You’re celebrating them for doing business with you, and you’re celebrating important company milestones along with them.  Many businesses don’t know…
The post The Art of Sharing Milestone Emails with Your Subscribers appeared first on Benchmark Email.

Hello fellow social media managers, I wonder what’s the best tool for automating followers for social media? I tried Jarvee but I’m having errors while installing. If there are any preferred tools to use please don’t hesitate to share. This helps a lot of freelancers and agency’s. Thank you so much!
submitted by /u/emiliajuana [link] [comments]

Hubspot is on the cheaper end of automation tools that I’m looking at but it doesn’t feel like the best tool for a credit union because most orgs use Hubspot for content marketing to collect leads, where those leads are put into drip campaigns and later followed up with by sales. This flow isn’t traditional for a credit union since most of our marketing efforts via email would be to existing members. My question is, has anyone had success using Hubspot as a credit union email automation platform? If so, could you report on ROI?
submitted by /u/Whole_Chemist_6995 [link] [comments]

It’s no secret that data can be very powerful — when you can actually understand what it’s telling you, that is.

It’s not easy to get clear takeaways by looking at a slew of numbers and stats. You need to have the data presented in a logical, easy-to-understand way so you can apply your learnings in an effective way. That’s where data visualization comes in.

In this article, we’ll offer you applicable ways to ensure your data visualization is effective, and provide examples for inspiration along the way.

What is data visualization?
Data visualization allows you to organize data in a way that’s both compelling and easy to digest.
It’s about representing data in a visual context, such as a chart or a map, to help anyone viewing it better understand the significance of that data.
How does data visualization work?
Whereas data shared via text can be confusing (not to mention bland), data represented in a visual format can help people extract meaning from that information more quickly and easily.
Data visualization allows you to expose patterns, trends, and correlations that may otherwise go undetected, too.
Static vs. Interactive Data Visualization
Data visualization can be static or interactive. For centuries, people have been using static data visualization like charts and maps.
Interactive data visualization is a little bit newer: It lets people drill down into the dirty details of these charts and graphs using their computers and mobile devices, and then interactively change which data they see and how it’s processed.
Time Series Visualization
In addition to static and interactive data visualization, you may also hear the term time series visualization. Time series visualization is what it sounds like — visuals that track data, or performance, over a period of time.
This is important because a major reason why people want to focus on data visualization is to show changes in variables over time.
Time Series Data Visualization Examples
There are many ways to use time-series data visualization — you’ll learn more about these below, but here’s a quick list to give you a better understanding of which visuals are considered time series visuals.

Line chart
Bar chart
Area chart
Bullet graph

Data Visualization Best Practices
While determining how you’ll visualize your data, one of the first things you’ll want to do is keep the following best practices in mind.

Choose the best visual for your data and its purpose.
Ensure your data is easily understandable and viewable.
Offer necessary context for your audience in and around your visual.
Keep your visual as simple and straightforward as possible.
Educate your audience with your visuals.

Featured Guide: An Introduction to Data Visualization

Learn how to apply data visualization best practices in your marketing with this free guide.

1. Line Chart
Image Source
Use a line chart to display your data over the course of time to view trends and intervals. You can do this with a single, or multiple, data point(s).

2. Bar Chart
Image Source
Use a bar chart to compare groups or categories while also displaying clear values.
Wondering how you could use this? Say you’ve been using Casted for your content marketing and need to report on which medium is performing best. You can pull data reports from the dashboard to visualize the data for key stakeholders.
3. Scatter Chart
Image Source
Use a scatter chart to show the values of two different variables as points on a chart.

4. Area Chart
Image Source
Use an area chart in a similar way to how you’d use a line chart.
The difference is that the area below the line is filled with color and/ or texture with an area chart. Both area and line charts display the evolution of a value.
5. Map
Image Source
Use a map to display data that are geographically located and to show the distribution and proportion of data in specific areas.
6. Indicator

Image Source
Use an indicator if you want to display your data with visuals like a gauge or ticker which will clearly show which direction things are moving over time.
7. Pivot Table
Image Source
Use a pivot table to summarize a large amount of information while specifically highlighting the most critical data for audience members.

8. Bullet Graph
Image Source
Use a bullet graph or chart in a similar way to how you’d use a bar chart. The main difference is that a bullet graph allows you to include more detailed information and data in a way that doesn’t look or feel cluttered.
9. Box Plot

Image Source
Use a box plot to view the distribution of your data — you’ll have one box plot for each attribute you’re displaying.
10. Matrix

Image Source
Use a matrix to display the relationships between hundreds or thousands of data points, variables, and more to understand their interactions all in one location.
Ready to feel inspired? Let’s take a look at some great examples of interactive and static data visualization.

Examples of Data Visualization
Below are 16 examples of data visualization, split into two major sections: interactive and static data visualization.
Examples of Interactive Data Visualization
1. Why Buses Bunch

Here’s an example of a complex data set boiled down in a way that looks and feels like a game. In this visualization, Setosa is showing how “bus bunching” happens, i.e. when a bus gets delayed and later causes multiple buses to arrive at a single stop at the same time.

Image Source
Telling this story in numbers alone would be pretty difficult — instead, they turn it into an interactive game that makes the data easier to understand. While the buses rotate along a route, you can click and hold a button to delay a bus. Then, all you have to do is watch to see how even a short delay causes the buses to bunch together.
2. Languages in the World

This interactive by DensityDesign introduces the non-linguist to the many world languages. All 2,678 of them.

Image Source
This piece allows you to explore common language families, see which languages are most frequently spoken, and view where languages are spoken around the world.
This is visual storytelling: taking an in-depth subject and breaking it down in an easy-to-understand way.
3. Percent of U.S. Population by Age Group

This is an example of how to present a single data set in a compelling way. Pew Research created an animated GIF composite to show shifts in population demographics over time. It’s an effective way to tell a larger story in a neat package.

Image Source
Plus, this type of micro-content is easy to share on social or embed in blogs, extending the content’s reach.
If you want to make a GIF of your own using Photoshop, here’s a step-by-step tutorial.
4. The Complete History of the NFL

In this interactive visualization below, an “Elo rating” — a simple measure of strength based on game-by-game results — has been calculated for every game in the history of the National Football League (NFL).

Image Source
That’s over 30,000 ratings in total. Viewers can compare each team’s Elo to see how each team performed across decades of play.
5. U.S. Thanksgiving on Google Flights

This visual is powered by Google Trends. It tracked flights as they flew to, from, and across the United States on the day before Thanksgiving.

Image Source
The visualization starts at the very beginning of the day and plays like a movie as time goes on, showing flights moving around the country.
Without showing any numbers besides the time, viewers can see which times were most popular for international flights, domestic flights, and flights to/ from different hubs around the country.
6. What’s Really Warming the World?

Ever heard a version of the advice, “Don’t simply show the data tell a story with it”? That’s exactly what this visualization from Bloomberg Business does — and it’s the interactive part that makes the story move along from beginning to end. The visual disproves theories that claim that global warming can be explained by natural causes.
The first thing you’ll see is the observed temperature as it’s risen from 1880 to present day.

Image Source
As you scroll down, the visualization takes you through exactly how much different factors contribute to global warming in comparison to what’s been observed, adding a richer layer of storytelling. The conclusion the authors want viewers to draw is made very clear.
7. Most Valuable Sports Franchises

Here’s an example of telling a deeper story by adding data.

Image Source
The interactive visual lets users see the number of years each team has competed, as well as the number of championships won. This offers a more comprehensive view of each team’s history and success as a franchise.
8. U.S. Wind Map

Here’s a visual similar that shows the wind speeds and directions in the U.S. in real-time back in 2015.

Image Source
It’s a great example of intuitive design: Speed is represented by lines moving slowly or quickly, and direction is represented by which way the lines are moving. It’s immediately clear what the general trends are without any need for numbers unless you click into the map itself. Plus, capping the number of variables at two makes it even easier to follow.
Examples of Static Data Visualization
9) Where News Audiences Fit on the Political Spectrum

This visual shows data organized on a distribution plot — this is an effective visual choice because it allows viewers to see where each media outlet lies on a spectrum.

Image Source
On a spectrum, the distance between each media outlet is significant. If these outlets were just listed one after the other in a table, viewers wouldn’t be able to see where each one stood in context.
10. The Daily Routines of Famous Creative People

Using information from the book Daily Rituals by Mason Currey, the site showcases the daily schedules of famous creatives broken down by time and activity.

Image Source
Not only is this an example of engaging data (you can explore the schedules by individual activity), it’s also an effective editorial piece for a brand.
11. The Year in News

Echelon Insights created this visual to depict the most talked-about news stories of 2014 on Twitter.
What do 184.5 million tweets look like? Cool spin art!

Image Source
12. The Depth of the Problem

When you want to illustrate scale, static data visualization can be a great way to make your point. The infographic below from The Washington Post is incredibly long … and that’s on purpose.
In this case, they’re showing how crazy far a deep-sea signal from an airplane can be detected by comparing that depth to tall buildings, the maximum depth of known mammals, the depth of the Titanic wreck, and so on.

Image Source
It’s a great use of simple visuals and color gradients. Finally, adding data to a news story (in this case, the missing Malaysian airliner) provides necessary context.
13. Funding the Final Frontier

While the infographic above is pretty simple, there are ways to create well-designed infographics that deliver a large amount of data. The secret? A simple and clean format that makes it easy for readers to understand the data.

Image Source
This infographic, created by GOOD Magazine and Column Five, breaks down NASA’s five-year budget to show how and where the money will be spent. Plus, it has an on-theme design — an all-around win.
14. Caritas Kontaktladen Annual Report

Not all data visualizations need to be animated. When real-world data is visualized with real-life examples, the results can be stunning. The designer of this visual took a unique approach to the data contained in the annual report.

Image Source
The organization provides support to drug addicts in Austria, so Luttenberger focused on communicating the mission through real-life visuals. For example, this shopping cart visualization represents how much of life’s necessities a welfare recipient can afford each day.
15. Austria Solar Annual Report

While there are many ways to visualize data, using the information subject to actually create the data visualization can be pretty profound.

This annual report from Austria Solar uses actual solar power to bring the company’s data to life through solar-activated inks on the page.
The good examples of data visualization above are great to reference while you develop your approach. However, it’s also important we consider the less effective ways to go about data visualization so you know what to avoid — so, let’s cover some bad examples next.

Bad Data Visualization Examples
There are many ways in which data visualization can go wrong.
For instance, look at this data visualization example of MLS salaries in 2013. The sheer amount of information on this chart makes it difficult to read.

Image Source
Additionally, the scale of the variables requires audience members to zoom in significantly to read the data. Some of the boxes that are being used to depict data appear to be vertical while most are horizontal — this also makes the information confusing to read.
When you include a number of completely different variables within a single visual, it also becomes complicated for audience members to understand — the following chart is an example of this.

Image Source
Something else you’ll want to do is make sure you’re not making your visual more complicated than it needs to be. For example, this chart has a number of variables that are depicted by 3D bars. This graph doesn’t need to be 3D — in fact, it simply makes the information more difficult to understand and view.

Image Source
Lastly, let’s review some data visualization tools to help make this process simpler.

Data Visualization Tools
There are a number of data visualization resources available today but the following list is here to help get you started. Don’t be afraid to test out a few options to determine which option suits your needs (and data) best.
1. HubSpot
HubSpot offers several options for data visualization, specifically within Reports. You can create graphs and charts in many ways depending on your preference.
There’s also a Dashboard and Reporting add-on that can ease the process of data visualization. Lastly, HubSpot allows you to manage your data and dashboards, as well as customize them, in a way that suits your specific needs.
2. Tableau Desktop
Tableau Desktop’s data visualization software offers live analytics with interactive dashboards so you’re able to easily spot trends, patterns, and insights.
There are easy-to-make maps, indicators, and many more visuals, as well as straightforward analytics which allow you to derive actionable information from calculations, reference lines, and forecasts as a result of your visuals.
3. Chartio
Chartio’s data visualization tools offer users 15 types of charts to choose from with multiple variations, and even more options if you know how to use data programming languages.
With Chartio, you can bring all your data together from locations like Amazon Redshift, browse your data with the Visual SQL solution, create and manage customized charts and visuals, and easily share them (via web page, Slack, PDF reports for email, etc.).
4. Databox
Databox provides a number of ways to upload your data and efficiently create visuals to derive conclusions.
There are over 70 integrations that can help you quickly and easily create visuals with pre-built dashboards and reports. You can also create custom metrics. Databox then allows you to connect to Google Sheets or an SQL database, or you can push it via API to view and share your data.
5. Google Chart Tools
Google Chart Tools allow you to visualize live data on your website (and mobile) with the help of a number of interactive, customizable charts and data tools. The most common way to use Google Charts is with simple JavaScript that you embed in your web page. And by using the DataTable class, you can easily switch between chart types.
Grow Better With Data Visualization
With data visualization, you’ll be able to identify, discuss, and act on insights in an easier and more effective way.
So, look to the examples above for inspiration (and as a reference for what to avoid, too!) and experiment with the many tools available to determine what works best for your needs and goals.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The past year and a half has shown many of us that small businesses are too often the unsung heroes of our world. For almost 11 years now, we’ve remained committed to serving small businesses at Buffer. Earlier this year, we decided to make an expanded effort to help small businesses by making something even more accessible for people starting out and going broader in the types of problems we help solve.  
Today, we’re launching Start Page by Buffer for anyone who wants to create a beautiful, mobile-friendly landing page in minutes and update it in seconds, and it’s free.
We’ve built Buffer’s publishing, analytics, and engagement features with small businesses in mind. Now, we’re exploring something adjacent to social media to help with another big challenge we know small businesses face — properly leveraging that one key link that we all get on our social media profiles.  
There are a large number of link-in-bio tools available but we wanted to build something different, something that gives small businesses and individual creators the flexibility and power to create a beautiful page to showcase their brand through products, content, events, or announcements, all from one link.  
Start Page lets you quickly generate a landing page and URL for your business, no matter what type of business you have. Combined with our social media tools, Start Page creates a powerful toolset to start marketing your business.
How Start Page works
Simply go to buffer.com/start-page to begin building your Start Page, if you don’t yet have a Buffer account, you can set one up for free.  
You can start adding boxes for text, images, videos, social links, and more, right into our editor to create the layout you want, or you can choose from one of our pre-made templates. From there, you can customize page colors and style as well as add your own images, GIFs, and logos.
Once you’ve created and customized your page simply hit publish to claim your unique URL and start sharing it in your social profiles, email signatures, and marketing campaigns.
What’s next for Start Page
We’ve already heard from several businesses and individuals that they love Start Page, and we’re thrilled to continue evolving Start Page as more and more people use it as the home for their business. On our radar is custom domains, adding analytics for page views, and making even more themes.
We’d love to hear from you! If you’ve given Start Page a try, how’s it going? What would you like to see us add to it? Get in touch with us on Twitter to share your thoughts and feedback.