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If you’ve stumbled across this blog, then chances are that you’re also eyeing an opportunity within B2B eCommerce. You may be looking to start an eCommerce business  that serves as another revenue stream for your service business. Or, you may be looking to sell your consumer products to a B2B audience. In any case, there are several tips to keep in mind as you jump in. Keep reading for an overview of how to sell to a B2B audience using the online channels and tools at your disposal. What is B2B eCommerce? While business-to-consumer (B2C) involves a transaction from a business to a private individual, business-to-business (B2B) is the sale of goods (or services) from one business to another. As a B2B merchant, you could be selling anything from digital downloads to software, and machinery to office supplies. Today, nearly two-thirds (65%) of B2B companies sell on eCommerce  channels—up from 53% in early 2021, according to McKinsey . It was even found that, for the first time ever, B2B sellers are more likely to sell online  than in person. And, these sellers are investing fully into eCommerce, as opposed to creating a basic website and calling it a day. Learn more: eCommerce merchandising eCommerce advantages and disadvantages B2B eCommerce example in action Akvilė Les has always been a visionary. She has long been at the forefront of fashion, luxury interiors, and hospitality design—even amassing an international clientele for her PR and marketing consultancy, AL by Akvilė Les. On top of this, she dons another title under her belt: lead designer and founder of Akvilė Les Artwork. Her artwork has graced various office walls, galleries, and hotels—earning features in Cosmopolitan, Business Insider, and other global magazines. “It happened naturally, really,” she says. “I have over 14 years of experience in both the consumer and B2B sectors and I certainly enjoyed both…however, the B2B space feels even more collaborative, since the client represents another business with a challenge. My job is like a puzzle that requires me to merge my creativity with my commercial mindset. That’s my favorite convergence.” Read Also: How to start a business Key differences between B2C and B2B eCommerce B2B eCommerce is typically considered more complex than B2C eCommerce for several reasons: B2B sellers usually work with fewer customers : This means they need to move larger volumes and/or sell at a higher price to cover costs and turn a profit. Relationships are vital to success, at times impacting pricing (e.g., you may need to negotiate prices) and demanding a more hands-on customer service or account management team. B2B buyers usually involve multiple stakeholders: In fact, one study by Garner  found that a B2B sale usually involves six to 10 decision-makers, each with a separate process and timeline for researching products. Fewer impulse purchases:  Because of the complexity of the buying process, B2B transactions are rarely impulsive. On the contrary, they may take weeks—if not longer—to close, as several stakeholders within the company come together to make a decision. On the bright side, a good experience could yield a more long-term relationship with regular purchase orders from the same buyer. Many B2B buyers seek bespoke solutions: Be it a marketing team looking to purchase new swag, or an office manager looking to buy new office supplies, some B2B buyers may request products to be tailored to their unique needs. Beyond this, your product catalog, shipping policy, and payment options may need to be adjusted for particular clients. Brand ambassadors are essential : Especially when you’re selling to a large company. If your brand ambassador happens to leave the company, then you may find yourself needing another point of contact who can help champion your brand internally. The players who benefit from B2B eCommerce There’s a long lineup of players that stand to benefit from B2B eCommerce. Among them: Manufacturers : While catering to various types of businesse s and buyers (including brands, wholesalers, distributors, or other manufacturers), manufacturers can leverage eCommerce to simplify the order process. Buyers can search and purchase products on their own. Meanwhile, manufacturers can better track, monitor, and centralize data, improving operations like inventory forecasting. Wholesalers : Wholesalers that have an eCommerce store can make the purchasing process much easier for their partners, while expanding their reach through online sales channels. Distributors : Distributors who sell to a variety of customers can sell on multiple channels to reach new audiences. They can also provide more personalized experiences through their eCommerce sites, adjusting price lists, product catalogs, and messaging to specific buyer segments. B2M brands: Business-to-many brands that exercise multiple selling models (e.g., B2C, B2B, or B2B2C) can create separate websites for each customer type. They can additionally sell on multiple channels at once, honing in on platforms that already have the trust and loyalty of their target buyers. D2C brands : Brands that prefer to cut out the middlemen can now sell directly to enterprise or business customers. Their D2C eCommerce sites can showcase their full range of products, while allowing them the freedom to control their branding, pricing, and more. Agencies and consultants: Service providers looking to supplement their core business with a side hustle can develop an eCommerce strategy that still caters to the types of audiences they know best.   Popular B2B eCommerce channels Depending on how you plan to operate your B2B company, there are several types of channels to consider selling on. Of course, you can (and should) sell on multiple channels at once to maximize your reach: Online store: Often the most flexible and straightforward option, an online store allows you to engage directly with business clients. You may choose to sell solely to B2B audiences or create a separate members-only space on your B2C site. B2B marketplace : Under this option, you list your products to a third-party marketplace that connects you to potential buyers, but owns the customer experience (including how products are listed, how you can interact with customers, etc.). Think: Wayfair Professional, Alibaba, AliExpress and Amazon Business. Social media: Certain social channels may be very valuable to your B2B brand, and with the rise of social commerce tools, you could find yourself taking orders directly through channels like TikTok or Instagram. Of course, you’ll want to test and analyze channels carefully to find the ones worth investing in. 6 tips for getting started with B2B eCommerce Now that we’ve got the basics down, it’s important that we cover essential tips for setting up your business—the right way. After you've properly registered your business ( learn how to start an LLC ), heed these tips as you jump headfirst into the world of B2B eCommerce. 01. Pick your eCommerce platform wisely Your website builder serves as the backbone of your online store. With a plethora of options out there, deciding on the right platform can seem daunting and you may even consider hiring a developer to build your store from scratch. However, the right eCommerce website templates  and builder can dramatically simplify your work, while helping you launch and scale faster. Our advice: search for a platform that not only offers cool store templates , but also connects you with essential back-office features. For instance, Wix eCommerce  offers features like: Wix Payments : As a first-time online seller, it's not always clear how to accept various types of payments online and how to do it securely. With Wix Payments, you can accept major credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, buy-now-pay-later options, and more. This is backed by strong security protocols; Wix Payments achieves the highest level of PCI compliance. Catalog and listing management : Maintain one source of truth for all of your product data, and create product collections and/or listing variations that speak to your B2B customer segments. Enable bulk buying by listing multipacks of products with special pricing. Order and inventory management: These are basic must-haves for any online business. As your products are for sale 24/7, you need a system to accurately and automatically record and route orders to avoid shipping errors, overselling or other costly mistakes. Memberships : Create restricted (i.e., password-protected) store pages for your B2B customers. This is useful if you want to service both B2C and B2B clients from the same site or want to create a special experience for loyal customers. Product subscriptions: Offer a subscription service for curated boxes or recurring orders on a single item. Print-on-demand (POD) and dropshipping integrations : Sell made-to-order products while outsourcing fulfillment with the help of a POD supplier. Wix Chat : Enable live chat on your site so customers can find answers on the spot, or reach a customer service agent as they're shopping. Multichannel expansion : Easily connect to popular marketplaces, like Amazon and eBay, without leaving your Wix dashboard. This saves you the headache of re-entering product details on each channel by hand, plus lets you automatically sync any changes to your listings from channel to channel. Global eCommerce : Automatically translate and localize all facets of your online store. Add a currency converter to your Wix store and start selling to a global audience. 02. Apply B2C principles to your B2B site Treat your business customers like any other human customer. After all, the people behind a company are the ones doing the shopping—and like the rest of us, these shoppers are already familiar with how an online transaction should work, based on their personal shopping habits. On your site, make sure to: Organize your products into clear collections Make it easy to find your products using clear navigation menus, filters, and more Use high-quality product images that show the actual size, features, and intended use of your products Create unique and detailed product descriptions Optimize the mobile shopping experience Integrate videos, including user-generated ones, on your site Include social proof, like customer testimonials, product reviews, and/or case studies Offer multiple shipping and payment options Provide clear return and exchange policies Provide clear contact information, as well as a live chat option on your site 03. Encourage self-service shopping—whenever, wherever    Many B2B buyers prefer to help themselves and research products at their own pace. In fact, B2B buyers complete almost 70% of the buyer’s journey  before actively reaching out to a vendor. For this reason, you’ll want to make sure to offer lots of self-service tools, such as chat boxes, blog posts, navigation menus, FAQs, and more. You can prod customers along by sending automated abandoned emails, adding “related products” banners to your site, or activating a remarketing campaign. Moreover, you'll want to meet customers where they are by engaging on multiple channels. Different stakeholders may prefer different channels for research, whether that’s social media, a marketplace, or an offline channel. As you tap into various marketing and sales channels, make sure to create a unified experience. A staggering 93% of customers  expect a vendor’s digital experience to be the same as, if not better than, its in-store experience. This includes everything from your branding, to your payment options, to the amount of information provided about your available products. Harness a proper omnichannel retail  strategy and keep the experience consistent, so that no matter where your buyers find your products, they’re confident about their purchases. 04. Create a full-service experience Track the full customer journey with your brand. Dissect the various types of clients that you’ll be selling to, as well as their familiarity with your brand. While it’s not possible for your site to be all things to all people, you can develop a space that services both first-time buyers and returning ones, as well as large-ticket sales and small-ticket sales. The trick is to be intentional about the purpose of each store page. Analyze who lands on which pages, and from where. While your homepage primarily speaks to new clients, your members' pages may speak to returning customers. The main CTA on your homepage may be to “explore products” or “contact us with your questions” whereas your members' pages may highlight subscription options, pre-order buttons, and receipts of a customer's past purchases. 05. Combat choice paralysis with personalization and smart design While the typical B2B buying cycle may take a relatively long time, it always helps to think of ways to make the experience more convenient and engaging. Elements like a “best sellers” tab or social proof can have a positive impact. Or, consider creating product collections based on specific buyer needs. Remember that even small details—such as enabling site search , adding a “sort by” option, or offering a generous return policy—can prompt faster sales. In addition, your online store can offer a wealth of data. Wix Analytics , for instance, allows you to understand consumer behavior via their purchase habits, bounce rates, click-through rates (CTRs), and more. With these insights, you can make informed decisions about the products you highlight, the messaging you use, and more. Once someone is ready to checkout, make sure that your site supports a smooth, self-service checkout experience. Offer multiple payment options. Be clear about estimated shipping times. And regularly update customers on the status of their orders. 06. Establish a strong marketing strategy Establishing your sales channels is just half the battle. The other half involves creating a strong eCommerce marketing  strategy. “Just because an eCommerce website is launched, it does not necessarily mean that it will gain traffic immediately,” notes Akvilė. “Treat your site as a new avenue and spread the word to your existing clients.” There are various tactics and channels worth exploring at this stage: Referral/word of mouth: Announce your new venture to your existing contacts and network. You could even incentivize them by offering special discounts in exchange for referrals. Social media : A reported 84% of B2B execs  use social media as a research tool, seeking real-life reviews before committing to a purchase. SEO : Boost the visibility of your site on Google search engine pages by incorporating keywords into your web copy, optimizing site speed, and following other eCommerce SEO  best practices. Ads : Platforms like Facebook Ads  or Google Ads can immediately get your business in front of new audiences. Email marketing : Send a newsletter, abandoned cart emails, or promotional emails to keep your brand top of mind among customers. Content marketing : Be it through a blog, YouTube videos, or customer reviews—content can help you to build trust and demonstrate the benefits of your products. Build a free eCommerce website  today and upgrade when you're ready to start selling.

What if we told you that there are little buttons you can click on that would make your life immediately easier, boost your productivity and help you save a lot of time? Guess what, these magic buttons exist and they are called Chrome extensions. You probably use, or at least have heard about Chrome, the revolutionary Internet browser by Google. It offers much more than a convenient and sleek way to access the Web. When you check out the Chrome Web Store, you quickly realize that there are TONS of extensions, most of them available for free, with all kinds of purposes and functionalities. Some of these extensions improve your browser’s performance, others can assist when you create a website or learn how to become an entrepreneur , and many are simply there to uplift your mood with games, video or music. No matter what life hack you’re searching for, you can probably find it as a Chrome extension. Since the selection is so great, we’re happy to offer you another time-saving service with this curated list of 30 excellent extensions. These are the best Chrome extensions out there, and once you start playing around with them you will understand why. Read Also: How to start a business Great utilities OneTab If your browser looks like a train wreck with so many tabs open that you can no longer tell which is which, you need OneTab, and you need it now. This brilliant extension converts your tab-overload into a neat list, allowing you to restore them at any point. A great time management tool, it puts an end to tab-hoarding while making sure nothing is lost. You’ll be amazed how beautiful your browser looks when it’s not crowded with unreadable tab titles. LastPass The days when people used the same silly password for every single login are thankfully over. But how do you handle all those unique and complicated passwords? LastPass is your security protection extension. It saves all of your passwords in one place, auto-filling the login fields whenever you access recognized websites. It also generates random passwords that no one will be able to guess, and it keeps your logins safe and sound. Click and Clean Your browser is like a your apartment. It needs the occasional sweeping and cleaning. With Click and Clean, all of the annoying tasks involved in browser data cleaning become faster, easier and more effective. This isn’t just a matter of tidying up info that your browser stores like your cache, saved passwords and previous searchers. It has important implications for functionality and for security. The Click and Clean extension is specifically designed to both help boost your browser’s functionality and speed, and to protect it from online troublemakers. SurfEasy VPN A Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows users to access a private network no matter where they are located or network they are physically connected to. It’s a terrific solution for remote access (say, if you are working away from your employer’s Intranet connection), for using local browsing of various locations (for instance, if you are surfing in the UK but want to access the web as if you were in the US), and for protecting your Internet browsing with smart encryption. SurfEasy provides all these and other services directly from your browser. Bookmarks Sidebar Bookmarks are a genius invention, but accessing them can be really frustrating – so many clicks through so many sub-menus to get to the address you’re looking for. This is exactly what the Bookmarks Sidebar extension is here to fix. One little click to the left of your screen, and your full bookmarks list is right there. With robust customization options, you can also organize and manage your lists at your own convenience. This is a great time management tip that helps you keep track of your most important pages. Chrome extensions for bloggers Evernote Web Clipper Every blogger needs an assistant, but most bloggers can’t afford one. Luckily, Evernote Web Clipper is a great substitute. Instead of saving bookmarked links, the Web Clipper saves the content of the page that is relevant for you. It lets you clip it and copy it to your Evernote board, allowing you to add comments, tags and highlights. These clippings are extremely helpful when you’re preparing and researching your next post, and you can also use them as visuals. Grammarly Even the most experienced bloggers encounter grammar glitches here and there. While that’s only human, it’s not ideal for your online publication and can even hurt your professional image as an authority in your field. By adding the Grammarly extension to your browser, you basically invite an editor to go over your texts and make sure they are error-free. The only difference is that the extension won’t judge you afterwards. ImTranslator Don’t let language barriers stand between your blog and the content of the World Wide Web. Expand your sources of information to include texts in any foreign language. With ImTranslator you can receive quality translations of full web pages, relevant paragraph or single words. Power Thesaurus What’s that word you’re looking for? It kind of has the same meaning is that other word, but also extends to other stuff, right? Thesaurus—bloggers wouldn’t survive without it. While there are many great thesaurus services available online, they require you to visit their website, load words and navigate between different options. As an extension, Power Thesaurus is available to you directly from the tab you’re currently working on, and this will save you loads of precious writing time. StayFocused Today is the day you will defeat all online distractions, sit down in front of your screen and write that blog post. No, it’s not your impressive discipline that will make that happen. It’s the StayFocused extension, which will forcefully shut you off of all the time-wasting websites that keep you from fulfilling your goals. You can decide for yourself which websites are blocked and for how long, whether you’re allowed short Facebook breaks or whether you are going all in. The goal is to get work done, and StayFocused will be there to keep you on track. Chrome extensions for designers Loom Loom is a tool that designers in the online video age would absolutely love. This extension simplifies video screen recording for many purposes – webinars, how-tos, reviews and more. Designers can use it both to present their own work to clients, as well as for creating videos for their clients’ online presence. Loom doesn’t just capture clips. It offers post-production editing options, and generous storage so that you can manage a library of your videos. Google search by image Regular people use google to search for words. Designers search for images. Whenever you need to trace the appearances of an image or find its original creator, Google Search by Image will canvass the Web and show you all available results. This is a tremendously helpful tool for making sure you’re on the right side of copyright laws. You can also use it to discover artists and expand your sources for visual inspiration. Color Zilla The ideal color reader tool, Color Zilla, lets you discover all info of the shades and tones directly from your browser. It’s a super convenient tool for designers to quickly and accurately analyze colors of individuals pixels. Once you have the required info, you can copy it to another software and immediately integrate it into your designs. Color Zilla also offers advanced tools, like a gradient generator and a color palette analysis for full web pages. HoverZoom In design, more than in any other field, the devil is in the details. A close look is needed to make important decisions when you work. But when you browse through tons of images, clicking on each and every one of them to increase their size can be extremely time consuming. That’s where HoverZoom comes in, giving you an expanded version of thumbnails and previews with a simple mouse hover. You get a pop-up version of the image that is true to the original size and quality without loading new pages all the time. WhatFont Similar to Color Zilla, this extension also implements smart reading functions, only it does so to analyze font. It works with a simple mouse hover over any text you see online. WhatFont will immediately display the font type, its family and its full properties, including size, style and even color. Add this neat extension to your browser and you will never need to play “guess the font” game ever again. Chrome extensions for small biz owners SEO Quake Do you want to see an increase in your website’s traffic? The answer is in SEO. SEO Quake will help you get to your search engine goals by analyzing your website’s content and meta data. This awesome extension will generate detailed reports for individual pages in your website, reviewing both basic metrics (title, description) and advanced ones (keyword density, link-building). Use it together with Wix SEO to achieve comprehensive optimization of your website. Hootsuite Hootlet If you’re not already familiar with Hootsuite, it is one of the leading social marketing tools available today. The Hootsuite Hootlet extension is basically a browser-based shortcut for many of the great feature that are offered by the full Hootsuite dashboard. This includes searching for relevant keywords throughout various social networks, posting content to multiple social channels directly through the browser widget and scheduling social posts based on neat content that you find online. Right Inbox for Gmail Emailing is a huge part of any small biz owners workday. It can be distracting when you try to focus on specific tasks and still need to constantly check your inbox and be reminded of important emails to send out. The Right Inbox (Gmail based) offers a fantastic solution for streamlining the email process while allowing you to continue to multitask. It lets you schedule emails you compose on the spot but want to send out later, creating recurring emails to avoid the repetitive action, and to send yourself reminders and notes to arrive at specific time points. Bitly Long, incomprehensible URLs are a nightmare. They are both aesthetically off-putting (who wants a never ending line of weird characters on their business card ?) and completely impractical. Bitly, a wonderful URL shortening tool, is a lifesaver in this regard. It takes long web addresses and shortens them into something easier to share. Bitly’s browser extension saves you the trouble of going over to their homepage each time you need to shorten a link. Simply use the extension and it will generate a shortened version right on the spot. List Goal Email marketing is one of the most effective methods of keeping your audience engaged and expanding your clientele. But in order for your email campaigns to work, you need actual subscribers. List Goal is an extension that helps you prioritize your subscribers list by setting growth goals and keeping track of the path to reach them. With a smart dashboard, it monitors your various emails’ performance and detects both the progress and the obstacles you’re facing. Chrome extensions for freelancers FoxClocks Preparing for a video call with potential clients in Japan? Working on a deadline set for the time zone in Brazil? Freelance life is a transnational experience. While the world is getting more and more connected, time differences are still very real and they are hard to keep track of. FoxClocks is a foxy extension that helps you keep not one, but multiple time zones. You can choose to display clocks permanently on your status bar, or reveal them with just one click. Google Calendar Dozens of millions of people all over the world are using Google Calendar as their main calendar. It’s a fantastic tool that needs no introduction. But did you know that you can simplify the Calendar viewing with this browser extension? Instead of reaching for your phone to open the Calendar app, or clicking through various links in your Gmail inbox, this extension gives you a neat little button that reveals your daily affairs with a simple click, right where you are. Sticky Notes An effective note-taking system is one of the key items in the freelancer’s survival kit. Sticky Notes has taken note-taking to the next level. Clicking the extension button from your browser reveals the various notes you wrote for yourself and you can edit the text. You can control the size of the note popping up, as well as customize fonts, text size and colors. It’s like having a magic sticky note stuck to your computer screen that you can make visible and invisible whenever you want! Invoice Quick Don’t get bogged down by complicated invoicing procedures for your projects. Use Invoice Quick, a browser-based invoicing tool, to generate and track invoices for your clients. The Chrome extension offers a dashboard for creating detailed invoices and emails them to your clients. You can then integrate your PayPal account to receive your money directly through the invoice. The documents are designed for professional use, with a sleek look and intuitive layout. You can even add your own logo too! Screen and Webcam Recorder Video demonstrations are an excellent method for communicating information, often used by freelancers to present progress to clients or when creating instructional videos. To prepare great video demos, we recommend you check out the Screen and Webcam Recorder extension. It has a simple interface that provides you with all the features you need to create excellent, high-quality videos. With unlimited storage, you can record as many videos as you want, with no expiration date – all stored and available for future use. Just awesome Honey After a hard day at work, you deserve a treat! Online shopping is a guilty pleasure, but you can reduce the guilt aspect by finding great deals and coupon codes. In other words, you need Honey. This nifty extension automatically searches for available discount codes for the website you are currently browsing. Add Honey to your browser and you’ll never miss a deal and never pay more than necessary. Sideplayer When you want to combine business and pleasure, use the Sideplayer extensions to play YouTube videos on the side of your web browser. This is also a great way to listen to productivity music while working. No need to switch between tabs or browsers—you can just watch and multitask at the same time. It’s also pretty useful when you create a website with Wix and want to watch our how-to videos . Emoji Keyboard Ugh, why don’t computer manufacturers add an emoji keyboard already? Once we got used to having them so available on our phones, there’s nothing more annoying than having to search for them online and awkwardly copy/paste them into emails, blog posts, etc. But there’s a solution! The Emoji Keyboard extension opens a magic world of emojis, available directly on your browser with a simple click of a button! Giphy GIF addicts, this one’s for you. Add Giphy’s extension to your browser and have the world’s largest GIF library at your service. On the extension pop-up, you can search Giphy’s collection based on keywords, and then drag and drop your selected GIF straight to the platform you’re writing on. You can also grab the link and copy/paste it wherever you want. Super Netflix What if we told you that you can take Netflix and give it a power boost? That’s pretty much what Super Netflix is about. This extension does all kinds of wonders to your Netflix experience, including adjusting the player for brightness and contrast, hiding episode description to avoid even minimal spoilers, uploading your own subtitle files and even increasing the movie speed. Enjoy your weekend with this binge-watching must-have extension, and tighten your friendship with Netflix even more.

We live in a fantastic time to be a small business owner . Technology continues to introduce new tools and functionalities that make virtually each and every aspect of business management more simple and efficient. Small business apps and tools are opening new horizons of growth. Twenty years ago, business owners had to struggle with tasks that were beyond their professional expertise, or otherwise outsource them and spend large sums. Today, they can do so much themselves, like creating a website for their business (no matter how computer-savvy they are), taking bookings and payments, managing complex budgets and more. More than that, mobile technology, small business automation and business software has allowed even more liberation, as small business owners can now manage their businesses anytime and anywhere. This is a game changer for many professionals in a large variety of fields, especially those that are just starting a business . There’s only one catch: With so many amazing tools available out there, how can you keep track of all of them and choose which ones to incorporate into your workday? This is where we come in. Below, you will find a list of exceptionally smart apps created to support business owners and managers with running their operations’ successfully. Browse and enjoy our top picks for best small business apps! Wix app The Wix app offers everything you need to operate and promote your website or small business, including: Managing your bookings and appointments and staying on top of your schedule. Viewing, sending and controlling your online store invoices. Chat live with visitors, including a feature for quick replies and automatic greetings. Invite your clients to download Spaces by Wix so they can easily engage with all aspects of your business, giving them a unique mobile app experience. Staying synced with your team as you manage your website together. Uploading and editing images to your media account. These essential Wix features make this Wix mobile app one of the best tools for small businesses available. Download > Android & iOS Square The leading mobile wallet app that is transforming how small businesses process credit card payments and how customers complete purchases. Using the app interface and a convenient card reader, Square provides the ultimate transaction solution that is loved by both biz owners and their clients. If your business has a physical location where you make any type of sales – from products to coffee to concert tickets – Square is going to be your best friend. Download > Android & iOS Google Analytics Keep track of your website’s performance stats straight from your mobile device. Google Analytics is an extremely informative platform for measuring and analyzing data about your visitors and their behavior while visiting your site (and even before!). Monitoring sources of traffic and the quality of visits that they produce provides valuable information about your site’s strengths and weaknesses. You can leverage this information into content and invi to increase traction and expand your business’ reach. Download > Android & iOS Slack Keep your team strong with the Slack collaboration and project management app. Slack simplifies communication among your team members, allows everyone to keep track of progress, fosters discussion and brainstorming and streamlines all team efforts into successfully completed projects. Slack’s mobile app easily syncs multiple devices with a full desktop interface for more comprehensive tools. Download > Android & iOS Dropbox Need immediate access to documents, images and other media? The Dropbox mobile app is an excellent way to carry the entirety of your cloud storage in your pocket. It has a straightforward and user-friendly interface that makes it highly convenient. And it’s not just a storage app. Your entire team can access the files, add comments and edits and collaborate dynamically, making it one of the most useful smartphone apps for designers. Download > Android & iOS Wix ShoutOut for Mobile Email marketing is a fundamental aspect of small biz management. The ShoutOut mobile app brings you the powerful features of Wix’s email marketing tool, available wherever you go. Design beautiful and content-rich newsletters and distribute them to your contact list straight from your mobile device. Need a hand coming up with excellent ideas for content? Check out these great suggestions for newsletter topics . Download > Android & iOS Xero Accounting is one of the most challenging (and least exciting) tasks involved with running a business. But small business apps are changing that, and Xero is one of the leaders in that field. Xero allows users to access all of their financial accounts in one place, create expense reports quickly, handle invoice and billing on the go, and so much more, so you can stay on top of your business’ finances. Download > Android & iOS Freelancer Many small business owners rely on the service of freelancers for specific projects. Many small biz owners are freelancers themselves. Basing their venture on the services they offer others. Whether you belong to the first or the second group, the Freelancer app is a fantastic platform for hiring professionals, landing new gigs and for collaborating with others. Download > Android & iOS Buffer Social media marketing is by now an inseparable part of small biz management. It can get distracting, though, especially when you’re trying to juggle multiple things at once. That’s just what Buffer is for. This app integrates your social channels into one place and allows you to schedule posts across all of them. You can plan your social posts ahead of time, queue them all nicely and analyze their performance. Download > Android & iOS Trello This project management and collaboration platform is gaining a lot of attention as a productivity booster. Trello organizes the projects you’re working on into boards, visualizing who is doing what, when and where there’s still progress waiting to be made. Its strength is in simplifying project planning and execution, making it easier for everyone to follow and contribute. Download > Android & iOS Automatic Call Recorder You may not expect to find a call recording tool on a list of best apps for small businesses, but recording phone calls can actually be a very helpful and positive tool for business owners. Put the ACR app to use for things like reviewing specific calls, sharing calls with relevant parties, verifying phone orders or dates of appointments, studying the quality of customer service (check out our guide on AI customer service ), and, if needed, protecting your business and employees in legal action. Download > iOS HelloSign Contracts, orders, invoices—there are multiple occasions in the day of a business owners where a signature is needed. HelloSign is the app that simplifies this whole process, allowing you to put your electronic John Hancock without being physically present. You don’t even need a pen! Download > Android Snapseed If you use your mobile device to take photos for social media or your business website, you want to give Snapseed a try. This app is a neat photo editing tool that will help you improve and beautify your mobile pics. Save yourself a lot of time by editing or adding filters straight from your mobile device and then upload directly to your platform of choice. Download > Android & iOS Monday Communicate with your co-workers and collaborators smoothly and effectively using the Monday app. Monday is a great platform for sharing ideas with your team, strategizing together and working to complete tasks and finalize projects. Monday has excellent plans for small businesses of various sizes, all of which include the mobile app. Download > Android & iOS Expensify Having a hard time keeping track of your business expenses? You’re not alone. But there’s hope! Whether you’re on the road or in your office, Expensify will help you record your expenses by integrating real-time receipt capturing, credit card reports, mileage tracking and more. This app will make your small business accounting easier, support you during the busy tax season and help save some money too! Download > Android & iOS Fuze Fuze is dedicated to providing high-quality business communication. From voice conference calls, through media sharing, to video presentations, Fuze allows people to connect with each other smoothly. The principle is that distance shouldn’t disrupt your business activity. Whether you are working from a home office and collaborating with freelancers or getting in touch with investors and clients in other countries, Fuze brings you all together to get the job done. Download > Android & iOS HootSuite Feeling overwhelmed by social media? Getting your tweets confused with your stories? HootSuite is a terrific tool for social media management that will help you make the most of your activity on multiple channels. Use the HootSuite app to create and schedule social content, follow up on followers who engage with you and measure the success of your social marketing efforts. Download > Android & iOS Any.do Most small business owners can’t afford hiring a personal assistant, but with the Any.do app, you do not need one. Any.do manages your task list, cleverly reminding you of all that needs to be accomplished. The app has a smart system of notifications based on scheduling as well as locations. The easy-to-use interface helps you categorize tasks to streamline their completion, and you can add and edit tasks through written or voice command. It will remember it all so you don’t have to. Download > Android & iOS Google Calendar There are many calendar apps available for mobile devices, but Google Calendar is by far one of the best available, and it is also entirely free. While desktop users still manage their Google Calendar through their Google Account, mobile users now enjoy a stand-alone app, which makes it even more convenient. You can sync it with a variety of accounts (native to Google or not) and use it even if you’re not primarily running your business through Google’s services. Download > Android & iOS Smart Recorder This audio recording app is particularly helpful for people who are often in motion, allowing you to record memos and ideas for your own personal use while freeing your hands for other tasks. In addition, you can use Smart Recorder to record meetings and sharing the file with other attendees and collaborators. If you’re the type of person who likes to brainstorm out loud, recording your thoughts and conversations will guarantee that no spark of genius gets lost. Download > Android & iOS

Ready to share your ideas with the world? Start your blog → There are more than 600 million blogs active globally, and for good reason. Whether it’s part of your hobby or profession, blogging comes with a variety of benefits. For businesses, creating a blog is a powerful marketing strategy. Not only does it strengthen your SEO, but it also establishes your authority in the field and helps build connections with your target audience. Blogging has similar advantages when used by hobby bloggers and professional writers, too. It’s an invaluable tool for expressing yourself online and exploring your passions. It’s also an effective way to become a leading voice in your niche, develop your personal brand, and even make money online. Whatever your reason for blogging, it’s become a crucial way to build your online presence, figure out how to make a website and share your insights with the world. Below, we’ve put together some ideas on blogging for beginners to help you get started with this type of website. Starting a blog should feel exciting, not overwhelming, right? With the Wix Blog Maker, you get everything you need to create, design and grow your blog from scratch–without needing a tech degree. Use Wix’s intuitive tools to share your ideas with the world.  Blogging tips for beginners Choose a blog niche Research your audience Draw inspiration online Learn what people are searching for Use keywords strategically Structure your blog by category Create an editorial calendar Start with an outline Use data and research Write powerful copy Incorporate different content types Use a variety of visuals Include clickable CTAs Develop a powerful linking strategy Prioritize long blog posts Keep your content up-to-date Create a blog newsletter Promote your blog on social media Expand your online presence Monitor your blog analytics Take advantage of monetization opportunities 01. Choose a blog niche When creating a blog as a beginner, you need to have a specific focus or niche in order to attract readers. Ideally, you’ll choose a single, broad topic that you’ll be able to explore in-depth. But how do you decide what to focus on? First, think about your goals. Do you want to promote your business? Share information or explore your passion? Make money from your content? Whether you’re aiming to write about your industry, dive deep into your personal interests, or monetize your site, contemplating your overall objectives can point you in the right direction. Read also: Why start a blog? Whichever blog niche you choose, it’s going to become the defining feature of your online presence. With that in mind, make sure to focus on an area you’re experienced in and genuinely excited about. Some of the most popular types of blogs are: Business blogs Finance blogs Tech blogs Marketing blogs Travel blogs Food blogs Lifestyle blogs Personal blogs Fashion blogs Health blogs Food blogs Craft blogs Teacher blogs Mom blogs Coaching blogs Photography blogs Sports blogs Based on your experience, you may want to niche down even further to cater to a specific audience. For instance, within the niches of European travel or cooking, you may opt to focus specifically on budget travel or vegan food. If you’re unsure of what niche to choose, browse these blog examples to help guide you. Then, choose a blog template to get started. Learn more: Blogging vs. freelance writing 02. Research your audience One of the biggest beginner blogging mistakes ? Not knowing your audience. In addition to determining what you’ll be writing about , you’ll need to identify who you’ll be writing for . Based on the kind of subject matter you expect to create, consider the types of people who will be reading your blog. Business professionals? Yoga enthusiasts? Expecting moms? Then, jot down some of their interests, pain points and needs. Based on what you know about their personalities, brainstorm what subjects will interest them or what issues they might be facing. Keep these ideas at the front of your mind when coming up with blog topics and while writing the content itself. For every article you create, you should have a clear understanding of why that particular piece of content will offer value to your readers. 03. Draw inspiration online As a beginning blogger, you’re also probably wondering how to come up with blog topic ideas . Brainstorming, of course, is a great strategy. But it’s also helpful to conduct research in order to find out which subjects are in-demand. Start by checking competing blogs in your industry. Keep an eye out for what topics they’re covering. You can use a competitor analysis tool like BuzzSumo to identify which of your competitors’ articles are performing best - that is, which ones get the most clicks or social media shares. It’s also a good idea to keep tabs of trending content. Here’s how: Browse online courses within your niche that people are paying for, like Udemy , SkillShare , and LinkedIn Learning . Stay on top of current events and trending news stories in your industry. Check out Q&A feeds from platforms like Quora . Research bestselling, top-rated or newly published books. Take a look at trending search topics using Google Trends . In the image below, for instance, you can see that vegan recipes are more in-demand than paleo recipes, but that both have a steady stream of interest. Based on your research of popular and high-performing topics, start building a list of topic ideas for your articles. 04. Learn what people are searching for As you build your list of topics, you’ll want to do a bit of keyword research. This is the practice of targeting specific words and phrases in your article based on what your audience is looking for on search engines. You don’t need to be a keyword research expert, but it is useful to know which terms people are searching for. Not only will this help you write content that better resonates with your audience, but it will also help you rank higher in search results - ensuring your content actually gets read. While keyword research might sound intimidating, it’s actually quite simple. There are several blogging tools available - some of them free - that will point you to the right keywords. These include: Answer the Public (free) Ubersuggest (free) Google Keyword Planner (free) SEMrush Ahrefs Once you’ve identified the main keyword you want to target for a particular topic, do a quick Google search of that keyword. Read through the top 10 articles to get an idea of what they’re talking about. There’s a reason they’re ranking in the top 10, so you’ll want to make sure your blog post covers similar subject matter. 05. Use keywords strategically In addition to doing keyword research to understand what your audience wants to read about, you should also incorporate those keywords into the text. First, it’s good practice to add keywords to both the title and body of your article. This helps Google get a clear understanding of what your article is about. When you upload your post, be sure to also include keywords in the following places: URL: For example, www.myblog.com/blog/ strategic-keyword . Meta title: This is the blue title you see in Google search results. Meta description: This is the short paragraph beneath the blue title in Google search results. Alt text: This is text you add to your images to make them “readable” for search engines (more on that in step 12.) It’s important to note that your keywords should fit naturally within the text. Repeated, indiscriminate use of keywords is called keyword-stuffing, and this is a spammy practice that can harm your SEO. 06. Structure your blog by category Just as you’d organize your closet by category, you’ll want to take a similar approach with your blog. If you’re just starting your blog, format it in a way that makes it easy for readers to find what they’re looking for. For instance, you may want to add overarching topic categories to the navigation menu. Google also appreciates this structure - in fact, its algorithms take website structure into account when determining which posts to rank among the top search results. So, having neatly organized blog categories is beneficial on all fronts. For example, Blogging: Build Your Own Blog 07. Create an editorial calendar When it comes to blogging for beginners, consistency is key. In order to build a successful blog, you’ll need to churn out content on a regular basis. Continuous publishing is a sign that your blog is a voice of authority in your field, and that your content is fresh and up-to-date. On top of that, Google’s algorithm rewards blogs that publish frequently. Ideally, you’ll be able to publish an article at least 2-3 times per week. If that’s unrealistic for you now, start with just one a week, and take it from there. The most important thing when getting started is to commit to a realistic, achievable publishing schedule. To hold yourself accountable, create an editorial calendar. Open up a file on Excel or Google Sheets, and add a few columns to help you keep track of your schedule. On our own editorial calendar, we like to include separate columns for the topic idea, publishing date, keyword, and progress status. In order to meet your deadlines, make sure to brainstorm topics and do all the research in advance. Be sure to allow time not only for writing the content, but also for selecting media and editing your posts. If you need more hands on deck, try opening up your blog to guest writers. Many writers, as part of building their own reputations online, look for opportunities to contribute articles to sites other than their own. 08. Start with an outline Once you have an idea for a topic and the approximate word count, you’ll want to plan out the structure of your articles. This is a crucial step for producing a strong piece of content. Your outline should contain three main elements: Introduction: This will be the opening paragraph of your article. In your outline, add a few bulleted notes with some ideas you’d like to include your intro. Body: This will be the meat of your article. Use your outline to organize all of your thoughts. Each main idea should have its own section within your article. Jot down the main points you’d like to include in each of these sections, as well as some examples to illustrate your points. Conclusion: This will be the final 1-2 paragraphs of your article. While not every article needs to have a concluding section, it is a nice way to tie together all your main points. Wrap up your outline with a concluding section, and add a few bullet points with the ideas you want to include. If you’re stuck on creating your outline, take a look at these blog post templates for inspiration. They include a variety of blog content formats, from how-to posts to beginner’s guides to case studies. You can also learn how to use AI to plan and write blog posts . 09. Use data and research Let’s talk a little more about the content of your blog posts. In addition to giving your article a tight structure, you’ll also need to back up your statements. This is ultimately what makes for a persuasive, powerful and credible piece. On top of that, having a data-rich piece maximizes the chances that people will link back to your article on the web. Anytime you get a backlink to your article, this improves the post’s search engine rank. As you piece together the ideas for your article, do some research to find statistics that support your claims. For instance, don’t just say “More and more people are browsing the internet through mobile.” Say “About half of web traffic worldwide comes from mobile.” It’s a good idea to build this data into your outline before you start writing. See how the statistic above is hyperlinked? That’s exactly what you’ll want to do in order to give proper credit to each external source. Once you get more comfortable with blogging, you may also want to branch out into doing original research (e.g., conducting online surveys of your audience) and interviews. This will help you craft original content that the online world will turn to for authority and expertise. 10. Write powerful copy After you build your outline, you’ll be fully equipped to create your first draft. As you write your blog post , use your outline as a guide, making sure to include the following elements in your piece: Headline: Write a catchy and intriguing headline to draw the reader in and encourage them to click on your article. If you’re stuck, try out this effective blog title formula: number + adjective + keyword + promise to the reader . You can also use this title generator to jumpstart your imagination. Introduction: Like your headline, this is another place to hook your readers. Begin your introduction with a general appeal to your readers, and then transition into the topic at hand. Body: Elaborate on your article’s main argument, using the notes from your outline as a guide. Here are some tips to craft a strong piece: Make each main point a different section, with its own heading or subheading to break up the text. Include bullet points and numbered lists to vary your formatting and add visual texture to your article. Use examples and statistics to illustrate your points. Offer clear and actionable takeaways for your readers. Keep paragraphs short to maximize whitespace and improve readability. Opt for a consistent voice and tone that accurately reflects your brand. Conclusion: Summarize your main points in 2-3 sentences to remind your readers what you discussed. If you’re looking for comments and engagement, wrap up by posing a question for your audience - e.g., What do you think of these ideas? Or Anything else you’d like me to share? Finally, review and edit your article before publishing. Share your post with family and friends, and ask them for their feedback. It always helps to get more eyes on your draft, and it’ll boost your confidence to know you’ve done your best. For more tips on how to write and format your blog post, take a look at this blog post checklist . 11. Incorporate different content types Images aren’t the only type of alternative content to add to your articles. In the world of blogging, mixed media posts outperform words-only posts. Once you’ve gotten the hang of writing articles, try enhancing them by embedding a podcast or video within the post. You can provide even more value to readers by adding a link to a webinar or downloadable e-book on the same topic. On top of that, try repurposing some of your articles altogether into different formats so you can share them on different platforms. For example, you may want to start a YouTube channel with videos inspired by your blog content. Similarly, you could create a podcast of your own based on your articles, or write an e-book to share with your audience. 12. Use a variety of visuals Your writing is the core of your blog posts, but it’s not the only element to include. It also helps to add visual elements to your articles. In fact, articles get shared twice as much when they have one image per every 75-100 words. With that in mind, break up large blocks of text by incorporating images and videos. This keeps your readers’ attention on the page for longer and prevents them from getting bored or intimidated by so much text. Be sure to use unique, high-quality images to create a polished and professional piece. If you’re not able to use photographs of your own, you can get free stock photos from sites like Unsplash and Pexels . Once you upload the images to your blog, add alt text to optimize them for SEO. Essentially, this just means adding a short description to each image - ideally using keywords - that explains to search engines and screen readers what it depicts. This is an easy process available on nearly every blogging platform. (Note that this is not the same as adding a caption, since it ultimately won’t be visible on the published post.) If you’re looking for an image-rich blog template, take a look at this article on the best blog templates . You can also browse additional blog templates here. 13. Include clickable CTAs Do you want your readers to ultimately become clients? This may be the case if you’re blogging for your business , or if you’re selling items or services related to your personal brand. If this is your goal, you can design blog posts in a way that points readers to your products. Sprinkle calls-to-action throughout your post, especially toward the beginning of your article where you know readers will see them. CTAs are short, actionable phrases that get readers to buy or move them closer toward making a purchase - for instance, “Start my free trial” or “Book a 15-minute call.” You’ll want to add a hyperlink to your CTAs that takes readers to a registration, sign-up, or product page. Even if you aren’t selling products, you can still use CTAs to build engagement among readers and encourage them to explore your blog. For example, you can add CTAs that link out to other blog posts, or that encourage readers to subscribe to your blog newsletter. 14. Develop a powerful linking strategy If you’re just learning how to start a blog , it’s crucial to understand the importance of links in your blogging strategy. In general, there are three main types of links you’ll need to pay attention to: Internal links: Links within your blog posts that connect to other pages on your website or articles on your blog. This type of linking improves the SEO of your articles, and compels readers to further explore relevant pages on your site. External links: Links within your blog posts that connect to third-party sites. These come in handy when you want to cite an important study or statistic from an external source. Backlinks: Links from third-party sites that connect to your website or blog. This is a core part of building your blog’s SEO . The more backlinks you get from high-authority websites, the more credible your own site is in the eyes of search engines. Each of these plays its own important role, so dedicate time to implement links throughout your blog post. 15. Prioritize long blog posts Research shows that longer blog posts - those between 1,500 and 2,000 words - perform better and get more shares on social media. On average, the most effective blog post length for SEO in 2020 was 1,890 words. Why are long posts so effective? First, they give the reader an opportunity to explore topics in-depth, providing them with deeper value. They also let you establish your expertise and build your authority in the field. Typically, longer posts will even perform better for SEO, since they give you space to address the most important keywords around a particular topic. That’s not to say that you should forego short blog posts altogether. In fact, short blog posts do work well if they sufficiently explain a topic and provide the reader with exactly what they’re looking for. For the most part, however, you’ll want to prioritize longer articles when building your content calendar. 16. Keep your content up-to-date Another crucial blogging tip for beginners is to keep your content up-to-date. To begin with, you’ll want to prioritize evergreen content - blog posts about a timeless topic that will be relevant for years to come. But even with the most evergreen pieces, you’ll want to continuously update your posts to keep them fresh. An update can range from a light refresh to a full-on content redo. You can determine the extent you’ll need to update a post by analyzing its performance (more on that later). To keep track of updates, it may be helpful to add a column to your editorial calendar with a reminder to check on the article 6 months after it’s published. 17. Create a blog newsletter Even after you’ve published a month’s worth of articles, there’s still going to be a looming question. How will you get people to actually read and follow your blog? First, you’ll want to consider how to draw in people who’ve already landed on your site. Ideally, these people will become returning visitors - and not just one-time readers. To do this, send out an email newsletter, and encourage sign-ups directly from your blog posts. Add a CTA to your content that urges readers to subscribe so that you can start collecting email addresses. This will enable you to communicate regularly and directly with your audience, helping you turn visitors into loyal fans. You can also try out more creative ways of obtaining your readers’ email addresses. One option is to offer them a free resource - such as a webinar, e-book, guide, or template - that they can download in exchange for their contact details. This type of content is known as gated content, and it’s an effective strategy for getting subscribers to your blog. 18. Promote your blog on social media Next, there’s the question of how to get new visitors - people who’ve never landed on your blog before. A simple (and free) way to promote your blog is by sharing your articles on social media. Whether you’re promoting your blog on Facebook , Twitter or Instagram, give it a profile of its own, using your blog logo as the profile picture. Then, publish and share every blog post on your pages. Give microblogging a try to capture your audience’s interest and get them to click. In addition to sharing these articles on your own, you can encourage others to do the same. Make your posts shareable by adding social media share buttons somewhere on the page. At the end of your post, leave a small note asking readers to share your content. 19. Expand your online presence Social media isn’t the only way to gain exposure. There are several other creative ways to establish your presence as a blogger and become known in your field. These include: Networking with other bloggers in your niche, either online or at in-person meetups, and inquiring about cross-promotion opportunities. Being active in online communities , such as a social media page or forum about your industry. Writing guest posts on external sites increasing blog traffic , gain backlinks, and expand your reach. Your readers are out there somewhere; you only need to find them. Reaching out to others within your field and posting on external sites relevant to your niche are effective ways to start learning how to grow your blog . 20. Monitor your blog analytics Luckily, you don’t have to be completely in the dark when it comes to understanding the success of your blog posts. There are lots of website analytics tools out there to help you analyze your performance. How many people read your articles each month? How many shares do they get on social media? Which topics seem to interest your readers the most? Evaluating this data is a fundamental part of starting a blog, since it teaches you where you need to improve and where to replicate your success. If you notice that a particular topic gets a lot of clicks or shares, create additional articles that relate to that theme or that use a similar style or format. Likewise, if an important article isn’t getting the attention you’d hoped, you may need to revisit it and consider updating or revising the content. 21. Take advantage of monetization opportunities Ready to start your blog today? Do it with Wix . As a beginner, you may not be thinking of monetizing your blog just yet. But we’ll leave you with one final tip that you can let marinate in your mind. After all, who wouldn’t want to earn some extra cash - not to mention a full-time income - through their blog? To make money blogging , you need to turn your traffic into revenue. Here are some suggestions for how you might go about it: Offer paid subscriptions with members-only access to exclusive content. Add affiliate links to a product (these let you earn a commission every time a reader clicks and buys). Sell merchandise related to your brand. Get paid by companies to write sponsored content. Provide consulting services to clients, using your blog as your resume. Add ads to your blog. This might sound like a lot right now, but let yourself dream big. Using these blogging tips, you may just be able to turn your blog into a powerful publication. Looking to really get your blog off the ground? Take a look at our Build Your Own Blog online course to get you started. Is blogging still worth it ? Read more with our take on blogging's current and future relevance. How to get blogging fast: getting started Once you have your niche chosen, starting a blog can be a very fast process. Choose a blog maker, including your unique domain name Select the right blog template Customize your templates — includes colors, fonts and layout of your blog and its posts Build a content schedule with ideas and timings, including posting frequency Get writing Publish Promote your blogs — either with SEO via social media or newsletters Repeat, repeat, repeat Blogging for beginners FAQ How can a beginner get started with a blog? Choose your blog niche, select a blog maker like Wix to build your blog on, design and create your site, then get writing blog posts and publishing. Can I start blogging with no experience? Yes, you can definitely start blogging with no experience. Many successful bloggers began with little to no prior experience and learned as they went along. Make sure to start with a niche you feel most passionate about or know very well. Do beginner bloggers make money? Yes, it's possible, but not guaranteed. It takes time, effort and dedication to build an audience and attract income. You can begin with advertising, content monetization and selling physical products. Is blogging still profitable? Yes. The blogging landscape has evolved, but there are more opportunities than ever to monetize your content. While quick riches aren't the norm, consistent work and smart strategies can lead to a profitable blog. How much does it cost to start a blog? Starting a blog is affordable. To get started, you'll need to pay for a domain name and web hosting, but these costs are typically very reasonable. For example, a domain name can cost around $10 per year, and web hosting can cost around $5 per month. You can also start a blog on a free platform. To learn more, see our guide on how much does it cost to start a blog  to estimate your expected costs.

The world has seen three industrial revolutions since the mid-1700s: metal, steam and electricity. And now, we’re in the midst of the fourth: information technology. In 2020 alone, entrepreneurs started 4.4 million new U.S. businesses . And an April 2021 Salesforce survey found that 70% of new businesses were “born out of technology or tech-focused from day one.” Read Also: How to start a business As smartphones, the Metaverse, artificial intelligence and selling online become commonplace, the lines between the physical and digital worlds blur. While it’s easy to see the benefits, not everyone has the means or resources to keep up in this fast-paced technological revolution. To equally participate, you need a broadband internet connection—yet 6% of Americans and 37% of the global population remain offline. Policymakers refer to this Internet abecomeccess gap as the digital divide . While it may feel outside of your grasp as a small business owner, the solutions for bridging this gap involve both the public and private sectors. Here, we explain what the digital divide is and what initiatives are in play. Finally, we'll discuss ways for small businesses to play a part—and the benefits it can bring not only to your enterprise, but to your local economy and community. What is the digital divide? The digital divide refers to the gap between members of the population with access to a working internet connection and those without. While this issue has existed since the internet became available to consumers, the pandemic highlighted the growing need to bridge the gap, as routine activities like work, school, and even healthcare increasingly required a computer and internet connection. According to the Pew Research Center , 59% of children from lower-income families faced challenges participating in remote learning due to lack of a computer and/or internet access. While the digital divide affects people across all ages, genders, and race, the most prominent indicators of whether American adults under 65 have a working internet connection are education and income: 14% of adults with a high school education or less do not even occasionally use the internet, and adults earning less than $30,000 are much less likely to have access, particularly those in rural areas. Additionally, 100 million Americans have access to broadband internet but don’t subscribe due to financial burden or lack of digital literacy. According to an OECD research study that examined the cost of broadband internet amongst 35 counties, the United States is the second most expensive. And while this certainly is unjust, this isn't the only reason businesses should care about this issue. Granting internet access to more people makes good economic sense. According to a PwC study , doing so has the potential to contribute $6.7 trillion to the global economy—both by adding more social and economic opportunities for 4 billion people, plus additional employment opportunities for businesses. What’s being done As internet access morphed from a luxury into a necessity in the early 2000s, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 2006 . The act requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide yearly reports on whether broadband internet “is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.” Over the past two decades, Congress enacted two primary federal policies intended to help bridge the internet gap: the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) , which allocated $4.7 billion to closing the digital divide, and November 2021’s $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This legislation dedicates $65 billion to providing broadband internet access to those who don’t have it by building the necessary infrastructure in areas that are lacking as well as lower internet costs. Additionally, the U.S. government offers grants, including The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs , that help small businesses invest in their own technological advancements. In the private sector, Microsoft’s Airband Initiative works on a global level to address this issue, providing internet and digital literacy to low-income communities. In 2021, The World Economic Forum launched the EDISON Alliance , a movement of global leaders from both the public and private sectors who collaborate on allowing everyone to participate in the digital economy. How small businesses can help bridge the digital divide While there are many industrial and political initiatives, small businesses can implement change on community, organizational, and interpersonal levels. Here are some ideas of how to take action. Provide training programs and infrastructure As businesses increasingly adopt AI into their work environments, 38% of jobs run the risk of becoming obsolete by 2030. However, AI has the potential to create new jobs, too, and businesses and workers need to be ready for this shift. If individuals lacking the necessary technological skills are unable to obtain them, there could be a massive shortage of employees. This has the potential to cause major economies a loss of up to $11.5 trillion of potential growth by 2028 . This means businesses, governments and NGOs will need to provide technological training and digital literacy programs to their communities to prepare. "Companies have a role in partnering and supporting and lifting up those efforts and not getting in the way of them," says Parisa Fatehi-Weeks , senior director of global community impact at Indeed. For example, in October 2021, Wix partnered with the Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (RIHCC) and the Rhode Island Israel Collaborative (RIIC) to empower communities through web design in a project called the Rhode Island Latino Web Project . The project involved teaching a course on website creation to eighteen college students who were each tasked to create a website for a small, Hispanic-owned local business. This not only increased digital literacy of students who will soon be entering the workforce, but it established an online presence for eighteen small businesses who didn’t have one prior. It encouraged the owners to learn digital skills to maintain, market, and grow their business digitally. As a small business owner, you can create job training programs for your own employees or volunteer with nonprofits to familiarize community members with paramount technological skills sooner rather than later. PwC has a library of resources to help you get started. Get involved on a local level While large, multinational companies may have the resources to create far-reaching programs, small businesses typically don't. This allows for the opportunity to get involved on a local level by staying tuned in to what local communities need. In March 2022, South By Southwest held an all-female webinar with industry leaders from the Female Quotient’s Equality Lounge . Moderated by Arielle Gross Samuels, global head of environmental, social, and governance at Meta, the panel spoke about the primary obstacles to ensuring internet access for all and actionable steps businesses can take. One of the panelists, Roxanna Barboza, industry and cybersecurity policy analyst at the Rural Broadband Association, emphasized the need to cater programs or funding to the specific needs of individual areas: "We can have all of these ideas and want to provide digital literacy courses, when they (the community members) really just want to learn how to use WhatsApp," she explained. "We have to cater our ideas to theirs to better serve the community.” Small businesses can also work with their local politicians to advocate for city and state laws bridging access to technology or create community partnerships with other small businesses or NGOs. But they can even start small by donating proceeds to local organizations that work to bridge the digital divide. Computing For All, for example, is a Seattle-based NGO that trains and mentors people from low income communities to improve their digital literacy. They also partner with local businesses to fill in gaps in employment with individuals they've mentored, providing a win-win for community members. For resources in your area, check out this list of nonprofits around the country working to bridge the digital divide. Develop your thought leadership Thought leadership is sharing expertise, voicing your stance on industry issues and offering solutions for change via written content, video or live speaking engagements. For the most part, private-sector advocacy for the digital divide has derived from larger companies. But good news – small business owners and entrepreneurs are particularly cut out to be thought leaders because all are innovative self-starters who create something out of nothing. So you’re in a good position if you fall into one of these two categories, regardless of the type of entrepreneurship you're involved in. Sarah Foss, chief technology officer at Audacy and another Female Quotient’s Equality Lounge panelist, noted that while public policy plays a large role in bridging the divide, “policy doesn't hit content.” “That's an obligation we have as publishers and tech companies,” she said. Samuels added how important it is to lead by example. “Be willing to be a mentor for future leaders. We won't always be here." Contributing to your own thought leadership on the digital divide helps not only advocate for it, but embrace real change , but positively affects your brand. Effective thought leadership can attract new consumers and retain existing ones through trust and honest connection. It also promotes a positive company culture and helps the public see your business as a prominent contributor to important issues, such as bridging the digital divide. Start by sharing content on your blog or social media. While you can certainly repost relevant articles or videos from other industry experts, you can have a greater impact by creating your own. Once you’ve established authority on the topic, consider participating in conferences, panels or webinars to help you and your business stand out as thought leaders.

Even though you’ve invested a lot of time in using a website creator that’s pixel perfect, it’s not the only place you should have a presence online. Social media plays a very big role in raising your brand awareness and finding your audience. Unsurprisingly, making a great first impression on such platforms is incredibly important and can make a world of difference. But how? If there’s any one social media platform a small business should be using, it’s Facebook. It’s the largest of its kind and it’s one of the first places a customer, existing or potential, will seek your business out. Getting people to your Facebook business page can be a hassle, but it’s hardly impossible. And no, you don’t have to pay for ads to do so. One of the many Facebook features that allows you to grab the attention of page viewers immediately is cover videos. These videos are a great way to draw someone into your Facebook page and keep them scrolling. Of course, not every small business owner is a graphic designer and can just whip up a great video for your Facebook cover, and that’s where we come in. We’re going to show you step by step what you’ll need to do, along with some great tools that take the heavy lifting out of the creation process along the way. What is a Facebook cover video and why use one? This doesn’t need much of an introduction, as you’ve probably seen a Facebook cover photo or video whether or not you knew exactly what it was. It’s the very top section of a Facebook page or profile that allows you to add a large photo or video. The cover video is accompanied by your profile photo, which, for a small business will likely be your logo. Your cover photo or video allows you to say a little more about your brand without requiring the visitor to look for it. Because of its prominent placement, Facebook covers are a great addition to your Facebook marketing strategy to get attention and draw page visitors in. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with placing a well-designed photo, you can maximize the space by adding a video. The immediate motion of the video will show more prominently than a static image. The cover area of a Facebook page provides a first impression of your business or brand to the visitor, so it’s important to see it as an opportunity to attract people. Again, you can easily add a photo, but if a photo is worth a thousand words, a video can say a lot more. Facebook cover video size and specs Before you dive in, it’s important to know about Facebook's own guidelines for video covers . By knowing these video specifications beforehand, you can ensure that the content you want to be shown, will be shown. Video size : Facebook recommends a minimum video size of 820 x 312 and suggests a video with a resolution of 820 x 462 for “best results.” Video length : Don’t expect to upload a cropped version of Titanic for your video cover. Number one, that’s illegal. Number two, your video needs to be anywhere in between 20-90 seconds in length. Video format : Though others will work, Facebook suggests using .MP4 or .MOV video file formats. Tips for creating a great Facebook cover video Whether it’s what your business does or just a simple animated video portraying your brand’s personality, make sure your cover video is engaging to your audience. Make sure your video can be understood without audio. You can add audio to your cover video, but a visitor must manually unmute the video to hear any music or anyone speaking in the video. Don’t be afraid to use a high-quality gif or cinemagraph on loop. The motion provided from these photos can be just as good as a video. Go for a clean, uncluttered approach. A video that’s too fast or too busy may be a turn off to your visitors. Need an example? Check out Wix’s Facebook page . Facebook cover video tools You don’t have to be a professional video editor to create a great Facebook cover video. There are a handful of tools available that make the entire process fairly painless. Bannersnack : If you want to use one of the best banner graphics creators online, then Bannersnack should be an easy sell. Of course, it’s not all about static imagery, and you can create an animated Facebook cover in no time. With several animated templates to choose from, this is a solid option for someone who wants a powerful tool that’s easy to use. Wave Video : Another great destination to make your dream video cover comes from Wave.video. It’s incredibly easy to make the video you want and get it uploaded to your Facebook page to show the world. The video-centric platform offers a library of 300 million professional clips to choose from, making it a one-stop-shop. How to upload your Facebook cover video Now that you’ve created the perfect cover video for your Facebook page, it’s time to upload it. Luckily, this is perhaps the easiest portion of the entire process. Here’s how to upload a Facebook cover video from the official help article. Go to your Page Click Add a Cover or Change Cover in the top left of your cover photo or video. Select Upload Photo/Video to upload a video from your computer, or select Choose from Videos to use a video you've already uploaded to your Page. Select the cover video file to upload it. After the video has uploaded, reposition the video by clicking it and dragging it up or down, then click Next. Click the arrows to scroll through up to 10 thumbnail options for your cover video. The thumbnail image may be used when someone hovers over your Page's name to get more context about your Page. Click Publish. After that, reload your Facebook page and see your finished cover video in all its glory!

Pop quiz: which online marketplace boasts over 159 million active users, and is downloaded by three out of every ten (34.9%) U.S. mobile users? Yes, it’s eBay. As one of the earliest eCommerce marketplaces to come into existence, eBay is one of the strongest contenders for sellers looking to expand their reach online. Not convinced? Keep reading for a rundown of eBay’s top benefits and how it can serve as a key component of the multichannel selling  strategy for your eCommerce business . Read Also: How to start a business How to sell on eBay in 7 steps If eBay is a fit for your business, then getting started is a relatively straightforward process—and easy to do with Wix. Here are seven initial steps to get you started. Pick your product assortment Create your eBay account Set your shipping policies Set your return policies List your products Launch and promote Monitor closely 01. Pick your product assortment Decide how to position your eBay store to complement your existing eCommerce site . Will you sell resale items, specialized gift sets, end-of-line remainders, or simply a subset of your regular merchandise? Looking for ideas to sell online? How to sell shoes online How to sell art online How to sell furniture online How to sell car parts online How to sell crafts online How to sell party supplies online How to sell toys online Define a clear goal and purpose for launching on eBay. Remember that every marketplace has its unique quirks, audiences, and paths to success—how can you best leverage eBay’s strengths? 02. Create your eBay account If you’re a Wix merchant, log into your Wix dashboard and click Channels  > eBay from the left-hand menu. From here, you’ll see prompts for creating a new eBay account. Alternatively, you can create an account  directly from eBay and connect it to Wix later. However, by signing up through Wix, you’ll automatically receive a higher limit of zero insertion fee listings right off the bat. The exact limit depends on your product type, sales history, and other factors that eBay deems important. To set up a new business account, you’ll need your tax ID and business banking information, as well as a store email address. eBay offers several tiers of professional accounts , each with its own listing limits and set of benefits. 03. Set your shipping policies Specify where you do business and set your domestic and/or international shipping policies. You can assign a flat fee, or a calculated amount that’s based on dimensions and weight of the package. You can also specify your handling time. 04. Set your return policies Define how you’ll manage returns and refunds. You can have your buyer pay (either in full or part) for every returned item or subsidize them yourself. Then, decide whether to automatically accept and process returns, or to approve them manually. 05. List your products   If you have a Business Unlimited Premium Plan with Wix, you can sync your Wix catalog with eBay. This eliminates the need to manually enter your products into eBay and manage the two sites separately. Simply select the products you want to upload to eBay and hit “publish.” Wix will automatically map your products to the right categories. If, for any reason, your listing is rejected, you can easily find your “unsuccessful” listings in your Wix dashboard and see what needs to be fixed. Any eBay listings that are synced with Wix will assume the same product details, prices, and available quantities as you in Wix. However, you can always customize these specifically for eBay. For instance, you can set your eBay quantities to a lower number to create a sense of scarcity. Or, you can enrich your eBay listings with extra product data that may boost your chances of ranking in your category; Wix will reveal advanced fields that you should consider filling out in order to increase your competitiveness. Consider these product photography tips for quality photos. 06. Launch and promote your eBay store Once your account is set up and you’ve got all of your listings prepped for eBay, you’re ready to start selling. Be sure to promote your new eBay store via social media, newsletters, and (potentially) your main eCommerce site. You can also opt into eBay’s paid promotions to attract initial sales. 07. Monitor closely your sales and feedback As on other marketplaces, your seller rating on eBay depends on the reliability (and speed) of your customer service and fulfillment. The highest-performing sellers—dubbed as Top Rated Sellers —enjoy greater visibility and protections on eBay. Therefore, you’ll want to make sure that you have the resources to handle incoming orders and questions promptly. Monitor your analytics in Wix to further track which products and categories are doing well, or which are declining in performance. Compare how your eBay strategy is affecting your website sales (if at all) on products sold in both places. Myths about selling on eBay eBay has come a long way since its 1995 debut as “ActionWeb.” Today, the marketplace doesn’t simply allow Joe to sell an item from his closet—notable brands like Adidas  and Best Buy  have taken up eBay storefronts to sell both new and refurbished items. Still, a few misconceptions cloud its reputation. Here are a few commonly held myths that are outdated or just plain wrong. Myth: eBay is for amateurs. Truth: eBay is big business. There are nearly a million branded stores on eBay , including Dyson, Dell, and Adidas. And though eBay’s rise to fame involved auctions on many preowned items, a vast majority of listings (80%) are now for new products. Myth: eBay is an auction site. Truth: most items are “Buy It Now.” As many as  88% of eBay listings are marked as “Buy It Now” and don’t require buyers to bid and wait for an auction to close. Myth: a PayPal account is a must. Truth: buyers have options. Beginning in 2021, eBay phased out of PayPal, making way for its own managed payment services system. Sellers can now manage payments directly from their eBay accounts and offer a variety of payment methods, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit cards. Depending on the region, you can offer additional services like buy now pay later, Payoneer, and other local options. Myth: eBay is in decline. Truth: eBay is still alive and well. While it may lack the sizzle of novelty, eBay posted 17% growth in revenue  in 2021, bringing its total revenue to $10.4 billion. The platform’s renewed focus on high-value footwear and other popular categories has helped it to move with the times. How eBay stacks up against Amazon If you’ve already been studying how to sell on Amazon  or are already selling on there, then chances are, you’re wondering if it’s even worth selling on eBay. Amazon, after all, earns more than four times  more GMV from its marketplace than eBay and reigns as the number one marketplace in the U.S. eBay ranks as a distant second—and other marketplaces are smaller still, making Amazon the Goliath to everyone else’s Davids. However, size brings challenges as well as advantages. There are notable differences to consider as you weigh eBay with Amazon. Niche audience  What eBay lacks in size, it makes up for in its unique audience. In fact, comparing Amazon’s buyer base with eBay’s isn’t an exact apples-to-apples comparison. For one, “the ethos of eBay is the ‘enthusiast buyer’ and the ‘value seeker,’” as reported by EcommerceBytes . The core eBay buyer values collectibles, vintage, and last year’s model—a contrast from the average Amazon buyer, who values a larger selection of products that can be delivered right away. This is reflected in the top-selling product categories of each channel. Automotive, jewelry, watches, and collectibles are among the most popular items on eBay. Meanwhile, Amazon buyers flock to home goods, beauty products, and clothing, as noted in Jungle Scout’s The State of the Amazon Seller  report. While eBay has made moves towards fast and free shipping, many buyers may still wait weeks for their items to arrive—perhaps even six to eight weeks  if an item needs to be shipped overseas. By comparison, the average Amazon buyer expects two-day shipping on most items, with nearly all Amazon sellers ( 92% ) using FBA to remain competitive. Less competition With fewer sellers on eBay, your listings will likely have a better chance of standing out. eBay further supports multiple listings for the same products, giving you more control over how your products are presented. Buyers, in turn, can compare listings for the same product that show varying conditions, delivery times, and availability. Amazon, on the other hand, aims to provide one, clean listing for every product in its catalog. This means that if you and other resellers offer the same product, you’ll share the same listing. You’ll have limited control over the listing—which is primarily controlled by the first person who listed the product, or the brand owner. You’ll have to win the Amazon Buy Box in order to win the actual sale. In the meantime, buyers aren’t likely to check whom they’re purchasing from; they’re simply clicking “add to cart” from the product page. Amazon additionally manages its own private-label brands. This has been a source of tension , though this practice isn’t unique to Amazon. Think: how a grocery store may sell its own versions of your favorite cereal. Amazon operates similarly, forcing you to not only compete against other sellers but against Amazon itself. Mobile-first experience   eBay has its roots in mobile commerce. More than 60% of eBay transactions  now involve a mobile touchpoint. And though there are 182 million active users on the marketplace worldwide, eBay’s mobile app has nearly three times as many mobile downloads (512 million), according to Fundera . eBay’s minimalist mobile app design makes it conducive for both shopping and selling from your phone. Being one of the earliest retail apps to hit the market, eBay arguably set the standard for others to come. Today, buyers can view a whole assortment of sellers and listings tailored to their search, while shoppers can easily list products and manage orders without logging into a computer. That said, Amazon’s mobile app is one of the most downloaded shopping apps in the U.S. with 41 million downloads . There’s evidence to suggest that most Amazon sellers do their browsing on mobile too. But approximately 65% of Amazon shoppers  still prefer to complete a transaction on desktop. Greater flexibility There’s no denying that both eBay and Amazon can be lucrative sales channels. However, the path to success is notably different on each, in part because they offer varying levels of control. On Amazon, you’ll be funneled down the same path as many other sellers before you: enroll in FBA to give your products the best chance of getting seen (plus increase your odds of winning the Buy Box); offer fast, affordable shipping; allow returns within 30 days; and launch Amazon ads. By contrast, on eBay, you’ll have a lot more flexibility over your shipping and return policies. You can customize your listing for your product, and somewhat brand the experience. Furthermore, advertising fees (plus competition) tend to be lower on eBay.   Popular products to sell on eBay To determine whether selling on eBay is right for your business, consider whether your offerings are a match for the platform’s audience. In general, eBay is best suited for selling: Watches, toasters, handbags and other everyday items: A broad range of items are popular on eBay, with a tendency toward smaller and less bulky objects. Think sockets and soccer balls, not sofas. When it comes to apparel, menswear and handbags tend to outrank women’s clothing. Parts, components and accessories: f you sell car parts , replacement parts, or supplies for landscaping crews (as examples), then eBay is an especially strong complement to your business. Wix merchant  offers automotive styling products to large tuning companies like Jam Sport, SCC Performance, and JW Racing. TRC’s products are also available for purchase by everyday car enthusiasts. Hence why—in addition to its flagship eCommerce site—TRC operates an eBay store, which flaunts a 98.7% positive feedback rate to date. Collectibles, fan favorites and other “long-tail” items: eBay is a haven for military medal and pen collectors but that doesn’t mean you need to sell memorabilia to succeed. Items from your back catalog, past seasons, or discontinued designs can serve as collectibles in their own right. eBay is a great place to find and connect with brand followers who may jump at the chance of purchasing these products. Resale and refurbished products: Gently-used and returned merchandise are welcome on eBay. Not only do resold items appeal to collectors of vintage style; the appeal of reuse is growing among consumers who seek opportunities to shop sustainably. eBay offers a refurbished-product certification program  in select categories, including small kitchen appliances, which features items from brands like and KitchenAid. Note that eBay restricts and/or prohibits the sale of certain items . These include alcohol, firearms, and other products that have legal or safety restrictions. Cost of selling on eBay As with any marketplace you choose to sell on, eBay has its own series of fees to keep in mind. Based on the latest information for 2024, here's a breakdown of eBay selling fees: Insertion listing fees First 250 listings per month are free After 250 listings: $0.35 per listing Final value fees (when item sells) Generally ranges from 10% to 15.55% of the total sale amount Standard rate is around 12.55% for most categories Per-order processing fees $0.40 for orders over $10 $0.30 for orders $10 and under (This fee was increased from $0.30 to $0.40 in March 2024) Store subscription (optional) Basic Store: $27.95 per month Includes 1,000 free fixed-price listings Additional benefits for serious sellers For a $100 item sale you would expect to pay: Final value fee (at 12.55%): $12.55 Per-order fee: $0.40 Total eBay fees: $12.95 Grow more with eBay Whether you’re looking to find shoppers who are on the hunt for rare, vintage finds or to simply test your product in front of a new audience, eBay can be a great addition to your online store. Sell with Wix  eCommerce today and easily list your products on eBay. Drive traffic from all corners of the internet and manage your multichannel operations  from one, unified platform. Learn more: Amazon alternatives

There are a lot of administrative tasks that come with starting a business . Registering a business is an important one that comes with many benefits, including liability protection. We asked Holly Wade, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses Research Center, how to register a business in the U.S. Keep reading for her tips on how to responsibly take this important step. Still in the early stages? Create a business website with Wix. What does it mean to register a business? Registering a business means that you’re creating a legal entity for your business that is separate from your personal identity. This allows you to protect your personal assets from business liabilities and debts. It also allows you to establish credibility with customers, vendors and lenders—and to access certain benefits, such as tax breaks and legal protections. The process involves selecting a business structure, choosing a name and filing paperwork with your state government. How much does it cost to register a business? The cost to register a business ranges from $20 to $520, depending on the state and legal structure. You might incur additional fees in the process. If you’ve decided on a business name but not on a legal structure, you can reserve the name prior to registering for around $10 to $150. How to register a business in the USA Here’s how to register a business: Write a business plan Choose a business structure Choose a business name Register with your local government Register with the federal government Open a business bank account Apply for the necessary license 01. Write a business plan To execute the following steps effectively, you first need to have a business plan . This document should define your target market, determine your funding sources, make financial projections and outline your marketing and business strategies. “I often call it the magical roadmap of small firms because it’s the document that’s most important for any business owner to have,” says Wade. Putting together a business plan can help you figure out the best legal structure of organizing your business. “When you structure your business and register, make sure that it’s as close to a thought-out business as possible so you’re registering it appropriately,” says Wade. “Figuring it out the best you can from the onset is helpful because once things get established, it’s timely and costly to go back and change things.” Owners should update their business plan at least once a year and read it regularly to know if you’re on track. “There are really significant events that can happen where you’ll need it, and it’s a process putting it together. Having a base to work from is helpful when situations come up.” 02. Choose a business structure There are several types of businesses to consider. While the following is certainly not an exhaustive list, it can provide you with an idea of the basic business structures: Sole proprietorship : As a sole proprietor, your personal and business assets are intertwined, meaning you’re liable for the finances of your business. “If you’re a proprietorship without employees, you don’t need to register but being more established and official is helpful,” says Wade. Partnership : A partnership is when two or more individuals run a business together. With a limited partnership, one partner takes on the personal liability and the others have limited liability. On the other hand, a general partnership means that both partners take on the same liability of the business. C corporation : A corporation functions as separate from its owners, making it its own legal entity. This means you’re protected from personal liability. However, this structure involves more federal reporting and has more tax requirements. It’s ideal if you want to open your business up to shareholders. You'll need to file Articles of Incorporation to register this type of business. S corporation : An S corporation doesn’t pay income taxes. Instead, shareholders do so at their individual rates. This prevents business owners from being taxed twice on corporate income. That said, S corporations can be costly to set up and they must follow complex regulations. Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) : LLCs allow owners to separate personal assets from business assets, protecting them against liabilities. An LLC is more flexible since you can pass your taxes through to the personal income level yet are not held liable for any of your business’s debts. 03. Choose a business name Before you decide on a business name, it’s important to verify that another business hasn’t already claimed it. Besides checking the state database, check with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for trademarks to make sure you’re in the clear. It’s also worth doing a simple Google search and checking social media to see if your preferred name is already in use. Sole proprietorships and partnerships do not need to choose a name. In fact, sole proprietorships must register under the owner's legal name. Owners who wish to use a business name must file a DBA (or "Doing Business As"). Other businesses can use DBAs as well if they want to operate under names that are different from the one they registered. Check with your state for the specific process for filing a DBA, since it can differ by location. Besides registration, consider trademarking the name. A trademark protects your name from unauthorized use by others and gives you exclusive rights to use the name in connection with your business. That said, it's important to note that trademark registration can be a complex and time-consuming process. If you decide it’s important to the health of your business, work with a qualified trademark attorney to ensure that you file your application correctly. Use Wix's business name generator to find a name that fits your brand. 04. Register with your state and local governments Registering a business with your local government is simple. For example, Virginia’s registration form only asks you to select a business structure, a business name and an agent to accept official paperwork. The specific requirements and steps vary depending on the state and type of business. Consider consulting with an attorney or accountant to ensure compliance with all the relevant regulations. Keep in mind that you may have to register with the municipal government in addition to the state government. If you conduct businesses across state lines, you’ll need to register in other states as well in a process called foreign qualification. For this, you typically need to register with the Secretary of State in the new state and obtain a Certificate of Authority. The requirements can vary, so it's advisable to consult a legal professional to ensure all obligations are met. Make sure your business is properly qualified to prevent significant legal and financial penalties. 05. Register with the federal government You’ll need to get an EIN from the IRS in order to file taxes for your business if: You have employees. Your business is a corporation or partnership. You file tax returns on employment, excise, alcohol, tobacco or firearms. You withhold taxes on income, other than wages, paid to a non-resident alien. You have a Keough plan. You’re involved with trusts, estates, real estate mortgage investment conduits, nonprofit organizations, farmers’ cooperatives or plan administrators. 06. Open a business bank account Once you’ve registered a business, the next thing you should do is open a business bank account. “Before you spend any money, get your business credit card and get your business checking account at the very least,” says Wade. “For accounting measures, it’s hugely important to separate your business finances from your personal account.” 07. Apply for the necessary licenses and permits The final step involves registering with different entities and getting a business license . This step varies depending on your industry and your location, so a good way to check if you need any specific permits is to visit the U.S. Small Business Administration website and search based on your business activity. Licensing and permitting fees add up, so be sure to factor them into your budget. For example, getting a business license can cost anywhere from $15 to over $10,000, depending on the state. Plus, legal and accounting fees can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the complexity of your business. Why should I register my business? You need to register a business if you plan to hire employees, seek financing, purchase real estate or pursue permitting. Even if none of those aspects apply to your situation, registering a business is valuable. Let’s discuss some of the benefits in greater detail: Makes you eligible for tax benefits When you register a business, you may become eligible for several tax benefits, depending on your business type and the tax laws in your state and at the federal level. Here are some potential tax benefits you may be eligible for: Business expenses : As a business owner, you may be able to deduct many of your business expenses from your taxable income. This includes expenses such as rent, utilities, salaries, and office supplies. Depreciation : If you own assets such as equipment or property, you may be able to deduct a portion of the cost of these assets over time through depreciation. Deductions for startup costs : If you’re starting a new business, you may be able to deduct certain expenses associated with getting the business up and running, such as legal and accounting fees. Retirement plans : Business owners can establish retirement plans such as 401(k)s or IRAs for themselves and their employees. Contributions to these plans may be tax deductible. Pass-through taxation : If you’re a sole proprietor or operate a partnership or S corporation, your business income isn’t subject to corporate income tax. Instead, the IRS taxes you at your individual rate. It's important to note that tax laws can be complex and change frequently, so it's a good idea to consult a tax professional to determine which tax benefits you may be eligible for as a business owner. Protects your personal assets By registering your business, you can protect your personal assets from debt or bankruptcy. However, the level of liability depends on which legal structure you register under. For example, the government doesn’t see sole proprietors and partnerships as separate entities from their owners, meaning owners are personally liable for any debt or bankruptcy. On the other hand, if you form a corporation or LLC, your personal assets are protected from business liabilities. Allows you to hire employees In order to hire employees, you are legally required to register a business and get an Employer Identification Number  (EIN) from the IRS. Protects your business and brand Registering a business involves claiming your business name. “Registering will get you into the database where other people can make sure they’re not taking your name,” explains Wade. If you don’t register a business name, someone else may claim it, which can lead to confusion among customers and even legal trouble down the road. Wade recommends trademarking  the name to further protect your brand from infringement. For corporations and LLCs, registration also ensures perpetual existence by creating a legal entity that is distinct from its owners. This means the business will continue to exist even after owners, shareholders or founders leave the company or pass away. This perpetual existence can provide stability and continuity for the business, allowing it to continue operating and serving customers even as the ownership and leadership of the company changes. Provides access to funding Registering your business shows lenders and investors that you’re credible and committed to your business. Many won’t even consider investing or giving you a loan if you haven’t taken this step. For instance, both lenders and investors will want to know the legal structure of your business. This information tells them how your business is governed and how decisions will be made. Ultimately, this knowledge assures lenders and investors that their money will be managed responsibly. How to register a business FAQ Can I register a business if I’m a non-U.S. resident? Non-U.S. residents can register a business, but there are specific considerations to take into account. It's crucial to understand the tax obligations, both in the U.S. and the resident's home country, as there may be tax treaties or double taxation agreements in place. Additionally, opening a U.S. bank account can be challenging, and non-residents may need to provide extra documentation or use services that specialize in helping international entrepreneurs. Consulting with a professional experienced in foreign ownership requirements is highly recommended to navigate these complexities effectively. What are the most common mistakes to avoid when registering a business? To avoid legal issues, make sure to thoroughly research the specific requirements for your state. Start by checking the availability of your business name to prevent conflicts and branding challenges. Keeping your personal and business finances separate will simplify accounting and tax reporting, helping to minimize confusion and potential audits. Also, seeking professional advice can provide you with valuable guidance. What is the best state to register my business? When choosing a state to register a business, Delaware and Nevada are top options. Delaware offers a strong legal framework and no state sales tax, while Nevada has no state corporate or personal income tax and strong privacy protections. Registering in your home state can be simpler if most business is conducted there. Evaluate tax implications and regulations, and consult with a legal or financial advisor for the best decision. Should I register my business online? Online registration offers speed and convenience, allowing you to complete the process from anywhere with time-saving features. However, it may lack the personalized support of traditional methods, which offers tailored assistance for complex needs. Traditional registration is often more time-consuming and less convenient, requiring physical visits. Decide based on your comfort level and business needs.

If you have a great podcast idea and want to bring your vision to life, you must learn how to record high-quality episodes that people will want to listen to. Once you’ve brainstormed episode topics, lined up guests and created a website , you’ll need to gather the necessary gear and software to start. In this article, we’ll go over the basics of how to record a podcast, as well as the equipment you’ll need for optimum sound quality. Starting a podcast? Use this podcast name generator to name it. How to record a podcast Find and plan your topic Determine the format Write a script or outline for each episode Purchase equipment Find a place to record Perfect your microphone techniques Pick a recording and editing software Hit record Edit your episode Export your episode 01. Find and plan your topic You may know what you want your podcast to be about generally (like a leadership podcast, for example), but you’ll need to break down your idea into smaller podcast topics to discuss in each episode. Research what might interest your listeners and what questions they’re asking. If you don’t know where to begin, our guide on how to start a podcast will direct you how to start from scratch. You can also read our in depth definition of what is a podcast . Beyond this, you’ll need to come up with a podcast name and may want to review some inspiring podcast website examples . 02. Determine the format Next, you’ll need to narrow your idea to a specific niche. This will not only help you find the right audience for your marketing strategy , but it will also help you pick the right equipment and editing software. For example, if you have a solo show, you’ll likely need just one mic. If you want to have a business podcast where you interview guests every episode, you’ll need to purchase two. 03. Write a script or outline for each episode Often, off-the-cuff conversations with guests or your cohost can turn into organic podcast magic as you dive into undirected topics. However, this is a skill that requires some experience to build up. For most, starting a podcast on the best foot means crafting a script or at least an outline. If you plan to have a structured storytelling podcast, such as an investigative journalism podcast, you may want to plan your entire script. Then, when it comes time to record, you’ll just need to read your script. However, if you have a co-host and want a more conversational podcast, like Wix's SERP's Up SEO Podcast , map out which topics or questions you want to address and when you’ll bring them up in the episode. That way, you’ll know what points to cover but will still have room for conversation. 04. Purchase equipment Depending on the podcast you want to create, your equipment needs may differ slightly. However, you should consider purchasing a few key equipment pieces before you begin recording: Microphone No matter what podcast you host, you’ll need a good microphone. However, with so many different options on the market for podcast hosts, how do you know which one to choose? Familiarize yourself with these different mics: Built-in microphone: Mobile devices and computers come with a built-in mic. That said, these microphones aren’t designed for recording podcasts, so don’t rely on them to record a whole series. You can use them to test episodes, but podcasters do not recommend them for full-time recording. USB microphone: A USB mic connects to a computer via a USB cable. Start here if you want to record right away without investing in expensive equipment. Just plug in your USB microphone, and it’ll be ready-to-use with recording software. XLR microphone: When you’re ready to take it up a notch from your USB mic, choose an XLR. Rather than connecting to your computer via USB, an XLR mic plugs into your computer and audio interface via its own cable or adapter. The high sound quality makes it worth the extra technical effort. Dynamic microphone: If you want something higher quality than a USB mic without a huge price tag, try a dynamic microphone. They aren’t highly sensitive mics, so you can use them no matter where you record your podcast. Condenser microphone: A condenser microphone is more sensitive than a dynamic mic, meaning it will pick up background noise. While the sensitivity means you’ll end up with clearer sound, this can cause problems if you record in a noisy setting. As a novice podcaster, you might want to start with a more versatile mic first, especially if you don’t have a professional studio setup. Headphones To make the podcast hosting experience as seamless as possible, you’ll want to invest in a pair of studio-grade headphones. Headphones allow you to hear exactly how you sound as you speak into the microphone, as well as any background noise. For example, if your audio sounds a bit muffled, perhaps you need to pull away from the microphone a bit. And if your audio is quiet and fading out, you may need to speak closer to the mic. Digital recorder You may want to consider a digital recorder for a few reasons: First, this equipment can be more reliable than a computer alone, as you record and store your audio files externally. Second, if you plan on having in-person guests or if you have a co-host, you can easily set up multiple microphones through a digital recorder. A computer or laptop may have limited entry ports for a USB mic, so having a digital recorder on hand will allow you to connect more XLR microphones. USB audio interface You can also use a USB audio interface, which acts as something in between a USB mic and a digital recorder. The device plugs directly into your computer via USB, and then you can plug in one or more XLR mics to it, depending on the model. They also improve your audio quality slightly, so this can be a good interim option if you don’t have a digital recorder. When shopping around for a USB audio interface, consider how many mic and headphone inputs you’ll need. Other equipment to consider Aside from the basic equipment you’ll need to record, these other essentials can help you get started and improve your sound quality: Microphone stand: This will hold your mic steady and keep your hands free to use your computer or flip through notes. Smartphone: While you shouldn’t use a smartphone as your permanent podcast setup, you can use one to start recording. You can find microphones that plug into your smartphone so you can record directly on your mobile device or use it when interviewing someone on the go. Soundproofing material: Foam panels or a foldable soundproof barrier can make a big difference in your sound quality by reducing echoes and reverberated sounds. Pop filter: Add a pop filter to your mic to muffle the sounds made when words with letters such as ‘p’ or ‘t’ pop in a recording. If you record at home and don’t have soundproofing material, this small fabric piece can make a noticeable difference. 05. Find a place to record Find a quiet place with sound-absorbing materials. If you don’t have soundproofing material or a recording studio, make sure you surround yourself with bookcases, clothes, couches and carpets. A walk-in closet can also suffice. 06. Perfect your microphone techniques Record the best sound quality by following these microphone best practices: Move away from your microphone when silent to keep from recording any unnecessary noises. Keep your microphone five to six inches away from your mouth when speaking. Tilt your mic at 45 degrees. This will capture your voice in its highest quality. 07. Pick a recording and editing software Audio recording software allows you to record live, edit audio files, splice sound clips and edit your recording speed—all from one tool. You will also use editing software to clean up your audio, cut segments, add in music and edit out silences. Well-known audio software includes Alitu, GarageBand, Audacity and Adobe Audition. 08. Hit record It’s time to press record on your chosen podcast recording software. It may be a good idea to do a few test-runs to ensure everything sounds clear and the software and equipment works. Once you’re ready for the real thing, hit record and start speaking according to your prepared script or outline. Don’t worry about speaking perfectly—you can edit out your hesitations and distractions. 09. Edit your episode Professionals recommend that you first edit your podcast for content, then distractions. You can also add compressions via settings to smooth out your voice and automate noise removal. If your episode includes music, set your bitrate to 192 kbps for a polished sound. If you only record voices, you can set it at 96 kbps. 10. Export your episode Follow your software’s instructions for exporting. Remember to add ID3 tags to your export so that your chosen hosting platform displays your episode’s correct data. The next step is then to think about promoting your podcast, you can learn more about how to do this in our guide to podcast advertising .

While your audio show may try to “speak for itself,” a podcast website can do a lot more for your growth. From getting found online to starting a newsletter following, a well-designed podcast website can act as a one-stop shop to promote your show. And whether you’re looking to create a website for your podcast or updating a current one, you’ll want to look at these successful podcast website examples for inspiration. This article will dive into our 13 favorite podcast website examples, all built on Wix using podcast website templates . You’ll find which website template best fits your podcast needs. Starting a podcast? Use this podcast name generator to name it. TL;DR: podcast website examples A podcast website does more than host episodes. It helps you grow your audience, build your brand and create a home for everything you do. This blog features standout podcast websites that get the details right, from clean layouts and audio players to guest bios and newsletter signups. Whether you're just starting your podcast or looking to build a more engaging site, these examples offer ideas for how to design with listeners in mind and keep them coming back for more. You'll also find tips on functionality, promotion and design choices that support long-term growth. How we selected the podcast website examples Selection criteria Why it matters Easy episode access Clear navigation and embedded players make listening straightforward Strong visual branding Consistent design that reflects the tone and style of the podcast Show and host info Builds credibility and connection with listeners Guest or topic highlights Spotlights key voices and content to spark interest Engagement tools Email signups, social links or comment sections help grow your community Mobile-friendly design Ensures a smooth listening experience on any device Clear calls to action Guides users to subscribe, follow, donate or contact Why create a podcast website? After you’ve started a podcast , you’ll want to build a podcast website for promotional efforts and strategically design it to amass traffic. While listeners may tune into a podcast for the first time via Apple Podcasts or Spotify, they can't engage with the hosts on these platforms. A podcast website lets you speak directly to your audience and helps you build an authentic brand following with them. Some key benefits to creating a podcast website include: Streamlining your marketing: If you run a YouTube channel with video podcasts or turn episodes into summary blog posts, your podcast website can house these different marketing strategies . Getting web traffic: 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine and marketers Edison Research found that 73% of U.S. podcast consumers discover podcasts through internet searches. Optimize your website with search engine keywords tied to specific podcast topics to help drive more traffic to your site. Monetizing your podcast: If you want to make money podcasting , a website will help you achieve that goal. While in-stream podcast advertising can drive steady revenue, your website can expand your options. For example, add a donation or subscription page to your website, offer premium and exclusive downloadable resources, or sell merchandise, coaching sessions or paid online courses. Engaging your audience: Create feedback loops with submission forms for episode ideas to nurture your target listeners and build community. You can also start a newsletter for episode release notifications. Best podcast website examples 01. SERP’s Up Wix’s SERP’s Up covers hot topics in the SEO industry. Upon landing on the podcast website, the top of the fold visibly showcases links to subscribe and listen to the show. Keep scrolling and you’ll find different episodes displayed in a sophisticated grid layout. The site’s cover art creates consistency without being repetitive. Why it’s a good podcast website example: Centrally placed podcast directory links to subscribe Consistent web design Black and white background that evokes professionalism and engages viewers 02. The Know with Nikki Spo The Know with Nikki Spo easily catches our attention, making the list of best podcast website examples. Her "Stay in The Know" email subscriber banner is punny and well placed. The sticky banner moves with you as you scroll. Her Past Guests page shows which type of individuals listeners can expect to hear. There’s also a submission form to become her next guest and be part of her podcast recording . Her website exemplifies how creating a blog can help cross promote podcast episodes. Why it’s a good podcast website example: Banner email subscriber form Past guests page with a contact form Active blog to help promote episodes 03. Skin the Surface Skin the Surface 's practical website is easy to navigate, giving a bird’s eye view of upcoming events and engaging their audience. The website translation feature, offering 13 languages, offers international inclusivity. Additionally, they’ve added Live Chat to streamline communication with visitors. Why it’s a good podcast website example: Podcast calendar Multi-language site Live chat 04. Sleep and Sanity The Sleep and Sanity Podcast is, "for the parent that craves structure and predictability but struggles to find either with their child's sleep or within parenthood at all." The podcast host knows just how critical parents find this topic. Many parents will pay for sleeping advice, such as consultation calls and private sleep coaching. The site spreads its CTAs across different pages and locations with various copy, colors and sizes to avoid sounding spammy or pushy. Why it’s a good podcast website example: Tailored to a niche audience Strategic monetization Visible diverse CTAs 05. NonMembers Only Host Mrs. Space Cadet showcases her podcast named NonMembers Only with a retro and easy-to-navigate design. On her partnerships, she explains: "I've had the privilege to partner with some amazing brands in the running industry and beyond. Whether the campaign goal is brand awareness, new product launches, or to increase sales, I use my creativity and knowledge of social media marketing to make it a success." (Adding a short blurb like this can help convince partners to work with you.) Why it’s a good podcast website example: Retro and minimal podcast page Work with me page Explanation of her brand partnerships value add 06. The Art of Home: A Podcast for Homemakers Unlike most of the other podcast website examples, The Art of Home has its RSS feed displayed immediately on the homepage, allowing listeners to dive right in and see the full gallery of diverse episodes. To improve feedback loops and build audience engagement, this podcast website example has an audio voicemail feature on their Contact Us page. Why it’s a good podcast website example: Episode gallery on the homepage Prompts with questions for feedback Voicemail response capability 07. The Mojo Podcast The Mojo Podcast falls under the category of business podcasts but does more than just discuss careers. They’ve designed their site to align their coaching services to their podcast. The page has three customer testimonials to build their social proof. Lastly, their blog educates and empower their audience. Why it’s a good podcast website example: Coaching services Meaningful customer testimonials Blog What should be on a podcast website The podcast website examples above all have their own unique web design and are powered by the Podcast Player . To take your podcast website one step further, embed these best practices into your site: RSS feeds: No matter which podcast hosting site you use, an RSS feed app automatically updates visitors upon release of a new episode. Email sign-up: Add an email subscriber form to collect addresses for your newsletter. Choose between a light-box element or pop-up to nurture leads with email campaigns. Social media links: Use your podcast website to enhance your social media marketing strategy. Visitors can follow you; good social content helps build credibility. Subscription links: Direct visitors to various podcast directories and hopefully improve your subscriber rate. Testimonials: Have you gotten any heartwarming testimonials for your podcast? Share it on your website and show new members just how beloved your show is. About page: Tell people more about yourself, how you got into the topic you cover and even add your photo.

Once you get beyond the stigma of it being “impossible” to be successful on YouTube, it can be both a challenging and rewarding endeavor, just like when you create a website . In the beginning, there will be a clear emphasis on on the “challenging” part, like getting a satisfactory number of views for your videos and building your subscriber list. While you should define what YouTube success means for yourself, many see it as the amount of subscribers a channel has, and this will be the biggest challenge. So while we might not be able to tell you what your niche will be when you start your own YouTube channel (Mini food baking? Emoji makeup styles?), we do know a thing or two about raising follower numbers. To start building your audience, follow these tips below to help you get more subscribers on YouTube. How to get more subscribers on YouTube Have no shame and ask Ignore the YouTube 'hacks' Advertise everywhere Engage with your community Reassess your channel's design Spend some time on your video thumbnails Put a greater emphasis on your SEO Curate playlists for your audience Keep their attention with CTAs Incentivize your audience Keep producing good quality content 01. Have no shame and ask Let’s get this one right out in the open first. At the end of your videos, don’t be afraid to ask viewers to like and subscribe. This is especially important if you're looking to make money on YouTube based on your number of fans. Sometimes viewers are simply in “YouTube” mode and aren’t thinking to engage with the videos they’re watching, they just want to watch. Reminding them of this solid they could do for you could be your ticket. Some people think that asking for subscribers and likes is desperate, but let’s just put things into perspective here: This is YouTube, which isn’t known to be an overly-tactful place. There’s nothing wrong with asking. Just because asking for “more” didn’t work in Oliver Twist doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. Plus, it’s not uncommon to see well established channels still ask in their videos. 02. Ignore the YouTube “hacks” You know what you don’t have time for? Other people wasting your time. That said, if you believe you’ll get something valuable out of a video that’s titled “Secret YouTube Hack: How to Get 5k YouTube Subscribers in 5 Minutes,” you apparently have plenty of time to be wasted. Videos that promise something that sound too good to be true are too good to be true. I wish I didn’t have to spell this out, but sadly, I do. Plus, a lot of the videos end up being pranks at the end. You will grow your list by a combination of tactics and not one magic fix, so don’t listen to the siren song of false YouTube promises. 03. Advertise everywhere (cross-platform promotion) We get it, you like YouTube, but you should be always be pushing your channel to other platforms and social networks to get more exposure, and there are several ways to do this. Sharing is caring : Any and every time you publish a video on your channel, plan to publish a post with a link to said video on your other social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Are you super lazy? Fine, you can set up IFTTT so that when you publish a public YouTube video, you can have a link posted from Facebook and a Tweet sent out telling everyone to check out your latest video. Another smart way to keep your YouTube channel at the forefront is to add a link to it in the profile of your other social networks. Create a stunning video site : Having a dedicated website for your YouTube videos not only gives your content a home away from home, but it allows you to control so much more. You aren’t confined to the layout of YouTube, allowing more of “you” to shine through from a design perspective. It’s also incredibly easy to sync your channel with Wix Video. You also have the ability to sell your videos to your viewers, which is something you can’t do directly from YouTube. Send newsletter to your subscribers : Don’t forget about your website subscribers when you post a new video on YouTube! Craft the perfect newsletter to tell your fans about your latest video and either post a link to your channel or, if you added Wix Video from the above tip, they can check it out on your website. 04. Engage with your community It’s vital that you engage with your community. They are the ones who are liking, subscribing, and telling others about your channel. Frankly, it really doesn’t matter what your goal is, whether you’re just getting started on YouTube, looking for more views, or more subscribers – treating your community with respect and regularly engaging with them will be paramount to your success. Not only does interacting with your audience on your videos help get your community buzzing about your content, but YouTube will reward you for the social hype. Plus, your fans will be happy to spread the love with likes and shares. 05. Reassess your channel’s design Not everyone was born with an eye for (YouTube) design. And that’s okay. You may have an “ideal audience” in mind for your content, but you should aim to appeal to as many people as you can, however you can. One thing to take note of is how your channel looks when someone lands on it. While the content you produce is ultimately what should get viewers to subscribe to your channel, in order to give your videos the glory they deserve, make sure your channel is eye-catching and appealing. Go over your channel art, profile icon, channel trailer and ask yourself how it could be improved to broaden its appeal. Ask a friend that won’t sugar coat it for you. This is obviously subjective, but getting the perspective of others can be invaluable to shaping how your channel is portrayed. As part of that make sure to consider the impact of your YouTube Channel name and how it conveys your design and branding. 06. Spend some time on your video thumbnails The power of a good video thumbnail on a YouTube video is surprisingly boundless, so you’ll want to make sure you’re spending a decent amount of time crafting it. With the bulk of your work confined to producing your actual video content, it could be tempting to think that investing time into a simple thumbnail is a waste. Nothing could be further from the truth. Thumbnails that are attention-grabbing get more attention. (It doesn’t get any more profound than that.) However you go about creating your thumbnails, be sure that they each carry a unique style that you can apply to all of your video thumbnails. This type of consistency looks great on your channel and adds a sense of professionalism. Tip : From a neuromarketing perspective, it’s smart to use a face in your thumbnail, as we are naturally more drawn to them. Of course, if it doesn’t make sense regarding the content of your video, then don’t fret. You can go for a more descriptive thumbnail. 07. Put a greater emphasis on your SEO Discoverability is crucial for any channel, especially newer ones, so if you aren’t obsessive about your YouTube video SEO, that should change. Crafting a solid title and description is a job of its own so while this is markedly the most boring part of the process, it holds the potential of determining how well your video will be found, so it’s nothing to take lightly. You can increase your chances of making an SEO-friendly title by doing research on your keywords and deciding whether you’d like to chase the more popular (and competitive) keywords, or the more specific long-tail keywords. It’s more than just the title, though! You should also make sure your video description is properly filled out with the appropriate links and that they are in line with the tags you used on your videos. Don’t skimp on your tags – make sure they’re relevant. Check out our guide in case you need to brush up on your YouTube SEO skills . 08. Curate playlists for your audience If a viewer stumbles upon one of your videos through a search, make it easy for them to continue to watch similar videos by compiling a playlist you’ve created for just this occasion to automatically offer up more content. Not only does this get your channel more view time, but you’ll also save your audience from the dreaded YouTube rabbit hole. You know what I’m talking about. 09. Keep their attention with CTAs The attention span of just about anyone on YouTube is admittedly abysmal, which is why you need to intrigue viewers with your content to keep them interested. If they’re going to be distracted in any way, it should be with one of your CTAs. You can add links to your other videos that the viewer may find relevant, or even a CTA telling them to like and subscribe. 10. Incentivize your audience Just like asking for subscribers, incentivizing people to subscribe can be seen as a “shady” way to up your numbers, but when done right, it can certainly work. Holding a contest that requires someone to subscribe to your channel in order to enter is basically a surefire way to get subscribers. As long as what you’re giving away is worth entering a contest for, and your channel is discoverable enough for people to know how to enter, then let the games begin. If the latter proves to be an issue, you could perhaps make it a short-term contest and hold it during a YouTube live stream . Importantly, make sure that any and all legalities are upheld where you live. 11. Continue to produce quality content This one may sound like it’s laughably obvious, but it’s very relevant. Just because you’ve “found your groove” when it comes to making YouTube videos does not mean that you’re producing quality content. In fact, your “groove” could actually just be “autopilot.” This is true regardless of what video platform you use. Sit down with your channel and watch your videos from different periods of time. Even though you’ve painstakingly edited the videos and can quote them all, try to watch the videos with fresh eyes and take notes of what you think worked in one video versus another. Preferably, ask people who would be considered to be your target audience or friends who haven’t seen all of your videos yet (but really what kind of friends are they?). Learning from your mistakes will always remain one of your most valuable assets and the drive for continually evolving in your content will help you to be a successful YouTuber in the long run. In addition to a strong focus on quality content, you can always look to your past videos and check your stats in the YouTube analytics section of your account. This can allow you to identify past trends of what worked and what didn’t. It’s a very powerful tool that shouldn’t be ignored.

It’s not a matter of if you should be advertising your business, but how you should advertise it. Even the most common aspect of your brand, like when you build your own website , is essentially an ad that lives on the Internet 24/7. That said, for the most part, people aren’t on your website for hours on end. Where do people spend hours at a time, specifically in terms of Internet usage? YouTube. YouTube is one of the most popular video outlets in existence, and it offers its own advertising platform, allowing you to get in front of your audience in ways your website simply can’t. YouTube advertising can be tricky for small businesses, which can lead to wasting your precious dollars earned if you don’t know what to look out for. To alleviate this, we’re going to show you how to get started with the platform and run your own campaigns from end to end. Why advertise on YouTube? Advertising on YouTube can be a strategic and effective way for businesses to reach and engage with their target audience. Here are the top 5 reasons why businesses choose to advertise on YouTube: Massive user base: YouTube boasts billions of users globally, presenting an unparalleled opportunity for businesses to reach a vast and diverse audience. Advertising on YouTube allows businesses to tap into this massive user base and extend their brand visibility to millions of potential customers. Visual engagement: Video content on YouTube is highly engaging, providing businesses with a dynamic and visually appealing platform to showcase their products or services. Video ads can capture attention more effectively than static ads, fostering a deeper connection with the audience. Precise targeting options: YouTube's robust targeting options enable businesses to reach their ideal audience with precision. Advertisers can tailor their campaigns based on demographics, interests, behaviors and more. This targeted approach ensures that ads are shown to the most relevant viewers, maximizing the impact of the advertising investment. Versatile ad formats: YouTube offers a variety of ad formats, allowing businesses to align their advertising strategy with specific marketing objectives. Whether aiming for brand awareness, engagement or conversions, advertisers can choose from skippable ads, non-skippable ads, display ads and more to suit their campaign goals. Detailed analytics: YouTube provides comprehensive analytics and performance metrics, offering valuable insights into the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Advertisers can track key metrics such as views, click-through rates and impressions. This data empowers businesses to refine and optimize their ad strategies for better results and a higher return on investment. The different YouTube ad video formats Before you jump headfirst into a YouTube marketing campaign, you should learn about the options that are available for you to take advantage of. While there are many options for making money on YouTube , video ads are the most popular ad format for the video-centric platform. Don’t worry, though. We’ll have more information about non-video ad formats below. Here’s a rundown of all the different video formats and ways to advertise on YouTube: TrueView Ads : TrueView ads are more than likely the format that you’re most familiar with. They come in multiple variations: In-stream : The most common type of TrueView ad, which can appear in the beginning, middle, or end of a YouTube video. These videos can be skipped after five seconds of the ad has played and they’re accompanied by a companion banner ad on the right hand side of the screen on desktop. Video Discovery Ads : These video ads appear in YouTube search results and next to related videos. These types of ads are unobtrusive and relevant to the user’s search query. For the above options, advertisers only pay for TrueView ads when users watch for at least 30 seconds, watch an entire short video, or interact with an ad in some way, such as clicking on a call-to-action. However, there’s another TrueView format that does things a little differently. TrueView for Reach : If your primary goal is ad reach and not necessarily ad views, then TrueView for Reach is something you’ll want to consider. These ads are optimized for a wide reach across large audiences and are charged on a CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) basis. Other YouTube ad video formats: Non-Skippable video ads: Probably the most maligned ad format. These 15-20 second ads cannot be skipped and must be viewed before the YouTube video plays. These ads can also appear in the middle or after videos as well. Bumper ads: Bumper ads are another common video ad format. They’re 'unskippable' six-second ads that must be viewed before a YouTube video plays. Since YouTube is the world’s largest site for hosting and consuming video content, we will primarily be focusing on video ads in this tutorial, but don’t worry, we’ll have additional information on non-video formats further down. How to set up your first YouTube advertising campaign Ready? Here are all the vital steps you need to take in order to successfully advertise on YouTube: Start your YouTube channel Create your Google Adwords account Link Adwords to YouTube Choose your campaign goals and types Set up your campaign Define the people you want to reach Upload your marketing video Save and submit your ad 01. Start your YouTube channel Before you can get started advertising on the platform, you’ll first need to start your YouTube channel for your business. Sure, it’s technically an easy process to actually create the account, but there are many aspects that need to be addressed. From getting the correct art resolution to your intro video, we have the perfect step-by-step guide for you on how to start a YouTube channel . You'll need to consider things like your content niche and your Youtube channel name . 02. Create your Google Adwords account This process is going to be a little confusing for some, and it’s a bit counter-intuitive. In order to create a Google Adwords account, you will essentially be forced to create a campaign that you may never use - and certainly not for the purposes of this article, anyway. What the setup process is attempting to do is helping you to familiarize yourself with Google Ads. Still, it’s forcing its intent on you when you already have your own, so just push through and you will then be able to delete the ad from the dashboard. Sign into an existing or create a new Gmail account . Follow the steps to create your first campaign, including: Advertising goal: Get more calls, physical location visits, website visits, etc. Advertising area: Where most of your customers reside. Product or service details. During the setup, you’ll be asked to create your first ad. Again, this is just a part of the initial configuration and you won’t have to go through with it. You’ll be able to add your own graphics here, but given that you will most likely not be using this ad, feel free to skip along. What you’re really looking for is the main Google Adwords dashboard, which looks like this: Google Adwords Campaign Dashboard Seeing something different on your dashboard? You may have the older dashboard view. You can find out how to switch between the new and previous Google Ads dashboards in just a couple of clicks. 03. Link AdWords to YouTube After your Adwords account is created, you must then link it to your YouTube one before you can begin running video campaigns. The process is very straightforward and shouldn’t take you more than a minute or two. Sign into your YouTube channel. Click your profile icon at the top right corner of the page. Select ‘Creator Studio’. On the left, select ‘Channel’, then click ‘Advanced’. Click ‘Link a Google Ads Account’ under ‘Google Ads Account Linking’. Follow the instructions and then click ‘Finish’. *After this setup is complete, the owner of the Google Adwords account (likely you) will need to approve the request to successfully link the YouTube channel to Adwords. Seeing something different on your YouTube account? You can follow the instructions for different versions of YouTube here . Now it’s time to get started with creating your very own video campaign. There are several steps to the process but it primarily contains choosing your goal, your audience, your format, and your budget. Let’s begin: 04. Choose your campaign goals and types Primary goals of Adwords campaigns The first question is an obvious one. To start your campaign, you will first need to choose a primary goal. The options available are easy enough to understand, though some will not offer video ads in the section below. For this tutorial, we’re going to choose ‘Brand Awareness and Reach’, but we encourage you to view all of the options you have available to you. A description of each goal that allows video advertising and what they’re for is best given by Adwords itself: Sales : Drive sales online, in app, by phone, or in store. Leads : Get leads and other conversions by encouraging customers to take action. Website traffic : Get the right people to visit your website. Product and brand consideration : Encourage people to explore your products or services. Brand awareness and reach : Reach a broad audience and build awareness. Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance : Use any available campaign type and construct a campaign step-by-step without a goal's recommendations. Available goals and types that allow for video advertising on YouTube and subtypes for goals when the selected type of campaign is set to video. Selecting another type other than video will yield different results. Next, you’ll be asked to select your campaign type. Your campaign type determines how and where your customers see your ads. As mentioned above, depending on what goal you choose, different options will yield in the campaign type section. Some options will have four and some will have fewer. This article is focusing on video advertising with YouTube, so ‘video’ should be selected - but if you’re going for a different ad format, adapt your selection accordingly. Up next is the campaign subtype. The options here will also be different depending on the goal and campaign type you’ve chosen. For all intensive purposes, choosing ‘Brand Awareness and Reach’ for your goal and then ‘Video’ for your type will yield more familiar ad options for the subtype, like ‘skippable in-stream ads’, ‘bumper ads’, and ‘non-skippable in-stream ads’. Keep in mind that the type and subtype you choose will affect your bidding strategy, as some options only allow for specific strategies. 05. Set up your campaign Primary categories of an Adwords Campaign Name : The following page starts easy enough. Simply name the campaign to your liking. This will only be seen by you and whoever else may have access to manage the campaigns, so feel free to call it whatever you want. Of course, this is the beginning of your foray into YouTube advertising, so you should probably start with your best foot forward and provide a structure for your campaign title. This will also make it quicker and easier to find them later down the line. When creating a name, make sure that the title is appropriate and describes the campaign well. Budget: After you name the campaign, you’ll be asked to set up the budget. Here, you can choose how much money you’d like to invest. You can select a daily amount of money to spend or total amount for the entire campaign. If you’re new to this, and we assume you are, it’s best to start with a low daily budget. This will ensure that you’re not overspending on a campaign that’s not optimized or produces none of the results you’re looking to achieve. Date: Now, the most self-explanatory part of setting up a campaign with Google AdWords: The date. This gives you the option to choose whether you want to have the campaign go live as soon as it’s been approved, or if you’d like to schedule it for some time in the future. Networks, language, and location: Following down the funnel, you’ll be asked where you want your video ad to be displayed. Keep in mind that the networks can change according to your goal type. Your options are YouTube Search Results, YouTube videos, and video partners on the Display Network. For the most part, you’ll probably only want to choose one of the first two, though YouTube Search Results is confined to Discovery ads only. The option for video partners on the Display Network is not recommended mostly due to the fact that you won’t actually know where your ad is running. Moving along, you’ll then need to choose your language, which should be easy enough. Then choose a location you’d like your campaign to run in. You can go very broad and market to multiple countries, or as limited to just a single city. You can also exclude specific locations here as well. Content exclusions: There’s a lot of content on YouTube and not all of it is going to be aligned with your industry or message. While the control on this is rather limited, you can exclude specific types of videos so your ad doesn’t show up on them. This section is broken down a few times, starting with ‘Inventory type’. There are three different inventory types that consist of Expanded inventory, Standard inventory, and Limited inventory. As the names suggest, the Expanded inventory is the most lenient on profanity, sexually suggestive, or violent content where Limited is the least. You can further drill into specific types of content that you’d like to opt out of. Lastly, you may exclude content that has a specific TV rating, like TV-MA or TV-T, along with different types of videos like live streams, embedded videos, and games. Additional settings: Below the content exclusion section is a small link that simply says ‘Additional settings’. Here lies the options for device targeting, frequency capping, and ad scheduling. Device targeting: This allows you to choose what devices your ad will be displayed on, like computers, tablets, mobile devices, and TVs. Frequency capping: Frequency capping shouldn’t be tucked away like the way it is. This allows you to limit the number of impressions or views from the same user. Not using this could result in continually showing your ad to someone who is not interested, which in turn is a waste of money for you. Ad scheduling: While you’ve already scheduled the day you want your campaign to go live, the ‘Ad Scheduling’ section allows you to drill in a bit further, allowing for a fully customized schedule. You can set up multiple times within a day for the campaign to go active. 06. Define the people you want to reach Essentially the most important part of your campaign, your Ad Group is a “group” of people with a specific set of demographics and personal interests, along with target keywords you define for them. Below is a rundown of what you can expect to find in the Ad Group section, along with some helpful tips to see how the choices here affect how and where your ad is displayed. Much like your campaign, you may want to reuse the Ad Group you create, so you should name it. After you’ve named your group, select your demographics , which include age, gender, parental status, and household income. Now, to keep things on the simple side for your first video campaign, we suggest you choose either an audience or a topic . Of course, you can dig in and choose both or multiples of both, but it will essentially complicate who and what videos your ads will display on. That’s why we encourage to choose one or the other in the beginning to get your feet wet and get more advanced as you go forward. Audience : Your audience is (obviously) who your ads will be shown to. This section can be made simple or highly elaborate by adding detailed demographics and interests. Your target audience can be as simple as “book loves” or as elaborate as some who is married, is currently in college, is married, and has an interest in books and gaming. The topics category allows you to get very specific. Topics : Topics specifically pertain to the types of videos your ads will show on. With essentially endless forms of content on YouTube, this section can also get fairly elaborate as well. This means anyone who views a video of your selected topic may see your ad. While both audiences and topics can be highly detailed within their own sections, they can work well together. As we mentioned above, it will make things a bit more complicated for the newcomer, but it’s also okay to choose one audience type and one topic to narrow your Ad Group down. Understanding the relationships between your Ad Group choices When adding details about your ad group, as mentioned above, it may seem like a fairly straightforward process. It is and it isn’t. We’ve provided some examples below to show you how your choices in the Ad Group section affect who your ad is shown to and what types of videos it will run on. To best illustrate the relationships between Demographics, Audiences, Topics, and Placements, see the examples below. The following example details how an ad would be displayed if you’ve chosen one topic and one audience type. Example 1 : Let's say you set your categories as such: Demographics - males 18-25 Topic - video games Audience - Website builder. The result of these selections would have your ad shown to 18-25 year old males that are interested in website builders and watching videos about video games. The following example details how an ad would display if multiple topics are chosen. Example 2 : Let's say you have set your categories as such: Demographics - males 18-25 Topic - video games, website builder. The result of these selections would have your ad shown to 18-25 year old males either watching videos about website builders or video games. The following example details how an ad would display if multiple audiences are chosen Example 3 : Let’s say your categories are as such: Demographics - 18-25 males Audience - video games, website builder. The result of these selections would have your ad shown on any video to 18-25 year old males who are interested in video games or website builders. With the examples above, you can see how quickly choosing multiple audiences and topics can become a murky situation. It’s completely okay to go the simple route on your first video campaign. Practice will only allow you to become more confident going forward. 07. Upload your marketing video AdWords shows you how your ad will look like on both mobile and desktop. The moment is finally here - it’s time to add your video creative. This should be as easy as copying the URL of your video and pasting it if you’ve already uploaded it to YouTube. If you’ve yet to upload your video and need some YouTube 101 along the way, we have a handy guide on how to upload your video to YouTube . Your selected ad type will determine how much of it is going to be viewed before the option to dismiss it, unless you’ve chosen a six-second bumper ad or a non-skippable ad format. This will most likely be five seconds for TrueView ads. For these skippable ads, it’s best to send a concise and straightforward message at the beginning. This way, someone who may be already readying their mouse to skip the ad will still get a gist for what you’re all about. After you’ve uploaded your video, there are a few things you can tweak for how it’s displayed. You’ll see a view for how your ad will look on both desktop and mobile on the right panel and you can add a URL and call to action text here as well. This is a vital piece that should not be ignored. For in-stream ads, you’ll also be asked if you’d like to upload a photo as a companion banner that will appear to the right side of the video for viewers on desktops. Foregoing this option will result in the banner image becoming that of your channel’s banner image. 08. Save and submit your ad After you’ve uploaded your video, added your call-to-action, and add a banner for your ad, simply click the ‘Save and continue’ option. Now, take a breath. You’re done creating your first video ad campaign! Notes on YouTube’s approval policy Your ad must be approved to ensure it checks out against AdWords policies. It will then automatically go live either when you’ve scheduled it or if you’ve chosen to have it launched right after it’s approved. The approval process is in place to ensure that an ad is safe and appropriate. The ad itself, the keywords used, and the landing pages linked to the ad are all reviewed to ensure they adhere to the policies of the platform. Existing campaigns that are edited must also go through the approval process once more to check that the changes pass. Usually the review process can take anywhere between a few hours to one business day. More complex ads take longer to review, but they are reviewed within the order they are received. The non-video YouTube ads formats As mentioned above, video ads aren't the only way you can promote your business on YouTube. If you’re not ready to make your own films to advertise on the video giant, take a look at the following formats to start out with: Sponsored card ads : Sponsor cards are exactly what they sound like. Small card-shaped images will appear on the side of a video before they slide away into the corner. This allows the viewer to know where to access them again if they want to. They’re displayed alongside relevant videos or display products mentioned in the video so you can purchase them yourself if you want to. They can be accessed again by clicking the icon that constantly shows at the top right hand corner of the video. Overlay ads : Another common ad format. That’s a small banner that can be closed at the bottom portion of a video you’re watching. The official specs (resolution) of Overlay ads are 468x60 or 728x90 pixels. Display ads: While a handful of the ads above are also considered Display ads, the “official” description is an ad that appears to the right hand side of the video player of the video and above the video suggestions list. The official specs (resolution) of these ads are 300x250 or 300x60 pixels. 10 tips to optimize your YouTube ad campaigns You have now mastered the technical process of launching your YouTube advertising campaigns. There are still some things you can do to make the most out of every penny you spend on the platform: 01. Measure the success of your ads After you’ve created your ad, you’ll want to know whether it’s doing good or bad. There are several key performance metrics that can be used to measure how an ad is doing, like views, watch time, engagements, and so forth. You can use the primary goal of the ad to check if the metrics produce satisfactory results, but you have a wealth of knowledge that you can use to improve future campaigns available to you. Above all, keep in mind that your ultimate key metric will usually be the new customers you bring to your business, so ensure that the campaign is aligned with this goal. 02. Refine your audience If you find yourself not reaching the right audience, you may want to go back and refine your Ad Group or create a slightly different one to see if your click or view rates improve. You can drill very far down to find a very specific audience, including demographics, household income, and personal interests. On the flip side, getting hyper specific can lead to increased competition, which can increase your cost per view. 03. Avoid creative fatigue Even if you’ve perfectly targeted your audience, if they see the same ad too often, it will likely lose its effectiveness and possibly become annoying for the user, even if it’s relevant to them. This is called creative fatigue and it can best be avoided by having multiple video ads that you can swap one out for another. This can also help improve your view rate. 04. Refine your creative if necessary If your ad isn’t as effective as you expected it to be even after you’ve made changes to your audience, you may want to look to your video creative next. Something as simple as shortening the ad, changing the intro, or removing the call to action can help the ad’s effectiveness. 05. Add the Google Ads Conversion pixel to your site If your ads lead to your business website, adding a conversion pixel can provide a wealth of information. Adding this tracking tag to your Wix site will allow you to see whether a click on your ad leads to purchases, downloads, or any of your other goals. 06. Experiment with multiple ad formats While it’s understandable that someone fresh out of their first video campaign wouldn’t want to rush into something else, you should! This will only enable you to become more familiar with the platform. It’s also a great opportunity to see if specific types of video ads work better for you than others. Perhaps Discovery video ads perform better than your Bumper ads? You’ll never know until you give out multiple formats and find out for yourself. 07. Don’t be afraid to get weird Remember, this is YouTube. This is a platform where you can fall into a rabbit hole of the most bizarre videos and come out of it a different person, for better or worse. The point is that people come to YouTube with the expectation of learning something or being entertained, so don’t be afraid to try to make your video ads do both. Show off the weird and funny side of your brand, as these are ads that will be remembered. 08. Incentivize the right people If someone isn’t interested in your ad, they’re going to skip it. That’ll probably happen a lot, so get used to it. That said, someone genuinely interested in your product or service that watches your ad to completely still may need an extra push to take the plunge and perform the click over. This is why you can provide a special offer later on towards your video, far away from the 5 seconds that go by before you can skip the ad. 09. Consider adding captions Not only do captions help those hard of hearing, but also people who don’t want to have audio where they are but still watch a video. (Think about being on a bus.) Providing your own transcription of your ad can be more helpful than you may think and could even improve your SEO ranking for the video. 10. Get advanced As someone new to YouTube Advertising, you may steer clear of the advanced options, but you shouldn’t! Features like frequency capping will limit the number of times a viewer sees your particular ad, which can help expose your ad to new people. This combined with the scheduling feature that allows you to set the specific times your ad shows can be a highly effective way to get your ad in front of new eyes. How much do YouTube ads cost? The cost of YouTube ads can vary widely based on several factors, and advertisers have flexibility in setting their budgets. The key factors influencing the cost of YouTube ads include: Ad format: Different ad formats on YouTube come with varying costs. For example, TrueView ads, which are skippable video ads, typically operate on a cost-per-view (CPV) basis, where advertisers pay when a viewer watches at least 30 seconds of the ad or engages with it. Non-skippable ads may have a cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) pricing model. Bidding strategy: YouTube ads operate on an auction-based system. Advertisers can choose their bidding strategy, such as maximum CPV or maximum CPM bids. The bid amount, along with the relevance and quality of the ad, influences whether the ad gets displayed and how often. Targeting options: The specificity of your target audience influences costs. Highly targeted campaigns may have a higher cost because they are reaching a more defined and potentially competitive audience. Broad targeting may result in lower costs but might be less focused. Ad placement: The placement of your ad matters. In-stream ads that appear before, during or after other videos might have different costs compared to video discovery ads that appear in YouTube search results or next to related videos. Industry and seasonality: The industry you operate in can impact ad costs. Competitive industries may have higher costs due to increased demand for ad space. Additionally, seasonality can affect costs, with certain times of the year being more competitive for advertisers. Geographic targeting: Targeting specific regions or countries can affect costs. Advertising in regions with higher demand or larger audiences may result in higher costs per view or impression. Ad quality: YouTube rewards high-quality, relevant ads with better visibility and potentially lower costs. Advertisers with engaging content and high click-through rates may see more favorable pricing. It's important for advertisers to set a daily or campaign budget to control spending. Advertisers are charged when viewers interact with the ad (e.g., by watching a certain portion of it, clicking on it or taking another desired action). While there is no fixed cost for YouTube ads, advertisers have control over their budgets and can adjust them based on their advertising goals and financial constraints.