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As someone who has chosen to create a website , you already know how crucial SEO is for your online success. By influencing how Google perceives and ranks your website in search results, you’re more likely to drive more traffic to your pages. It also helps to attract visitors with the right intention, meaning that they are actively looking for a business, product or service like yours. This results in higher chances of visitors converting. There are different levels of optimization techniques and features you can opt for when creating a website. For example, if you’re a business owner just starting out, you can take advantage of the Wix SEO checklist, which creates a personalized checklist of all the SEO elements you need to cover - on top of enabling instant indexing of your homepage by Google. However, if you’ve been in the game for longer, or simply want to take control of exactly how your pages are displayed in search results and on social networks, then keep reading. In an effort to continuously improve its offering and cater to professional users, Wix has several SEO tools designed to help you work more efficiently. From canonical URLs to structured data, let’s discover how to use these features to the fullest: How to use Wix SEO to optimize your site: Meta tags for social media share Structured data Canonical URL Image optimization Indexing 01. Meta tags for social media share You know the important role that social media plays in the success of your business. Ensuring that your brand remains consistent throughout all social channels is imperative to your image and reputation. So, where does this come into play? We’ve all experienced that moment when scrolling through Facebook only to see a shared link that looks a little ‘off’ - a cropped image or some automatically extracted text that makes no sense. It’s definitely not something you wish your followers (or potential clients) to see. With the Social Share panel in your Wix editor, you can control exactly how each page of your site looks, from the text to the image, when shared on the major social media platforms. Here are some helpful formatting guidelines: Image size : The recommended size is at least 1200 x 630 pixels. Title : The length should be 55-70 characters (including spaces). Description : The length should be 100 - 300 characters (again, including spaces). How to customize the social media meta tags of your Wix pages: 1. Open your Wix editor. 2. Click ‘Pages’ (on the left hand side of the editor). 3. Choose the page you wish to customize. 4. Select the ‘Social Share’ tab. 5. Upload an image and update the text that will show when your site is shared to any social network. 02. Structured data Adding structured data to your pages is highly advantageous for your website architecture and helps Google contextualize your content. For example, if you have a physical location, adding a schema markup on your contact page will help the bots understand that “123-456-789” is not just a series of numbers - it’s actually your phone number, and should be used to provide better and richer results to searchers. The same goes for your restaurant menu, postal address, opening hours, ratings and more. Structured data language was harmonized by Schema.org in 2011, which explains why we also refer to this as “schema markup”. Start using it as an excellent way to grab the attention of potential clients amongst an endless sea of competitors. How to add schema.org structured data to your Wix website: 1. Prepare your schema. You can generate the structured data using a tool like Schema Markup Generator . 2. Open your Wix editor. 4. On your panel, select the ‘Advanced SEO’ tab. 5. Under ‘Structured Data Markup’, select ‘Add New Markup’ and paste your schema in JSON-LD format. 6. After you’ve added your schema, use the ‘Validate Your Markup on Google’ button to check that there are no errors. Wix also validates the schema within the structured data field. It's important to note that you only get access to this tool if you have a Wix Premium Plan . 03. Canonical URL In the event that you create two pages that show identical or similar information you have to explain to Google which URL should be treated as the main version and therefore appear in search results. For example, if you write a blog article called, "Answering All Your Questions: What is SEO and how does it affect your ranking in 2019?" you will use the same keywords, structure and, for some parts, content as you did for your 2018 version. Although the original post is still valuable, you’ll want people to be directed to the newest one, every time they look for “web design trends” in their search engine. Implementing a canonical URL solves this issue. It’s important to note that Wix automatically adds a self-referential canonical tag to your site. Unless there is a good reason (like the example above) to change the canonical tag you should keep it as is. Additionally, you can customize your default canonical if you need to. 04. Image optimization Image optimization is an important part of optimizing your website’s performance . Good site performance is crucial for a great user experience on your site and anything that is good for the user is likely to improve your SEO as well. First of all, all images uploaded to your Wix site are optimized to fit the relevant screen, without sacrificing quality. Images can also be converted to WebP by Wix, which aids faster downloads. On top of this Wix websites use lazy loading and temporary placeholders - these make sure users get priority content first, while the rest of it loads. Along with automatic caching, which serves return users a saved version of your site and improves page load speed, by avoiding a long sever request, there are several ways in which your images are optimized for your sites performance. 05. Indexing Wix has a number of SEO features that help you control how your site is crawled and indexed by Google. The first is the auto create and submit sitemap feature - it creates and submits your site to Google, so it knows what to crawl. The editable robots.txt file allows you to choose which of your pages Google sees and crawls, and which it doesn’t. And, the Google Search Console integration gives you not only access to this popular Google tool and all of its data on your organic traffic, it also helps Google index your site or identify issues to fix that might be preventing your pages from being indexed. This is crucial to getting your business found on Google .

Climate catastrophes like droughts and increased hurricanes , wreak havoc on small business owners ' finances. Yafa Cafe was just one of many New York restaurants that had to temporarily shut down their business after 2021’s Hurricane Ida. “[The flooding] was a hard stop on everything because we had just lost a bunch of our inventory,” says Hakim Sulaimani, the cafe owner and Wix user. While the Brooklyn cafe’s customer base and local community was able to raise $20,000 for the cafe in six hours after the hurricane, the “slow drip” of climate change—or the increased day-to-day costs that come from environmental changes — can hurt long-term financial outlooks just as much as the floods. For example, Yafa Cafe imports its main product, coffee beans, from Yemen which has been facing droughts for years. “Importing beans is already a process and from a war-torn country,” Sulaimani says. “But the supplies are low [due to droughts] and it makes it twice as difficult to create a space where this coffee is accessible to everyone. What happens is that coffee is sold at really expensive [prices], at least good coffee.” Sign up for The Wix Blog newsletter to get great reads plus helpful content about deciding to create a website and running your business in today’s online world— all delivered weekly to your inbox. A 2021 survey found that two-thirds of small to medium-size businesses worry they don’t have the right skills and knowledge to handle the impact of climate change in their industries. Even if they can recover from disaster, they’re not able to reach their own long-term sustainability goals due to a lack of skills and understanding (63%), funding (48%) and time (40%), the survey found. Initiatives like Climate Fit , a collaboration between several organizations like the United Nations and Oxford University, aim to bridge the skills gap. This hub brings practical tools and free online training courses (with 20 minute videos) to small and medium-size business owners. Topics include helping them secure green financing, promoting employee education and incorporating sustainable marketing into their strategy after they start a business . In terms of funding, many US businesses are seeking to build more sustainable operations. According to Bloomberg , sustainability-linked loans hit a 292% increase in May 2021 compared to all of 2020. There are current government grants—for example, the State of California has a directory of grants available to businesses who want to manage their emissions. Time, however, presents a more difficult hurdle. Shirel Berger, owner and chef of Opa Restaurant in Tel Aviv, says she’s spending more of her time figuring out supply chain substitutes for things that were once abundant. “The winter [in Israel] isn’t cold enough, so we don’t get enough olives on trees or nectarines and plums for the summer,” she says. So far, she’s mitigated this by working with organic small growers and developing a “dynamic menu,” never serving the same dish each season. But there’s the question of how long this innovative stopgap plan will remain sustainable. “I do think that it’s going to be harder to find produce,” she says. Berger’s plant-based menu keeps the fine dining restaurant’s greenhouse gas emissions down, however, this determination is not always compatible with her business’s demands: “We really try to source local and pollute as little as possible, but it’s not 100 percent.” Left with little choice, small businesses are adjusting to the effects of climate change, but Sulaimani says many owners are still missing an opportunity to better engage with their customers: “We live in an age of conscious consumers… I think most of our customers really appreciate understanding what’s going on around the world, supply chains, where their products come from, and what are the factors impacting that. It’s a learning lesson for everybody.”

If you have ever decided to create your own website , you probably have asked the question before, " What is SEO? " Even if you're still building your website SEO knowledge, you probably know that keywords are an important part of getting found online. Adding specific keywords to your website’s content can help it show up on Google when someone searches for the specific key phrase. So, how do you go about finding the best ones? Well, a keyword or key phrase isn’t just something you pluck from your brain and run with. In order to find the best-suited keyword options to get your website found on search engines, research is required. You'll want to keep your customer intent in mind during your research process. When it comes to how to do keyword research , you have more than a few options at your disposal. Since you’re trying to rank well on Google, it’s easy to assume you should use its own keyword research tools, and technically speaking, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, other tools can provide some context for you to see the bigger picture. Below, we’re going to show you 10 great keyword research tools you should definitely try when getting started with keyword research for your own DIY SEO strategy : 10 keyword research tools Google Keyword Planner Semrush Ahrefs Google Trends G-Trendalyser Google.com Incognito Moz Keyword Planner Google Search Console Keywords Everywhere (extension) Also Asked 01. Google Keyword Planner Let’s get the most obvious option out of the way first. Google’s own Keyword Planner provides a fairly easy to understand approach to keyword research. Simply type in the keyword or phrase you want information on, and boom: You’ll see the average monthly searches for your keyword, the competition of others using this keyword, and both the low to high “top of page” bid prices, giving you a range of how much you can expect to pay per bid if you decide to use Google Ads. Technically speaking, it’s not hard to access the Google Keyword Planner, but you will need to create an Adwords account and provide credit or debit card information before you can access it. While you won’t have to actually pay for anything to use the planner, it’s a hurdle some people jump over only begrudgingly. Changes to the planner have also made it less useful as a keyword planning tool - it no longer shows precise volumes for keywords, opting instead to show a range. This number can range between 1K- 10K on a single keyword. So it's not necessarily as accurate as it use to be. However this aside, according to Ofir Buchsweiler, SEO Content Expert at Wix , it is an important keyword research tool for understanding how Google's algorithm looks at topics and related user intents. We could argue this is more important when choosing keywords than specific volumes so we're definitely not ready to write this tool of just yet. Bottom line : This free option is for people who want a no-frills keyword research tool directly from Google itself. 02. Semrush Semrush is a favorite of many, thanks to its vast number of features it brings to its users. And if you’re looking for an all-in-one SEO platform, there’s a reason you’ll find this one at the top of many lists. Whether you’re looking into standard or long-tail keyword research, or even the keywords most used by your competitors, Semrush has your back. With its Keyword Magic tool, you’ll be able to get over 2 million results and have them grouped together by topic. These are just a few of the several features this platform has on offer. It also includes traffic analytics, advertising research, and much, much more. For Kyle Place, SEO Content Expert at Wix , Semrush is a go to because it shows the intent of the keyword, making it easy to get an overview of the keyword when exporting large data sets, especially into pivot tables. i love how semrush shows the intent of the keyword which makes it to get an easy overview when you export large data sets, especially in a pivot table Semrush is also great for making competitor analysis easy. Wether you want to delve in deep with its domain overview tool and get an idea of what other websites are ranking for and with what pages, or wether you want to use its keyword gap feature to compare what you are ranking for, compared to your competitors - including where you are ranking better or worse than them, and important keywords you may be missing out on. But even a simple keyword overview search on Semrush will give you a lot of information on your competitors, if they're ranking for a keyword you plan to target. You can see if they're ranking for it, and if they are just how many backlinks that page has, as well the precise number and other keywords the page ranks for, and how much traffic it generates. These are all important for understanding your ability to rank, and what you can expect from ranking. Let's use the example of the keyword 'create a website.' The number 1 ranking result is, https://www.wix.com/. It has 35.4K referring domains, 414.04K backlinks, 1.0M search traffic and 21.2K registered for the url. These metrics alone show how competitive this SERP and ranking here would be a tough task. If you’re just looking for a keyword research tool, you’ll find it here and there are a number of free searches you can do with Semrush but a paid plan is the best option. Bottom line : Semrush is best for those who want a full suite of SEO tools and don’t mind paying for it. 03. Ahrefs Another very popular tool for keyword research comes from Ahrefs , and it packs a punch in the features department. The Ahrefs keyword tool not only offers a great feature set, but it’s also likely the easiest on the eyes. With great charts to visually show you the strength of your keyword, it’s definitely a little less intimidating than some of the other tools on this list. One of the primary insights is the Keyword difficulty, which can provide suggestions on how to best take advantage of it, like adding backlinks. Ahrefs offers some flexibility for your research, specifically where your keyword is ranking. You’re able to search from a multitude of locations, whether it’s Google, YouTube, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, or Amazon. For Kyle Place, SEO Content Expert at Wix , Ahrefs is a leader in the keyword research tool field with features such as its position history graph, SERP overview and traffic potential. You can see the historical data on a keyword, who else is ranking for it and the amount of traffic you could expect to generate once ranking for it. From the Ahrefs Keyword Explorer tool we can glean a treasure trove of information about a keyword and how to target, but also how to build supporting content around it. Let's take the keyword ' start a blog ,' searched for from the US. Straight off, and all on the same page we can see that this keyword's US volume is 3.3K, global volume is 15K and its traffic potential if ranking first is 900. We also get its terms match and related questions - and this data shows us that 'how to start a blog' has a much higher volume for the US, 22K, and if we really want to go after traffic we should probably target this keyword as well as 'start a blog,' to maximize our organic potential. We can also see the top ten pages ranking for this keyword, both letting us know what kind of content we would need to produce in order to rank, but it also gives us an idea of the intent for this keyword. If the first page is filled with blog posts ranking, so this is the type of page we should create to target it. If its mainly product pages which take you directly to opening a blog - so this is the type of page we should target the keyword with. The same feature also gives us an idea of the keyword difficulty - a general feel of the competitiveness of the keyword in terms of our ability to rank with it. "Ahrefs is the 'Swiss Knife' version of SEO tools when it comes to covering needs. Probably the best in the industry when it comes to internal/external links tools, accurate KW research (compared to competitors) with a solid content explorer along with an underrated rank tracker and side audit options that are a viable option for people who want a one stop shop to run their SEO efforts." Ido Shazkin, SEO Content Expert at Wix. Ido acknowledges that "Ahrefs is not the most user friendly tool - but it meets the more savvy marketers needs when it comes to expanding features and discovering more practically & usable opportunities for research and growth (Calendar ranking, comparing titles to actual SERP etc...).It's also worth noting they have a very interesting blog worth following and their "how to" video's on using the platform are spot on." Bottom line : Ahrefs offers an all-in-one SEO suite that isn’t free, but brings a lot to the table. It's also evolving all the time, with new features being added and improved 04. Google Trends Google Trends can be fun to see what’s popular on the search engine, but it can also just as easily be used for your keyword research. Simply type in your subject and you’ll be presented with a timeline, showing the popularity of your keyword. You can apply filters for location, time (default is 12 months), category, and search type. The latter allows you to filter between a standard web search, YouTube, news, image, or Google Shopping search. Below the timeline, you’ll see a couple of charts that break down the popularity of your search term by subregions, which can be helpful for local SEO. Below that, you’ll see related topics and queries that may further help you optimize your keywords. It's also useful for planning seasonal content, if that's useful for your business - and to understand what keywords trends when throughout the year. This is important for eCommerce stores, for example, looking to make the most out of holiday and seasonal shopping searches and trends. The keyword ' christmas presents for men ' searched for from the US, starts to increase in volume from the end of October, reaching a peak by mid December, at which point it dramatically drops and plateaus until October the following year. New content or refreshing legacy content targeting on this keyword should e done in time to reach the wave of the search trend, in order to maximize on its traffic potential. Bottom line : Google Trends is 100% free and is great to get inspiration and optimization tips on keywords. 05. G-Trendalyser If you're looking for keyword research at the trend level, so G-Trendalyser is another great place to start. This free tool is great for understanding more about emerging rising trends pulled from Google trends, and is a great start if you're planning on targeting more trendy and topical keywords for maximum traffic potential. This might put you in direct competition with news sites but if that's your target, this is a good tool to use. This tool recommendation came to us directly from Crystal Carter, Head of SEO Communications at Wix. It's super simple to use, simply add your keyword or trend, choose your relevant country and then decide if you want to see trends from the past hour, past four hours, past day, past 7 days, 30 days, 90 days or past 5 years. It's a great way to track trends also and to help you get better a spotting trend peaks and falls. We added the keyword ' nft ', from the US over the past 30 days. We found out that the top trends around this topic (by order of value) are: nft meaning, what is nft, gamestop nft, nft marketplace, nft art, what is an nft, nfts, nft price . Our next step would be further research - what are the intent, volumes, traffic potential and competitiveness of these keywords? Could some of these be targeted with one article, perhaps ' What are nfts ?' Could there be potential for other articles here targeting nft price, nft marketplaces and nft art separately. 06. Google.com Incognito If you're looking to get started with keyword research and aren't sure where to begin, it can help to have an idea of what keywords you should be looking further into and which you should put aside. One of the easiest ways to do this is to search for keywords you may already have in mind, related to your site or business, in Google.com but in incognito mode. Searching in incognito means you aren't shown results based on your previous search history, online preferences and past actions or your cache . It gives you an unbiased look at the SERP and can show you what kind of website pages and content rank for a keyword (intent) and your competitors who are ranking for it. Right click on Chrome and choose a New Incognito Window. Make sure you're on google and then search away. Let's say I want to write a blog post targeting ' marketing strategies .' A quick incognito google search shows me that everything ranking for that keyword is a blog article, so the intent is informational and I should aim to create a blog article too. It also shows me who is already ranking for that specific term - and that my competition for ranking, the Shopify blog for example, is pretty tough. My blog article will need to be of the highest quality, meet the search intent incredibly well and ideally have strong, high value backlinks behind it. Based on this I might then choose to take my marketing strategies keyword into another research tool and understand if there is something less competitive I could rank for first, as I build up my site's authority in this field. You can also make use of Google's autofill in search to create new keyword ideas to then research further. A quick typing of 'marketing strategies' into google search sees e other keyword variations popping up - marketing strategies examples, marketing strategies for small business, marketing strategies to increase sales. Bottom line : a Google search in Incognito is a great place to start if you're looking for basic keyword ideas to drive more detailed, actionable research. 07. Moz Keyword Explorer Moz is a great resource for all things SEO, so it’s unsurprising that it also offers a fantastic keyword research tool. Your standard set of features are present, such as keyword search volume , as well as the ability to generate and save keyword lists, but that’s not all. You can do a deep dive into long-tail keywords in question format, optimize your keywords for your international audiences, and advanced competitive keyword analytics. Those are just some of the features that you’ll get with the Moz Keyword Explorer. While it’s probably not a complete deal-breaker, you’ll need to sign up for an account just to use the tool. Bottom line : The SEO experts at Moz have created a fantastic free tool for keyword research that’s not intimidating to use. 08. Google Search Console Google Search Console provides a wealth of information about the organic performance of your website and it can be very helpful for keyword research, just perhaps not in the way you’d expect. The Search Console will only provide terms that you’re currently ranking for, so if you’re looking to research potential new keywords, then another tool may be better suited for your needs. However, seeing what phrases people are using to find you on Google can help further optimize and expand on what’s already there. You can do this by finding more search terms around topics you already rank well for. Let's say you already rank well for ' create a website ,' and you can see this in Google Search Console. You might then want to research other related terms, using some of the other keyword research tools mentioned in this piece, to build on that ranking and traffic momentum. Ideas such as 'create a business website,' or 'create a tourism website,' might be good terms to target. You could even find that some key phrases could be performing better with a couple of on-page tweaks. To do this we recommend filtering your Google Search Console by Queries last 28 days and then by Position (remember this is an average for the time frame you've chosen) ordered from highest to lowest. Work through your non-ranking queries - can you figure out why you're not ranking, and what you could do to turn it around. Better content? Improved on-page optimizations? Google Search Console is also great for understanding how well you're ranking, and how much traffic you're generating for branded search terms. To do this choose New > Query > Queries Containing > Your business or brand name. This will show you the branded queries you rank for, with which page of your site and how well you rank, plus if they bring organic traffic and how much. You can then also plug your branded queries into any of the keyword research tools mentioned in this article to understand if your competitors are targeting them, and potentially ranking higher for them - it happens. It's also a great branding exercise and to make sure you're represented with your most relevant pages for branded searches. Wether it's a product page or a blog article make sure the content that ranks best represents the strength and value of your brand. Need some help getting off the ground with the Google Search Console? Check out our Ultimate Beginner’s Guide. Bottom line : The Google Search Console is a free tool that can help you get insights on your existing keywords and how to optimize them. 09. Keywords Everywhere (extension) If you’re sick of spending a countless amount of time on individual keyword research tools, you can lighten your load with the Keywords Everywhere extension for Chrome and Firefox web browsers. This freemium extension allows you to get useful information for keywords without needing to go to a dedicated site. A simple Google search will automatically yield related keywords to your search query as well as a “people also search for” section to the right of the search results. If you’re looking to mine more info on your search (and you probably are), then you’ll need to purchase credits to get details about search volume, CPC, and competition. These details will appear directly within the autocomplete box while searching and below the search bar after you’ve executed the search. Bottom line : Keywords everywhere is a paid extension that takes a lot of the grunt work out of keyword research since it’s built-in into your browser after it’s added. 10. Also Asked This is a great keyword research tool which you can use free for a set number of searches over a predefined period, or you can make use of their paid plans. Be warned this tool is highly addictive and useful, so if you're going to give it a try best to be prepared to add it to your SEO arsenal for good. First of when you enter a keyword to research, you can choose your language and geo - our default is the US but we love that we could also look from pretty much anywhere else in the world. It also currently supports searches in 44 plus languages, so for localization teams and both local and international SEOs, it's an important tool to know. The strength of Also Asked lies in how it represents the data - we love the visualization of the related search terms and questions from a keyword. It also breaks it down via a hierarchical graph which helps us understand the most important topics within an entity and which to prioritize with our keyword targeting and content. By plugging in the keyword ' what is seo ', from this tool we can understand that the next level of potential terms to target include: what is SEO and how it works , what is SEO in simple terms , what are the 4 types of SEO and what is meant by Google SEO . Any article writing about ' what is seo ' should probably then address these potential target keywords, assuming more in-depth research into the intent behind them and their competitiveness checks out. The never level of the chart then gives ideas for keywords that might work for new content creation ideas - how do you do SEO marketing, how much does SEO cost - which allow you to build authority around your SEO content. Bottom line: great for understanding keywords as topics, and for building hierarchy between keywords within a subject. A good first step for new topic ideas, although you'll need other keyword research tools to understand the intent, potential traffic and competitiveness of a keyword. Interested to learn more about SEO topics and techniques? Check out the Wix SEO Hub for the most updated and relevant content. You can also check out these tips to optimize your Wix website for more inspiration.

When you create a website for your business, you want it to do more than just inform prospective customers. While your website should educate, it should also actively help visitors achieve their goals. Your customer will visit your website with unique intentions, and you must consider how they’ll experience your site. To shape your site to create the best outcome for both you and visitors, user journey maps can tremendously benefit the design process. In the following guide, we’ll look at what a user journey map is and the benefits of using them for your website design —plus we’ll detail the steps you need to create one. What is a user journey map? A user journey map, also referred to as a customer journey map, is a diagram that depicts a user’s interactions with a product over time. Typically represented by a flow chart, user journey maps are a common UX design research and planning tool. Anyone designing a website can create journey maps to improve their site’s user experience. Typically, UX designers complete the research and planning involved in user journey mapping before they design a website for the following reasons: It’s a strategic exercise: User journey mapping gets you thinking about who your visitors are, their goals and what they want and need from your site to accomplish them. Helps visualize the user flow : By visualizing your visitors’ steps throughout the site, you’ll understand their thought process as they work to achieve their goal. What are the benefits of creating a user journey map? Designing a website with user journey mapping is a user-centered method that will help you empathize more with the user when designing your site’s content and information architecture . Because user journey mapping allows you to anticipate visitors’ behaviors, your design will result in a more positive user experience. User journey maps will also help you with: More confident decision-making Journey mapping allows you to remove inefficiencies and mitigate risks as you visualize your customers’ experience. Website optimization Business owners can use user journey maps to influence visitors to click on CTAs and increase site conversions. It can also help them build an intuitive website structure that people feel comfortable navigating. How to create a user journey map With user journey mapping, you should understand who your visitors are, why they’re on your site, and what’s going to help them achieve their goals. The steps below will enable you to create a user journey map that anticipates your visitors’ needs and how they browse it: Get an app to help you map out your user’s journey Figure out who your ideal users are Create user personas Define the scope of the user journey map List the key phases and touchpoints Think about user goals and actions at each phase Make an empathy map for the user journey Anticipate problems along the journey Think about opportunities for optimization Collect data, review and revamp your journey maps 01. Get an app to help you map out your user’s journey While you could use a spreadsheet or a flow chart maker to create a user journey map, it’ll take more time than using a UX tool built specifically for user journey mapping. Use these tools to add and remove fields to your map, rearrange the steps and edit its visual appearance. Many times, you’ll have the option of starting from scratch or using a pre-made user journey template that suits your needs. 02. Figure out who your ideal users are When starting a business, you usually have a general idea of your target audience. User journey mapping goes further to discover your niche. Typically, you’ll find your ideal segment of users at the intersection of what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about, and where there’s a growing demand for what you do. Go ahead and fill in the blanks: Experience: _______________________ Passion: __________________________ Demand: _________________________ What sits at the intersection between all three? That’s your ideal customer. 03. Create user personas Once you’ve identified your ideal user, research them to better know who they are. Use your insights to create user personas that realistically communicate the people most likely to visit your site. User personas are fictional users who represent the needs, personality and goals of a larger archetypal user group. In addition to adding a “real” name and photo to user persona profiles, you’ll fill in details related to: Basic demographics Interests Professional or personal details Motivations Core needs Pain points Quotes that describe what they think or how they feel Many brands have numerous user personas. Create profiles for each of your target personas. When you’re done, choose one to start with and include them in your user journey map. If your brand is new or yet to launch, you might not have much existing data to pull from. You can use tools to learn about your ideal user, even if they’re not your current user: User interviews: Round up interviewees who represent potential users, and ask them questions related to your brand. Keep in mind that this information needs to help you learn more about your average or potential user, as well as what kind of online experience will encourage them to sign up. For example, What do you do for a living? Why did you start your business? Have you ever considered using a service like ours? Why? What would convince you to work with our services? Rank your top 3 reasons. Social media listening: Social media is a powerful tool when creating user personas, since it helps you know potential users more personally. By gathering data on what your target users talk about, you’ll understand what motivates them to engage with other brands and can apply that to your site as well. 04. Define the scope of the user journey map The more granular your user journey maps, the more precise your web design. You can (and should) create user journey maps for the different interactions customers have with your brand and your website. When mapping out the user journey for new visitors, focus on what their first site experience should look like as they discover more about your product. Once you have an initial interaction with a target user, build on it. With returnees, for example, think more about what long-term loyal customers want when they enter the site, such as checking out new products or rewards programs. Break down the scope of each interaction with the following details: User: This is a segment of our user persona. For example, “it’s a lead we targeted on Facebook.” Goal: What is the user’s goal during this particular visit? If the user found an ad advertising a discounted course, for example, their goal is to find out more about it. User Flow: Provide a basic summary of how you expect this interaction to go. For example, you anticipate that a user who landed on your site through a Facebook ad will want to first read more details and then purchase your product. What follows in the user journey map will help you figure out what’s needed on your website to increase the likelihood that they will complete their purchase at the end of the visit. 05. List the key phases and touch points By defining certain phases of the user journey, you’ll start visualizing in detail how users get to your site, why they arrived and how they’ll interact with it. Each phase outlined in your map should include the various touch points where these interactions happen. You can also think of these phases as your goals for their visit. Discovery: Visitors find your brand and site through a targeted Facebook ad. Video: Visitors are brought to a landing page of your site featuring a video that introduces your brand. Learn: Visitors read more information about what you do and what they’re going to get from your offering. Purchase: Visitors pay for your services with a simple two-step checkout process. Email phase: Visitors receive a “thank you” email with relevant details to get started and stay in touch. As you fill in this part of the user journey map, consider the following questions: What is the source of this website traffic? In other words, what lured in these users? You can optimize these off-site touch points to increase not only your quantity of traffic, but the quality of it, too. What is the first page they’ll see on your site? For this particular user journey, does it make sense for them to enter through the home page? Or is it better to take them to a dedicated landing page where they can focus on a specific product or service? Where should they end their journey? When considering the best (and most realistic) ending point for visitors, think about both their needs and your own goals. For example, after visitors learn about your brand, you probably want to take them straight to a purchase page with the goal of converting. However, what if a visitor isn’t ready to purchase? You can still hold on to that lead by leading them to sign up for your weekly newsletter. 06. Think about user goals and actions at each phase Now that you’ve mapped the various phases, write out the user's specific goals for arriving at this touchpoint and what actions they’ll take to achieve it. Objective-setting will help you understand what drives your users forward and anticipate what most visitors want to happen when they get to each stage. For example: Discovery: If I click this ad, I’ll see if this offer is as legitimate as it seems. Video: If I watch this video, I’ll get a high-level overview of this course. Learn: If I read through this page, the coach will address any doubts I have about this course. Purchase: If I click this “Buy Now” button, I’ll be directed to checkout. Email: If I open up my email, I can get started on the course right away. 07. Make an empathy map for the user journey A user’s emotions heavily influence their journey. If your website doesn’t elicit the right kind of emotional reaction—be it relief, joy, excitement, or something else—visitors might not end up where you want them to. A user journey map should reflect potential shifts in the user’s mood, behavior and thought process as they continue through each phase. This information allows you to determine the best way to use or influence that emotional state to help them accomplish their goals. An “Overall Sentiment” section can depict your user’s mood. You can describe these using text or visuals, including emojis and colors and descriptions to show how their feelings transform over the course of their journey. Additionally, a “Think & Feel” section is where you can write out quotes that represent how your users feel during each phase. To complete this part of the map, go back to the research you did earlier. Through user interviews and social listening, you should have some helpful soundbytes. Familiarize yourself with your users’ language so you can craft feelings that sound just like them. 08. Anticipate problems along the journey No website is flawless. Even leading brands that have been online for decades must consistently work on refining the user experience. Knowing this, add a “problems” section to your user journey map. This section helps you anticipate where your users may encounter friction, so you can solve these issues in the future. In some cases, it could relate to your web design. For instance, a lengthy checkout form might lead users to abandon your site. In other cases, the problem could be something larger—like a lack of brand reputation. Writing the problems that may keep users from moving to the next step, will help you critically consider and solve how to design your website around them. 09. Think about opportunities for optimization The “Opportunities” part of a user journey map is where you’ll hypothesize ways to optimize the user experience. Treat this section like a brain dump for all the things you can do to improve the user journey. Once you’ve got a list of ideas, you can look around for case studies and research to back up your hypotheses. Tap into what’s worked for others and load up your “Opportunities” section with data-backed ideas to improve your own users’ journey. 10. Collect data, review and revamp your journey maps Your initial research helped you get to know your users and how you can optimize your site for them. However, your live website’s data unlocks the next phase in designing the ideal journey. Once your site goes live, start monitoring traffic to measure your initial user journey mapping’s effectiveness. Identify the following data: The most visited landing pages on your website Which pages users most commonly visit next How the subsequent flow throughout the website looks Which areas of the site experience the greatest loss of users You can use website analytics or visualization tools to watch your user journeys play out in real time and historically, plus see what happens when different users enter your website. One last thing you can do at this stage is get feedback from actual users. By conducting user interviews, adding a feedback form to your site or running online surveys, you can gain real input about your site experience Once you’ve identified the problems along your designed user journey, return to your map and update it accordingly. This real user data can help highlight new opportunities and revamp your user journey, making solid, data-backed redesign decisions for your site far into the future.

When spearheading a new or updated content strategy initiative for your clients, it’s vital that you help them understand what’s driven their success in the past. That’s why content audits are such an important part of the content strategy process; it’s an opportunity to assess the value of each piece of content you currently have in your arsenal. Armed with this information, you can discard or revise outdated content, or craft a plan to fill gaps in your current content marketing offering. Looking to understand how to start a blog ? Get started with the Wix blog maker . How to run a content audit for your blog or website Focus on performing content Locate all the content and prioritize new work Catalogue by desired KPI and key topics Asses whether the content needs updating Use analytics to find out what is (and isn’t) performing on search Determine where new content is needed Build a plan for outdated content Schedule regular content health checks 01. Focus on performing content A content audit helps illuminate content that’s already working in your client’s favor, giving agencies the potential to improve the site’s performance before new content is even created. In fact, more than half of marketers say that repurposing existing content can be one of a brand’s most efficient content marketing tactics, according to a survey by SEMrush. It also singles out pieces of content that are cluttering up their website and SEO ranking so you can take immediate steps fix or remove them. Cleaning out a site’s low-performing content helps Google recognize it as a reputable, authoritative source which can lead to improved SEO and traffic. For example, when Ahrefs cut 31.7% of their content i n a recent audit and saw a 7.57% traffic increase in just 60 days. 02. Locate all the content and prioritize new work Depending on your company's content marketing journey thus far you might have just a few years of content to audit — or they might have a decade or more of material to wade through. Tackle the content from the past three-to-five years first, since it will likely be most relevant. See what content within that window best serves your key metrics. Prioritize those items and use them to model future content creation. When you look through the entire content inventory, you may find articles from before that five-year window that are still drawing traffic. Those pieces merit prioritizing along with the newer material. 03. Catalogue by desired KPI and key topics Identify which metrics matter most to your client’s audience, such as audience engagement, sales conversions or SEO. Then focus on the content that is best suited to boost those metrics. Some of it may already be performing well, and other content that’s currently underperforming might have the potential to become a success with a simple refresh. Once you solidify the type of data you are collecting why, use your audit to improve your client’s labeling and archiving process. Content should be easy to find and access by anyone on the content team who needs to use it. Create your audit spreadsheet with tabs that clearly label each data point. 04. Assess whether the content needs updating While some outdated blog posts will need to go, odds are there are plenty that can serve your goals — they just need a bit of sprucing up. Save your clients time and money by repurposing pieces of content that were prescient or performed very well and just need a few updates to keep them relevant. You may need to update stylistic aspects as well, in case your company's brand voice and terminology has evolved or shifted in the past few years. A few copy edits will ensure that older but still helpful content doesn’t sound dated or in the context of your brand's newer messaging and verbiage. 05. Use analytics to find out what is (and isn’t) performing on search Improve SEO by updating out-of-date internal links, optimizing your metadata and URLs, and tagging your client’s content. Look out for pieces that might be overstuffed with keywords or too short. This sort of content can still be very informative and beneficial to your client’s audience; it just needs a quick copy edit or expansion to perform better. Learn more about how to use Wix Analytics to audit your content. 06. Determine where new content is needed Are all key topics represented in your current content mix? Once you have a comprehensive inventory of your content and have made sure that their existing pieces are set up to best help them, you can structure your content strategy around the type of content that organically performs the best for them. For example, a developer of enterprise technology certainly should feature content that illuminates the need for the company’s products. At the same time, the company’s acquisition strategy will benefit from content that solidifies its industry expertise. To achieve that goal, your content plan might include a blog series that features company leaders’ take on the significance of recent news in enterprise tech. 07. Build a plan for outdated content For every piece of content you audit, ask yourself: Is this piece bringing traction? Should it be? If the answer is no, trash it. If it has potential, see if it would benefit from trimming away the excess, or if certain parts of the blog post might be beneficial in a different piece altogether. Revise, trash, or replace each piece of content with a fresh piece that can live under the same URL and capitalize on the SEO standing of the outdated piece. 08. Schedule regular content health checks While a thorough content audit will set you up to improve your content strategy, remember that it’s worth briefly analyzing any content library about once a year to make sure that an organization’s content strategy continues to align with its business goals. The best content in the world only works if the right people read it and it delivers the desired results, so set your clients up to ensure that their content is always working for them.

You might not hang a Piet Mondrian in your living room, but when it comes to web design “less is more” serves a different purpose. I’m not referring to minimalism as a design aesthetic but as the very foundation of your interface. From purveying a clear promotional message to designing effective navigation, minimalism plays an important part in your website’s structure. Plus, if you're looking for a website that proves your in-the-know, minimalist websites are a web design trend that keeps making its way back. When it comes to learning how to design a website in a minimalist style, a website layout that embraces minimalism is a useful approach to keep in mind. First build the structure – with clean lines and a good use of white space. Once you have your clearly built interface layout you can then incorporate your personal design concept. Remember that creating a website isn’t always about fancy techniques, too much sparkle and flashes can create a chaotic messy feeling and distract the eye. To help with this we've prepared some tips to get you started and with them, some great web design inspiration examples and web design statistics too. Preparing Your Layout Wix Rulers- A Quick Easy Design Grid You can build your design grid through Wix. Click on Arrange – Rulers, you can add as many rulers that you like by dragging them out of the main ruler. When you open a new page on your website, the grid will remain consistent with the original plan. It will help you organize your graphic elements as well as keep them aligned. To close the rulers, click on the small arrow on the top right. What’s on the Menu – The Navigation Bar Your site should include a navigation bar. Whether horizontal or vertical it should always appear on the top of the page in your website header , and be easily accessible from each section of the site. Always keep it visible, and if adding sub-menus for more detailed viewing, or even a hamburger menu (which would allow for more space on your homepage), make sure the visitor can find their way home. Check out how Ben Hulse uses the menu bar on his website: Adding a Menu on Wix: Click on Page Parts – Add Mini page. Click on “Add Menu”. You can choose between horizontal, vertical and thumbnail menus. Under “Menu Settings” you can play with the menu properties. Use the “Manage” and “Format” options to edit the text. Fun Tips and Tricks for Keeping an Organized Work Space: The alignment box, Ctrl-k or “Arrange”- alignment options. Grouping – by selecting two or more elements simultaneously a small box will appear on the top left. Clicking it will connect the elements allowing you to edit them together. The transform box – under “Arrange”- the transform box gives you the option to move graphic elements around accurately by the pixel. This makes it easy to design an accurate layout. Locking elements – Once you planned your web layout, locking each element into place will create an easy work flow. Keeping your work space organized and taking time to plan your layout will allow you to build your own great accessible website. Of course, always update your website in the future to keep it relevant for users, or opt for a website redesign when you feel it is necessary. And some thinking material for the weekend: “Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”—Albert Einstein Learn more about how to make a website with our extensive guide.

American writer Sylvia Plath journaled about a terrifying experience of creative stagnation. “If I want to write, this is hardly the way to behave - in horror of it, frozen by it. The ghost of the unborn novel is a Medusa-head,” she accounted before going on to write her semi-autobiographical masterpiece, The Bell Jar . Creative professionals across different fields, be it fine arts or website design , often face a similar problem. All pumped up on motivation and ready to create something great, they are simultaneously unable to pursue this very same motivation. The artistic gifts, in their capriciousness, can one minute sweep us away with ingenuity, then drain us free of any speck of imagination, the next. There are many possible reasons for a creative block to surface, apart from the wavering moods of creativity. Those reasons range from the emotional (such as fear, self-doubt, and perfectionism), to personal or financial issues that get in the way of the creative work. If you’re facing an artistic recession of your own, read on for actionable (and comforting) tips for overcoming a creative block, and for getting back to the task at hand feeling inspired and rejuvenated: Take a step back Brave through a digital detox Find new sources of inspiration Allow time for self-care Work your way through it Play and experiment Surround yourself with other creatives 01. Take a step back Creative block can sometimes serve as a much-needed pause for contemplating the project, before going into the execution phase. Remember that even when you’re not producing any actual work, you might still be moving the project forward. When a project gets sluggish, you might feel inclined to distance yourself from the drawing board for a bit. This initial gut feeling has its benefits, because while you’re being seemingly inefficient, your mental wheels could still be hard at work, getting it all formulated and ready to go out into the world. In case you have a deadline breathing down your neck, you might not have the privilege of setting aside some time off. Nevertheless, feeling stuck might be a good reminder to dedicate some time, even as little as a few minutes, to think the project through before diving deep into it. 02. Brave through a digital detox There are plenty of beautiful social accounts and inspirational online resources to get your ideas flowing. And while the internet does have its ways of filling us with great insights and quality content, it also tends to feel overwhelming during a creative block. It’s therefore recommended to step away from your laptop, mute your phone and put it away for a set amount of time. A decent dose of digital wellness can help you clear your head and reduce feelings of FOMO. It can also relieve the constant measuring of your work in comparison to other professionals in your field, as we too often do. To make the most out of your time offline, consider going for a long walk outside, an activity known to boost your mood and get your mind working. Alternatively, you could opt for a mind-numbing chore that uses up very little of your inner creativity - the more repetitive, the better. Doing the dishes or cleaning the house will allow your mind to wander, at the end of which you might find yourself fresh with motivation. A visit to a design museum might also help put the fun back into inspiration for your work. 03. Find new sources of inspiration Keeping up with works by other creatives in your discipline is a commendable practice and a reliable well of inspiration. Yet during a creative rough-patch, seeing other people’s polished and completed works often results in self-criticism and frustration. Overwhelmed by too many best portfolio examples ? Instead, try opening up to different sources of inspiration. You could leaf through interesting magazines, design blogs , or exquisite graphic design books , and listen to some of the best design podcasts out there. Meet up with your creative community in events and conferences, or visit gallery and museum exhibitions. Note that it’s worth to look outside of your own creative discipline, too. As a ceramicist, you might look to fine art photography for a breath of fresh air. A typographer or illustrator might turn to film, indulging in the many graphic design movies or explore design magazines . 04. Allow time for self-care Feeling invested and caring about the things that we do is always beneficial for getting them done right. When it comes to creativity, this truth becomes evermore pressing. The act of making things is inherently linked to our psyche, subconsciousness, sense of self-esteem, and many other things that most people reserve for the psychiatrist's couch. As a result, our artistic endeavors are hard to summon on demand. This next remedy for creative block is possibly the most fun of all: take care of you. Pamper your body and soul with anything from a soothing spa day to a good workout and nutritious meals, to an especially long beauty sleep. These acts of self-kindness can boost your wellbeing, helping you focus better and be more productive. Your graphic design portfolio and work will be better for the time you take away to care for yourself. 05. Work your way through it Despite the above mentioned claims, creative work can also be just that - work. And in some cases, you simply have to apply yourself, commit, and grind your way through it. You might also find it helpful to listen to your favorite feel-good productivity music at this point. Make as many bad drafts and dull revisions as it takes and go down endless different routes until finally reaching the one that you kind of, sort of like. Once you have that much - keep working to refine it until it’s gold. 06. Play and experiment One way to make perseverance easier is by treating your project like less of a chore, and more like a chance to play and experiment. Try to let go of the pressures of creating something amazing, and replace effectiveness for curiosity. Think outside of the box and attempt weird, silly methods of approaching the brief that you’re not accustomed to trying. Have fun and explore your own creativity in ways that would ultimately surprise you. 07. Surround yourself with other creatives For freelance designers and other creatives who work independently, work can often be an extremely solitary affair. When coping with creative block, meet up with friends whose professional opinion you trust, for advice or a brainstorming session. You could also schedule to meet with a friend to work side-by-side on your separate projects, a practice that can help inspire and motivate you both. Connecting with your creative community can also contribute greatly to your productivity. Attend events that are frequented by people in your professional circle, not only to mingle and network as you journey towards becoming a freelance graphic designer - but also to reignite the spark and remind yourself of what it is that you love about doing what you do. By then, hopefully, inspiration will be an effortless outcome. Check out our full guide to how to make a website .

Getting lost in the never-ending maze of online design inspiration is not uncommon. Here’s a handpicked selection of some of our favorite Dribbble shots. Searching for website design inspiration can be a never-ending scrolling experience when learning how to make a website . After the initial delight and excitement about the wonders you may have found, your eyes can very quickly become glazed over and you find yourself sinking into a midday snooze. The overload of information can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve decided to start a new series, picking out 12 beautiful Dribbble shots and focusing on a different area of design each time. First up – lettering and typography . Whether you’re an illustrator, UX or web designer, we’ve uncovered some real gems by talented international designers that will provide you with top-notch typography inspiration when it comes to choosing the best design and fonts for your website . And at the very least, some gorgeous eye candy. Pierre Kleinhouse This multi-talented illustrator, designer and painter creates works whose concepts are just a touch more complex than you may realize at first glance. This beautiful and seemingly playful piece in fact addresses serious world issues. Hint: other than taking a closer look at the content itself, take note of the word choice. Adrien Ghenassia There’s a real sense of rhythm in this illustrator and animator’s work. The graphics and motion work together wonderfully to create pieces that balance both a complete and sketchy feel. The use of grain, a prominent motion graphics trend, adds a sense of volume. Mat Voyce Multidisciplinary designer, Mat Voyce, creates designs that are both minimal and just the right amount of cute. The very subtle motion is all that is needed to tell a whole story and convey a sense of personality in the characters featured. Mario Sestak With big bold text and a simple and beautiful typeface, this animation is just right. This gif is a celebration of the sans-serif font NB International™ , whose design is inspired by Grotesk typefaces. The composition is perfectly balanced, with certain parts aligned, while others break the grid. And as for the color scheme – has the word “perfect” already been mentioned? SDCO Partners Is there anything about this piece that we don’t love? It seems that this multidisciplinary studio has nailed everything from the simple color palette, to the illustrations, the composition and the large serif font. The illustrations are reminiscent of botanical drawings or old cooking books, and the number descriptions create a scientific look and feel to the design. Tifa Zhou Say “hi!” to this talented digital experience and motion graphics designer, Tifa Zhou, who makes picking just one piece of work from her Dribbble account a tough job. Everything about this animation is spot-on, from the retro color palette, to the simple shapes and playful motion that brings it to life. Ben Kocinski Specializing in a range of design fields, from illustration, to lettering and branding, Ben Kocinski’s works are fascinating. They have a nostalgic, almost mystical feel to them. This piece seems to nonchalantly combine an array of detailed tattoo-like illustrations, with a range of fonts as well as hand lettering – all the while, keeping a sense of balance between the many elements and colors. Mathieu L.B Head here if you want to see a diverse range of works, from 3D motion graphics to illustrations and 2D pieces. Despite the different styles, the aesthetics of Matt’s Dribbble account is incredibly accurate. This surreal illustration presents the letter ‘U’ in an obscure and intriguing way. Jack Harvatt This animation is just a snippet of Jack Harvatt’s talents. With elements moving at different speeds, from the ball seeming to slowly roll, to the brick-like object flying across the screen, this piece of work really conjures up a sense of rhythm. It’s official – we love a classic sans serif on the move. Jacek Janiczak With such a minimal and accurate piece of work, it’s clear that this web and graphic designer specializes in logo design. The movement in this iconic animation is both surprising and engaging. It’s hard to keep your eyes away. Sail Ho Studio With gorgeous gradients like these, need we say more? This design collective successfully combines illustration with motion graphics to come up with visuals that evoke emotion, as well as involving a drop of humor. Bettina Stovne If ever there was eye-candy, this graphic designer and illustrator’s Dribbble account is just that. She’s clearly taken the time to curate her page with the utmost care, using a color palette of pastel shades. Looking at each work individually, it may take a while to uncover which number or letter it presents, but that’s definitely part of the fun.

August is just around the corner, and for many people all over the world this means that the office walls and the daily shifts are becoming less appealing than ever. It’s time for a vacation, guys! Who doesn’t want to just hop on a plane and head out to a dreamy resort somewhere? We gathered together a pretty bunch of website designs from the traveling and hospitality industry to prepare you for the vacation of your dreams. These are some of the best websites representing travel destinations, all created by Wix users across the globe. Have a look and you might find the next destination on your road map. Find something that inspires you? Then get planning with how to create your website , and choosing your website type . Don’t forget to pack sunscreen! Tequila Sunrise Villa >> Delphic Motion >> Camping Les Oliviers >> Dream Like Destinies >> Oliva Nera Sicilia >> Hotel San Fernando Plaza >> Malama Tours Hawaii >> Pousada Vila Do Sossego >> Natur Hostel Etxebarri >> Red Rock Hotel Group >> Schloss and Park Imbshausen >> Southern Rockies Camp >> Charlesworth Bay Penthouse >> Xplora Cancun >> TC Rental Home >> Traviling >> Voyages Andes >> Ontdek Valencia >> Ty Mamgoz >> Corsica >> Learn more about how to create a professional website .

We’re outrageously happy and equally proud to announce that Wix just went public and is officially trading on NASDAQ! This is a huge milestone in Wix’s history and in our development from a fledgling start-up into a company servicing over 40 million registered users worldwide. Following today’s events we feel more committed than ever to keep pursuing our vision: giving people the freedom to create and manage a dynamic online presence that is exactly the way they imagined it. In 2006, we started our endeavors by simplifying the web creation process. We have now grown Wix into a comprehensive solution that lets anyone run their entire business online. Let us take you through some of the happiest moments we experienced in NY today – This is our day at NASDAQ,  in photos: VP at NASDAQ OMX, David Wicks, delivering an official welcome message to Wix and offering the floor to Wix’s CEO, Avishai Abrahami Final note for the day: We’d like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our users. We couldn’t have made it to this happy day if it wasn’t for your relentless support. Thanks for believing in us – we’ll continue to work hard to earn your vote of confidence, every day. **Stay tuned for more exciting updates on our  Facebook page  to see how Wix users played a big part on our NASDAQ festivities! You can also learn more with these 10 Wix essential tutorials . Make a website your way.

After you make a website , you might wonder what's the best way to drive traffic to it. You can explore many different avenues—for example, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media—but pay-per-click (PPC) is one of the quickest ways to get more users to your website. In this article, we’ll go over the essentials of PPC advertising and how it works, from the best platforms to use and how to conduct keyword research, to optimizing your campaigns. What is PPC? PPC is an online advertising model where marketers pay each time someone clicks on their ads via a search engine. Unlike organic methods of driving traffic to a site or webpage such as SEO, PPC focuses on the paid opportunities to get more clicks. When users type in a search engine query, the search engine results page (SERP) presents them with a list of links. The links at the top of the list are usually PPC ads, and if you click on one of them, the advertiser pays a fee for that click. Advertisers use pay-per-click ads to gather more leads, increase sales or simply increase awareness about their brand's product or services. Since the goal of PPC ads varies, the ads themselves can either target a set audience or budget or rank based on predetermined keywords. How does PPC advertising work? Since tons of companies and brands vie for clicks from the same users, PPC ads aren't as straightforward as clicking and paying. There's a method to it. Each time a user looks up a query on a search engine such as Google, an auction is triggered for advertisers like you to bid on the ad placement. This auction is based on set keywords and budget. The ad that wins the auction appears on the user's search engine results page (SERP), and if the user clicks on it, only then does the advertiser pay their bid on it. This whole process is done instantly on every search, so you need to have campaigns ready to enter into ad auctions—this includes creating the ad copy and setting a budget for the maximum you're willing to spend on each click. In the process, you’ll also choose relevant keywords which help determine how high the ad is placed. Running PPC ads isn't only about creating eye-catching ads that users will click on. You'll also need to ensure that when they land on the desired page, they stay there and act. SEO vs PPC: What’s the difference? While both SEO and PPC advertising use similar tools (e.g. keywords) to drive traffic, they’re not the same. As we mentioned earlier, SEO takes a free approach to driving each click, such as optimizing content so that it comes up naturally in a SERP. Pay-per-click, by contrast, relies on paid clicks to display ads to users. The cost isn’t the only difference between SEO and PPC. The amount of time it takes for the advertising method to kick in differs drastically. Since SEO is an organic strategy, you’ll need to build it up over time and it can take months to see traffic come to your site. With PPC, results are based on how much you’re willing to pay, so you’ll see them a lot quicker. That being said, advertisers shouldn’t choose between paid and organic ads, but rather apply both to their marketing strategy . If you’ve already done the keyword research for your SEO strategy, you can apply them to your PPC campaign as well and increase your chance of ranking on the SERP. On average, SEO advertising converts at a rate of 2.4% compared to PPC at 1.3% , so by using both methods, you can increase your conversion rate even further. Best PPC platforms Several PPC platforms exist, but for the most part, when we talk about PPC, we're referring to either Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising (Bing). Google Ads Advertising on Google needs no introduction, it's the platform of choice for advertisers who want to present their ads to the broadest possible audience. However, since 86.6% of people turn to Google to search for answers to their questions and to run their ads, it's highly competitive and Google ads can cost more than on other platforms. Microsoft Advertising While "Let me Bing that" doesn't have quite the same ring to it, Microsoft holds nearly a 3% share of the search engine market . The audience here isn't as wide, but that also means you'll spend less on clicks. Many advertisers turn to Microsoft Advertising as a secondary platform for their PPC campaign to cover more ground. Facebook Ads While we don’t traditionally think of the social network as a search engine, Facebook Ads allow you to run paid campaigns similarly to how you would on Google or Bing. Like Google Ads, you can also target a specific audience with Facebook, and the ads natively appear in users’ feeds. Since Facebook also owns Instagram, you can use this ad platform to run your paid campaigns on both social networks. Other PPC platforms Aside from the above three ad platforms above, you might want to consider bidding on platforms like: AdRoll RevContent Bidvertiser Amazon Ads Adblade BuySellAds Best practices for running PPC campaigns Below you’ll find some important tips and methods to keep in mind setting up a PPC campaign of your own. Conduct keyword research Arguably the most important part of creating your first PPC campaign is the keyword research. To start, focus first on specific terms that are relevant to your niche. Then, slowly start expanding to include less common terms that users still might search for. Useful tools like Google Keywords Planner , Ahrefs and SEMRush can help you save time at this stage. Be sure to look for short-tail, long-tail and relevant keywords. You want to end up with an expansive list of relevant keywords to target in your campaign. It's common to have a list of hundreds to work with. Research negative keywords as well, or those you don't want to rank for. Excluding negative keywords to your PPC campaign ensures that you don't waste your ad budget on clicks that won't bring you users with high intent. For example, if you own a small business that sells women's shoes, a negative keyword might be "men's shoes," since you don't want to pay for unnecessary clicks. Similarly, create a list of branded keywords that users might search for. Branded keywords are search terms that include your brand's name, a competitor's brand name or something similar (including common misspellings). With a brand like Nike, for example, branded keywords would include "Nike sneakers," "where to buy Nike," or even "Nik shoes." Set the right budget To begin the ad auction process, set a budget for each keyword. Your budget can determine whether or not your ad has a good chance of winning an auction, so research keywords thoroughly to make sure you're paying for those that will most likely garner clicks. When you decide which keywords you want to focus on, you'll set a budget for each keyword or ad group. This will be the maximum cost-per-click (CPC) amount of each bid. So, for example, just because you set your budget at $1.00 for a specific keyword doesn't mean you'll pay that for every click. You might pay $0.50 most of the time, but $1.00 is the most you'll pay. Create quality ads When running a PPC campaign, target the right keywords and ensure your content is relevant to the query. Aside from your maximum CPC, other factors determining whether your ad will show up on a SERP include quality score and ad rank. Your ad's quality score depends on how useful users have found your ad. The score itself is determined by a few different metrics, including the expected click-through-rate (CTR) of an ad, its relevance to the user's original search query and the quality of the landing page. The higher your quality score is, the less you're likely to pay per click. Similarly, an ad with a low-quality score can expect to pay more. Search engines often penalize low-quality advertisers, so if you have a low score, your ads may not even show up on a SERP. How to target your audience with PPC advertising With the right research and strategy, pay-per-click advertising can help you get target audiences to see your campaigns. Keywords aren't the only way to target your audience in PPC campaigns. You can also target other elements to further define your campaign, like: Device Geolocation Day and time Demographics Previous online activity By targeting your ads to be highly specific, you have a higher chance of someone seeing your ad at exactly the right time. For example, if you know your audience shops online from their phones in the evenings, and that they're between the ages of 25-45, you can set certain ad parameters to target those customers exactly. You can also use this strategy when it comes to retargeted ads. This means that if a customer clicks on your paid ad but doesn't make a purchase, you can show them different ad messaging or use another type of advertising , like display ads, to grab their attention. How to manage and optimize your PPC campaigns Running PPC campaigns as a "set it and forget it" model won't work; you need to regularly monitor and update your campaign to get the results you want. When setting your goals, choose key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure if your campaign yields desired results. To measure your ad campaign's success, decide on your goals in advance. Whether it's generating brand awareness, promoting a new product, or driving more website traffic—the metrics you use to gauge your campaign's success will differ. If your campaign doesn't perform as intended, try tweaking the keywords, reassessing your CPC budget, targeting different users or creating new ad groups. Optimizing your campaign involves trial and error to see what keywords users engage with, what time of the week or day they're most active, what ads cost you the most, and which ones bring you the most traffic. Overall, any advertiser's goal with a PPC campaign is to generate the best results with the lowest cost per click. Optimize your campaign with the following methods: Ensure your ad groups are organized so that you can see if they focus enough on the right keywords. You can also consider if you're using the right type of ad - there are so many, from native advertising to others. Remember to use clear UTM links to properly track your campaigns. Use ad extensions to display products, contact details or anything else that engages audiences. Constantly reassess your landing page to make sure it’s relevant, loads fast and provides an optimal user experience. Run A/B tests using different landing pages for the same ad or different ad copy for the same landing page. Always search for new keywords or variations to use that might have lower competition. Regularly research and add negative keywords to avoid wasting ad budget. Update your match types so that you can include more broad keywords that might have a lower CPC than an exact keyword.

Consumers are inundated with banners and popups on a daily basis, making it evermore important for brands to find more strategic ways to reach their audience. Native advertising is a dynamic and effective way for brands to do this, providing meaningful sponsored content that does more than just sell. From sponsored blog posts and branded Instagram filters, to search engine advertising—native ads help drive traffic when you create a website , increase sales and most importantly—build trusting relationships with new and existing audiences. And with an expected increase of 372% on native ad spend between 2020 to 2025, this is one marketing strategy you don’t want to miss. In this article, we’re diving deep into what native advertising is, what the benefits are as well as the different types to be aware of. What is native advertising? Native advertising is a type of online advertising in which sponsored content blends in with the content surrounding it. The main benefit of this form of advertising is that it’s less intrusive than other types of advertising , such as pop-ups or banner ads . Visitors are more likely to view native ads as trustworthy because they’re not explicitly promotional and/or match the look and feel of the page around it. Native ads ultimately aim to create a mutually beneficial experience that pleases all parties involved: your business gets to promote its products to a relevant audience, while users get to enjoy the content they’re consuming with minimal disruption. It’s a win-win. Why use native advertising? When done right, native ads can be a highly effective form of online advertising. Because they appear like a natural part of the content, they convey value rather than distracting users from the primary reason they decided to visit a website or open an app. In fact, audiences find native ads 62% easier to understand than display ads, and 31% easier to understand than social ads. This can result in 20% to 60% higher engagement and three times the retention compared to banner ads. However, there are some risks worth mentioning. Some claim that these types of ads can be deceptive to consumers if they’re not properly labeled. For this reason, you’ll need to be careful when integrating native ads into your content to ensure that you remain transparent, plus compliant with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines . 7 types of native advertising There are several types native ads your brand can utilize as part of your overall marketing strategy . Here are the primary forms you should be aware of: 01. Paid search ads Paid search ads are a form of search engine marketing that seamlessly match the platform they’re placed on. For example, when you search for something on Google, the first few results you’re shown are ads that have been paid for by the advertiser. However, they appear identical to the rest of the search results, with the addition of the word “Ad” placed next to each header. 02. Display ads with native elements This type of advertising combines elements of both native and display ads. While display ads are unrelated graphic advertisements on a page consisting of banners, video, text, images or audio, display ads with native elements contain content that ties them to the rest of the page. They’re usually placed in strategic positions, such as on a webpage’s header or sidebar. 03. In-feed units (aka “sponsored social media posts”) The simplest way to understand what in-feed units are is to look at your Facebook or Instagram feed. You’ve probably seen hundreds of ads that appear in your feed, but they don’t look like typical ads. Instead, they appear as the posts you’re used to seeing from the friends and brands you follow on the platform. Like search ads, these native ads will also likely mention that they’re paid. On Facebook, for example, you’ll see the word “Sponsored” under the title, indicating the company has paid the social media platform to show it to you. On other platforms, you might see similar ads in the middle of organic content, such as an article that links to a third-party website. These will also be noted as sponsored content to avoid misleading a publisher’s audience. However, the ad will be relevant to the rest of the content on the page, making it appear more natural. 04. Sponsored product listings Similar to paid search ads, sponsored listings are the ads you see on an eCommerce marketplace when you search for an item and see a list of matching products. Amazon is one of the online retailers that does this best. Sponsored listings look the same as other results on the list—the only difference is that they’re usually displayed at the top of the page and are accompanied by the word “sponsored.” Because sponsored listings are still relevant to a user’s search query, they usually have good results in terms of conversions and clicks. 05. Branded content Branded content is when a business and a publisher agree to create content to promote a specific brand or product. This can take on many forms, but it’s most often seen in publications like blogs or news sites when an article showcases one brand exclusively. The benefits here are twofold: First, readers are exposed to the brand’s message while scrolling through the publication’s regular content. Secondly, you'll get to capitalize on a new audience of readers who trust the publication you collaborate with, and the articles they publish. 06. Content recommendations Usually found at the end of an article or blog post, content recommendations show other articles that relate to a user’s interests or browsing history. This section may be titled “You Might Also Like…” or “What We Recommend Reading Next.” To a reader, any ads within this section may seem like simple recommendations for similar articles, but for advertisers, it’s a powerful tool to redirect traffic from heavily-visited publishers back to their own pages. Content recommendations usually have enticing images and headlines, encouraging readers to click through. This method of native advertising has been shown to result in up to 53% more page views than clicks coming from search engines. Moreover, providing recommendations is also a cost-effective way to market content on a website, with each click from a publisher’s platform usually costing only a few cents. 07. Custom in-app ads Custom ads can take on almost any form and are reflective of many of the innovative methods of personalization we see used today in digital marketing. A custom native ad can be anything from an Instagram filter created by a brand or even an ad that runs in music playlists. For example, if you create a running playlist on Spotify and then get ads for running shoes while listening to it, this would be considered a custom native ad since it matches the content you’re interested in. You can find more advertisement examples in our guide .