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Wix Code is now Velo by Wix, a comprehensive web development platform that lets you build professional web applications as quickly as possible. A few months ago, we announced Wix Code, a powerful solution that gives you the possibility be able to plan how to make a website without limits. Today, we’re thrilled to tell you that Wix Code is open to everyone! What exactly are we talking about? Wix Code is an integrated web development environment that enables you to manage data, customize the behavior of Wix components, build web applications and create robust websites. In human words: this formidable technology allows you to extend substantially the functionality of your Wix website. And the cherry on top; you can do it all using the visual elements of the Wix Editor. Do (much) more without coding Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you can use Wix Code without coding. As we said, this product gives you access to powerful tools that let you create a no code website and enrich it significantly – without advanced technical knowledge. You might be asking yourself, “what’s in it for me?” Excellent question! In order to illustrate what you can do as a non-coder, we will use Anno’s website as an example. Anno doesn’t know how to code, yet she created this huge repertory of plants for gardening lovers. In order to do that, she used two great features within Wix Code: Database Collections and Dynamic Pages. Let’s take a minute to learn what these are and how she used them: Database Collections: This allows you to manage all of your website’s content in one place. You can collect and store text, images, numbers, documents, user info and more in a database. You’ll be able to use it anywhere on your website. For example, let’s say you want to create a repertory like Anno did on her stunning website. You can compile your text and pictures in your database collection. Each item (in this case, plants) will have its own row as if you were filling out a spreadsheet – it’s that simple. Now, the million-dollar question is: what do you do with all this content? Read on. Dynamic Pages: Once you collected your content in your database, you can generate one single design style that will adapt itself to each item (row) on your list. This allows you to create an infinity of new pages – without having to duplicate them. Each page (generated automatically) will have a custom URL and unique content. Here you can see that Anno has a huge database containing a variety of plants. By connecting her Database with the Dynamic Pages, she now has hundreds of pages, one for each plant. Of course, everything is SEO compatible. Crazy, isn’t it? But this isn’t the only magical thing you can do without coding! You can also generate tailored forms: Custom forms: Create application forms, review sections, quizzes and more without writing a single line of code. All the data you collect will automatically get stored in your database – and again, can be used anywhere on your site. Look at the Buyer and Seller sections on Josh’s website. The forms are totally customized to meet the needs of his real estate business. Create without limits with Code If you know how to code, then you are about to fully understand the power of Wix Code. First of all, since Wix Code is a part of the Wix OS, we take care of the hassle of setting up the infrastructure and maintaining web environments in order for you to enjoy a much better and faster creation experience. This will give you more time and freedom to: Take control of your site with APIs & JavaScript: By coding, you can extend your website’s functionality with JavaScript and APIs. This combination gives you full control over your site’s functionality; from Wix elements to your databases to backend files – including fetching and routing. Customize page element behaviors with custom interactions: Add JavaScript code to your page elements to customize their behavior. Create interactions for any action a user performs, like clicking a button, hovering over a shape and toggling the page layout. It’s easy to do, even if you’re not a JavaScript pro. Have a look at Marisa’s website to see some cool interactions: We think it’s best to hear about Wix Code straight from our users. Here’s what developer Andreas Kviby has to say: “By using Wix Code we will save about 50 percent off the time it would typically take to build on other platforms –  but often more. It is amazing when you can create client apps in days instead of weeks. For designers who are not coders, they can now take some code and extend sites for clients in no time.” How to activate Wix Code In order to enable Velo (formerly Wix Code), all you need to do is open your site's editor and on the top bar click Dev Mode > Turn on Dev Mode. Useful resources Now it’s time to start digging into this gem of a technology. First, check out the mini-site for an overview of Wix Code. Want to know more about the product? The resources page is the best place for you. Still a bit skeptical? Below, you’ll find a selection of websites that are sure to convince you: Stunning websites using Wix Code: How fabulous are these websites, right? Now it’s your turn to take advantage of this revolutionary product for your own needs and to enjoy the freedom of creation! Create without limits with Velo by Wix

Starting a new business is an exciting opportunity to explore your passions. As you work out the details of creating a business website, drafting a business plan and announcing your new venture to the world, another consideration to make is how you’ll obtain funding. Startup loans are a common path to realizing your dream of owning a business, but they aren’t as simple as walking into a bank, getting approved and taking out money. Check out these tips and insights that every entrepreneur needs to know about how to get a business loan. How to get a startup business loan Build a strong loan application Improve your loan approval chances Follow the loan application process Navigate loan negotiations and terms Pull the trigger on your startup business loan 01. Build a strong loan application Getting a business loan is an exciting step in starting a business, but the process can be a little bit confusing, especially if you're brand new to the world of business funding. Start by assessing your financial readiness and gathering the following information: Your loan requirements and business objectives An estimate of the amount you need to borrow A list of what you intend to use the money for Personal and business financial statements, tax returns and a business plan At this stage, you’ll be better prepared for the application process. Your loan application is your ticket to financing, so be thorough—and thoughtful—about the information you provide. Writing a compelling business plan should be your first step. Include key elements like: A summary of what your business does and how it will make money Your intended use of funds Earnings projections for the next two to three years Proof of your repayment ability Your mission statement Company information (objectives, market analysis, competition, etc.) Current cash flow/income and growth initiatives Quotes for relevant supplies, equipment and staffing needs Your proposed method of payment Your requested loan amount, its purpose and expected repayment terms Make sure you highlight the strengths of your business and unique selling points so that potential lenders understand how your company is different from others on the market. An effective way to do this is to provide use cases that demonstrate how you clearly solve a problem for your target customers. 02. Improve your loan approval chances To increase your chances of getting approved for a loan, there are several things you can do. First, focus on improving your personal and business credit score by paying bills on time, keeping your debt-to-income ratio low (ideally under 35%) and having a consistent cash flow. You can further improve your chance for approval by offering more collateral or providing a personal guarantee. For example, putting up an asset like a home or property shows lenders that you're willing to take on risk and that you’re serious about paying them back. Don’t discount the value of partnerships and endorsements. Reach out to contacts who can vouch for you like business owners, banks or peers to see if they’d be interested in investing or becoming a co-signer or guarantor for your loan. 03. Follow the loan application process Once you've done all your preparation and homework, it's time to find funding sources. Start with local business groups and organizations like your local Chamber of Commerce. Request an in-person meeting or telephone call so that you can introduce yourself and explain why you want to borrow money. When you're ready to submit a loan application, you should have all your materials ready to go—this is where all your research and background work really pay off. Filling out the application should be simple since you've already gathered the information you need, but make sure to double check your information for accuracy before submitting it. Mistakes or inconsistencies might result in a rejected application. Once your applications are submitted, follow up with lenders to ensure that they've received everything. This is also a good time to address any issues or questions the lender has and demonstrate that you're readily available. 04. Navigate loan negotiations and terms Congratulations and take a deep breath—you've received an offer (in theory). But you're not done yet. You’ll need to read the loan documents thoroughly and make sure that you understand the terms and conditions of your loan. Pay close attention to interest rates, fees and repayment schedules. Look for additional associated costs to avoid surprises, such as closing costs, processing fees or penalties. If your loan agreement is reasonable and you can afford the monthly payments, then you should accept the loan offer. If not, negotiate with the lender for more favorable terms. You're not completely powerless here—lenders are often willing to negotiate rates and other aspects of a loan package because they want your business. You don't have to go it alone, either. If you feel like you need help in understanding loan contracts and terms, or just want a second opinion, don't hesitate to get professional advice from an accountant or financial advisor. This is a big decision and it should absolutely be an informed one. 05. Pull the trigger on your startup business loan If everything looks good, you can sign the loan agreement and any legal documents associated with it. This is the finalization process and is a good time to review everything. Depending on the type of financing you accept, you may be able to start using the funds immediately (or, at least, very quickly). As with most things that come with running a business, nothing is ever truly finished. You should continue researching and learning about the startup funding process—including potential grants and tax incentives so that you can take advantage of every opportunity available. Staying informed about current market trends and news also helps you remain competitive (and helps you make better financial decisions). Finally, having a budget in place helps you anticipate potential financial needs and meet your goals. Once you have a loan agreement in place, you should revisit your budget, establish a way to track your finances and focus on what you want your business to look like in the next six, 12 and 18 months. This will keep you on a healthy financial track for the long run. Startup business loan options Informing yourself about the different types of small business funding sources and their various terms, interest rates and repayment options can help you find the best loan for your unique situation. Below is a list of the most common startup business loan options and other funding sources. Bank loans and online lending The most common types of loans for small businesses come from banks and online lenders. These can be secured or unsecured loans. Interest rates fall within a wide range depending on the loan amount, your credit score and other factors like repayment terms. Note that since unsecured loans aren’t backed by collateral, rates tend to be significantly higher to hedge against the risk of default. The current interest rates for secured versus unsecured loans range from: Secured business loans: 2% to 7% Unsecured business loans: 7% to 99% Repayment terms for business loans vary as well. Again, this will be contingent on the type and amount of your loan. Generally, long-term loans have repayment periods of up to 25 years, while short-term loans can have repayment periods of 18 months or less. SBA loans, which are backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, have repayment periods of 10 years for working capital and equipment, and up to 25 years for large assets (e.g., land, facilities, etc.). Most business loans require immediate repayment, which means the payment cycle starts within 30 days of receiving the funds. Business line of credit A business line of credit (LOC) is a flexible loan that behaves like a credit card, enabling business owners to borrow and repay funds as needed. Business lines of credit can be as low as $1,000 to as high as $500,000. You’ll draw on these funds, pay them back and they become available again throughout the duration of the loan. Interest tends to skew higher for business LOCs, ranging as much as 10% to 99%. The exact terms of the LOC is dependent on your credit score, loan amount, the lender’s policies and other financial nuances specific to the lender and your circumstances. One benefit about this loan type is that you only pay interest on what you use, so if you’re approved for $25,000 but only use $5,000, you’ll only pay interest on the $5,000. Business lines of credit often require you to be operating for a certain length of time and meet an annual income requirement, but new businesses can absolutely qualify for a LOC. You’ll need a good personal credit score (at least 680, though it will vary by lender) and you’ll likely need collateral if you’ve yet to open or don’t meet the time-in-business criteria. Repayment is immediate. That is, once you start using a business LOC, you’ll need to start paying it off monthly as you would a credit card. Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is a popular way to gain capital and visibility for your startup. It's designed to obtain funding from multiple sources (individuals, businesses, investors, etc.) by leveraging two effective marketing tools—word of mouth and the internet. Business crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo connect startups to potential investors who can be individuals, companies, banks/lenders and nonprofits. They give entrepreneurs an easy way to raise money without having to deal with the complexities of traditional small business loans. Crowdfunding gives you a way to market your new idea or business by creating buzz and interest in a soon-to-launch product or brand. There are different types of crowdfunding (reward, donation, equity, etc.) with different requirements you must meet depending on your business type, your location and the platform you use. Venture capitalists and angel investors Venture capitalists and angel investors are financial professionals, organizations or high-net-worth individuals who provide capital in exchange for some type of control in your business. Angel investors like to invest in early-stage companies and use their own money. In exchange, they often require equity or a seat on your company's board. Venture capitalists, meanwhile, can be banks, pension funds, insurance companies or other financial entities that manage funds that invest in startups. They usually invest in later-stage companies, have more available capital than angel investors and also often require a seat on your board. Small business grants While not technically a loan, it’s worth mentioning that small business grants can help fund your startup with no strings attached. Grants provide non-repayable funds and usually come from the government, private foundations or corporations. They often involve a comprehensive application process and are much more competitive. Eligibility depends on factors such as the type of business you plan to start, your location and/or personal characteristics (women-owned business, minority-owned business, etc.) Some grants require additional funds be put toward your business as a condition of the grant.

If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember the satisfaction of flipping through the Yellow Pages. Whether you needed a plumber to fix that leaking faucet at home or the phone number of that new restaurant in town, the Yellow Pages have long been the gold standard of local directories. Today, Yellow Pages is still putting businesses on the map—the print and digital map. After more than 100 years in business, Yellow Pages is not only an industry-leading online directory service, but also a prominent digital marketing partner. They offer services to help businesses manage their online visibility, reputation, rankings and lead generation, all as a means to earn more customers.   We sat down with Sherilyn King, senior vice president of sales, marketing and customer service from Yellow Pages, to talk about the evolution of the company, kicking bad habits to the curb and the power of marketing in the digital era.  Find the tools and services to help your business grow with Yellow Pages for Business . The evolution of YellowPages.ca In an era where the phrase "Let your fingers do the walking" has leapt from page to screen, Yellow Pages has reinvented its directory services to align with the digital revolution. For entrepreneurs eager to start a business , this modernization of a time-tested service offers a new frontier to tackle small business challenges  in the online realm.  Our conversation with Yellow Pages sheds light on how they've navigated the shift and what insights they can offer to small businesses aiming to thrive in a connected world. Amanda Bellucco-Chatham (ABC):  Can you share about the pivotal moment when Yellow Pages transitioned from a print directory/phonebook to an online platform? Sherilyn King (SK): As you may know, we are leaders in the directory business in Canada. And we understood that there was a need in the market to evolve from a print-only business to an online business; our customers needed it, and their customers needed it. So, we had to change the perception of YP from being just a print directory to an online digital marketing company, and [demonstrate] how businesses would benefit from our help with their business plans—for both their online and offline marketing. ABC:  Would you say that that perception shift was a challenge, or was it something that happened more naturally as you evolved? SK: I would say it still remains a challenge for us. We're an established 100-plus-year-old company that people still perceive as a print directory business. So, it's up to us to continue educating businesses and consumers about all the digital products that we offer to help businesses in Canada with their marketing. ABC: How did Yellow Pages go about building (or expanding) its own reputation online? What did that process look like?  SK: It's a lengthy and ongoing process. Over the last number of years, we have worked on evolving YP’s brand and reputation. We modernized our logo slightly from its original walking fingers to more of a pebble, to symbolize our evolution from print to digital. We changed the look of our [print] directories to show consumers that we can help them discover local businesses in their communities from an online perspective.  From an advertising perspective, we practice what we preach. We advertised our services both organically and paid, through Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and even digital out-of-home to businesses looking for someone to help them with their advertising needs. Most recently, we have focused a lot of attention on our reputation, employing numerous strategies to increase our online ratings and reviews. ABC: Of the things you just mentioned, were there any strategies that you think specifically were a success in terms of marketing and branding? SK:  I don't think there was one thing that was a particular success. It was the combination of everything that we've done. Our multi-channel approach of getting in front of businesses from all stages of their journey in selecting an advertising partner has been very successful. A key element for us is our face-to-face team that's also out promoting what we do and helping to educate businesses on the services that we offer. So, I don't think it's just one thing, I think it's a combination of all the things we've done.  ABC: Sort of a big picture approach.  SK:  Exactly. Bringing your business to the digital forefront Building a strong offline and  online presence is key for business growth  in the modern age. Having mastered this transition themselves, Yellow Pages offers advice on the crucial steps and strategies that business owners should consider to fuel business development  and growth. ABC: Pivoting a little bit more towards small businesses in general. Do you have any advice for the best way small businesses can prepare to get their offline business  online ? And what would be the first thing you suggest they do? SK: First of all, they need to make sure people can find them. We know that many consumers are looking  on various platforms to find a small business. As a business owner, you need to make sure that you're online and on multiple platforms, whether that's through a website or Google. You cannot assume that consumers are only checking one platform.  My next piece of advice is: it's not always easy. Consumers are looking online for quick information. They want to make sure that they can find what they're looking for, whether that be your product or service, or your hours or location. You need to make sure you are present and that your information is up to date and accurate too. It involves time, and as a business owner, you need to make sure that you have a partner that will help you with all of this. ABC: What are some bad habits or “old ways of thinking” that you would urge small businesses to ditch when approaching digital marketing? SK: I would say that their engagement is critical to their success. If they get themselves online and then they don't  update their information, or they don't respond, or they're not making changes, then people will feel they're not relevant anymore. Or, people will feel that maybe that business doesn't exist because, “I checked: the hours say they're open, but I went there, they're not open." Engagement both online and offline is critical to make sure that people understand a business is still relevant, and that the consumer can gather the information they need from that business. ABC: How about your biggest pet peeve when it comes to how businesses handle their marketing? SK: I think my biggest pet peeve is when a business owner thinks it's easy. They think it's easy to establish [themselves] on Google. They think it's easy to manage their online presence. They think it's easy to make updates. But what's happening is there are multiple platforms where a consumer can find you.  Some consumers will look on YP.ca. Some consumers will look on Google. Some will look on Bing. Some will look for a website—and if you don't have a website, they think you're not in business.  Many business owners don't realize how complex their digital strategy has to be or how fragmented the market is. And so I think a lot of businesses think they can do it themselves, it’s “easy”—and then they don't understand why they're not appearing in search, why their optimizations are not working, why they’re not appearing organically in rankings…all of those things are not easy.  ABC: One thing that comes to mind when talking about YP.ca is the concept of future-proofing. In your opinion, what's the most impactful strategy for future-proofing a business in a rapidly changing digital landscape? SK: That's a great question. I think the key is having a digital marketing partner that you can trust. You need to have a partner that stays on top of the latest trends and that has been in business for a very long time. We're here to stay, and our mission is to help small businesses navigate today’s confusing digital landscape.  At YP, our team of experts stay on top of the latest trends. We also pick partners that we can rely on. We're partnering with the biggest and best—like Wix, Google and Facebook—so that we can help small business owners  be informed on how best to execute those strategies. I think that's the best way to future-proof your business: finding the right, trusted, credible partner to move forward with you. Your trusted business partners There’s a lot to learn about how to run a business  successfully, from understanding how to build a website  to making that website convert customers. But with a team like Yellow Pages Canada in your corner, you can skip the guesswork and have professionals take your brand to the next level. Yellow Pages rounds out its marketing acumen and proven track record of success by partnering with trusted brands like Google, Facebook and Wix. This shared expertise offers a unique blueprint for success, providing tools and strategies essential for small businesses to thrive in the online marketplace. ABC: Pivoting for the last few questions, I wanted to actually get more into the concept of Yellow Pages specifically working with small businesses. How does Yellow Pages Canada help businesses optimize their online presence for search engines, and how does Yellow Pages Canada support businesses in adapting to these evolving trends? SK: We have a team of specialists and they're constantly ensuring we follow the best practices. For example, when Google does an algorithm change, our team is fully aware and is adapting to see how we can help both our customers and our own yellowpages.ca platform. ABC: Are there any specific industries or market sectors that have seen the most success on YP.ca's digital platform? SK: We're here to support all businesses and all verticals. However, some of our most successful verticals are home services, professional services and health services. There’s still value on our platform for all businesses and all verticals. ABC: Looking ahead a little bit: What future initiative Innovations can we expect in the digital marketing space? SK: We're constantly evolving our products and offerings to provide the best, most relevant and the most competitive products for consumers. We do that by evolving our products, but also through our strategic partnerships. We will evolve as our partners evolve, and as our partners enhance their products, we will ensure best-in-class offerings. ABC: Final question: How do you think businesses can benefit from the dual power of Yellow Pages’ digital solutions and Wix? SK: We chose Wix as a partner because we believe in the Wix brand. As Wix continues to evolve both their business and their products, we believe we can offer our customers the best website products on the market. Where we come in and add value is for the businesses that do not want to do it themselves. Our team of experts will take care of setting up and managing all of the work to get your website live. And then, of course, there’s all the work needed to promote your business—which is also where we come in. ABC: It seems it can make all the difference to have someone who's actually an expert in the marketing and branding piece to complete the whole puzzle for you so you're not left scrambling trying to figure out “How do I do all  of it?” SK:  Time is the most precious thing that a business owner has. We often hear from business owners, “I'd love to grow my business, but I don't have time because I'm doing the day-to-day functions.” Well, let us help you grow your business by building the right online strategy, and then you can focus on your business. If you're trying to focus on your business and build your digital marketing strategy and update your website and update your social campaigns and optimize your website and, and, and…the business owner will just run out of time.  ABC: Yeah, it ends up sort of diluting the effectiveness of each of these very vital components when you're not able to focus properly on one specific thing. SK: And it's very difficult for a business owner. They are very familiar with their business—whether that be home services, restaurants, professional services, etc.—but how do they stay educated with what's happening in the digital marketing landscape? They would actually have to set aside time every day, every week to check what's going on with Google, Facebook, website platforms, etc.—and then they don't have time to focus on their business. Partnering with a company like Yellow Pages provides a turnkey solution to help businesses grow so they can focus on their business. The digital advertising landscape is constantly evolving so it's more important than ever to partner with someone that you can trust, like YP. Let’s get down to business. Build your business website  today and check out all of the other solutions Yellow Pages offers to help your business stand out online.

Long gone are the days when you would utter the words “AI” and be met with blank stares. Today, it’s no longer a matter of “What is AI?,” but a matter of “How can I use AI to [fill in the blank]?” AI has permeated nearly every industry, affecting everyone from the small business owner to the corporate giants of the world. Nowadays, a majority of businesses (64%) are optimistic about the impact of AI on their productivity, according to a recent Forbes Advisor survey. This begs the question, what’s next on the horizon for AI? How far have we come, and how far do we still have to go? We spoke with four Wix experts from various fields to get their takes. Keep reading for their candid opinions on how much is left to explore when it comes to AI. Note: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Wix. Learn how to start a business on the right foot with the help of sophisticated, AI-powered tools. Get started with Wix’s website builder for small business. Content marketing: “We’re in a mature stage” “I'd say we're in a mature stage of the AI revolution. AI applications are integral to marketing strategies—with widespread adoption of tools for content creation, data analysis and campaign optimization. As technology advances, we keep exploring new ways to use AI for more sophisticated and personalized marketing efforts. AI tools already assist my team in overcoming writer's block and improving the quality of our work. AI-powered analytics platforms also help us analyze consumer trends, track campaign performance and optimize marketing strategies. Looking ahead, AI will bring even more significant changes. We expect advancements in personalization for hyper-targeted content delivery. AI-driven automation will streamline routine tasks, giving marketers more time for strategic planning and creativity. Additionally, AI will enhance customer engagement through smarter chatbots, personalized recommendations and seamless interactions across various touch points. The challenge will be in making sure that AI is fair and transparent. We’ll need to address biases in algorithms and ensure robust data privacy measures. Additionally, there's a need for more professionals who understand both marketing and AI to fully unleash the potential of AI in our field. Ethical considerations are crucial, and responsible use of AI technology is a continuous concern.” - Nirit Braun, Wix content lead Graphic design: “We are on the ground floor” “Compared to AI text generation, AI image generation is still in the early stages. We are still on the ground floor. AI right now is still fluffy and new age-y. Now, it’s time that we take it to the practical level. AI provides this opportunity to bridge the gap between small business owners and the huge corporations that have exponentially more design resources. This is where the magic is happening—in being able to take what the user wants to achieve and proactively building the media that suits their exact preferences. Or, taking something that the user has already created and making deeper changes to the details. This may not sound all that exciting, but it’s actually very ambitious from a technical level. Just being able to take a picture of a product and put it against any backdrop without distorting the proportions or affecting quality in a way that misleads consumers is challenging. Just like how these days someone might type something into ChatGPT and assume the output is correct, we need to assume the same with AI image generation. It needs to be done responsibly and accurately. Ultimately, we also want to be able to preserve the creator’s voice when generating images for them with AI; instead of simply creating graphics that are beautiful, we want to create graphics that actually match a person’s brand and voice.” - Ido Kosover, head of Wix Media Marketing overall: “It’s still relatively early” “Everything is moving really fast but it's still relatively early. There’s so much that we have yet to see. But I think in the near future, the biggest impact that AI will have in terms of marketing will be in personalization. It will help companies big and small go global from day one. For example, let’s say there are three people in a meeting. I speak English, somebody else speaks Spanish and another person speaks Italian. AI is like a magic device that can take what I say in English and personalize it to each person according to their language and culture. Or, in another instance, one concept can be explained at multiple levels so that both the PhD student and a five-year-old can understand. You’ll be able to create one advertisement and have it redesigned for 50 different languages instantly. Or, you could record a video with one actor and dub it—or even change the actor’s clothes, expressions or body movements—to appeal to 50 different cultures. In the grand scheme of things though, I think all this new AI technology will be best used when it makes more time for human beings to be human. It's like going to the doctor’s—these days, you’ll see doctors spend all their time putting info into their records and stressing about documentation that they don't even make eye contact with you, their patient. They’re busy doing all the things that robots could be doing. But AI is teaching us that humans don’t have to do everything. If you view AI as an assistant and not as a replacement, you’ll benefit the most. And soon we’ll see the experts—the people that are really good at their jobs, who are very creative or who have the most unique takes—will be able to scale themselves.” - Shachaf Rodberg, Wix marketing trend analyst Learn more about how AI is transforming business as we know it. Ecommerce: “This is just the beginning” “The AI breakthroughs we’ve witnessed over the last year are just beginning. Right now we’re seeing generative AI dominate headlines and become mainstream. In terms of eCommerce, merchants are already using GenAI on a daily basis to create original content for their digital storefronts, social media, email marketing, SEO—and more. Pretty soon, though, we’ll see the democratization of advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms. Capabilities that were once limited to eCommerce giants will be accessible to any and every online seller. For example, any online seller will be able to benefit from a continuous data loop process, in which customer data is captured, analyzed and applied to optimize their stores automatically in real time. Think: being able to hyper-personalize your storefront to display specific products in a unique order for every shopper, and being able to personalize promotions to each buyer so that they’re more likely to follow through on a purchase. Or, imagine being able to adjust pricing to optimize your profits in real time based on market demand and competition. As yet another example: predictive inventory management, in which AI will forecast product demand for you to prevent over- or under-stocking at any given moment. The scope for innovation is vast in eCommerce.” - Oren Inditzky, Wix VP & GM of Online Stores Hot off the press: Introducing Wix's AI website builder. Create a bespoke website—with a simple chat. Sign up for Wix today and test drive the AI website builder for free.

ABM. If you don’t know what those three letters mean, you need to get up to speed—right away. And if you do know what those letters mean, there’s still a good chance that you’ve got more to learn, as strategies in this area of marketing evolve at a rapid pace. These days, an up-to-the-minute “ABM game” can be a major difference-maker for your overall marketing strategies and efforts. According to a recent Forrester Research article, organizations using ABM strategies experienced a 200% pipeline growth and also saw a 20% increase in their deal size. What is account-based marketing? ABM is shorthand for “account-based marketing.” The term itself was coined roughly 15 years ago, but B2B companies have been practicing it for longer than that. The central concept: target-marketing from the get-go, using the most sophisticated tools at your disposal. In the traditional inbound model, marketers begin with a broad-based approach aimed at attracting the widest range of customers, then narrowing down from there to close actual sales. Account-based marketing does the opposite, focusing on landing a specific target, and then pulling in similar accounts. Agencies then treat that single client as a whole “market” unto itself—a practice commonly thought of as “flipping the marketing funnel.” The basic idea behind ABM is a growing awareness that an effective marketing-and-sales strategy often isn’t about “chasing the lead.” Instead, it’s about “winning the account”—successfully engaging the integrated group of leaders who, as a unit, make key decisions for a given company. And how exactly do you pull this off? You hone in. You customize and personalize. And, usually, you do it on multiple fronts such as account-dedicated campaigns, content, events and creative means. Learn more: Small business marketing Why does ABM work? Account-based marketing isn’t necessarily a replacement for the inbound approach. It’s an alternative type of marketing and especially promising as a way of attracting larger-sized clients. And the industry’s data suggests it’s highly effective and gaining in popularity. 8 advantages of using account-based marketing in your agency: 1. Resource optimization 2. Sales and marketing collaboration 3. Customized client experience 4. Long-term relationship building 5. Client advocacy 6. Analytics refinement 7. Trend navigation 8. Expense reductions and increased ROI 01. Resource optimization By zeroing in on targets that are most likely to become customers, you’re emphasizing quality over quantity. This allows you to allocate resources more precisely, cutting down the dead ends and unfulfilled efforts that are necessary evils of inbound marketing. 02. Sales and marketing collaboration Sales and marketing divisions are rarely on the exact same page—they simply lack communication and use different strategies. ABM puts the divisions on the same page, with the lead-chase and marketing strategy directly synced from the start. 03. Customized client experience By tailoring a specific approach to a specific potential client, you’re getting to know who your client is and the services they offer. You’re thus establishing a firmer foundation as you enter your actual working relationship. 04. Long-term relationship building If you don’t close that account quickly, you’ve still built a bond that can pay off down the road. And whenever you do manage to close, you’ll find that the personalized relationship puts you in a better position to retain the client going forward, which is frequently a challenge. 05. Client advocacy After snagging such an account, you’ve often gained more than a customer—you’ve gained an advocate; someone willing to spread the word on your behalf, and assume some of your marketing burden. This process, known as “land and expand,” is a core ABM strategy. 06. Analytics refinement With the narrower approach, you give yourself clearer insight into how your marketing resources are actually working. You can easily monitor the performance of your assets. For example, you can compare the performance of two different banner ads for the same asset and you can adjust your budget and outlays accordingly. 07. Trend navigation The rise in the use of ad blockers, and the decrease in the efficacy of display ads, indicates that customers are turning from mass-market approaches. This is due in part to living in a world that is oversaturated with advertising. The fluid nature of ABM meshes with this larger shift in consumer attitudes. Following the latest consumer trends will help you cut through the noise and connect with your targeted customer. 08. Expense reductions and increased ROI By confining focus, ABM simply tightens your bottom-line expenditures across the board, even in ways you can’t foresee. You spend less time chasing leads that go nowhere, and in turn your ROI inevitably elevates. What are the key components of an ABM campaign? As noted, an ABM campaign unifies your sales and marketing divisions around a direct and singular goal that’s established from the beginning. Customized around that specific target (and the decision-makers who comprise it), the campaign might use a range of services, techniques and talents within each division. Here are a few examples of talents a successful ABM campaign may use: Data analysts, who assess a range of indicators (from average yearly revenue to brand associations) to construct lists of potential targets, then work in allocating the resources toward reaching those targets Content writers, who take the marketing strategy and convert it into actionable language across a range of platforms, from personalized emails to in-depth business reports prepared exclusively for your target Website developers, who construct client-specific online offerings—for example, customized landing pages on sites Social media experts, who can help funnel content in the right online directions Event planners and creative strategists, who can arrange special activities (meals, meet-and-greets) that get you directly interacting with the clients or developing customized gift ideas Successful account-based marketing examples The following examples of notable campaigns demonstrate the range of possibilities with the ABM approach. While the details tilt extreme—very big companies, very bold ideas—they show how ABM rewards fresh thinking and how it can really push an agency forward. Agency: GumGum Target: McDonald’s GumGum, a Santa Monica-based outfit that develops artificial intelligence tools for use in a variety of industries, wanted to make a direct run at McDonald’s. They decided to build an ABM strategy showcasing the kind of innovation that spoke both for GumGum’s cutting-edge perspective and to McDonald’s key decision-makers. First, GumGum built “burger kits” that included demos of the company’s capabilities. They sent these kits to top McDonald’s employees, with individualized tags on each one. Then, in short videos, they linked one of McDonalds’ core products—the Big Mac—to GumGum offerings, again directly targeting McDonald’s leaders, this on a variety of social media channels. Agency: Intridea Target: Ogilvy & Mather Intridea, an upstart design and development consulting firm, was looking to catch the attention of advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather—literally. So they rented a billboard directly across the street from O & M’s New York City offices, and on it they featured a blunt but compelling copy line: “Ogle this, Ogilvy.” In smaller letters, the billboard directed Ogilvy execs to visit a customized website that featured an assortment of gifs showcasing Intridea’s skills and speaking directly to O & M’s needs. Agency: Rapid7 Target: multiple select accounts To raise its profile, Boston-based security-software firm Rapid7 designed a strategy that mixed old-school with new-school. They assembled a list of executives representing a handful of elite accounts, then direct-mailed each an unusual gift: a throwback model of the View-Master toy. View-Masters are stereoscopes that feature “reels” inside that display classic images. Rapid7’s reels were a little different: They were customized to depict various examples of the company’s latest offerings. 10 Account-based marketing tactics The best ABM tactics fuse three basic elements: the organizational, the analytical, and the personal. On one hand, a quality campaign requires sophisticated data-study and -mining. On the other hand, you’ll soon be moving into territory that goes beyond generic sales pitches and mass mailings, and so you’ll need a distinct, and sometimes delicate, touch. What follows is our funnel, from one end of the process to the other, taking you through 10 tools and techniques that will help you navigate the ABM frontier. Some of these options can be combined, and some work best in isolation; some are new, and some are (relatively) time-tested. Customize your process to ensure best results—just like the best ABM. 01. Create your ABM team A big word in ABM-speak is “alignment,” which refers to the union of historically mismatched agency departments. One great way to strengthen alignment is to create an integrated team within your agency that’s focused exclusively on ABM prospects. Thus your sales and marketing team are automatically—and always—speaking the same language, with a 360-degree operating perspective that will help streamline efforts at defining strategy, organizing messaging and tracking results. This team doesn’t have to be especially large, as long as sales and marketing get proportionate representation. But it does need to be able to develop a strategy that’s fluid, and that’s able to answer all the questions the ABM process throws its way. 02. Nail your research fundamentals When it comes to launching successful ABM campaigns, everything starts with the quality of your lead-generation, and this directly depends on the quality of your number-crunching. “Firmographic data” is the term used to cover information related to industry, location, revenue and company size. This also includes strategy elements ranging from market influence to anticipated break-even points. This is your baseline, and you can’t go anywhere without it. With that foundation, your analysis should pivot into more specific areas of information—the kind you’ll find in your own database, from your own past jobs. The more info you have, the better. You might even find a new lead very close to home, built on an existing relationship. 3. Search for lookalikes Lookalike modeling refers to the process of using an account you already know to project toward the kind of account you want. You can do this by studying your existing customer roster and finding the peak performers in appropriate categories—from “delivering the most referrals” to “best at elevating the reputation of collaborators.” When you do this, you’re more than just exploring a particular dataset. You’re creating what is known as your ICP—your ideal customer profile. And this can, and maybe should, become your standard going forward. 4. Rank your prospects Because ABM by its nature requires a higher-than-typical conversion rate, your team should design a scoring system that squares directly with your agency’s objectives. Not all agencies, of course, value the same things. Create echelons, from most promising on down, built around that self-created criteria (i.e., size, location, culture, brand), and develop inclusion and exclusion filters that stay firm. If you’re doing it right, your list will become the map that guides your ABM strategy going forward. And after you’ve crafted that list, you can input it into one of many online advertising platforms that generates lists with similar leads. This way, leads will start to spawn more leads. But remember: You’re no longer in inbound territory. If you don’t get high-enough scores and strong fits, don’t bother pursuing any further. 5. Embrace the latest technology As ABM continues to grow as an essential option for agencies, the unifying effects of CRMs will help you further manage your accounts and keep departments in sync. Finding the right tool is as important as developing a strong ICP, and now there are platforms—such as Terminus and Engagio—devoted exclusively to ABMs. Terminus, for example, puts a special emphasis on analytics and advertising, and allows you to input your data into its library with specific personas, and then run a simulation to determine how your campaign will perform. By test-driving the campaign before trying it in real life, you can further manage resources and refine goals. 6. Follow their social media accounts When you’ve found an account you’re set on chasing, you’ll also find that you have a direct (and free) window into the client’s mindset: social media. Track down every account on every platform associated with your potential client (i.e. Google Alerts), and just start taking notes. Consider this to be another due diligence step. Soon enough you’ll get a real sense of how your target thinks and operates. Once you’re conversant in their language, you might want to engage—discreetly. Maybe reply to a status update or converse with your target in a Twitter chat. The relationship has begun to form almost naturally. 7. Use online engagement Direct engagement takes the relationship to the next level. The question becomes just how many levels you’re willing to go. By now, individuals receive so many different forms of content that your agency must be ready to meet a variety of content needs at any given time. And that content must invariably be focused, personalized and dynamic. There are many ways to deliver such content, starting with basic customized imagery and messaging via, say email or Facebook. From there you can push further, and consider commissioning eBooks, blog posts and case studies that address areas of your client’s interest. Maybe a whitepaper or webinar connects with a subset of a target’s decision-makers, or a particular sales offer is earmarked exclusively for the target. Yes, you’re thinking about verticals, but don’t take your eye off specific accounts and specific decision-makers at those accounts. 8. Master the platforms The right content needs the right forum. Your research should tell you where the clients you’re targeting make their biggest online imprint, be it on LinkedIn or Instagram. And you should know exactly how they prefer to consume content. For example, they may digest their content in videos, blog posts and direct messaging. However, the website is an ever-dependable entry-point for starting the dialogue or keeping it going. You can design account-specific landing pages that showcase bespoke text and offers, and you might even consider flashing the name of the targeted visitor on the landing page. 9. Add a personal touch Email and social media are no doubt strong marketing tools. But they’re not the only tools, and they can often become crutches. More innovative ABM practitioners try to connect in the real world, too, and there are lots of ways to do this. You can send over thoughtful gifts like sweet treats to the company’s office or direct-mail coffee shop gift cards to the executives. You can also organize workshops, lunch-and-learns and other getting-to-know-you events. Keep these engagements diplomatic and small. The point is not just to make the interaction personal, but to make it engaging. Ideally, you’re no longer seen as a sales caller, but as a fun colleague. 10. Surprise yourself Sure, you can send care packages—or you can send kitschy old toys. And you can craft a custom eBook—or you can rent a terrestrial billboard with a provocative slogan. Previous ABM strategies have incorporated everything from piñatas to tattoos. Ultimately, that’s the point. In ABM, there are few set rules. Just as long as you keep your eyes firmly on your target.

With 8.5 billion search queries processed every day, Google’s strength as an online advertising platform is unquestionable. With so many people flocking to type their questions into that waiting empty box—from locating the nearest Italian restaurant to learning how to paint their bedroom—there are many opportunities to promote your small business. If you’ve only just finished creating your website , Google Ads can help you get in front of new audiences immediately and complement your SEO strategy. But like all marketing strategies , you'll need to learn some tricks of the trade to make sure that your campaign is successful. Keep reading for tips on how to make Google Ads work for you (and check out our guide on Wix Google Ads ). Ready to get started with Google Ads? Manage your campaigns right from your website dashboard using Google Ads with Wix . How does Google advertising work? Google Ads provides a variety of different ways to promote your products, services and content. At the most basic level, Google Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform, allowing you to bid on keywords and pay only when/if your ad is either clicked or viewed. Beyond this, Google Ads offer the below benefits: Campaign types : Google Ads supports search, display, shopping, video, app, smart and Performance Max ad campaigns. The latter two options apply machine learning to automatically enhance the targeting and performance of your ads. Placements : Your ads can appear in a variety of places within a Google search result page (e.g., the top of search results, or on the Google Shopping tab), as well as on YouTube, Gmail or affiliate sites (Google Display Network). Targeting options : Ads can be targeted by keyword, demographics, interest and/or placement. Alternatively, you can choose to target existing customers (or people who are similar to your customers) via remarketing , in-market audiences or similar audience campaigns. Bidding strategy : Google Ads are based on a bidding system, in which the highest bidder receives the best placement. That said, you can choose from several bidding models: cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-mille (CPM, or cost per 1,000 ad impressions) or cost-per-engagement (CPE). Ranking factors : Aside from your bid amount, Google Ads factor in the quality of your ads (a.k.a. “quality score”), the competitiveness of an auction and the context of a person’s search (e.g., location, time, etc.) to decide when to show your ads. These factors together determine what Google calls Ad Rank. Smart Mode vs. Expert Mode Getting started with Google Ads is easy, especially since you have the option of choosing between Smart Mode and Expert Mode. Smart Mode offers a simpler experience that allows you to delegate most tasks to Google. However, you’ll have limited control over your ads and only be able to launch Smart campaigns. This is a good option for first-time advertisers with smaller budgets, or for business owners who don’t have the time to manage their ads closely. Alternatively, Expert Mode gives you maximum control over your ads. You can choose everything from your campaign type and your targeting, to your bidding structure and exact ad appearance. However, you’ll have to invest your own time into closely monitoring your ads and spend. Expert Mode is the best choice for advanced marketers, though it could also be a good option if you’re willing to spend time testing, learning and tinkering with Google Ads on a regular basis. Note: If you start on Smart Mode, you can switch to Expert Mode whenever. Just go to the settings of your Google Ads account and make the switch. How to advertise on Google (Smart Mode) Ready to start advertising on Google? Below are basic steps for getting your feet wet following the Google Ads’ Smart Mode setup instructions. Do your due diligence Create a Google Ads account Write your ad Select keyword themes Choose your geographic parameters Set your budget Review and pay Analyze and strategize 01. Do your due diligence Before jumping head-first into the world of Google Ads, you’ll want to take some time to map out your goals for advertising on the search engine. This upfront work will help you structure your ad campaigns in an organized way—even if you’re entering in Smart Mode. For starters, ask yourself why do you want to advertise on Google? Are you looking to drive more traffic to your website? Do you want to increase sales on a particular product? Or, do you simply want to raise brand awareness? Consider other factors as well, such as: Your target audience : Who are you looking to reach with your ads? What characteristics, interests and values do your target consumers share—and what should you consider when writing your ad copy or setting up targeting? Your budget : How much are you willing to pay in a given month on Google ads? Set a realistic budget that aligns with your financial resources, while also factoring in the competitiveness of your industry, desired reach and the value of a customer. Your unique selling proposition (USP) : What sets your business apart from competitors? Is it your price, quality, convenience or other factors? This will help you create compelling ad copy. Relevant keywords : What terms or phrases are people searching on Google to find products or businesses like yours? Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help you see the monthly search volume, as well as the average cost of certain keywords. Relevant landing pages : Which page(s) will you send people who click on your ad? Keep in mind that even though someone clicks on your ad, it doesn't mean that they’ll convert. This is why it’s very important to select or create a landing page that is closely aligned with your ad and includes content that visitors expect to see. 02. Create a Google Ads account Now that you’ve defined your purpose for advertising on Google, it’s time to open an account. You can set up Google Ads using your Gmail credentials, so signing up is as easy as clicking “Start now” from the Google Ads homepage . From here, you’ll be prompted to provide basic information, such as your business name, website URL and advertising goals. You can choose from the following advertising goals: Get more calls Get more website sales or leads Get more visits to your physical location Get more views and engagement on YouTube Note: If you have a Premium Wix account, you can start your Google Ads journey directly from Wix, plus leverage Wix's AI for Google Ads . Simply go to “Marketing & SEO” from your site dashboard and click “Google Ads.” Choose a Smart campaign or Google Performance Max campaign (if applicable), and automatically sync your Google ads with your Wix website content and/or product pages. 03. Write your ad Google’s setup process makes it easy to create your first Smart Campaign ad. Google will pre-populate some text suggestions for you based on your business information. Tweak these suggestions as needed, keeping your target audience in mind. You can add up to four headlines at this stage, each containing up to 30 characters. Google will show these headlines in any order that it sees fit, so make sure that each headline makes sense on its own. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to make sure that your headlines include strong action words and relevant keywords. “Your three headlines should work together, building on each other to say something about what your customers are searching for (without repeating themselves),” advises Google . “For example, if your small business sells sunglasses, your three headlines might say: ‘Sunglasses For Sale,’ ‘Find Your Perfect Frames’ [and] ‘Shop Our Collection!’” Add up to three descriptions (each containing up to 90 characters), which will appear below the headline on the text ad. Keep in mind that Google may not only show one of your descriptions depending on the SERP—you’ll therefore want to make sure that each description can stand on its own, and to include a strong call to action. Avoid making claims that aren’t supported by evidence (e.g., “Number One Bathing Suit of All Time!”) or spamming your descriptions with keywords. 04. Select keyword themes Keyword themes are phrases that help Google understand which keywords you want to target with your ad. In other words, instead of picking individual keywords to target, you can feed Google a few keyword themes; Google will show your Smart ad for similar keywords. For instance, by picking the keyword theme “gym,” your ad might appear for “gym near me” or “local gym.” For this reason, you’ll want to make sure you pick a keyword that has the right intent. Don’t simply look at search volumes. Rather, look for keywords that precede the right actions, e.g., “gym shoes” if you’re looking to sell sneakers. You can additionally add negative keyword themes (i.e., keyword types that you want Google to avoid targeting) after you’re all done with setup. Google recommends adding 10 keyword themes at most—any more than this, and you risk targeting too broad of an audience. If you have more keywords than you know what to do with, you can always create separate campaigns for various keyword themes and thereby better monitor your targeting and spending. 05. Choose your geographic parameters At this stage, you can specify whether you want your ads to appear to a broad audience or audiences within specific locations. Enter an address, zip code, city state or country. Location targeting is especially useful if you have a brick-and-mortar location. For example, if you have a store located in New York City, you can set up your ads to appear in front of visitors within 25 miles of Manhattan or your specific store location. Alternatively, if your store is able to ship to anywhere in the U.S., you can set your location to “United States.” 06. Set your budget Google will provide a few budget options with estimates for how many ad clicks each budget can get you. Alternatively, you can enter your own budget—but bear in mind that your daily spend will fluctuate. You may spend more than your daily average in one day, but spend less on another. However, Google will not exceed your monthly max. 07. Review and pay Double check your work before activating your campaign. Rest assured that you can make edits even after your ads are live. If everything looks good to go, confirm your payment information. At this point, you can either set up automatic payments—in which Google charges you on the first of every month—or make manual payments. 08. Analyze and strategize Once your Google ads are like, the Google Ads dashboard will track four metrics: impressions, clicks, calls and conversions. You can also use your search terms report to drill down a bit deeper. In addition to this, Wix users can lean on Wix Analytics to see how many new site visitors or purchases are coming from Google ads. If you notice a large gap in numbers between how many people click on your ad and how many people interact with your website, take another look at your landing page and make sure that it’s tightly aligned with your ads. Strip your page of any distractions and test out different CTAs or other special features. Keep close watch over the quality score of your ads. Strategically thinker with your ad creative, as well as your pages. How to advertise on Google (Expert Mode) Once you get the hang of Google Ads, consider switching to Expert Mode for more customization options and to get a deeper look into your campaign. Or, you can create your first campaign on Expert Mode by simply switching modes on the first few setup screens. Expert Mode requires more maintenance and strategic thinking than Smart Mode, but it gives you complete control over your Google Advertising campaign. When starting a new Google Ads campaign in Expert Mode, you’ll have to: Choose your objective Define your campaign settings Set your budget and bidding Decide on ad rotation Create your ad groups Add your keywords Construct your ads Incorporate assets Confirm payment info and launch 01. Choose your objective When switching to Expert Mode, you’ll see many more options for how to set up your campaign. You can choose from the following: Sales Leads Website traffic Product and brand consideration Brand awareness and reach App promotion Local store visits and promotions Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance Depending on what you click, Google will suggest the best campaign type for your goal (though you can always go off-script and choose one that’s not listed). You can choose from one of these campaign types: Search Performance Max Display Video App Smart Discovery Shopping Each campaign type will have its own series of setup steps, such as choosing a conversion action or deciding on a campaign subtype. 02. Define your campaign settings This setup page will look a bit different depending on your campaign type and objectives, but you’ll generally need to fill in the following the details: Campaign name : Choose a name that’s easy to understand and defines the intent of your ads. The campaign name is for internal purposes only, but it’s key for remaining organized. Networks : When applicable, you’ll need to choose whether to show your ads on Google’s partner sites to broaden your reach. Locations : Decide which regions you want to target, be it a country, city or zip code. You can even choose locations to exclude—for instance, if you only want to target the contiguous U.S., you can exclude Hawaii and Alaska. To take this one step further, you can choose whether to target people who are only present in your target location, or those who are present and/or have shown interest in your location. Languages : Choose the languages that apply to your target customers. Audience segments : This is an optional setting, through which you can either add a remarketing list or add additional parameters for targeting, e.g., only target parents of toddlers (one to three years old), or people who’ve shown an interest in children’s toys. Pro tip: exclude this setting or start broad to begin with, then start narrowing your audience once your campaign is live and you have more data to work from. 03. Set your budget and bidding Decide on your daily budget. The goal is to spend just enough to get enough reach (and, as result, data to work from) without overspending, or paying for irrelevant impressions and clicks. A good starting point is to perform keyword research. See the average CPC for your target keywords, and make sure to identify keywords that—like your budget—aren’t too narrow or too broad. Use your research to calculate your daily budget. Google may go above or below your budget on any given day, but it will not go above your daily budget times the average number of days in a month. Plus, you should expect your budget to fluctuate depending on seasonal demand or other factors. After you’ve set your budget, decide how you want to be charged. Bidding options will vary by campaign type, but you’ll generally want to choose between clicks or impression share. You may see options for manual bidding versus automated bidding: with manual bidding, you’ll be telling Google how much you’re willing to spend for each keyword, whereas with automated bidding, Google will decide on your max CPC bids for you. If you’re new to Google advertising, it’s recommended that you start with automated bidding. 04. Decide on ad rotation (optional) Within your campaign settings page, you can click “Show more settings” to change your “ad rotation” settings. By default, your campaign will be set to “Optimize” which means that Google will show the ads that it believes will get the most clicks or conversions. However, you can choose to rotate your ads evenly or rotate ads indefinitely (without optimization). These options may be good if you’re looking to run controlled tests, but you’ll likely want to begin with the default setting. 05. Create your ad groups Ad groups are particular sets of ads within your larger campaign. Each ad group has its own ad creatives and target keywords. They’re intended to keep similarly themed ads together to ensure that your audience is presented with the most relevant ads. For instance, let’s say you have a Search campaign that’s intended to drive more web traffic to your online pet supply store. You may create these ad groups: Ad group 1: Dog Supplies Keywords : dog food, dog toys, dog beds, dog collars Ad 1 : “Shop for dog supplies online. We have a wide selection of dog food, toys, beds, and more.” Ad 2 : “Dog supplies on sale now! Save up to 50% on our selection of dog supplies.” Ad group 2: Cat Supplies Keywords : cat food, cat toys, cat beds, cat litter Ad 1 : “Shop for cat supplies online. We have a wide selection of cat food, toys, beds, and more.” Ad 2 : “Cat supplies on sale now! Save up to 50% on our selection of cat supplies.” Alternatively, you might want to create separate ad groups per product (e.g., one ad group for dog toys, another for dog beds). How you organize your ad groups will depend on your business, your target audience(s) and your keyword research. You’ll want to make sure that each ad group has a distinct focus, and a large enough audience as indicated by your research around keyword volume. 06. Add your keywords As noted above, you’ll need to select specific keywords for each ad group. At this stage, you’ll want to experiment with a variety of keyword match types . Broader match types capture a larger audience, but may not attract users with the right intent. Meanwhile, narrow match types (i.e., exact match) will target more specific users. However, your reach will be very limited. As a general rule of thumb, it’s better to start broad and narrow down your keywords as you collect more data—at the same time, using phrase match or exact match can help you control costs better. Note that you can also add negative keywords, which prevent Google from showing your ads for irrelevant searches. 07. Construct your ads Now that your campaign and ad groups are all set up, you can construct your ads. The steps will vary depending on your campaign types: For search ads : Write clear, persuasive copy for the headline and description. For display ads : Provide a headline, description and an image or video in the appropriate specs. For video ads : Upload a video that’s formatted for YouTube. For Shopping ads : Upload your product information—or use Wix’s Google Ad integration to automatically sync your product data with your ads. Make sure your ads are tightly aligned with the search intent of the keywords that you’re targeting. Consider your audience’s preferences and traits when building any visuals, and speak to their values in your copy. 08. Incorporate assets Assets , or ad extensions, are content pieces that you can add onto your ad to provide extra information to searchers. They increase the amount of space your ad takes up and don’t cost extra, so use at least one. Assets lead to a higher CTR (up to 15%, according to Google), which increases the quality score of your ad. There are nine types of assets: Sitelink assets : Specific page links Callout assets : Brief company highlights Call assets : Phone number or call button Image assets : Visuals that complement text ads Location assets : Address and other business information Structured snippet assets : Additional header with related values Price assets : Interactive price breakdowns App assets : App download links Lead form assets : Contact forms 09. Confirm payment info and launch As the final setup step, you’ll need to enter your payment information and confirm that everything looks as it should. When ready, hit “submit” and launch your ads. Establish a system for checking on ad performance frequently and making tweaks as necessary. Simplify Google Ads with Wix Looking for a smarter and simpler way to manage your Google Ads? Google Ads with Wix lets you create an ad campaign directly from your website dashboard. Avoid having to manually upload your product data or jumping from screen to screen to manage your ads. With Wix’s Google Ads integration, you can create a Smart campaign or Performance Max Shopping Campaign (only for Wix Stores). Learn more . How to advertise on Google FAQs How much does it cost to advertise on Google? The cost of advertising on Google will vary, depending on the keywords you want to target their competitiveness and how many people click on them. Cost per click for a Google ad can range from a few cents to tens of dollars depending on the type of ad and keyword. When you start Google ads you will need to set a budget for your campaign either as a total amount for the entire campaign run or as a daily budget. Google also uses an auction system for ads, where you bid on keywords and depending on your relevance and budget, Google will show whether to show your ads and in which order. Generally the more you pay, the higher on the search page your ad will show. Other pricing models on Google ads include cost per acquisition or cost per impression. How to advertise on Google for free? It's not possible to advertise for free on Google. However SEO, or search engine optimization is a way that websites can appear in search engine results pages as organic results. This is a marketing strategy that involves optimizing your pages for search engines and their organic, not paid results. How to advertise on Google for beginners? Follow these basic steps to get started: 1. Create a Google Ads account. 2. Define your campaign goals and target audience. 3. Choose campaign type (Search, Display or Video). 4. Set a budget and bid strategy. 5. Create compelling ad copy with relevant keywords. 6. Design eye-catching visuals if using Display or Video. 7. Monitor performance and adjust settings regularly. 8. Check and interpret Google A4 (once Google Analytics) for in-depth insights. What is Google Analytics? Google Analytics , now renamed GA4, is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic. It provides valuable insights into user behavior, helping businesses understand their audience, measure marketing efforts and optimize website performance. With features like traffic sources, user demographics and conversion tracking, it aids data-driven decision-making when advertising on google. What is Google Adsense? Google AdSense is a program that enables website owners to earn revenue by displaying targeted ads on their sites. Advertisers bid to display ads and website owners earn money when users interact with the ads. It's an effective way for publishers to monetize their online content through Google's advertising network. It's a popular way to advertise on Goog.e

Since Twitch launched in 2011, the live-streaming platform has evolved beyond its gamer origins into a viable social media marketing tool. That said, Twitch is no Instagram or Twitter. While some brands may find it incredibly valuable and lucrative to leverage Twitch as a means of building brand awareness and generating leads, others won’t. In this post, we’ll learn the platform’s ins and outs—plus how Twitch works for business and whether or not it fits your brand. Starting a business with Twitch? Make sure to create a website for your brand and direct Twitch audiences back to your owned-and-operated channel. What is Twitch? Twitch is an Amazon-owned, live video-streaming platform. While the most popular content created on Twitch falls into the video game category, creators stream out other genres of content as well. The main categories of content include: Games IRL (In Real Life) Music Esports Creative However, individuals and brands alike can live stream content related to topics like music, web design, product unboxing, DIY, animals and fitness. How does Twitch work? The Twitch.tv platform works as follows: Account page Twitch streamers create branded account pages. At the very top of the page, users can see if the streamer is currently online or offline. While offline, the streamer can choose to embed a recent stream for users. For example, the Netflix Twitch account page looks like this: Users can peruse information about the streamer, view recent broadcasts, watch select videos and look at the upcoming streaming schedule. They can also follow the streamer from this page. Some channels also allow followers to subscribe for a fee. In return, the subscriber gets special benefits such as ad-free streams, exclusive chats and special badges. Live broadcast Twitch creators can stream videos that last anywhere from one minute to eight hours. When streamers go live, the video broadcast takes up the majority of the user’s screen. For example, a broadcast from TheStockGuy looks like this: In many of these broadcasts, the streamer appears in a small box in the video’s corner so that users can watch them as they talk. This format is common in gaming and other visual-forward content. Other broadcasts look more like YouTube or Instagram’s video streams. Here’s a good example from the tominboston account: If users want to focus on the broadcast, they can minimize the two sidebars. The one on the left shows recommended streamers and the one on the right contains the stream’s chat. Chat box Like other live streaming services, Twitch creators can engage with anyone watching their live streams via the chat box. Users can also interact with other users—replying to and sending emoticons. However, Twitch allows streamers to enable and create custom Emotes (i.e. emoji) for their audience. You can catch a glimpse of one of these Emotes in the chat box beside Maya’s live stream: When you click on an Emote a user shares, more details appear about the Emote: You can see that these Emotes are unique to Maya’s channel and that only Tier 1 subscribers can access it. Calls-to-action for following and subscribing appear as well. Who uses Twitch? Back in 2018, Business Insider reported that, on average, about 1 million people tune into Twitch at any given moment. That put Twitch on the same level as major cable platforms like Fox News, ESPN and MSNBC. According to Twitch Sales in 2022, roughly 2.5 million concurrent viewers and about 31 million pass through the platform every day. This is likely because Twitch streams to many devices, including: Desktop computers Laptops Tablets Smartphones Streaming devices (like Roku and the Fire stick) Smart TVs Game consoles According to TwitchTracker, Twitch users have watched 841 billion minutes of streams in the first eight months of 2022. In terms of Twitch users, the audience breakdown looks like: 75% of Twitch users are between 16 and 34. 65% of users are male. Users stream Twitch content in 35 languages. English is the most commonly spoken language. Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Korean are other popular languages. In sum, Twitch tends to attract a young, multicultural and heavily male audience that use the platform for building and engaging in community. How to use Twitch for business The massive number of highly-engaged number users make Twitch one of the best marketing strategies for businesses. Twitch Sales reports that its users have a special relationship with advertising: They believe that ads enable streamers to continue creating free content. They tend to buy from brands they’ve seen advertised on Twitch. They’ll buy products or services to feel a greater connection with a community. If you can use Twitch for your brand, you’ll market to an audience that’s receptive to marketing and advertising. In return, you’ll boost brand awareness, enhance your lead generation efforts and increase sales. Pro tip: You can generate traffic and exposure towards your Twitch channel along with all of your online assets with the help of a link in bio tool such as Hopp by Wix. Businesses use Twitch in three ways: 01. Become a streamer Brands, both large and small, have their own streaming channels on Twitch that lead back to their website via captions. GameStop, for instance, streams a video every Friday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.: GameStop has extended its in-store brand experience online. Some videos give previews and highlights from video games while others show content like unpacking videos or how to build a custom PC gaming system. Smaller brands and entrepreneurs become Twitch streamers, too. For example, Jeff, a personal trainer, runs the FitForPurpose account: Monday through Thursday, Jeff livestreams new videos on the channel. His goal isn’t to push his personal training services on anyone but to instruct and inspire his community. To succeed as a streamer, you must have something valuable, entertaining or educational to share with your audience—and not ask for anything in return. 02. Run ads Streaming isn’t a viable marketing option for many brands. Creating content, engaging with the audience in real time and building a community around a channel can prove to be too time-consuming. If streaming isn’t for you, you can boost your brand’s presence through paid media. Similar to YouTube’s advertising model, you can run video or display ads on Twitch. Both Twitch creators and their followers understand the necessity of mid-stream ads—especially when the content is free. With all parties receptive to advertising, consider this avenue if you have the money for it. Twitch doesn’t actively publish its ad rates on the site, but there is a contact form that asks for your budget. The smallest budget range is Less than $50,000. The highest budget range is Greater than $1,000,000. This high cost can explain why companies like McDonald’s can afford to run ads on top Twitch channels like VALORANT’s: Granted, brands can walk away with huge benefits. VALORANT has over 3 million followers and streams for hours every day. That means huge boosts in brand awareness (and sales) for brands whose ads appear during the broadcast. 03. Partner with streamers Your last option for using Twitch for business is influencer marketing. By partnering with an established creator or sponsoring their content, you can get your brand in front of a large audience. Depending on how actively the streamer promotes your brand, it could bring you major leads and revenue. That said, a popular streamer doesn’t need to name-drop a brand to influence their followers. A visual brand placement can effectively reach viewers as well. For instance, Monster Energy sponsored a cristijAn stream, and placed their logo atop the streamer’s window: Pro tip: You can explore your options and create a similar logo for yourself with a Gaming Logo Maker or Twitch Logo Maker. Learn how to make a Twitch logo for your channel. Twitch influencer marketing costs often depends on the following: What category they create content for How many followers they have How many views their videos get How frequently they will promote your brand What type of partnership or sponsorship they run Whether they want payment, free products or free services in exchange for promotion Just as with other types of influencer marketing, if you want to get the greatest ROI, your Twitch partner should relate to your brand. For example, CristijAn’s channel centers around gaming; energy drinks are popular with gamers, so the partnership works. Note: Entrepreneur reported in 2022 that Twitch had plans to cut streamer earnings from subscriptions. Estimates put the earnings reduction between 50% and 70%. While streamers who depend on user subscriptions are furious about this decision, this opens up a massive opportunity for brands. For starters, you likely don’t care about subscriber revenue as you’re using Twitch to build brand awareness and gain leads. So if streamers start abandoning the platform, that’ll make room for brands like yours to revolutionize the content that gets noticed there. Also, if streamers don’t make as much money from subscriptions, they might take on more advertisers, partners and sponsors. This could mean partnering with smaller, unknown brands they might not have previously considered. Is Twitch right for your brand? When brainstorming types of marketing, you may want to consider if Twitch fits your brand. Consider the following: 01. Is your target audience there? Twitch tends to skew younger, male and international. If your brand targets a broad range of users, then you might be okay using Twitch. However, if your brand happens to attract older users or operates in a more traditional or conservative space, then you may not find Twitch to be a worthwhile investment. 02. Does your brand fit with Twitch's vibe? You don’t need to be a gamer or influencer to fit in with the Twitch crowd. All that matters is if you can naturally convey your message in a live video. For instance, have you ever considered starting a vlog or podcast for your brand? Think about how you’ve used video or audio in your business and see if you can translate it for a Twitch audience. Dr. Drew, for instance, has a channel on Twitch where he airs hour-long "Ask Dr. Drew" episodes: 03. Will your content be entertaining enough? Back in 2014, Slate contributor Seth Stevenson asked why anyone would want to watch others play video games on Twitch. After spending some time watching various streams on the platform, Stevenson came to an interesting conclusion: “What about those low-key channels where it’s just one dude gaming, and shooting the breeze with his thousands of viewers? Well, those viewers are finding a community of like-minded souls, they’re engaging over a shared interest, and they’re getting tips from superior gamers on how to win at the games. How is this different from watching a cooking show that mesmerizes you while also teaching you how to make a soufflé? Or, for heaven’s sake, watching a show about remodeling nondescript houses in suburban neighborhoods?” Unlike reality TV programming or YouTube channels, Twitch allows users to engage with creators and other users in real time over their shared interests. Does your brand (or even just you as the face of the company) have something entertaining or edifying to share? TheCrossFitGames is a good example: CrossFit, in general, is known for its community. It can also produce content around its Games for others to watch and enjoy. 04. Do you have the time to devote to it? If you choose advertising or influencer marketing, you’ll devote minimal time designing Twitch ads or promoting your live stream. However, if you want to create, you must invest a significant amount of time. First, you’ll need to design your channel’s artwork, come up with content for the About page and maybe even customize Emotes for your subscribers. Second, you’ll have to produce your content, create a schedule, promote it on other channels, film the live streams and engage with viewers. Your broadcasts must not only be super engaging, but also well-managed. Planning and organizing has allowed Twitch brands like NASA to amass over a million followers: 05. How much money can you realistically invest in Twitch marketing? Streaming is an affordable venture. By Entrepreneur’s estimates, it could cost about $100 to buy a bundle of live streaming gear. That includes things like a tripod, an extender and lighting. Advertising, on the other hand, will likely cost your brand thousands of dollars a month. You may cut costs through influencer marketing—especially if you exchange product for exposure—but it’ll still cost your brand money.

Every entrepreneur is faced with the same challenge. Somehow, some way, you need your company to stand out and leave its mark in the market. But, of course, this is easier said than done. Memorable brands aren’t built overnight, and a brand development strategy requires much more than a cool logo or a catchy slogan. As a Wix Partner and founder of Small Business Startup Solutions, I've had the privilege of working closely with entrepreneurs across various industries. Together we’ve built, rebuilt and fine-tuned strategies for solidifying their brand positioning and creating a stronger market presence. Below are some of my insights from over the years, and tips for navigating the many components of brand development. Build your brand with the Wix Logo Maker. What is a brand development strategy? A brand development strategy is the plan for creating a brand’s image, positioning it in a market and building brand equity. Having a strategy in place will ensure that consumers can identify your brand and distinguish it from others, even as your business evolves. Often, the first step to creating a brand development strategy is to evaluate your company’s current market positioning, and the brand characteristics that helped you get there. It doesn’t always involve redoing your current branding—rather, a brand development strategy could mean expanding on your existing strategy, and creating better alignment or efficiencies between your assets. While an agency like mine would assist with things like your web design, logo design, email marketing and other marketing efforts, your brand development strategy could also impact your product development strategy and customer service (among other areas of your operations). Branding vs. brand development: what's the difference? Branding and brand development are often used interchangeably, but they’re actually two different things. Branding is the process of creating a unique identity for a product or service. It involves the tactical steps of designing your brand’s visual elements (such as its logo and color palette) and brand messaging (such as its tone of voice and value proposition). Brand development takes the branding that already exists and uses it to create new ways to support your company’s growth. For example, think of a pizza shop that wants to start selling their sauce in grocery stores. This requires creating new labels, packaging and quality standards. The pizza shop’s website branding, social media and marketing all need to reflect the new product line, too—which all relies on having a clear brand development plan to guide the way. How do you know you need a brand development strategy? While your company’s internal goals may be an obvious reason for needing a brand development strategy, there are also plenty of external factors that create a need. For instance, a change in the demand for your product or services may cause you to consider adding or eliminating parts of your brand. Consumer feedback can further indicate what is and isn’t working about your current branding. Or, pressures from new competitors or market challenges may force you to rethink your strategy. A strong brand development strategy can help your products to be seen by the right audience sooner, saving you valuable time and money. 4 popular brand development strategies There are many ways that you can expand your company’s brand. Let's take a look at the four main ways that companies implement their brand development strategy. 01. Product line extension If you’re looking to bring more value to your current customers, you can offer an additional product line. A product line extension involves offering a new product in the same category as your existing products. Under this strategy, you’d apply the same, existing branding to your new product line—which can help create a soft introduction to your new product(s) and encourage customers who already enjoy your products to give your new items a try. At the same time, this strategy could help you attract new consumers by offering something that wasn’t available in your store before. Christiane’s Handcrafted Jewelry offers a variety of silver and gold necklaces, earrings and rings. Christiane is constantly creating new jewelry designs in her studio to extend her product lines within her existing categories. As new jewelry is finished, it can be found on display in her store, online (via her website and social media) or at shows. 02. Multi-brand Your company may decide to create multiple brands to target consumers in different markets. Consumers may not be able to tell that the additional brands are housed under a parent company because each brand or subbrand markets itself differently. For example, Horseshoe Media is a California-based advertising and marketing company that provides digital marketing, social media marketing and consulting services. They house a variety of marketing brands. They own All Country News, a media outlet for country news; Good Scentiments, a candle line that promotes collaborations with musical artists and donations to charity; and MUSICVRSE a music media company that covers a variety of genres. Thanks to this multi-brand strategy, Horseshoe Media has been able to strengthen its following in multiple areas of media advertising. 03. Brand extension A brand extension strategy is when your business uses its established brand name to elevate a new product, product category or version of an existing product. It can also involve combining two well-known products or services together in order to tap into the brand loyalty of existing customers. For instance, artist Rigo Peralta established himself by selling surrealist paintings that, in his words, “represents the push and pull between humanity and machinery.” Peralta’s works are available for purchase online and at his studio (Rigo Peralta Art Studio) in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He has also launched an apparel and accessory line called Rigo Collections. Rigo Collections sells print-on-demand products featuring Peralta’s art, and is similarly available online or in the studio. Peralta additionally decorates his vacation property in the Dominican Republic with his art, creating a fully immersive experience. All of these channels together provide multiple avenues for art enthusiasts to get to know Peralta, not just as an artist but as a powerful, recognizable brand. 04. New brand A new brand strategy focuses on creating a new product in a new product category (i.e., creating a brand name from scratch). Take McPhee Family Farms as an example. This family-owned farm specializes in supplying farm-raised beef, pork and produce to serve its local community. They are preparing to open a second business, McPhee’s Butcher Block, which will pay tribute to the farm while offering an in-person retail location (plus an online store) to meet the demands of the everyday shopper. The Butcher Block logo resembles the Family Farm logo to show the relationship between the two brands. Meanwhile, the Butcher Block site embraces tones of a family-oriented atmosphere by weaving in family history and incorporating cooking methods that have long been honored by the family. The 6 stages of brand development: steps for building a solid action plan Identifying the best brand development strategy and creating an action plan starts with analyzing your company's direction, the industry and the overall market. Then, once your plan is in motion, it’s important to set up a process for measuring the performance of your strategy to ensure that you’re making the best decisions for your company, both now and in the future. These six steps can help you to check off all the essential boxes and get your strategy off the ground. 01. Consider your business strategy Your business strategy can (and should) inform your brand development strategy. Maybe you’re seeing that one product is driving a majority of sales, or that one particular subset of buyers is making the most purchases from your company. Think about who you want to target (new or existing customers), and how effectively your brand is currently reaching them. You can use the same KPIs that you use to assess the current state of your business to evaluate the performance of your marketing, and to serve as a benchmark for future performance. By clearly defining the goals, vision and mission for your company as a whole, you can better create a brand that reaches the right people. Your business strategy can further help you decide whether to focus on a product line extension or another type of brand development strategy. For example, take a look at your current sales and expenses of your business. What drives your revenue and where are your costs high? What do your growth numbers look like? At the end of the day, you’ll want to: Make sure that your messaging is relevant to your target audience Align your brand with real customer needs, as voiced directly to your team or elsewhere (e.g., social media) Create a brand that’s unique from your competitors Ensure that everything from your logo to your messaging can evolve as your business grows 02. Do market research Market research is necessary for understanding how your product compares to its competitors, industry and overall market. External factors like overall industry health and/or new trends can impact how well your products may be accepted. Start your market research with a competitor analysis. Take a look at what your competitors are selling, how they’re selling it and who their consumers are. How have they expanded? Are your competitors selling their products in packages or as subscriptions? By analyzing your competitors, you can dig up some good inspiration or spot strategies to avoid. Next, study the industries and markets that you compete in to glean insight into current and future demand. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a company that may have wanted to expand into a physical retail location may have decided that the market outlook was too poor to attempt to do so. Even though external factors can be out of your control, they can significantly impact the performance of your brand. 03. Determine your target audience It goes without saying that in order to clearly and effectively promote your brand, you need to know who you’re talking to. This means going beyond surface-level information and challenging assumptions that you may have about your current or target audience. This also means narrowing down your scope to specific segments of customers who want and need your products or services. It's possible that your new strategy will cater to the same target audience that you have been serving. However, it’s equally possible for you to identify a smaller segment of customers, or a new segment to engage. One way to define your brand’s target audience is by creating personas. Pretend that your audience can be represented by a single person. Give that person a name. Describe who they are. What do they like? What do they dislike? Where do they live and what are their daily habits? Tailor your messaging to speak directly to these personas, and find the best channel to communicate with them. Moreover, use your personas to guide your thinking around brand development—how can your brand best serve their needs? 04. Develop your brand story and personality Before you start crafting your brand assets, ask yourself, what is your company’s mission? What is your vision? The answers to these questions can re-establish the “why” behind your business, which, in turn, can inform your brand story and personality. Your brand's personality can carry similar traits to that of a person and can be used to influence your company name, logo and taglines. For example, when engineering company EU Design Consulting approached my agency, they knew they wanted to convey experience, reliability and professionalism in their messaging. Understanding these brand characteristics helped to create a simple yet sophisticated logo, alongside a website that reflects the company’s maturity and expertise. Your brand characteristics can further guide the type of content you produce in the future, from your emails and your blogs, to your social posts and advertisements. 05. Build a brand guide A brand guide addresses the visual and messaging guidelines for your brand. It defines your brand’s preferred typography, color choices and style—with the goal of maintaining consistency and communicating your brand personality.You may already have a brand guide in place, but chances are, you’ll need to tweak it for any new offerings. For instance, if your company chooses to introduce a new product line, how does that tie in to all of the other branding that exists? To create a brand guide, I recommend keeping it simple. Your brand should involve two to three brand colors as well as font choices. Make sure your guide includes your logo and all of the acceptable variations or placements of your logo. In addition to this, provide guidance on the types of media to be used, brand voice, tone and more to guide any new marketing and communications. 06. Track your progress As you start applying your new branding across your business, you’ll want to actively track your progress and impact. Establish clear KPIs, such as the ones you already use to assess your business strategy, from the get-go. Use benchmark data to compare your business’s performance from before and after your strategy has entered the market. To that end, Wix Analytics can help you connect the dots between your new strategy and sales or web performance. You should also compare your progress to the performance of your competitors, industry and market. Tracking your progress will help to identify if any pivots need to be made in your strategy, or can confirm if you’re on the right track.

If you’re trying to figure out how to start a business, you would do well to look to Jason Feifer for inspiration. In addition to being the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur, Feifer produces a podcast, writes a newsletter, and advises people interested in becoming an entrepreneur. If that weren’t enough, he recently wrote a book, Build For Tomorrow, about preparing for change and building a more resilient, fulfilling career. We spoke to him to learn more about his journey and the lessons he learned along the way. Already building your business? Set up your business website to drum up interest. Wix: In "Build for Tomorrow," you say that entrepreneurship is more of a state of mind than a description of your work. Can you tell us a little bit more about that thinking? Jason Feifer: [Entrepreneur] used to be an uncommon word that denoted a founder at a very specific stage in their journey. Now, so many different kinds of people identify with this word. People are looking for ways to be and think self-sufficiently, even if they’re an employee. Obviously, there's a big difference between what a founder does and what an employee does, but the emotional journey of trying to get somewhere by yourself is relatable across so many fields. Horizontal thinking is—I make a thing, I put it out in the world, I move along, and I just keep doing that. But entrepreneurs have trained themselves in what I call "vertical thinking." They do something because they think it’s the foundation upon which to build the next thing. I think the more anybody in any position thinks that way—what they do now will drive toward opportunity later—the more growth they can unlock for themselves. Related: Entrepreneurs and Thought Leadership: Why the Two Go Hand in Hand You talk about “redefining failure” in your book, and I wondered if we also need to redefine what success looks like: How do you define success for yourself if there is no finish line? It's an unbelievably valuable thing if you can think about failure as data. We need to define success for ourselves in realistic and meaningful ways. It's not like you get this thing you were working toward, then there's cake and you get to go home. It just opens the next door. You've got to figure out how to get to the next one. We can step back and set goals for ourselves that aren’t about succeeding but about achieving momentum. I often think back to this guy named Ryan Holiday who has written a lot of best-selling books. He wrote this piece about what it's like to be successful, and how it weirdly doesn't feel like anything. Success and failure don't necessarily transform you. So, we have to set our expectations differently. It sounds like your definition of success is always growing, looking toward the next step of your journey, exploring something different, trying something new. The goal that I set for myself is basically, “How can I figure out what the next transformation is?” This is why I have constantly upgraded the thing that I do and the way I do it. I don't know that it can get any more specific than that, and I'm not sure that it should. That connects to your idea that we shouldn’t identify ourselves by the job we have but by the thing that drives us. One thing that drives all types of entrepreneurs is having a sense of ownership over the thing they're doing. When I was a magazine editor, I used to think that I wanted to be the owner of the thing we were making. I wanted it to be my vision. This is not out of a sense of wanting to control; rather, it’s because the work is a product of my own abilities. When I got to that place with Entrepreneur, I realized that the next step was ownership of myself. I had an opportunity to build things outside of the magazine that were just mine. So, every time I achieve something that moves me further in that direction, I feel like that is a marker of success. It's abstract, but it's scalable—and it means that there are lots of little wins along the way. I really loved all of your examples of moral panics that seem really ridiculous from our vantage point. My favorite was the anecdote in which the musician suggested mothers would stop singing lullabies to their children because of the radio. Do you see entrepreneurs panicking about some sort of change that you think is going to seem ridiculous in 20 years? This is an oversimplification, but you can divide the world into people who feel like they are being acted on and people who feel like they are the actors. I think the fear of new things is often driven by people who feel like they are being acted upon and don't have control over the things that are coming into their world. It's new, so their instinct is to push back on them. Entrepreneurs feel like they produce new things. They have their own set of problems—they are often too optimistic, so they might be blind to how new things might not be as impactful as they think. You can think about those Lime and Bird scooters. I think it's a great technology, and I'm really happy it exists. But when they first came out, the talk was like, “This is going to revolutionize urban transportation.” But they didn't revolutionize transportation. They just added one more good option. We have to understand that the new things that come along aren't going to destroy, but they're also probably not going to transform. Occasionally, you make Google and it literally transforms everything. But most of the time, you don't. Most of the time, what you make is something that's useful and has value. And sometimes it takes us a while to understand the value and how to refine it to be useful for the most people. Do you ever worry that this mindset could be weaponized in order to shut down or dismiss real issues and valid feelings? That’s a very realistic concern about a totally optimistic, unquestioning approach to saying every new thing is good. I agree that problems need to be engaged with. The thing that we should not do is say, “Is this perfect?” Because nothing is going to be perfect. Oftentimes, we focus so much on the problems that we say the problem is the whole thing. We might say, “Oh, these scooters are blocking bike lanes, and the solution is to get these things out of my city.” I don't think that's the realistic or smart way to think about it. I think the better way to think about it is, “Is our new problem better than our old problem?” Because that allows for problems, and you evaluate whether we're on the right path to address this new problem and make things even better.

After deciding to create a website, determining how social media fits into your marketing strategy should be your next step. It may seem like a can that you can kick down the road, but social media offers one of the quickest ways to build your online presence. In particular, TikTok presents an opportunity to get in front of more than 1 billion active users each month. With its addictive infotainment-style videos, TikTok gives brands large and small a platform for engaging consumers in a fresh, exciting way. That said, if you’re looking to get started on TikTok, it pays to analyze user behaviors and understand when consumers are most engaged. Audiences differ from market to market and business to business, so you’ll want to take the time to study your specific audience and identify the best times for your business to engage with them on TikTok. Why does posting time matter on TikTok? Going viral on TikTok requires high-quality content and a bit of luck. But understanding what the TikTok algorithm looks at—especially as it pertains to timing—can help you improve your luck. In addition to factors like user interactions, user information and video information, the TikTok algorithm takes timeliness into consideration. It values fresh and recent content. In other words, newer videos have a higher chance of being recommended, especially if they relate to current trends or events. Therefore, posting your content when users are most likely to see it means you'll have a better chance at grabbing their attention and encouraging engagement. More specifically, your posting time on TikTok can have the following effects: Your video may get more engagement: Newly posted videos are initially shown to a relatively small group of users that TikTok's algorithm selects based on past interests and behavior. If they engage with your video, then the algorithm will share it with more people with similar interests. This is the main reason why posting when your target audience is most active increases your chances of reaching more people. Your video is more likely to show up on TikTok's “For You” page: TikTok displays a personalized stream of videos on each user’s “For You” page. The TikTok algorithm recommends videos to users based on their interests and past behavior. So, if you’re able to catch users’ attention early and often, you may have a higher chance of getting seen on their “For You” pages later down the road. You can get an extra boost depending on the context: Trends, seasons and current events all influence what content appears on the “For You” page. Similarly, timing your content based on certain periods of the day could influence engagement. For example, if you’re posting about a current event, it helps to be one of the first covering the breaking news. Alternatively, if you’re posting a dance video, you might have better engagement in the afternoon when students are back from school. You may stand out more when posting during slower periods: It might seem counterintuitive, but posting during times when TikTok is less busy could help your video stand out. With fewer videos vying for attention, your posts may have a better opportunity to stand out and gain traction among the TikTok community. Timing is an essential part of what should be a more robust TikTok marketing strategy that incorporates things like hashtags, influencer partnerships and high-quality video production. All these elements work together to give your videos the best chances of being seen. When is the best time to post on TikTok? Sprout Social’s study of 400,000 social profiles suggests that Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in your time zone are the best times to post on TikTok. Engagement is at its highest on those days because “users are looking to fill their afternoon entertainment boost.” Meanwhile, the same study suggests that Sundays are the worst days to post, especially if you’re working in consumer goods, tourism or education. That said, other studies point to different optimal times, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to the above question. For this reason, it’s important to consider other factors that are specific to your audience when deciding the best time to post on TikTok. 5 factors for determining the best time to post on TikTok Knowing the most popular engagement times on TikTok is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to maximizing post visibility. There are other elements that come into play, and each will impact your ability to reach users on the platform. 01. Audience time zone The key to figuring out the best time to post on TikTok is figuring out when your target audience is most likely to be active online. Whether you have followers from around the corner or across the globe, adjusting your posting schedule to match their local time can make a big difference. By aligning your posting schedule with your audience’s time zone, you can increase the chances of getting more engagement and interactions. Pro tip: Take advantage of your website data for insight into your audience’s demographics. For instance, Wix Analytics’ Traffic Overview report can show you the countries and regions that most site visitors hail from. This can help you to identify the best markets to target on TikTok, and inform your posting schedule and content. 02. Audience age Different age groups have distinct online habits and peak activity periods. For example, if you’re targeting a younger demographic, your audience might be more active during after-school hours or in the evenings. On the other hand, if your target audience is more of a nine-to-five crowd, they may be more active before work or during their lunch break. 03. Follower activity TikTok's analytics tool offers valuable insights into when your actual followers are most active. Once you earn more than 100 followers, you can access this info directly from your profile. But if you want even more detailed analytics, you might want to think about upgrading to TikTok for Business. With upgraded analytics, you'll get deeper insights into your followers' activity patterns, how engaged they are and how well your content is performing. Here are some tips for using your TikTok Analytics dashboard to help you plan the timing of your posts: Review follower activity: TikTok provides information about when (by day and time) your followers are most active and where they're located. For example, TikTok Analytics may tell you that your U.S.-based followers are most active at 10 p.m. on Thursdays, whereas your Australian followers are much more engaged at 11 a.m. on Saturdays. Review post engagement trends: Analyze reactions, comments, shares and reach of all your posts to understand when certain types of content resonate most with your followers. Review which posts performed best: This will help you develop a feel for the best days and times to post for your existing followers. It’s also a good way to begin testing a broader time/day posting strategy for TikTok. Review your "follower by the hour" numbers: This helpful stat provides an hour-by-hour chart illustrating when your followers are most likely to be online. Look at both overall and specific metrics: It's important to examine overall audience trends and dive into more detailed insights, such as specific video performance numbers. Doing such a comprehensive analysis will give you the most accurate sense of when and how frequently to post. Pay attention to content metrics: Content metrics like watch time, views by region, full video watches and total shares are important because they help you understand what content is working. Adjust your posting strategy based on these insights to effectively create a posting timeline that resonates with your audience. Pro tip: Compare your TikTok findings with your Wix Analytics to understand which of your posts yield sales. Reports such as Wix’s Top Traffic Sources report can help you track the number of visitors that enter your site through TikTok, as well as the products or services that these buyers gravitate towards. 04. Trends, events and occasions Occasions, seasons and trends are all great opportunities for posting timely content. Look out for what’s trending on TikTok and plan to capitalize on special occasions like holidays, movie releases or occasions like “National Sibling Day" or "Women's History Month." Additionally, staying up-to-date about current events can help you create social media marketing content that resonates with your audience. 05. Competitor activity Doing competitor research on TikTok can provide valuable insights when determining what time to post on the platform. Take the time to explore your competitors' business profiles and identify the videos that have garnered the most engagement. If there are any patterns in the timing of those posts, it’s worth testing to see if those posting times increase the engagement around your content. How to find the best time to post on TikTok for you Ultimately, the best time to post on TikTok depends on your business goals, target audience and the type of content you produce. While there are some basic guidelines to keep in mind—like posting when your audience is most active and testing different timing strategies—you'll need to experiment with a range of different approaches to find the right combination that works for you. Start with your existing followers and content by monitoring post activity, engagement trends and demographics to set the stage for building a wider audience on TikTok. Also, pay attention to content metrics like watch time, views by region, full video watches and total shares. These data points shed light on what your audience finds interesting (or not). Finally, make sure to experiment with different posting strategies. Try posting at different times, on different weekdays and with varying frequency. Since TikTok is a global platform, your audience may be larger than you realize. Post with time zones in mind, then monitor where viewers are coming from and when they respond. Give yourself time to learn and gain data. You may not immediately find a strategy that works, but it's okay if you don't get it right away. Adjust your approach as needed and eventually you'll find the perfect time to post on TikTok for your brand.

When Lindy Alexander left her full-time job to give freelancing a try, she gave herself one year to make it work. In her first 11 months of freelancing, she made $100,000. Seven years later, she is an award-winning travel writer with an expansive portfolio on her business website, a steady stream of assignments and a six-figure income. On top of that, she runs her own online business, The Freelancer’s Year. What started as a career advice blog for other freelancers (across many types of businesses) has expanded to include a newsletter, courses, and private coaching. When I first started freelancing, I knew nothing about how to start a business or how to create a freelance website. Lindy’s course put me on the right track. Although she primarily works with writers, her strategies are applicable to all sorts of freelancers and digital nomads. So, I sat down with her to learn more about the secrets to her success and how you can use them to make it big. Wix: You made $100,000 in the first 11 months of freelancing, which is wildly impressive. What was your plan for your transition to freelance work? Lindy Alexander: My passion was in feature writing, but I didn't feel like I would earn the bulk of my money that way. I decided to get into content marketing. So, I zhuzhed up my LinkedIn profile and reached out to people I had written for before. I leveraged my health writing experience and asked health organizations if they needed a freelance writer. I sent out letters of introduction to everyone. Did you dip your toe into freelance writing while you were working full time, or did you just jump right in? It started as a side hustle. I took a feature writing course and published an article by the time it ended. I just kept pitching, getting gigs and writing articles. Eventually, editors started to come to me with assignments. Suddenly, my desire to be a social worker diminished. I started focusing on freelancing [and hit a] point when I wondered if I could sustain an income as a full-time freelancer. I was thrilled when people started paying me to write. But when I started doing it full-time, I had to look at it from a business perspective. I looked at all the work I had done over the previous 18 months and thought, “I can't spend six hours on an article that pays me $120 unless it’s a passion project.” I focused on getting work that would bring in the bulk of my income. The freelance path is so unpredictable. It’s either drizzling or pouring. How do you manage the flow of your business? I think those feast or famine times come from insecurity. A lot of freelancers don’t feel confident that they can charge what they want, say no to assignments, or push timelines back. Clients often hire freelancers with the perspective that it’s an emergency and we absorb that. I’m much better now at remembering that their emergency is not mine. Holding those boundaries is so difficult, but so important. This is my business, and I need it to work for me. What other factors do you think would make freelancers’ lives easier? Consistency. Freelancers come to me and say, “I’m not getting any traction with these letters of introduction.” But when I talk to them about it, they’ve only done it for a week or so. It’s a numbers game, so you need to keep putting yourself out there. Having a long-term view is really important. When freelancers are busy, they think, “I cannot possibly take on anything else.” But when things are quiet, the vehicle has totally stopped. It takes a while to get those wheels turning again, and people panic. You don’t have to be in full acceleration mode [all the time]. Just stay in touch and people will come back to you. I kept in touch with an editor over the last four years and never worked for him. But he called me last week with work. Some connections pay off quickly, but others take years to germinate. Many freelancers get anxious about quoting or negotiating rates. How do you navigate that conversation? An internal hourly rate makes it easier. Have an income target each month and each week. You need to know how many hours you want to work and how much you want to earn for each hour. Track your hours so you know how long it takes you to write a 600-word blog post or a 12,000-word white paper. You’re not just pulling out a number. You know exactly what works for you. If they don’t accept it, you can move on and pursue other opportunities. When do you forgo the high-paying jobs for passion projects? Usually, it’s travel or food writing. Next month, I’m going overseas for 10 days. I won’t get paid very much, but I’m going to have incredible opportunities that I wouldn’t otherwise have. I just have to [plan to] have enough work to carry me through. I just had an editor [reach out with] 10 stories to assign. I told her I could only take on two, but I could help find other writers. It comes back to that confidence piece. I’m much better at saying to editors, “I can’t take this on,” or “I’m away, but I could take this on next month.” How do you manage the stuff like networking and blogging that doesn’t make money? For me, I work out how many actual hours of writing work I do a week [and base my rates on that]. When people want to make $100K per year, that is $8,333 a month, $400 per weekday. But you’re not working eight hours a day for 52 weeks. You have to give yourself breaks. And at least 30% of my time goes to bookkeeping, researching, pitching and blogging. It’s really about planning and keeping control of your time. It’s not sexy, but it makes everything so much easier. You’ve stayed in freelance for 11 years at this point. What makes the hard work worthwhile? If you have a salaried position, you have a cap on what you can earn (see how to start a service business). I’m not particularly money-motivated, but I can see the direct correlation between the [freelance] work I do and the amount I get paid. I love the flexibility, freedom and variation of freelance. I’ve written about parenting, health, business and education. Now, I’m in travel writing. There are so many opportunities to pursue what you love and to meet interesting people. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

As a small business owner, you know how important your online brand is to your business. A positive customer perception of your brand can lead to conversion, sales and bookings. But what do you do when a provocative comment makes its way to your website or social media feeds? Do you delete the comment? Argue back? Turn off comments altogether? Or block them? You’ve just been trolled—and you shouldn’t wait to see what will happen next, as it can lead to the internet becoming an unwelcoming and unsafe place. Thankfully Talya Adler, Wix’s online brand management expert, is here to help you develop a plan for dealing with online haters. Learn how to start a business and create a business website with Wix and grow your brand on a platform that protects against cyber threats—DDoS attacks and malware—and offers around-the-clock monitoring. Wix’s website security is fully managed by experts, so you can run your business with peace of mind. What are internet trolls? Before we dive in, let’s get on the same page about what we’re calling a troll. A “troll,” in internet slang, is someone who posts intentionally inflammatory and upsetting statements in online communities, such as social media, comments sections on a website, forums and chat rooms, to provoke unwary victims and delight in their anguish. They borrow their name from the original trolls of Scandinavian folklore. According to Jennifer Beckett, a lecturer in Media and Communications at the University of Melbourne, trolling is “a specific act: throwing bait into the internet water in the form of deliberately provocative statements (not personal attacks, that’s ‘flaming’) and waiting for someone to bite.” Why are there internet trolls (and what impact do they have)? Trolling exploded after the advent of the social internet. While the internet doesn’t create trolls, it does give people predisposed to aggressive and unpleasant behavior a place to amplify and make visible their hostility, found an Aarhus University study published in the American Political Science Review. One of the study’s authors, Alexander Bor, tweeted: “...The people hateful on Twitter offend others in face-to-face conversation too.” The researchers, who polled over 8,000 American and Danish people, also identified being a status seeker as another strong characteristic among trolls. Businesses are often plagued with trolls on their social media feeds. For example, in 2019, Coconut-water brand Vita Coco playfully threatened to send urine to a man who trolled them on Twitter for their product's divisive taste. Vita Coco “won” the battle, according to the critic Tony Posnanski. And what started as individuals annoying people and businesses on the internet has turned into a strategic form of digital warfare over the past decade. Coordinated troll armies have played a large role in high-profile harassment cases, ranging from 2014's Gamergate, the 2016 American presidential election, and 2022's Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial. The Philippines even has a government-sponsored troll army. How to deal with internet trolls While you hopefully never have to deal with a troll problem, it's a small business myth that there's nothing you can do about it. There is a strategic response that can help minimize how it affects your business. In the words of Wix: “Don’t panic. Don’t answer impulsively. Don’t apologize.” While every internet troll case is unique, this workflow can help you figure out your next steps: Reread Research Respond 01. Reread Online communication comes without body language, facial expressions and a tone of voice. Make sure you fully understand what is being said to avoid any misinterpretation. It may be helpful to ask someone else to read the content for a gut check before moving forward. It’s good to check the timing of the posts—especially for small and medium-sized businesses. Perhaps you’re launching a new product/service or hosting a conference. While these seem like normal processes in business, they could become an open call for status-seeking trolls to attack your brand. For example if you’re streaming a live event, you’ll want to monitor in real time the comments coming in. An internet troll could also be fishing you into a spat about a topic far bigger than your business alone, whether it’s for political, cultural or religious reasons. Adler recommends avoiding these types of engagement altogether. Inform yourself about what’s going on in the world and be in tune with discourses taking place around you. “You don’t want to become the next internet meme,” says Adler. 02. Research After rereading the content, investigate the account and their history. You may find that your internet troll’s account has roped in other customer care accounts into online battles. If that’s the case, Adler says to keep your distance and don’t feed the troll. You could also discover that it’s a bot that simply needs to be blocked and reported. However, if a cursory check seems like there’s more to the story, use social network analysis to investigate further into the internet troll. Search their social media accounts to find how big their following is and how extensive it goes across platforms. Are they getting shared or retweeted? Do their posts get commented on and by who? Your next step will depend on how “influential” your troll is and how much damage they can bring to your business. Mega-influencers. These are celebrities with hundreds of millions of followers across the biggest platforms. Macro-influencers. These are influencers that have garnered between 100,000 and 1 million followers. Micro-influencers. These are influencers with a following between 1,000 and 100,000 people. Despite their size, Adler says, these micro influencers are among the most engaged with their audience. Thus their potential impact is higher than a macro-influencer, she adds. Nano-influencers. These are influencers who have fewer than 1,000 followers, but are highly trusted by their audience. Non-influencers. These are regular people who have fewer than 1,000 followers, but don’t have any regular engagement or trust built with their audience. 03. Respond If you’re dealing with a legitimate customer, Adler recommends taking the conversation privately. Ask them for additional information (proof like screenshots) to better understand their case. You’ll want to better understand their grievances in order to solve their issues. If you’re dealing with an influencer trolling you, it may make sense to consult with a PR or brand expert to help you get your response messaging right. And if your business is being accused of misdealings, you may need to go on the defensive. Depending on the severity of the case, you might want to bring in a lawyer to sue. Preventing trolls in the first place At the center of troll prevention is a thorough content moderation strategy. While you could hire someone to monitor content and delete comments as they arise, you can also just choose a website platform that lets you manage which site visitors can comment on your posts in the first place.