Category: Marketing Automation

Last Updated on December 26, 2022 by Rakesh Gupta Currently, the Spring’23 release is available under the pre-release program. On the 06th of January 2023, Sandboxes will be upgraded, and as a result, your organization will get the look and feel of the Spring’23 release. In this release, you will find lots of new
The post Salesforce Spring’23 Release Quick Summary appeared first on Automation Champion.

They’re much cheaper than the competition. Is there a catch? submitted by /u/AlainAlam [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Cautious_Objective40 [link] [comments]

It is very important to have the attention while marketing your product online. Social media have not just given us the avenue to connect with Family and friends but an opportunity to make some cool cash in the pocket. In this post, I will show you how you can create attention and focus this attention on your products. Identify your target audience: Knowing who you want to reach on social media is crucial for creating a successful marketing campaign. Research your target audience and understand their needs, interests, and behaviors on social media. Create a content strategy: Plan out the types of content you will be sharing on social media, including blog posts, images, videos, and more. Consider using a content calendar to help you stay organized and plan ahead. Engage with your audience: Social media is all about interaction and engagement. Be sure to regularly respond to comments and messages, and engage with other users through likes, shares, and comments. Utilize hashtags and tagging: Hashtags and tagging can help your content reach a wider audience and increase visibility. Use relevant hashtags and tag other users or brands that are relevant to your content. Use paid advertising: While organic reach on social media can be limited, paid advertising allows you to target specific users and can be a highly effective way to promote your business. Monitor and analyze your results: Use social media analytics tools to track the performance of your social media marketing efforts and make any necessary adjustments. Continuously monitor and analyze your results to ensure that your campaigns are successful. Found this helpful? submitted by /u/Symornrelax [link] [comments]

I used Upwork to get clients in 2022 and so far it has worked fine. But I recently noticed that there’s far too much competition, I would also like to diversify the way I get clients so I don’t depend on 1 platform. What are the mediums/ways you guys use to get clients? ​ PS: I offer MOps and No-Code automation services submitted by /u/he1ping_hand [link] [comments]

Think about a time when you were on the train, sitting in the airport, or simply lying on the couch, and you had to complete an online form on your smartphone. Did you ever pay attention to the mobile form design?
Chances are you haven’t noticed. That’s the goal — to give users an intuitive experience that gets them to seamlessly fill up the form and continue with their day.

In this guide, we’ll review the most effective ways to do just that. Here, you’ll learn how to design mobile forms that are not clunky or misaligned, but that help boost conversions and create a great user experience.
Table of Contents

What is mobile form design?
Mobile vs. Desktop Form Design
Mobile Form Design: 11 UX Guidelines

Mobile vs. Desktop Form Design
Today, your website visitors aren’t just browsing your site, viewing your content, and completing your forms from their desktop computers. They’re also completing these tasks from their mobile devices.
Mobile was responsible for nearly 60% of global website traffic from April to June 2022. That means it’s critical for your form to be simple to review, complete, and submit via a mobile device.
Why is mobile form design important?
The best mobile form design allows for a positive user experience, which ensures a happy website visitor who’s more likely to convert to a customer and become a returning user.
The design, layout, and functionality of your mobile forms play a large part in your website’s overall user experience.
If your forms aren’t mobile-friendly, you may experience fewer conversions, a loss in mobile site traffic, and an increase in unhappy and frustrated customers. And who wants that?
Why should mobile form design differ from desktop design?
“Everything works differently on mobile, so marketers need to make sure any elements of their websites are always optimized for mobile,” says Lilach Bullock, an award-winning marketing influencer and strategist.
“And that, of course, includes forms — especially since it feels like you constantly have to complete forms while on mobile.”
Specifically, think about the difference in the display or screen size between a mobile device, such as an Apple iPhone, which typically ranges from 4.7″ to 6.7″ in size; and a Mac laptop or desktop, which typically ranges from 13” to 24” in size. It’s safe to assume a form that fits an iPhone screen wouldn’t fit a desktop screen perfectly.
If your mobile visitors cannot easily read, complete, and submit your form, you may lose their business. So creating a mobile-friendly form that fits the screen of any mobile device is crucial to creating a great user experience in order to leave a lasting impression on your visitors and help you boost conversions.
What is responsive web design?
If you want to take mobile form design a step further and ensure your entire website is functional on all types of devices, you can implement a responsive website design.
Responsive web design takes into consideration the user’s screen size, platform, orientation, and environment. This is a simple and effective way to create a great user experience since so many people are constantly visiting and browsing different websites on various devices.
There are several ways you can make sure your site has a responsive design. For example, if you’re a WordPress user, there are several responsive WordPress themes that you can install and use to design your site.
Additionally, if you’re building, or have built, your site with software such as Squarespace, your site may automatically come with responsive web design.
Today, responsive web design is a popular choice for businesses due to the sheer number of people visiting websites via a variety of different mobile devices. But for now, let’s get back to discussing mobile form design.

Mobile Form Design: 11 UX Guidelines
“When designing your mobile forms,” explains Bullock, “it’s important to keep things simple and make them as quick as possible. [Forms] are more difficult to complete on mobile and everything feels like it takes longer than it should.”
In other words, the most important thing is simplicity for the end-user. When creating a mobile-friendly form, there are some steps you’ll want to take to provide the best user experience possible for your visitors. Let’s review 11 of these mobile form design best practices that you can begin implementing today.

1. Minimize the number of form fields.
Ever heard the saying, “less is more”? Well, that’s precisely what you should be thinking while creating your mobile form.
Between the size of a mobile device’s screen and the amount of content you need to place in your form, it’s easy to accidentally make your form feel cluttered. Remember to remove unnecessary fluff. Only keep the form fields for information that you absolutely need.
To streamline the process, you’ll also want to label your form fields clearly and succinctly, and mark optional fields as “optional” or include an asterisk next to the required ones.

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The aim is to make the form as easy as possible to fill out so that the chances of people completing the form go up.
2. Automate inputs when possible.
If you accidentally mistype your street address and the form corrects the spelling for you, the form autocorrects your response.
If you begin typing your shipping address and a box pops up with the rest of your address asking you if you want to “autofill” the rest of the form fields with your saved address, then your form is autocompleting your response for you.
By implementing autocorrect and autofill features on your mobile forms, you’ll improve user experience by making it quick, simple, and straightforward for users to enter their details.
In the below example, a person can easily autofill their information by clicking on the small pop-up that appears.

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3. Use a single-column layout.
When you’re creating a long or multi-step form, list all of your content in a single-column layout.

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Single-column form layouts are:
a. Easier to read.
Placing all your form fields in a single-column format allows your visitors to focus on only one item at a time, making your form easier to read.
b. Less daunting.
If you look at a form, especially in a tight space as you would on a mobile device, and see a large amount of content smushed together, you may feel overwhelmed. That’s why separating your content by rows and placing your form fields in a single-column format make your content look and feel less intimidating.
c. Quicker to complete.
When you place your multi-step form in a single column, leads can complete it more quickly than they would a multi-column form. That’s because the format makes the form easier to read and work through step-by-step.
Take a look at this sign-up form on the HubSpot website when viewed from a desktop or a laptop.

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The two-column layout makes sense here, as there’s plenty of space on the wider screen to work with. Now check out the same form when viewed from a mobile device.

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This single-column layout allows the eye to flow naturally while preventing clutter on the compact mobile screen.
4. Consistency matters (and so does form appearance).
How do you close a folder or an open tab on your laptop?
By clicking the ‘x’ button in the top-right corner.
But what if the button didn’t appear while on a particular application? How would you feel when you went to close the window?
Confused or irritated, maybe. You might spend a minute or two figuring out how to shut the application.
This is just a broad example but serves well to illustrate the importance of consistency. Watch this video to learn more.

Consistency in form design applies not just to style (colors, typography, logo, etc.) but to generally-accepted conventions that people are used to.
Here are some tips to ensure a consistent experience:

Match your form’s look and feel to your brand and website.
Ensure your form’s styling and formatting are consistent and complementary (nothing should look jarring or out of place).
Align your form field inputs to the left.
Affix each label above its corresponding input box and left-align it.
Use an asterisk to indicate compulsory questions.

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First impressions leave a lasting impression (in life and in business). That goes for your mobile forms. Nobody wants to complete a dark, difficult-to-read, cluttered, and unattractive form.
Your mobile form should be highly functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. Its appearance should contribute to its readability and positive user experience. To achieve this, use a simple and easy-to-read font style and size, a color palette that doesn’t feel overwhelming, and minimal form fields.
5. Keep in mind the touch experience.
Think about how you hold your phone while texting.
Most likely, gripping the phone with two hands while using your thumbs to interact with the screen. Or you might even do it single-handedly or type by using your index finger.
We interact with smartphones much differently than a laptop or desktop (cue the texting thumb), and mobile form design should reflect that.
Here are some suggestions to keep in mind:

Have adequate whitespace to keep the form clutter-free and avoid accidental button presses.
Ensure buttons are logically positioned (for example, the submit button near the bottom of the form, so users don’t have to scroll up to find it).
Check that the text (font size and style) is legible on the small mobile screen (no one wants to pinch their screen and zoom in to be able to read the text).
Make sure the form fields and buttons are large enough to be comfortably tapped with a finger.
Make the form pop-up towards the lower part of the screen (where possible) to make it easy to reach.

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6. Leverage input constraints.
Input constraints restrict the type of response a person can enter in a form field. This can include a word limit (say, while filling out a job application form) or only being able to input digits (in the case of a phone number).
This is seen in the form below, where a numeric keyboard pops up when a person goes to enter their phone number.

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Input constraints maximize form efficiency by limiting inadvertent mistakes, delays, or confusion. For example, if someone was trying to make a reservation for a table at a restaurant and accidentally selected a date in the past, the constraint would prevent them from actually being able to select and confirm that date.
This is especially crucial when designing for mobile as smaller screens make it harder to enter information accurately. By setting input constraints, you’ll save people time while completing your form fields, and prevent yourself from receiving long-winded or invalid answers.
Here’s another example of an input constraint.
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7. Create clear action buttons.
Buttons are an underrated aspect of mobile form design. Think about it: You get a form submission or conversion only after the right button is pressed. So you really can’t overlook this element.
This UI cheat sheet and UX Planet blog are great resources for designing effective buttons. Here’s a quick run-through of some of the mentioned principles that you can apply to your mobile forms.

Too many buttons spoil the broth (just like form fields, keep only the essential buttons).
Style and label your buttons consistently (capitalization, formatting, alignment, etc.).
Let the focus shine on the primary button (the main action you want the user to take) by making it stand out by size or color.
Right is right — a common rule of thumb for mobile is to position the main button on the right side and the second one on the left (though this can vary according to individual needs).
Specific labels are almost always the answer (“Edit this page” over “Edit”).

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8. Provide card scanners for payments.
Tried entering your credit card details in a form via your smartphone? Typing a bunch of numbers on a small screen with a small keyboard can be a tedious process.
Card scanning apps, such as Microblink, have become increasingly popular for that exact reason. When making a purchase, your visitors can click a button that takes them to a screen where they can use their mobile device’s camera to take a secure photo of the front and back of their card, whether that be their license or credit card.

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With just a couple of pictures, your leads will be finished with one of the most time-consuming parts of the mobile form completion process — keeping your visitors efficient as well as frustration and error-free.
9. Explain the need for specific information.
While completing a simple email signup or a registration form, have you ever been asked to provide personal information that has nothing to do with the signup form itself?
This is a common occurrence in all types of forms (not just mobile). Asking someone for personal or other sensitive information without explaining your need for it can seem sketchy.
When asking a question that doesn’t directly relate to the reason your visitor is filling out the form, it’s essential to create a summary box (with additional information) that the person can click on to understand why you’re asking for this information.
Such indicators can also help provide extra guidance on completing a form field when the instructions are not immediately apparent. In the image below, a summary box pops up when a person hovers over the icon.

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These small details will make your form feel professional and thoughtful while reducing the odds of the user leaving halfway.
10. Gather validation and feedback.
User experience is at the heart of good mobile form design. And validation and feedback play an important role in providing a great UX.
Validation lets people know if the information they’ve entered is right (or not). Notice the green ticks in the form fields below.

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While completing mobile forms, your visitors are bound to make a mistake here or there. The form should flag these errors in real-time so the user can correct them immediately.
For example, if someone adds the incorrect zip code alongside their street address, the mobile form should display an error message. This should indicate — in easy-to-understand language — the error location and how the person can rectify it (as seen in the image below).

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It’s also crucial to give people feedback as they go through the form. For example, a progress bar on lengthy, multi-step forms can make the form-filling process more engaging by showing users how far they’ve reached and how long they have left to complete it.

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Consider a person filling out the above form without a progress bar. They’ll be clicking the ‘next’ button with no idea of when the form ends, and might even abandon it just before the final step in frustration.
Once people submit their forms, you should direct them to another screen or page that says something like, “Success!” or “Thank you” so they know their submission worked.
Here’s an example of a success page on HubSpot that appears after a user signs up to receive a free Google Ads kit.

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11. Make forms accessible.
Accessibility is fundamental to the usability of your form. Forms designed with accessibility in mind can be used by a wider range of people, including those with visual, physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities.
Here are some specific recommendations for creating accessible forms from the World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative, WebAIM, and The A11Y Project Checklist).

Check that the text doesn’t pixelate or become fuzzy when zooming into your form (for better visualization).
Label your form elements in a way that can be clearly understood when read by a screen reader.
Ensure your form is accessible in both portrait and landscape modes.
Avoid the use of a time limit (where possible) to give people sufficient time to respond.
Include captions or transcripts for any video or audio components in your form.
Keep color contrast in mind. Here’s a free tool that can help with that.
Check that your form is fully-usable with just a keyboard.

A great way to ensure that all of the above mobile form design strategies stick is by exploring what you should not do in form design. The below video looks at some examples of what not to do when designing forms on both mobile and desktop.

Back To You
It’s no secret that your website visitors are completing and submitting your web forms via their mobile devices. That’s because it’s convenient and efficient, as most people carry some type of mobile device with them everywhere, making it crucial for your forms to be mobile-friendly.
Otherwise, your forms will be difficult to read, complete, and submit, which may frustrate your leads or cause you to lose their business altogether.
By considering your mobile form design and implementing these guidelines, you’ll enhance your mobile form user experience, build positive relationships with your leads and customers, and boost your conversions.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in Dec. 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

When proposing potential ads at your startup, one of the first questions you’ll likely encounter is, “How much will this cost?” If you’ve prepared a killer startup marketing budget, you will be well-equipped to help executives understand and buy into your vision.

A marketing budget should detail how much you’ll spend on paid advertising, fit into your overall strategy, and prove a worthy expenditure based on revenue earned.
In a world where 82% of startups fail from cash flow problems, the stakes are higher for these new businesses. Startups often face limited resources and smaller budgets, making it difficult to stake claim to a marketing budget.
This post covers how to determine what your marketing budget should be and what it needs to include.
Table of Contents

Marketing Costs for a Startup
Startup Marketing Budget Considerations
Tips for Writing a Startup Marketing Budget
How to Write a Startup Marketing Budget

Marketing Costs for a Startup
When your company is new, determining an initial marketing budget can be confusing. In some cases, budget decisions are top-down, inspired by competitors, or made by setting a goal.
If this isn’t the case for your startup’s operations, focus first on what will bring in the most revenue. Revenue determines what your marketing budget should be and where funds should be allocated.

The money gained from your gross revenue should fund your marketing budget. So, how much of your gross revenue will you need? The average marketing budget for startups should be 11.2% of overall revenue. This percentage gives marketers enough resources to build brand awareness and start attracting leads.
If you’re starting your budget from scratch, consider using a marketing budget template to outline your phase one marketing activities and costs.

Download Free Marketing Budget Templates

To identify your gross revenue, calculate your total number of sales/increases.
If you don’t have a gross revenue estimate yet, determine how much you are projecting to make and use those numbers as benchmarks. Explore tools to help you estimate your gross revenue, like this online calculator from the Small Business Association.
Now that you understand the first step to making a budget, explore other potential needs you may have.

Startup Marketing Budget Considerations
So, what do you need to include in your budget?
Once you have money earmarked, you can begin breaking down the costs. Think of what costs naturally occur in your day-to-day and what resources you’ll need to make your marketing happen.
You can put this information in a spreadsheet or template, like these free marketing offerings from HubSpot.There are no real rules with budget design, as long as it’s comprehensible and detailed enough to be useful.
Remember to consider the following expenses, such as:

Technology. When you are creating campaigns, factor in the technology you need to use, such as software to build a product page or manage a drip program. There are lots of marketing tools at different price points (and even free software), so be sure to write out what software you’ll need to buy. Check out this blog to determine which products fit your budget.
Research. If you haven’t yet discovered your target audience, you may need to invest in market research. Read the section “How to Write a Startup Marketing Budget” below for more info on market research.
Automation. Services that automate marketing processes can make your life much easier. They can also be advantageous to startups that don’t have the resources to spend money on extra hands to complete projects.
Production. If you need content pieces, product or advertisement videos, or pictures, you will want to budget for these items as well. Instead of paying for multiple different services, you could hire freelancers to fill these roles.
Paid advertising. Are you planning to run ads on TV, radio, or online? This is the category where you factor in those costs. It’s easy for paid advertising to add up, with some startups spending as much as 20% of their yearly budget on advertising alone. Remember, you can estimate the cost of paid ads. Take a look at our advertising guide to explore prices on anything from PPC ads to social media ads.
Branding. Assets that build a first impression directly impact your branding. This might include business cards, billboards, swag, and signs.
Content marketing. Decide how much you’re going to allocate to deliverable content. Consider automation services, likeHubSpotorSprout Social, and content ideas you can produce organically for free.
Traditional advertising. If applicable to your business, make traditional advertising a line item. Paid advertising usually occurs online, but traditional advertising refers to advertisements such as print and billboards.
New employees. If you plan on growing your team with full-time or part-time staff, you will likely need to include their costs in your marketing budget.
Unexpected costs. Expect the unexpected when figuring out your budget. Plan for devices to break or campaigns to take longer than you think they will, generating higher costs.

Working from your business goals helps you make guided budgeting decisions. For example, if your company’s goal is to increase brand awareness, you’ll probably want to devote most of your budget to branding, content marketing, and paid advertising.
Remember that you can play around with free methods for most of these costs. For example, if you are certain that automated software will help your startup, explore free trials or free services that you can use to determine what’s worth the cost.

Tips for Writing a Startup Marketing Budget
Before writing your startup marketing budget, consider the following tips.
1. Check that investments are worthwhile.
Startups have limited resources and need quick wins. Your first goal should always be to get leads for sales. Before committing to an expenditure, ask yourself, “How does this empower sales?” If the answer isn’t obvious, it’s likely not worth the money.
2. Do competitor research.
Check out your main competitors’ websites and blogs. What articles are they writing about? What keywords are they targeting? And, ultimately, how can you improve upon their strategy?
Remember that SEO is a long game, and you likely won’t see immediate wins. However, you should optimize your articles from the beginning to create the right SEO foundation.
3. Understand your customer’s journey.
There’s a reason why your customers chose you. Understanding their buyers’ journeys is valuable information. This knowledge can help you determine which channels are effective and worth budgeting for.
4. Prepare to report on your ROI (return on investment).
You will be accountable for how your marketing budget is spent. Make sure you keep track of the leads you gather and the revenue that can be attributed to marketing.
When you need to report your ROI at the end of the year, you’ll already have data at your fingertips.
5. Review your marketing budget yearly.
Between inflation and economic changes, your budget will almost certainly need an annual review.
In fact, 48% of marketers predict their budget will increase in 2023, according to HubSpot Research. Whether your budget grows or shrinks, you should be ready to make adjustments.

How to Write a Startup Marketing Budget
As a marketing leader, you must set a budget and determine how the money will be spent. This step-by-step guide shares how you can write a clear, concise marketing budget for your startup.

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1. Calculate your revenue, and determine your budget.
Remember, startups typically need to allocate 11% of their revenue(before taxes) to marketing in order to grow. So deciding your budget is as easy as determining 11 percent of your gross revenue, right?
Maybe, but your marketing budget likely needs executive approval. Plus, you’ll want to back up your budgetary decisions with statistics and a solid plan.
Once you’ve identified your overall plan, you can get a ballpark budget estimate. As a guide, think about your business and campaign goals. From those goals, choose the areas you want to invest the most in.
2. Conduct market research.
Thoughtful research can determine which of your products have the best potential for paid marketing campaigns. You’ll also find out which channels attract the most leads.
Remember: Conducting market research might cost you money and require a spot in your budget. This is especially true if you need to incentivize customers to participate with gift cards or promotions.
3. Work with product and sales to identify campaigns.
Your startup sales and product teams have valuable insight into which products need marketing’s special attention. Work closely with these teams to identify which campaigns you want to roll out during the year.
4. Create a marketing calendar.
Assign marketing campaigns potential dates and costs, spreading them out throughout the year, so you don’t use your budget all at once. Once you’ve created a potential calendar, it’s time to get your startup marketing budget approved.
5. Get executive buy-in.
By this point, you should have a solid marketing budget outline. Your marketing budget will likely need explaining and persuasive reasoning.
Make sure you communicate the strategy behind every cost. Finally, be sure to highlight exciting opportunities and how they play into your budget decisions.
Getting Started
A clear marketing budget can help you grow your startup business. By keeping track of expenses and allocating funds towards essential needs, you can reach your campaign goals.
Having a marketing budget can also ensure you have the freedom you need to make decisions without having to run every idea past executives.
Be sure to leverage the passion your startup company has for its product to make marketing a successful and exciting endeavor.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Staying productive is a goal many of us have, but finding a strategy that works can be challenging. We can also have certain periods where staying focused isn’t an issue, but others where it can feel impossible to stay on task.
This is why reading about productivity is helpful, especially when the content helps you develop your own tactics for dealing with it. Read on to discover a list of productivity blogs featuring high-quality information and strategies you can adopt to get over the productivity hump.

Top Productivity Blogs
1. HubSpot Blog
The HubSpot Blog features various articles on productivity, from tips from experts on their own best practices to lists of tools that can help you be more productive. You can also download a free productivity guide that will help you learn more about productivity and even prioritize your tasks and projects.
Recommended Read: 5 Surprising Research-Backed Tips That Will Boost Your Team’s Productivity
2. Ali Abdaal
Ali Abdaal uses his experience as a doctor and studying for school to write his blog, The Ultimate Guide to Productivity. In his posts, he talks about what it means to be productive and how people can achieve their versions of productivity with the tools they already have.
Recommended Read: The 2-minute productivity rule
3. Thrive Global
Entrepreneur Arianna Huffington is the founder of Thrive Global, a site that features productivity solutions that reference technology, science, and behavioral psychology.
Recommended Read: 5 tips on how to be a multi-passionate and fulfilled creator
4. Study Hacks Blog
Cal Newport, a computer science professor and bestselling author, is the writer behind Study Hacks Blog, where readers can learn how to achieve their productivity goals and use digital tools to enrich their processes instead of letting them get in the way.
Recommended Read: Professio sano in vitam sanam (on balancing work and life)
5. Work in Progress
Work in Progress’s Work Culture section regularly features helpful interviews with experts and productivity discussions to help you learn more about what it looks like and how to tackle it yourself. You’ll even find unique articles like how to distance yourself from the 24/7, always-on culture while still achieving your personal goals.
Recommended Read: Hobbies are the Antidote to Hustle Cutlure that we need
6. Zen Habits
Leo Babuta, the founder of Zen Habits blog, says the site is a resource for finding simplicity and mindfulness in what can sometimes be chaos. The blog has over a million readers who visit to learn about clearing the clutter, prioritizing their interests and happiness, and staying productive and on task.
Recommended Read: Top 30 Tips for Staying Productive and Sane While Working From Home
7. Boss Babe
Boss Babe is an online community for ambitious women to get the resources they need to grow their entrepreneurial careers and achieve success. It offers online courses and programs to build skills, and its website also houses a high-quality blog with productivity advice relevant to everyone.
Recommended Read: Slow Seasons in Business Can Be Your Most Productive – Here’s What to Do Now
8. Chris Bailey
Chris Bailey says he spent an entire year consuming everything productivity-related that he could, from reading books, interviewing experts, and sifting through journal articles, to even conducting his own experiments on productivity. He now uses his learnings to write articles about productivity to help readers develop their sense of productiveness and become more intentional in their processes.
Recommended Read: There Are 2 Types of Busyness
9. See Girl Work
See Girl Work is a Black-owned creative agency with content and strategy outputs that make an impact. It also has a blog that features all types of business-related content for people to learn from and a section specifically dedicated to productivity.
Recommended Read: How to Make a Great To-Do List (That Works)
10. Freedom.to
Freedom.to is a digital tool that allows you to select specific apps and notifications to block to get work done and maximize your productivity. It also has a high-quality blog filled with helpful learning about productivity that will help you maximize your potential and learn more about your needs.
Recommended Read: Am I A Workaholic? A Guide To Finding Balance
11. 99U
99U is a career resource from Adobe that helps people build their skill sets and bring ideas to life. Its blog features inspirational stories about creators and their businesses and helpful information on finding your preferred work-life balance and being productive.
Recommended Read: Is Impostor Syndrome Blocking Your Creative Potential?
12. Asian Efficiency
Asian Efficiency is a blog that features learning resources about productivity and productivity methodologies that can benefit anyone looking to familiarize themselves with the topic and develop their notions of productivity.
Recommended Read: How The 25X Productivity System Got Invented
13. The Marginalian
The Marginalian features articles about lifestyle and achieving one’s goals, often through connections to science and history. It’s a valuable resource for those looking to learn more about productivity and how it can factor into global affairs.
Recommended Read: The Science of Stress
14. James Clear
James Clear has been writing about productivity and healthy habits since 2021. He’s also the author of Atomic Habits, a #1 New York Times bestseller that has sold more than 9 million copies worldwide. On his blog, he writes informative articles about productivity centered around the question “How can we live better?” where he references insights from various fields, interviews with experts, and science-based strategies to improve productivity.
Recommended Read: How to Create a Chain Reaction of Good Habits,
15. The Middle Finger Project
With her book The Middle Finger Project, Ash Ambirge started a movement centered around “having the nerve to enter any damn room you want,” empowering people to take opportunities and build the path they want. The Middle Finger Project blog features articles about life and entrepreneurship, many of which focus on different aspects of productivity.
Recommended Read: U.S. Concept of Time & Why It’s Preventing You From Finding Your Passions
Over to You
Visit some of the blogs on this list, read the recommended post, and see if the advice fits your needs. The right insight will resonate and inspire you to begin creating your strategy for being productive, which will help you meet your goals.

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I’ve been fortunate that we’ve closed down for the last week of the year for the last seven years that I’ve been at Buffer. We kicked off this at the end of 2016 and have kept up every year since then.Closing down for the last week of the year is an opportunity to pause and recharge. It’s like a reset, except across the whole company. I love telling people about this practice at Buffer because they have so many questions about how we continue to operate while closing down for a week.As we work with many small businesses and creators who can sometimes struggle with working over the holidays, it feels especially important to share how we’re going about this.So in this post, I’ll cover what it means to close down for a week as a business whose customers are always using it, why we do it, and specifically how our largest teams manage this time off while still caring for our product and our customers.Let’s dive in!What does it mean to close down for a week?At the end of every year, we close down for the year’s final week. The exact definition of “closed down” varies from company to company – some businesses will completely shut down operations while others will only close particular sections of their business.This gives everyone at the company some extra time to rest, and it creates an environment where no one is worried about missing out on projects or updates while they’re offline because we’re all offline. We’ve done this sort of thing before, closing down for an extra long weekend in the summer, and it’s always been refreshing for our team.When I say that we’re closed, that means that most of the company is off (I’ll elaborate in the next section), we aren’t releasing new features or changing our product at all, we aren’t publishing new blog posts, and it is intentionally a time of rest.In our business, creating tools for small businesses and creators building a brand online, this time of year is also reliably slow. So unlike some other industries that may pick up over the holidays, we can lean into rest by closing the company during a naturally slower period.What does this look like in practice?For most teams at Buffer, closing for the holidays means a full disconnect. Our two largest teams, Engineering and Customer Advocacy have to create systems where we can still serve our customers and ensure Buffer is operational while also making space for additional rest. So here’s how Engineering and Advocacy tackle the week off.How our Advocacy team handles a week closed Our Advocacy team is a group of absolute pros who are taking care of our customers. This year, they’ve helped solve over 60,000 customer support requests with an average first response time of just three hours.Over the years that we have been closing, they have figured out the right balance to ensure we can still help customers while also giving our Advocates that extra rest.To start, we take steps to make this period visible to our customers. They post a clear message stating that we’re shut down for the holidays in all the main channels where we communicate with customers. Those include a banner for people who are in Buffer, an auto-reply to customer support email, a pinned tweet on our account, and several other places.This year, the message reads:The Buffer team is observing a company shut down between December 24 and January 1.We are still responding to customer support emails and messages but will take longer than usual to reply. We’ll get back to you as quickly as we can. Happy Holidays!For Advocates, we ask that each person on the team works one full day or two half days in that period. We have 21 people on the Advocacy team, and we’ll have two or more people online most days. We don’t always have people on December 24th or 25th, or January 1st, and we’re okay with that.The team has in place a clear schedule, expectations when people are online with how to prioritize their work and get back to customers, and guidelines for emergencies. (We have those guidelines in place all the time, but it’s always good to review ahead of the holidays.)How our Engineering team handles a week closedSimilar to Advocacy, for our engineers, we need to have some coverage of engineers who are on call in case something happens.For Engineering, their break looks different because they are on call, meaning they are available if something breaks, rather than fully online during this time. That means that the load of being on call can be spread among fewer people because the likelihood of them needing to be online is lower.The way that the on-call schedule works is that there are several specialized or senior members of the team who are immediately placed in all of the on-call spots. Then we ask for volunteers from the rest of the engineering team to be on-call throughout the week.In addition to having folks on call, we also do a code freeze before the end of the year. This simply means we stop shipping new code and making changes to Buffer. The goal of this is to increase our confidence that things will go smoothly for the engineers on-call and our Advocacy team.A few questions from our community about closing down for a weekWe reached out on social media to see what questions people had about closing down for a week, and we got a few good questions. Here’s our response: Do clients find this frustrating or ever complain?We haven’t heard major complaints or frustration about this in the past, and if ever things have not gone as planned, we’ve adjusted our plan for the following year. We make sure to be very transparent that we’re taking this time off across our communication channels. We still have our Advocacy team spending some time online and can reply to anything urgent.Did this impact your bottom line at all?No, we intentionally choose a slow time for us to be closed. So it’s the right time to take a break without any major impact. In addition, since the Advocacy team is still monitoring for urgent customer requests and the Engineering team is on call, we can still jump on any issues that pop up, and our customers still have support.I’d love to know about the benefits your company has seen and how it positively impacts employees!The biggest benefit we’ve seen from closing down for the holidays is that our team is more rested and refreshed. It’s a unique opportunity for everyone at Buffer to take a break, rather than it happening in spots throughout the year. It means the energy levels in the first few weeks of the year are always really high for us. Taking this week off for all of us at once also gives us a greater opportunity to relax because no one needs to think about projects that are moving forward without them or missing out on team communication. After all, we’re all offline. This is great for us as a team, which translates into being great for our product and our customers.Do you take breaks from work or your business, and if so, what’s your approach? We’d love to hear from you on Twitter or Discord.