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Improving your social media presence comes with plenty of benefits. If you’re going to make a website for your business, you’ll want to optimize your social media channels to drive traffic to your site. Not only that, but an increased social presence helps create brand awareness and reach new clients. Instead of posting randomly on your social channels, look for specific ways to improve your social media presence. Here, we’ll introduce you to 13 different methods that any business can use to start increasing its presence. What is social media presence? Social media presence refers to how present your brand is on social media platforms. Beyond just how visible your brand is on social media channels, it also refers to how a company portrays itself through social media. This type of presence is important to the growth of your brand since it helps you establish your company’s identity and makes your brand appear more trustworthy and credible. It's an integral part of your social networking efforts . With more trust, you can better develop a lasting relationship with your audience as a social media influencer or business owner. Why is social media presence important? Social media presence is crucial for businesses, organizations, and individuals in today's digital landscape. It offers a powerful platform for connecting with audiences, building brand awareness, and achieving marketing goals. Here are some key reasons why social media presence matters: Brand awareness: Social media provides a direct channel to reach a wide audience, increasing brand visibility and recognition. Consistent engagement helps establish a strong brand identity and keeps your brand top-of-mind among potential customers. Customer engagement: Social media allows for direct interaction with customers, fostering relationships, addressing concerns and gathering valuable feedback. It creates a two-way communication channel that strengthens customer loyalty and builds a sense of community. Targeted marketing: Social media platforms offer sophisticated targeting options, enabling businesses to reach specific demographics, interests and behaviors. This allows for personalized messaging and effective ad campaigns that drive conversions. Content marketing: Social media provides a platform for sharing engaging content, including blog posts, videos, images and infographics. It's an opportunity to tell your brand's story, showcase expertise and attract a wider audience. Reputation management: Social media plays a significant role in reputation management. It allows for proactive communication, addressing issues promptly and responding to feedback. Positive interactions enhance brand reputation and build trust. Competitor analysis: Social media provides a wealth of information about competitors, industry trends and consumer preferences. Monitoring social conversations offers valuable insights for strategic decision-making and product development. Lead generation: Social media can be a powerful tool for generating leads and driving sales. Targeted campaigns, engaging content and strategic partnerships can convert followers into customers. Customer service: Social media offers an additional channel for providing customer service and support. Addressing inquiries, resolving issues and offering assistance can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Community building: Social media fosters a sense of community among customers and brand advocates. Building relationships with influencers can amplify brand messaging and reach new audiences. Real-time communication: Social media allows for real-time communication, responding to trends and engaging with current events. It's an opportunity to demonstrate brand relevance and connect with audiences on a timely basis. Social media presence is essential for businesses and individuals to thrive in today's connected world. By leveraging social media effectively, you can build a strong brand, engage with customers, achieve marketing goals and gain a competitive edge. 13 ways to build your social media presence Identify your social media goals Get to know your audience Learn how to engage your audience Stay on brand Be authentic Create a social media posting calendar Branch out to new platforms Stay relevant with current events Make sure not all posts are promotional Strive for relationships, not followers Highlight user-generated content Take advantage of new features Post consistently 01. Identify your social media goals Before you begin putting any of your social media marketing plans into action, it’s important that you establish your goals. A good way to do this is to set SMART goals for specific milestones you’d like to accomplish. Let’s take a look at how you might apply SMART goals to increasing your social media presence. As an example of a goal you might have, you might say you want to drive 20% more traffic to your website through your social channels. Setting your goal will look something like this: Specific: Increase traffic to our website with targeted ads on Instagram. Measurable: We’ll monitor metrics on Google Analytics to see the sources of traffic coming to our website. Achievable: Our goal of 20% is realistic based on our budget and timeline. Relevant: This goal will not only bring more traffic to our site but make our brand more visible on social media. Time-bound: We’re setting ourselves a deadline to reach this goal by the end of the next quarter. Setting your goals early on in your social media strategy will help guide you moving forward and gives purpose to each post that you upload. 02. Get to know your audience As a brand, one of your objectives should be getting to know your audience well since this will allow you to create tailored content that’s more likely to grab their attention and gain their trust. You want to know your end user’s interests, what social platforms they use most regularly and what problems they’re facing that your brand can help solve. An excellent way to start getting to know your clients is to create a buyer persona, which is a profile of your ideal target customer that encompasses all of these elements. To help you get audience insights, pay attention to the metrics provided by social media channels as well as social media analytics dashboards, such as Google Analytics. Look at demographics, age, interests, and the platforms they use to see if there are any trends you can pick up on to fine-tune your target audience. You can also deploy social listening , buzz monitoring and online reputation management , which will help you understand how users are talking about and engaging with your brand on social media. 03. Learn how to engage your audience Pay attention to your audience’s reactions, or lack thereof, anytime you post something on social media. Regardless of the platform it’s on, every post should have a goal of engaging your audience by having them take action. Whether that’s liking an image, watching a video, leaving a comment, or clicking on a link, you want your audience to be as engaged as possible. Pay attention to the type of content your audience finds most engaging and the content that elicits less of a response so that you learn where to focus your efforts. A good way to increase social media engagement is to provide your audience with an easy action to complete. That could be responding to a poll in an Instagram story or leaving their questions for a Q&A session. Here’s how home design brand, Modsy, gets its audience to comment on its Instagram posts by asking them to leave a comment on which design they like best. This engagement method is easy to recreate and it’s a great way to get your audience used to commenting on your social media posts. As a bonus, by analyzing their responses to a question like “Which do you like best,” you’re learning more about your audience’s tastes and preferences, which helps you create social media content and products they’ll love in the future. Learn more: What is Brat? 04. Stay on brand We’ve talked a lot about catering to your audience’s preferences on social media, but the key is finding a way to do this while still being true to your brand. Your brand’s voice and aesthetic are very important on social media, so you want to ensure that each piece of content you release is in line with your branding. Make sure that your social media branding , such as your writing voice, aesthetic, image, and messaging, is uniform across all of your channels. Learn more about social media image sizes to get started. 05. Be authentic Your followers want to interact with a brand that’s human and authentic. There are a lot of ways you can come across as authentic on social media. You can speak to your clients like they’re friends, you can present your employees on your social pages to give a face to your brand, talk about your brand’s beginnings and history, and admit when your company did something wrong or apologize for mistakes. A mix of these things will allow your customers to see you as human instead of just a brand, allowing them to deepen their connection with your company. Skylar Grace, a clothing brand built on Wix, exemplifies this on its Instagram profile. The opening line, “Hey bestie! So glad ur here,” is anything but dry and stuffy and makes customers feel like they’re friends with the brand. The company’s owner, Skylar, also appears in a lot of the company’s posts in the clothes, which helps customers put a face to the brand. 06. Create a social media posting calendar Create a social media calendar that encompasses posts across all the social platforms that you’re using. This will help you stay consistent with your posts, pre-plan any content in advance that’s seasonal or holiday-themed, and it will help you avoid posting repetitive or last-minute content. Having a posting schedule is also a good way to map out your strategy and create and schedule content that’s aligned with your goals. Especially if you’re posting to multiple social channels, you want to make sure your content is coordinated on each platform and that you don’t have any large posting gaps. 07. Branch out to new platforms You might start with the usual suspects like Facebook and Instagram marketing because they’re the most popular social media platforms, but once you get going, you should consider branching out to other social networks. Once you know your audience better, you might find out they prefer long-form video content over images, so it would be in your best interest to start creating content on YouTube. Or, maybe your audience is made up of more business professionals that aren’t on apps like Tik Tok or Instagram, so you want to reach them on LinkedIn. There are a number of social media networks you might consider using, like: Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn (learn more about LinkedIn marketing ) Snapchat Tik Tok YouTube Instagram Facebook Depending on your industry, the type of content you create and your audience’s preferences, try and choose a few new platforms to test out engagement. Pro tip: You can use a link in bio tool like Hopp by Wix to generate engagement towards all of your social media channels by linking to them from one designated URL. 08. Stay relevant with current events Audiences want to know that brands are aware of the world around them. In a study, 66% of respondents said that they want brands to take a public stand on social issues. Many brands are hesitant to take a stance when it comes to controversial political and social issues as they don’t want to alienate any portion of their customers. Sometimes, staying relevant with current events has nothing to do with promoting your own brand but rather showing solidarity with a movement. Nike’s “For Once, Just Don’t Do It” anti-racism video is a good example of this and shows how a brand can still stay authentic to its voice, engage its audience, and partake in a social conversation. You can also post on social media about any commitments you’ve made to external organizations or within your own company when it comes to things like becoming more sustainable, hiring more diverse employees, or donating to a cause that’s important to your company. 09. Make sure not all posts are promotional To help you come across more authentic, mix your promotional posts with other types of content. You want to intersperse more “salesy” posts with other social media ideas such as user-generated content or light-hearted videos or photos that don’t have a promotional angle. Additionally, you want to create posts or engage with customers on social media in a way that focuses on helping them, not necessarily selling to them. This can look like answering their comments on social media, showing how to use your product or service in a specific way, or encouraging your audience to reach out on social media with their questions. Learn more: How to design social media graphics . 10. Strive for relationships, not followers Having a lot of followers might get you access to extra features on platforms like clickable links on Instagram Stories, but getting more Instagram followers shouldn’t be your only goal. Instead, double down on fostering relationships with the followers you have and creating new ones. Social media is your venue to communicate with your customers. This is where you’ll convert followers into brand ambassadors, connect with your audience in a way that instills trust, and talk to them directly. It’s better to have a smaller following with highly engaged followers than to have a larger number of followers that don’t interact with you. So, by focusing on growing your relationship with your audience, you’ll be able to increase your brand’s engagement on social media. 11. Highlight user-generated content Whether it’s through influencers or just clients who were happy with their purchase and shared it online, these are the types of posts you should be highlighting to the rest of your audience. As we saw earlier, user-generated content helps you change the pace from self promotional content, but aside from that, it also makes your brand look more trustworthy and authentic. When other clients see positive experiences from your customers on social media, they’ll be more likely to trust your brand. Since this is also very engaging for your followers and helps you make connections with clients who have posted about your brand online, they’ll also become more loyal. Wix user Timber & Jack , regularly reposts photos on its Instagram feed that were posted or taken by customers or influencers. These photos are still aesthetically fitting to the brand’s page. They also showcase how real customers wear the brand’s products in a way that fits with the company’s image. 12. Take advantage of new features Social media platforms are always evolving in order to stay fresh and exciting. A best practice is to embrace new features on each platform and stay ahead of the curb. Sometimes, the new features may be tricky to get comfortable with, but you can make your brand stand out online if you find creative ways to use them. Instagram is a great example of a channel that constantly releases new features. To most, this platform is viewed as a photo-sharing app, but recently, the app has added many new tools, like Instagram Reels and Shopping, that make it more of a video-sharing app. When it comes to new features, social channels algorithms often favor accounts using them over older ones, so it’s in your best interest to get on board with the trends as early as possible. Dogs of Charm City , a community for pet owners, has embraced many of Instagram’s newer features on its profile. By using a mix of post types like images, carousels, Reels, IGTV videos, and even shoppable items, the company is staying relevant to both the platform and its audience. More than that, it also breaks up the monotony of posting the same type of content all the time. 13. Post consistently Finally, for any of these social media marketing tips to work and help you improve your social media presence, you need to be posting consistently on any platform your brand is active on. Find a posting frequency that you and your audience are both happy with and make sure you release new content according to that schedule. That might mean posting every day around the same time or even having specialized posts for different days of the week, such as posting user-generated content on Fridays or new product launches on Mondays. Reaching your goals for increasing your social media presence won’t happen overnight, but if you’re consistent with your posting and remain active on all your channels, you’ll find that you’ll steadily inch closer to your objectives. Companies with the best social media presence Numerous companies have established a remarkable social media presence, captivating audiences and achieving impressive results. Here are a few examples of brands excelling in the social media realm: Nike: Nike has mastered the art of storytelling and emotional connection through social media. Their campaigns celebrate athletes, promote inclusivity and inspire people to push their limits. Their consistent engagement and powerful messaging have earned them a massive following and brand loyalty. Spotify: Spotify has revolutionized music streaming and leveraged social media to connect with music lovers worldwide. Their personalized playlists, curated content and interactive campaigns have made them a cultural phenomenon. They effectively engage with fans, artists and influencers, fostering a vibrant community. National Geographic: National Geographic has harnessed social media to showcase breathtaking photography, captivating stories and thought-provoking content about our planet. Their stunning visuals and educational posts have captivated millions of followers, inspiring curiosity and environmental awareness. Wendy's: Wendy's has become a social media sensation with its witty humor, sassy comebacks and playful interactions with customers. Their unconventional approach has garnered them a loyal fan base and earned them a reputation for being a fun and relatable brand. Airbnb: Airbnb has embraced social media to promote unique travel experiences and foster a sense of community among hosts and travelers. Their inspiring stories, stunning visuals and user-generated content have positioned them as a leader in the travel industry. These examples demonstrate the power of social media when used strategically and creatively. By understanding their audience, producing engaging content and building meaningful connections, companies can elevate their brand and achieve remarkable success in the digital landscape.

Social media marketing is a key element in the workflow of every professional nowadays – whether small business owner, service provider, freelance creative or artist. No online presence is complete without it. Just as it is crucial to create a website , learn SEO skills and collect email subscribers, it is absolutely necessary to establish a dynamic social media presence and to devise a social marketing strategy. Part and parcel of a successful social marketing strategy is maintaining a powerful social media schedule. This calendar combines big holidays, interesting cultural events and internet holidays. But why do you need a social media content calendar? Because it can be challenging to create original social content on a regular basis, and special events offer a great opportunity to post excellent content and keep your social channels active. Because these time-sensitive events have a strong sharable effect on social media, and tapping into that can help extend your reach to larger interested audiences. Now that the advantages are all clear, let’s move on to the practical aspect and explore how to create a powerful social media calendar with massive viral potential. It only requires some strategizing, a solid organizational skill and following these steps. Understand what makes your target audience tick Different events matter for different audiences. You won’t find the same level of enthusiasm for the World Series finals among a community of graphic designers as you would among a community of sports fans. Make a list of people your brand wants to engage and chart their interests, passions and subcultures: They could be techies, working moms, foodies or fashionistas. Find out what they do: are they into spending their free time going to movies, clubbing, gardening or exercising? Are they college-aged youngsters, Gen Xers with nostalgia for the 90s, or did they experience the disco era in real-time? Figuring out the answers to such questions helps you define your target audience better, which will, in turn, help you choose the most appropriate and effective dates to include in your social media calendar. Determine your social media strategy goals Generally speaking, every social media action you take on behalf of your brand should be guided by a clear objective. When you know what the desired outcome is, you strategize better, and a social media calendar is no exception. Before you start building your social calendar, clarify what are the broad goals that you hope to achieve in posting this social content: Are you hoping to energize your followers in a lively discussion? Do you want them to share your content with their own communities? Are you building a brand identity by associating yourself with specific events? Are you selling products directly through social media and want to see sales go up? Once you have the larger goals in mind, you can break them down into smaller tasks, like increasing social media followers , generate more leads or creating viral posts. After you have the social calendar more or less ready, and you’re starting to create specific content for individual events, we recommend that you go through this process once again. Ask yourself: What is the goal of this Earth Day post (for example)? Do you want followers to share it, or to comment on it? Are they supposed to click on a link to continue to your online store, or subscribe to your newsletter? Are you promoting some kind of time-sensitive deal? When you know the answer to this, you’ll be able to create a much better post. Tip: Choose from one of these url shorteners to get your links just right for your viral content. Go find those dates! Now, this is the fun part: Put on your research hat and get to work on finding useful, fun and quirky dates to add to your social media calendar. To streamline this process, you can do it in phases: Start with the basics and make a list of important national and local holidays you’d like to include. Do you represent a particular community? Make sure you include meaningful dates that your audience would appreciate: Pride Week, Black History Month, Ramadan or Chinese New Year’s are all great examples. Following the strategizing you completed in steps 1 and 2, think about major cultural events, entertainment happenings or significant dates you can add: The annual Grammy Awards, the Super Bowl, the release of a new Star Wars film, or any similar event that you believe will both be the focus of public attention and is of interest to your audience. Go over lists of online holidays and choose the ones that work best for your brand identity. These things can be silly but also very charming. If you find ones that really resonate with your target audience, you’ll do great. You can also maximize the time around a holiday. For example, posting in anticipation of a holiday or doing a round up post after the holiday has passed. Sample social media pages of brands, organizations and public figures and see what sort of dates they find worthy of mention on their feed (Wix’s Twitter , Facebook and Instagram pages are always a good place to start :) ) Check out the Google Doodle archive for excellent ideas for unique dates. Stay organized! Prepare an actual calendar Unless you have supernatural memory capabilities, you’ll need an actual calendar to keep track of all the dates you gathered. Trust us, the slight effort of entering the dates into a calendar is actually saving you a lot of time and effort in the long run. Plus, working with an actual calendar has multiple advantages: It allows you to make sure that your chosen dates are not too densely centered around the same timeframe. You want your “event” posts to mixed with your regular social content, not focused all at once. It gives you the opportunity to schedule alerts and reminders and set your mind at ease. Seeing the social media calendar in conjunction with your other day-to-day tasks will give you a good idea of how long in advance you need to prepare and work on your posts’ content (we’ll get to that in a minute). In technical terms, creating the calendar should be a breeze. You can either enter the dates into whatever digital calendar you already work with, or you could use a social media calendar template. Plan ahead with copywriting and images You went through all the research and prep work – excellent job! At the end of the day, it’s the content of your social posts that will determine just how successful your social media calendar is. Planning ahead can give you the time and the creative space for generating spectacular social media ideas (another good reason to stay organized and keep track of dates in advance). Take every detail into consideration which can include researching popular hashtags ahead of time, and making sure you're aware of social media image sizes to optimize all your content. Some posts require more real-time response than others. You probably don’t want to create posts about the World Cup Finals before you know which teams advanced to that stage, but you can definitely work on your Mother’s Day post a few of weeks in advance. One of your responsibilities is to determine which posts can be prepared ahead of time, and which require more spontaneity. Match the social content to the event As you create your posts, it’s important that you find the right angle to approach specific dates. A post celebrating Thanksgiving Day should look and sound different from one that celebrates “May the Fourth.” You want to take the essence of each event and find a way to talk about it that will excite your followers and benefit your brand. A helpful step in finding the right content is considering the genre of content that would be the most appropriate. You have many options to choose from: Images, videos, live broadcasts, blog posts, polls, gifs, posts that encourage users to share their own content, games (like image captions or sentence completion posts), and more. While posting photos from your office on Wear Pajamas to Work Day is an awesome idea, for an event like Human Rights Day you may prefer a video or a blog post, explaining in greater detail what this day means to you. Use scheduling tools to never miss a date After all this hard work, the last thing you want is to forget a date and miss out on an opportunity to post terrific content. Fortunately, technology is more reliable than our human capacity to remember everything and multitask perfectly. Scheduling tools, like Buffer , are your friendly little helpers that publish your posts for you. All you need to do is insert the content in advance and pick the exact time you want your posts to go live.

Unless you’ve avoided newspapers, magazines, television, radio, podcasts, and the internet for the last few weeks, chances are you know Super Bowl season is upon us. American football might not be everyone’s favorite, but you don’t have to be a huge fan to appreciate the excitement that surrounds any major sporting event. No matter whether your allegiance lies on a tennis court or a soccer field, the Wix template collection has tons of options that will help you create the perfect site for your passion. So if you’re thinking about creating a sport site for your coaching, hobby, favorite team, little league or even sporting goods store, these just might be the inspiration you’re looking for. In the spirit of all things sporty, we’ve found some really impressive websites that we felt deserved the spotlight. Ready? Set… GO! Learn more: How to make a sports website Adelaide Motorsport Festival >> Tennis for Chances >> Pr Golf Online >> Fantasy Squads >> From the Couch >> Cdc JD Maringa >> Just Premier >> Mes Q Sport >> Oxford Parkour >> Parent Soccer Coach >> Poza Rica Deportes >> Ricardinho >> Shaolin Shi Xing Mi >> Derby Darlins >> Sunshine Coast Referees >> Joern Pollex >>

Get started by: Creating a website →  | Getting a domain → Podcasts have the power to capture millions of listeners' attention, quickly becoming the modern-day radio. But why have podcasts become so influential? One of the main reasons is the combination of creators who enjoy having their voice heard and listeners who want to get inspired with new ideas and solutions to their problems. In order for these two sides of the coin to meet, the content needs to be accessible on a podcast hosting site. This, paired with a professional free website , is all you need to ensure the world hears what you have to say. Because the internet is filled with many places to store and broadcast your work, it’s important to know from the start what you can expect to get out of the podcast hosting site you choose. With this in mind, we’ve rounded up a list of the 15 best podcast hosts on the market and reviewed each platform’s unique features, so you can select a host that truly shows off your storytelling skills. Starting a podcast? Use this podcast name generator to name it. What is podcast hosting and why you need it Podcast hosting platforms store and broadcast your content. They also ensure your site does not face any slowdown or overload due to its large audio files and make your work easily accessible. After uploading your content to one of these hosts, your podcast is immediately available for listeners on your site through their embedded web app. Podcast hosts also make it possible to quickly share your audio to third-party streaming services such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Furthermore, hosting platforms often come with advanced features such as podcast analytics, automatic transcription and tools for monetizing a podcast . These integrations can be very beneficial when starting a podcast . Best podcast hosting sites Wix Podcast Player Podbean Buzzsprout Libsyn Spreaker Simplecast Transistor Blubrry Captivate Castos Audioboom SoundCloud Anchor Megaphone Podcast Websites 01. Wix Podcast Player While the Wix Podcast Player isn’t a traditional hosting platform, it’s certainly one of the easiest and most stylish ways to showcase your podcast on your website, no matter where your host is. There are ready-made podcast website templates designed for you to easily launch. The best part is that the initial setup just requires your podcast’s RSS feed URL. From there, the Wix Podcast Player will do the rest for you. Like magic, the player will begin populating the page with your logo, all of your episodes, and their accompanying photos and descriptions. Plus, it will produce a set of dynamic pages, meaning it instantly creates a page for each episode using a uniform format. Therefore, each episode will open on its own page, yet the design will remain consistent throughout – all with zero work on your end. After it’s set up, you can go ahead and customize the player’s style and design, so it merges well with the rest of your site. Plans: Wix Podcast Player is free and all features are available, without limits, at no cost. Key features: Feature and stream your podcasts, all in one place Easily connect your site to hosts using RSS feeds Instantly create show feeds and episode pages Free web hosting for all your content 02. PodBean PodBean’s user-friendly interface allows you to upload, publish, manage and promote your podcasts with just a few clicks of your mouse. But what really sets them apart from the crowd is its crowdfunding options for those more serious creators looking to make money from loyal listeners. In terms of capabilities, the platform is simple and intuitive. One major advantage of casting your lot with PodBean is that your podcast is included in their network, adding another layer of discoverability for you. Plans: PodBean comes with four different plans to choose from. Its free option is a no-frills, straightforward five hours of audio uploaded a month, with 100GB of bandwidth. It also comes with basic stats, customizable players to embed, and your own podcast landing page site. The first paid tier, Unlimited Audio, introduces paid monetization, increased upload hours and bandwidth to unlimited, plus a few more services. If you’re a beginner, you will most likely find what you’re looking for between the first two paid options. However, if you’ve got some exemplary podcasting skills under your belt and are looking for ways to grow your podcast or need free business tools , PodBeans’s latter two paid options will be more fitting. Key features: Monetization capabilities Alexa integration Free plans 03. Buzzsprout Buzzsprout's name is usually found on top podcast hosts' lists and is credited for its ease of use. It’s a modern service designed to keep things simple. The platform brings exactly what a podcast needs to the table. It includes all the good stuff like stats, easy migration and embedded podcast players. Their well-designed dashboard makes it easy to upload and publish your episodes. On the flip side, you can also schedule shows in advance. That way, your listeners are never neglected. If you’re the obsessive type about stats, then you’ll love the mobile dashboard which includes the option to manage promotions and keep a close eye on your numbers no matter where you are. Plans: Just like the platform itself, Buzzsprout offers simplified paid plans. There is a free podcast hosting plan that allows for two hours of upload a month, and three paid plans that offer increased storage ranging from three to 12 hours a month. The most expensive of those paid plans still only reaches $24 a month. However, instead of having a hard cap of audio hours, Buzzsprout will simply charge you for additional hours. The exact amount you are charged per extra hour is dependent on the existing paid plan you have. It’s a nifty feature to have just in case one of your podcast episodes runs longer than expected. Key features: Free for 90 days Mobile friendly dashboard Easy migration from other hosting platforms 04. Libsyn You’ll see Libsyn at the top of most best podcast hosting lists online, and for good reason: It’s pretty great. It’s been around since podcasting first broke onto the scene, it provides a fantastic set of features, and it is competitively priced. While there are other hosts out there that offer a similar feature set or even better pricing, the combination of a longstanding (positive) track record and multiple plans to choose from, depending on your needs, make Libsyn a good first stop in your podcast hosting search. Plans: Libsyn offers a handful of different plans, each increasing in features as you go up. Plans range from $5 a month to $150 a month and the primary change between plans being storage options (with caps from 50MB to 3000MB). Key features: Custom mobile app YouTube publishing Advanced analytics 05. Spreaker From its website, description of its features and the layout of its plans, literally everything about Spreaker feels professional. One thing that sets them apart from most of the other hosts on this list is that it gives you unlimited daily sessions, allowing you to start a live stream as many times as you want per day. The length of time you can keep the live stream going is indicated by the plan you’re on. While this isn’t something everyone is going to use or even care for, it’s a pretty neat and unique feature to have (freely) available to you. Outside of its unique ‘live’ feature, Spreaker offers up the expected features any budding or expert podcaster could want, with a focus on marketing and other professional services. Plans: Spreaker has a free podcast hosting plan cleverly called “Free Speech” and goes up to a $50 per month “Anchorman Plan.” The value per plan increases significantly as you go up. The more expensive plans all increase daily session limit, storage, and improved analytics, marketing and monetization tools. Key features: Chat while streaming live iHeartRadio distribution Ad-free pages 06. Simplecast As you might have guessed by its name, Simplecast is known for being an incredibly easy-to-use podcast hosting site. In spite of this simplicity-focused approach, this podcast hosting site offers a professional service packed with powerful tools for every stage of your podcast’s life. The platform’s long list of features includes unlimited storage, one-click publishing, analytics tools, and a customizable site. A quick glance at Simplecast’s website makes it clear that the platform boasts a modern and bold brand identity, which translates into aesthetic players that can be embedded into your site. Another key differentiating element that has put Simplecast among the best podcast hosting sites is Recast. This unique tool allows podcasters and listeners to seamlessly share clips to social channels, which is an effective social media marketing strategy, allowing you to reach a wider audience. Plans: Simplecast offers three different podcast hosting plans for independent creators, as well as two high-end tailored plans for professional podcasters and enterprises. You can get unlimited storage and uploads plus features such as distribution and multiple shows management for $15 a month. If you need to add more than two members or use advanced features such as curated audience reports and website analytics tools, you’ll need to upgrade your plan. Key features: Unlimited storage and uploads Integrated social media sharing tools Custom domain name for your site 07. Transistor Transistor launched just a couple years ago, but has quickly grown to become one of the most well-known podcast hosting sites in the market. With a wide array of powerful and easy-to-use features, this platform is meant for both large brands and creators who have just decided to record a podcast . One of Transistor's defining characteristics is the fact that it offers unlimited storage for an unlimited number of podcasts for all users. Other notable features include embedded code, professional websites, distribution tools, and customizable domains. But what truly makes Transistor stand out from the crowd is its advanced analytics dashboard. Users can track stats such as average downloads per episode, what apps people use to listen, trends and historical performance. Plans: Transistor offers three different plans ranging from $19 to $99 per month. Subscriptions can be paid on a monthly or yearly basis. Those choosing a yearly plan will get two months of usage for free. All plans include unlimited podcasts, live customer support, in-depth analytics, and a customizable website. The main differences between plans are the monthly downloads available, additional users per podcast, and the number of private subscribers. Key features: Advanced analytics Multi-platform distribution Unlimited podcasts 08. Blubrry Blubrry prides itself on making it extremely easy to start your own podcast . On top of their hosting and plugin powers, the platform offers a variety of rich statistics that users love. Their analytics makes it effortless to always be on top of your numbers and gaining insights into factors beyond the number of listeners. For example, you’ll be able to see where your listeners are located and what platforms they are using to access your podcast. This podcasting hosting site is not only used for the traditional B2C (business to consumer) experience. Blubrry also offers private podcasting that allows you to use their secure audio and video for corporate communications, training, interviews, and even for guest speakers. Plans: Blubrry offers a series of tiered plans based on monthly storage requirements, starting at $12 per month for 100MB monthly storage and scaling up to $100 for unlimited storage. All of their plans come with professional statistics, unlimited bandwidth, a custom embedded player and free file migration. Key features: Powerful analytics to track your progress Private podcasting Easy to use plugins 09. Captivate Captivate was developed by a team with a long, successful trajectory in the podcast industry, which becomes instantly apparent upon seeing the platform’s unique approach. This podcast hosting site is focused on growth, offering a long list of unique features aimed to empower creators and provide them with everything they need to build a successful online business. Among Captivate’s growth-oriented features you’ll find a mobile-friendly website you can customize with your brand colors, mailing list integrations to power your email marketing campaigns, trackable attribution links, editable web player CTAs, a single subscribe promotion link, educational resources in their growth labs and a downloadable PDF report with your latest stats that can be used as part of a press kit or to show potential sponsors. Captivate also has features that simplify work flows for podcasters such as their guest booking tool, dynamic show notes builder, dynamic ad and content insertion tool, episode planning section and more. These groundbreaking tools are, of course, offered in addition to traditional podcast features such as cross-platform distribution, in-depth industry recognized IAB certified analytics, custom plugins, and more. Plans: Captivate has three pricing tiers ranging between $19 and $99 per month (which is discounted if you pay annually). Unlike other podcast hosting sites, monthly downloads are the only element linked to these tiers. The Personal podcaster plan supports up to 30,000 downloads, while Professional and Business set the cut at 150,000 and 300,000 downloads respectively. All features on Captivate's catalog are available in all plans. Key features: Unlimited podcasts and team members, plus network features Marketing tools such as built-in calls-to-action, attribution links, sponsor kit etc. Simplified workflow tools eg guest booking, dynamic show notes, research and planning tools User-friendly analytical dashboard & industry trusted IAB certified analytics Customizable web player & search engine friendly podcast website Dynamic ad & content insertion tool (AMIE), with four bulk editing features to manage pre, mid and post rolls across your entire episode library Highly-rated customer service team accessible 24/7 10. Castos What’s remarkable about Castos is that no matter which plan you choose you will never run out of storage or bandwidth space, as they don't have any caps or limits on those capabilities. Their unlimited storage space makes Castors very appealing for users who want to record longer episodes, test new styles or launch a second channel, as they don't have to be conservative with their recording time. When it comes to advanced features, Casto’s ability to republish your content to YouTube and create automatic podcast transcriptions makes it one of the best podcast hosting sites for cross-platform publication. These abilities are also known to help boost SEO and increase the visibility of your content, which is essential for reaching new audiences. Plans: Castos' plans are split into three main buckets: Starter, Growth and Pro. Even the names of the packages alone can help you find the category that suits you best. Remember that all of them come with an unlimited number of podcasts, episode uploads and downloads. The main difference between the $19/month Starter plan all the way up to the $99/month option is the limit of how many private subscribers you can have. The lowest price plan allows you up to 100 subscribers, while the highest gives you up to 500 subscribers. If you are not sure how quickly you will grow, you can always start with their free 14-day trial and upgrade at any time. Key features: Unlimited number of podcasts, episodes and downloads regardless of the plan Automated YouTube republishing and transcriptions Data from multiple listening platforms into one dashboard 11. Audioboom If you're looking to make money online with your podcast, Audioboom might just be the place for you. This platform prides itself on being the best podcast hosting site for content monetization, operating under the slogan "Host, distribute and monetize your audio." The platform divides its offering into two tiers: Podcasters and Podcaster Pros. The first plan is aimed at content creators with less than 10,000 listeners per podcast episode, providing them with unlimited episode hosting, cross-platform distribution tools, embeddable players, and advanced analytics. Once your podcast surpasses the 10,000 listeners per episode barrier, you'll get access to Podcaster Pros and all the monetization tools that come with it. Audioboom provides established podcasters with sponsorship opportunities, a proprietary targeted ad network, branded content partnership opportunities, premium sales services, live stream collaborations, and more. Plans: Audioboom offers a series of tiered plans based on the number of plays per month your podcast gets. The basic Podcasters plan starts at $9.99 per month for up to 10K monthly plays, and can be upgraded to a Podcast Pros plan for unlimited plays per episode. Both of these plans include unlimited episode hosting, cross-platform distribution, analytics, and embeddable players. The platform's professional plan, aimed at podcasters with over 10K listeners per episode, offers numerous monetization tools for an undisclosed subscription cost. Key features: Monetization tools Multi-platform distribution Embeddable player and social media integration 12. SoundCloud You've probably heard of SoundCloud before, but it wouldn't be at all surprising if you didn't know it's a popular podcasting host as well. In reality, it's not a surprising move for the company. While its primary focus is music, it has positioned itself to be a podcast hosting company without ever really intending to be. SoundCloud's popularity for music gives it a "mindshare" advantage that many names on this list simply can't compete with. This platform already has access to millions of listeners, which lets you kick off with a community around you. Another reason users choose to go with SoundCloud is that they allow you to interact with fans and get immediate feedback. Furthermore, with their Pro Unlimited plan, you can schedule releases, pin your most popular episodes into the spotlight and get access to sophisticated stats. Plans: SoundCloud keeps things simple with only three types of plans: A free podcast hosting plan with a three-hour upload limit per month. On their $135 per year plan you can have unlimited uploading, scheduled releases and more. Key features: Free podcast hosting plans Interact with fans Scheduled releases 13. Anchor Anchor is a free podcast hosting site for creating, distributing and monetizing your podcast, whose goal is to allow everyone's stories to be heard around the world. The platform is owned by the popular audio streaming app, Spotify, which already puts you in great hands if you go this route. This free podcast hosting site has very convenient creation tools that let you capture audio straight from your phone, tablet, or computer, as well as easily edit the content with building blocks that are wonderful for visualizing your editing process. After creating your podcast, the distribution is also made simple. By clicking to a dedicated section on their site, you can easily manage your RSS feed and distribute your podcast among the app directory and beyond. The best part of Anchor is that it empowers users to get paid to podcast, giving you the option to add a donation button so listeners can support your work. Additionally, you can earn money every time people listen to ads that you can even read and record with your own voice. Lastly, in April 2021, Anchor announced they are introducing paid subscriptions which is an easy way for you as a creator to offer paid exclusive content to your listeners. Plans: Using Anchor to host your podcast is completely free. Keep in mind that there is a limit of the file size you can upload, which is capped at 250MB. This size typically applies to files longer than 15 min. Key features: Built-in uploading, recording and editing tools Easy distribute to all major listening apps Monetization features such as sponsorships and listener donations 14. Megaphone Megaphone is not just known for podcast hosting but also for working with advertisers. Their technology is a place where both worlds come beautifully together—allowing both sides of the spectrum to be successful, especially tailoring to enterprises and larger podcasters. The platform’s offering covers the entire podcasting ecosystem, so you can not only publish on their site but also make money and measure your success. Their monetization options use industry-leading targeting so that ads and content can be highly relevant. You also get full control over where, when and in what order ads and promos appear in your show so you can maximize revenue. Plans: There is no price disclosure currently on their website, but you can request a quote on their contact page . It has been reported by other experts that there is a minimum threshold to be part of their network and that Megaphone is geared towards larger publishers. Key features: Dynamic ad insertion and audience targeting Quick and helpful live chat customer support Simple workflows 15. Podcast Websites Podcast Websites was founded by a group of podcasters who wanted to make sure others had all the tools they needed to succeed. You can view this option as a one-stop-shop that handles everything from website creation to the podcast hosting itself. Their services come with website hosting, 24/7 support and many learning tools to help you grow in the podcast industry. For example, if you choose their hosting platform, you will be granted access to a well-stocked video tutorials library, a support community, and monthly Academy education sessions. Plans: There are two podcast hosting plans available to you, one is $97 per month, paid monthly, and the second one is $77 per month, paid annually. The latter includes your first RSS feed for free and both allow for unlimited visits per month, free domain name, and their video tutorial library. Key features: Learning tools 24/7 support Drag and drop page design Features you should look for in podcast hosting sites Choosing the right podcast hosting site is crucial for the success of your podcast. With so many options available, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Here are some key features you should look for to ensure your podcast thrives: Storage and bandwidth Ample storage space: Your podcast episodes will consume storage space, so ensure the platform offers enough to accommodate your current and future needs. Look for plans with at least 10GB of storage, ideally with the option to upgrade as your podcast grows. Sufficient bandwidth: Bandwidth determines how many people can listen to your episodes simultaneously. Choose a plan with enough bandwidth to handle your expected audience size. Unlimited bandwidth is ideal, but pay-as-you-go options can be budget-friendly for new podcasts. Audio quality and features High-quality audio: Listeners expect good audio quality. Choose a host that supports high bitrate encoding (at least 128 kbps) for clear and professional-sounding episodes. ID3 tag editing: Edit ID3 tags like title, artist and episode number to ensure your podcast displays correctly on podcast directories and players. Chapter markers: Allow listeners to easily navigate through long episodes by adding chapter markers. Podcast distribution and analytics Automatic submission to directories: Choose a host that automatically submits your podcast to major directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Detailed analytics: Track your podcast's performance with in-depth analytics, including downloads, listener demographics and playback locations. This data helps you understand your audience and refine your content strategy. Embeddable podcast player: Easily share your podcast episodes on your website or blog with an embeddable player. Additional features Monetization options: Some platforms offer built-in monetization tools like podcast ads, subscriptions or listener donations. If monetization is your goal, ensure the platform you choose supports your chosen method. Website builder: Some hosts offer website builder tools to create a simple landing page for your podcast. This can be helpful for promoting your episodes and connecting with listeners. Mobile app: A mobile app for managing your podcast and interacting with listeners can be a valuable asset, especially for on-the-go creators. Podcast hosting FAQ How do I choose the best podcast hosting site? There are several key factors that should be considered when choosing the best podcast hosting site. Even though price will likely play a strong part in the decision it should not be the only point of consideration. Here are other critical components to consider: tracking analytics, compatibility with a landing page or website, embeddable media player, audio quality and monetization options. Furthermore, you should take into account the storage space, upload bandwidth and download limits. Depending on the scale of your podcast, you can prioritize these different factors to find the best host for your needs. Can you host a podcast for free? Of course, there are several free podcast hosting options available. However, free options often have more limitations on features such as analytics and storage space which you should consider. Many free podcast hosting sites don’t have the same revenue stream from subscriptions so they often serve advertisements to listeners. Be aware that this could negatively impact the experience for your audience, and deter them from coming back in the future to consume more content. Can you make money podcasting? Yes. If your podcast becomes successful and grows to a decent number of listeners there are opportunities to make money, such as through a podcast ad network and podcast advertising . You can also make money by asking for donations or charging a membership. Depending on the podcast topics  you cover, you can also get sponsorships from brands. The key to making money from your work is having high quality engaging content and exquisite digital marketing skills. Promoting your podcast after you launch plays a big part in your success. Does podcast hosting handle distribution? Podcast hosting platforms do not always automatically handle distribution for you. However, some platforms such as Captivate and Buzzsprout allow you to submit your files through a built-in podcast distribution page and directories. This makes the process much easier and faster. Where should I publish my podcast? The most popular podcast directories to publish your show and get more listeners are Apple Podcasts,   Spotify , Google Podcasts,   Midroll  (formerly Stitcher), TuneIn , SoundCloud , Podbay  and Podtail . You can also publish your podcast on your own website, just like we did with our new podcast Now What?  on Wix.com. How do I promote my podcast? Beyond publishing and sharing your podcast to the popular directories such as those mentioned above, there are other marketing and promotional efforts you can take to help promote your show, including prompting listeners to share your podcast to their social networks and write positive reviews. Also community networking and word-of-mouth recommendations are highly effective in this space. Lastly, try guest hosting or appearing as a guest on someone else’s podcast that has a similar audience you’re looking to reach. What is the best podcast equipment and software for my show? You do not have to purchase equipment to get started with podcasting. But depending on the budget you're willing to dedicate to your efforts there are a variety of options to choose from that can help take your podcast to a more advanced level. The most common equipment purchased is a high quality microphone, which you can often plug into your computer using a USB port. Other podcast equipment to consider is buying soundproofing material like foam panels for a recording space that is soundproof. Lastly, you can consider getting a sound mixer, professional recording software and noise-canceling headphones. If you need a little more inspiration before getting started, tune into one of these motivational podcasts to boost your confidence . Where can I host podcasts for free? You can host podcasts for free on platforms like Spotify for Podcasters, Podbean, RedCircle and even Wix. Spotify and the others take care of getting your episodes on major directories, while Wix is perfect if you want a website to build your brand around your podcast. Free plans usually include the basics, but upgrading can unlock extras like detailed analytics or monetization tools.

Privacy is a more important issue than ever for designers. With recent regulations on data protection and privacy — such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) with its recent expansion via the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) — there’s a growing need for digital products that respect users’ data. For designers using a website creator , this means creating work that empowers people to make more informed decisions about their privacy, and giving them easier, more accessible ways to control their data. Let’s look at some of the key legislative requirements and explore how designers and web creators can advocate for better protection of their users’ data, activity and personal information through their website design . How to prioritize online privacy design Design for transparency in data collection Receiving clear consent to automated data tracking Creating user-friendly and accessible privacy policies Giving users full control of their data 01. Design for transparency in data collection Data minimization is one of the major requirements set forth by the GDPR and CCPA. It includes explaining why you’re collecting certain data, and asking for no more than is necessary for that purpose. For designers when designing a website , there’s opportunity here for creating forms that clearly explain why you’re collecting certain information. Generally, the more sensitive or private the information is, the more effort should be put into explaining why it’s needed. These explanations can include why you need the data, its benefit to the user, and the security measures that will be taken to handle the data. Here’s a great example from Mailchimp . During the onboarding process, they clearly explain why, according to international laws, they need a physical address when setting up your account. Here’s another great example from Dropbox . This part of the sign-up user flow asks for a preferred email if a user has signed up using Apple’s “Hide My Email” feature (which creates a randomly-generated email). The prompt explains the benefits of using an email address that your collaborators can recognize. Designing or redesigning products with user privacy in mind allows you to question existing UX practices, and to explore whether there are better alternatives for getting the same information. For example, if you need to ask for someone’s age, having them provide their date of birth would be considered asking for more information than you need. Not only are people more likely to provide false information when asked for data that seems too personal, it could also be unnecessarily risky if the data is not securely stored and protected. 02. Receiving clear consent to automated data tracking Another method for sites to collect data on users is through the use of cookies. Cookies are tracking scripts that record our site visits and activity. Under the GDPR, users have to provide active consent, such as opting in, to being tracked by most cookies. For designers, empowering users to opt in (or stay opted out) to cookie tracking and allowing them to revoke access at any time is crucial. Users’ consent should be given as a conscious choice, rather than as something that they may not be aware of (such as with pre-checked boxes), and it should be just as easily withdrawn if users change their minds at any time. Designers should also provide information about the types of cookies used by the site, so that users can make informed decisions about their preferences. A great example can be found on Slack ’s site. The cookie consent form clearly explains each category of cookies (strictly necessary, functional, performance, and targeting), and allows users to opt in or out using a toggle switch. The CCPA doesn’t require users to consent to cookie tracking, but it does ask that sites include a link labeled: “Do Not Sell Or Share My Personal Information.” Despite the laws around this, users are struggling to opt out of the sale of their personal information , from not being able to find the link to not receiving confirmation that the opt out was honored, at times through the use of deceiving dark patterns. There are opportunities to design a more straightforward experience around cookie tracking. Some groups want to bypass individual opt-outs completely by creating a Global Privacy Control. This initiative, which would be built either into a browser or as a browser extension, would notify sites on behalf of users as to whether or not they want their personal information to be sold or shared. 03. Creating user-friendly and accessible privacy policies Privacy policies inform users about what a company plans to do with their information. Both the GDPR and CCPA require that when learning how to make a website , creators provide a privacy policy with clear and accessible information. Privacy policies should encourage people to read them, so that they’re informed about how their data is being used. This means avoiding long pages of text that use complex legal terminology and small lettering, which users usually give up on trying to understand. Many sites stick to clear and straightforward language, with clearly-labeled sections that are easy to scan. Some privacy policies also give contextual examples related to how they collect data across their site. The New York Times ’ privacy policy is inviting and easy to understand. You can easily navigate between sections using the sidebar, and learn about their data practices with examples taken from their different digital platforms. Broken up into bite-sized sections and accompanied by illustrations and icons, Google’s privacy policy even includes explainer videos that help present the content in different ways. Tip: How to write a privacy policy for a website 04. Giving users full control of their data Under both the GDPR and CCPA, users have the right to access their personal data, receive it in a readable format, and request that it be deleted. This allows designers to create user-friendly experiences that give users full control of their data — including being able to browse, change, and delete any of the data that a site holds. Many tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Twitter, offer automated systems where people can download a copy of their personal data. It’s important that once users download this data, that they’re able to understand what exactly a company has collected about them. This means designing the information to be accessible and intelligible. And finally, part of having full control over your data is being able to delete it entirely. There are opportunities here to reassure users that their data is in fact deleted after they close their account.

When planning how to make a website , understanding how your users behave on your site offers a great opportunity to optimize how they experience your brand. To take advantage of this, though, you need to gather behavioral analytics, or data points about your audience’s behavior. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into your site's behavioral data, as well as answer some common questions on the topic so you can focus on the right metrics and make effective changes after you make a website. What is behavioral analytics? Behavioral analytics is a type of web analytics tracking how a user behaves on a website. For example, many websites use bounce rate as a key metric within their behavioral analytics practice. Measuring how fast or often users leave your site without engaging on your page can help you understand how effective your on-page content is to your target audience. It can also help flag if you have structural site issues that prevent users from engaging. Addressing these two insights can help you improve other business goals, like increasing conversions or retaining customers, and monetizing your website . What is behavioral data? You can gather behavioral data by observing a user’s interaction with a company’s website. A user can interact in many different ways on your website. For example, you can study how often a user clicks on a product or CTA or after how long they typically leave a page. Behavioral analytics makes sense of the interactions comprising behavioral data. What are examples of behavioral data? To illustrate how companies use behavioral data, let’s look at some examples of commonly-used metrics. Ad clicks : Gathering data about which display ads users click on third-party websites can help you understand what advertising most resonates with their audience. Purchase history : You can use purchasing behavior to suggest additional products and retain your customers. Time on page : Understanding how long users typically spend on a webpage can indicate if the page is functioning properly, either in terms of content or user experience. If your average time on page metric is lower than expected, you may want to rethink how to improve the page’s content to match user intent. Customer service requests : Support requests can improve your website experience. If you see a pattern among frequency and type of support requests indicating a problem with how your site or product works, you can easily prioritize and fix it. Types of behavioral analytics metrics You can categorize behavioral data into three main categories throughout your user’s journey from landing on your site to making a purchase. 01. Website behavioral analytics Analyzing website behavioral data can help you understand how users interact with your content and experience your website. You might look at metrics such as page views, bounce rate, CTA clicks and navigational behavior. 02. Event behavioral analytics In behavioral metrics, “events” refer to the actions your users take. While website behavioral analytics determine the overall user experience using data on how a user interacts with a website, event tracking looks at whether users engage with your content—and how they do it. Common event behavioral analytics metrics include starting a video, downloads, playing a song or signing up for a newsletter. 03. Conversion tracking To understand conversion behavior, focus on data that shows whether your users click on your CTAs. If they don’t, you might need to reassess whether your CTAs are visible or actionable enough. If they garner a good amount of clicks but still don’t convert, you may want to reassess your purchase process. How can you track the different types of behavioral analytics? The market offers many website analytics tools to track behavioral analytics and events. To get more robust behavioral data throughout your entire user journey, you can find tools that can record user sessions, create heat maps, determine your high-value customers and highlight drop-off points in conversion. Tip : Wix Analytics helps all Wix website users make informed decisions about their website and business. It lets you track traffic, gather visitor behavior and revenue reports as well as mobile analytics. Who should use behavioral analytics? Most website owners can use real-time data to analyze their user’s behavior across their customer journey: Marketing : Make campaigns more targeted or segment ads for personalization to better acquire new clients or retain existing ones. Sales : Highlight ways to best upsell a customer, based on their previous purchases. Customer support : Offer actionable solutions to frequent issues that may arise. Product : Improve the product quickly and accurately based upon customer feedback to increase retention. Why is behavioral analytics important? Behavioral data can provide significant benefits to companies. According to Google , “data-driven” decision-making organizations are three times more likely to report improvements in their processes. Additionally, establishing a process for reporting certain behavioral data points can translate into more efficient and accurate decisions made across a business’s functions. 7 tips to get you started with behavioral analytics 01. Set clear goals Include targets for metrics you want to track and KPIs you’d like to reach. Remember that you should focus your goal on accurately tracking and measuring behavior rather than increasing conversions by a certain percentage. 02. Define your ideal user journey Map out the paths users can take to arrive at your desired outcome. For example, an eCommerce company might map out their ideal user journey from a landing page all the way to checkout. 03. Determine a tracking plan Don’t track as many metrics as possible when just starting out. Instead, create a tracking plan that takes your desired user journey into account and highlights the events and actions you’d like users to take. Focus on tracking those initially, then grow your tracking process. 04. Assign unique identifiers To get an accurate picture of a user’s journey, assign unique identifiers (such as an email capture or user ID) in a behavioral analytics software to track a specific user’s behavior across multiple devices. The unique identifier won’t change over time and can be traced between different digital platforms, connecting touch points along the user journey. 05. Set up cross-platform tracking You’ll probably want to view behavior across multiple platforms to understand how your users move from your website to apps or social media channels. Use a tool like Smartlook to help you collect and analyze cross-platform user journeys between website browsers and native mobile apps. 06. Keep tracking consistent Make sure you’re tracking the same metrics at regular intervals so that you can identify patterns in your user’s behavior and easily spot inconsistencies. Both patterns can help identify which area of your product or website needs attention. 07. Regularly test for accuracy Before you begin tracking data, run some tests to make sure you collect accurate real-time reports. Once you’ve established a regular practice, be sure to regularly test to ensure there are no bugs in your analytics tools or tracking process.

So, what is A/B testing and how can you start implementing it on your own website and online store ? In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about A/B testing and share testing ideas to help you get started. What is A/B testing? At its most basic, A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a way to compare different versions of something to see which performs better. In these experiments, you define a conversion goal to measure, like clicks or completed transactions. Two variations of the same marketing asset (like a web page or email) are then shown to different users at random while measuring the difference in performance. For example, let’s say you wanted to increase the number of clicks on the “Buy now” button on your product pages. You could run an A/B test to find out how button color affects click-through rates, experimenting with a green button and a blue button. You would: Define your conversion goal.  In this example, you want to measure click-through rate. Design the A/B test.  How big of a sample size do you want? Who will participate, new customers or existing customers? Gather data.  Will you run your own test or use A/B testing software? For how long will the test run? Analyze the results.  Which variation had the biggest positive impact on the conversion metric that matters most? At the end of the A/B test, you’ll be able to confidently implement the winning variation without worrying about jeopardizing conversions. Pro tip: Use a landing page builder  to create pages that target different audiences throughout your funnel. Then A/B test them to optimize them for success. Why you should A/B test your online store A/B testing is often used across traditional marketing strategies and campaigns to increase email open rates or boost social media engagement . However, when you apply these same principles to your online store, the benefits are even more impactful. Simply generating a 1% increase in clicks on your buy button could result in thousands of dollars in extra sales. Eliminate guesswork Designing your online store can be an extremely subjective process, with everyone having their own visual preferences or making suggestions to mimic industry leaders. By continuously running different A/B tests, you can offer a data-driven approach to design and remove subjectivity from the process. Customize design decisions for your business Homepage design, product pages, and the checkout experience look different for every business depending on the items sold and target audience. And, what works for one store won’t necessarily work for yours. A/B testing allows you to generate results that are hyper-targeted and specific to your business and customers. Experiment in a low-risk environment Changing even a few design elements on your homepage can create a jarring experience for returning customers. A/B testing allows you to make these types of changes in a controlled environment without sacrificing long-term customer loyalty, retention or brand awareness. A/B testing examples The most challenging part of A/B testing is often coming up with the experiments themselves. Which pages should you focus on? Which elements should you change? How big of a change should you make? Sometimes, you’ll be able to react to customer feedback. For example, if customers keep asking the same questions about your return policy, you could test different ways to highlight relevant return policy details (like including a link to your return policy vs. including the full policy details directly on the product page). Other times, you have to get creative and come up with experiments yourself. Storefront testing ideas Category page testing ideas Product page Checkout experience 01. Storefront testing ideas Seasonal items vs. evergreen products Should you curate relevant, timely items on your storefront or let customers find what they’re looking for based on their own needs and interests? Example:   Istanbul Cats , an organization aimed at “popularizing the love of animals,” chooses to feature timely items, showcasing their back-to-school products during the summer. Multiple product images vs. a single hero image Do your customers prefer to see a variety of products right on the homepage or is it overwhelming? 02. Category page testing ideas Best-sellers vs promotional items When customers land on a category page, are they interested in the most popular products or items on sale? Example:   Simplu , a Portuguese organic food company, chooses to highlight items that are 15% off. Carousel vs. static images How do your customers like to browse: do they want to scroll down a page and see all the items or do they want a curated set of items that rotate through a carousel? Example:   Onno , a terrarium and plant store, allows customers to browse all their items at once on each category page. 03. Product page Long-form vs. short-form copy How much information do customers want to digest on the product page ? Are they interested in the story behind the product or tips on how to care for the item? Example:   Handlebend  adds extra content to their product detail pages, including how their products are made, their size and weight, and a fun description that encourages customers to buy. Buy button color How does your “Buy now” or “Add to cart” button color affect click-through rates? Should you use a bright color to catch customers’ attention or try to match the color palette of the rest of your store? Example:   Studio007 , a photography studio, opts for an attention-grabbing red color. 04. Checkout experience One-page vs. multi-step Do customers prefer to see all the steps in the checkout process in one place, so they know what to expect? Or, do they like to focus on one step at a time, progressing to a new page for each phase? Example: The Tea Story  shows an overview of the entire checkout experience on one page, moving customers through different parts as they fill in their information. Payment method options How do your customers prefer to pay? With a credit or debit card or using another form of payment? Example:   Box and Bow , a gift box shop, lets customers pay with PayPal in addition to cards. A/B testing software Robust, self-service A/B testing software means you don’t need to work with developers to run experiments nor rely on your business intelligence team to analyze the results. Instead, marketers, designers, and product managers can set up new tests in minutes and easily interpret results. The one caveat, however, is that no-code A/B testing software can be a bit limiting depending on what you want to test. For example, all A/B testing tools allow you to change visual elements on your pages (like images, copy, buttons, etc). However, if you want to run tests within your checkout flow (like experimenting with upselling), you may need to work with developers to add additional code. But, for the majority of tests on your online store, third-party software will do the job. Some of the most popular A/B testing tools include: Visual Web Optimizer (VWO): VWO allows you to create and run tests without a single line of code. Using a visual editor, you can change headlines, CTA, or images, modify existing pages, or make layout changes. You can also use VWO’s enterprise-grade server-side testing product to conduct more complex tests deep within your store’s workflows and across devices. Crazy Egg: Test your website, landing pages, product pages, and more with Crazy Egg. Simply add a unique Crazy Egg snippet to a page, choose the elements to test, and monitor results in real time. Crazy Egg also offers complementary features like heat maps and individual session recordings so you can better understand your visitors’ behavior. Optimizely : Use Optimizely’s industry-leading visual editor to run multiple tests on the same page, deliver different variations to visitors based on ad campaign, geography, cookies, or other factors, and segment experiments by device or browser. You can also run A/B tests on all your channels, including mobile apps and messaging platforms, with Optimizely Full Stack, a set of open-source SDKs for product teams. Omniconvert:  To run more advanced A/B tests, Omniconvert offers a developer-focused tool to run tests with HTML, CSS or Javascript. Experiment with real-time dynamic variables like cart total value, visitor name, customer lifetime value, customer location, and more. You can track as many goals as you want on one page by calling a single line of code. UsabilityHub:  While UsabilityHub, a remote user research platform, doesn’t offer traditional A/B testing features, it does include a variety of unique ways to test different design elements on your website. You can test the effectiveness of links and content hierarchy by measuring how many people complete certain tasks, ask users to compare different design variations, measure users’ first impressions, and run design surveys. You can invite your own customers to participate in tests or recruit from UsabilityHub’s participant panel of more than 170,000 users. How to determine an A/B test winner The value of these A/B testing tools lies in their simplicity and ease of use — at the end of your experiment, the winner is clearly announced on the criteria you established. And with most testing tools, that’s where the analysis ends. A winner is determined by the performance of one factor, without always considering the entire funnel. But it’s important to avoid blindly implementing results from a standalone test. That’s because while they can offer valuable directional data points (like uncovering trends or patterns), they often don’t paint the full picture. Let’s say you define an A/B test winner based on homepage click-through rate and version A wins. Upon closer analysis, however, you notice that while version A has more clicks, it actually results in more abandoned carts long term. In this example, implementing the winning version from an A/B test would do more harm than good. To determine the true winning variation, look at complementary data. Make sure to understand how your A/B test affected: Different customer segments, such as new vs. returning customers, visitors from mobile vs. desktop, or high spenders vs. low spenders Other high-value actions on your store, such as button clicks, link clicks, visits to a specific page, form submissions, or page engagement Sales, including the number and types or products sold and average order value In addition, look for ways to get more qualitative data to understand your A/B test results. Analyze heat maps to see exactly how visitors navigate your site and where they click or get confused. And, if possible, consider running a survey or user test to get more in-depth, anecdotal feedback. A/B testing for long-term success A/B testing should not be a one-and-done activity. While there is value in running one-off A/B tests based on specific needs (like testing a time-bound promotion or changing tests based on the season), this experimental mindset should be incorporated into your long-term strategy. Ideally, you would always be running a series of tests across your online store, both to try new things and reconfirm existing hypotheses. (After all, a winning test variation from 12 months ago may no longer be valid!) The bottom line: Trying to identify the “perfect” design for your online store can be overwhelming and filled with subjectivity. With A/B testing, you can get one step closer to designing the most optimal site for your business and customers. So when in doubt, run a test. Ready to start selling online? Create your free eCommerce website  today.

Here at Wix, we like to think that your stunning website lays the groundwork for all your dreams and passions to bloom into beautiful and fruitful business ventures. After all, creating your website is the easiest part. Right? So be your business seasonal insoles for your shoes, a unicorn adoption agency or scarves for your pooch, we assure you we’ve got a template to suit. Read Also: How to start a business We’ve rounded up a couple (of the many!) most original and unique business ideas from our talented Wix users (for even more ideas, check out our business ideas guide) . Get your credit cards ready ‘cause we know you’re going to love these: 01. Brick Brick Gear As a kid, do you remember how proud you were of your awesome lego creations? Well now, thanks to Brick Brick gear, you can wear those marvelous works of art on your hat. That’s right, your cap can be fully customizable from the design and the colors to the fit. Although simple, their website clearly provides you with all the information you need as well as a ‘gallery’ page to show off all those unique innovations. 02. Unicorn Adoptions Continuing with childhood wonders, we present Unicorn Adoptions. This creative company aims to unleash your ‘inner fabulousness!’ Could there be anything better? (Did we mention they ship worldwide?) Each “adoption” package includes regular updates from the unicorn community, your special chosen package and they even make a donation in your name with every purchase. Basically, all your dreams are coming true. Can you handle it? This site is all about those milky, pastel colors that fit so perfectly with our mythical friends. 03. Fade Away Sleep Sounds  From the creation of two (very) sleep deprived parents comes Fade Away sleep sounds. The white noise sounds help your baby, and maybe even you, fall asleep. These clever parents also offer relaxing nature sounds as well as what they describe as “life sounds,” which are basically familiar noises like a fan, a sprinkler or a train going down a track. You can even send a request for any kind of life sounds you would like to doze off to. Their site includes playful graphics, a cool and comforting gray, blue and white color scheme and an easy to navigate layout. Fade Away has brilliantly encompassed every element a website needs, including a link to their Spotify page all the while maintaining an informational blog for all those parents looking to read up on the benefits of sleep sounds. 04. DeLair Designs Moving on from babies to your furry friends who seem to have no trouble catching a nap at any time of the day. DeLair Designs specializes in scarves and bandanas for your dog. Their expansive product page has been categorized into seasonal accessories, ensuring your pooch is always appropriately dressed. All the bandanas are fully customizable with adjustable buttonholes to fit your (adorable) growing puppy. 05. My gentec We’ve all been at a family dinner when your grandma politely asks, “What is Skype?” You take a long, deep breath because you know you’ve got a lot explaining to do. Luckily for grandmas and grandpas everywhere, My gentec has made it their mission to teach older generations about the technology they didn’t grow up with. Their appropriately basic and easy to navigate website has some of the sweetest testimonials you’ll ever find. 06. Pacific Archery Academy Ready to channel your inner Princess Mia? Now you can! At Pacific Archery Academy you can enroll in archery classes. The best part of it all? You can book their classes directly through their website, thanks to Wix Bookings . Budding archers will appreciate their splendid website complete with adorably designed logo imitating the tip of a bow.

Ecommerce is an always-on, 24/7 job. To keep up, you’ll want to have the right tools in your pocket to help manage, streamline and grow your eCommerce business .  But with so many tools to choose from, it can be difficult to know which ones are worth trying. Below, we review 28 of the best eCommerce tools on the market today and what makes them so useful. Whether you’re looking for a platform to host your site or something to make your day-to-day life easier, these tools can help you keep up with the fast-paced, demanding nature of online shopping.  Ready to start selling? Use an eCommerce website builder  to create your site. What is an eCommerce tool? An eCommerce tool is a type of software or application designed to make it easier for you to manage your online store. These tools streamline various aspects of online selling , including (but not limited to) website creation , online payment processing, inventory management and customer service. While some eCommerce tools are designed to solve a single problem, others are designed to serve as all-in-one solutions. Types of eCommerce tools  No matter if you’re just starting an online store  for the first time or growing an existing business, you’ll likely find yourself reaching for tools across a variety of categories:  Ecommerce website builders: Platforms where you can learn how to create a website and build a positive shopping experience for your customers. Check out our recommended eCommerce platforms . Keyword research: Tools that provide insight into what customers are googling or typing into the search bar when shopping online.   Shipping and logistics: Solutions that offer visibility into and assistance with the shipping process, so you can deliver products to your customers faster and more reliably. B usiness management: Tools for helping you run your business, whether that has to do with customer management, project management, accounting or something else. Marketing:  Tools for promoting your products and brand, be it through email, SEO or other channels. Website analytics: Tools that give you insight into the performance of your web pages (e.g., your homepage, product pages and blogs) so that you can optimize your site to attract more conversions or traffic. Let’s explore a few of the top contenders in each of these categories.  28 eCommerce tools worth trying   Wix   BigCommerce Shopify   WooCommerce   Google Keyword Planner Google Trends Semrush Jungle Scout Modalyst ShipStation Shippo Wix Members Area Avalara Asana Trello   monday.com Slack Wix’s free tools Klaviyo Canva Omnisend Buffer Hootsuite Wix Analytics  Google Analytics Hotjar Kissmetrics   TWIPLA Ecommerce website builders The best eCommerce platforms  give you peace of mind in knowing that your site not only looks good but is solidly built. While you might initially gravitate to certain platforms for their web design capabilities, look for other built-in advantages spanning things like marketing, customer service or other core aspects of business. These features may spare you the hassle (and cost) of juggling multiple tools—plus ensure that your online store runs smoothly. 01. Wix An incumbent in the website-building space, Wix offers hundreds of free online store templates  and a drag-and-drop editor to simplify the web design process. It even offers an  AI website builder , which allows you to create a fully functional website in mere minutes—just by chatting with AI.  The platform comes packed with essential eCommerce features. These include built-in tools for inventory management, multichannel sales , marketing, eCommerce UX , eCommerce merchandising and dropshipping —plus AI-powered tools for product descriptions, images and product recommendations. Wix also supports 80+ payment gateways, in addition to its own native solution. If you’re looking to expand beyond Wix’s toolset, you can search its expansive App Market  for a vetted list of solutions.  All Wix sites are built to scale. With 99.99% uptime and enterprise-grade security, Wix makes sure that your online store can withstand spikes in traffic, cyber-attacks and other potential threats as it grows.  Sign up for Wix  today.  02. BigCommerce BigCommerce provides solutions for businesses of various sizes, with a particular focus on enterprise operations. The platform’s draw is its advanced features, including robust inventory tracking and management capabilities. For larger businesses, BigCommerce offers support for wholesaling, international shipping and more.  BigCommerce has a drag-and-drop editor and pre-designed “themes,” which can be edited with CSS or HTML. Themes typically come with a price tag but come with some core eCommerce features, like marketplace integrations and inventory tracking. BigCommerce additionally offers an app marketplace geared towards optimizing your store and supports over 65 pre-integrated online payment solutions.  03. Shopify Shopify is a website builder designed especially for eCommerce. You can choose from more than 100 free or paid templates and, like other platforms listed above, use drag-and-drop functionality to edit them to your liking.  While Shopify includes built-in features for discount codes, abandoned cart recovery and more, you may find yourself tapping into its extensive third-party app repository. However, keep in mind that many of these apps will come at an additional cost.  Beyond this, Shopify Magic powers several AI capabilities within the core platform—including product descriptions, image editing and email generation. Shopify Payments additionally allows you to quickly set up online payments, though you can choose from over 100 other third-party payment providers with integrations into Shopify.  Learn more: Shopify alternatives Wix vs Shopify 04. WooCommerce WooCommerce carves a unique niche in the market. It’s a free plugin designed to work with WordPress websites. So, if you’ve already made a website, such as a blog, on WordPress and want to start selling merchandise on it, WooCommerce might be a good option. With WooCommerce, you can fully customize your website as you see fit. If you don’t know WordPress very well, you will experience a bit of a learning curve when it comes to using WooCommerce. Additionally, you will be responsible for finding a hosting provider, unlike other alternatives like Wix that include hosting. You’ll also be responsible for website updates, maintenance and security. Keyword research tools While getting to know your customers is a never-ending pursuit, keyword research tools can help you understand your shoppers by their search histories. Given that 50% of product searches start on Amazon and another 31.5% start on Google, according to Search Engine Land , keywords can signal what your buyers may be most interested in both now and in the future.  05. Google Keyword Planner The best thing about Google Keyword Planner is that it’s 100% free. However, you’ll need to set up a Google Ads account to access it. Once you’ve created an account, you can use the Keyword Planner to track search trends for specific keywords that are relevant to your business. Keep in mind that search volumes and other data points are meant for advertisers and rooted in paid—not organic—traffic. You can use this research to guide your Google Ads campaigns, and loosely to guide your SEO strategy on your website.  06. Google Trends Another free tool, Google Trends  makes it easy to explore consumer interests across different regions and time frames. You can search everything from “Academy Awards” to “mini waffle maker” to see their popularity online. By providing real-time data on search queries, Google Trends can help you track popular products, seasonal demands and emerging market trends.  07. Semrush Semrush is a popular subscription-based platform used by SEOs and other marketing professionals. Its intuitive Keyword Magic tool lets you investigate the search volume around any search term or phrase that you’re curious about. Beyond this, the platform offers advanced tools for understanding the performance of your website compared with your competitors’ sites—and through its various reports, you can explore different marketing strategies (both paid and organic opportunities) to pump up excitement around your brand.  Did you know: You can access Semrush’s keyword research data, directly in Wix. Connect your Semrush account to Wix via the SEO Setup Checklist  in your account, or the SEO settings of your Wix-powered blog.   08. Jungle Scout Jungle Scout is a keyword research tool specifically tailored to Amazon sellers. Whether Amazon is your primary sales channel or a supplement to your online store, Jungle Scout can provide invaluable insight into the popularity, profitability and competition of particular products on Amazon.  Ecommerce logistics tools Logistics can be a messy ordeal, but eCommerce logistics tools can help your business stay afloat. From keeping your inventory in check to connecting you with reliable shipping partners, these tools can simplify the process of getting products to your customers’ doorsteps.  09. Modalyst  Modalyst is a dropshipping platform that’s fully integrated into Wix. When you’re starting a business  in dropshipping, Modalyst can connect you with pre-vetted, reliable suppliers. You can choose from products that are available for dropshipping and/or print on demand, then easily integrate them into your catalog. To get started with Modalyst on Wix, open your Wix Stores account. Then go to Catalog  > Store Products  > Find Products to Sell , where you’ll see the option to explore more products on Modalyst.  10. ShipStation ShipStation is a shipping software that helps you compile orders from multiple channels and customize delivery options for your customers. It promises up to 89% off in rates across top carriers like UPS, DHL Express and USPS. ShipStation additionally offers many advanced features best suited for sellers turning large volumes.  Connect ShipStation with Wix  in a few simple steps.  11. Shippo Shippo’s shipping software connects you to a large network of carriers, including UPS, USPS and FedEx. It promises the best rates from 40+ global carriers, and syncs with multiple apps and marketplaces to streamline the fulfillment process. Quickly print shipping labels, send tracking codes and more from Shippo. Small businesses may find that Shippo is a more affordable option for their needs.  Combine the power of Shippo and Wix .  Business management tools As is the case when running any  type of business , running an eCommerce  business involves lots of tedious tasks. Those include accounting, customer management, team management and others. While lots of tools can fall under this bucket, the several mentioned below may be particularly helpful for your online store.  12. Wix Members Area  The Wix Members Area  app benefits both you and your customers by facilitating the production of members-only content. By connecting the app to your Wix Store, you can create, monetize and share exclusive content through your website. This can help to foster a sense of community while opening another revenue stream for your business.  13. Avalara Avalara’s tax automation platform can keep you up to speed with constantly changing compliance requirements. It can identify where you have sales tax obligations, plus bring together data across all of your sales channels (e.g., your online store, marketplaces, brick-and-mortar locations, etc.). Save time filing your sales tax returns, while staying on top of multiple deadlines and filing requirements.  Check out Avalara’s integration with Wix .  14. Asana Asana is a project management tool that can be especially useful to businesses with large teams. You can use Asana to coordinate product launches, marketing campaigns, inventory schedules and more. Create comprehensive “boards” where you can assign tasks and track progress, or set up automation to streamline inventory updates and order confirmations (as an example). 15. Trello Trello differentiates itself from Asana by using Kanban boards, i.e., visual tools that help move internal teams through each stage of a project. Inside each board, users can create “cards” to set deadlines, upload pertinent files and delegate specific tasks. What’s more, employees can message each other within each card, creating a comprehensive single source of truth for mission-critical projects. 16. monday.com Similar to Trello and Asana, monday.com gives you a way to manage your workflows. You can set up your projects on color-coded boards like Asana, or you can view Kanban boards similar to Trello. monday.com lets you assign a task to multiple people, create automations and track “subitems” within a project (among other things).     17. Slack Slack is a popular collaboration tool, known for its ability to bring remote and hybrid work teams together. You can use Slack for everyday communications, as well as project management via dedicated Slack channels. With Slack, teams can share files and discuss ideas in real time. They can also launch surveys and polls, and even offer customer support directly through the platform. Marketing tools It goes without saying that your products won’t sell themselves. Having a strong marketing plan—and tools to coordinate them—are vital to your store’s success. While there’s an endless number of ways to promote your brand, the following tools may prove useful to your efforts.   18. Wix’s free tools  Take your pick between a landing page builder , QR code generator , logo maker  and more. Wix’s suite of free tools  can help to propel your brand forward. Best of all, each of these items can be integrated into your Wix account, where you can manage everything in one place.   19. Klaviyo Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform that specializes in email and SMS. It also serves as a customer data platform (CDP), bringing all of your audience analytics together under one roof. One of its most recent developments, Klaviyo AI, enables you to better segment audiences, view predictive analytics and run highly targeted campaigns. Klaviyo integrates with the major eCommerce platforms, including Wix.  Add Klaviyo  to your toolkit in Wix.   20. Canva Canva offers a free-to-use graphic design platform. It’s widely used by marketers and store owners with little to no graphic design experience. Create stunning graphics for your website, emails, social media and more using one of Canva’s 250,000+ free templates. Canva’s Magic Studio further offers AI-powered tools for creating professional graphics and videos. If you’re looking for additional capabilities and assets, Canva offers paid plans.  21. Omnisend Omnisend is an email and SMS automation platform with 100% customizable templates. You can launch personalized campaigns that pull in products directly from your online store. You can also send unique discount codes, add videos or gamify your emails—plus manage multiple stores in one multistore account.   Connect Omnisend  with your Wix Store.  22. Buffer Buffer is a social media solution that can help you ride the wave of social commerce, a market that’s expected to hit a whopping $8.5 trillion  by 2030. With Buffer, you can schedule posts across multiple social channels, including Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). You can track brand mentions, hashtags and keywords. Plus, you can run social media promotions, analyze the results and engage with your fans and followers. 23. Hootsuite Similar to Buffer, Hootsuite brings all of your key social media functionality together in one place. You can use it to create a content marketing schedule, publish posts across your social channels and create a library of content for future use and reuse. Additionally, Hootsuite will give you content recommendations based on your audience and data analytics. Social listening and brand monitoring tools within Hootsuite further allow you to monitor customer feedback continuously, respond quickly and build brand loyalty.    Website analytics tools Your website offers a wealth of information about your customers. Website analytics tools allow you to tap into this. From showing you which pages more people frequently visit to showing you where people drop off, your site analytics can help you improve the shopping experience and ultimately land more sales.  24. Wix Analytics Wix Analytics , available with any Wix plan, gives you access to a variety of reports. Glean insight into your best-selling products and most-visited site pages. Track which times of day your customers are most engaged and/or where they come from. You can even investigate the performance of your site. Wix uses real visitor data from your site to provide accurate insights into site speed, as an example.  25. Google Analytics Google Analytics can be installed on your site to track metrics, such as sessions, returning vs. new visitors and more. You can see where your web traffic originates, what pages customers interact with the most and friction points that cause your customers to bounce. Google Analytics also captures insights like total revenue and conversion rates.  The basic version of Google Analytics is free. And because it’s a Google product, it integrates nicely with Google Ads and Google Search Console, allowing you to optimize your website and marketing campaigns.  26. Hotjar Hotjar makes it easier for you to visualize how your customers interact with your online store. This eCommerce tool offers heat maps that show you exactly where users scroll, click and engage on each of your pages. You can even access recordings of real user sessions to see which parts of your online store delight versus frustrate them. You can even recruit website testers who will give you feedback on how to optimize your online store. 27. Kissmetrics A behavioral analytics platform, Kissmetrics helps you track the entire user journey, starting from the second a shopper arrives on your site all the way through to checkout. Kissmetrics is a self-proclaimed “person-based” solution that examines every single person that lands on your site. It offers A/B testing, along with data analysis breakdowns by segments and cohorts.  28. TWIPLA TWIPLA, formerly called Visitor Analytics, is billed as a “website intelligence platform” that offers heatmaps, session recording and detailed customer behavioral data. TWIPLA is committed to a no-cookies process, promising 100% GDPR- and CCPA-compliant tracking.  Get TWIPLA for Wix .  Ecommerce tools FAQ What are the best tools for eCommerce? The best tools for eCommerce allow business owners to enhance the customer journey, improve the user experience and make their employees more productive.  Different categories of eCommerce tools can help with different aspects of starting an ecommerce business . For example, if you’re looking for an all-in-one eCommerce solution, Wix is a good option. However, if you’re specifically looking for a tool that helps with keyword research (as an example), Semrush may be a good option. The exact tools you need depend on your business goals and type.  What is the best eCommerce platform? For new eCommerce business owners or for those who need to spin up a new online store quickly, Wix for eCommerce is an ideal choice. It features hundreds of templates, integrations and built-in eCommerce tools—all backed by enterprise-level security. Learn more: Best eCommerce platforms Squarespace alternatives Wix vs Squarespace WordPress alternatives What some of the best eCommerce tools for marketing? First consider what your ecommerce marketing goals are. These will determine which tools you'll need to track and assess them. If you're looking to create a site and promote it, an all in one ecommerce website builder like Wix is one solution. You can also consider standalone marketing tools. Semrush, for SEO, is one such example; or Mailchimp for email marketing. What are some popular eCommerce research tools? When it comes to selling online, you'll want to consider keyword, market and product research to ensure the success of your business. For keyword research, Ahrefs is a good choice. For market research, try Statista or Google Trends. Product research is more nuanced and it's worth using several tools for a more comprehensive picture of what's good to sell. Examples include JungleScout, for selling on Amazon.

When you set out to begin making a website , it can be tempting to jump right into the aesthetics elements that make a site wow-worthy. But if it takes ages to load, your visitors might bail before they even see your design. In fact, poor performance can even affect whether people can find your site as all, since search engines penalize slow-loading websites. Therefore, you need to bake performance optimization into every step of the website building and managing process. No idea where to start? Not to worry—we’ll walk you through common site speed mistakes that lead to slow-loading websites, then offer suggestions for resolving them. Want to build a site that's speedy from the get-go? Learn how to make a website today. 10 common reasons behind slow-loading websites Your servers aren’t reliable Your server is far You haven't enabled caching Your media files are heavy You haven't optimized your site for mobile You aren't using lazy loading You're using third-party plugins Your hosting provider has a low uptime rate Your CMS is outdated You're experiencing high traffic Your site has too many ads 01. Your servers aren’t reliable The server is like the engine of a website, and if it's not up to the task, your website's performance can suffer. Your choice of web hosting can profoundly influence how quickly your web pages load for users. A subpar server, such as shared hosting with limited resources or an outdated server infrastructure, can result in frustratingly slow load times. To address this issue, it's crucial that you find a reliable hosting provider to host your website. Wix invests heavily in server infrastructure and technology to ensure high uptime and reliability. We monitor our servers 24/7 and use redundant systems to minimize downtime. Additionally, we’ve designed our server infrastructure to handle websites of all sizes—from small personal websites to enterprise-level online stores—so you don’t have to worry about switching to another hosting provider when you make it big. Get free website hosting services from Wix. 02. Your server is far When your website is hosted on a single server in one location, users accessing it from distant places encounter longer data travel distances, resulting in increased network latency and sluggish load times. This setup can also lead to traffic congestion during peak usage, server overloads and a higher vulnerability to cyberattacks like DDoS. To resolve this issue, you can use a Content Delivery Network (CDN), which is essentially a network of servers thoughtfully positioned around the world. These servers work in tandem with the origin server, the host of your website's content. The magic happens when the CDN caches your website's content and spreads it out across these geographically diverse servers. Consequently, when a user from, say, South America visits your site, a server nearby is delivering the content rather than one that’s halfway around the globe. This minimizes data travel distance and accelerates load times. Wix comes equipped with a globally distributed CDN of its own, so you don’t need to worry about hiring an external provider. This CDN is strategically designed to deliver your website's content rapidly and efficiently, irrespective of where your users are located. By utilizing this internal CDN, Wix effectively minimizes network latency and ensures that your site loads swiftly for users around the globe. This approach simplifies the process for website owners, as you don't need to configure or manage an external CDN separately—it's all seamlessly integrated into the Wix hosting experience. 03. You haven't enabled caching When you're fine-tuning your website configuration, enabling web content caching can help to speed up load times. Caching essentially allows web content, such as images, scripts and style sheets, to be stored locally on a user's device after they've initially accessed your site. This means that the next time they visit your site, the browser can retrieve these assets from the local cache rather than having to download every single asset all over again. It's like having a well-organized file cabinet at your fingertips, with frequently used documents readily available. Caching lessens stress on your website's infrastructure while improving site performance. Wix enables caching automatically, but you can choose to disable it if you need to make real-time, dynamic content updates or perform extensive, on-the-fly data processing that can't be cached effectively. 04. Your media files are heavy While it might be tempting to decorate your site with large, intricate illustrations or images, beware: heavy media files like high-resolution images and videos can stealthily sabotage your website's load times. These large files, while visually impressive, can slow down load times and hinder the overall user experience. By optimizing heavy files and employing best practices for media management, you can maintain a visually stunning website while ensuring swift load times. Here are some strategies for doing so: Compress your images: Reduce the size of images without sacrificing quality by using image compressor tools. These tools remove unnecessary data from image files, making them smaller and quicker to load. Popular options include the PNG compressor for PNG images and the JPEG JPEG compressor for JPEG images. If you’re a Wix user, you don’t need to worry about this, as the website builder automatically optimizes images for speed and quality. Use modern image formats: Embrace modern image formats like WebP and AVIF, specifically designed for web use. These formats offer high-quality images at smaller file sizes. WebP, in particular, is supported by all modern browsers, making it an excellent choice for web graphics. Wix automatically converts images to modern image formats, like WebP, resulting in smaller image sizes. Size your images for different screen sizes: Display images in the appropriate resolution for the user's device. There's no need to load a high-resolution image on a mobile screen when a lower resolution suffices. Wix users don’t need to worry about this step because the website builder automatically optimizes desktop websites for mobile, which includes the adjustment of image sizes. Consider alternative media: GIFs are a crowd-pleaser, but they are very heavy files. But that doesn’t mean you have to ban animation from your site. Animated WebP or looped HTML5 videos are more efficient and can provide the same visual impact without slowing down your site. 05. You haven't optimized your site for mobile In the age of mobile browsing, catering to on-the-go visitors is a non-negotiable aspect of web design. When your website doesn't perform well on mobile devices, it's not only frustrating for users but can also harm your search engine rankings. Google, in particular, prioritizes mobile-friendliness when indexing and ranking websites. When a website is not adequately optimized for mobile devices, it often relies on larger image and media files that are designed for desktop screens. These hefty files can overwhelm mobile devices, causing longer load times. Additionally, improper mobile optimization may involve inefficient coding practices, resulting in clunky and non-responsive layouts. Wix's mobile optimization doesn't stop at decluttering the user interface. It also adjusts layouts to different screen sizes while giving you the option to make tweaks as needed in the mobile editor. This guarantees that visitors accessing your site from smartphones and tablets encounter a smooth and visually appealing experience. With Wix, you can count on your website looking and functioning its best, no matter where your audience is coming from, and that's a win-win for both users and search engines alike. Pro tip: Wix has a Site Speed Dashboard that allows users to analyze your site’s performance for both desktop and mobile. 06. You aren't using lazy loading This may sound technical, but it's a vital concept in web performance optimization. Synchronous loading is when a page is loaded from top to bottom which basically just means users will essentially be staring at a blank page until the whole page is fully loaded. To address the issue of synchronous loading and speed up website performance, web developers often employ techniques like asynchronous loading and lazy loading. These methods load the images at the top of the page first, then load the other images as users scroll through the page, resulting in faster, more responsive websites. Wix automatically enables lazy loading so that your website loads quickly and seamlessly. 07. You're using third-party plugins Third-party plugins, although valuable for extending your website's functionality, can often serve as an Achilles' heel for website speed and performance. Too many plugins can slow down your site, especially if any particular plugin requires a lot of resources to load. Another challenge stems from the unpredictability of third-party plugin performance. Plugins are developed and maintained by external providers, and the speed at which they load can be affected by various factors, such as the server's response time, network conditions and the efficiency of the plugin's code. This unpredictability can lead to inconsistent loading times, making it difficult to ensure a consistent and speedy user experience. To avoid these issues, be selective of the plugins you add to your site. Only keep the ones that are absolutely essential, or choose from apps that are fully integrated into your website builder (such as the ones in the Wix App Market ). If you’ve installed a plugin that you rarely use, remove it. It’s also worth finding a website builder that has essential tools built into its platform to limit your dependency on third-party plugins. For example, if you're an online seller, Wix’s eCommerce solution includes native payment solutions as well as inventory tools, multichannel tools and more to cover all of your bases. You don’t necessary need to install another app to get started; you can launch your store directly from Wix and only add plugins if and when you need to. 08. Your hosting provider has a low uptime rate Uptime is the percentage of time a web server has been working and available. Ideally, the uptime should be 100%, meaning there is no time when your web infrastructure is unavailable. That’s almost impossible to achieve, because factors like hardware failures, software updates and unexpected traffic surges can throw a wrench into the smoothest-running servers. So, you just want to find a provider that gets as close as possible. Wix stands out by eliminating the need for maintenance windows, ensuring uninterrupted access and functionality. This exceptional site reliability results in Wix websites consistently achieving an impressive 99.99% uptime. Wix employs a multi-cloud hosting approach, distributing workloads across global data centers to enhance performance and guard against localized disruptions. As a result, Wix sites load swiftly and efficiently, and remain unaffected by potential regional outages. Sign up for Wix today. 09. Your CMS is outdated When your content management system (CMS) lags behind in updates, it not only fails to keep up with the latest technological advancements but also exposes your website to a series of risks: Security vulnerabilities: Outdated CMS versions are known targets for cybercriminals. They exploit vulnerabilities in the software to gain unauthorized access, compromise your website's security and potentially steal sensitive data or inject malicious content. Compatibility issues: Modern web browsers and devices evolve rapidly. An outdated CMS may not be fully compatible with these new technologies, leading to functionality issues, rendering problems and an overall subpar user experience. Performance deterioration: An outdated CMS often lacks the performance optimizations present in newer versions. This results in slower load times, decreased responsiveness and potential loss of website visitors who expect seamless and efficient browsing. SEO impacts: Search engines favor websites with updated and secure CMS systems. An outdated CMS can hinder your site's search engine ranking, making it less visible to potential visitors. Wix offers automatic CMS updates and maintenance, allowing you to focus on creating content. You can breathe easy knowing that Wix will keep your website secure, up-to-date and running smoothly. 10. You're experiencing high traffic Imagine your website suddenly becomes the talk of the internet, attracting a flood of visitors due to viral content or a successful ad campaign. While this surge in traffic can be a cause for celebration, it can also strain server resources and lead to frustratingly slow load times if your website isn't prepared. To navigate this scenario, the first step is to analyze the root cause of the traffic spike, making sure that it's not a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. If it's determined that the spike is legitimate, the next step is to check that your web hosting plan is able to handle that extra load—and can scale with your business. Scalable web hosting plans allow you to temporarily boost your server's hardware resources to manage unexpected traffic surges. However, if you anticipate regular spikes in website traffic, it's prudent to proactively enhance your server infrastructure. This entails selecting a more robust hosting plan that offers servers capable of handling increased loads. Wix simplifies this process by automatically scaling its infrastructure to meet traffic demands. With Wix's enterprise-grade scalability, your website can grow seamlessly, ensuring visitors enjoy consistent and speedy performance, even during periods of heightened traffic. 11. Your site has too many ads While ads can be a great source of income for a website, they can also significantly slow it down. This is because ads often require multiple HTTP requests to different servers to load scripts, images, videos and tracking pixels. Each request adds to the total load time. The larger the load time, the slower your site. Ads are also usually served from third-party servers, which may have varying performance and reliability, leading to slower response times. Ads, especially those containing high-resolution images, videos, or animations are heavy files and can significantly increase a page's overall size, leading to longer download times. Render-blocking Javascript is an issue sometimes with ads, as their scripts often load synchronously, meaning the browser must fully load and execute these scripts before rendering the rest of the page. Ad scripts can also be complex and resource-intensive, requiring significant processing power and delaying the page rendering. Ads often include tracking pixels and analytics scripts to gather user data, which can increase the number of requests and processing time. This process of collecting and analyzing user data can involve multiple external requests and scripts, further slowing down the website. Ads are often served by third-party ad networks, meaning website owners have limited control over the code quality and performance of these scripts. Code bloat can cause a slow loading website and compatibility issues. Websites with multiple ads increase the total number of requests and the amount of data that needs to be loaded and can interfere with the loading of main content, causing delays. Ads served from geographically distant servers can introduce latency, as data takes longer to travel between the server and the user's browser. Loading large ads can consume significant bandwidth, especially on slower internet connections. There are ways to offset the impact of ads on your website's performance, including lazy loading. But it's also a good idea to consider the number of ads on your site, their content and how optimized for site speed they are, as well as how they are served.

In today’s world, it’s almost impossible to picture life without certain conveniences of automation. Much of which is thanks to the seamless integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in our daily lives. From the face ID and image recognition we use to open our mobile devices, to digital voice assistants replenishing our groceries, we've become somewhat dependent on AI. We map out our driving routes with constant traffic and weather updates, and we even rely on the technology to curate the types of shows we want to watch. These technologies and their capabilities are now simply an integral part of our lives, and while these automations are convenient, they miss a key ingredient of business success: the personal touches that turn casual consumers into lifetime customers. While it's become easier for creators to use AI to cultivate their presence and realize their dreams online, that doesn't mean it's also gotten easier to provide those business-changing touches at scale. That’s why Wix’s newest version of the Editor is enhanced with new intuitive design presets and advanced capabilities to better create personalized websites faster. Now, solopreneurs, side-hustlers, freelancers, and professional web creators can all optimize their website creation without compromising the bespoke touches they need to engage and convert their audiences. Ready to know how to make a website with the newest version of the Editor? Try it now. As the Head of Wix Editor, Oded Nachshon, puts it, “These new capabilities align with the needs of today’s self-creator as well as professional users. The platform removes barriers that generally complicate website building and enables users to keep their site updated and on brand with the latest technology, setting the stage for the future of creation.” Let’s dive into some of the ways the Editor empowers creators and web designers to grow their business: Improved platform and infrastructure With the newest capabilities of the Editor, users define their own path: whether it's starting from a blank slate, choosing from a wide range of industry-specific templates, or letting artificial design intelligence make the decisions. Now, all Wix users can enjoy full-design freedom to completely customize and create their professional website , from using drag-and-drop to add, resize and adjust hundreds of elements, to Velo ’s custom code to achieve high-end personalization. This includes: Semantic sections Now, every page on your site is divided into sections, or full-width customizable building blocks that separate pages into meaningful semantic chunks. Web creators can add a blank section and customize to fit their needs, or they can add intent-based pre-designed sections which allow for a cohesive and engaging experience. These sections help creators frame more accurate messaging for each area of their site in a more concise manner. These sections can also expedite the site building process for first-time users. No need to worry about line breaks or spacing, users simply need to click the icon and choose a ready-made section wired to match their site theme and input their content. Easier navigation In addition, these sections allow web creators to easily play with layouts and decide where the sections fit within the site. With the click of one button, creators can move sections around the page to visualize the overall layout. This can also be done for the mobile Editor, so that sections can be changed accordingly. Quick Edit tool for easy updates With the new Quick Edit tool, users can skim through all the elements in the section and change them on the sidebar without touching the canvas. This allows users to update content without worrying that it will accidentally move or change an element and impact the design. WYSIWYG software like the Wix Editor reveals real-time design changes and edits to the user interface. Zoom out mode It’s important to see the big picture. As the workflow evolves using the new sections, in layout navigation, the upgraded Editor automatically goes to zoom out mode, so web creators have a better overall vision of their site. This is particularly relevant for creators building websites on laptop screens. Limitless creation possibilities The world has come a long way from the first ever text-based web page in 1991. Today, people of all technological skill-sets can build their own websites, which would have been outsourced to high-tech professionals some years ago. Regardless, most businesses still spend precious time tinkering with making their website layouts rather than invest time in their craft. The upgraded Editor uses state-of-the-art AI technology to give creators the creative freedom of high website design without the extra time and effort with its structured building block experience. No matter what content you put in your section, Wix (see what is Wix ) can always provide suggestions for sections to change the layout. Additionally, professionals who design websites for external clients—like Jackie Treitz, founder of The Paper Bakery and designer behind Netflix's Motel Makeover —can also benefit from the Editor’s newest features. Treitz can quickly create a site to visualize her client projects, offering a much better starting point for both parties. The Editor also streamlines the site creation process so that Treitz’s clients can easily update their own content without harming the design and site aesthetic. Switch layout This new Wix website feature suggests alternative layouts to optimize the page’s content for user and visual experience. Regardless if creators are just starting out in their building phase, or are coming back a year later for a refresh, this feature allows them to update their layout with ease and confidence, no matter their experience or design background. For example, a clothing store wants to update their promotional section from a holiday sale to a summer sale, but the new image size they use doesn’t work with the current layout. The switch layout feature provides a ready-made alternative. By selecting a preset layout option, the store can conveniently add the new content and update the site within seconds. Design presets Web creators can effortlessly change their site’s look and feel, with easily integrated and customizable design kits curated by Wix. Everything from fonts and color palettes to custom designs is just one click away. With a range of site theme options like “retro vibrant” and “nostalgic,”“energetic” or “tech-savvy,” creators can play around with different themes before committing to one, decide to customize certain colors or fonts within the theme—or even decide to create their own distinct palette. To illustrate, an organic wine store has recently rebranded its business as a mobile delivery service. The new mobile business created a refreshed brand identity to match their updated business offering and they want their site to follow suit. The wine business may choose a design preset and shuffle between the range of options to envision their site. They can decide to customize within the preset to include their lilac purple feature color and other relevant design details important to their brand. This change will update across-the-board, affecting the color scheme of the entire site for a cohesive and professional look. Are you ready to create your Wix website ? Check out the Wix Editor and get started . You can also choose to use an AI website builder . Note: The new Editor experience will gradually become available to all users.

We’ve all heard of the term “growth marketing” by now. It has been circulating the web since the early 2010s, when the tech industry sunk its teeth into this seemingly new, hip marketing model. It was, at one point, ‘all the rage.’  And yet, many of us are probably still wondering what the heck “growth marketing” is. Also, how do we do it? “The term has been thrown in a laundry machine a couple of times over the last couple of years,” says Kevin Indig , an advisor to some of the fastest-growing startups like Snap and Nextdoor (and a board member of Wix’s SEO Advisory Board, we might add). Today, growth marketing is best described as a mindset. While its roots lie within the Facebooks and other tech giants of the world, many of its founding principles can benefit business leaders across all industries. We talked with Kevin for his advice on how to think like a true growth marketer. Here’s what he had to say.  Ready to get your business online? Create a website with Wix. What exactly is growth marketing?  Growth marketing is a very systematic, testing-heavy approach to growing a product or marketing channel , summarizes Kevin. “A lot of that methodology came from Facebook,” he says. “Companies like Facebook had enough data to run tests. For example, [they could test an idea like] ‘if we onboard new users and suggest them a couple of friends on Facebook, they're more likely to stick on the platform.’” In the context of marketing, a growth experiment can range from testing an element of a webpage to launching a whole series of landing pages to improve organic discovery.  “In my opinion, growth marketing is often used in the wrong context,” notes Kevin. In recent years, growth marketing has been used interchangeably with performance marketing. “What it actually should be is to say, ‘OK, we can scale our approach to ads or SEO—but we're going to do it in a very systematic testing-heavy way.’” Kevin elaborates on how the term "growth marketing" has evolved over the years. How to assess the health of your current marketing approach  Of course, like all marketing strategies , a growth marketing strategy can’t survive without a clear target audience , product differentiation  and other factors.   Prior to drafting out a marketing plan  for any client, Kevin makes sure to ask three key questions: Is your company achieving the goals that you set out to achieve? “First, of course, I’m curious [to know if your existing marketing strategy] works.” Are you seeing the results you predicted and wanted to see? Do you have a clear strategy already? “Marketers love to confuse strategies with tactics. But a true strategy means doing things in a different way than your competitors. I'm really looking for a clear strategy for the company.” Is your product differentiated and well-received (i.e., product-market fit and market penetration )?  “I'm looking for pointers that tell me that this product is something people like—maybe love—[and seeing] what people are saying about the product and whether the company leans into that.” Only after you’ve assessed the health of your current strategy can you start plotting out a course for improvement.  Growth marketing for small businesses vs. enterprises The elephant in the room: it helps to have a lot of data and a large website when running classic growth experiments. “I don't think small companies can do growth marketing in the same way as big companies—they just don't have enough data,” says Kevin. “[But] the benefit that small companies have is that they can move much, much faster and they can build a direct relationship with their customers that is maybe equally as powerful,” he adds.  “If you are a small local business, you might know a lot of customers by name and that is…something that people value. The advantage is you can be fast [plus] you know your customers on a much more personal level.” “Instead of building these big-scale systems and experiments, you can run experiments at very small scale—and maybe in person. Like what happens if you pitched on product B instead of product A. Or what happens if you test a new discount, a new offer, a new package or a new membership program?” Kevin talks about how growth marketing differs between large versus small businesses. A small business marketing   plan can thereby be just as impactful despite looking different from the playbooks of larger businesses.  Tips for hacking together your own growth strategy If you’ve identified room for growth, Kevin offers four key pieces of advice.  Adopt a meta-thinking approach  No matter the size of your business, it’s always a good idea to take a structured approach to decision-making. Kevin dubs this “meta-thinking”—the practice of being “very precise in how you approach your business.” “Way too often we run on autopilot,” observes Kevin. “[People] often do a lot of things implicitly and they learn what is called ‘tacit knowledge.’ They don't write down, ‘Today I tried this and that was the result.’”  “So, my advice for small businesses is to be very, very clear in your approach to winning new customers…and developing a hypothesis for [what you think will work], then testing it systematically.”  He continues, “We're very quick to repeat what we hear and take on the opinions of others…I think it's critical to be honest with yourself about how you know something, [even if the answer is that it’s just a hunch or an idea you got from a book]. Just be honest with yourself about how you know [something] because then it's easier to question, and you don't identify yourself with that opinion and you can be more systematic.”  Use AI to scale while retaining a personal touch AI has opened up a path to scaling and reacting to experiments faster and better than ever before. It has, at the same time, allowed small businesses to scale without losing the personal touch that they’re known for.  “These days, you can customize videos at scale with AI,” says Kevin. “You can, for example…record a video and then change the name of the customer across hundreds of videos [with AI]. So, you can personalize that touch a little bit.” The same idea can be applied to multiple channels and marketing assets, be it graphics for an email or dynamic copy on a webpage.   Talk to your customers  One lost art in marketing: talking to your customers. “I very rarely work with companies where the marketing team talks to customers on a regular basis,” says Kevin. “It almost never happens and everybody knows it’s important. This is one of the few mysteries in marketing.” The best research strategy? Go straight to the source. Avoid jumping to your own conclusions based on generic data points or by simply looking inward and letting personal biases drive your perception of buyers. Ask your top customers—or the customers you have yet to engage—what they’re seeking and where they go to find answers.  Invest in channels where you can share one-to-many  If you’re a small business owner, you’re especially pinched for time and resources. Some of the most creative strategies stem from having this type of pressure—which may subsequently force you to be more selective of the channels you work with.  This is a good thing, according to Kevin.  “I already mentioned video. I think email is another one of these channels,” he muses. “I've come across [a fashion store] in Germany where the owner basically records a video…where she just walks through new inventory and new pieces that she has gotten, and she sends that out to her followers on social and via email. [It’s a] really cool way to address a lot of people and keep them up to date in a very personalized style—and you do it at scale.”  Understanding and tracking success So, when all is said and done, how can you track success? This question has eluded many marketers since the dawn of time. One simple place to start, according to Kevin, is to look at three core variables:  Sales patterns . “You have to understand where most of your business comes from and if that's in line with where you want most of your business to come from…One mistake that I see a lot of business owners making is that they look too much at vanity metrics…Organic traffic doesn't matter if if it doesn't transfer into sales. So, I think a good start is to monitor sales, maybe on a daily or weekly basis over time, and then break that down into all the different ways that you get sales.” Top channels .“Sometimes [your top marketing channel is] going to be word of mouth and maybe some social. Other times, maybe it's 50% SEO and 50% direct traffic. Split sales up by channel or source. And then figure out how to move the needle on some of these things.” What drives progress on these channels? “[You might find that] more campaigns [could] drive word of mouth. It could be [that] a referral incentive system [could] drive more referral sales. There are different ways to grow your presence and sales on channels. You want to identify what drives that—what are the inputs?” Track your success with the help of Wix Analytics .