Search results

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

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

As an ecommerce business owner when demand exceeds supply, pre-orders are the way to go. Pre-ordering offers a whole new way of marketing your products, gauging excitement, and making decisions around restocking or manufacturing products. Of course, a pre-order strategy needs to be done tastefully. The last thing you want to do is scare off customers by having too   many out-of-stock items on your ecommerce website . Between knowing when to add a pre-order button to your store, prepping your inventory flows, and picking manufacturers to work with—there’s a lot to consider before you pull the trigger on this type of strategy. Keep reading for tips on how to offer pre-orders and make this strategy work for your business. What is an eCommerce pre-order? An e commerce pre-order is when an online store puts an item up for sale when it’s not currently in stock. Pre-ordered products can be purchased and paid for in advance, and typically have an availability date attached to them. Or, shoppers may be billed when the item is shipped. Why should you allow pre-ordering? You might consider a pre-ordering strategy for your ecommerce business for several reasons: To market a new product before it's released. For example, many book or video game publishers run pre-sale campaigns to create buzz around new titles. This helps to create a sense of urgency among buyers who want to be the first to receive new items. Pre-order campaigns can be timed to coincide with dates or events (e.g., pre-order in time for spring), and can become the focal point of marketing campaigns. To retain customers (enable backorders).  If you have a trending product that goes out of stock quickly, pre-orders can help you to retain the sale even when inventory drops to zero. To spice up your offer, you could even guarantee special pricing for shoppers who take advantage of pre-order offers. Pre-orders additionally help to reduce wait times for high-demand products, ensuring that your customer will receive an item as soon as it becomes available and doesn’t have to check back into your site to place an order. To fund products in development.  Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter connect creators with individuals who are willing to pledge money towards their ideas. Backers can, in turn, look forward to receiving the product as soon as it’s developed. Similarly, you may lean on a pre-order strategy if you’re looking to validate a new product idea or to test new product variations (e.g., colors, sizes, scents) prior to committing fully to a new product line. To help with cash flow. The typical manufacturing process takes anywhere between 30 to 60 days. During this time, you’re likely communicating with multiple suppliers, receiving samples (in the case of a new product), and preparing orders for shipping. To keep money coming in as you’re burning through cash and time, you may choose to accept pre-orders on your items. To sample demand . Pre-orders provide two key benefits to store owners who must plan for purchases ahead of each season. First, they help you understand the demand for a given product. Are bento lunch boxes going to be the hot item for this school season or are eco-friendly bamboo lunch bags a better investment? Pre-orders also provide a reliable source of sales revenue. These two benefits work together to help online store owners plan and fund their purchases simultaneously. When is the right time to offer pre-orders? You could offer pre-orders at any stage of your business’s growth. From the time you offer your first items, to the time you expand to new channels and countries, pre-orders can keep sales coming through the door. Read Also: How to start a business Here are a few examples of when you may choose to launch a pre-ordering button. When offering a new product on your website.  If you’re rolling out a new product, pre-orders can help you gauge interest, generate income while the product is in production, and inform your website visitors about the item’s pending availability. Keep in mind that you’ll need to find a reliable manufacturer  for your product idea—one that delivers on quality, timing, and communication. You have customers waiting for their items and your reputation depends on delivering the goods in a reasonable time. Be sure to also promote your new products with attractive eCommerce merchandising methods. When offering VIP customers first access to limited-edition products.  You can allow your top customers to call dibs on new or high-demand items before they’re released to the public. This is a great way to foster brand loyalty  and to incentivize shoppers to join your email list or loyalty program. It also gives you the opportunity to promote popular products in advance, while helping you plan for how much of the item to order. When combining pre-orders with discounts or promotions. Offering pre-orders in combination with promotions and price discounts  can help to motivate buyers to take action, even when your product is out of stock. This approach works particularly well when tied to an event, holiday, or season and can be communicated via your website, social media accounts, email, and ad campaigns. Read more: Discount pricing strategies When testing a new product. Test a product’s viability before committing your resources to a full product launch. You could launch a “coming soon” landing page to sample interest, and to slowly roll out your products. You can—in a sense—buy time to address any supply chain issues (which are inherent to any new product release) and/or set realistic expectations with customers prior to fully rolling out your product. A few cautionary tips when using pre orders A note of caution—it’s not advisable to offer pre-ordering when the availability date of an item is extremely uncertain or unknown. In this case, an alternative to pre-orders could be to enable shoppers to sign up for an email or text alert that notifies them when the item is back in stock. Furthermore, when implementing pre-orders on your website, it’s important to clearly communicate the entire process to your customers. This includes notifying existing customers when pre-orders are available and the status of your products after they purchase your products. Some important details you’ll want to communicate with your buyers: Estimated shipping date Their payment options (covered in the next section) Terms and conditions associated with pre-orders Order cancellation policy, complete with an easy way for customers to cancel pre-orders if necessary Choosing the right eCommerce pre-order method When offering pre-orders on your website, there are several payment schedules that you can offer. Pay now:  This method requires payment at the time of purchase, but shipping is deferred until the product becomes available. This is the most popular type of pre-order for obvious reasons—it enables store owners to earn revenue before the item is available to be shipped. It’s also easy to set up if you already have an online payment solution  set up. However, if you sell internationally, you’ll want to check for any red tape regarding payments. Some countries forbid the sale of out-of-stock items, so you’d have to default to “pay later” in these instances. Pay later:  In this scenario, the customer promises to pay for your product at the time of shipping. Both the buyer and seller can typically cancel a “pay later” order if desired, so you’ll have to plan for excess inventory if there are a lot of cancellations. Crowdfunding:   Crowdfunding  is a popular option if your business is creating a new product and requires capital for the manufacturing process. Customers often commit to sending you money even if a product isn’t guaranteed, and look towards receiving rewards, equity, or the final product (if and when it’s built) in return. This approach isn’t standard for the typical eCommerce types of businesses . Benefits of using pre-orders for your eCommerce business Pre-orders can be an effective strategy for your eCommerce business and for several reasons. We've put together some of the main ones, to help you understand if they're a good strategy for your business. Better cash flow management:  Pre-orders can improve your cash flow by securing upfront revenue on the promise of goods being shipped once they're available. This can be helpful in managing production costs and other operational expenses. Just be sure to manage your pre-order and inventory effectively so customer do get what they ordered. Demand insights:  By offering products for pre-order, you can gauge customer interest and forecast demand accurately. This can help avoid overproduction or stockouts. Build anticipation:  Pre-orders can create a sense of anticipation and excitement about your product among your customers, which is a good promotion in itself. You can also use it in your marketing, to build excitement and potential new orders. If pre-orders are combined with a sense of limited availability, they can create a sense of urgency among customers and speed up the buying decision process. Customer loyalty: Customers who pre-order products are likely to be your most loyal ones. They trust your brand enough to commit to buying a product before it's even available. These are then customers who should be segmented and wooed with different promotions throughout the year. Delivery flexibility:  For items that aren’t needed immediately (like books, non-seasonal clothing), pre-orders allow you as the retailer to better plan your delivery schedules and manage your inventory more effectively. How do pre-orders work with Wix eCommerce? Wix's eCommerce platform offers a native solution for accepting pre-orders or backorders on your products. Click a product to edit from your Wix eCommerce dashboard. Click the Pre-order toggle to display a pre-order button on your listing. This button will appear whenever inventory reaches zero for your active product listing. Customize your pre-order message, i.e., the short blurb that customers will see when your item is out of stock. As an example, you could provide an estimated date for when your product will be back in stock. (Optional) Limit how many pre-orders a single customer can request of your item. Note: Any pre-orders made through Wix eCommerce will require immediate payment. When you receive a pre-order, make sure to follow up with a thank you email  that reiterates that this is a pre-order purchase. Communicate as much information as possible and follow up regularly to keep your customers at ease. You can integrate your favorite email marketing  app with Wix, keeping customer info, order status, and inventory data in sync. Using the Wix editor, you can also spin up “coming soon” pages or bespoke product pages to further incentivize purchases.

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

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

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

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

Many factors play a role in determining the success or failure of your online presence, yet few are as significant as the one encapsulated in these three letters: CTA, which stands for call to action. We all encounter CTAs on the web all the time without even realizing it, but when you create a website it is imperative that you learn how to write a call to action that supports your site’s goal. In this post, we will clarify how CTAs work to ensure the high performance of any website, and especially of business websites. We will then explore the key steps in creating powerful CTAs that bring real results, improve your website’s conversion rates and set you on the right path towards financial and professional growth. What is a call to action? A call to action is a short phrase that prompts your online audience to take immediate action. In the context of a website, they are most often clickable texts, images or buttons that encourage site visitors to follow your site’s invitation towards a certain step. Common call to action examples include downloading files, purchasing products, subscribing to a service, signing up as members, contacting the team, starting a trial and more. Essentially, CTAs tell your site visitors what it is that you want them to do. If the entire content of your site is doing the prep work for it, the role of the call to action is to entice visitors to take that final step and click to complete that action, to “seal the deal.” CTAs have a direct impact on your entire website’s success, and strong, persuasive CTAs can get you higher sales, more followers and wider exposure. Why is a call to action important? Calls to action are a critical component of any marketing strategy , because they provide your user with a clear guide for where to go. Good CTAs can help you to increase conversions, improve your website's traffic and boost your sales. Here are some of the benefits of CTAs: Increase conversions: CTAs tell your visitors exactly what you want them to do, which in turn helps them convert. When a CTA is clear and concise, it’s more likely to be clicked on. Improve website traffic: Improve your website's traffic by directing visitors to the pages that you want them to see. For example, you could use a CTA to direct visitors to your product pages or your blog. Boost sales: When you encourage visitors to take action through your call to action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, you can then help boost your sales. Build relationships: CTAs can help you build relationships with your customers by providing them with a way to contact you or learn more about your products or services. Limit decision fatigue: Users can sometimes feel overwhelmed by too many options. CTAs cut down on confusion by giving a direct command to follow. How to write a CTA that converts Here are the key steps to write an effective call to action that bring real results: Define your goals  Know what your audience wants They can't miss it Keep it short and clear Use action-oriented language The time is NOW Lead with incentives Don’t neglect the rest of your site Track and analyze success Test and improve 01. Define your goals  The first step to perfecting your call to actions takes you to the very core of your online presence. You need to have a clear understanding of your goals. Let’s put it this way: Why are you setting up a website to begin with? What are you hoping to achieve? The answer to this question would determine how you use CTAs. Your goal and the action that you are calling for correspond to each other. If, for example, your site’s goal is to advance your life coaching service, the action you’d be prompting would be scheduling an appointment, and the CTA might read something like: “Book Your First Session Here” or “Schedule a Free Consultation.” In some cases, you might be interested in directing site visitors to do more than one thing. For instance, you want them to both purchase one of your products and like your Facebook page. In this case, you will have more than one CTA on the site and you will need to prioritize them. You may choose to have one CTA more prominent on one page and the other on another page. You may also divide your site’s layout in a way that supports both CTAs without creating competition between them. 02. Know what your audience wants Knowing what you want to achieve is one thing, but you won’t get far if you neglect to consider the wishes and needs of your audience. What are they doing on your site? What are they hoping to accomplish? What tone of voice and what kind of vocabulary appeals to them? To maximize your chances of success, you should start this stage by doing some research on your target audience and creating a profile of your average site visitor (or multiple archetypes of visitors). Once you get a sense of what motivates your audience, you will be able to craft more effective CTAs. And don’t be afraid to look at what your competitors are doing, there’s a lot to learn from other people’s successes and failures. 03. They can't miss it A CTA has to be clearly visible. All the effort that you put into creating your CTAs will be useless if your site visitors are unable to spot it on your site. Here’s how you guarantee that they will: Your color palette should make the call to action stand out. Choose a color combination that accentuates the CTA and draws attention. Obviously, you don’t want to blind your site visitors with clashing colors (and these color palette generator tools will help you avoid that), but you do need enough contrast for it to stand out on the page. In addition, consider which colors to use in order to evoke specific emotions from people. Size matters. The proportions of CTA buttons or texts should reflect their unique role on your site. You want to go with a size that distinctively marks the CTA as a crucial segment of the site, one that shouldn’t be overlooked. But practicing moderation is a good move here too: devoting half of your page size to a button will not get you much other than frustrated visitors. Location is key. Where you choose to place the CTA will have a huge impact on its performance. The guiding principles are that CTAs should be located in prominent spots, the space surrounding them should be free of clutter, and they shouldn’t compete with other buttons in the area over clicks. Don’t assume that CTAs always work best if placed right at the top of the page. Remember that you are asking visitors to take action, so the request should appear at the moment when they’re ready for it. The CTA usually follows content that prepares the ground for it. 04. Keep it short and clear This is not the place for witty observations or lively descriptions of the benefits you promise. CTAs are brief and to the point. They describe the action in a straightforward manner – Download Your Copy, Register for a Free Trial, Buy This, Sign Up and Get $50 Off, Reserve Your Seats, etc. This type of copywriting may sound a bit bland, or even off-putting in its directness. Don’t forget, though, that the CTAs are just that final step in a process. Your site’s design, images and content provide the atmosphere, information and motivation to follow through the journey, while the CTA is there to give it a final push. 05. Use action-oriented language Compelling site visitors to take action requires proactive language. It’s no coincidence that CTAs begin with a powerful imperative verb that assertively determines what happens next. This type of explicit invitation increases people’s motivation to follow your CTA and complete the action. It puts the focus on them and their decision and strengthens their confidence in the choice to click onwards. 06. The time is NOW Similarly to the use of power-verbs, adding a sense of urgency strengthens the CTA’s impact. An effectively-written call to action motivates site visitors to take the next step immediately, rather than giving them time to think about it and probably forget all about your site. Adding words like “Now,” “Here” or “Today” to your CTAs can help prompt quick reactions. Other phrases that elicit this type of determination are: “Get Instant Access,” “Grab Limited Discount Code” or “Take Advantage of Our Best Deal Ever.” 07. Lead with incentives When you’re asking your site visitors to do something for you, you better be willing to do something for them in return. With an abundance of options and information available online, web users have the power to consider costs and benefits and make informed decisions. If you want CTAs to appeal to that mindset, you need to make sure the value that you are offering is clear, and that it actually appeals to your group. For example, CTAs like “Start My Free Trial,” “ Create a Blog ” or “Download Straight to Your Device” all offer a certain incentive that allows visitors to visualize what they are getting out of this deal. 08. Don’t neglect the rest of your site This article focuses specifically on the art of creating CTAs, but just as important is the art of creating a good CTA environment. Remember, the CTA is a culmination of your pitch to your site visitors. Even the perfect CTA will fail if the site that surrounds it does not lead visitors towards completing the action. To begin with, your entire site design should support the CTA. This means that the layout of the page should direct the visitors’ view towards the CTA in a natural browsing flow. Subsequently, you should also free up some white space around the CTA, to make sure that nothing distracts from it. Your site content is also crucial for the elimination of FUDs – fears, uncertainties and doubts. Because CTAs are short and can’t address all the concerns or questions that site visitors might have, you need to make sure that your site has all the answers. 09. Track and analyze success No serious website owner would be satisfied with following all the steps mentioned above without tracking their impact, too. Analyzing the success rate of your CTA is crucial in evaluating your site’s overall performance and is a vital step towards improving your strategy for growth. An important metric that can help in guiding your evaluation is the conversion rate, which is the percentage of website visitors who convert. For example, if you have 100 visitors to your website and 5 of them make a purchase, your conversion rate would be 5%. The way you define conversion depends on what your goal is, but it could include actions such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or downloading a PDF . The higher the conversion rate, the more effective your CTAs are at driving conversions. 10. Test and improve After tracking and measuring your CTAs’ performance, you have the knowledge required to experiment, compare and improve various call to action schemes. For example, your analysis may show you that some colors bring in more clicks than others, or that the phrasing “Buy Now” is more effective than “Purchase Now.” Keep track of your different tests to better understand what triggers action with your target audience and continue to improve your CTAs accordingly. Where to include a CTA When it comes to mastering CTAs , you also need to know where to include them. There are many places where you can integrate a CTA, but some of the most effective spots are: On your website: CTAs can be placed on your website in a variety of places, such as: The homepage: The homepage is a great place for your CTA because it's the first page that visitors will see. Product pages: CTAs can be placed on product pages to encourage visitors to buy your products. A blog: Try including CTAs on your blog posts to encourage visitors to read more content, subscribe to your blog or buy your product. Contact page: A CTA on your contact page encourages visitors to contact you. In your email marketing: CTAs can be included in your email marketing campaigns to encourage subscribers to take action, such as clicking on a link, opening an attachment or making a purchase. On your social media: CTAs can be included in your social media posts to encourage followers to engage with your content, such as liking, commenting or sharing your posts. In your advertising: CTAs can be included in your advertising campaigns to encourage viewers to visit your website, sign up for a free trial or make a purchase.

Starting a business  means wearing multiple hats and facing constant challenges that require innovative solutions. Custom Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs) are revolutionizing the business world, changing how small businesses operate. These powerful tools act like an assistant in each department, helping to streamline processes, enhance customer service and empower decision-making. With a multitude of options available, how can small business owners choose the best custom GPTs tailored to their needs and budget? In this article, we’ll dive into the top custom GPTs available, exploring their features and benefits. Discover how advanced tools can drive your business towards greater efficiency and growth. What are GPTs? GPT models are advanced AI systems capable of understanding and generating human-like text. Built on sophisticated algorithms and trained on vast amounts of data, these models can analyze and understand large datasets to generate meaningful responses to prompts and questions. This makes them useful for applications like chatbots, content creation and even complex problem-solving. Custom GPTs are tailored versions of these models, designed to meet specific needs and requirements. For small businesses, this means having an AI that understands your unique business context and can assist in various functions, from customer support to marketing strategies . With a Custom GPT, small businesses can leverage AI technology to drive growth while reducing the time and effort typically required for these tasks. 9 best custom GPTs for small businesses Wix AI website builder Adobe Express DALL-E Data Analyst Consensus Scholar AI Creative Writing Coach InVideo AI VEED 01. Wix AI website builder The Wix AI website builder  makes it easy for small business owners to establish their online presence. Start creating a website  with tailored design recommendations that align with your brand's identity, ensuring a unique and personalized touch.  Save time and focus on what truly matters—growing your business and reaching a wider audience. Learn how to create a website in minutes using Wix’s AI website builder GPT . 02. Adobe Express Adobe Express  simplifies design with AI-driven tools that offer smart suggestions, refining the creative process and ensuring quality results. This approach lets small businesses focus on strategy instead of repetitive tasks, saving time. Enjoy an efficient workflow and elevated design standards to create visually striking content with ease. If you want to leverage AI for digital marketing, Adobe Express provides an intuitive platform that enhances both creativity and productivity. 03. DALL-E DALL-E  is a GPT model created by OpenAI  that can generate images from text descriptions. This innovative tool can assist small businesses in creating visual content, such as product designs or presentation graphics, without the need for a designer or expensive editing software. With its limitless imagination and ability to create unique images, DALL-E can help make a lasting impression on your audience. 04. Data Analyst The Data Analyst GPT  model assists small businesses by analyzing trends and patterns in their business data. It can provide insights and recommendations to identify market opportunities, optimize pricing strategies or streamline supply chains. Users can ask questions in everyday language, and it delivers valuable insights through clear visuals like graphs and charts. It's perfect to help you make informed decisions without needing a team of data analysts. 05. Consensus Consensus  is an AI-driven academic search engine, helpful for small businesses aiming to create authoritative content on complex or scientific topics. It offers AI-driven academic search capabilities, allowing access to insights from over 200 million research papers. By simplifying intricate information into clear summaries, assisting with accurate citations and providing science-backed insights, Consensus helps you draft well-informed documents efficiently. 06. Scholar AI Scholar AI  streamlines the process of accessing patent information, providing small businesses with a safeguard against infringement issues and legal challenges. This tool searches databases, offers concise summaries of research papers, and analyzes documents like PDFs . By directly linking users to relevant sources, it simplifies finding, analyzing, and connecting academic and technical information, making it an essential asset for anyone engaged in research or technical innovation. As a small business owner eager to enhance research and development, use Scholar AI to maintain your competitive edge. 07. Creative Writing Coach The Creative Writing Coach  GPT provides personalized feedback to create compelling marketing content, refine communication and elevate storytelling. It can help improve clarity and develop branding to ensure messages connect with audiences. Craft narratives that capture attention and build stronger customer relationships. 08. InVideo AI InVideo AI  empowers small businesses to elevate their social media marketing on platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. With features like script generation and automated text-to-speech, it simplifies creating engaging short-form videos. Produce professional-quality content quickly, enhance brand visibility and capture your audience's attention effectively. 09. Veed Veed Video  GPT is a tool that utilizes GPT technology to automatically generate video content from text. Often, there isn't funding to invest in an in-house team or outsource to a specialist. Veed can assist you in creating promotional videos, product demos and more, without the need for expensive equipment or editing skills. How to implement a custom GPT Begin your custom GPT journey with a strategic plan for success. This straightforward process makes implementation simple, helping you maximize your custom GPT's potential for your small business. Follow these steps to get started. 01. Identify your needs Begin by assessing which parts of your business could benefit most from a GPT. Consider how AI can boost productivity and efficiency, improve customer interactions, or tackle current issues. 02. Choose the right model Explore various custom GPTs that can help with your business goals. Understand what each GPT offers and how it addresses your specific needs. Can't find the right GPT? Learn how to build a custom GPT to match your business need. 03. Train the model  Tailor the GPT model with your business data. Provide relevant information so it can grasp the unique language and requirements of your industry for greater accuracy. 04. Integrate with existing systems Make sure the GPT model seamlessly fits with your current tools and platforms. Some technical adjustments may be needed to make sure everything runs well together. 05. Monitor and optimize After implementation, track the model's performance. Regularly assess its efficiency and make necessary tweaks. Updating settings and data ensures optimal results and adaptability to business changes. Best custom GPTs FAQ Do I need coding knowledge to implement a custom GPT? While some coding knowledge can be helpful, it is not necessary as there are user-friendly tools and services available to assist with implementing a custom GPT. Can a custom GPT replace human employees? No, a custom GPT is designed to work alongside humans and enhance their capabilities. It can handle repetitive tasks and provide insights, but ultimately, human creativity and decision-making are still necessary in business operations. How do I ensure data security when using a GPT model? Ensure your data stays secure when using a GPT model by choosing a trusted provider. Implement strong data encryption and regularly update security measures to protect sensitive info. Educate your team on handling confidential information and best practices for data protection. Consulting with an IT specialist can offer extra guidance.

Many consider content the most important part of a strong marketing strategy. Informative, engaging content can reach new customers and maintain current ones. Even Bill Gates knew back in 1996 that “Content is king.” From deciding to create a website to strategizing your social media content , you’ll often share links to videos, articles and social media posts. A link shortening tool can be a handy way to optimize these links for your content marketing strategy. In this article, we’ll discuss why compressed URLs can help your marketing. Plus, we’ll go over some of the best link shorteners on the market. What is a link shortener? A link shortener—also known as a URL shortener, link compressor, or URL condenser—is a digital tool that takes a long URL and makes it shorter. This URL tool serves self-creators or small businesses in many ways. In fact, the US government found this tool important enough to provide two types of government-funded link shortenings , although they decommissioned the project in 2019. If you want to share a link for any type of marketing , whether social media marketing or your weekly newsletter, most people don’t find website links littered with excess numbers and letters attractive. A lengthy URL can even deter people from clicking. Link shorteners condense the long URLs in your marketing strategy so people will be more inclined to click on them, in turn increasing click-through rates. Learn more: URI vs URL 4 reasons to use a link shortener 01. Elevates your brand image Excess characters in URLs can look suspicious and unappealing. Use a link shortener to keep your marketing assets clean and concise, which reflects positively on your brand image. 02. Easier to share If your users find a link easier to copy and paste, especially from a mobile device, they’ll be more likely to share your links. 03. Cleaner appearance People have an easier time reading and comprehending shorter text, making them more likely to click on shorter URLs. 04. Provides tracking capabilities To sustainably grow your brand, you must track your marketing efforts and key performance indicators (KPIs). Most link shorteners come with analytics tools and other advanced features. 10 best URL shortener services Hopp.co Sniply ClickMeter Cuttly Bitly TinyURL T2M Tiny.CC BL.INK Rebrandly 01. Hopp.co Hopp.co is the ideal URL shortener for online content creators who want to increase their revenue and customer base. All creators, from Instagram influencers to culinary bloggers, can access Hopp.co’s impressive list of tools. This includes: tracking and analytic data, unlimited number of uses and the ability to create short links with a customized domain just for this purpose. Hopp.co’s ability to add a “pre-roll” customized promotional page is what makes this link shortener a real winner. Creators can send users to an interstitial page before their final destination where they can add a CTA or link that promotes a service, video, event, social account, blog post or product; collects subscribers or contact information; and even promotes a membership. They also offer call-to-action landing pages and a “speed-dial” feature, which allows users to enter a code and access a link—a handy feature for those looking for a link sharing workaround for Instagram posts. 02. Sniply Sniply allows users to compress long links and overlay them with custom call-to-actions (CTAs) to create visually appealing mini banners. 03. ClickMeter ClickMeter ’s URL shortening tool offers marketers a dashboard to analyze data from large, global audiences, plus optimize and compare links in one place. The tool targets visitors where they will have the best conversion rates, monitors fraud and broken links, tracks clicks and conversions, and more. 04. Cuttly Cuttly ’s platform can manage and track analytics from users' branded URLs. The tool integrates with several platforms—such as Zapier, Integromat and Laravel—and comes with other marketing tools like password-protected short links, UTM parameters and QR codes. 05. Bitly Bitly’s free tool shortens links using the bit.ly domain. Users with a premium plan can customize their shortened URLs with their own domain names. Bitly comes with an analytics dashboard to help users comprehend which campaigns and content their audiences prefer. 06. TinyURL TinyURL’s basic link shortening tool does not require users to create an account, but it also doesn’t offer advanced analytics. Paid users get basic tracking tools such as click rates, URL editing and timestamps. 07. T2M T2M is intended for large businesses and corporations, but it can also suit smaller businesses. T2M offers URL management, branding and APIs, campaign management and complete analytics to help marketers make business decisions. 08. Tiny.CC Tiny.CC offers a simple interface that allows users to manage many URLs at one time. Users can edit links in real time, redirect smartlinks and track traffic metrics. 09. BL.INK BL.INK ’s GDPR-compliant tool caters to small businesses. Key features include the ability to build UTM campaigns and create links that are easily shareable with any channel, including mobile, PDF files , QR codes, email and more. 10. Rebrandly Rebrandly emphasizes the importance of brand trust and recognition. With an array of advanced features and collaborative tools that enable different departments to work together more easily, the platform focuses heavily on organizational teams. It offers multiple logins and workspaces for this purpose. Consider creating a qr code for your brand, you can use a qr code generator to do this.

In a world where so much happens online, businesses are constantly faced with the decision of where to invest their marketing and branding efforts. Should you focus on learning how to build a website or is it better to engage customers through social media platforms ? This debate is more relevant than ever as companies try to establish a strong online presence in an often crowded marketplace. Making the right choice between a website and social media can significantly impact your business. Each platform has its unique advantages and serves different purposes in the grand scheme of your marketing strategy. By understanding these differences, you'll be better equipped to make informed decisions that align with your business goals. Let's explore what it means to have a website versus engaging on social media and how these tools can work together. What is a website? A website is your business's home on the internet. It's a dedicated space that you own, where you can provide information about your products or services, share your brand's story and connect with customers. It's a place where you have complete control over the content and design, allowing you to present your business professionally to the world. What is social media? Social media, on the other hand, is focused on engagement, where everyone comes to chat, share and connect. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are social spaces where businesses can create profiles to interact with their audience via social media marketing . Here, you can post updates, respond to customer inquiries in real time and engage with other content. Social media is all about building relationships and fostering community around your brand. Website vs social media: the great debate Ownership and control When you create a website, you're the owner. You own your domain name (as long as you keep on with the annual renewal process), decide on the layout and determine the content that goes live. This level of ownership means you're not subject to the whims of another company's business model or policy changes. Your website remains as long as you maintain it - with most website builders this means as long as you renew your plan every year. In contrast, social media is like renting space in someone else's building. You can set up shop and decorate your area but ultimately, the platform owns your presence there. They can change the rules, their algorithms or even shut down your page if it doesn't comply with their policies. This lack of control can be a significant risk for businesses that rely solely on social media for their online activity. Customization and branding Websites offer a blank canvas for branding and customization. You can design every aspect to align with your brand identity—from colors and fonts to the user experience. This customization helps in creating a consistent brand image that resonates with your audience. Social media platforms do allow some level of branding through profile pictures, headers and posts. However, you're limited to the layout and design constraints of each platform. While these spaces are great for showing your brand's personality, they don't offer the same level of branding depth that a website does. Why create a website for your business? Professionalism A website serves as the cornerstone of your business's online identity, communicating credibility and professionalism. When potential customers search for your business, a well-designed website provides a sense of trustworthiness. It's a signal that you're serious about your business and that you offer a legitimate product or service. Conversion optimization Websites are also incredibly effective for guiding visitors through the buying process. With a sales funnel built into your site, you can lead potential customers from awareness to consideration and finally to making a purchase. By learning how to create a landing page and optimizing call-to-action buttons and contact forms, you can increase the likelihood of converting visitors into customers. SEO benefits One of the most significant advantages of having a website is the ability to appear in search engine results. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vital for increasing visibility and driving organic traffic to your site. By using keywords, producing quality content and optimizing your site's structure, you can rank higher in search results, making it easier for potential customers to find you online. Learn more: Small business website statistics Why use social media for your business? Audience engagement Social media platforms excel at fostering direct and immediate communication with your audience. They provide a space where you can quickly respond to comments, messages and reviews, creating a two-way dialogue with your customers in real-time. This level of engagement helps build a community around your brand and can lead to stronger customer loyalty. Learn more: What is Brat? Brand awareness The shareable nature of social media content means that your posts have the potential to reach far beyond your immediate followers. When users share your content, it increases your brand's visibility exponentially. This virality can be a game-changer for brand awareness, helping you reach new audiences at little to no cost. Learn more: How to design social media graphics . Can social media replace a website? While social media platforms offer many benefits, they come with limitations for businesses that can't be overlooked. Relying solely on social media means you're at the mercy of platform algorithms and policy changes, which can affect how and if your content is seen by your audience. Social media doesn't necessarily offer the same level of professionalism and credibility that a website does. Customers often expect legitimate businesses to have a website where they can find comprehensive information and contact details. Without a website, you may miss out on opportunities to establish trust and authority in your industry. While social media is an excellent tool for engagement and brand promotion, it cannot fully replace the depth of functionality and control provided by a dedicated website. Website vs social media - combining the best of both The key to a strong online business presence is not about choosing between a website and social media but understanding how to use them together effectively. Your website should be in the center of your branding and marketing efforts—a place where you control the narrative. Social media, meanwhile can be used to reach out to new and existing customers, encouraging interaction and community. By integrating both, you can drive traffic from your social media to your website where conversions happen. Social media can be used to tease content, promote offers, and engage with your audience, while your website provides more in-depth information, captures leads and processes sales. For example, a retailer might use Instagram to showcase their products with beautiful imagery and then direct customers to their website for purchase. Or a B2B company might share thought leadership articles on LinkedIn to establish expertise before funneling readers to their site for webinar sign-ups or consultations. An integrated approach can lead to greater brand consistency, improved customer journeys, and ultimately better business outcomes. Website vs social media and how to choose for your business Deciding whether to focus on a website, social media or both depends on your business goals, resources and audience. Here are some considerations to help you make the right decision: Decide on you goals : Determine what you want to achieve with your online presence. If sales conversion is your primary goal, a website should be your priority. For brand awareness and community building, social media might be the right focus. Understand your audience : Know where your customers spend their time online. If they're active on social media platforms, that's where you should be too. However, remember that a website can cater to those who are searching for your services via search engines. Consider your resources : Maintaining both a website and social media presence requires time and money. Evaluate what resources you can dedicate to each platform to keep them updated and engaging.

After you create a website for your brand, you need to get out there and let people know you’re open for business. The best way to do so is to set your sights on social media. In particular, you need to learn how to increase social media engagement to bring attention to your brand, make meaningful connections, fully utilize social networking and accelerate your business growth. It’s the “engagement” part of that strategy that’s going to be key to your success. Today we’ll look at what it is, what it’ll do for your brand and 10 ways to get more of it. What is social media engagement? Social media engagement refers to the responses your social media posts receive. While comments, likes, and shares are the most common type of social engagement, some platforms use different engagement features or terminology for them. For example, on the one hand, a Twitter user would "retweet" a post, but a Pinterest user, on the other hand, who wants to share this IKEA post would use the “Save” button: Just keep in mind that the ultimate goal of social media marketing is to get meaningful engagement. That means that while having a high number of interactions or follower numbers may look good, it’s the quality of the interactions that’s more important. The importance of getting engagement on your social media Social media might be free to use, but the time you invest in creating content for each platform, growing your list of followers , and engaging with them is very valuable. With this in mind, the last thing you want is to create a social media account and end up talking to an empty room. Or, worse, to talk to a super-crowded room, but get ignored by everyone. When you nail your social media strategy and give people a good reason to engage with you, you’ll reap plenty of benefits: Build greater brand awareness. You don’t need to be Kim Kardashian level famous in order to get good engagement. You just need a great strategy (including knowing the best time to post on TikTok ) aimed at the right audience - like this TiktTok for business guide breaks down. Increase your clout. You have a great website and a promising offer. But the conversational style of marketing on social media allows you to really let your brand’s voice and thoughts shine. It also makes it easier for you to monetize your platform, whether its making money on TikTok or Instagram. Exponentially increase your reach. When someone engages with your social media posts, it can help the algorithm identify your post as more relevant and interesting and there is more likely to push your content into more people’s feeds. We explain this further in our guide to LinkedIn marketing , for example. Develop meaningful relationships. Unlike your blog, email marketing , or traditional marketing, where you talk at your audience, social media is a conversation. And when you give people a reason to engage, really meaningful interactions can develop from that. Provide better customer service. Even if you’re not handling technical support on social media, simply being there to answer questions for interested prospects or existing customers gives you another opportunity to demonstrate how much they matter (and to show others curious about your brand how attentive you really are). Get more accurate data. You know who your audience is, but the metrics you get from social engagement and social signals can tell you a lot more about their story and inform how to better connect with them. How to increase social media engagement If you’ve already begun using social media for your brand, then you’re familiar with basic social media marketing tips and strategies. However, what we’re going to focus on below are 10 ways to improve your social engagement metrics and get a better ROI on your marketing strategy as a whole. 1. Make a record of your current engagement rates 2. Set measurable goals for future engagement 3. Get to know your audience when they’re on social media 4. Write blog content that’s going to get their attention 5. Experiment with different social media post formats 6. Create social media posts that are eye-catching and engaging 7. Create social media posts that are authentic 8. Don’t just wait for people to come to you 9. Respond to your engagements in a timely fashion 10. Review your analytics regularly and reconfigure your strategy as needed 01. Make a record of your current engagement rates There are two places where you can get social media analytics from. First, you can log into each of your social media platforms and use the analytics provided there. For instance, here’s what Twitter’s Analytics dashboard looks like: Each social media platform provides statistics based on the types of engagements available, and you’ll get engagement statistics for each individual post. You’ll also see average performance stats related to: Engagement rate Link clicks Retweets without comments Likes Replies The second way to get analytics is if you use a social media management and scheduling tools like Buffer or Hootsuite . There, all of your social engagement data will be in one place. Regardless of which tool you use, it’s recommended to export the data as a spreadsheet and save it on your computer. If the tool does not do this for you, here is the formula of how you can calculate your own engagement rate: Social Media Engagement Rate = # of Engagements (sum up all likes, shares, comments, etc.) ÷ # of Followers ✕ 100 Do this for each of your platforms, and afterwards compare your engagement rates to a few of your competitors who have a similar size following. 02. Set measurable goals for future engagement Now that you know roughly what to shoot for, it’s time to set some goals. The first thing to set goals for is your social media marketing efforts. Which audience are you looking to reach? What actions to wish for them to take upon seeing your content? How will you measure success? To help you decide which engagement metrics are most important to you it’s important that you know that not all engagements are created equal. For example, the Instagram algorithm values saves, shares and comments more than likes. Figure out which engagements to track based on your business goal (if you want to create brand awareness, focus on increasing page visits; if your goal is to build a community, focus on growing the number of followers or comments under each post etc.). Next, figure out which social media platforms to focus your efforts on that can best help you reach your above goals. Remember, sometimes it is easier to build a successful engagement strategy if you limit how many platforms you focus on. From Pinterest for business , to Instagram and Facebook, there are a variety of platforms to choose from depending on your niche and industry. 03. Get to know your audience when they’re on social media In order to build offerings and create strong social media content for your target customers, you need to figure out who they are in terms of demographics, needs, and motivations. Which platforms do they use most? What kinds of accounts do they follow? Are there certain topics that tend to catch their interest more? What types of posts and content are they more likely to engage with? Do they communicate using GIFs, emojis, or acronyms? Start by looking through accounts for brands similar to yours. You should be able to spot some trends in terms of content with the highest engagement. Then, do some research on their followers—especially the most engaged ones—and find out what their feeds look like. Because not only do you want to share posts that are relevant to them, you want to speak their language as well. This step can be really time-consuming if you try to do it all on your own. So, social listening and engagement tools like Sprout Social or BuzzSumo can help. 04. Write blog content that’s going to get their attention While you don’t want your social media feed to be all “Me! Me! Me!”, you can create a free blog with high-quality and thought-provoking content to share with your followers from time to time. So, make sure your blogging strategy coincides with your social media engagement goals. For instance: If your goal is to boost the number of clicks and saves as part of your Pinterest marketing efforts , create more Pin-friendly content like infographics. If your goal is to get more engaged followers on Instagram, record a daily vlog. If your goal is to increase the number of comments you get on each Facebook post, start writing blog posts that answer common questions your customer service team gets. Every platform has its own strengths. Figure out which platforms you want to increase social engagement on and then create content in shareable formats for each. It might also be a good idea to review the set up of your social platforms - go over your YouTube channel name , or other platform handles, to make sure it resonates with users. Learn more: How to design social media graphics . 05. Experiment with different social media post formats In order to increase engagement, use a social media calendar to test out different kinds of social media posts. Here are some post formats and themes to consider: Behind-the-scenes tours Customer spotlights “Live” video events Infographics Quotes Video Q&A This-or-that questions Contests and giveaways Surveys Animated GIFs and Memes You never know which ones will get the most attention and engagement until you give them a try. Plus, with the variety of social media platforms available, there’s a lot to play around with. If you're looking for inspiration, take a look at this curated list of social media ideas and tips on how to use them effectively. You can also consider sharing content from your blog or website straight to social media, with a social share button. This helps make it easier to post more often and consistently. 06. Create social media posts that are eye-catching and engaging As we write this post, Internet Live Stats tells us that there have been over 375 million tweets sent, 3.5 billion YouTube videos viewed, and 42 million Instagram photos uploaded today . Needless to say, there is a lot of noise on social media. Having a great social media channel will help you get more followers, but that doesn’t guarantee that they (or other social media users) will see your posts in their feed. There’s just too much new content being published every second of every day. In order to get people to slow their scroll, your posts need to be eye-catching. While it does vary based on platform as well as the industry you operate in, images are more or less the most effective way to capture someone’s attention on social media. According to Social Insider’s report, images clearly dominate for attention over carousels and videos on Instagram—and this is the platform with the highest levels of engagement. It’s not just images alone that make a post eye-catching or engaging though. Applying filters so your images all have a similar look is one way to make your content stand out from the crowd. Furthermore, creating a logo and adding it as a watermark to all custom content is another way to make your posts more recognizable and eye-catching. You should also be constantly on the lookout for new features. TikTok, for instance, recently launched a new video Q&A feature . Every platform creates new features in response to the way people use the platform, so take advantage of them as they’re a good way to drum up more attention. Even if the bigger visual components of your posts initially grab social media users’ attention, it’s the accompanying message that’s oftentimes what convinces them to engage. In addition to writing awesome messages, give them some visual style, too. For example, on platforms like Twitter and Instagram where hashtags and handles are popular, use them to not only improve the discoverability of your posts, but to make your messages stand out like this @travelchannel tweet: Here's our full guide on how to use Twitter. Tagging someone else’s handle is an especially good way to get exponentially more eyes on your content, which can increase engagement, too. With platforms like LinkedIn and Pinterest, where you have more room to write, take advantage of the space as The Walt Disney Company does here: Just remember that the rules of formatting long content apply here, too. Add paragraph breaks to make long text less intimidating to read. Including emojis along the way helps, too. Another tip is to focus on creating content people would like to save for later or share with their friends. Try including a question in the caption that has the potential of starting a discussion and conversation in the comments section. Don't forget your social media bios too, they are crucial to boosting social media engagement rates and a key part of the puzzle. Hopp helps create the most stunning and fast-loading bio pages with ease. It is highly customizable, its unique search feature ensures that your followers can access your links quickly and easily like never before. 07. Create social media posts that are authentic While there’s certainly a lot of room for what you can post on social media, not everything is going to fit with your brand identity. So, make sure you’re creating posts and choosing formats that are authentic to you. For example, entrepreneur Marie Forleo is on all the big social media platforms and has hundreds of thousands of followers there. She could easily throw different kinds of posts at them. What Forleo does, however, is stay in her lane. Most of Marie's posts—regardless of which channel she shares them on—are inspirational and motivational images and video content where she talks directly to her followers. What you won’t see her share are infographics, animated GIFs, or shameless selfies. And that’s a really important part of getting high levels of engagement on social media. Sure, you want to market your brand and increase your leads and sales in the process. But you have to be genuine when you do it or else people will quickly catch on that it’s all just for show. 08. Don’t just wait for people to come to you Dedicate some time every week to look for new relevant users to engage with. One way to easily do that is to follow Gary Vee’s $1.80 engagement method . This proven to work method encourages you to find users through the top hashtags in your niche and to comment something meaningful on their posts. Other methods include engaging with: Customers who’ve shared photos or recommendations of your products. Companies whose missions you really dig and want to keep tabs on. Brands you want to partner with. Blogs and news sites that share content that you and your audience will find valuable. Cute and funny accounts that add some extra positivity to your feed. Whether you’re sharing your love for another brand’s offering or you’re simply getting involved in other users’ conversations, you need to get out there and be social. It’s a great way to show that your brand actually cares about making genuine connections and being part of the social media community and not just using it to boost conversions. 09. Respond to your engagements in a timely fashion Once you start giving people a reason to engage with you on social media, get ready to respond. While you might not want to thank the dozens or hundreds of people who like each of your posts, take time out to respond to those who share and comment. Check out Burger King’s tweets and retweets for a masterclass in responding to followers: Burger King responds to all kinds of posts. Customer service issues. Memes. Ridiculous demands. And, not only that, it does it with its trademark personality and quickly, too. If you don’t have that kind of bandwidth to monitor social media 24/7, that’s okay. Just make sure you respond within 24 hours. 10. Review your analytics regularly and reconfigure your strategy as needed When you set up your social media branding , you set up monitoring and analytics for this very reason. Without these insights, there’s no way to measure your marketing strategy’s efficacy. On a regular basis or at least monthly, it’s a good idea to perform a social media audit . In terms of engagement, ask yourself questions like: Which posts get the highest numbers of engagement? Which posts get the best type of engagement? Which ones go completely ignored? Are there any platforms where your engagement rates remain really low? Don’t forget to look at Google Analytics either. There’s a section under Acquisition that will tell you which platforms drive traffic to your site as well as the best quality of leads. If you can nail down which posts and platforms are giving you the biggest ROI, you can reconfigure your strategy and give your audience more of what they want where they want it.