No, that’s an understatement. 2023 was the biggest year since perhaps the founding of Ucraft. And here are all the reasons why.

The Breakthrough of the Year

Finally, after years of hard work and consistent innovation, we have launched our game-changing new eCommerce SaaS solution. Featuring a range of powerful eCommerce, design, content, and web management tools, Ucraft Next is already helping entrepreneurs and innovators across the world to create amazing web experiences, level up their online ventures, and reach their business goals.

Haven’t had the chance to discover the platform that’s here to revolutionize the game of doing business online? Well, it’s the perfect time to do so. Head over here and use the coupon code MERRYSAVINGS to sign up at a 40% discount.

The Website of the Year

New product, new website. Producing a website that could do justice to all the powers of Ucraft Next was no easy feat, but our team of rockstar developers, designers, and marketers happens to be really, really good at making websites. And since it’s better to see once than hear (or read) a hundred times, go take a look at our new website and let us know what you think.

The Meta Moment of the Year

We are always up for more innovation. So, when we had the opportunity to launch Ucraft Next in the FastexVerse, we quite literally jumped on it. If you’re in for some virtual adventures, go enter the metaverse, create your own avatar, and visit our beautiful space, where you can walk around, interact with our friendly droid, get inspired by Ucraft-made websites and even order one for yourself.

The Service of the Year

As fast and easy as it is to build websites and online stores with Ucraft Next, some entrepreneurs are too busy running their business to take even a few hours out of their day to design a website, write content, deal with SEO, or do anything else. That’s where U: Creative lab comes in. 

Emerging from the roots of Ucraft Shop, a trusted provider of web design services since 2018, U: Creative Lab offers services like website creation, eCommerce store development, template tuning, logo design, website enhancement, and more.

The Partnership of the Year

Ucraft is on Fiverr Certified! Yes, yes – we have joined industry giants like Amazon, Stripe, and WooCommerce in partnering with the Fiverr Certified program and launching a co-branded talent marketplace for a range of web services.

Now, you can hire Ucraft experts directly through the trusted Fiverr platform and have them build you a website or online store from scratch. Our world-class pros can also assist you in designing logos and brand identities, updating existing websites, migrating websites and stores, or providing eCommerce consultations.

The Event of the Year

Microsoft, Netflix, Google Cloud, Cloudflare, Booking.com, Yandex, LKI Consulting and, of course, Ucraft. The list of global tech leaders represented by the speakers of the Jump Developer Conference is enough to make it the event of the year not just for Ucraft, but the whole tech community of Armenia.

With a lineup of exceptional speakers, a full-day agenda packed with discussions of the trendiest topics, 300 participants, and endless networking opportunities, Jump 2023 was definitely an event to remember.

The Guide of the Year

Our series of video tutorials with detailed instructions on how to make the best of Ucraft Next is just another step in our endless quest to make website building as problem-free as possible. And yes, making things easy for Ucraft users is so important to us, that we are including a Youtube playlist in our list of key accomplishments.

The Collection of the Year

Throughout the year, our design team was busy crafting feature-packed and ready-to-sell web templates customized to the business needs of various industries. Each of these professionally designed and fully customizable templates is based on rigorous industry research and a wealth of evidence-based knowledge of what it takes to build a successful online business.

Explore the continuously updated collection here.

The Conversations of the Year

Prior to the launch of Ucraft Next, we conducted comprehensive user research. We held 60 in-depth interviews and user testing sessions with users from different backgrounds, languages, and industries. Their valuable feedback on user experience, potential bugs, and translation accuracy helped us fine-tune Ucraft Next before making it available to the public.

The Inspiration of the Year

Nothing motivates us more than seeing our users bring their visions to life with Ucraft. And to help their stories inspire even more entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams, we started a social media series called Success with U where real people reveal the real journeys behind their online triumphs.

We thank each and every one of these visionaries for choosing Ucraft and for sharing their remarkable experiences.

The Last Paragraph of the Year

Well, that’s it for this year. It was truly a great one.

Thank you for standing with us as we build the future of doing business online. Happy holidays, and see you in 2024.

For those who read our guide on updating your website for Black Friday, some of this will sound familiar, but the holiday season is one of the biggest spending seasons of the year. Your website needs to work fast, handle increased traffic, be prepared for increased sales (and deliveries!), and be visible enough that all those eager shoppers can find your great products or services.

Making these updates is relatively easy with a great web builder or eCommerce platform. Still, some details will help you understand what changes you will need to make, why they matter, and how you can leverage this knowledge for any future update. So, let's stop stalling, get into the holiday spirit, and talk about your holiday update and how to prepare your holiday SEO for 2023. 

Five Ways to Make a Holiday-Ready Website

There’s no one way to prepare your website to catch all those shoppers, so we’ll be discussing five different approaches to holiday marketing ideas. You can fine-tune your keywords and SEO, showcase your holiday spirit on your landing page, update your content with festive material, give your backend a well-deserved tuneup, reroute your website navigation, and more. If you do any one of these, you’ll already have an advantage, but if you want a holiday-ready website, make sure you touch all five of these tips for SEO and marketing. 

1. Identify Relevant Keywords for The Holidays

Keywords and keyphrases are major factors in how you can make your website more visible on search engines through a process known as SEO. Search engine optimization is often associated with organic traffic, meaning traffic that arrives on your website naturally as part of web searches your users are likely to perform. Unlike sponsored search rankings that operate on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, SEO can be much less expensive but requires more work and sometimes a little luck. 

The idea is to place holiday keyphrases like “best Christmas gift ideas” on your website to guide Google users to your storefront. An increase in traffic leads to an increase in sales, all without buying a single advertisement, which is why despite the hundreds of billions spent on online advertising, over 50% of website traffic comes from organic search in 2023. Investing in good SEO is strongly recommended, even if you’ve set aside money to advertise. 

For your holiday SEO strategy, start by finding some seasonal topics related to your service or product. This could include things like dental services for Halloween or cooking appliances for Thanksgiving. Remember that for holidays like International Women’s Day or Father’s Day, this could mean including the phrase “for dad” or “for my girlfriend.” Regardless, keep your audience in mind and what specific holidays may mean for them. 

Next, update your content for the season. Winter holiday keywords aren’t going to get a lot of attention during the off-season, but they spike heavily later in the year. Remember to look for long-tail keywords to match specific search queries related to your offerings. This will help users find exactly what they need on your website. 

Finally, optimize your titles and meta descriptions to improve your click-through rate (CTR). These terms refer to the blue text you find on a Google search engine results page (SERP) and the text underneath it. You can even get ideas from your competitors’ paid ad titles and meta descriptions for some help on what will rank.

Remember to research the subject thoroughly, and consider using some SEO tools to help you find those important keyphrases or check where your website currently ranks. 

2. Create a Holiday Landing Page and Show Your Holiday Deals

When the holidays arrive, you decorate your house to fit the season, and your landing page should be no different. Updating your landing page or creating a new one doesn't have to be hard, and in some cases, it won’t cost you anything, meaning a free landing page. 

In most cases, you should highlight a single product, service, or sale on your landing page. This gives first-time visitors a sense of urgency and a fear of missing out on a great deal, especially when paired with an email or outreach campaign. You can use clearance sales on older stock to further attract eager buyers looking for a hot deal in time for the holidays as well. Just make sure to have links to other related offerings in case the product or package isn’t quite what your visitor is looking for, and make sure you’re utilizing your hero area to its fullest potential. 

Another great way to grab attention and give your visitors a sense of value is to offer your customers a holiday bonus or advertise a customer loyalty program. This approach has several benefits, including free feedback from your customers if you offer rewards for filled-out questionnaires or signups (a 10% discount can go a long way to enticing your users). You can even send out emails if you decide to act on your visitors' feedback, which is a great way of showing them that you value their input. 

3. Put Some Holiday Spirit into Your Content

If your website has a social media presence or a blog with plenty of visitors, you’ll want to tailor your content around the holidays. This is usually as easy as learning from your SEO or simply knowing your customer base well enough to know what they will be looking for around the gift-giving season. Be sure to use bright, vibrant, exciting colors and visuals when you have the option, and keep the message friendly, uplifting, relatable, and heartfelt. Memes from classic holiday movies are a fun way to approach this task, as is attaching sentimental messages to any ads or educational material.

One great approach, if you have a strong user base, is to make user-generated content a focal point. You can generate this through holiday contests or simply share some interesting statistics from your users. An example of this is Spotify’s annual Wrapped Report, which shows each user what they listened to over the course of the year. In a world filled with advertisements designed to get you to buy something, a company that shares genuinely interesting facts can be a breath of fresh air and give your company a cozy image that your users will want to share. 

4. Check Your Website’s Technical Issues

Now that we have an idea of how you can update your website, let's look at some ways to improve its performance. SEO and SERP rankings aside, you’ll need to check your website for indexing issues and broken links, then optimize it for fast load times to deal with fresh incoming traffic. Making sure your website performance is top-notch for the holiday season will reduce bounce rates and ensure a frictionless experience for your visitors.

Start by using Google Search Console’s built-in page indexing report. This can tell you why certain pages are not indexed by Google (meaning not showing up in search results) and show you what you can improve about each page’s experience. It can even show you historical data about your indexed pages, which can be valuable when paired with a solid SEO strategy.

Google Search Console can also show you if you have any broken links. It’s generally not a good look when one of your links leads to nowhere, especially given that you’re expecting an increase in site traffic. This is a ‘devil-in-the-details’ aspect that should not be overlooked if you expect to present your website at its best. Lastly, make sure your website is working at top speed.

5. Optimize Your Mobile-Responsiveness

It cannot be said enough: the mobile-first approach is critical for any eCommerce storefront. Last year, a majority of shoppers expected to make a purchase on their phone, and by not thinking about how people shop on mobile devices, you stand to lose a significant chunk of that audience if you’re not ready, so make sure your website is mobile-responsive. 

Start by cutting back your content a bit, spacing out your links, and using a large, understandable typeface. Make your images and CSS lightweight and quick loading, and make your buttons large enough to be tapped. Optimize your forms for a mobile interface and eliminate pop-up advertisements. Difficult-to-close ads on mobile are not only frustrating, as they take up valuable screen real estate, but even worse, they redirect people off of your website from simple accidental taps. 

Finally, check your mobile responsiveness score. This is usually free and can give you valuable insight into why your webpage may not be loading quickly. With a good eCommerce platform, this usually is not an issue, but checking is the first preventative step to ensuring a good user experience. 

A Holiday Update is All You Need

Holiday eCommerce is lucrative, and not tending to your website's health before diving into end-of-the-year sales traffic is a risky decision. Sales at the end of the year have consistently increased every year, with even 2020’s pandemic-driven online shopping spike outdone the very next year. Over $220 billion was spent in the US alone in 2022, and projections for 2023 put it well over $250 billion. 

Making your website holiday-ready is a relatively small task and one that is even easier with great eCommerce solutions like Ucraft Next, especially considering the holiday element updates and metrics you can use to fine-tune your website further. The simple fact is that consumers come out in droves at the end of the year. All you need to do is be visible and have a little holiday spirit. 

Ucraft Next joins industry giants like Amazon, Stripe, WooCommerce, Podia, Leadpages, and monday.com in launching co-branded talent marketplaces for services like building templates and websites with the service, developing widgets or integrations, eCommerce consulting, and website audits.

The globally popular Fiverr connects users with professionals across various fields for a wide range of tasks and services. Users can now find Ucraft Next specialists on the platform who specialize in building online stores, assisting in creating professional websites, designing logos and brand identities, updating existing websites, or providing consultations for any business. After registering on Fiverr, users can search for a Ucraft Next specialist that fits their project, provide them with the necessary information, and specify their website’s requirements. 

Specialists using Ucraft on Fiverr represent an excellent opportunity for businesses to receive professional assistance in crafting or updating their websites. One of the service's notable advantages is its diverse array of features and integrations for building online stores, but designers using Ucraft also have several advantages over designers working independently or with other web builders.

Ucraft Next gives designers complete access to all available features and elements, meaning that hiring designers on Fiverr will never come with additional hidden fees, costs, or recurring payments. The service is also extremely malleable, working with services including physical or digital product storefronts, subscription or appointment-based services, rentals or reservations, and features related to numerous industries. The service even includes metrics for tracking sales, visitors, conversions, and more.

For users in Armenia, there are also integrations available with local services like international payment and delivery methods. This fits Ucraft’s global approach and is only the beginning of their and Fiverr’s bringing professionals around the world together with industries that require their talents. 

As part of this collaboration, Ucraft Next, and its subsidiary project U:Lab, have announced the training for interested specialists. Those who are interested can join the team, familiarize themselves with the platform's features, become a Ucraft Next expert, and start receiving paid orders on Fiverr. Ucraft Next has always been proud to support both creators and businesses, and through collaboration with Fiverr, this initiative will grow stronger globally.

This is an outstanding opportunity for specialists seeking to acquire new skills and earn income in both the Armenian and international markets. Ucraft remains committed to offering innovative solutions and pathways for professional development and creating opportunities within the IT industry. If you’re in need of a website, or want to start creating using Ucraft, Fiverr is ready for incoming requests.

What are Black Friday and Cyber Monday

The period between November and January is the highest sales period of the year. Kicking off with Black Friday on the day after Thanksgiving, sales historically remain high through these months as people rush to buy gifts for the holiday season, Christmas, and New Years. Retailers have been aware of this since the 1980s when the shopping spree after Thanksgiving got the name Black Friday (named as such because companies in the "red" would sell enough to get back into the "black"). 

As online retail gained popularity, Cyber Monday took root as people often shopped through the weekend following Black Friday. Since they couldn't go out to shop at the beginning of a work week, the online shopping day fell on Monday to allow shopping from work or home. Since then, online shopping revenues have risen steadily to a point where they often exceed offline shopping. 

Black Friday vs Cyber Monday

Besides a dip following COVID-19, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales consistently increase yearly. Cyber Monday 2022 sales exceeded $11 billion, while Black Friday sales rose to just under $10 billion. This trend is relatively recent, with Cyber Monday sales surpassing Black Friday sales over the course of the 2010s. Most of this can be chalked up to smartphone and internet saturation, though the increasing online presence of retailers has made online shopping the obvious choice for many. 

Selling online during this period is easy, but it doesn't mean you should rest on your laurels! Poor user experiences, lack of quality customer support, unresponsive websites (especially common given the surge in traffic!), and unpromoted discounts can leave your online shoppers feeling confused and unappreciated. This is where some website changes can make all the difference, and services like Ucraft Next are equipped with everything you need to make your website a great place to visit this holiday season.

How Ucraft helps you build your website for Black Friday 2023

Here are the basics: at the start of the holiday season, your website should expect a surge in traffic and an uptick in sales. This means your website needs to work quickly under a heavier server load, have accurate tallies on inventory (and the ability to take the item offline if you run out!), promote the best deals for your customers, have checkouts that work seamlessly, offer secure payments with multiple payment methods, and have shipping that works efficiently.

If it seems like a lot, you have the right idea. Making sure your website looks like the above, with just weeks left until Black Friday and Cyber Monday, is no small task, or at least it used to be. Website builders have helped alleviate most of the work that goes into making your website sale-spike-ready. Ucraft Next has the tools needed to bolster your website for heavy sales and traffic. 

Promote your best sales

Black Friday is all about the deals, but when you have one, you need to promote it to get any attention. The best way to highlight your best sales is with website elements that push them to the customers who want them the most. 

Start with promotional banners, which are large elements that span the webpage horizontally and take up a fair amount of vertical space as well. They grab attention and usually function as a hyperlink, so whatever image or promotional material you want to highlight is only one click away. Banners are a great way to push your best sales to customers and quickly guide them to a purchase funnel.

If you're looking to instill a sense of urgency, then add a countdown timer to the banner. This shows customers that there is only a limited time to take advantage of your sale, which often triggers a fear of missing out. Just make sure you leave enough time for customer volume to react! Ending your timer without ending your sale can leave a bad taste in your customers' mouths and impact their trust in your company. 

Finally, make sure your customers have an easy and clear way to compare prices to your other services or items. Combined with sales, you can highlight just how great a deal is if you stack it up against a similar item that is not on sale. Conversely, you can also compare two items on sale and show that a more premium selection isn't so much more expensive. This technique is called price laddering, and companies as successful as Apple use it to show that the next step up from your first selection is quite low. 

Now, all you have to worry about is making sure your website can be changed to "Black Friday Mode" and back after the holiday season. Thankfully, eCommerce solutions like Ucraft Next have banners, price compare, and discount functions that can easily be added and reverted. 

Personalize and improve user experience

The internet has come a long way since the early 1990s. What once was a simple series of connections has evolved into a living, breathing infrastructure that often knows you better than you know yourself! Customers are used to this now and expect to be treated as individuals with unique wants and needs, meaning your website has to make each and every visitor feel a little special. 

Live chat is a great way to make your customers feel important. No matter how ergonomic your website is, problems will occur, and when they do, your customers will need help. Having a live chat function (preferably in the lower right) gives customers an easy way to navigate the website, find the items they want, ask questions about your service, or resolve issues they encounter. Simply talking to another human being goes a long way in customer service, so make sure your customers have an easy and apparent option to speak to your staff. 

Next, consider adding product recommendations while your users are browsing items they enjoy. You can think of this as a method of upselling, but it can improve the customer experience by saving them time buying items that work well together. Buying a new tablet? Your customers will probably want an extra charger, a case, or a screen protector. Having these items immediately available can raise your sales and make your customers happy. 

Lastly, make sure you update your website design. Nothing is perfect, and nothing lasts forever, and in the fast-paced world of digital sales, this mentality is extra important. Learn about what your customers want using traffic and sales statistics, and always work to make the process as simple, transparent, and ergonomic as possible. Update the website for holidays like Black Friday to give your online store a fresh look, and always experiment with new ideas based on your customers' behavior. 

Make buying easy and secure

It often goes overlooked, but a simple, secure, and easy checkout process is imperative to good user experiences. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to buy something only for the website, payment process, or cart to fail. 

The first step is to make the cart easily accessible. Amazon uses a progressive cart window on the right, while most other stores have a cart button in the upper right corner. Either is fine, but your customers need to be able to immediately access the items they add to their cart so that they can have an easy checkout and shipping experience. 

Next, make your payment process secure and offer multiple payment options. Most website builders will have this option available, but it is important, so be discerning. Your customers need to feel safe giving you their credit card, debit card, PayPal, or even crypto. Stress test your payment and checkout processes before you head online for the best results. 

Lastly, your customers need to get their items, which is where shipping comes in. Having multiple shipping profiles is a great way to give users a last discount out the door, especially on heavy sales days like Black Friday. Consider offering a free shipping option if a customer passes a certain price threshold or even as a base-level option. Remember, expedited shipping as well, as the holiday season can get rather hectic.

Track and manage your sales

Now that the obvious is out of the way, it's time to turn your attention to the backend. Servers, statistics, and graphs may not be interesting, but understanding how your website is running and how your customers are acting is just as important as having a top-tier Black Friday website. 

The first thing to do, especially with Black Friday in mind, is to make sure you know exactly how much stock you have and where it is. Website builders or eCommerce solutions like Ucraft Next, will offer options for multiple stock locations so your customers can get their purchases quickly, no matter where they are. Ucraft Next also offers eCommerce solutions that will give you a good read on your stock numbers, and remove their availability online if you're running low. Many, like Ucraft Next, can even do this automatically!

Another function available on Ucraft is abandoned checkout settings. When your customers leave behind a full cart without purchasing, you need to be able to clear it automatically, allow them to save it for a future purchase, or understand the process that made them leave without buying. All those stats and more are available on the best website builders, giving you some insight into where you can improve your website. Clearing their cart is also good, as it relieves stress on your server that can quickly build up over time or over a single day in the case of Black Friday.  

Get ready for record Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales

Prepping your website for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or any holiday isn't strictly necessary, but they're opportunities that few turn down and with good reason. It's not only an opportunity to sell more on the days when people are ready to shop till they drop, but a way to inspire your audience, give them a fresh take on something they already like and keep up with trends. It shows that your company isn't stagnant but vibrant, attentive, and alive. 

If you're using a website builder, make sure to check out the elements they have available for seasonal updates. Ucraft, for example, has a plethora of frequently updated elements that can give your website a facelift, increase sales, refine user experiences, and provide useful metrics that you can use to push your service or store to the next level. Regardless of what your goals are, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are important days for the entire retail and service industry, and ignoring them is leaving money on the table. 

Now, let's figure out how you can higher up in search results and source qualified leads! 

First of all, what is a keyword?

So, what exactly are keywords? The meaning of keywords is essentially the words or phrases people type into search engines when looking for something. If you're searching for "buy leather bags online" or "best burger bar in Chicago," those are your keywords. They can be as short as one word, like "dating," or as long as a phrase, such as "dating site UK." The key is to find out what terms people are using to search for services or products like yours. Then, incorporate those keywords into your website's content. Doing this helps search engines find you, bringing more people to your site. 

Who needs keywords? Everyone who owns a website!

Before we go further into keywords and researching them on Google, you may want to watch this short video below. It offers practical advice on selecting the right keywords for your AdWords campaigns.

Whether you have a small online shop or a large enterprise, keywords are essential. This is especially true if you're using paid ads on search engines. Even niche websites with fewer visitors need well-chosen keywords. Search engines scan your content to identify these terms, which helps them categorize your site, determine its rank in search results, and decide which ads to display. In essence, your choice of keywords has a significant impact on your online visibility.

How to choose the right keywords?

You might think that using broad keywords will attract more visitors to your site. But hold on a second! The downside is that many other websites are likely using the same broad terms or SEO phrases. This can make your site harder to find and might attract visitors who aren't actually interested in what you're offering.

Google offers helpful tools for keyword research, but it can also be useful to jot down a list starting with general terms and gradually getting more specific. Think like a searcher: What words or phrases would you use to find what you're offering? This exercise can help you pinpoint effective keywords that align with what people are actually looking for.
 

Don't guess; discover keywords easily!

There are plenty of great tools that can show you the target keywords people use to find services like yours.

• Keyword Planner Tool by Google

• Keyword Explorer by Moz

• Keyword Checker by Majestic

What is Google Keyword Planner?

Google Keyword Planner is a useful tool for keyword research. Developed by Google, it scans the internet to recommend keywords that fit your needs, both general and specific. The tool also shows you how often each SEO keywords are searched, along with additional SEO keyword examples and ideas. Plus, it offers information on cost-per-click and potential price changes, helping you budget effectively. Because it streamlines much of the research process, it's worth checking out whether you're a digital marketer or a small business owner.

Best keywords for your business!

Imagine you own a burger bar in Chicago and have a website featuring your menu and location. Your goal is for people to find you on Google and come dine at your restaurant.

*It's essential to include "Chicago" in your keywords to attract local searchers.

I have added "burger bar in Chicago" to the Keyword Planner Tool, which we can suppose is the most relevant keyword to my business.

Now, let's analyze the results provided by Google.

The initial keyword we picked didn't hit the mark, showing a low monthly search volume of just 10-100. But not to worry, Google Keyword Planner suggests better options.

Now, let's analyze the results provided by Google.

According to the results, we didn’t choose the best keyword, as it has a very low monthly search volume (10 - 100), but Google Keyword Planner is smart enough to suggest keywords similar to the one I have added initially.

Examining Relevant Keywords:

• "burger bar Chicago" fits our business well, draws 1K-10K monthly searches, and faces low competition. This could be a good keyword to consider.

• "best burger in Chicago" is also closely related to what we offer, with a monthly search volume of 1K-10K and low competition, making it another strong choice.

How to use keywords? 

• "Chicago burger" is also a good fit, with 1K-10K monthly searches and low competition. This should be on our keyword list.

• "Burger places" has high search volume (10K-100K) and low competition. However, it's too broad and doesn't focus on Chicago, so we may want to skip this one.

• "Urban burger" doesn't relate to our business, so we won't include it.

• "Best burger Chicago" fits, has 1K-10K monthly searches and low competition. However, "best burger in Chicago" is a better choice for us.

• "Best hamburger in Chicago" has around 1K monthly searches and low competition. But since we're about burgers, not hamburgers, this one won't make the cut.

Take notes with pen & paper or start a new Google Sheet

Now that we've identified keywords meaning, it's time to jot them down. You can use good old-fashioned pen and paper (can you?) or go digital with a Google Sheet. Make sure to note the monthly search volume and competition level for each. Pen and paper work well for brainstorming sessions with your team. Google Sheets are convenient for ongoing use, especially when expanding your list to include keywords for specific website pages like 'Menu' or 'Location.'

Longtail keywords vs. shorttail keywords

Specific keywords make it easier to rank higher in search results and draw in the right audience. These are known as long-tail keywords. More general keywords, or keyphrases, are called short-tail keywords. For an SEO keyword example, "burger bar" is much more general compared to "burger bar in Chicago," which narrows down the search considerably. 

Short-tail keywords tend to be more competitive because many businesses aim to rank for them. In contrast, long-tail keywords help you reach people who are more likely to be interested in what you offer. For instance, you might have found this blog by searching for "what are keywords" instead of just "keyword."

Using Keywords on Your Website

After you've picked your keywords, the next step is incorporating them into your website. There are multiple spots on a single page where these terms should appear.

Page Title: Your page title, also seen in the browser tab and search engine results, should include your main keyword. It's coded like this: <title>Your main keyword plus additional text</title>. The title should not just be the keyword; add some extra text to make it readable and engaging.

URL: Your web page's address is another good spot for keywords. For example, a URL like mysite.com/blog/top-places-to-visit-this-summer is better than a random string like mysite.com/blog/?p=364492. The former is easier to understand for both search engines and people.

H1 Tag: This is the main headline of your page, and it should include your key term. Make sure it stands out by being larger than the surrounding text and compelling to the reader.

Page Content: The main body of your website is prime real estate for keywords. This is where you share what sets your business apart. But a word of caution: don't overuse keywords, as this can hurt your search rankings.

Image Tag: This tag is not visible on the webpage but exists in the HTML code. It's tied to the images on your page, helping search engines understand what the images represent. For example, <img class='article-img' loading='lazy' src="file-name-including-keyword.jpg" title="Title with keyword" alt="Description with keyword">.

Meta Description: This HTML tag offers a quick summary of your page's content, limited to 160 characters. This snippet appears in search engine results and should be unique for each page, containing relevant keywords.

Wrap-Up

Now that we know what keywords are and how to use them, here's a quick recap of important takeaways:

• Start by identifying your keywords before crafting content.

• Use keyword research tools to find the most effective terms.

• Opt for long-tail, low-competition keywords to make your site easier to find.

• Steer clear of general, high-competition keywords.

• Insert your keywords in key areas: the Title Tag, URL, H1 Tag, Meta Description, Page Content, and Image Tags.

If you're using Ucraft, you'll have the tools you need to make your site more search-engine friendly. But first, get comfortable with SEO basics, starting with keywords.

Best of luck!

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are Keywords Important?

Keywords are pivotal for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing as they help rank higher on search engines, thereby driving quality and targeted traffic to your website.

How to Find SEO Keywords Example?

Finding the right keywords involves considering factors like search volume, competition, and relevance to your content. Tools like SEMrush can help in researching and identifying keywords that are pertinent and less competitive.

Understanding Keywords Meaning: How to Use Keywords?

Use keywords, or SEO phrases, in a balanced and natural manner within your content to avoid appearing spammy to readers and search engines. It's essential to use them in moderation to maintain a pleasant read and still rank well on search engines.

What's the Difference Between Keyphrases and Keywords?

'keyphrases' often refer to phrases consisting of multiple words, whereas 'keywords' may consist of a single word or multiple words. Both are crucial for SEO as they help define the content and improve its visibility on search engines.

Logo colors and color schemes play a pivotal role in building a brand. When you build your company image, the color scheme (or palette) you choose will stay with you for years to come. Most people recall the color and shape of a logo even before remembering the brand name.

When we discussed the principles of excellent logo design and shared some logo-making tips, we emphasized color as a fundamental element of logo design. Today, you are in for a treat in the form of more knowledge on selecting the right colors for a consistent brand image. Prepare to dive into color theory for logo design and learn how to select and combine the right colors for a logo design that simply works.

The best part is that you can transfer everything you learn today about logo making to building a website in full compliance with your brand image guidelines. So let’s start with the easy part: types of logo color schemes.

Most Common Logo Color Combinations

You may have some favorite colors you want to bring into your logo or business website, but building a brand goes beyond your personal preferences. The first thing to do is learn how specific colors work (or don’t work) together. Known as color theory, this guiding system helps you choose colors that go well together regardless of the medium. You may be familiar with the color wheel from school, but things get a bit more complex when it comes to designing logos.

In our digital world, there isn’t much need to learn color theory by heart. With so many color palette tools available, you can visualize various color schemes and combinations to choose the best one for your logo, website, and branding. Moreover, if you use an online logo maker, you will enjoy plenty of pre-set logo color schemes that best translate your brand’s mission, vision, and message.

But what are the best color combinations for an impactful, memorable, and timeless logo? Let’s delve a little into color theory to help you learn the basics of logo design!

1. Monochromatic Logos

A monochromatic logo is made of a single primary color used in various combinations. Add a bit of black, and you will have a darker color shade. Add a bit of white, and your base color will become lighter. The association of maroon (red+black) – red (primary color) – pink (red+white) represents a monochromatic scheme. Many brands use a single color with varying shades and tints to create a consistent look and feel.

Some great monochromatic logos are those of Spotify,  Apple, Target, Chanel, and Adidas.

2. Analogous Color Combinations

In color theory, an analogous logo color scheme involves two to five colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. When put together, these colors create a sense of balance and harmony. Most of the time, you see this combination in nature, so let nature inspire you in logo design. Use one color as the dominant element of your logo and the others as accents that support its depth. This scheme is the best choice to follow as per the latest experts’ recommendations in web design.

For great examples of logos with analogous color schemes, look at MasterCard and PayPal.

3. Complementary Color Combinations

A complementary color scheme includes two colors opposite each other on the color wheel (yellow and violet, for instance). In brand design, complementary color schemes create a vibrant, highly contrasting, and memorable logo.

For inspiration, look at the logos of Visa, Pepsi, and the LA Lakers.

4. Triadic Color Combinations

As the name suggests, this color scheme uses any three colors placed across each other on the color wheel (red, blue, and green). If you are looking for a strikingly dynamic three-color palette, the triadic scheme is the right choice.

When choosing your triad, draw an imaginary triangle on the color wheel and hit three evenly spaced colors to create your combination. In branding and design, this color scheme is a very bold move. Your logo will undoubtedly make an unforgettable visual impact.

As a pro tip, make sure you only pick one color in the triangle as the dominant one, using the other two as accents. Otherwise, your logo might become a bit too much.

For famous examples of logos with triadic color schemes, look at Fanta, Tide and Taco Bell.

5. Tetradic Color Combinations 

Instead of a triangle, think of a rectangle. A tetradic color scheme consists of four colors equally situated from each other on the color wheel. For easy visualization, think of two sets of complementary colors. For instance, a tetradic palette includes blue-green and red-orange. In this color scheme, you will most likely get two bold colors and two muted ones. Use the latter to enhance the optical power of the former.

Google, Microsoft and eBay logos are perfect examples of tetradic color combinations.

How Many Colors Should a Logo Have?

While color theory is a great guide for combining colors that work well together, choosing the right number of brand colors is more of a judgment call. It would be absurd to tell you that your logo should not have more than three colors. After all, the tetradic color scheme implies four colors, while the analogous scheme allows you to choose up to five colors for your branding needs.

Most beginner entrepreneurs try to reinvent the wheel and go out of the box by choosing unfortunate color combinations. Out of enthusiasm, some add more than 3-5 colors to their logo or website. The issue with picking more than three colors is that complex color schemes are hard to balance. Google uses four colors in its logo with no problems. The real question is how to combine colors, not how many colors to use in your logo.

Whether you use a free logo maker or pay a designer to create your brand’s logo, here are some important points to consider: 
 
• The development of a logo or a website is an art and a science that factors in design, psychology, typography, and brand storytelling;
• You may think there are no terrible color combinations, but there are. Green and violet on a red background trigger a Phoebe (from Friends) reaction - “Oh, my eyes, my eyes!”.
• Before you test some color schemes, make up your mind about what type of logo you want to create. The shape and substance of your logo are fundamental for the color scheme (and the number of colors) you will eventually choose.  

What is in a Color?

Before we move on to some of the most popular logo or website colors, you must understand what a color contains – referring to the color wheel we have just discussed.

Primary Colors

Just like prime numbers, primary colors are unique. Standalone. You cannot create them out of other colors. On the color wheel, they are:

• Red

• Yellow

• Blue

These three colors are the building blocks of any color scheme, anchoring your design and opening the gate to more color combinations. But rarely do logos and websites use primary colors in their design.

Secondary Colors

Orange is a secondary color, and is associated with some of the biggest brands in the world. You obtain secondary colors by mixing any of the two primary ones.

• Orange = red + yellow
• Green = yellow + blue
• Purple = blue + red

Tertiary Colors

If you're wondering which colors work best together in a logo color scheme, tertiary colors are a great option. You obtain them by mixing a pure primary color with a pure secondary color (no shades, no tints, no tones).

From here on, color theory and logo/website design get a bit more complicated. One issue is that not all primary colors mix well with a secondary color to create a tertiary one. But, it is more of an issue for painters rather than logo designers. So let’s see the tertiary colors, as you will run into them a lot in the future:

• Magenta = red + purple
• Vermillion = red + orange
• Amber = yellow + orange
• Chartreuse = yellow + green
• Teal = blue + green
• Violet = blue + purple

So far, you have 12 colors to play with for any design you want to create, from logos to fashion lines. However, we all know the world (especially the digital one) does not stop at these twelve possibilities. So let’s go deeper with our color analysis:

Hues

Saying “color” is the same as saying “hue”.Hues are all primary and secondary colors. Think about the primary and secondary colors when you ask a designer to create a logo or when your logo maker prompts you to choose a dominant hue.

Shades

Adding black to any hue means adding shade to it. Most people refer to shades to describe the darker versions of the same hue. As we said above, a monochromatic logo can use diverse color shades. For instance, when you add black to blue, you get twilight.

Tints

A tint is the opposite of a shade. It means that you add white to a hue to make it lighter. For example, if you add a hint of white to red, you obtain pink. However, during regular conversations, people will refer to them as “light or dark” color shades.

Saturation (Tones)

We use the word “saturation” when discussing colors in the digital environment, whereas tones make it into painters’ conversations. Saturation refers to the amount of gray (black + white) added to a color.

Assuming you are not a painter but an entrepreneur, knowing these terms is not required of you. However, it would be best to navigate your way through “color talk” when you design your logo in case there’s an issue that demands your attention.

CMYK vs. RGB

Printer cartridges use the CMYK color model, and that’s not a coincidence. Nevertheless, we will keep things short, as we don’t want to delve into additive and subtractive color theory yet.

• CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (Black). It would be helpful to keep this color model in mind when you want to print your logo on business cards, leaflets, documents, etc.;
• RGB stands for Red, Green, and Blue. This model is prevalent in digital environments. When you need to pick colors for a logo or a website, you need to look for RGB numbers or HEX codes (codes assigned to color in CSS and HTML programming). RGB is your best bet when designing logos and other digital assets.

PRO TIP: if you used RGB codes for your digital designs, convert them into CMYK before printing them.

The Basics of Color Psychology When Choosing The Best Logo Colors

Any logo-making guide ever written says that a logo needs to trigger an emotion or a reaction in whoever sees it. Perhaps we will delve more into color psychology in the future, but for now, you need to know this: the use of color is cultural, personal, and very subjective. People from different cultures interpret colors differently, depending on several variables. There is also an individual aspect to this: some people shiver at the sight of yellow, while others have an adverse reaction to green.

If you are building a brand addressing international markets, be aware, mindful, and sensitive regarding your brand’s color scheme.

Color can do more than simply trigger an emotional response. We use it to create and evoke brand associations. By gaining a deep understanding of your audience, you will understand better how it responds to your colors. But what colors should you choose to get the desired reaction?

Red

Associated with fire, passion, energy, love, and power, red provokes your audience to engage with your website. Therefore, food, fashion, and entertainment industries usually use red logos. However, red is also associated with danger, so if you sell yoga & Zen meditation products, you might want to stay away from red.

Yellow

Yellow is a cheerful, friendly, and uplifting color. Yellow-centric logos inspire happiness and approachability. However, too much yellow can trigger the opposite reaction (as it also signifies danger), so use it wisely in your logo color schemes. 

Blue

Evoking peace, relaxation, and elegance, blue is a logo color primarily associated with tech brands. You will frequently find it on financial websites, medicine, health & wellness brands, water-centric brands, etc. Lighter blue logos inspire tranquility, while darker blues suggest confidence and professionalism.

Orange

Warm, welcoming, and bright, orange is the go-to color of food, sports, and tech brands. It sparks joy and trust, so it is a fantastic color to depict your brand as fun yet very professional.

Green

Green is the color of nature, rebirth, and hope, and all things earth-related. It is mainly associated with beauty brands, eco-friendly markets, organic foods, sustainability industries, and tech startups.

Purple

Primarily associated with luxury, wealth, and wisdom, purple makes a brand look professional but approachable. For this reason, you will often see it as a brand color in the fashion and confectionery industries. Used with care in your branding color scheme, purple invites people to have some luxurious fun.

Black & White Logo Colors: The Foundation of Any Logo Design

Before we leave you to your logo design experiments, we have to talk a little about how you should begin your quest for the best logo color combinations. Of course, the answer is “design your logo in black and white first.”

They may not technically be colors, but you know what we mean. Black and white logos are timeless, elegant, sophisticated, and highly versatile. While minimalistic by nature, they can take on all shapes and sizes. You can use them in wordmark logos, mascots, letterforms, and so on without missing a beat regarding message and brand perception from the famous WWF or Calvin Klein logos to our Ucraft logo, black and white covers all industries and businesses.

Our advice for you is to create your logo first using only black and white. Then, after you have something you’re proud of, add colors to it. The colors should enhance and give personality to your logo, not define it per se. Sometimes, giving up on the bells and whistles is what makes you stand out from the crowd.

If the choice of logo colors is at the forefront of your branding efforts, make sure you create multiple color versions to test in both digital and print formats. For example, a yellow logo on a black screen will make your name stand out from the crowd, but a yellow logo printed on white paper will be almost invisible.

We hope this short guide on logo color schemes helped you better understand how to design your logo or how to communicate your preferences to a professional logo artist. Now that you know how to use colors to your advantage, your branding efforts will be unstoppable!

Ready to start creating your logo? Check out our free logo maker! 

We've researched what to anticipate concerning affiliate marketing in 2023 and curated a concise list for you. With this groundwork laid, let's dive deeper, building upon the insights gained from 2022.

Affiliate Marketing: A Current Snapshot

Understanding our current landscape and its dynamics is pivotal when charting out projections for what lies ahead. In this context, let's highlight some of the dominant trends we've observed:

• Influencer Affiliate Marketing
• eCommerce Website Marketing
• The Role of AI in Affiliate Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing Stats

Now, let's take a closer look at these trends and check their viability for 2023.

Influencer Affiliate Marketing

Unsurprisingly, influencer marketing has gained significant momentum and firmly established itself as a cornerstone of global marketing approaches. Within this context, it is an effective gateway for those wondering how to start affiliate marketing. The significance and subsequent rise of micro-influencers are forecasted to continue in 2023. Insights on affiliate marketing tendencies for the year suggest that micro-influencers, with their niche specialization, possess an unparalleled capacity to persuade their followers. Whether high-end or budget-friendly, brands increasingly recognize the value of partnering with micro-influencers on an affiliate basis to enhance their ROI. As we navigate through 2023, anticipate a surge in businesses allocating resources to influencer marketing initiatives, ensuring the effectiveness of their affiliate marketing.

eCommerce Website Marketing

Apart from impacting many business sectors, the pandemic has influenced the marketing realm, pushing many traditional offline shoppers to transition online.

This shift towards eCommerce shows no signs of reversing. Current data underscores the burgeoning growth of eCommerce. Firstly, this expansion can be attributed to the prevailing circumstances not entirely reverting to their pre-pandemic state. Secondly, the sheer convenience and speed of online shopping have swayed even those who once had a penchant for offline shopping.

Consequently, it's logical to infer that affiliates will harness this trend, turning it into an opportunity for 2023. Expect affiliates to be at the vanguard, driving the website for affiliate marketing and making eCommerce marketing a global powerhouse.

The Role of AI in Affiliate Marketing

Curious about the trajectory of affiliate marketing in 2023? AI will undoubtedly take center stage. As businesses intensify their quest for pinpoint-accurate campaigns, the emphasis on data-driven decision-making will overshadow previous approaches.

Brands will dissect campaign outcomes, focusing on tangible ROI and concrete sales. The spotlight will be on achieving actual outcomes and refining campaigns for optimal results. This will usher in a more strategic era, defining both their choice of partners and the quality of content generated by these associates. Iterative approaches, incorporating a blend of trials and adjustments, will be the backbone of affiliate marketing strategies to discover the ideal balance for attaining desired ROI and revenue streams. For insights on refining this process, consider exploring content on how to avoid mistakes in affiliate marketing.

With its ability to generate insightful data, AI will be a game-changer for brands, conserving their time, efforts, and resources. The versatility of AI in affiliate marketing 2023 scenarios might range from facilitating the search for a suitable influencer or affiliate for your campaign to even integrating AI-powered affiliates that bolster your brand's value proposition.

Ucraft Affiliate Program

Maybe you're someone who uses a vast network or has garnered a reputation for deep expertise and impeccable taste in designing websites or eCommerce platforms. Do your suggestions resonate with your audience? Perhaps you've employed Ucraft to craft your online store, blog, landing page, or portfolio and appreciated the website builder. This experience can be the stepping stone to understanding how to initiate affiliate marketing.

So, how does the program work? You sign up for the Ucraft Affiliate Program and use the link to share your opinion/recommendation about Ucraft. It only takes three simple steps to jumpstart your journey with Ucraft:

1. Sign up here and get your affiliate link.
2. Share the link across various online platforms.
3. Sit back and count your commissions (25% from each subscription).

Affiliate Marketing Stats

Let's unpack a few standout statistics. According to the Performance Marketing Association, the industry witnessed an impressive 47% growth from 2018 to 2021. And there's more on the horizon – by the end of 2023, we're looking at global spending in affiliate marketing reaching a whopping $14.3 billion.

Zooming into regional stats, the U.S. alone anticipated affiliate marketing spending to hit $13 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, Japan's 2021 spending on affiliate marketing was over 349 billion yen, with forecasts suggesting a potential climb to over 514 billion yen by 2025.

It's not just about the spending either. 2023 marked a surge in investments towards affiliate marketing companies, raking in over $1.5 billion. That's a 15.38% increase from the previous year, signaling strong investor confidence in the industry. And here's a fun fact for retailers: affiliate marketing now accounts for a solid 15% to 30% of eCommerce sales.

Concluding Thoughts

2023 is set to usher in heightened competition within the affiliate marketing landscape. Both affiliates and advertisers will be on the hunt for fresh niches and innovative offerings that not only distinguish them but also cater to audience needs and amplify their revenue streams.

A cardinal insight for affiliate marketers to internalize is the escalating significance of trust and authenticity. As you strategize ways to elevate your affiliate enterprise in 2023, it's worth delving into the affiliate marketing data, aligning your aspirations in sync with these insights.

Regardless of your aspirations to become an influencer, it's important to perceive yourself as a thought leader within your chosen niche. With the dynamism characterizing affiliate marketing this year, it's evident that the domain will continually give new and invigorating marketing opportunities.

Why Do You Need Free Promotion Websites for your Business?

Wondering why our list of 50 free platforms for business promotion is a game-changer? Well, think of it as your shortcut to top-notch, costless publicity for your small business without spending countless hours navigating the vast ocean of the Internet. Even if your brand has been online for a while, a revisit might just be what you need. You could discover hidden gems that you've missed earlier, platforms that could funnel notable traffic to your online hub.

It's undeniable: every business thrives with free online advertising. But let's be honest - aggressive online promotion often comes with a hefty price tag, making it elusive for many small business owners. Fear not, for we are here with the ultimate guide. This comprehensive list of 50 unbeatable platforms ensures your enterprise enjoys the spotlight it truly deserves. So let's get started!

Promote Your Website in Online Directories and Review Platforms

Tapping into online directories and review platforms is a savvy move for those seeking free business advertising. Some of these platforms boast global visibility, while others are tailored for local exposure.

However, a word of caution: it's essential to vet these promotional platforms carefully. Their relevance hinges on the nature of your business. For example, an eCommerce store would undoubtedly benefit from a Google listing, but would Yelp serve the same purpose?

Online directories and review platforms rank highly as website SEO tools. They act as a beacon, shining a spotlight on your business by adding your details to their databases. While these platforms may offer "no follow" backlinks, they're instrumental in funneling traffic your way as curious users visit your site to delve deeper into your offerings.

1. Google My Business

Google My Business improves your traffic and SEO.

One of the first things you should do when you start a business is to go over to Google My Business and fill out all the information about your company. Whether you run a local café or an online store, it is essential to have correct info about your business presented in the Google search. If you rely on Google for website traffic, then you cannot miss this opportunity to promote your website for free.

From an SEO perspective, having your business present in this place gives you the chance to get a free Google-rich result, making it easier for people to contact you, visit your website, leave a review, and much more!  

2. Bing Places for Business

Bing Places for Business promotes your website for free on all devices.

Although it has a smaller market share, Bing covers a significant portion of web searches. That's why you should register for this service. Bing Places for Business works almost the same as Google My Business, just for the Bing search engine. As free places to promote your website go, Bing Places for Business might offer you some advantages over the competition, as well.

Since fewer people use Bing for their searches, you have a better chance of standing out in search results. Moreover, you will address a compelling internet-based market and drive new traffic to your website that you would otherwise ignore.  

3. Apple Maps

Apple Maps is the go-to place for businesses to promote websites for free.

You certainly heard about Google Maps, but Apple Maps is coming strong from behind. It comes preinstalled on every mobile Apple device, and statistics say it gets more than five billion requests every week. If you listed your business in Goggle Maps – and we recommend you do –, the next logical step is to use Apple Maps for the same reason: free online advertising.

Promote your website on Apple Maps and get a massive share of the Apple users' market! As free places for website advertising go, it cannot get better than this. However, keep in mind that you should have a free Apple ID to list your business here. 

4. The Better Business Bureau

Get your business in front of customers by registering with the B.B.B.

The Better Business Bureau was cool before we started using computers and the Internet as a daily habit. It is the place where all reputable brands and businesses are. It is one of the oldest business review platforms. Although some controversies surround their rating system, they proved to be a good intermediary between companies and customers.

Keep in mind that this platform serves only companies and customers from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. On the other hand, almost every country has a similar official directory offering businesses genuine opportunities to connect with potential customers, partners, investors, etc. 

Back to this free place for website promotion, a company's presence on the B.B.B. is a standard of good practices. The more positive feedback you receive with them, the greater your chances to develop a successful business. 

5. Manta

Manta is one of the best places to promote your website for free.

Another small business directory, Manta, is a great place to promote your website if you have a small business in America. However, you can list your business here for free if you are from another country as well.

Manta registers over 13 million monthly users. It provides businesses with specific industry categorization, which makes this website easy to navigate. Moreover, you can exploit their online tools to boost your free online advertising efforts: Google Ads, SEO, social media, and other useful features and instruments for optimal website promotion. 

6. Merchant Circle

The Merchant Circle is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs running eCommerce businesses.

The Merchant Circle is a platform connecting merchants with potential customers. Connecting two million merchants and one hundred million consumers annually, this platform allows you to choose among multiple plans.

It is a great place to promote your website for free, especially if you just built an eCommerce business and you want customers and potential business partners to find you. You can register your online store or service providing company in a specific category and use the platform at its maximum potential. 

The free plan gives you access to most of the platform's features, while the paid plans clean your page of distracting ads and allow you to post more than one link to your website, among others. Nevertheless, if you want a free place to promote your website professionally, Merchant Circle is a great option. They provide you with digital footprint expansion, automated marketing tools, social media opportunities, search engine marketing, and more. 

> Do you want to build an eCommerce business? Get started now!

7. Yell

Yell is the largest online directory for free business promotion.

If you run a business in the U.K. or have a company U.K. branch, you know Yell is for Great Britain what Yellow Pages were for the world before the Internet was cool (or even in existence). 

Yell allows you to promote your website by getting a free listing. They also have a dedicated Yell app allowing customers to find, contact, and review businesses on the go. The tool is more powerful than the eye can see. Big businesses have access to advertising, pay-per-click campaigns, social media advertising, SEO tools, and more. 

However, you can get an exciting range of free digital marketing tools. In other words, if the U.K. market is part of your online business strategy, don't hesitate to promote your website for free here!

8. Yelp

Promote your restaurant or other business on Yelp but manage customer reviews wisely.

Next on our list of free advertising sites is Yelp. Although this platform is more popular with restaurants, you can also use it if you do business in other industries. If you claim your business on this platform, it is important to check it frequently to see what your customers are saying about your brand. Companies that manage their reviews mindfully gain more popularity and brand awareness on the platform. So don't forget to encourage your existing customers to drop by and leave a few kind words!

Keep in mind that Yelp reviews are double-bladed swords and people use the platform for nefarious reasons. Nevertheless, suppose you are confident in your products' and services' quality. In that case, Yelp acts as a free website promotion tool and social media platform that can drive your business's traffic and engagement. 

9. TripAdvisor

Use TripAdvisor to promote your website and hospitality business for free.

Suppose you chose a gorgeous website template for your hospitality business, and now, you run a cozy, welcoming inn, hostel, or guesthouse. If you are not on TripAdvisor, you don't exist, according to some. How are tourists going to find you, review your services, or recommend your place to others?

TripAdvisor is the place to be for any business related to travel and tourism – restaurants and other connected services included. Promoting your website on TripAdvisor is free. They will also help you reach a large qualified audience and make your business stand out from the competition with plenty of free marketing tools!

10. Angi

Use Angi to promote your service-providing company.

A well-established and reputable website directory, Angi provides verified user-generated reviews of local businesses across the U.S. The main objective of this directory is to advise users on where they can find reliable services. If you use their Green plan, you will find one of the greatest free places to promote your website and company. Angi is especially valuable if you run a business in repairs, landscaping, plumbing, home cleaning & decorations, health & wellness, pet care, auto repair, and more. 

11. Gartner Digital Markets 

Great place to showcase your apps and software eCommerce store.

If you've just published an app or created software, Gartner Digital Markets is the place to promote your product for free. You will most likely feature your business on the GetApp platform, but you should also consider Capterra or Software Advice when you draft your software products eCommerce business plan. 

Gartner Digital Markets specializes in business apps and software so that it could be more than just a traffic channel for you. It may be a potential lead generation channel. If you want your software displayed on G.D.M., all you have to do is request a free basic listing. 

12. SaaSGenius

Promote your SaaS solution, software, or app for free on SaaS Genius.

One great online directory specialized for SaaS solutions, apps, and software is SaaS Genius. It would help if you took some time to populate your profile so that it doesn't look unfinished in comparison to others. This platform is a free place to promote your website where users can find and compare different SaaS solutions and make their decision based on these findings. This listing can bring you some serious customers, but make sure you follow the directory rules before creating a free listing. 

> Do you want to build an eCommerce business? LEARN MORE! 

13. eLocal

eLocal helps you promote your website quickly and free.

Just like Manta and Angie's List to some extent, eLocal is a business directory allowing users to find millions of businesses across the United States. You can promote your website for free here, whether you have a plumbing business, sell dental office equipment, or help people get auto insurance. Listing your business on eLocal is free, and it takes about five minutes. This directory helps you with traffic, but it is also an excellent free tool for generating leads and sales. 

14. E.Z. Local

Stand out of the competition with free local business listings on E.Z. Local.

Next on our list of best free promotion websites is E.Z. Local, an online business directory. The platform helps businesses gain visibility and use their tools to boost traffic and leads for your service website or online store. We recommend checking their professional SEO tools, social media management, reputation management, search engines' top placements, and more, among some of their best features. While a basic listing is free, you might want to verify some of their other pricing plans as your business develops. 

15. Local.com

With Local.com, you get business listings on 40+ promotion websites.

Whoever said free promotion websites and business directories are obsolete they are wrong. Such directories are becoming stronger than ever. For instance, Local.com offers users and businesses plenty of opportunities to find each other.

People who are looking for certain businesses, stores, services, or events get information about driving directions, other customers' reviews and ratings, phone numbers, addresses, and more. The platform runs a successful collaboration with the Yext Answers Search Platform so that you can claim your business listing on Local.com and tens of other websites. 

16. Hotfrog

Promote your website for free on Hotfrog!

According to Hotfrog, 2.7 million people make more than 430,000 inquiries to businesses on the platform every month. As promotion websites and free online advertising go, you should not miss this one. It works like almost all other free places to promote your website that we discussed until now.

You can read their blog as well – a cornucopia of resources and actionable advice, useful particularly to new business owners. Either you want to list your brand new gift shop teeming with compelling popular products or a digital marketing company, Hotfrog is one of the best promotion sites in the United States. 

17. Brownbook.net

Brownbook.net is an international directory for businesses.

With over 40 million businesses present on their platform, Brownbook.net distinguishes itself among the top players in the field of worldwide business listings. Registration is free. The platform allows you to use your keywords for search engine success, as well.

As free promotion websites go, this platform requires no effort or stress on your part. Just have your branded logo, photos, videos, and other marketing materials at the ready!

18. Tupalo

Tupalo allows European and American companies to promote their businesses.

Do you conduct business in Europe or the United States? Tupalo operates from Vienna and allows customers to find businesses (spots) in Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, France, and the U.S.A. If you don't have a budget for a premium account, you can start with their free plan. They offer you minimalistic widgets for your website and a link to your online profile. 

19. Wikipedia

Build a professional company page on Wikipedia.

Probably one of the best-known sites on the Internet, Wikipedia is still – after so many years – one of the top places to create a page for your business and include a link to your website. It is because Wikipedia is often the first place people go to check out anything – companies included.

20. Trustpilot

Give your customers a voice and your website traffic and leads with Trustpilot.

Next on our list of free places to promote your website, Trustpilot is among the most powerful and influential ones. If you look at their statistics, you will find that around four million new reviews go online on the website every month. The platform is an excellent tool to promote your business and give your customers a voice. 

21. G2

Let your customers discover and review your apps and software on G2.

Previously known as G2crowd, G2 is one of the largest tech marketplaces in the world. With over three million people visiting G2 regularly to discover and review new software products and business services, it is a great place to promote your services and redirect people to your website.

If your online store deals with app/software creation and selling, you need to list your website on G2. Of course, you can start with the free plan and work your way upwards with the other plans. 

22. Sitejabber

A strong reputation on Sitejabber drives trust, traffic, and sales.

With more than ten years of experience and over 3 million users' reviews, Sitejabber is a platform that helps consumers find secure online businesses and avoid scammers. It has the reputation of being "the Yelp for websites and online businesses," allowing consumers to write reviews and businesses to respond to them.

Also a great promotional platform for your website, the platform offers free business listing opportunities and plenty of features to help you drive traffic and leads. 

23. NextDoor

Make a name for your small business in the neighborhood with NextDoor.

With fifty million business recommendations by neighbors on NextDoor, this business directory is a breath of fresh air for small businesses. This platform is one of the best free places to promote your website and build a brand presence or following in your neighborhood. Whether you own a store, you are a real estate agent, a dog walker, or a hairstylist, you have to be here. 

The platform helps you make valuable community connections and grow your local customer base while driving clients to your website as well. The platform assumes the responsibility to verify all the members, so businesses and clients meet real people who live in a neighborhood. 

Best Free Promotion Websites for Any Business: Social Media Networks

While the buzz around social media platforms remains ever-present, many small business owners have yet to harness their complete power. Yes, you might have set up a couple of accounts to flaunt your brand, but there's a vast world beyond just those few platforms. Exploring both new and established platforms can skyrocket your visibility within your niche. So, why not dive deeper into these communities and spark meaningful conversations with prospective customers? Below is a curated list of top promotion websites and social media networks where you can benefit from free online business advertising.

1. Facebook

Build a Facebook page for your business and start building a loyal audience.

If you have not created one already, a Facebook page for your business is the place to start when it comes to your website/company's free online advertising. When creating your page, make sure you choose the right category for your business and fill in all the information and the 'About' section to make it more informative.

Of course, you should consider paid advertising and sponsored posts with Facebook. However, having an engaging page to generate leads and users' loyalty is a great start for beginner entrepreneurs.  

2. Twitter

Be mindful about what you post on Twitter and gain a loyal following.

As you know, Twitter users are the ones who find out first what is going on in the world, from business news to political shenanigans. If they love and follow your business, you will get impressions, re-tweets, followers, shares, and all the good stuff social media has to offer. If you are doing business in the tech sector, then being present on Twitter is a strike of genius. However, this platform is not only for tech companies.

You can achieve significant Twitter "juice" if you run a fashion store, a restaurant, a service company, and everything in between. Here you can post news about your business, articles that you've published on your company's blog, fun staff for user engagement, bits of business storytelling, and so on.

Keep in touch with industry-relevant influencers and customers easily! However, take time with your Twitter posts, as, as you probably know, you have a tough crowd on your hands, and you need to treat them mindfully. 

3. YouTube 

If you put in some thought, you can promote your website on YouTube too!

Many people don't consider YouTube to be a place where you can promote your website. Still, it's the perfect place to upload both promotional and tutorial videos (especially now that YouTube has replaced traditional media as we speak). You might think that you cannot promote your website with video marketing, but remember, video surpasses written content in many industries.

Take a walk outside the box and keep your audience close with company presentations, product teasers and commercials, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, interviews with your collaborators, team members, clients, etc. As long as you deliver quality videos relevant to your business and your users' interests, you are good to go. 

4. LinkedIn

If you put in some thought, you can promote your website on YouTube too!

Every respectable business needs to have a LinkedIn profile. With around 500 million users in membership, this business-oriented social network serves as a platform where people find work, partners, and vendors. It is perhaps the most famous place for free business advertising, talent hunting, and growth opportunities.

Do you want to become an authority in your niche? Connect with prospect collaborators and clients, write well-researched articles, and use all the network's features to promote your website, products/services, entrepreneurial profile, and more! 

5. Instagram

Instagram allows you to humanize your business and get invested followers.

Instagram was once a platform to share fun bits of users' personal lives. Now, it is one of the most valuable platforms for free website promotion and user engagement. Running a profile on Instagram can drive traffic to your website and give your brand a more "humane" feel.

Whether you want to promote your music on Instagram, your restaurant, bookshop, photography website, or anything, Instagram is the place to be these days. Just be mindful of the hashtags and the website links you are trying to promote. Try to be less on the nose with guerilla advertising and have some fun with the platform. Use all the social network's features to tell real business stories and grow your fan base into loyal customers. 

6. Pinterest

Create stunning imagery and descriptions to harness the full Pinterest power.

Pinterest is a great platform for fashion/jewelry/D.I.Y./design-oriented ventures. Or so it was a few years back. Now, Pinterest is an excellent social network to promote (mindfully) any business. Your marketing efforts here revolve around producing attractive, original photos or graphics to accompany your blog articles, how-to guides, tutorials, business stories, products, etc.

Pinterest is one of the largest and most popular traffic drivers across all social media networks and free promotion websites. However, make sure you only create quality images and write compelling descriptions. 

7. Reddit

People on Reddit are hard to please, but you can use the platform for website promotion.

Something between a social media platform and a social news aggregator, Reddit can be an amazing way to promote your website. Keep in mind that it will not let you get away with guerilla marketing attempts. Don't let the high volume of links posted on this network fool you. Redditors are perhaps the toughest crowd on the Internet when it comes to marketing. This community doesn't allow shameless self-promotion, but they will give you valuable feedback. If you play your cards right, Reddit users can become your most loyal customers.

The platform works well if you don't give off the impression that you want to sell people something in particular. It is a good way to promote your blog, a portfolio, a news website, and so on. Spend time on Reddit and engage with the users. Just dropping a link and checking the reactions a week later is not a good way to approach the fiery pits of Reddit. Choose your subreddits wisely. 

8. TikTok

Use the power of TikTok to promote your website for free to a young, active audience.

Formerly known as musical.ly, TikTok is a short video sharing platform where users can incorporate funny videos and music to tell a short story.

Initially used by teenagers, TikTok now has a wide audience of adults who take advantage of the platform's promotion side. If you have a fun, whimsical brand image and a young audience, TikTok is among the best places to promote your website for free, engage your audience, and convert it into loyal customers. You can post how-to videos promoting the products you sell online, business stories, tutorials, and more.  

9. AngelList

AngelList allows you to connect with potential investors and business partners.

Although the AngelList started as a platform for matching startups and investors that want to fund them, it has become a tech company database over the years. If you are in the entrepreneurship game, you have to create a profile on this platform. You should do it, especially if you want to gain angel funding or recruit talent for your startup.  

10. We Heart It

Post stunning visuals on We Heart It and get a loyal following.

Here is another image-based platform/social network and is a good choice for brands that rely on beautiful visuals. Users come to We Heart It in search of inspiration, so if you plan to utilize it, make sure your images are truly inspirational and not just your basic advertisements. It is a less known opportunity to promote your website for free, but use it nonetheless. 

11. DailyMotion

Create fun, catchy, and viral videos to stand out on DailyMotion.

Does your website rely on video materials and live streams? Then DailyMotion is one of the best promotion websites to use for free online advertising. If your company already has a few promotional videos, then you should create an account on this network.

DailyMotion has a strong community and millions of monthly visits. With this in mind, you might consider making some funny, engaging, or creative videos and make them go viral on this platform. You can start with the Free Starter Offer or pack and work your way to more complex features in the platform's portfolio. 

12. Vimeo 

Use Vimeo’s video-sharing platform to make your website and business famous.

Another video-sharing platform that you can use to boost your free website promotion efforts. Vimeo became popular because it was the first platform to support H.D. videos, and brands still use it today. From company presentations, product demonstrations, teasers, and user-generated content, the sky is the limit with Vimeo. 

13. XING

The German alternative to LinkedIn.

The last entry on our list of promotion websites in the shape of social media networks is XING, a Hamburg-based social network for professionals and businesses. XING is somewhat of a competitor to LinkedIn and can help set up your profile to drive traffic and business.

Start with the free membership and move on to the XING ProJobs and XING ProBusiness plans to take your business to the next level. With almost 15 million registered members, XING may allow you to connect with partners, customers, future employees, investors, etc., in ways other professional social networks do not. 

If you have a website for your business but still don't have a blog, then you should consider starting one as soon as possible. Not only will your blog drive more people to your website, but you can also use the content you create to promote your site across multiple platforms. Remember, your content should always provide value to the readers to want to share it. Regardless of the subject of your articles, videos, or photos, social media platforms are always a good place to promote your website (content) for free. 

> Don't you have a business blog yet? Start one now!

Press Release Promotion Websites

When something happens in your company that is newsworthy, publishing a press release is necessary. If you plan to distribute your press release for journalists to notice, you should keep in mind that it is better to write as a journalist yourself.

It means to keep self-promotion to a minimum. Concentrate on the facts and benefits for your users instead. When your press release is ready, you need to submit it to as many places as possible. That's where we come in. Here are the platforms that let you promote your website (news) for free!

1. PRLog

Submit your company’s press releases for free on PRLog.

It is an easy-to-use platform where you can submit your press release for free if it is under 500 words. It is more than enough to get your point across and explain to the world what is new in your company. If your company released a new product, organizes an event, or has very important news to share, post your articles on PRLog and easily drive traffic to your website. 

2. PR.com

PR.com is a good platform to distribute press releases and drive traffic to your website.

Between the other promotion websites for distributing P.R. released and news, PR.com is an interesting hybrid. The platform refers to itself as "a cross between a public relations and advertising entity." PR.com is a good option for distributing press releases and building a name for your business.

With the free account, you can distribute press releases and submit job postings. If you grow your business enough to afford the Gold or Platinum memberships, you get a full business profile, directory listings, and more. 

3. Newswiretoday

Be mindful about what you post on Twitter and gain a loyal following.

If you want the whole world to know what your company is up to, Newswiretoday might be a solution. This press releases aggregator's downside is that it will not offer you many features with the free plan. Other than this, Newswiretoday is one of the best-regarded P.R. platforms in the industry. You will enjoy the benefits of a solidly integrated network even with a free plan, although we recommend you budget the Site Launch Boost package. 

When it comes to press release sites, online marketing experts and SEO specialists recommend you do not exaggerate using them. If you don't have news every week and a budget to make sure such news reaches the right people, your content will most likely get lost in the great Internet noise. Even if you use such promotion websites for your link development strategy, it is best to consult with an agency regarding the use of too many P.R. websites. Some links could do more damage than good. 

Free Classified Ads Sites for Website Promotion

When you want to gain exposure, posting your company name and website on classified ads sites may be a good idea. It will improve your SEO efforts and market your business to potential customers and leads. We know, Craigslist gained a controversial (and scary) reputation online in recent times. Still, it doesn't mean you cannot harness the power of free classified ads for solid website promotion and free online advertising. 

1. Locanto

If you want to know how to promote your website, Locanto is one of the many answers.

Here is a worldwide online classifieds network whose ads are available in about sixty countries. The upside of using Locanto is that you get to have HTML code for your website, product/company pictures, and other links. The free ad stays on the website for sixty days. Among other benefits, Locanto comes with a decent internal search engine, minimal analytics to help you understand how your ad works, and social media sharing opportunities. 

2. Facebook Marketplace

Use the full power of Facebook to promote your business.

While most ads on Facebook Marketplace come from individuals, you can post your company's ad as well. You will have more success chances if you pay for a sponsored ad.

However, if you are a beginner and don't have a hefty budget for a solid SMM strategy, you can start by placing ads on this marketplace and hoping to gain leads and customers. Make sure you edit your product/service descriptions well. 

3. Geebo

Geebo offers safety for all sellers and buyers.

Use Geebo to stand in front of potential customers, leads, and business partners while you also get a backlink to your website. Geebo's design is a bit outdated (but not too much). Otherwise, their selling point is their safety and cleanness. The classified ads site screens the ads, buyers, and sellers. For this reason, it will take some time before you see your ad online. On the other hand, by checking everything going on there, Geebo offers professionalism and safety to all users. 

4. Ad Post

Don’t skip Ad Post in your website promotion efforts! They have over 30 million users a month!

The downside of Ad Post is that you will not likely get a clickable link back to your website. If a user wants to reach your website, they will probably have to copy and paste the URL in their browser. The upside is that this classified ad site has about 30 million page views per month. Posting an ad is free here so that you could try it.  Another great news is that you could go international with your ad, so it's worth a shot. 

As a short conclusion, you can use free classified ad sites to promote your website and business. However, you should choose wisely the ads platform. Not many offer a backlink to your website. Moreover, your ad might get lost among thousands of ads posted by people and companies every day. 

Promote Your Website via Content Aggregators and Content Management Platforms

In a competitive market, where tons of brands compete for user attention, fetching content can make a huge difference. Whether you post well-written blog articles, opinions, lists & tops, etc., you need to find places where you can share engaging and viral content with a larger audience. That's why we suggest you check out this list of places to promote your website for free via the written content you create. 

Before you begin, keep in mind the following issues:

• Some content platforms praise the irreproachable content quality and will not go for any SEO scheme or shameless promotion;

• Posting content on such aggregators does not mean instant traffic to your website or online visibility. You will have to try your best, especially if your content goes through a users' vote system;

• Content curation and social bookmarking websites are incredible places to promote your website as long as you follow their rules to a capital T;

• While having some backlinks on these websites is a good thing, your content might not reach that "hot" status you desire for it. People might not even see it. Do not despair. Polish your content writing skills until you create a piece that users will want to read and share.  

So let's see a short rundown of promotion websites where you can subtly promote your business and naturally guide users towards your website. 

1. Quora

Quora users are a tough crowd, so don’t use any shameless self-promotion technique for your website.

This platform encourages refined and intellectual discussions on a wide variety of topics. Dropping links in the conversation is a frowned-upon practice. However, the best way to approach website promotion on Quora is to build a solid, credible, and trustworthy presence. Creating a great network and becoming a reliable source of information is the best way to go about this platform. 

2. Digg

One of the largest news aggregators in the world, Digg uses readers’ voting, so mind your content.

Digg is indeed a news aggregation platform featuring articles coming mostly from established news outlets, so getting your content on the front page might be difficult. The platform also works on a users' vote system, so if readers enjoy a piece, they will push it to the website's top.

It seems hard to make a name for your company or drive traffic to your website in this context. However, with millions of users digging articles on the platform, you should give yourself a chance.

As promotion websites go, Digg is one of the biggest and toughest to conquer. Build a solid content marketing strategy before you start dropping links there. 

3. Medium

It is an honor to have engaging content published on Medium, so take your time with it.

For any content creator, publishing on Medium is a badge of honor. Among the many content aggregators and promotion websites, Medium stands out with high-quality pieces people love to share on social media. However, you need to write engaging, potentially viral, and useful articles to have a chance at this. On the other hand, if you write excellent pieces worth sharing, Medium is one of the best free places to promote links to your blog articles, shop, a branded landing page, etc. 

4. Mix

Mix is a content aggregator you could use to promote your content.

We all know Mix – it absorbed StumbleUpon together with its users. Now, the platform became the go-to choice for people who want to find commercial or entertainment content, music, articles, and so on. It is a great opportunity to promote your website for free and save content created by others to stimulate your imagination and boost your content marketing efforts. 

5. Buzzfeed Community

Buzzfeed Community relies on users’ votes so make an effort to write outstanding content.

Having an article loved by the Buzzfeed Community enough to push it on their top pages is a dream come true for any content creator. Buzzfeed is a very tough crowd, and you will have to write many articles until you nail the perfect one. Check out the trends and see what readers like more. Understand how the platform chooses articles to display front and center. Write catchy content without even thinking about website promotion. 

6. Scoop.it

Scoop.it is a great opportunity for business promotion if you create great content.

What do you want more from a content curator, curated content, more content to publish on your blog, brand-building opportunities, influencer networking? Scoop.it is a great place if you want website promotion, rankings, traffic, and new business growth prospects. The free plan is to get you started. As you will acquire a budget and taste for the Scoop.it power, you will probably move on with the paid plans. 

7. Flipboard

Another great content/news aggregator is Flipboard to promote your content.

Just like Digg, Flipboard is a content and news aggregator. As a business, you can take advantage of the platform's streamlined and smooth processes. If you want to become a publisher and promote your website by producing quality content, you will have to go through a series of verifications. Other than that, if all is well, you will see traffic coming from the platform.  

Bottom Line

Now that you have gone through this list of free promotion websites and learned how to market your business across multiple platforms, the only thing left is to put in the work and create a solid online presence. Make sure the promotion websites you found are relevant to your business. Moreover, you should thoroughly check content aggregators and classified ads sites to ensure backlinks from them do not hurt your website. 

Now, we'd love to turn the conversation over to you. What are your top picks for promotional websites where you can feature your business without cost? Have you explored directories beyond our list? Are there any additional content aggregators or zero-cost ad platforms you'd endorse to our community, especially those looking for the best way to advertise their small business with no costs? Your insights are invaluable, and we're all ears for resourceful promotion spots you deem noteworthy.

For those yet to establish an online presence or considering a website revamp, we've got encouraging news. With Ucraft, thanks to our intuitive drag-and-drop website builder, you can design an engaging website in a snap. Dive into the world of zero-charge online business advertising without the need for coding expertise. Simply select a ready-to-customize template, infuse your creativity, and you're set to unveil a remarkable business website in no time.

But before we get into all the reasons why the conference turned out to be a smashing success, let’s have a look at the reasons why Jump exists - its mission, vision and backstory.

Initiated and organized by Ucraft, an industry leader in web building solutions, the mission of Jump events is to drive mastery, creativity, innovation and cooperation in tech and adjacent fields by creating a bridge between local professionals and world-class experts.

The events are organized with the vision to grow Jump into that very tech event developing Armenia into a true arena for worldwide tech innovation.

The first Jump event - the Jump Design Conference - took place in 2019 and brought together a diverse panel of experts to explore the future of design, exchange knowledge and ideas and build a community passionate about design and innovation.

Alright, back to our recap of Jump 2023. Here is our shortlist of reasons why the conference did as well as it did, from the first day of ticket sales to the last second of the afterparty.

The Topics

We’ve all been to tech (and not just tech) conferences that cover such a wide and disconnected array of topics as to make the event about everything and nothing. Jump was the exact opposite. The topics were meticulously selected to be relevant for senior developers and reflect the most essential tech trends of today and tomorrow - artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, open-source software, big data and cloud computing. This was the first step towards ensuring a thoroughly focused and well-targeted event.

The Speakers

Microsoft, Netflix, Google Cloud, Cloudflare, Booking.com, Yandex, LKI Consulting and, of course, Ucraft. The list of global tech leaders represented by the Jump 2023 speakers should tell you everything you need to know about the months-long selection process behind the extraordinary lineup. All 9 speakers were not only absolute experts in their respective fields, but also working professionals making daily contributions to paradigm-shifting innovations in the world of tech.

The Attendees

If the topics and speakers were scrupulously selected by the event organizers, the attendees selected themselves. And although no selection process was in place and participation was open to all, the event succeeded in gathering a deeply curious and engaged group of tech leaders, professionals, students and enthusiasts.

The Discussions

From post-speech Q&As to coffee and lunch breaks, bathroom queues and even throughout the cocktail-filled afterparty, the whole day was buzzing with conversations around all things tech. New connections were formed, ideas were born, knowledge was exchanged, opinions were debated and inspiration was spread in every corner.

The Venue

If you’re of the opinion that the choice of location is of little importance to the success of a professional conference, you’ve never been to one with a truly well-thought-out venue. Away from all the noise and distractions of the city, but on a short driving distance from Yerevan, Altezza by Armenian Helicopters provided the perfect backdrop for this first-of-its-kind celebration of knowledge and innovation (and yes, there were helicopters flying around all throughout).

The Promise

To build a bridge connecting hopeful juniors with seasoned professionals, the local tech community with global experts, and Armenia with global innovation - this was the promise of the event. And to put it mildly, the promise was delivered. 

We could go on and on, but let’s stop here. We are sure that the reverberations from the event will tell more about the Jump Dev Conference than we ever could. Just keep an eye out for all the exciting things that are sure to come out of this extraordinary event.

Instead of a Summary, a Thank You Note

We are grateful to everyone who helped us make Jump 2023 an unforgettable experience. Thank you to our speakers, supporters, volunteers, hosts, DJs, servers, photographers, bartenders, chefs and, of course, attendees.

Missed the event? That’s no reason to miss out on all the amazing speeches.

Lineup and topics:

TEJAS CHOPRA, NETFLIX
DevOps at Netflix

IGNAT KORCHAGIN, CLOUDFLARE
How to Protect Yourself from The Biggest Internet Threats

CHINMAY NERURKAR, MICROSOFT
Building Low Latency Ml Systems to Supply Real-time Model Predictions for Online Ad-serving at Scale

MARYNA BARYSHEVA, LKI CONSULTING
Marketing Goes Sci-Fi: How AI and Advanced Analytics are Taking Your Strategy Development and Execution to The Next Level

MILEN GENCHEV, GOOGLE CLOUD
Generative AI: Unlocking The Power of Machine Learning

SANCHIT JUNEJA, BOOKING.COM
Large Language Model Ops (LLMops) and How Big Orgs Work with LLMs

NIKOLAI MUKIN, YANDEX
Distributed Tracing with Opentelemetry in Go

NORVIK ALEXIAN, UCRAFT
Unveiling Prompt Engineering’s Vital Role and Techniques

Let's face it: your choice of platform can significantly impact the success of your marketing efforts. If the platform doesn't align with your target audience, it might not yield the desired results. Quora and Reddit have proven effective for many marketers, sparking discussions about Quora vs Reddit for affiliate marketing.
 
If you're already promoting products or services like Ucraft on other platforms such as your website or social media, considering Quora and Reddit can expand your reach. This involves understanding how to do affiliate marketing on Quora and Reddit affiliate marketing to connect with larger audiences, generate more leads and conversions, and ultimately increase your earnings.

Let's delve into practical advice for making money on Quora and Reddit. And for Ucraft affiliates, we'll provide additional guidance.

Tested and Successful Platforms for Affiliate Marketing: Quora and Reddit

When considering platforms for your marketing efforts, making informed choices is essential. As you wonder which platforms to pick, we've researched and are ready to help you choose.
 
But first of all, what is Quora, and what is Reddit? Both are popular web content rating and discussion websites. Each month, they attract around 700 million worldwide. According to statistics, Reddit alone boasts approximately 1.7 billion monthly visitors.
 
Both Quora and Reddit are among the most-visited websites globally, hosting a massive collection of forums on all topics imaginable.
 
Reddit also ranks the 6th most popular networking mobile app in the US. On Quora and Reddit, users can browse forums, stay updated with the latest communities, questions, and answers, and share content. They can also engage with others by commenting on their posts and voting on content.

Some Particular Facts about Reddit and Quora Marketing:

Before you begin with Reddit and Quora for affiliate marketing, you must know a few things. The following points address some of the most important questions about marketing on these platforms.

1. How to build an audience on Reddit?

Reddit users are known for their straightforwardness, so be ready for a mix of responses. Remain focused on your goal, but it might be time to reconsider your target audience if you're not getting the desired response. A large portion of Reddit's user base is between 18 and 29.

2. How to post links on Reddit and Quora?

You can't directly post affiliate links in your posts on Reddit or Quora. Instead, include your affiliate links in a blog post or a landing page. Then, link to that blog post or landing page in your answers and ads.

3. How to orient between paid and free promotion?

Both Reddit and Quora offer organic (free) and paid ad options. Many experts believe that free options can be as effective as paid ones when done correctly. Moreover, paid ads don't always guarantee more leads or commission.

4. How to succeed in your efforts?

Start by creating valuable content that answers the questions you've found. Your blog posts should address pressing issues in various fields. Then, share the link to your post on Reddit and Quora. In your post, include links to affiliate promotions.

Tips and Tricks for Affiliates on Quora and Reddit 

Having a solid plan wins it all. It would be best to have a strategy before promoting affiliate links on Quora and Reddit. Let's break it down into four manageable steps:

Step 1: Set up a landing page

First, you should create a landing page. Then you'll need to be creative to drive organic traffic to your affiliate landing page. This landing page could be a blog or any place to generate content and embed your affiliate links. This page is crucial for promoting products or services on Reddit and Quora. You'll then link to this page in your Reddit posts and comments.

Step 2: Improve your Reddit and Quora profiles

Having an account on these platforms is a good start, but you'll need to ensure your profile stands out among the numerous users.

Everything about your profile, from your picture to your bio and headline, should appear professional. Select a profile picture that presents a professional image, and avoid group shots.

Your headline and profile text are equally important as they demonstrate your credibility in your field. You may need help gaining traction if your text doesn't resonate with readers or show your expertise.

Step 3: Conduct research

Research relevant topics in your niche thoroughly, compile questions that attract user interest and create matching content. Build a list of your most relevant posts. Since Reddit and Quora are user-generated and community-driven and thrive on shareability, strive to become a valuable and helpful member before you start promoting.
 
Remember to stay relevant to your affiliate content. If you're promoting a website builder, focus on that niche. Look for the most popular questions, and don't underestimate the potential of newly posted questions. Responding promptly to new questions can give you an advantage in collecting upvotes. Engage with everyone, gain followers, and you'll see results.

Step 4: Write excellent answers

Once you've identified questions to answer in your niche, it's time to write excellent content on Quora and Reddit. Providing value should be your primary goal in your blog content and on the platforms. The Quora and Reddit communities aim to share knowledge, not just promote it. Focus on providing value, and promotions will follow.

Be original. Even if you're answering a question that's been answered before, don't just copy and paste. Make your responses stand out by researching the topic or adding extra relevant information.

Strive to provide the most comprehensive and helpful answer on the thread. Ensure all your facts are correct, and when discussing a "how-to" question, provide practical, real-life examples.

Consider your formatting and visuals when writing your answers. You can create hyperlinked text to your affiliate site, use bullet points, and mention other users and topics. Avoid writing lengthy blocks of text – break them up into paragraphs at logical breaks. Always keep your readers in mind as you write.

Remember, popular answers often have visuals. Images can catch viewers' attention and increase your chances of getting upvoted.

How to Promote on Quora/Reddit?

To avoid overloading you with information, here are a few essential pointers on how to promote affiliate links on Quora and Reddit, particularly if you're considering becoming a Ucraft affiliate.

• Ask questions related to website building. This topic attracts a broad audience. As you engage people in the comments and upvotes, you'll also have the chance to plug Ucraft subtly.

• Consider the 'Spaces' feature on Quora. It's a community area that you can join to share and discuss specific topics. Look for spaces related to your niche and join them.

• Be patient and consistent. Results may only appear after some time, but don't let that discourage you. Keep going, and the upvotes, followers, and, ultimately, the conversions will come.

• Stay active and regularly participate. Whether answering questions or posting, ensure you're present and engaging. This keeps you visible and relevant in your niche.

Final Thoughts

Have you ever wondered why people visit sites like Reddit and Quora? It's crucial to understand that each click, each page view, is driven by an underlying purpose—even if it seems subconscious.

There are three main reasons people come to Quora and Reddit:

1. For answers to complex questions that Google can’t provide,

2. For real-life examples and solutions, 

3. For entertainment.

It all comes down to a thirst for human connection, human responses. If you're promoting an affiliate, be transparent. Give a thorough account of what your followers can expect, explain the benefits of the product. Strive to become the voice people value, the opinion they seek out, the recommendation they trust. It all begins the moment you decide to start.

FAQs

1. What are the benefits of affiliate marketing on Quora?

Affiliate marketing on Quora offers access to a diverse audience, high SEO visibility, and the opportunity to build credibility by providing value-rich content.

 

2. What is Quora Affiliate Marketing?

Quora Affiliate Marketing involves promoting products or services in your Quora responses, earning commissions from actions taken through your unique affiliate links.

 

3. Is affiliate marketing worth it on Quora?

Yes, with strategic planning and consistent, valuable content, affiliate marketing on Quora can be a highly effective promotional strategy.

 

4. What are some tips for Quora success?

Success on Quora involves understanding your audience, providing valuable content, being consistent, adding a personal touch, respecting Quora's guidelines, and optimizing your profile.

 

5. How to optimize Reddit for affiliate marketing?

Maximize reach by engaging in relevant subreddits and consider using Reddit ads for greater visibility.

 

6. Can I share affiliate links on Reddit?

Yes, share affiliate links subtly within appropriate subreddits and comments, emphasizing value-addition, and consider embedding them in landing pages for best results.

• As of 2022, 55.79% of global website traffic came from mobile devices (Statista)

• 74% of website users will return to a site if it is mobile-friendly (WebFX)

• Customers are 67% more likely to make a purchase if the store is mobile-friendly (Forbes)

• 68% of companies that developed a mobile-first website saw a rise in sales (SAG IPL)

• 53.8% of web designers say “not being responsive on all devices” is a key reason why they redesign a website (GoodFirms)

Mobile-Friendly Websites: Then and Now

In 2013, the percentage of web traffic from mobile devices was just 16.2%, meaning that mobile traffic has more than tripled worldwide during the past decade. In line with this trend, Google has been rewarding mobile-friendly websites with higher search rankings and penalizing those that were not.

Today, more than half of all web traffic is mobile. What is even more interesting is that a recent Ericsson Mobility Report on smartphone analytics predicted a 25% increase in mobile traffic by 2025. To help you understand the big picture better, take a look at this infographic.

As you can see, mobile usability is on a meteoric rise, and all website owners need to embrace mobile-friendly practices to gain better Google rankings and conversions.

To help you develop a mobile-friendly website, we have compiled this guide of best practices. As a note, keep in mind that the Ucraft builder accounts for many of the mobile-friendliness elements we describe in this article. However, if you're looking to build a robust online store, it might be beneficial to hire an expert to design your eCommerce website. Therefore, think of this guide as more of a "checklist" of tweaks to compare your website against while you design and optimize it.

Mobile-Friendly Websites: Starting the Right Way

Before we go any further, let’s see what it means to have a mobile-friendly website. We have talked about this before, but let's recap! According to Google;

Mobile-first indexing means Google predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. Historically, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page's content when evaluating the relevance of a page to a user's query. However, since most users now access Google Search with a mobile device, Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes pages with the smartphone agent going forward.

Google recommends website owners a few best practices to implement when creating mobile-friendly websites. Of course, it is just the tip of the iceberg you see here, as things are more complex. But let's begin with the obvious:

• Avoid software not often found on phones – for instance, Flash.

• Use legible, large text – at least 12 pixels on at least 60% of the page.

• Employ content that auto-adjusts to screen size.

• Add links that are far enough apart to click on each separately.

Now, more than ever, you should improve your website to comply with Google's Page Experience Update. Experts talk and will talk plenty about Core Web Vitals and page experience signals, but let's refresh our memory on mobile-friendly website design and what it means to have a high-ranking, optimized website:

• Ensure that the Googlebot accesses and renders your content correctly;

• Have the same content on desktop and mobile;

• Ensure that the structured data you have on both versions of your site (desktop and mobile) is the same;

• Optimize your metadata so it is the same on both site's versions;

• Ads can harm your mobile page rankings, so make sure you follow the Better Ads Standard when you display ads on mobile devices;

• Optimize and minimize all your file sizes to improve load time, a ranking factor you should not overlook. When it comes to videos, make sure they are not too large, heavy, or slowing down your mobile pages;

• Improve overall page speed;

• Make sure the layout and order of content makes as much sense as it does on desktop;

• Before you publish website animations, make sure they work just as well on mobile as they work on the desktop version. Also, ensure that Google does not "see" animations on mobile as layout shifts;

• Double-check if JavaScript works well on the mobile version, as it sometimes might not;

• Disable pop-ups. Google calls them "intrusive interstitials," but you know it is all about those pop-ups that annoy users and lead to high bounce rates;

• When you design or optimize your site for mobile, always have the "fat finger" principles in mind. Touch-screen navigation can lead to unwanted clicks. Ensure your buttons, links, images, etc., are not too big or too small or blocking the path of a thumb trying to scroll.

We will discuss these matters in more detail in a few moments. However, what you need to understand right now is that, essentially, a mobile-friendly website is an intuitive and easy-to-use experience to visit on a smaller screen.

9 Tips for Mobile-Friendly Websites

Here are the best practices and techniques for mobile-friendly websites!

#1: Design with Mobile-First Indexing in Mind

Since Google uses Mobile-First Indexing, it makes sense to use this technique yourself. While most visitors want to see similarities between your mobile and desktop versions – like content, colors, and themes – they will still expect the structure to be different.

The idea is to stick to the essentials. But what is relevant?

While you could show many different navigation tabs for a desktop site, experts recommend sticking to around 4 to 8 items for a smaller screen.

You can save space by eliminating the "Home" tab, for instance. Instead, place your company logo at the top-left of your mobile screen, and make it so that it takes users to the home page.

If you need multi-level navigation, keep it simple with a vertically oriented dropdown functionality. Skip Flash – no matter how tempting – as it may not be available on your user’s phone. Otherwise, those users will not get to enjoy any special effects that you created with the plugin.

Also, as Google and all experts say, be careful with pop-ups. They can be hard to close on mobile devices, resulting in a poor visitors' experience and high bounce rates. 

If you take these tips seriously and design your website with a responsive mobile structure in mind, your mobile features will transfer to desktops, making them look the same.

#2: Perform Thorough Research If You Design Mobile after Desktop

If you don’t happen to have designed your website with mobile in mind, change is a little more difficult but not impossible. Your goal here is to start by gathering data using web analytics tools and UX design tips.

Some questions to ask at this point:

• What content do visitors find most important?

• What do they ignore?

• What path do visitors usually take through your website?

If you use ads for revenue – do not remove them. But if they are a secondary profit source, consider eliminating them on mobile to keep your website fast and clean. 

Lastly, run speed tests on different elements of your website. If any elements take a long time to load, consider whether they are critical to your website and whether you can reduce or eliminate them.

For reference – research by Google found that 53% of visitors would leave your mobile page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Now, page load and speed are crucial ranking factors, so do not ignore them! 

Your next step is to map out your content paths. A content path is a series of experiences that take your visitors to the desired outcome (i.e., a sale). Then, once you have wireframed them, you can start piecing them together with Ucraft's templates.

#3: Write Content with Mobile-Friendliness in Mind

The next best practice tip for mobile-friendly websites is all about content. Namely, writing content with mobile in mind. A common mistake is to squish content or reduce font sizes to fit smaller screens.

Rather than awkward formatting or endless zooming and sliding around the screen, ask yourself what content is most important and how much of it people can easily read and digest on a given screen size?

Here are a few suggestions to get started:

• Add in large, descriptive buttons. Apple suggests a size of 44x44 pts.  

• Increase font size. Choose at least 16px, with a line-height of 1.5.

• Skip mouse-over and hover effects.

#4: Optimize the Navigation and the Home Page

In addition to minimizing items listed on top of your website, keep in mind the following factors to help visitors easily navigate across a mobile device.

4.1. Very Important Pages

Give visitors the most critical web pages first. Then, if you have a website together with access to traffic analytics, take advantage of it. In addition, ask yourself a few more questions:

• Where are visitors going the most?

• What pages aren't they visiting?

• If you're using a silo strategy, which category pages are at the top?

• What actions do smartphone users take most often on your website? 

• Which pages on your website take visitors to what they came for most quickly and straightforwardly?

Let your answers guide you in creating new content in an educated manner. 

4.2. Search = Navigation

If your website is complex – like a large eCommerce site with many product categories, items, sizes, colors, etc. – consider including a search box rather than additional dropdown menus. Make sure to set up your search bar for different additional search terms and test to see if it works.

4.3. Navigation should be intuitive

All the work you've been doing so far has made your website intuitive and easy to use. The next step is to keep the menu straightforward. Some examples include adding a magnifying glass next to your search bar to clarify each feature's purpose. A few stacked lines can indicate a menu.

Let's hear what Google has to say about the home page, navigation, menus, and more:

• Keep calls to action front and center. Make secondary tasks available through menus or "below the fold" (the part of the webpage that people can't see without scrolling down). Make all of your users' most common tasks readily available.

• Keep menus short and sweet. Mobile users don't have the patience to scroll through a long list of options to find what they want. Instead, reorganize your menu to use as few items as possible without sacrificing usability.

• Make it easy to get back to the home page. Users expect to go back to the homepage when they tap the logo (usually placed in the top-left of a mobile page), and they become frustrated when it isn't available or doesn't work.

• Promotions (especially large app install interstitials such as full-page promotions that hide content and prompt users to install an app or download content) should be easily dismissible and not distract from the experience.

4.4. Display Your CTAs as Clearly as Possible

Speaking of CTAs, did you know that people should spot CTAs on mobile in less than two seconds? It is what the experts suggest, so businesses have a competitive edge. As you saw above, Google itself recommends you make your buttons visible front and center. While best practices for mobile-friendly websites encourage you to display calls to action so that anyone can see them and interact with them in the blink of an eye, balance is still key. Do not overwhelm your site with buttons and links, as they will confuse, distract, and annoy people using small screens.

4.5. Don't forget multiple screens

Your most interested visitors will likely visit your website repetitively and on multiple devices. So, keep your colors and themes the same, no matter the device.

Here are a few more questions to consider: 

• Can your visitors find your essential information, like address, phone number, or email, easily?

• Should you include a "call" button or store locator on your website?

Let's see an answer to this last question. What is the best practice of a mobile-friendly website? First, streamline the user experience so they can enjoy what you have to offer in as few steps as possible. In other words, you should take the most advantage of all website interactions on mobile and turn everything into a seamless user experience. If you have an eCommerce website or any business relying on people contacting you, the easiest way to provide a seamless marketing funnel and customer service experience is to make it easy for clients to contact you. 

Here are some tips:

• Make your phone number a clickable link (Click-to-Call);
• Clicking your headquarter/shop address should open up a the Google Maps app (that works!);
• Add short forms to make it easier for users to contact you or finish a purchase. We will talk more about forms in a few moments.

#5: Optimize Images to Boost Speed

You might feel we are repeating ourselves, and you are not wrong. We do, but for the right reasons. Website speed has such a big impact on the user experience and the customer journey, that, according to a 2022 study by Portent, websites that load in 1 second have a conversion rate 3 times higher than websites that load in 5 seconds. 

And when it comes to boosting speed, image optimization is one of the hottest topics in web design and SEO.

All images need to load quickly to avoid slowing down your loading time. To accomplish this, you need to optimize your images for mobile through either:

1. The old method: scale images by manipulating code. This keeps the file size the same but allows it to scale in size with the screen. But, this sometimes still results in longer load times.

OR

2. The newer method: scale the images using HTML markup. This stops the visitor's browser from downloading larger images than necessary. Unfortunately, not all browsers support this yet.

There are easier things you can try, too. For instance, when selecting images, pay attention to the file size, consider the format (i.e., JPG or PNG), resolution, and file name. Reduce as much as possible without destroying image quality.

#6: Boost Speed by Reducing HTTP Requests and Combining Files

When a user lands on your website, their browser will send a request to the server for the files it needs to load the site – and each file needs its own request. It happens every time they visit a new page. The more files needed, the longer the page will take to load.

Naturally, you would think reducing the number of file requests as much as possible would be the solution – and you would be right. But the problem here is that if you reduce the number of HTTP requests down to just one, it will be huge, resulting in a noticeable increase in website load time. Using smaller image sizes is an excellent place to start.

#7. Optimize the Forms on Your Mobile Site

Let's return to forms for a bit, as promised. The longer the form on a mobile device is, the more we have to type. Typing endlessly on mobile is annoying, even to the tech-savvy generation. The more annoying a website is, the faster we bounce away from it.

In other words, keep your forms short. Asking for too much information and forcing users to type or fill-in tiny fields or boxes puts users off quickly. Some forms are indeed mandatory – such as shopping checkout ones. However, here are some suggestions on how to optimize forms on mobile:

• Ask only for relevant information;

• Double-check your forms for errors and make sure you make all checkboxes visible and accessible;

• If your users need to pick a date, a visual calendar can prove extremely useful;

• For every field in the form, opt for the simplest, most intuitive input methods;

• In some cases, predictive text works well;

• Refrain from redirecting the user to a new page unless it is necessary.

#8. Typography Matters More than You Think

Have you ever visited a website on mobile only to stumble upon tiny fonts, endless walls of text, or colored headings that made no sense? Unfortunately, these things still happen. So let's understand reality better:

• Large blocks of text deter mobile users, as they have to scroll continually to reach the point you are trying to make (or the CTA you are trying to convince them to click).

• Experts do not recommend you to use many different font sizes on the same page. Nevertheless, if you do, ensure you make your points of focus very clear.

• Decide on a visual hierarchy and stick to it, even when you choose and use fonts.

• Font size matters. Remember that your users – of any age and visual prowess – use plenty of screen sizes, so all texts should be readable and understandable no matter what.

• The font type matters even more. Consider choosing simple, clear, and crisp fonts because no user should spend time or effort deciphering specific typography. They call them web-safe classic fonts for a reason. Instead, use specific fonts that adhere to UI/UX design principles and always keep minimalism at the forefront of your design.

#9: Test Your Website

As mobile-friendly websites go, testing your website every step of the way is probably the best practice to take to heart.

So by now, you have: 

• put together your website using Ucraft’s templates with mobile in mind; 

• optimized your content for different screen sizes, keeping font types and sizes in mind; 

• made everything touch-friendly; 

• arranged the Home page and navigation; and 

• chosen smaller images or played with code

That means you are ready to go live, right? Not quite.

Here comes arguably the most critical step: testing your website for mobile friendliness. The simplest way to do this is to use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test. Once you publish your website, you can pop in your URL, and Google will run a test with its "Googlebot smartphone."

You'll get a rating, in addition to the option to click through and see if there were any page loading issues. Here, you will get a complete list of pages with the load errors that showed up.

In addition, you should use other testing tools, like Browserstack and Web Developer. But what is the best way to test your website out for mobile friendliness?

Real-life testing. Using an actual device gives you the most accurate way of gauging how your mobile site will respond in reality. Grab as many different devices as you can and visit your website on them: iPhone and Samsung smartphones, iPads, tablets, etc.

When you do so, keep a checklist in mind: 

• How does the website look on each device? Great, or not-so-great?
• Are there any bugs? On which devices, and what kind?
• Is the UX friendly enough? For example, can you easily tap the button you want without suffering from "fat thumb" syndrome?

Of course, there are many devices out there – cost and time investment can make it impossible to test them all. If that's your case, use the tools linked to above or try out emulators or simulators – anything within your resources to ensure mobile-friendliness.

Mobile-Friendly Website Design and Optimization: FAQs

Before we leave you to your design and optimization tasks and to make things even more apparent to you, let's answer some of the most frequently asked questions we get from our users!

What is a Mobile-Friendly Website?

A mobile-friendly website is one that ensures a consistent user experience across a range of mobile devices. With Ucraft you can build an advanced website or online store that works perfectly across a range of modern devices. Every Ucraft template is designed with mobile-friendliness in mind.

What is Responsive Web Design?

Using this technique means that your HTML and your URL remain the same when visited on mobile. In addition, everything about your website adjusts to any screen size.

Google itself recommends Responsive Web Design. Here are some advantages: 

• The layout is flexible, detecting screen size and orientation automatically;

• The website's UX is similar across all browser and device types;

• You only need one URL.
  

In short, responsive web design is built with one layout and scales down (or up) appropriately based on device resolution through media queries and CSS manipulation techniques. So, for example, you could build it so that an image on a page always takes up 30% of the web page, regardless of the screen width, and the other 70% scales accordingly. This way, you're guaranteed to cover for all possibilities and serve a web page optimized for each device.

It seems complicated to do it by yourself, as website responsiveness implies you have to design infinite layouts for infinite screen sizes, which, of course, involves a lot of coding. However, things are easier than they seem. If you use Ucraft as your website builder, you can easily choose website templates that allow you to design a mobile-responsive website without learning how to code.

What is Dynamic Serving?

The dynamic serving technique uses the same URL no matter the device, but the code version is different depending on the device. But is it ok to have more than one configuration on your website? Google says it is.

It is OK to use more than one configuration for your site. Check that on a page-level basis; each configuration provides the correct indications to search engines. If you're using a hybrid responsive design (for example, responsive but with images dynamically served), Google still considers that responsive since the page is nearly the same.

Can I Create Separate URLs for Desktop and Mobile Versions?

Yes, you can. This technique creates an entirely separate URL for the desktop and the mobile version, respectively. Typically, the mobile version looks something like www.m.yourdomain.com or www.yourdomain.com/mobile. You can have a standalone mobile website version without a desktop equivalent. Google recommends that a mobile-only website version build a reputation on its own (unique, relevant, high-quality content, good internal and external links, optimized files, etc.).

With these questions answered, let's dive into our checklist!

Is the Google Mobile-Friendly Test Result the Same with Google's Page Speed Insights UX Score?

We will let Google itself answer this question, as this is their game!

The Mobile-Friendly Test uses Googlebot to fetch the page. PageSpeed Insights does not use Googlebot but fetches the page to mimic how a real user fetches the page. It means that the Mobile-Friendly Test follows robots.txt rules and PSI does not. If Googlebot is blocked from fetching the page, JavaScript, CSS, or other resources, the Mobile-Friendly Test may not detect a mobile-friendly page. To find out if your page is mobile-friendly, use the Mobile-Friendly Test.

Conclusion

Given the research, it's integral to design your website to be mobile-friendly. Google ranks websites by judging their mobile-friendliness, and people use mobile devices more than desktops to access the internet. And with so many different screen sizes, your website needs to be capable of adjusting to each one.

So to summarize our "checklist" for a mobile-friendly website: 

• Go with a Responsive Web Design if possible. It will keep your site interface the most similar across a wide array of devices and maintain a single web address.
• Focus on designing for mobile-first – do that, and the desktop version will take care of itself.
• When putting the site together, increase your font size, skip mouse-over type effects, and keep buttons large and separate, so they're easy to tap.
• Don't forget to optimize images and combine files to reduce load time.
• Take care of the content you write and the typography you use.
• Keep all your forms short and relevant.
• Lastly – test your site (at every stage if you can). Use real devices when possible. 

Run through, test, and tweak these things and you'll be well on your way to a mobile-friendly website and higher Google rankings.

Well, here are 6 reasons why that could be happening.

1. You don’t use real-life images

In the world of eCommerce, the image is the product. You might think you’re selling toys, laptops, or conference tickets, but what you’re really selling are images on your website. Images are what your customers are buying, or in the case of failing stores, not buying.

The importance of quality imagery, both in terms of making your offering more attractive and ensuring the consistency of your visual branding, is probably not news to you. What might be news, or at the very least, what seems to be not quite understood by many of your peers, is that product photos are absolutely not enough, no matter how well-executed.

Customers are expecting more than still images of your product against a neutral background. And when we say expecting, we mean that a lot of them would rather click away to another store than click on “Add to Cart”.

Source: Digital Information World

So, if your store doesn’t feature photos of your product in real-life scenarios, used by real people, solving real problems, and you’re wondering why you’re having trouble converting visitors to buyers, there’s your answer. 

Real-life images not only make your product more visually appealing but also eliminate decision fatigue and help your customers make easier choices by giving them a better sense of how your product looks, feels, and functions in the real world. But more importantly, real-life images make your store and, ultimately, your brand more human and relatable.

At first glance, this might seem to only apply to physical products. But, it holds true no matter what you’re selling. Offering consultancy services? Show photos of your experts in the midst of a session. An audiobook? Show a customer enjoying your content on a morning run. A digital poster? Show how it looks printed out, framed, and placed on a wall. No matter how intangible what you’re selling, there is always a way to put it into a real-life context.

HOT TIP: Make your real-life images even more real by featuring real people, as opposed to models. Include people of diverse ages, sizes, backgrounds, etc., and make sure that your customers find themselves in these images. This will not only differentiate you from most of your competition but also help build an emotional connection with your target audience.

2. You don’t actively solicit reviews

Customers trust other customers more than they will ever trust any brand, and that’s a fact. Since we’ve established that you’re not a rookie, we won’t go into detail about the importance of social proof and the positive relationship between customer feedback and brand credibility. However, while you might be experienced enough to not make the detrimental blunder of censoring reviews and comments, you might still be making the mistake of not proactively generating social proof.

Take an audit of your online store right now. If at least 10% of your customers haven’t left feedback on your website, and if each one of your products doesn’t have at least 2-3 reviews, you’re doing something wrong.

Source: Insider Intelligence

Keep in mind that customers aren’t just reading reviews to learn about this or that product. Much more importantly, they are checking to see if your store is trustworthy - to see whether others have had problems with payments or deliveries, to see how you respond to negative feedback, and, perhaps most importantly, to see whether anyone is actually buying from you.

Yes, surprisingly, a big reason why an increase in social proof leads to increased conversions has less to do with what the reviews say, and more with the existence of reviews as proof that others are buying from your store. In all probability, it’s all about the psychological phenomenon called the Bandwagon Effect. In layman's terms, people are more inclined to do something if they witness others doing so. This doesn’t mean you should pay no attention to negative feedback, it means it’s worth risking a few bad comments to increase the overall number of reviews on your website.

The mistake many failing eCommerce stores do is not going beyond the simple act of making it possible for people to leave feedback on their website. Here’s a very short list of things you can do to not be one of them:

- Create a communication flow that reminds and motivates customers to leave a review after every purchase.
- Register your store on review aggregators: Yelp-type platforms that collect and display reviews of different businesses.
- Offer a little perk. For instance, 10% off their next order would not only encourage a review but also entice customers to come back for another purchase.

HOT TIP: Once you follow our advice and get flooded with reviews, why not use them in your social media marketing? You could create a very engaging content series where someone from your team reads and responds to user reviews, demonstrating just how transparent your brand is and how much you value customer opinions.

3. You don’t allow guest checkout

We told you this wouldn’t be surprising. And yet, it’s a mistake that keeps happening.

By this point, it should be a no-brainer that any extra step in your checkout flow is a gift to your competitors. And if that extra step requires submitting personal information, it’s an even bigger gift.

For at least the third year in a row, studies exploring the causes of cart abandonment pinpoint mandatory registration as the second biggest reason for cart abandonment (the first one being extra costs). But still, a considerable number of eCommerce stores continue forcing customers to create an account before they can submit an order.

Source: Baymard Institute

And while the reason why so many online stores do this is quite understandable (after all, data is everything), losing every 4th potential customer does seem too high of a cost. What you can do instead is offer a first-time-buyer coupon that can be activated only by creating an account. And even then, make sure creating an account doesn’t take a second longer than it absolutely has to.

HOT TIP: Once you get rid of mandatory registration, advertise it on your homepage. A simple “Shop without creating an account” will do.

4. You don’t use short-form videos

You know how powerful social media is for eCommerce marketing. But do you know what the most powerful type of content is? Well, as you might have already guessed from the heading of this section, it's the short-form video. Specifically, the made-for-mobile vertical videos like TikToks, Instagram Reels, and Youtube shorts. And when we say most powerful, we’re not just talking about engagement rates, impressions, and other social media KPIs. We’re talking about overall return on investment - conversions achieved for resources spent.

Source: Hubspot

We won’t bore you with the technical details, but the key takeaway from this graph and the very illuminating study behind it is that Reels, TikToks, and Youtube shorts are so effective for social media growth, user engagement, and customer acquisition that not using them is simply costing you sales. So, if short-form video is not an integral part of your online marketing strategy, it’s time to rethink your efforts.

There are quite a few reasons why this type of video offers such a high return compared to other social media content. Let’s use Instagram Reels as an example.

First, making Reels is cheap and easy. Instagram provides all the tools to make and edit videos, add trending audio and target the right audience, all for free. Go to Instagram now and click on any Reel on your Explore Feed. Scroll a little (but be careful to not get stuck for hours) and pay attention to how they’re made. What you’ll notice is that most of them are not exactly professionally shot high-definition videos with a manicured script and perfect acting. Most aren’t even original - they are remakes of trending videos, with tiny twists. And yet, they’ve done well enough to appear in your Explore Feed. So yes, it’s not about the resources spent. It’s about following the trends and adding something of your own.

Second, Reels reach more people. You don’t have to go viral to appear in the Explore Feed, and you don’t need to have a large following to begin with. If you scroll through Reels long enough, you’ll come across quite a few videos that have just a few likes and comments, and yet, they are being shown to people not following the account. The reason is simple - the Instagram algorithm favors Reels more than any other type of content. So yes, even your lowest-performing Reels have a much higher chance of being shown to people outside your following, with no ad spending.

Third, Reels are excellent at finding the right people. It’s quite amazing how fast the Instagram algorithm figures out what exactly you’re interested in and starts curating the right content. You interact with one or two cooking videos, and almost instantly, the rest of your Reels are food reviews, restaurant recommendations, and recipes. And the targeting doesn’t stop there - if you interact with a Reel on vegetarian food, rest assured you’ll be flooded with everything about being a vegetarian. In short, you don’t have to worry about finding your audience - they will find you.

So yes, these bite-sized videos might be catastrophic for our attention spans, but they are definitely good for business.

HOT TIP: According to multiple studies, the majority of consumers (as high as 79%) prefer brands that make authentic, amateur-looking videos. In fact, a clip shot on your phone is more likely to succeed than one produced with a professional camera. So, don’t be afraid to look “cheap”.

5. You don’t make your return policy work for you

Buying is always a risk. Buying online is doubly so. That’s why returns exist. And that’s why the Return Policy page is one of the musts for any eCommerce store. And since a certain return and refund window is mandated by law, we are pretty confident that there’s a page describing your policy somewhere on your website.

However, what you might be doing wrong is underestimating the importance of your return policy, not communicating it to customers and not doing literally everything in your power to make the return and refund process as seamless as possible. 

While many store owners seem to think of the Return Policy as just a boilerplate text that no one really reads, customer behavior shows the exact opposite.

Source: UPS

If you think this number is surprising, here is another one. A recent study by Narvar found that 96% of buyers mention the ease of the return and refund process as a determining factor in their buying decision. So, if you’ve been racking your brain for a reason why your store isn’t working as well as it should, it might be (quite literally) hidden in your return policy.

Go over the text, look at it from the point of view of a first-time customer, and ask yourself, “What can we do to make customers believe that buying from our store entails no risk?”. Maybe you can go beyond the mandatory window and offer a longer return period. Or, you might be able to ease some of the conditions and requirements. Or, you can rewrite the whole thing to make it sound less like a list of warnings, disclaimers, and stipulations, and more like a promise of a risk-free purchase.

You’re probably thinking that this will inevitably result in more returns. And most probably, you are right. But, will it really harm your bottom line in the long term? Here is another number, from the same Narvar study: 95% of consumers have returned to shop from a brand after a positive return experience. What this piece of data suggests is very interesting - it essentially says that a painless return is like an ad that says, “Buying from this store is not a risk”.

So, in essence, here is the trade-off: 

• Option one - you have a strict and complicated return policy that not only scares away potential first-time buyers but also turns anyone that tries to return a product into a hater of your brand.
• Option two - you have an easy and customer-favoring policy that results in more returns, but also leads to more first-time buyers and more satisfied customers. 

Choose wisely.

HOT TIP: This is going to sound like what we said in the guest checkout section, but here it is anyway. Once you’ve made your return policy great, communicate it. Put it right on your homepage. Add a short summary of it to every product page. You could even make a video showing how easy it is to return things.

6. You lie to your customers

Customers tend to not like being deceived. Painfully obvious, isn’t it? And yet, so many online stores keep misleading customers just to get a sale.

Whether the product doesn’t match the image, something doesn’t work as advertised, there’s an important clause buried in fine print or the invoice shows some previously undisclosed charge, every little lie is a slap to your brand reputation. And keep in mind, you’re not just losing the customer you’ve lied to, you’re losing anyone who ever hears about your brand from this customer, be it in person, on social media, or on review platforms.

Source: Harvard Business Review

So, as enticing as it might seem to exaggerate, play down, hide or downright make up a thing or two to get that “Add to Cart” click, in the long run, it’s just not worth it.

HOT TIP: Do not lie to customers.

One Final Thought

The great news about all of these eCommerce mistakes is that all of them are reversible and correctable. And so are any other failures you might be having. In fact, the only truly fatal mistake you could make is letting your mistakes keep you from going forward.

Let’s get started and go through the best practices for creating a monthly newsletter, as well as valuable tips to make it a fan favorite!

What Monthly Newsletter Helps You Achieve?

Despite hundreds of emails users receive nowadays, newsletters are still effective. Monthly newsletters can be different - just like the businesses that send them. They can include various content - from monthly industry highlights to articles, guides, and visuals.

When planning an engaging newsletter, one should be aware that its content should reflect the most recent updates. But before we dive into the intricacies of creating a newsletter, let’s address the elephant in the room - its benefits.

Here we have a list of what creating a monthly email newsletter can do for your business:

• Strengthening Customer Relationships: You might be surprised that maintaining customer loyalty is something achievable through email newsletters. They are a great way to promote repeat purchases. Plus, who doesn't love a good newsletter?

• Enhancing Brand Visibility: Monthly newsletters foster not only familiarity with your brand, but also the likelihood of choosing your products and services if needed.

• Demonstrating Your Expertise: Nowadays, positioning yourself as a trusted resource is very attractive to customers, so you can showcase your authority by sharing insights and analyzing trends. Flex some expertise muscles, will you?

• Increasing Website Traffic: Yes, people do click on links in emails they get, boosting traffic and SEO of websites and blogs. Especially if those are engaging emails, like the one you can create with this article!

• Streamlining Sales Funnel: The “news” part of the letter never stopped businesses straight up promoting their products. You’re free to guide subscribers toward making a purchase, and later we’ll discuss how not to overdo it by placing CTA’s correctly. But in the end, don’t deny yourself a little shameless self-promotion.

Two Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start

All of the abovementioned benefits are worthy of achieving, but before you start delving into creating a newsletter, you should really ask yourself the following two questions:

1. What is the priority?

It’s essential to prioritize your goals based on what’s the most important for your particular brand. The benefits of sending monthly newsletters can be tailored to your needs. If, let’s say, you are running a business analytics service, you might want to focus on demonstrating your expertise and increasing customer retention. And if, for example, your business is media, you will prioritize conversion and partnership opportunities. Make sure to formulate the goals you want to achieve. It will simplify defining your newsletter’s strategy, frequency, and content.

2. Is it Feasible?

Now that your goals are set, think: is a monthly newsletter the best way to achieve them? Do you have enough resources to create and maintain one? In your specific case, the goals you’ve set might be achieved by a less costly marketing activity. Weigh all the pros and cons, and if you think a monthly newsletter might not be it, you can always go back to this blog post and start one!

Newsletter Content to Keep Your Readers Engaged

Now, let’s talk content. You’ve set your goals and established that a monthly newsletter is the best way to achieve them? Great! It’s time to decide what type of content subscribers will see when opening your “chain letter”. Decision making won’t take long since we’ve compiled the three types of what your monthly newsletter can carry inside:

1. Company RoundUp News

You want to make sure your company has a lot going on if you’re resorting to this one. Important updates, current promotions, upcoming events, and much more can be included into this. Just tell them about the best things that are going on with your business. This way, you can keep your customers informed and engaged with your services and products.

2. Industry Updates

This includes news about the industry you operate in. Thus, it may be more relevant if you have a narrow professional business-oriented target audience. Nonetheless, sending industry-related newsletters will be effective for both B2B and broader audiences.

3. Curated News

Creating a curated newsletter precipitate carefully selecting what content your readers find valuable and engaging. Gathering online content from multiple sources, you must carefully consider the topicality that resonates the most. If you succeed in creating a monthly digest that tackles subscribers’ interest and spares them from surfing the web, the “unsubscribe” button won’t ever be touched.

Tips for Keeping Your Newsletter Relevant

After deciding what the purpose and contents of your newsletter are, one might wonder: how do I keep it interesting enough for people to stay subscribed? The answer is more complex than it seems, but here are three main tips that will help with it:

• Keep It Fresh: Even news about your company colonizing Mars won’t spark any interest if it was circulating for two months before being included in your newsletter.

• Don’t Miss Anything: You definitely don’t want to skip the news about colonizing Mars because someone will surely cover it. Be attentive to what is happening within or outside your business, and make sure to include it.

• Make it Unsubscribable: A counterintuitive advice that will make your subscribers’ attention reciprocal. Make it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe. You don’t want to hold your customers hostage, do you?

Creating a Great Newsletter

Now when we get to writing and designing a monthly newsletter, it becomes obvious that the process is not too different from creating any other type of newsletter. We’ve already covered the step-by-step process of writing one in our comprehensive Email Marketing Guide. Here we’ll focus on points that are specifically essential to the monthly newsletter:

Visual Highlights

Your monthly newsletter will usually be sent once a month - and there is always so much to tell! The emails will tend to be long, so it’s important to adjust the design of the headline for better navigation. You want your readers to go through your newsletter’s layout smoothly, so pay attention to it.

You can use subheadings with the key information so your readers can skim through and choose the info they specifically want to spend their time reading. Also make sure to leave enough blank spaces to make your content easily digestible.

Keeping it Concise

If your newsletter is filled with topics, you’ll need to make sure your readers are not overwhelmed. Put just enough information for them to choose what interests them the most. Keep it to the point, include headlines and key messages to convey the most critical info.

However, this approach might lead you to giving away too much. Be wary of putting all eggs in one basket! If the goal of your newsletter is to generate traffic, give your subscribers little enough to arouse their curiosity. For example, you can include data or facts about outcomes, the context of which will make people want the full story.

Don’t Get Too Pushy With CTAs

We know, the temptation is too strong. After all, didn't we get into this to increase engagement? But to take an unrighteous path to put CTA buttons after every sentence means confusion for your customers. Focus on putting a couple of CTAs under the key items of your newsletter. The rest can be included as links within your headlines and body paragraphs.

Analyzing and Testing Your Newsletter's Effectiveness

Your monthly newsletter is meticulously crafted. The inboxes of your eager subscribers are filled. What’s next? Doubtless, you want to be certain about the impact your newsletter has. How do we know the message is not only reaching the audience but truly resonates with it? The answer lies in analyzing its effectiveness. We’ll show you the key elements you’d need to keep an eye on:

Analysis

Everything that happens to the monthly newsletter is measurable after it’s been sent. Monitoring your metrics equals maximizing your newsletter’s potential. For keeping track and analyzing them, here in Ucraft we use Intercom. It helps a great deal in dealing with open rates, number of clicks, subscriptions, deliverability and anger about being marked as “spam”. Intercom allows you to keep an eye on all these and much more. In that way, you can accurately adjust your strategy to have the best results.

Testing

Sounds like we should have put this paragraph before the previous one, but let's not jump to conclusions. Unlike only analyzing the metrics your newsletter has shown so far, testing is more of a “trial-and-error” thing. Except errors are not real and benefit your newsletter.

With the already mentioned Intercom, you can create two versions of one email, and send it to a small percentage of subscribers. One half will get option A, and the other half, respectively, option “F”. Just kidding, they’ll receive option “B” as usual. Thus, based on results you’ve selected, you can choose what works best for you subscribers.

Our advice is to experiment. Do it with amounts of text, topics, types of content and design. Experiment with every with all the features we’ve mentioned and watch yourself creating a champion monthly newsletter.

Conclusion: Stop Reading, Go Create Your Monthly Newsletter

Now that you have learned the basics of crafting a fantastic monthly newsletter, it's time to put these tips into action! Go for it and keep these three pearls of wisdom in mind: keep it fresh, don't miss a beat, and analyze results. Remember, your newsletter is an extension of your brand, so don't be afraid to inject your personality and have some fun with it. And don't forget to make it easy for subscribers to opt-out, although with your now-brilliant newsletters, why would they want to? They will surely thank you for it!

Like with any other creative process, we know that sometimes you feel like it's a losing game. This is why we decided to sit and talk with Tom, Director Strategist from Studio Dumbar and Karen, Art Director from formascope to hear their takes. From discussing timeless trends in logo design to the mistakes first-timers should avoid, this blog post is packed with insightful tips and tricks. Let's dive right in!

Tom, Karen, thank you so much for being part of this. We admire your work and would like to shed some light on your companies for our readers.

1. Can you please tell us how you got started? How long have you been in the industry?

Tom, Studio Dumbar: The answer may surprise you: we've been around since 1977. Gert Dumbar, hence the name, started the studio while designing the identity for the Dutch Railways.

Several elements from these early days are still very much there in the studio:

• The international nature of the team.

• Creating visual identities.

• The innate drive to create outstanding, groundbreaking work.

Karen, formascope: In our case, five years ago we felt like the industry needed some shaking up. formascope came in hot with a mission to bring a bold new perspective to the branding game. We knew there was a gap in the industry that needed filling, so we went against the grain and flipped traditional branding conventions on their head. And so far, so good.

2. Ever since you started paving your way in the industry, you know better than anyone that trends come and go. But are there some timeless trends in logo design according to you?

T: You could say that trends, by definition, are not timeless; that's why they're called trends. Timelessness is not a stylistic idea or paradigm. I think it is achieved by getting to the core of a project and bringing that to expression through design without any stylistic dogma's or preconceptions.

K: I believe simplicity and memorability are key when crafting a timeless logo. Don't go over the top using trendy effects, focus on designing straightforward forms instead. A timeless logo remains relevant and recognizable across changing cultural and technological contexts. Keeping it simple and memorable will help you make it stand the test of time.

3. Is incorporating temporary design trends into your logo design worth it, given they will change? 

T: Referring to the point I just made: you should be rather independent of trends in your approach. It means that you are open to them; it is not prohibited to relate to trends, but don't follow them blindly. Keep your creative sovereignty.

K: I think it all boils down to the industry you're in. For short-term events like conferences, it's vital to infuse current trends into your identity for maximum relatability. But a more timeless approach is necessary for long-term, globally recognized brands to avoid fleeting fads. The ultimate goal is to create an identity that stays impactful and relevant for years to come, so carefully considering how it will be perceived down the line is crucial.

4. Let's talk a bit about newbie designers. What are some mistakes first-timers need to avoid when designing logos? 

T: Thinking it is only about the logo would be a mistake. The logo is essential, but what matters most, in the end, is the overall visual experience that you create. Branding is something holistic; you cannot solely focus on one element. It is how you bring everything together: every touch point, every moment, every situation, every time again.

K: Shutting down during the creative process. Sometimes you get so fixated on your design that you miss out on something important. So, share your designs with others, invite constructive criticism, and keep an open mind. And remember, mastering design isn't a quick fix; it takes a certain mindset and continuous learning and practice.

5. And let's go back to the trends for a second. What are the top design trends for 2023?

T: I don't believe so much in predictions. I think every designer should focus on doing great work and see what trends emerge along the way. 

K: AI-designed. It's the ultimate trend transforming the design industry before our eyes. Designers experiment with AI, as it learns from our requests. Eventually, it will become the ideal tool for solving tasks professionally. It's too early to judge, but fascinating to observe.

And to finalize, I’d like to ask each of you one last question if you don’t mind.

6. Tom, can you tell us how one avoids losing their identity when following trends, in logo design or otherwise?

T: If you are mainly following trends, you are following rather than creating. It means you’re not bringing your own personality and vision into the mix; you’re not exploring new ways and ideas. If you only follow trends, you are basically just a mirror of what goes on around you.

7. And the last one for you, Karen. You’ve mentioned that simplicity and memorability should be designers’ go-to tips. Can you share with us some really good logo/branding examples that reflect those principles?

K: If I am to narrow down my list to couple of examples, these are the cases I’d love to highlight: 

• Rebranding of Burger King by JKR

• Rebranding of F1 by Wieden+Kennedy

• Branding of Polestar by Stockholm Design Lab

I think they stand out for their exceptional concepts, strategies and design systems.

Wrapping up 

Here you go! We hope that the expert tips from Tom and Karen have shed some light on how to approach logo design and create a face for your brand that doesn't blend in. And as for the top logo trends for 2023, we have a winner - AI. And only time will tell for the rest. Remember that your ultimate goal is to create an impactful, relevant, and memorable identity for years to come. So, embrace the journey and keep on creating, and who knows, maybe your logo will become the next iconic design. 

If you're looking for more inspiration and guidance in your creative journey, check out the following blogs:

Expert Tips on Creating Memorable Logos From Ucraft Design Team
What Makes a Good Logo: The Principles of Great Logo Design
8 design tips on how to create your company logo 

About time to design your next logo? Try out our free logo maker and create a killer design with a seamless user experience.

If you need clarification on what affiliate marketing entails, check out our post on the basics of affiliate marketing before you delve deeper. And if you're already in the loop and working as an affiliate, this article is definitely for you.

What is Affiliate Lead Generation?

Affiliate lead generation is a marketing strategy that combines affiliate marketing and lead generation. In affiliate lead generation, businesses partner with affiliates who promote their products or services to their audience and capture leads for the business in exchange for a commission. In short, attracting new leads is the bread and butter of any successful affiliate marketing endeavor. 

Lead generation tactics usually include a call-to-action (CTA) that encourages potential customers to provide their contact information, such as an email address or phone number, in exchange for a free resource or offer. These leads are then passed on to the business being represented, allowing them to nurture the lead and encourage them to make a purchase. 

However, the number of leads you acquire can often fluctuate. A decrease in leads can lead to a subsequent decrease in motivation (and vice versa), so it's essential to keep your focus and continue moving forward, even if things don't always go as planned.

So, if you need help attracting your desired percentage of leads, look no further than this article, where we dive into several ways you can generate leads as an affiliate.

How to Generate Leads in Affiliate Marketing?

There are several ways you can acquire more leads in affiliate marketing. In fact, if you ask a veteran affiliate, they'll most likely pull out a whole list. However, if you're stuck and want to return to the basics of effective lead generation, we recommend sticking to the most tried and tested methods.

Leverage Content Marketing

A tried and tested way of generating more leads is providing people with high-quality content that gives value to your target audience, such as blog posts, videos, informative email marketing campaigns, and posts on social media channels. Ensure your content includes a clear call-to-action (CTA) that encourages readers to sign up for your email list or download a lead magnet such as a discount code. Remember to include your affiliate link in your content so any purchases or sign-ups lead back to your efforts.

Speaking of social media, sharing the brand or product you're representing with your followers is also a great way to encourage more people to invest in what you're selling. If you already have a substantial social media presence, you're in luck!

Avoid disappointing or discouraging your followers by recommending something that doesn't fit your brand. For example, if you're into fitness, it may not be the best idea to become an affiliate for an online fast food delivery service or sell weight-loss products as a body-positive influencer. However, if you remain genuine, your followers are more likely to check out what you have to offer.

What if you don't have a substantial amount of followers? No worries! You can still recommend the product or service you're representing to your friends and acquaintances. They may even thank you for offering something useful and solving a significant problem for them.

Use Paid Advertising

Use paid advertising platforms, such as Google Ads or Meta Ads, to drive targeted traffic to your affiliate offers and capture leads.

Google Ads are a great way of attracting leads, especially if you provide enticing headlines and captions. It may seem tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, you're already halfway towards generating new leads and taking your affiliate marketing efforts to the next level.

Paid advertisements are an excellent choice for those who don't have a significant social media presence but still want to acquire new leads through less time-consuming ways. All you have to do is set up your ads and track their progress. 

Optimize Your Website

The easiest and least time-consuming way of generating leads is to provide links to your chosen affiliate program on a website or landing page. Regardless of the type of platform or business you operate, it's likely that you're recommending products or services that align with your vision or brand (if not, you may want to rethink your strategy).

Allocate a specific section on your website to link the product or service you're recommending, and take the necessary steps to represent the brand you're affiliated with in an engaging way. Imagery and eye-catching CTAs can make a significant difference, too, so make sure to invest some time in making your on-site recommendations stand out.

If you don't have a website or a landing page to link back to your program, no worries! You can create both with Ucraft.

Be Active in Online Communities

If you think the world wide web has completely shifted to social media platforms, you couldn't be any further from the truth. Communities like Reddit and Quora have millions of users logging in every day to discuss everything and anything, and, oftentimes, seek advice. As an affiliate, you're there to generate leads, but as a fellow forum member, you're also there to help people looking for the right products, services, subscriptions, or solutions (depending on the program you've signed up for).

Say you're a Ucraft affiliate looking to promote our website builder. You've used it yourself and are familiar with all of the benefits, and now you want to start recommending our solution to other people. Great! Simply sign up for an online community of your choice, find relevant subtopics, and start recommending. Just don't forget to post your affiliate link so your efforts won't be wasted.

Moreover, most affiliate programs, including ours, provide a comprehensive dashboard where you can track your progress in real time and see the number of new leads coming in on a daily basis. Once you begin to see that number go up, there's no stopping you!

Key Takeaways

Overall, generating leads in affiliate marketing requires a combination of effective marketing strategies, high-quality content, and a focus on building relationships with your target audience. Using these tactics, you can capture leads and drive revenue for your business through affiliate marketing.

Even though we've only covered four main ways of acquiring new leads in affiliate marketing, this is more than enough to get you out of a lead-generating rut or even get you started on a new affiliate journey. With time, patience, precision, and effort, you'll generate new leads in no time!

FAQs

What is lead generation and how does it work?

Lead generation refers to the process of identifying and cultivating potential customers, or "leads," for a business's products or services. It aims to generate interest in what a company has to offer and capture the contact information of those interested in learning more.

 

How can a business get more affiliate leads?

To get more affiliate leads, companies can take the following steps:

 

1. Build a strong affiliate program
2. Find the right affiliates
3. Use targeted marketing

 

Is lead generation the same as affiliate marketing?

No, lead generation and affiliate marketing are not the same, but they are related in some ways.

The primary purpose of affiliate marketing is to drive sales and generate revenue for the business, while the goal of lead generation is to capture contact information and move potential customers toward a purchase.

 

Can we use affiliate marketing for lead generation?

Yes, you can. In affiliate marketing, to generate more leads consider including a call-to-action that encourages potential customers to provide their contact information: email address or phone number, in exchange for a free resource or offer.

 

What is the difference between lead generation and lead nurturing?

Lead generation is the process of attracting and capturing the interest of potential customers for a business's products or services. On the other hand, lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with potential customers and guiding them through the sales funnel toward a purchase.

Part 1: Analyzing Industry Demand to Create Useful Products
Part 2: Developing, Launching, and Fine-Tuning Your SaaS Product

However, there's one topic we still need to tackle, and that's how to market a SaaS product after the development and launch stages have been completed.

Due to their convenience, the demand for SaaS products is constantly growing, resulting in higher competition. Consequently, companies providing SaaS should be at the top of their game to thrive and not lose out to their competitors or fall entirely off the map. 

This is where a viable and actionable SaaS marketing strategy comes in. It allows businesses to directly reach the audience interested in their products and forge meaningful connections with customers over time. Therefore, it's essential to understand how SaaS marketing works and what strategies you can use to help your brand grow.

To help you with this, we've assembled a comprehensive guide on what it takes to build a successful SaaS marketing strategy, and we'll start by discussing the basics.

What is a SaaS Funnel?

In short, the SaaS funnel illustrates a customer's journey from discovering your product to deciding to sign up or make a purchase. On this path, it's necessary to consider all the customer's needs, questions, and motives for making the final purchase decision. That being said, applying the sales funnel concept means identifying how a customer decides to make a purchase and then using this information to build communication with them.

Remember, the SaaS sales funnel is more complex than simple eCommerce platform marketing: it has more steps, and most of the everyday actions take place in the CRM system instead of directly on the website.

How to Market Your SaaS Business Effectively?

Marketing your SaaS business is by no means an easy feat. It requires time, effort, resources, and careful planning. To help you navigate the world of SaaS marketing, we have gathered a list of SaaS growth techniques and channels to compete, survive, and thrive in the software industry.

Top SaaS Marketing Techniques

To begin marketing your SaaS marketing journey, you need to step back and understand the outcomes you want to achieve. After that, research and pinpoint some of the highest-performing SaaS marketing techniques and how to use them to achieve your goals.

To help you out, we've compiled a list of some of the most effective techniques below:

1. Implement a Content Marketing Strategy

Many veteran SaaS marketers use content marketing to build brand awareness, drive visitors to a website, and increase software subscriptions. In addition, it is essential to educate potential customers about your SaaS product so that they know exactly what benefits they’ll receive. Research demonstrates that people are 131% more likely to buy from brands that have educated them through their content. 

2. Focus on Email Marketing

Although some people may claim that email marketing is no longer relevant, this is far from the truth! To this day, email marketing campaigns make up an integral part of any marketing strategy while also being a highly effective tool for sales. Whether you want to focus on customer retention or achieve exceptional ROI, email marketing can help you grow your SaaS business. However, once you decide to implement emails into your marketing strategy, you need to consider your brand requirements since this ultimately determines the tools you choose.

3. Don't Forget About Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

When it comes to increasing organic traffic to your website, SEO plays a fundamental role. Typically, you need to focus on two categories: on-page and off-page SEO. An effective combination of these two strategies has helped companies attract millions of visitors organically, and some of your most successful competitors have put a lot into their SEO strategy. You can do the same by conducting thorough keyword research and optimizing your website accordingly. Over time, you will also need to focus on key points such as website protection, bot integration, user experience, etc.

4. Offer Free Trials to Gain Subscriptions

Offering potential customers free trials is one of the fastest ways to get more software subscriptions. However, after a free trial, your customers may want to shift to purchasing a paid plan, which means you should keep a close eye on payment methods. Thus, the chances of a potential customer switching from a free trial to a paid one are pretty good if you play your cards right. If you plan on making multiple business transactions and receiving payments, consider online payment software for more organized operations. Free trials are a great tool to promote your product as they help users understand it better and show them why they need to sign up for the paid version.

5. Connect with Your Users

Once a user signs up for a free trial of your software, try to connect with them. This will help build trust towards your brand and allow the user to ask questions about the product. Use customer support tools like phone support or live chat to make that connection possible. Be sure to contact your customers before the last day of the free trial. At this point, the user is less likely to answer your call! Communicating in the audio chat is another way that works better than just chatting.

6. Offer a Free Demo

When you're selling SaaS, offering a free trial is not always enough. If the software is advanced, enable a free demo and show your potential customers the ropes. This will not only help them use your software but also give them more confidence and increase their chances of purchasing the product after the trial period ends.

Moreover, before offering a demo, make sure you have a chatbot solution readily available for users considering making a purchase.

7. Build a Solid Social Media Presence

Over 200 million businesses use Facebook to connect with customers, and 57 million companies are on LinkedIn. So, if your SaaS company isn't listed on social media platforms, you are missing out on many opportunities. Nonetheless, the choice of social media channel depends on where the target audience lives.

Let's say your target audience is active on Instagram or maybe even TikTok. You can conduct influencer marketing research and find influencers from your niche that will be happy to be sponsored by you or spread the word about your service. Likewise, you can also set up platform-specific ads and promoted posts to spread brand awareness. Hang on because we take a deeper dive into social media marketing further in this article.

Best SaaS Marketing Channels

As you work on your SaaS marketing strategy, a key aspect is the marketing channels you use. Depending on your goals, some channels may work better than others. Therefore you must know what exactly it is that you want to achieve. For example, if your target audience is not on Instagram, dedicating resources to that platform is not the best decision.

Below, we look at some of the widely-used channels for SaaS marketing.

1. SEO and Content Marketing

The first channel is SEO and content marketing. We combine these two as they are very often linked. SEO is the process of optimizing your website based on keywords people search for when they look for a similar product to yours. Properly optimizing your website will allow you to appear in search results of Google and other search engines when people look for keywords you are targeting.

Likewise, content marketing is the process of creating high-quality keyword-optimized content, such as landing pages and blog articles, that attract the attention of search engine crawlers.

SEO is a long-term promotional strategy that requires an investment of time and effort, but the results will benefit your brand in the long term. Therefore, you must develop a comprehensive SEO strategy based on your goals and business needs. Before you start developing your strategy, check the Google ranking of your website to see where your website stands.

2. PPC Advertising

The second channel is PPC or pay-per-click ads. As the name suggests, when running PPC ads, you pay only when someone clicks on the ad and is redirected to your intended website. One of the most popular forms of PPC is search engine advertising, such as Google, YouTube, and Bing ads. PPC is a great way to spread information about your product among target audiences and increase sales and conversions. 

3. Email and Retention Marketing

The third channel is email and retention marketing, which is commonly divided into three subcategories:

The first subcategory is internal retention marketing. This includes emails, push notifications, chatbots, and on-site chats for those users who left contact information. As mentioned previously, email marketing should not be underestimated. It is an excellent tool for marketers as it helps with customer retention and builds a bridge between customers and brands through catchy email subject lines and engaging content. All you have to do is choose the right email marketing tool that fits your budget. 

The second subchannel is external and cold sales, also known as Cold Email Sales.

The third and last subchannel of email and retention marketing you should know about is cross-promo with partners.

All these communications of internal retention marketing are aimed toward the following goals:

- Converting leads into buyers;
- Reducing churn and extending the subscription period;
- Increase in average earnings per client, ARPU (average income from one active user for the period);
- Stimulation by referral program and recommendation to other potential clients.

When it comes to email marketing, you must ensure email deliverability, SPF records, great messages, etc. These will complete your campaign and make it more efficient in the long run.

4. Social Media and PR

The fourth channel is social media marketing and PR. Here we are talking about organic reach on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and different media outlets. Of course, your success will depend on the quality of the content you create and its distribution. Usually, this step involves creating content on social media and working with journalists, opinion leaders, and partners to showcase the benefits of your company and product.

5. Affiliates and Referrals

The seventh channel is affiliates and referrals, which involves working with partners and encouraging users to invite colleagues and friends. It also requires cooperation with influencers or users and offering them commissions in exchange for attracting customers. Here's an example of how it works: the person who wants to participate in your affiliate program gets a unique link to your schedule. Then, every time someone purchases the link, the referrer receives a small percentage of the sales.

Learn More About Ucraft Affiliate Program

Social Media Marketing Mini Guide

Social media plays a unique role in any marketing strategy, targeting business (B2B) or direct customers (B2C).

Empowering the proper social media channels, tools, and approaches can increase the digital presence of your SaaS product, reach the right audience, and raise your brand awareness.

Social media is also a great source of valuable information about your audience and how they interact and perceive your business.

The reason social media works well for SaaS companies is that your customers are already there. For example, millennials (people between the ages of 23 and 38) are considered the most influential consumers globally. They are very active on social media, and you take their interests into account to discover new products or improve your product.

1. Be Close to Your Audience

Before starting to build a social media presence, you need to choose which platforms are suitable for your SaaS product:

1. Find out where your audience is located;
2. Research and plan which channels you have the most potential customers through;
3. Of course, you only want to invest time and resources in those that promise a higher return on investment.

2. Choose the Right Social Platform

To choose the right social network for your business, you must thoroughly understand your target market and the product you offer.

Facebook

Facebook is a highly popular social media channel, ideal for B2B and B2C customers. While it's true that Facebook has an average of 1.82 billion people who use the social network daily, it has excellent tools for targeting audiences and creating effective ad campaigns. What's more, your very presence there will increase your brand awareness as customers looking for your brand will find some validation of your business. Facebook is also excellent for getting customer feedback and discovering gaps or inefficiencies. 

LinkedIn

If your SaaS product is primarily for other businesses, you must go to LinkedIn. A social networking site for professionals is a great place to connect with people from different industries and showcase your product or service.

YouTube

YouTube can be convenient for your SaaS business. You can create various sections such as tutorials, training courses, or any other valuable content you can share with your clients. If you've launched a new version of your software or developed new features, your customers will find watching videos easier than reading blog posts about it. And if you don't have the necessary technologies for making videos, start a podcast and upload it to YouTube.

Instagram

You might think there are better places to promote your SaaS product than Instagram, but you could be wrong. Instagram is now one of the most essential and fastest-growing social channels, making it a great place to present your product more engagingly. Known primarily as a visual platform, Instagram offers a plethora of ways to promote your brand there, from short video reels to influencer corporations. This popularity of the platform has given rise to many Instagram influencers in different niches, so one of the strategies you can use is influencer marketing.

Twitter

Twitter is where you can engage with your audience and build brand awareness of your SaaS product. In addition, you can share news about your company or publish articles from your blog.
Another good practice is following other industry leaders or brands and replying to their tweets or retweeting helpful information. If your brand voice permits it, you can even post a meme here and there to increase your chances of going viral.

SaaS Marketing Metrics and KPIs

Data is the life force of any business strategy, from marketing to finance. Any additional data can empower you to make better decisions and help your business grow faster.

To develop a profitable growth strategy and identify points of success, the team needs to understand what SaaS metrics and KPIs are, know their types, track them regularly, and learn how to obtain insights from analytics.

What's the Difference Between Metrics and KPIs?

A metric is a number you can count, for example, the number of active users, transactions, followers, etc. KPI is about percentage and is a critical performance indicator with a particular norm. So, for example, by comparing your actual indicator performance with the market average, you can summarize how your business performs.

Here are some critical metrics you need to consider when developing your marketing plan. They combine SaaS financial metrics, sales, customer success, and marketing metrics, providing insightful information for you to act on.

• MRR (Monthly Regular Income);
• Annual recurring income (ARR);
• Churn rates;
• Gross Profit, Cost, EBITDA SM, Rule 40.

This list of SaaS metrics lets you quickly gain insight into overall performance and where things will go.

Understanding Lead Generation and Customer Acquisition

Lead generation is about attracting potential customers by collecting their contacts and additional information. It is essential to understand that the lead is precisely the potential client who could interact with the company, not already doing it.

Since lead generation is considered a process of attracting potential customers, a person can become a lead only if they saw an advertisement for a product and became interested in it or otherwise showed interest in a company offering goods and services. Therefore, the more people are interested in a particular company's products, the more opportunities the company has to get the maximum number of customers.

Potential clients can be divided into three groups: cold leads, warm leads, and hot leads. They differ depending on how much the lead has formed a need for a particular product.

Lead Generation Workflow

The standard lead generation flow consists only of two aspects.

First is the source from which the stream of potential customers will come. It is essential to distinguish this so-called traffic from the lead itself. 

The second is the transformation of the existing traffic into conversions. Most often, companies will use their official websites or create separate landing pages for this purpose.

Customer engagement is the process of building long-term relationships between the brand and the customer. For example, almost any offer or business publication is crucial for attracting and engaging customers. And the fiercer the competition in a particular business area, the more innovative marketing plays a role in customer engagement.

How to Create and Manage a SaaS Marketing Budget?

For your SaaS marketing campaign to reach its goals, effective budgeting is the key. How much to spend on your marketing determines the successful image of your brand online. 

How Much Should You Spare for Your SaaS Marketing Budget?

Digital marketing has no set limits on how small or large your business should be. Therefore, before you determine the amount you would be setting aside for your marketing strategies, the following guidelines will help you make the correct decision.

1. Marketing Budget Benchmarks

The company should first determine its nature of service, whether it would be catering to the final consumers or businesses. If the business needs marketing to other companies, the budget should be 2% to 5% of the revenue. This allocated amount should double to 5%-10% if the business markets to consumers.

The above-mentioned average benchmark should be used and tailored around the goals and resources of the business so that an effective budgeting plan can be made. For example, if you have SEO, Social Media, and PPC in your marketing strategy, you must determine which channel requires the most investment.

Your marketing budget plan should include the following key factors:

2. Content Creation

In the digital sphere, content is still a big priority, resulting in most marketers spending a large portion of their budget on content creation. The section of creative content includes images, photography, videos, rental locations as props, graphic designing, copywriting, editing, translating, etc. Likewise, a good portion of SaaS companies are now focusing on user-generated content, which also requires time and resources.

The cost of content depends on how customized your content is. For example, free stock of photographs can be obtained from various free sites. However, for a personalized approach, you will need to hire a photographer.

3. Software and Tools

Tools and platforms are a part of most marketing campaigns. For social media campaigns, you’ll need to use social media scheduling tools to ensure your content goes live at the right time. You’ll also need design and editing tools, competitive analysis tools, SEO tools, etc. Make sure to calculate all of this and include them in your marketing budget.

Moreover, you should be as professional as possible when it comes to business operations regarding money, payments, and transfers. There are different options for making invoices online, creating payment sheets, and other activities.

4. Payment Options

When preparing your marketing budget, you must consider the payment options. As part of your marketing efforts, you will probably be working with many different brands and individuals, so ensuring a proper payment process is essential. However, this can be tedious, primarily if you work with overseas companies or freelancers: money transfers can take days, and taxes and payment fees can too.

Another critical aspect to take into account when considering your payment options is data security. Unfortunately, with the rise of payment methods, there was also a significant rise in data breaches and money leaks. However, this is one of the reasons many businesses have begun to accept cryptocurrency payments: because of safe and fast transactions. For example,  consider Coinbase, a high-profile cryptocurrency exchange platform available in over 100 countries for secure transfers. Besides, if you have other wallets, you can connect them to your crypto portfolio tracker to track your crypto assets from one place.

Bottom Line

SaaS marketing consists of different methods, tools, and techniques, so navigating through them diligently is essential. Keep in mind that the monthly increase in the number of visitors on your landing page means nothing if none of them end up becoming a lead and a client. And if you've doubled your customer acquisition efforts, but your churn rate has tripled, then you're in trouble.

Effective SaaS marketing is highly specialized, so understanding what you are dealing with is much more critical. And don’t forget successful SaaS marketing depends on a solid understanding of your internal economy.

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If you’re interested in entering the SaaS industry, especially website building, but remain unsure of where to start, you can establish your own website builder business with Ucraft via our White Label program. Using our builder, you can design multiple websites for your clients, but the branding will remain 100% yours. 

We've compiled a few ideas you can use to create a winning website alongside some of the best templates to get you started.

1. Affiliate Website Ideas

An affiliate website is a platform that promotes products or services from other companies and earns a commission on each sale made through the website. This type of website is ideal for individuals that want to earn money from blogging or writing. There are many different types of affiliate websites, including review websites, comparison websites, and niche-specific websites.

When it comes to affiliate websites, the more users you end up converting, the more commissions you earn from the business you’re representing. It's essential to keep your design simple and clean to instantly draw attention to the links and products you are promoting. Ensure your affiliate links are easy to find and clearly labeled, and always use high-quality images to showcase products.

We love the layout of this travel template site. It showcases the latest articles with beautiful imagery but includes compelling headlines linking to the archive that might draw readers in. This maximizes your odds of converting readers to shoppers because they are presented with plenty of articles and options. 

2. Educational Website Ideas

An educational website is an online hub that offers educational resources and courses to its users. This type of website is ideal for individuals or businesses looking to share knowledge and expertise with others. You can use your site to inform viewers on various topics, from cooking and gardening to programming and business.

To create an educational website, you will need to choose a topic that you are knowledgeable about and create informative content around that topic. You can create courses, tutorials, or blog posts that provide valuable information to your users. 
Keep in mind that educational sites have to be very practical. Use a clear and organized layout to make it easy for users to find information and a consistent color scheme and typography to create a cohesive look. You should also ensure the site is accessible and easy to navigate for users with disabilities.

The West College template is an excellent example of these design principles in practice. Images and text are used sparingly, with a simple navigation pane, so students can find what they are looking for upon landing. The Kids Club template targets younger students and incorporates fun imagery, animation, and videos to convey a brand message and engage parents from the start.

3. eCommerce Website Ideas

An eCommerce website enables users to buy and sell products or services online. This type of website is ideal for businesses that want to sell physical or digital products and services to a broader audience. eCommerce websites can be used to sell a wide range of products, from physical goods like clothing and electronics to digital products like software and ebooks.

eCommerce is all about showcasing products, so make sure that you use high-quality product images, videos, and detailed product descriptions to convince website visitors to make a purchase. Your checkout process should be simple and easy to use, and you definitely need to include a search bar and filtering options so that people can find what they are looking for.

The Shop Goods template is an excellent example of a clear and clean eCommerce site. Items are showcased beautifully and easy to shop for using filters for price, listings, and recommended products so that customers can browse at their leisure or hone in on the exact item they want.

4. Photography Site Ideas

A photography website or portfolio presents your work as a photographer. This type of website is ideal for photographers looking to showcase their portfolio, from wedding and portrait photography to landscape and wildlife photography.

You aren't going to get hired if your website doesn't do your work justice, so make sure to pick a design that puts your best foot forward. A simple and minimalist design will make your images stand out, while sparing use of background elements and text will emphasize your work. Make sure to use a gallery layout so potential customers can scroll through various options and a simple navigation pane to learn more about your background, specialty, and experience.

Always choose a website builder that uses responsive design so that your images look great on all devices. Remember, customers will judge you on the merits of your whole website, not just the photos themselves.

5. Portfolio Site Ideas

A portfolio website showcases the work of a creative professional, such as a graphic designer, writer, or artist (or photographer, as briefly mentioned above). This type of website is ideal for individuals looking to showcase their work and attract new clients.

Again, you want to make an instant impression. It helps to use a grid or masonry layout so that visitors can scroll through a few items in a short amount of time. It goes without saying that you should use high-quality images and videos, but don't forget to include information about the portfolio items, like project goals and outcomes.

6. Restaurant Website Ideas

A restaurant website provides information about a restaurant or cafe, showcasing the menu, location, and hours of operation. This type of website is ideal for restaurants looking to attract new customers and provide information to their existing customers. Restaurant websites can also be used to take online reservations or orders for delivery or pickup.

To create a restaurant website, you will need to create a menu and provide information about your establishment, such as its location, hours of operation, and contact information. Your restaurant should also tell a story about the type of establishment you are running and what the ambiance will be like. Is it a higher-end romantic eatery or a casual pizza joint? It's a good idea to manage expectations from the start, so use photos from the actual restaurant and include your menu. If you can cater to vegans, families, or people with dietary restrictions, mention it upfront - it can serve as a good competitive advantage.

7. Fashion Website Ideas 

A fashion website showcases the latest fashion trends and products. This type of website is ideal for fashion designers, retailers, and bloggers looking to showcase their products or provide information about the latest fashion trends. Fashion websites can be used to sell clothing, accessories, or beauty products.

Fashion is all about branding and image, so think of ways to send a message throughout the site. The Olala swimwear template is a great example. They use the interesting squiggles and doodles found on swimwear to create an interesting visual effect on the site that tells a story about the playful, carefree nature of the brand. The El Paso design uses a visual overlay to showcase the variety of colors and prints in their shoe store. Whatever you do with your fashion site, make sure that you make a bold statement from the start to keep shoppers engaged.

8. Event Website Ideas

An event website provides information about upcoming events, such as concerts, festivals, or conferences. This type of website is ideal for event organizers looking to promote their events and attract attendees. Events websites can also be used to sell tickets or provide information about the event's location, schedule, and speakers or artists.

The Rave is a great template to use. It uses bold call-outs, animations, and visual effects that create a compelling club ambiance. The Jungle Band template is an excellent example of a self-promotional event site that bands or other performers may use to inform fans of new tour dates while communicating more information about their brand and personality.

9. Small Business/Agency Website Ideas

A small business agency website offers services to other businesses, such as web design, marketing, or consulting. This type of website is ideal for individuals or small businesses looking to offer their services to other businesses. Small business agency websites can also be used to showcase previous work or provide information about their services.

The nature of your business should dictate the design and branding you use. If your business is highly visual (e.g., graphic design business, ad agency, architecture firm, interior design), your chosen template should reflect your work. A consultancy or service-based company should use a template that tells a story with its images and copy and directly address customer pain points.

10. Blog Website Ideas

A blog website presents information regarding a particular topic, such as health and fitness, travel, or personal finance. Blogs can be used to provide tips, tutorials, or news on a wide range of topics.

With any blog, you want to encourage social sharing and interaction. You should also make your content easy to find and tell a brand story with the images, font, and style you use. 

There are a host of great blogging templates to choose from, but a few of our favorites include:

• Tene: A sophisticated photography blog template that uses white space and features to showcase your work.

• M Fluence: A social media marketing blog template that pulls content from various social sites and uses digital brand language to set the tone.

• Claire de Lune: A dreamy lifestyle blog that uses high-quality images and sparse copy, creating a spa-like atmosphere.

Ensure that your chosen design matches your copy's content and tone.

11. Health & Care Website Ideas

A health and care website informs its audience about health and wellness. This type of website is ideal for healthcare professionals, wellness coaches, or bloggers looking to provide information on healthy living, fitness, or mental health. Health and care websites can also be used to sell health products or services.

It’s helpful to keep in mind that such sites should be authoritative and foster a sense of trust. You can achieve this effect with the images you use, the copy, and the layout. Try to use animation and illustration sparingly. Tips should be easy to find, with a search bar that helps users find specific medical or beauty information.

Yoga Balance is a great example of a site that clearly communicates what it is about and points users in the right direction with minimal copy and understated imagery.

Final Thoughts

Your website will set the tone for your business and showcase your products or services to your target audience from the start. But the good news is you don't have to spend thousands on web design, since a professional website builder (such as Ucraft) will provide all of the functionality (and style) you need to get your message across in an effective way. Ucraft has a wide variety of industry-specific customizable templates to choose from, ensuring that your business stands out from the crowd.

Throughout the history of the world wide web, SEO has become increasingly important to web owners when it comes to driving higher traffic to a website or landing page, increasing conversions, or simply getting your brand or project name out there.

Unfortunately, many web owners and internet entrepreneurs underestimate the value of SEO when it comes to their business success. Either that or they find themselves behind on the latest trends, making common mistakes or even disregarding standard protocols regarding website optimization in accordance with Google's latest requirements.

But fear not! The Ucraft Team is here with a very special interview with none other than Ludwig Makhyan - Technical SEO Expert and author for SEJ and SEL. We asked Ludwig several questions regarding the latest trends, best practices, his tools of choice, and even advice for newbies.

Keep reading to learn more about the best SEO practices in 2023.

Ucraft x Ludwig: Exclusive Interview

Get to Know Ludwig

1. Hi Ludwig, thank you for taking the time to answer a couple of questions. We'd like to start off by asking you the standard corporate question, which is, of course, how you got into the SEO field. What attracted you to SEO in the first place?

I got into the SEO field as a web developer over 20 years ago. At that time, I was designing websites in Adobe Photoshop and coding them using HTML, CSS, and ASP. While building websites for the Armenian community with a friend, we realized we could optimize our sites with some easy tweaks and make them global platforms. This sparked my interest in exploring SEO and various digital marketing techniques, ultimately leading me to specialize in this field. What attracted me to SEO was the opportunity to make websites more visible and accessible to a larger audience, which ultimately helps businesses achieve their goals.

2. How long have you been working as a technical SEO specialist? What has changed since you first started?

My journey in technical SEO began around 10 years ago when I realized my technical background in web development could help me understand how websites work, the limitations of coding, database structures, and how technical automation could benefit SEO.

Over the years, SEO has undergone a significant transformation. In 2003, basic optimization techniques were sufficient to rank websites higher on search engines. Nowadays, SEO has become much more complex and sophisticated. A few tweaks here and there are no longer sufficient for success. SEO has evolved from basic optimization to a science, requiring a comprehensive approach to drive organic traffic to websites.

Modern-day SEO requires a broad range of skills and expertise. It's no longer just about search engines. Today, SEO encompasses UX/UI, technical implementation techniques, search engine algorithms, mobile optimization, local search, social media, voice search, and AI. As a technical SEO specialist, I have witnessed the evolution of SEO and have adapted to the latest developments to stay ahead in the industry.

Voice Assistant Search in SEO

1. What are your thoughts on voice assistant search as a prominent SEO trend in 2023? What are your best tips for incorporating VAS into an SEO strategy?

Voice search is indeed a prominent SEO trend and is expected to continue to grow in 2023. It's fascinating to see how technology has advanced to the point where our kids no longer have to type a search query; they can simply pick up their phone and ask Siri or Google Assistant a question. For instance, they might ask, "What is the best seafood restaurant near me?" and receive a personalized recommendation based on their previous search history or interests.

The popularity of voice search is not only due to convenience but because it makes our lives easier. As search engines become more advanced and personalized, it's crucial for businesses to adapt their SEO strategies to incorporate voice search. This includes optimizing their content to match how people speak (rather than type), focusing on local search queries, and providing quick, accurate answers to frequently asked questions. Voice search is a trend that businesses and SEO specialists cannot afford to ignore if they want to remain competitive in the digital landscape.

2. What key steps should a site owner take to optimize their website pages regarding voice assistant search?

Here are some tips to follow:

• Optimize for long-tail keywords

• Use natural language

• Optimize for local search

• Improve page speed

• Use a schema markup

• Look into Google Actions

3. What are some valuable tools that can help with tracking voice search keywords' volumes and search trends?

• Google Search Console and Google Trends are great for tracking search volumes and identifying trends over time.

• Google Keyword Planner can help identify long-tail keywords that are more likely to be used in voice searches.

• Ahrefs and Semrush are useful for researching competitors and identifying potential voice search opportunities.

• AnswerThePublic can help identify common questions related to your topic and optimize your content for natural language queries.

By utilizing a combination of these tools, you can gain valuable insights into voice search trends and optimize your content accordingly.

Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT

1. How do you think AI will change the future of SEO?

AI is becoming increasingly prevalent in search engines and other platforms, and it has the potential to greatly enhance the user experience. As technology continues to advance, AI will enable even greater customization of search results based on the individual user. For instance, if you frequently search for seafood restaurants, the AI will be able to provide more tailored recommendations based on your interests, dietary restrictions, location, and the reviews of others who share your preferences. This level of personalization can potentially revolutionize how we search for and discover new information online.

2. Do you think Chat GPT is a help or a hindrance for SEO specialists, and why?

I think it's important to acknowledge that AI is rapidly evolving and becoming increasingly relevant in the world of SEO. Whether you call it ChatGPT, Bard, or something else, it's all AI. However, as with any technological advancements, there will always be new challenges and opportunities for SEOs to navigate. Whether it's adapting to new coding standards or staying on top of the latest AI developments, the goal remains the same: to provide the best possible user experience and connect consumers with the businesses and products they need.

3. Have you had a chance to use ChatGPT yourself? If so, how did you implement it in SEO?

Absolutely, and not just playing around with ChatGPT but using it to generate code, automating the creation of metadata for a large number of pages, analyzing page code, and generating regex for daily use. These advancements can help SEO specialists save time and focus on other essential aspects of their work. However, it's important to note that AI should not replace human expertise and critical thinking in SEO strategy and decision-making.

Website Migration Risks

1. According to you, what is the optimal way of successfully migrating websites (with low risks for SEO)?

Migrating a website can be challenging, and minimizing risks to SEO is crucial.

At Mazeless Enterprise SEO, we specialize in complex website migrations and help businesses mitigate the risks of revenue loss. Here are some essential tips for a successful migration:

\u25cf Carefully plan the migration: Develop a comprehensive website migration checklist that outlines the migration process, timelines, people involved, and necessary resources. Include a thorough inventory of the existing site, such as URLs, content, and backlinks.
\u25cf Choose the right platform: go with a platform that meets your website's needs and supports features and functionality essential for SEO, like URL structures and redirects.
\u25cf Use 301 redirects: Do that to redirect old URLs to new URLs. This will ensure that search engines and users are directed to the new site and preserve backlinks. Avoid changing the URL structure unless necessary.
\u25cf Test the new site: Thoroughly test the new site before launch to ensure it functions correctly, and all content and links work correctly.
\u25cf Update internal links: Update internal links to reflect the new site structure and URLs.
\u25cf Notify search engines: Let search engines know about the site migration using Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. This will help search engines understand the new site structure and redirect old URLs to the new ones.
\u25cf Update backlinks: Update incoming links, at least those under your control.

2. Likewise, how can a site owner ensure that the URL rating doesn't fall and backlinks are not lost during migration?

It's important to conduct a thorough inventory of the existing site, including URLs and backlinks. This process is called rationalization. The information can then be used to create a redirect plan that preserves as many backlinks as possible. It's also important to avoid changing the URL structure unless it is absolutely necessary. If URLs must change, it's recommended to use 301 redirects to redirect old URLs to the new ones. Whenever a redirect is used, it can lead to loss of server resources, and the value of the link may also decrease. Hence, it is advisable to update the incoming links to the new URL as much as possible. By following these steps, businesses can successfully migrate their websites with minimal impact on SEO.

Miscellaneous

1. Please share your top 3 SEO tools. 

I'd say GSC, ScreamingFrog, and either Ahrefs or Semrush.

2. Likewise, what are your top 3 tips for people just starting in the SEO sphere?

\u25cf Understand the basics

\u25cf Pick a test site to play with

\u25cf Start optimizing based on Google Search Essentials

3. Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers? Tips? Anecdotes? Predictions?

In my opinion, SEO is not just about programming, it also involves marketing. Our goal is to improve a website's visibility, which is not always obvious to the naked eye. After spending a considerable amount of time in the industry, you tend to accumulate interesting and amusing anecdotes. I remember sharing some hilarious SEO comics on my Instagram account last year. Among them, the one that stands out the most for me is this one: 

- Do you know any horror stories? 
- Sure. Redesign your website.

That's a Wrap!

First of all, a massive thanks to Ludwig for agreeing to participate in this interview and for his detailed answers to every question. We hope this information was helpful and will allow you to power up your SEO game and reach new heights in terms of traffic, brand visibility, and revenue.

And if you're still looking to build a website and boost your SEO efforts, you can create one with Ucraft and use our built-in SEO tools to take your brand to the next level.

Good luck!

If you're a business owner, you're always looking for ways to boost productivity and stay ahead of the competition. Well, we've got some excellent news for you - our list of the best AI tools for better business performance is here to help. You can optimize business operations and management to incredible levels with AI technology.

These tools can optimize your marketing, website creation, design, and SEO activities to new heights. And the best part? They're incredibly user-friendly and easy to implement.

We know that there are a lot of AI tools out there, but we've done the research for you and narrowed down the list to the cream of the crop. That being said, why not dive deeper into the world of AI and see what it can do for your business? Let’s start!

Optimize Your Business With the Power of AI Tools

There are many things to keep track of when running a business, especially when it comes to small businesses with a limited number of employees. Using AI tools can work wonders.

Adext AI - Best for Running Social Media Ad Campaigns

Wouldn't it be nice to get maximum conversions through advertising while saving money and time? Adext AI allows you to set up targeted ad campaigns on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads. 

Here are the services this platform offers that make it the best AI marketing tool:

• Automated campaign optimization across multiple platforms;

• Predictive targeting to maximize results;

• Real-time analytics and reporting;

• Automatic creation of ad copy and visuals;

Three pricing models are available, along with customized plans and pricing options.

Stockimg AI - Best AI for Generating Images

Tired of spending hours creating the perfect logo or book cover? We feel your pain, but luckily, there's a solution!

Stockimg is a fantastic platform that uses AI to create stunning visual content in just a few clicks. You can create anything from logos and book covers to stock photos and posters, all in just a couple of clicks.

Thanks to its advanced AI technology, Stockimg can generate professional-looking images with beautiful lighting and styling. All you have to do is write a detailed prompt and click "generate." Within a minute, you'll have a stunning visual that is perfect for your website or project.

And the best part? You can try it out for free! The free trial allows you to access all features, including one image credit, AI upscaling up to 4x, and image history.

Snyk Code - Software Development AI Tool

Did you know developers often spend around half of their time debugging programs? That's a lot of valuable time that could be spent on more creative aspects, like developing new features and expanding offers.

That's where Snyk Code comes in. The powerful tool scans your code for potential issues like code smells, security vulnerabilities, or performance glitches, so you can quickly identify and fix problems. And when the tool has been launched, you'll save time locating and fixing bugs.

Moreover, Snyk Code doesn't just point out the problems; it also provides coders with guidelines for fixing them. This is possible thanks to their vast security knowledge base, which can help you improve your coding skills and create more efficient, secure code.

The tool also integrates seamlessly with platforms that programmers use to build their codes, like GitHub, Bitbucket, Azure AD, Docker ID, and more.

And the best part? You can try out the software for free! While there are restrictions on the number of tests you can perform each month, the premium plan offers unlimited tests for even more comprehensive coverage.

Clipdrop.co - Best AI for Automatic Picture Editing

ClipDrop claims to be "the Ultimate ecosystem of apps, plugins & resources for all creators, powered by artificial intelligence." This tool is also available as an app for both Android and iOS platforms.

ClipDrop provides you with advanced and actionable solutions for common editing problems. With this sophisticated AI tool, you can remove texts, objects, people, or backgrounds, adjust light, or effortlessly upscale an image.

It even allows you to take real-time photos on your Android or iPhone and paste them directly into photoshop. Sounds like magic, no? But yes, ClipDrop has made this happen by combining art AI and network communication to create a revolutionary workflow.

Rationale - Best AI Decision Maker

Making a decision is probably one of the most daunting tasks in an organization. You first need to figure out the possible consequences and then decide.

But when you have a lot on your mind, it can be challenging to figure it out. Fortunately, Rationale can help ease some of the decision-making burdens by presenting you with different aspects of your decision.

The tool's purpose is to help you make better choices. It does so by using a unique algorithm to conduct a multi-faceted analysis of a choice or resolution.

The user-friendly platform lets you conduct these within minutes. For the extraordinary USP, Rationale could be the best AI tool for small businesses, managers, and individuals to make the right decision.

ChatGPT - Top Tier Research Tool

Needless to say, ChatGPT has taken the web by storm. It's one of the best free AI tools and can help users save up to several hours on research. However, its database has only been updated to 2021, so it cannot help with recent affairs.

The tool is built on an AI-powered language model, and its vast database of diverse resources means that it can draw quick answers on an enormous range of topics. One of the best things is that the tool offers straightforward answers to complex questions, making topics much easier to understand.

Content marketers, in particular, will find ChatGPT a valuable tool that can boost research efficiency and generate content. Businesses can also use it to create chatbots and virtual assistants to improve customer service.

CopyAI - For Textual Content Generation

CopyAI is one of the best AI tools for content writing. It allows you to generate social media posts, ad copies, blog posts, email subject lines, and product descriptions. You save valuable time, resources, and energy while creating high-quality content regardless of your industry.

With an easy-to-use, intuitive interface, this tool allows you to input tone of voice and style to ensure that the content meets your specific needs. Plus, the CopyAI chrome extension integrates seamlessly with Google Docs and Gmail tools, making your content creation process smoother.

CopyAI is affordable, with plans starting at just $49/month for unlimited content generation. Also, you can save 25% on your subscription if you pay annually.

Designs.ai - Top Designing Tool

Designs.ai is more than just a tool for graphic designing. That is where its main strength lies. The various services provided by this platform are:

• Photo Editing and Graphics Tools: It offers photo editing options and access to tools like a color palette generator, background remover, and font matcher;

• Video Maker: AI-generated high-quality videos created within minutes that can be customized with desired images, texts, and provided videos;

• Presentation Maker: You can even generate presentations by inserting a few prompts.

Considering the benefits and services, this tool is affordable and offers two different price points and custom plan building options.

FAQs

How is AI used in eCommerce?

AI in eCommerce is used to build personalized websites, send targeted ads, enhance customer support, improve inventory management, gather customer insights, and many other purposes.

 

How can AI improve business performance?

AI makes customer service, employee training, and predictive analytics easier. The technology increases efficiency through automation and offers market insights for product development, marketing, and advertising. It improves quality control and risk management as well.

 

What are the five main types of AI?

Artificial intelligence can be divided into the following five categories based on functionality: Text AI, Visual AI, Interactive AI, Analytic AI, and Functional AI. All five can be very helpful in increasing your business performance.

In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about the role of social media in eCommerce and why it can play such a strategic part in driving sales. We'll also go through the leading platforms you can use for your marketing and how to make the most of each one to get the best results.

Why is Social Media Important for eCommerce?

In recent years, we have seen a marked increase in people shopping online. This tendency grew even more during the pandemic, as millions of consumers (many of them Gen Z'ers) turned to eCommerce stores to fulfill their needs. At the same time, social media proved to be an excellent way of boosting brand awareness, finding new ways to interact with customers, and understanding the market's appetite.

Combining a social media presence with eCommerce is an excellent way to promote products and increase your business' success. Omnichannel retail is basically the norm today!

That being said, let's go through some of the reasons as to why this is the case:

• Easier interaction with consumers: Back in the day, people who had questions about products or services had to find ways to contact an organization - typically through the phone or by letter. Today, anyone can share their experience online, and customer experience teams can monitor what users are saying about practically any brand or product. This includes complaints and praise, but the two can give you invaluable insights into your customer's journey.

• Increased brand awareness: Many companies turn to social media to promote their products or services. This can help drive customer loyalty and increase the demand for purchases. Nowadays, it's also quite common for brands to incorporate influencer marketing, collaborating with internet celebrities for promotional activities in order to reach even more people.

• More tailored products and better market knowledge: Using social media for eCommerce can give teams valuable insights about a company's products. Moreover, anyone can see the competitors and determine customer sentiment around them. Customer feedback can also provide real-time information about how different products or services perform, especially when using micro-campaigns across multiple platforms.

How to Use Social Media for eCommerce

If you want to make sure you're combining social media and eCommerce as effectively as possible, you should first consider which platforms will fit your social media strategy best.

Top 5 Platforms for eCommerce Social Media Marketing

We've reviewed the main benefits of giving your shop a more defined online presence. Now, we will show you which social media channels are great for eCommerce and go over a few actionable points to help you get the most out of them.

Without further ado, let's get started!

1. Instagram for eCommerce

Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms out there, with over 500 million daily users. Many people use this channel to make purchases (according to Instagram, a whopping 44% of its users), so you can think of it as a smart channel where you can promote and sell products.

One of Instagram's most significant advantages is that it allows you to create a storefront, also known as Instagram Shopping, where users can explore and buy products with just a tap. All you need to do then is share your products in your posts and stories, and anyone interacting with them will have instant access to the storefront. This means you can run your entire eCommerce business on Instagram or as a separate site.

 
Tips for using Instagram for eCommerce:

• Enable Instagram Shopping and upload your products to the catalog.

• Make sure you use Shopping tags on any products featured in your content. You can add them directly to posts, stories, videos, reels, guides, and live broadcasts.

• Motivate people to use your branded hashtag to make the most of UGC (user-generated content).

2. Facebook for eCommerce

Facebook is another massive social media platform. With almost 2 million users and over 400 sign-ups every minute, it's no surprise this tool is an excellent way to market your products and services.

One of the most significant benefits of using Facebook for eCommerce has to do with the platform's unparalleled ability to create market segmentations (for example, targeting users by age, gender, location, and interests). Thus, you can use it to build your eCommerce brand in a cost-effective way and expand your products' visibility to acquire repeat customers.

Here are some tips for combining Facebook and an eCommerce business:

• Always start by setting up an advertising account for your company using the Facebook Business Manager tool.

• Use Facebook Pixel (or Meta Pixel) to track users' activity and overall performance.

• Try single image or video ads for single products, carousels, and collections for product bundles.

3. TikTok for eCommerce

TikTok has solidified its position as a big social media marketing platform and has continued growing since it first appeared in 2020. That same year, TikTok announced TikTok for Business, which allows business owners to connect their accounts to an online store.

TikTok for Business supports shopping ads, product links, and hashtags designed to work independently or by collaborating with the platform's most popular influencers. The platform allows many different kinds of ads, such as dynamic showcases, collections, spark, and lead generation ads, and can help you reach a whole new audience.

 
If you want to use TikTok for eCommerce, here are some tips:

• Use hashtags and keywords (especially trending ones). They are the ones telling the algorithm what your posts are about!

• Add keywords and captions to your videos, making them easier to follow.

• Consider adding a chatbot capable of using conversational AI to your online store.

4. YouTube for eCommerce

YouTube is the world's leading video platform, where the most prominent brands regularly share content. There are good reasons for this; YouTube has around 2 billion monthly users, and about 70% of them make purchases based on products or services they have seen on the platform. So, if you're not uploading to this platform, you're missing out on a vast potential market.

One of the most popular ways of conducting eCommerce marketing through YouTube is by investing in growing a channel. If your content is entertaining and valuable, you can engage an audience that has the potential to celebrate and remain loyal to your brand. Depending on your niche, it can also be more accessible to rank on YouTube than Google, so this is an excellent source of traffic for your products.

Here are a few tips for doing eCommerce on YouTube:

• Set up objectives and goals before you start creating videos. The worst thing you can do is upload random stuff.

• Create a channel and complete your profile. Then, try to upload regularly. For eCommerce, you can focus on product reviews, tutorials, FAQs, and how-to content.

• Promote your videos outside of YouTube through email marketing, blog articles, and other social media platforms.

5. Pinterest for eCommerce

Many people don't think of Pinterest as a social media platform, but if you have an eCommerce store, this underestimated tool can actually be a highly effective marketing funnel. In fact, Pinterest drives 33% more traffic to stores compared to Facebook.

One of the best ways to use Pinterest for eCommerce is to take advantage of Rich Pins, which can provide future customers with references, product recommendations, and links. You can start using Pinterest for eCommerce by signing up for a business account.

Here are some tips for using Pinterest in combination with your store:

• Optimize your Pinterest SEO by ensuring you fill in all fields for your profile, your boards, and your individual pins.

• Make your pins stand out by using a 1:1 ratio and adding a clear call to action.

• Use Rich Pins (app, article, product, or recipe) to add all the relevant metadata.

Conclusion: Your eCommerce Social Media Strategy

As we've seen, adding a social media marketing strategy to your eCommerce endeavors can help you increase brand awareness, retain loyal customers, and increase conversions. You can use one or more channels to do this, although some will be a better fit than others, depending on your particular needs.

The best way to sell online is to have a professional and responsive website. If you're looking for a user-friendly way to create yours, we recommend checking out Ucraft.

Ucraft is a website builder ideal for entrepreneurs, small business owners, bloggers, artists, and anything in between. The interface is intuitive, the price is affordable, and you also get free hosting for your eCommerce store.

Get started today

But have you ever considered the thought process behind these inescapable logo designs? Well, if you're a designer, you certainly have.

Picture this - you just got hired to design a eye-catching logo for a new brand. What's your go-to strategy? What is your own thought process behind creating an iconic, timeless logo? With that much pressure, it's easy to get stuck from time to time, which is precisely why the Ucraft Team is at your disposal with this article to set you back on the right track.

Let's dive into some tips and tricks from the Ucraft design team!

What Our Designers Have to Say

"Simplicity and Minimalism are My Go-To Tips"

Sona, our Art Director and lover of aesthetics, had the following advice:

"To be honest, when creating a logo, the most challenging thing is seeing the blank sheet in front of you and knowing that whatever you design on it will be used in all branding assets later on. That adds some pressure, right?

Before putting my pen on the paper, I always start by thinking through the story and concept behind the logo. Sometimes, just thinking about the brand's mission and identity helped me develop a logo overnight. Once you can picture how you'll visualize the mission and identity, you're halfway there.

What's left? Right, the visuals. People think that design is just about art and beauty, but they couldn't be more wrong. Good design is only possible by adding consistency and logic. The creation of the logo is the perfect example because once you've come up with the shape and form of your logo, you start playing around with the aesthetics. You see, it's both. And this is what makes it so exciting and challenging at the same time. You feel like you're breathing life into something inanimate, like a geometric shape, by using the power of creativity and balancing it out with the technical side. And then comes my favorite part - creative experiments with typefaces and colors to see which ones capture the brand's spirit most.

When it comes to logos, simplicity and minimalism are my go-to tips. I've been sticking with them for a while, and they seem to have never let me down. I do believe that these two are classics that never go out of style. As Dieter Rams once said: "Good design is as little design as possible." I couldn't agree more."

Need some inspiration? Ask AI

If you’re reading this article, you probably have enough design skills to not generate your logos with AI. But, even seasoned professionals need to draw inspiration from somewhere. So, why not check out Ucraft’s AI logo maker to get some design versions you can use as a starting point? 

"Trends Come and Go"

Gayka, our graphic designer, also came through with an actionable plan:

"We never get a second chance to make a first impression. That's why it's essential to make your logo memorable and simple enough so that people easily recognize it even after one glance and remember it long after.

Whether I'm designing a logo that should give off a strong sense of authority or emanate more of a casual vibe, these are the steps I always follow:

Do your research

Remember we mentioned business essence and identity before? Study everything you can related to your client's business: the services they provide, the market in general, and their target audience. Checking out the competition will help you gain some strategic insight and see what could be your trademark's distinctive feature. Once you understand who your client is and what their needs are, you're all set to start the brainstorming process. Just sit and think about the color that pops into your head when you think of the company's mission, and do the same with the emblem and shape.

Build a mood board

Once I have my associations with the business, I move on to creating a mood board. To be honest, it can get pretty messy, just like my Figma projects (if you know, you know). I add everything that might convey the mood I need: color combinations, different shapes, fonts, movie posters, and sometimes even eye-catching pictures of food. You never know where you'll get your dose of inspiration from, right?

Create a sketchpad

Personally, I don't jump into making my logo colorful instantly. First, I make a black-and-white sketch, whether I feel like drawing it on paper and getting my hands dirty or making it in Adobe Illustrator or Figma. Only when I have my vector logo in monochrome do I start adding colors and other elements to it.

Keep it minimalistic

Sometimes just one symbol will do, so why go over the top? This year, liquid metal and hyperrealism are creating a lot of buzz, but I still prefer to keep it simple and minimalistic. Trends come and go, and you never know if the trend you used in your logo will be in vogue in a year or two. But, as Sona already mentioned, one thing always stands the test of time - minimalist design."

"Apart From Being Aesthetic, Your Logo Should Also Be Meaningful"

Graphic/Web Designer Nana also had some helpful tips up her sleeve:

"A logo is what helps your business stand out in our competitive modern environment. Though trends keep changing, every designer should stay up to date because some of them are there to stay. But don't make it all about trends; try to find the perfect balance between the new and the old.

There are some basic rules I always remember to stick to when creating a logo. First, make sure it's readable and clear; otherwise, it will just fall flat. Appearances do matter, and logos are no exception. A well-designed logo makes your brand more recognizable and can bring your trademark to the next level.

Apart from being aesthetic, it should also be meaningful. Think of the story behind the brand or its core mission. While working on one of my latest projects for Collective Group, understanding their mission helped me develop the logo. The brand's mission was to create a space where people would go, whether they feel like sipping some coffee, grabbing a drink, or having something to eat. And all this in one space. The two Ls facing each other represent the shared space they have created for three different establishments. Understanding the business's mission helped me craft a bold, meaningful, yet simplistic design."

Bottom Line

So, there you have it! A compilation of top tips from our wonderful design team. We hope you feel inspired and ready to tackle your current or future logo endeavors. If you still feel stuck, consider checking out the following resources:

What Makes a Good Logo: The Principles of Great Logo Design

Picking Logo Colors for Your Brand: The Basics

8 Design Tips on How to Create Your Company Logo

Likewise, if you want to create a memorable logo for your business but have limited time and resources, why not give our free logo maker a try?

In this article, we will explain what user engagement metrics are and how they can help you reach exponential growth. We will also tell you how to use them to ensure you're steering the wheel in the right direction and add a few examples to make things even more straightforward. So, let's get started!

What are User Engagement Metrics?

By definition, user engagement refers to how frequently and how well your users are interacting with your product (or the "quality" of the interaction). If the experience is positive, you can expect a person to become a customer or even a product advocate. If it's bad… well, they might leave your site and not return.

Basically, user engagement metrics are data sets mainly focused on these interactions. Of course, what engagement means can differ from website to website, but the general idea stands: You want to find patterns of behavior and ensure people have an overall positive experience when they come to your site, for example, by creating "Aha!" moments when someone realizes the value of your services.

The Benefits of User Engagement Metrics (And How to Use Them)

Engagement metrics are essential for any B2B website because they can show whether your content and marketing strategies align with your users' interests. The more engaged someone is, the more likely they will buy a product or service you're offering and come back and recommend you to others.

There is some effort involved in finding the user engagement metrics that are most relevant to your business. It's not the same if you place your efforts on selling products and services, offering demos, inviting people to sign up for newsletters, etc. Typically, what you should do is:

• Define which behaviors lead to more engagement within your product or service (if you have a SaaS product, for example, you should look into people performing core actions, integrating with a tech stack, or linking new accounts).

• Take note of negative behavior or red flags (for instance, people downgrading plans or deleting their profiles).

• Identify your ideal user or power user, the type of person who uses your products or services regularly and can give you valuable feedback should you request it.

• Compare your engagement metrics with other business metrics. Many people use action and retention cohorts or a chart that links two data points (such as how long it's been since someone signed up and how frequent their sessions are).

Top 9 User Engagement Metrics for B2B Websites

The user engagement metrics you should be using will depend largely on your goals, campaigns, and channels. Let's start with the four most common ones first, as they should apply to almost any B2B business.

Conversion Rate and Retention Rate

Conversion rates are closely linked to campaigns and measure how many people complete an action (defined by you as a goal). However, retention rates can be just as important. For example, did you know that 80% of your company's future income will come from only 20% of your existing customers today? That's right, even if you have a low conversion rate, you can still succeed if you focus on retaining users.

Conversion rate examples include users signing up for newsletters, downloading files from your site, registering for trials, clicking on ads, and landing on product pages. This metric is relatively easy to calculate; you just divide the number of conversions by the number of visitors or sessions and multiply it by 100.

Customer retention rates also use a standard formula (CRR = [(E-N)/S] x 100, where S is the number of customers when a time period begins, E is when it ends, and N is the number of new users added within that time frame). The customer churn rate formula is the same but inverted.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

This metric measures how loyal your customers are or, more precisely, whether they recommend your brand to others. This is an important user engagement component because it can tell you how well you understand and fill your customers' needs.

You can measure NPS by asking your customers directly; for example, through a survey ("What do you think of our services on a scale of 1 to 10" or "How likely are you to recommend this product to others?").

Average Session Duration

Another important metric is the average session duration, or how long a person spends on your website after landing on it. Longer sessions will mean more engaged visitors, but what's really important here is to see what the people coming to your site are actually looking at. Which products and features generate more interest? You can then use this information to identify new opportunities and pain points.

Average session duration is actually one of the most popular B2B user engagement metrics because it's something you cannot really improve by advertising or adding more keywords.

Pages Per Session or Page Views

This user engagement metric measures how many pages a user visits (during a single session) when they come to your site.

If you have a high page per session number, people find your content useful or interesting. In contrast, the opposite can tell that what you're offering is neither engaging nor irrelevant to the visitors. Other reasons include a lack of internal links or a confusing site or navigation structure.

Bounce Rate

Another popular user engagement metric is bounce rate, or how many visitors land on one of your pages and leave without visiting any others. These users can be considered missed targets.

So, why do people bounce when visiting your B2B site? Well, there are many potential reasons. Perhaps the content needed to match their intent, be shorter, or grab their attention. Your website's user experience as a whole may not be good. Or they were just not ready to commit to any actions at this point. In any case, high bounce rates (above 65%) indicate a performance problem.

New and Returning Users

Knowing whether visitors are coming to your site for the first time or have been there before can help you understand if they find your content engaging. Of course, returning people can be interpreted as more loyal to your site.

It's worth keeping an eye out for how these users arrive at your website. For instance, through organic search, emails, social media, or directly). Generally speaking, if you want to increase the number of returning users, consider investing in a marketing strategy that includes, for example, email marketing campaigns and newsletters.

Unique Visitors

It's always important to track how many people visit your website - but it's more meaningful to know whether they are unique. Google assigns anyone entering a site for the first time a unique ID, which is stored in a browser cookie. However, if the person clears their cookies or uses a different device, they will receive different IDs too.

Measuring visitors is, nonetheless, important - especially if you're launching a new campaign.

Page and Scroll Depth

This metric measures whether a visitor is looking at the top sections of your pages or scrolling down to see the rest of the content (and how far they go). This is a good way of learning about conversion opportunities, as you can clearly see where people just stop scrolling (and can use these spaces to, for example, add calls to action).

This metric will usually appear as a percentage showing how much of the page a user has seen (25%, 50%, 75%, etc.) You can typically also see where exactly they stop scrolling. It's a good idea to combine this metric with some heat mapping tools and A/B testing.

Exit Rate

Another valuable metric you can use to measure user engagement is the exit rate. We mentioned bounce rate before, which focuses on people leaving the site without navigating it. Exit rate is different; it measures what pages a person sees before they land on a specific one and exits the site entirely. Basically, the last page before the session ends.

Unlike what happens with the bounce rate, a high exit rate is not necessarily undesirable. It depends on where people are leaving; for example, it is okay if they do so on contact pages, thank you pages, or right after completing a demo booking. Still, it's worth reviewing whether you have good calls to action, solid navigation, and your content meets your visitors' intent.

Bottom Line

There are several key user engagement metrics to consider and analyze if you have a B2B website. In this article, we listed the 9 most important metrics you should be paying attention to:

• Conversion Rate and Retention Rate

• Net Promoter Score (NPS)

• Average Session Duration

• Pages Per Session or Page Views

• Bounce Rate

• New and Returning Users

• Unique Visitors

• Page and Scroll Depth

• Exit Rate

Remember to track website performance regularly and run updates and maintenance protocols to ensure your site is functioning up to speed. Good luck!

Bear in mind that releasing a SaaS product is not always a linear journey, which is why we also added the fine-tuning aspect of the process. More often than not, SaaS companies will develop and launch a Beta version of their solution, observe user response, and make the appropriate changes. Here at Ucraft, we're currently following this release model: although we recently launched the Beta version of our new intelligent eCommerce platform, Ucraft Next, we are now focused on gathering feedback in order to meet customer expectations for the final launch. And we're not unique in this - many SaaS companies go through this process.

Remember - when it comes to software as a service, your customers come first. The more information you can gather, the better you can meet user expectations. So without further ado, let's go through the steps of developing, launching, and improving a new SaaS product.

Developing a SaaS Product

Over recent years, especially in the post-pandemic environment, the SaaS model has become a highly popular software delivery model. According to Eastern Peak, the SaaS market is estimated to be worth around $307.3 billion by 2026. With that in mind, now is the perfect time to consider the SaaS model as a startup business idea.

Once you have an idea, developing a SaaS product isn't necessarily difficult as long as you follow the right steps and prepare everything in advance. If you've read the first part of our series on analyzing industry demand, it's likely that you already have a product idea or two in mind. If not, make sure you know what you want to do before following the steps mentioned below.

Now, let's go through the steps of developing the first version of your SaaS product.

1. Develop a Business Plan

Of course, a business plan is not just native to SaaS enterprises - it's the first stepping stone for any business. If you're just starting out, your initial business plan for your MVP (minimum viable product) should include the following: 

• Company mission/vision 
• The essence of your SaaS product
• Competitive advantages
• Pain points/problems you are solving
• Marketing strategy
• Monetization strategy
• Expenses and how you plan on sourcing funds (more below)
• Fundamental goals

Remember, this is your first launch. Although you want to be concise, don't overcrowd your initial business plan with too much information, especially if you are planning to outsource funds and attract investors.

2. Decide on a Pricing Model

There are several monetization models to choose from when it comes to the SaaS industry. Below, you'll find some of the most popular ones: 

1. Freemium Model - your product or app is free, but premium features can only be unlocked for a fee (think OneDrive or Dropbox).

2. Flat Rate - one price for one product, with the same features available to all. Users can choose between paying a monthly fee or an annual fee, with annual fees often being cheaper.

3. Usage-Based - also referred to as "pay as you go", this model charges customers for specific transactions such as requests, money transfers, messages, data used, posts, invoices, calls, or any other transactions.

4. User-Based - charging your clients per active user operating your SaaS platform. You can choose to charge for the total number of users or just active users - many SaaS companies use the latter since it's more fair and convenient.

5. Feature-Based - charging a flat rate for the most basic version of the product and monetizing subsequent features. This and the tiered pricing model are often seen as interchangeable.

6. Tiered Pricing - combining features into predefined packages and pricing them accordingly. This is good for both B2C and B2B SaaS companies since users/enterprises can pick tiers that best suit their needs.

7. Combination - as suggested by the name, some SaaS companies decide to combine several strategies depending on their business model.

3. Choose Your Technology Stack

When it comes to SaaS, the right technology stack is as important (if not more) as a well-defined pricing strategy. There are many options, and many combinations of technology stacks for SaaS products, but some of the most commonly used options include:

Front-end

The front-end is what users see. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue.js, and Angular are common options for the front-end. 

Back-end

The server side of your application - i.e., what's invisible to users. Developers often go for JavaScript, Python, PHP, and Ruby.

Database

This is where you store essential information related to your software/application. MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB are popular for databases.

Hosting

It's necessary to choose a secure and reliable cloud service provider like Google, Microsoft or Amazon (AWS).

If programming isn't your strongest side, we suggest you wait until you have a tech team on board to discuss the details mentioned above and make the right choices for your particular product. Consider this list as a framework, not a strict blueprint.

4. Find Investors

Unless you're willing and capable to pay for the development and launch of your MVP out of pocket, you're going to need a dollar or two to get your business up and running. Thankfully, there's a wide variety of resources available in the sphere, from Angel Investors to start-up incubators and programs to bank loans. Consider researching options in your area to see if there are any fundraising activities or programs you can attend in person. Likewise, consider raising money on crowdfunding platforms like IndieGoGo.

Raising money doesn't have to be a long and tedious process as long as you've got everything in place, including a killer pitch deck. Check out Ucraft’s fundraising case study for some helpful tips and tricks.

5. Hire a Team

When it comes to launching any product, digital or otherwise, teamwork is key. You don't have to hire a whole office's worth of employees - even a small-ish team with all of the key figures is more than enough for a beginner launch. So, who should you hire? Here are some roles to consider:

• Business analyst

• Software developers

• Scrum master

• Product owner

• Project manager

• UI/UX designers

• Web designers

• Quality assurance (QA) engineer

• Customer support team

• Sales expert

• Marketing manager

It's up to you whether you want to have all of these roles fulfilled in-house or through other means, such as outsourcing or hiring freelancers. However, we suggest fulfilling at least the roles mentioned above in-house, and potentially outsourcing services like content, SMM, SEO, etc., if it's too costly or impossible to have them on-site at the moment. 

Likewise, when building your team, it's important to ensure that all employees occupying high-level or managerial roles have the experience and skills to ensure your launch is successful. You don't want someone getting off-track halfway through or becoming unsure of what to do when common challenges arise.

6. Develop an MVP

Also known as the minimum viable product, an MVP is essentially the trial or Beta version of your SaaS solution, packed with all of the basic features. Although it's not the final product, an MVP is what you need to entice users, build an initial customer base and impress your stakeholders. Obviously, if all goes well, you'll be launching more sophisticated versions of your product later on, but at this stage, an MVP is all you need.

Here is where you gather everything you've prepared over the last five sections and merge them to produce your MVP. Your business plan, pricing model, technology stack, funds, and team should all smoothly come together to create a valid MVP for the first release.

As soon as the development kicks in, make sure you consistently communicate with the development and design teams and ensure they share your vision for how the product is supposed to look and function. Likewise, hold regular meetings with the whole team to keep track of progress and answer any questions, and test your product throughout the development stages to pinpoint any bugs or malfunctioning tools/features.

MVP or not, it should function like a full product. This is where your QA team comes in to carry out the Beta-testing process and help you uncover any flaws.

Following the launch, think of your SaaS product as a rare houseplant. Just because you've watered it for a specific period of time doesn't mean you should stop once it's grown big and strong. Just like a plant, you have to "water” your product post-launch with maintenance, upgrades, promotional activities, and 24/7 customer support.

Launching a SaaS Product

Congratulations! Your MVP is ready, and you're about to launch.

Not so fast! You can't just launch your SaaS product into thin air. If you haven't already hired a marketing team, now is the time to get the marketers on board to announce your launch and run the necessary campaigns. You'll need a marketing manager, content writer, SMM specialist, SEO specialist, and even a web designer, if possible, to make this a launch to remember.

1. Announce Your Launch

For your product announcement to go smoothly, you'll need a landing page. Why not a full website? Well, for starters, creating a website takes time, and, unless you go for a website builder, you might not have that time to create a full-blown website right now. Moreover, you might not even need to yet.

If it's your first launch, a "Coming Soon" landing page is more than enough to gather leads, create a buzz around your launch, describe your product in a few words, and even include a countdown element. The main goal is to intrigue users, provide them with everything they need to know about your upcoming launch, and explain how your SaaS product solves their problems. Once the leads start coming in post-launch, you're definitely going to need a website, but focus on creating an eye-catching landing page first.

2. Promote Your Launch

Once again, your marketing team is crucial at this step, as well as your go-to SaaS marketing strategy. Assuming your launch date is pretty close, you'll need to set up accounts on all popular social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and maybe even TikTok depending on the type of product and how much you want to appeal to younger consumers.

Other platforms to consider include Product Hunt and Beta List.

Marketing Activities for the Pre-Launch and Launch Period

Marketing may not be the bread and butter of this post, and we'll definitely be covering this in more detail in the third part of our series, but it's essential to briefly mention some marketing activities crucial to a successful SaaS launch:

1. Social media marketing
2. Email marketing campaigns
3. Lead generation 
4. Influencer marketing
5. Paid advertising and PPC
6. Product demos
7. Gift cards and discounts 
8. Exclusive insights 
9. Affiliate marketing
10. And more!

Stay tuned for the third part of this guide, where we'll be going into further details about how to successfully market a SaaS launch.

3. Launch Your MVP

Once you've announced your launch and carried out some promotional activities, it's time to actually launch!

Given you've created a landing page with a countdown, it's safe to say that the countdown is over, and the time has come to launch to the public. Some SaaS start-ups choose to do a private launch to friends and acquaintances to test first, but if you've got a strong QA team on board that conducted full Beta-testing and uncovered any bugs, you're safe to go public, given that all bugs have been fixed.

If you've already gathered leads and sign-ups from your landing page, sent out emails informing your future customers of the launch, and considered giving them a discount or even a free trial to test out the Beta version of your product, it's time to launch. Likewise, ensure your customer support team is up and running to help newcomers with any questions or queries. As mentioned above, you're going to have to maintain performance and ensure everything runs smoothly - from the technology stack, to support, to user communication. Likewise, remember to have an onboarding process in place for customers.

If the above-mentioned points have been taken care of, hit the release button!

Post-Launch Performance and Fine-Tuning

You've successfully developed and launched a SaaS product. Great work!

However, it's only just the beginning. The post-launch stage is incredibly important for tracking progress and making necessary improvements and adjustments to your SaaS solution. Let's look at some of the most important aspects of the post-launch period.

1. Gather User Feedback

Attracting users is not enough. You need them to stay, and you need them to feel valued and heard if you want to convert one-time customers into loyal ones. This is why you need to ensure you have a feedback mechanism in place for early-bird customers to provide useful suggestions. This can be achieved via email, forms on your website, or even internal pop-ups or forms that ask users to rate their experience.

2. Track KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

Another efficient way to track progress includes paying attention to key SaaS performance indicators. Some KPIs you should pay close attention to include:

1. Visitor-to-sign-up rate – the percentage of page visitors that turn into leads.
2. Lead-to-customer rate - the percentage of leads that have turned into paying customers.
3. Sign-up-to-customer rate - the overall percentage of users that have turned from free trials to paid versions.

Other metrics you can pay attention to include customer lifetime value (CLV), net promoter score (NPS), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), and annual recurring revenue (ARR).

3. Start Making Improvements

You've gathered feedback and tracked your KPIs. Now it's time to take that information and start making necessary changes. Relay user feedback to your development and UI/UX design teams so they're aware of what needs to be improved and can start working on this ASAP to ensure your current customers stick with you. Likewise, your KPIs will give you a good idea of what needs to be improved in both your internal functioning and external promotional activities.

4. Create a Website

This should be done shortly after a launch if you've relied on a sole landing page. You can choose to hire a team of web developers and designers or go for a website builder like Ucraft. If you want to save money while not compromising on your website quality, we would definitely recommend going for a website builder (and not just because we're in the industry, but because it's a quick yet quality option for those who don't have the time or money to develop a whole website from scratch.

Consider using ready-made templates to give your website that pro feel.

Bottom Line

Launching a SaaS product is an exciting time in any IT professional's career, and it doesn't need to be excessively challenging or complicated as long as you tackle each stage step by step. Let's refresh our memories:

During the development stage, you need to: develop a business plan, decide on a pricing model, choose your technology stack, find investors, hire a team, and develop an MVP.

Likewise, when the time to launch approaches, it's essential to announce your launch, promote your launch, and - obviously - launch your MVP. 

When you reach the post-launch stage, you can successfully start fine-tuning your SaaS product by gathering user feedback, tracking KPIs, and making necessary adjustments. Also, don't forget to create a website!

We hope this guide was helpful. Stay tuned for the third part, which will be addressing the marketing side of things.

Unlike selling physical products, there is no need to worry about storing your inventory, paying shipping fees, or packaging items with digital product sales. All you need to do is create the digital product once and watch your revenue climb. 

That being said, let's discuss some of the steps necessary to take in order to start successfully selling digital products from the comfort of your own home.

What is the Difference Between Physical and Digital Product Sales? 

Digital products are intangible assets or media that can be sold or distributed online without the need to manage physical inventory. These products are delivered in downloadable or streamable formats, like epubs, PDFs, MP3s, videos, templates, or software. 

Unlike physical goods that are reproduced and replenished constantly, digital products allow merchants to expand or improve their products without creating more of them. 

Digital products can complement your existing business, even if you've previously focused solely on physical goods. The benefits of selling digital products include the following:

• Saving time on sourcing and managing inventory, as well as shipping and logistics;

• Saving money on overheads since digital goods don't need to be stored, sourced, shipped, or insured;

• The opportunity to scale your products as much as you would like without incurring additional costs;

• High-profit margins thanks to low production and distribution costs;

• Growth opportunities, considering that environmentally-conscious, digital-first consumers show an increasing preference for virtual goods and instant access to materials.

Of course, there are downsides, too. Digital goods are far easier to plagiarize and pirate, so make sure that you encrypt your goods and restrict access as much as possible.

The Best Digital Products to Sell Online

Deciding what products to sell can be your biggest challenge when you choose to expand your product offering. Luckily, there are plenty of avenues you can explore and produce with relatively low costs. 

1. Educational Products

E-learning has become increasingly popular since the pandemic. Nowadays, online courses are an easily accessible means of expanding your skill set at your own pace and affordable rates. If you have a talent or passion that others can benefit from, why not turn your knowledge into a revenue stream? You can host monthly webinars, create downloadable content and tutorials, or design comprehensive online courses with videos and quizzes. Anything is possible with an eye-catching educational website.

Alternatively, you can monetize your skills by creating podcasts and ebooks. Although competition is high, your existing customers/readers/followers will still be interested in what you have to say and even be willing to spread the word on your behalf if you have already established yourself as an expert in the field. If you are just starting out, consider offering at least a percentage of your content for free. 

Check out the following templates if you’re looking to build a website for educational products:

WestCollege
The Cool School

2. Music and Art

If you have some artistic talent, you can make a little extra cash and gain exposure by selling digital assets on your site. Whether you are a musician that sells ringtones alongside merch, or a cartoonist that develops dropshipping products or phone wallpapers, the sky's the limit. You don't need to hold inventory to sell your digital assets physically, so keep experimenting until you find the winning formula. 

If you’re looking to create a website for music or art, these templates should do the trick:

Amy 
Jungle Band 

3. Tools and Templates 

Many SMBs just don't have the time and resources it takes to manage their business on all fronts. Speaking of which, they might need more expertise or tools to design the templates they need, like business cards, logos, or PowerPoint designs. You can make their lives easier by selling easy-to-use templates or tools to run their businesses. Think of plugins, filters, digital media planners, calendars, print materials, fonts, icons, or UX kits. There's no limit to what you can offer, and you can keep expanding your product line. 

You can easily create kits for schools, churches, athletic clubs, and other small businesses while making a dollar or two (or several thousand). Make the most of our templates and get your tool business up and running:

Teneapp
Moneyapp

4. Memberships

Regarding memberships, you can sell individual products or bundle them together to sell on a recurring basis. Online courses, fitness classes, or online coaching are just a few of the digital products/services that are great for bundling into memberships. If you have a rich portfolio of digital goods to sell or a strong community of loyal followers and customers, consider introducing monthly or annual subscriptions at discounted rates or enticing your customers with exclusive content and compelling deals. 

Check out the templates below if you’re interested in creating a subscription service:

Yoga Balance
Languager

5. Services

If you have a service or consultation business, why not pair your existing offering with digital products? You can offer these products as add-ons to your service, e.g., personal trainers who sell workout or diet plans, or financial consultants who provide simple tax calculation spreadsheets or budget tracking templates. It's a great way to upsell your customers and keep your business at the forefront.

For those keen on starting a service or consultation business - we’ve got you covered with these templates:

Mabel Lee
KYL

How to Sell Digital Products

Once you have decided what to sell online, you can devise your strategy for digital selling success.

1. Conduct Research

Contrary to what you may think, you don't have to be an expert in digital products or product creation to sell digital goods online. Start by thinking about the knowledge and skills you've gathered that others might be interested in learning. What are your interests and passions? Simply creating an ebook about your experiences running your own freelance business, or the lessons you've learned in your first year as an eCommerce business, will attract an audience of like-minded people. 

If you already have a business and want to complement your physical products with digital products, create online assets related to what you're selling. If you sell culinary products, why not create a recipe book with some of your favorite meals? Similarly, a business coach could compile an ebook about coping with stress or change in the workplace.

Take some time to research what others are selling. Reddit groups, industry forums, and social media contain a wealth of information and ideas you can use as inspiration. It will also give you a good indication of how much others are charging for similar products. 

However, ensure you're not plagiarizing; consider variations or improvements you can make. 

2. Sell Digital Products That Solve Problems 

You might wonder why someone would be interested in listening to your podcast or downloading your ebook if you don't have a limited online following. People may not be familiar with your brand yet, but they are interested in solving their problems and improving their lives. Promote your goods accordingly! 

Think of what you can help others achieve: 

• Lose weight

• Feel more confident

• Save $100,000 in one year

• Get out of debt

• Improve their skills and access greater career opportunities

Once you know what problems you can solve, you can create a tagline and a title for your digital products that will grab customers' attention (and convert them into sales).

3. Speak to Your Target Market

Use your existing customer base to your advantage to upsell digital products. Bundle digital products with your current physical goods to reach an audience that is already interested in your goods. Run email marketing campaigns to promote digital products with quick and easy download links and promotions. Give away free samples (e.g., clips from your podcast or a free chapter from your ebook) to elicit interest. You can also use social media channels to promote digital products or share free clips and samples. 

4. Keep Testing

While the risks of creating and selling a digital product are far lower than physical products, you want to avoid creating products that simply don't sell. Validate your ideas by creating surveys asking for feedback, and keep an eye on Google Trends to see if your chosen sphere is growing. Likewise, if you have an existing audience, ask them what topics they would be interested in. It's also good to experiment with pricing to see if sales would pick up at lower rates.

Sell Digital Products with Ucraft

Selling digital products is an easy and affordable way to boost your revenue and profile without investing in additional inventory or storage. Why not see where digitalization can take your online store by creating a few digital products of your own?

With Ucraft, you can easily get started on your digital product selling journey by promoting your products on your own website. Sell physical products, digital goods, gift cards and subscriptions - all at the click of a button!

However, given the abundance of options on the market, determining the best tool for your affiliate strategy can be challenging. To help you out, we have compiled a list of our top 5 affiliate marketing tools to consider.

Leading Affiliate Marketing Tools to Consider in 2023

1. Flippa

An online marketplace to buy and sell online businesses and digital assets? Yes, that exists! Flippa is a platform where online business owners meet to trade assets, from eCommerce stores, blogs, mobile apps, social media accounts, and other online businesses.

Flippa is essential for anyone looking to accelerate the process of building a successful affiliate site from scratch. This site serves as a bidding marketplace for individuals to buy and sell websites.

We live in an era with more digital businesses than physical homes. So, we need that one platform that stands at the heart of everything. Flippa helps to realize value, invest, make money and start new digital journeys. Moreover, Flippa specializes in pairing expert advisory and technology to match the buyer network globally, providing appropriate assistance when determining the right price. 

2. ShareASale 

Affiliate marketing starts with building partnerships with sites in need of sales. ShareASale connects online retailers to affiliate partners worldwide, increasing consumer reach and providing sources of revenue. It also supports clients' affiliate program goals by providing strategic control, innovative technology, and robust data reporting. 

ShareASale helps newbies and well-established affiliates get their marketing strategy off the ground. This easy-to-use platform allows all types of content creators to monetize their website or platform by partnering with their favorite brands.

3. AdEspresso

This cloud-based advertising platform is best for creating, managing, and optimizing affiliate marketing campaigns. AdEspresso is one solution to all the advertising channels: the best for an affiliate. This way, you get easy access to your clients' accounts and have them approve your campaigns before going live. 

AdEspresso supports Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ad campaign creation.

4. HubSpot Email Marketing 

After you've chosen the right product for affiliate marketing and kick-started your strategy, it's time to focus on the best use of resources and media available to drive people to your content. You will likely turn to affiliate marketing email campaigns to reach out to your audience and will be looking for a way to automate this process. 

The HubSpot email marketing tool enables users to create and schedule new emails at the click of a button. With this tool, you can design and send professional emails independently and optimize them to improve performance. Since it's powered by your HubSpot CRM database, you know the data you're using to customize your emails is accurate.

It's also easy to get started. Select one of the goal-based email templates, or choose from dozens of free templates in the marketplace that are guaranteed to convert. Then use our drag-and-drop editor to customize the layout, calls-to-action, and branding. And voila! You're all set. 

5. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a valuable SEO optimization tool capable of helping you with almost any SEO task. Its key features include site SEO audit, complete backlink analysis, and keyword research. Let's see, what is it you find yourself doing most? Running a content gap analysis for keyword research? For the record, this is best at identifying high-value affiliate keywords. It will show you exactly what your competitors' best keywords are.

Ahrefs will put together a detailed report evaluating speed metrics, organic traffic, ranking progress, and backlink growth. The report will also include actionable suggestions to solve those issues.

To get started with Ahrefs, you need to plug in your site link to Ahrefs' Site Explorer. Then, click "Competing domains" on the left-hand menu and wait for the results. This will show you your top competitors based on your current Google keyword rankings.

Ahrefs will do some data crunching and display a list of keywords that your competitors rank for, but you don't. Analyze these keywords and select any you feel will be a good target for your own website. 

Final Notes

When it comes to choosing tools to help you along your affiliate marketing journey, make sure to pick the ones that best suit your business goals and chosen product. If all five listed above can help you in your efforts, go for them! Likewise, don't hesitate to do your own research and see what's out there.

If you're tech-savvy and looking for a useful solution to promote to eager listeners, consider joining the Ucraft Affiliate Program and generate leads for unparalleled website building and eCommerce solutions. Good luck!

Q-Commerce, also referred to as quick commerce or on-demand delivery, is usually implemented for micro-deliveries of local essentials, such as groceries or medicine. These goods aren't kept in conventional warehouses on the outskirts of cities anymore but are housed in micro-warehouses close to the point of delivery instead.

What is Q-Commerce?

Q-Commerce or quick commerce is a form of eCommerce where the emphasis is placed on rapid delivery. Orders are usually fulfilled in less than an hour of placement time and tend to come in smaller quantities. 

Essentially, this is a faster, more compact format of the standard eCommerce delivery model, akin to food delivery. Companies associated with Q-Commerce include Weezy, Getir, Flink, and Jokr. As noted previously, the trend was heavily influenced by the pandemic when everyday items and households became less accessible, and consumers began to rely more heavily on deliveries and online shopping. 

Q-commerce vs. eCommerce

eCommerce refers to the online sale of goods and services. There are three main types of eCommerce platform: business-to-business, business-to-consumer, or consumer-to-consumer. Q-Commerce is an offshoot of eCommerce, but in addition to selling goods electronically, this specific business model involves the speedy sale and delivery of goods. The entire process of registering, buying, and delivering should last less than 24 hours to be considered quick commerce. 

The unique characteristics of Q-Commerce include: 

• Fast delivery times: This is the defining quality of Q-Commerce. Delivery times should be much shorter than that of conventional eCommerce, e.g., anywhere from 10 minutes to one hour. When deliveries take more than 24 hours, it's generally considered eCommerce with express shipping rather than quick commerce. 

• Limited locations: Q-commerce is only viable in areas where the benefit of sales and customer attraction balances the cost of rapid delivery. It's usually limited to city hubs and local customers where hyperlocal "dark stores" dotted around residential areas can quickly fulfill orders, usually located within 2 miles from the warehouse. 

• Micro-warehousing: In order to deliver goods within an hour or less, warehouses and order facilities must be located as close to the customer as possible. Instead of relying on extensive centralized facilities, businesses that adopt the Q-Commerce model use micro-fulfillment centers in residential areas to enable fast delivery. These facilities are limited in terms of the inventory they can house.

• Efficient logistics: The supply chain process is organized, simplified, and carefully planned to deliver and process orders as quickly as possible. 

• Specific goods: Not all goods can be sold under the Q-Commerce model. The model is best suited to commodities, like restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, and pet food stores. Because quick commerce is related to last-mile deliveries, it's not suitable for bulky items like furniture that require a freight truck to deliver. Businesses should also consider the nature of the goods they sell. Customers will likely urgently require milk or a loaf of bread at some stage. Still, even if they impulse-buy an expensive computer or bottle of perfume, they probably won't require delivery within 30 minutes.

The Benefits of Q-Commerce

Q-Commerce has several benefits for businesses and retailers alike. Some of the principal benefits include: 

1. Convenience

Q-commerce companies can deliver goods to customers in a fraction of the time it would take a conventional retailer. Everything, from ordering to payment to delivery, is optimized to enable rapid sales turnover. Most micro-fulfillment centers are open 365 days a year and often 24 hours a day, which means customers can access essentials at any time of the day or night. Goods are delivered when customers are home and in need of the item without delay. 

2. Curated, relevant goods 

As we've already mentioned, Q-Commerce companies use micro-fulfillment centers with limited space and limited goods. Businesses have to be highly strategic about the inventory they keep on hand, which is why they often use AI and other technologies to keep a close eye on demand patterns and adjust their inventory in real-time. 

3. Designed for the modern world 

Q-Commerce is the perfect eCommerce model for consumers that are always on the move, with unpredictable schedules and smartphones that are never far from reach. Such companies use technology and mobile-friendly practices to ensure the right products are always in stock and that their couriers are informed and able to meet customer demands. 

How to Get Started with Quick Commerce

Quick commerce is designed to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding customer base. There are three basic models of Q-Commerce: 

• Vertical integration: The eCommerce store receives the order, fulfills it, and delivers it without using a third party. 

• Delivery platforms: A third-party platform receives the order, but the seller processes the order for delivery. 

• Direct-to-customer: The seller uses a marketplace to receive the order and a third-party logistics provider to deliver the items. 

Whichever model you use, there are several fundamental steps you need to take to become a viable and profitable quick commerce establishment or even to add Q-Commerce to your list of strategies. These include:

1. Setting up local hubs 

In order to implement the Q-Commerce model, companies must set up local hubs known as dark stores or micro-fulfillment centers to manage each step - starting from order pickup to delivery. Local hubs are essential when it comes to reducing turnaround times and keeping delivery costs (i.e., fuel) low so that the entire process can be quick and affordable. 

2. Becoming stock ready 

Brands have to understand product demands and variations to remain competitive and efficient. The stock should be kept in nearby warehouses so that variations in standard orders can still be fulfilled quickly, earning customer loyalty and repeat business. 

3. Efficient design 

Good warehouse design is essential to the Q-Commerce model. Pick-up routes have to be optimized so that products can be picked, packed, and shipped in the shortest possible time. 

4. Delivery partners

If outside delivery partners are used, it's best to pick companies specialized in urgent or last-mile deliveries. The success of the entire business relies on the ability of delivery partners to fulfill orders in a short amount of time. Some analysts predict that drones will soon become the Q-Commerce delivery vehicles of choice. 

5. Automated order management

Order processing times should be kept as short as possible. Products must arrive at their final destination within hours or even minutes, which is why fulfillment and delivery times are often automated to keep processing times short. 

Final Thoughts

Although Q-Commerce became popular during the pandemic, it seems like this trend is here to stay. Customers are used to online shopping and shorter delivery times when it comes to receiving their goods. Currently, quick commerce is limited in what it can do, but there's no telling where it will go.

That being said, any successful eCommerce business, quick commerce or otherwise, needs a strong online presence to flourish. This is where Ucraft comes in. Whether you’re just starting out in the eCommerce space, or this article has inspired you to dabble in Q-Commerce, an eye-catching, functional, and user-friendly website is a must. 

Create your Q-Commerce website with Ucraft and reap the benefits of pre-designed eCommerce templates, a variety of useful features, SEO tools and much more. 

In just one year, Ucraft has become significantly more diverse, providing us with fresh perspectives on many aspects, including how we work, what events we sign up for or organize, and even the steps we take to improve our current website builder and develop our new one.

2022 has been a year of change, growth, innovation, fresh ideas, and - most importantly - risks. 

As the resident content writer, who has been with the company since 2019, I'm impressed at how much we've evolved as a company since I first began working here. This is why I'm here again with stats, facts, and achievements to give the best run-down of 2022 that I can. 

Without further ado, let's dive in! 

This year, we…

Hired 85 New Ucrafters… 

What's a recap without mentioning the people behind the scenes? After all, it's the Ucrafters that make things happen! And make things happen they do, especially now that our company has grown to nearly 250 employees!

In 2022 alone, we hired 85 new employees, helping to relocate 20+ of them. That's right! To support people who want to join us on-site, we rolled out a Relocation Package for those employees wishing to relocate and work from the office. This package covers everything - from financial help to house-hunting to assistance with legal documents and permits. 

Welcomed 70k+ New Users 

Ucrafters may be the ones that help the magic happen, but it can't be denied that we would be nowhere without our incredible customer base, which has now grown to over 1,000,000 users! 

As we continue to develop our builder, we also do our best to add as many features, integrations, and payment/shipping options as possible. And now we're seeing the benefits of putting our users first. We've charmed customers worldwide, providing them with the tools and technology they need to create powerful websites, profitable online stores, or even mesmerizing portfolios. 

We're so grateful for each and every one of you and hope you continue to stay with us for years to come, especially now that we've got some major developments up our sleeves.

Published 70+ Articles

Almost 30 years since the internet was first made available to the public, and guess what? Content is still king! Any veteran internet-dweller knows this, which is why we put an emphasis on publishing informative articles and responsive website templates. This year alone, we've published a total of 75 articles in 3 different languages. 

Rather than limiting ourselves to just one topic or direction, we decided to take on a combined approach of helpful how-tos, informative long-reads, and company updates to ensure that our readers are getting the most out of our blog. 

Likewise, I feel like this is a good time to announce that we've also started a SaaS Startup Guide. It's been a pretty busy winter, so, as the resident content writer (sorry), I've only managed to write the introductory piece, but trust and believe there will be more where that came from in the upcoming year. 

Attended 3 Events and Sponsored 3 Organizations 

Ah, one of my favorite sections! Ucrafters have become quite the travelers since traveling became, well, ok again. Yeah, let's not get into that.

We closed 2021 with the Lisbon WebSummit conference and opened this year with the Future Innovation Summit in Dubai, UAE. We also participated in the annual Barcamp conference (Armenia's largest tech event) and even took our team to ExCel London to participate in the world-renowned eCommerce Expo. As official Registration Sponsors, too, mind you. 

Likewise, several team members also flew across the world to San Francisco to participate in the UC Berkeley SkyDeck program, but more on that further below. 

But events aren't the only thing we've participated in this year. Ucraft also managed to sponsor three local tech and educational organizations! 

• HyeTech (Technology and Innovation)
• Startup School Armenia (Education)
• Koreez (Education)

Since we started out in a tiny office and have grown exponentially over the years, we felt that it was our duty to help other local organizations specializing in technology and education, considering that education is our future. The more education opportunities we provide, the more our country (and the whole world) thrives. This is why we made it our mission to empower students and tech lovers to ensure they have the same opportunities we do, and the organizations listed above are just the beginning!

Translated Ucraft Into 2 New Languages (and Ucraft Next into 7!)

Our Translations Team alone deserves a standing ovation this year since they've been working incredibly hard to continue translating our builder into as many languages as possible. It's safe to say that we've stayed on track, and Ucraft is now also available in Spanish and Farsi. 

This means that our builder is now accessible in a total of seven languages, which, considering our growing international reach, is a pretty significant milestone in itself. These languages include: 

• English 
• Russian
• Armenian
• French
• Arabic 
• Spanish 
• Farsi

What's even more exciting is that, upon launch, the languages listed above will also be available for Ucraft Next. 

Became a Part of the UC Berkeley Ecosystem

Now, this one is truly a significant milestone for us since the Berkeley SkyDeck Accelerator Program is one of the top programs in the world for networking, finding sponsors, and learning from the best gurus in the field. We were lucky to work with Karén Gyulbudaghyan, an official SkyDeck ambassador who welcomed us into the program and allowed several Ucrafters to travel to Berkeley, California, and participate on-site. Since we're officially based in California, this was also an excellent opportunity to go back and catch up with some of our Silicon Valley acquaintances - a "two birds, one stone" kind of opportunity! 

The whole team was also provided access to exclusive online courses and in-person consulting sessions with Karen, who helped us perfect our pitch for Ucraft Next, the new and improved version of Ucraft scheduled to launch next year. 

Since our SkyDeck experience would be difficult to summarize in a single paragraph, we published a long-read article on our blog covering our own experience and helpful fundraising tips we learned along the way. Make sure to check out our Ucraft Fundraising Case Study and our exclusive offer for the UC Berkeley & SkyDeck Community. 

Our company becoming a part of the top Accelerator Program in the world is a milestone to remember, and we're all very proud of this achievement. 

Added 80+ New Features and Integrations 

2022 was a big year for significantly improving our existing website builder. Although we're putting a lot of time and effort into Ucraft Next, we also need to ensure that our current builder is in top shape. Thanks to our hardworking tech team, this has been fine since they work day and night to keep our users happy. 

Regarding specific features and integrations, if we were to list all of them, we'd be here all day, and our recap article would become incredibly not SEO-friendly. Keeping that in mind, we've decided to include our top two for this year:

Pay What You Want 

This pricing option allows customers to be flexible in what price they are willing to accept for selected products. You can suggest one or several prices to your customers or give customers the freedom to define the price themselves.

Integration with PeopleForce

With this handy new integration, users can automate their routine HR tasks in just a few clicks. When a user fills in and submits a form, the data will automatically be sent to the PeopleForce platform and saved as a new candidate. Time-saving in a nutshell.

Produced 20+ Company Videos 

Powering up our official Ucraft YouTube channel was an important new year's resolution for us, and we've succeeded in marking it off our to-do list! This year, we published a total of 21 videos on our YouTube channel, including interviews with employees and clients, Ucraft tutorials, template showcases, event vlogs, and more. 

Thanks to our amazing team of videographers, designers, and editors, we have also rolled out a special series called Craft It With U. In this series, our top customers speak about their passions, work, online presence, and why they chose Ucraft to create their website. 

Ran 6 Holiday Campaigns 

Here at Ucraft, we love to spice up holiday seasons with too-good-to-miss discounts and special offers. And it's not just about the offers themselves - the whole team gets together several times a year to plan out eye-catching holiday campaigns to get into the spirit, be it Christmas, Halloween or Thanksgiving. 

Several weeks before the actual date, our marketing and design teams gather together to plan each tiny detail, including landing page design, aesthetically pleasing social media visuals and animations, the actual offer, and much more. This year alone, we've run six holiday campaigns, allowing our customers to get lifetime and premium subscriptions at discounted prices: 

• Valentine's Day
• Independence Day (July 4th)
• Halloween
• Black Friday
• Cyber Monday 
• Christmas 

Rebranded Our Message and Style

Since the launch date of our new intelligent eCommerce solution is quickly approaching (more on that in the section below), we had to take the next step and carry out some significant rebranding. This will be covered in a separate article in more detail, especially since the word count of this recap is approaching dangerous territory, but here are some of the fundamental changes we made: 

• Released a new slogan for Ucraft Next - Go Faster, Go Further (pretty epic);
• Decreased the number of dots in our logo from three to one, signifying the center point of website creation - the user!
• Changed our mission and vision to reflect game-changing solutions and a high-tech approach to online store creation;
• Updated our content tone to empowering, fun, trustworthy, bold, smart, and inspirational;
• Changed the general typography and color scheme;
• And much more, so stay tuned for our Rebranding article!

Initiated the Ucraft Next Launch Process

This is a tricky one. If you've gone through our previous recap, you were likely anticipating for us to launch sooner. Well, so were we. Until we realized that we could make an even better product. We made the difficult decision to delay launch gratification* and work on Ucraft Next some more before we launched it to the public.

The SkyDeck Accelerator Program (mentioned above) was the tipping point for this decision. As we began to work with mentors and network, we realized the degree of influence we have in this industry as a website builder trusted by many. This means that the next version of Ucraft needs to be as close to flawless as possible, providing users with a first-class user experience and everything (yes, everything) they need to create powerful, visually stunning, and competitive online stores - no bugs or sub-par features allowed! 

Likewise, our founder and CEO, Gev, has inspired us to think outside the box when perfecting Ucraft Next and view our current builder as the biggest competition instead of looking at what everybody else is doing. Obviously, many people are still missing what users want, which is why customers continue to be dissatisfied with even the top products on the market. We can't have that. 

But now that we're getting closer to the release date, the whole team has been working together to create the most epic launch campaign on the planet. Apple, Tesla - it's our time to shine. Humor aside, we're planning on going global with Ucraft in the near future, and we'll be starting with the MENA region due to a high demand for automated and intelligent online store solutions.

For now, you are free to test the Beta version of Ucraft Next. In fact, we welcome it since our team relies on existing customers and interested parties to leave their feedback. That being said, check out Ucraft Next Beta (linked below), and take a minute or so to let us know what you like and what improvements you would prefer to see. 

Try Ucraft Next 

Remember, every response matters! Your feedback will not go unnoticed, and that's a promise. 

*Delayed launch gratification - a definition coined by me (resident content writer, hello) to explain the process of delaying a SaaS launch to improve the product rather than experiencing an immediate sense of gratification by launching a product that still needs improvement. 

In 2023, We Are Planning To… 

Enter the Metaverse 

To kick off 2023, we have decided to take the next step and launch Ucraft Next in the Metaverse. No pun intended. Our company will have a solid and exclusive spot where anyone can visit Ucraft in the virtual space, meet our (virtual) employees, ask questions, voice any concerns and even create a new project with us! Cool? Cool. 

Initiate Ucraft Creative Lab 

Ucraft Creative Lab was created this year as an experimental solution to personalized web design services. The main goal is to deliver timeless design solutions and assistance to our clients, which will continue serving them for many years to come. This includes offering branding and design services to both businesses and individual users via building their website from scratch or enhancing an existing one. 

We've tried out the Creative Lab locally, and it was a hit with local businesses. This is why we've decided to launch it as an official service later next year, which will include the following:

• Website and landing page design 
• eCommerce/online store design
• Design changes on existing websites
• Maintenance 

We'll also be using the newest version of our builder, Ucraft Next, which will enable our design team to create pixel-perfect websites and guarantee customer satisfaction.

Launch Our Partners Program

You asked, and we delivered. This program will be for anyone, agencies and freelancers included, who designs sites for clients. As a Ucraft Partner, you gain access to exclusive benefits such as targeted training, account management, priority support, revenue sharing, and more. Ideal for webmasters, design agencies, and marketing organizations.

Become a Partner

-

So, that's a wrap. As usual, I, your favorite resident content writer (I think my team is going to kill me for overusing this joke), was planning to write a cute, neat little sum-up of what we've done and achieved this year. And now, 2500+ words later, I realize that this is an impossible feat. In fact, there were some sections I had to omit because this was about to become a dissertation. 

Jokes aside, this year has been game-changing for us. So many new achievements, opportunities, and challenges we honestly didn't know where to look. It's a good thing there are now almost 250 of us to help keep the focus. 

Stay tuned for more, and feel free to give us a follow on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

Have a Happy New Year! 

With love,

The Ucraft Team 

And me, resident content - ok, now I'm running.

What to consider before starting product research

You should never do research for research’s sake. Here are just a few things you need to consider before diving into your research.

Know why you want to do the research

As a prospective business owner, you already know why you need a marketing strategy and a pricing strategy. You need to draw customers to your business, and you need to ensure that your products deliver a solid profit after shipping, storage, and other running costs are accounted for. The reasons for conducting eCommerce product research aren’t as closely tied to commercial outcomes, which is why you might be tempted to skip it. 
 
It’s important to consider why you should do product research before you even decide how to do product research. There are several different areas of product research you can explore. The route you choose depends on your goals. Do you want to launch a new product or adapt an existing product for a new target market? Do you want to upgrade your product to compete with similar products in the market? 
 
If you are early in the product discovery phase, you need to get to know your target market better and develop products accordingly. At later stages, you need more qualitative feedback on existing products from new or existing customers, so you know which features to add or retain.

Defining Your Customer Segment

Product research is all about honing in on what your existing or prospective customers want, whether you are trying to launch a new product or looking for the best possible sales channels for your eCommerce business. You may want to speak to a random sample of your most existing customers or find a small group of potential customers according to the region or demographic profile you want to target with your new product.

Choose Your Research Tools and Budget 

Before conducting research, you need to consider how much you are willing to spend. Your budget will determine the tools you use. Manual, resource-intensive methods like user interviews and focus groups deliver rich qualitative insights but can be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. Try to use the resources you have at your disposal. If you have your own website with a solid customer base, you can use an email survey sent to your users in exchange for a discount coupon to answer your questions. If you are interested in the dropshipping business model, you could stick to desktop research to find out what type of products are most popular (e.g., what the top-selling totes, mugs, or T-shirts on sites like Amazon look like).

6 tips for effective product research

If you don't have a huge budget or existing customer base, you need to approach your research in a smart and efficient way. Here are just a few of our top research tips in the product development process to help you get started: 

1. Research trends

eCommerce means keeping up with cultural trends at all times. That’s not always easy, though! Search through the most popular hashtags on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to find out what’s in vogue. Take note of interesting products, tips, and even influencers pushing the product. You’ll get great ideas for products and fads to explore and insight into what attracts customers to these products. You’ll probably even uncover popular social media influencers and groups that you can collaborate with in the future to promote your product. Keep an eye out for posts with lots of engagement, such as likes and comments, for ideas.

Use tools like Google Trends, Trend Hunter, or PSFK to keep an eye on important industry trends and developments.

2. Use competitors to conduct research

In the earliest stages of the product research process, you need to know what your competitors are selling so you can match (and improve upon) their strategy. Amazon is a great place to start. You can dig into subcategories and complimentary products related to the products you are interested in, review your competitors’ websites, and read pages of valuable customer reviews to find out what people love (or hate) about your competitor's product. You can also take a look at some of the best sellers in each category for inspiration and insight into what people are willing to buy.
 
You can also use WatchCount on eBay to see how many people are watchlisting specific products. The most watchlisted products are the ones people are interested in but not ready to buy yet. 
 
Next, take a walk through retail stores for inspiration. You’ll get a better idea of how their products are categorized, who their suppliers are, and how their products are priced. Then you think about how to adapt those products to an eCommerce business. 

3. Validate your ideas 

Once you’ve developed a strong sense of what your product should look like, who your target market is, and how you will price and distribute it, you need to validate your ideas with potential or existing customers. 
 
Recruit customers for focus groups or even simple one-on-one coffees. Alternatively, use surveys through pop-ups on your site or email marketing. Once you have a solid base of customers to speak to, ask questions about the product you are interested in launching. If you have prototypes or images, share them. Note down the feedback to find out what customers like and don’t like about your products, how much they are willing to pay for shipping, how they feel about packaging and pricing, and what features they feel are non-negotiable. 

4. Validate the demand and size of your market

Now that you’ve picked a product that you feel customers will like, you need to find out what the size of your market will be. You can use a tool like Jungle Scout to find how many people are searching for a product like yours on sites like Amazon. It will also give you insight into similar product ideas and the search volume for each of them. 
 
If the market is already saturated with thousands of competitors, your chances of selling as a new brand are much lower. You can use a tool like Niche Hunter by Jungle Scout to find products with low competition that will be easier to dominate. 

5. Use fake door testing

Fake door tests invite users to buy or sign up to try a product that doesn’t actually exist. You can create a test by building a landing page with a call-to-action button, email signup option, or buy using pop-up video ads or slide-outs on your site. 
 
Once a user clicks to perform the action, you can take them to a page that explains that the product isn’t available yet, but that they can put their name on a waiting list. You can even present them with a short survey to find out more about their preferences. The click-through rate and signups are a great indication of how interested customers are in the product. You can use a site like Ucraft to build several landing pages so you can A/B test your ideas as well. 

6. Keep researching

Research isn’t an activity you can close the door on. You have to ensure that your product stays relevant, even as trends change. Here are a few ways you can keep researching throughout the entire product lifecycle:
 
• Keep an eye on Google Analytics to find out where customers are dropping off during the product journey. Are people adding your product to the cart or watchlisting it but not checking out? Are your marketing campaigns successfully bringing customers to your product page, but no one is converting to paying customers? It is time to take a deeper dive into the reasons to find out what the blockers are. 
• Use heatmaps to find out what product elements appeal to your users. Does your website easily draw people to the products you are pushing? 
• Stay up to date with industry trends and market trends. Keep an eye on social media and Google Trends to stay on top of the game at all times. 
• Schedule regular user and customer interviews and surveys to find out how you can improve. Read your customer reviews and find out why people are writing positive or negative things about your business. 

Conclusion

Product research could make a world of difference in developing products that succeed and boost your profits. Knowing what your customers want, who your customers are, and which competitors appeal (or don’t appeal) become the first steps to producing or stocking best-selling products in your eCommerce store. 

This suggests that having a strong presence on Instagram is no longer just a choice for brands and businesses - it must be a staple in your digital box of weapons, so to speak. And if that is not enough, you should know that, compared to other social media platforms, Instagram has the highest audience engagement.

If, just a few years ago, businesses were discussing the idea of including Instagram into their social media strategies, now, the discourse has changed. It has become the prime channel to build your brand and engage existing and potential customers. Thus, learning more about how to get more followers on Instagram is a must for your marketing efforts. 

If you’re here to power up your Instagram presence, you’re on the right track. Let’s dive in. 

1. Identify and Implement Your Style and Theme

Once you set a tone or theme, it can be challenging to alter it halfway through. Thus, the tone you set for your Instagram page should reflect what you want your audience to associate your brand with. What’s the tone, you ask? It’s your style, the overall mood and the feel of your feed. Are you going for a more dark, classic black-and-white kind of look? Or eccentrically colorful and bright? Or maybe more natural-looking images and a minimalistic style is what you’re looking for? 

Regardless of the choice you make, you definitely need to decide on a color palette and the type and style of your photos/videos to share with your audience.

We believe examples are the best way of obtaining a clearer picture. So let’s go over some Instagram accounts and understand the vibes they’re sending out. Welcome to Ucraft’s Instagram page. As you can see, we’re all about creativity, eye-catching colors and artistic solutions.

Now, if you take a look at each brand’s Instagram feed you’ll see a very distinct color scheme and get the overall feel. With that, brands are able to maintain a consistent message. So, what you need to do for your Instagram pictures, is to develop a unique style. An easy way to achieve this is to use similar filters, brightness/contrast levels and color schemes, since these aspects will act together to create your brand’s signature look and feel. 

2. Create and Share Relatable Memes, Reels and Stories 

Relatable memes, shareable reels and humorous or heartwarming stories encourage your followers to engage with you and increase your follower count. This approach also adds up to your style and tone and gives you a wider pallet of ways to create your own style through memes and stories.

Moving on to the theme in your content: what is the core essence of your posts? Ask yourself, what do you want your account to be known for? Does your brand have any strengths or signature aspects worth showing off? For example: tight-knit employee culture, industry innovation, aesthetic office spaces, out-of-office activities, praise from others in the same sphere, partnerships, dedication to hard work, etc. 

Identify your strengths and signature aspects, whatever they may be, and post regular memes, reels and stories regarding those things. Keep in mind that your feed needs to be catchy and descriptive to hook your visitors the second they view your account.

3. Use Relevant Hashtags

Even though everyone wants to have a feed that is easy on the eyes and exudes a certain vibe, that’s not enough for your brand. Users should also be able to find your Instagram account with no hassle, correct? So, do not forget about hashtags - the stronger and the more relevant, the better! Keep in mind that your hashtags should be: 

• Descriptive – i.e., convey brand’s essence
• Categorized – refer to the industry you’re in
• Expertise – show what your brand specializes in
• Community – reflect your community
• Location – display where you are located 

Generally, two-word hashtags are better targeted than one-word hashtags, like #websitebuilder. So better go for those.

4. Learn Perfect Timing 

Another crucial aspect of creating an engaged Instagram following is posting at the right time. One way of achieving this manually is analyzing what has and has not worked for your account in the past. 

But if you want more of a professional approach, find tools that can do that job for you. You will get a detailed analysis of your posting history and engagement in the optimization section. That way you can find the best time of the day as well as the best days of the week to post. 

5. Consider Influencer Marketing

With the rising power and popularity of influencers and influencer marketing, it’s evident that working with these social media celebrities can really boost your engagement. Influencers usually have strong communities around their personal brands, allowing them to influence their audience to follow, like and even choose certain brands and businesses. This has become especially relevant following 2020, since more people are online now than ever before. 

A post, story or reel from an influencer describing how much they liked your product will drive their following to your Instagram account. And you will get users that are already interested in what you do to your zone.

6. Implement Cross-Channel Promotion

When you’re done creating your curated Instagram account with quality content and images, it’s time to promote it on other networks. If you’re here, you might have already checked out our SMM guide (if not, give it a read) and have other social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other channels. If this is the case, use this to your advantage and link your Instagram account on your pre-existing social media channels.

Do not undermine the efficiency of cross-channel promotion: simply adding the Instagram social icon to other channels or, even better, on your website will drive your existing audience to check out what it is you're doing on the popular image and video sharing platform. 

If you don’t have a website yet, we suggest you create one with Ucraft - an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder that doesn’t require any coding or design skills. After your website is good to go, simply link your feed through an Instagram “Follow Us” icon which will redirect your site visitors to your Instagram account. And that’s not all: you can also embed your Instagram feed directly onto your website. 

Wrapping Up! 

Instagram is a precious promotional tool and should not be taken for granted or saved for a later date - especially in the current social media climate! You can be sure that, with the right Instagram marketing plan, you can build an engaged Instagram following and drive awareness, traffic and sales to your brand. But make sure to stay true to your brand: share content that reflects your brand’s personality, conveys certain emotions and makes your users feel like they are a part of your story.

However, event promotion only truly works when it doesn't feel like shameless marketing. This is because the power is with the audience, which largely determines your results. So make the promotion about them. They won't show up if you just talk about yourself, affecting your event-set objectives. 

How to Promote an Event

If cheering in unison, chanting popular songs, and getting your message across is the ultimate goal, the following eight ideas are effective event promotion tactics you shouldn't miss.

Create Your Website

First and foremost, you need a website or landing page for your event. A website is a powerful online event promotion tool that can help capture the vibe of your event and grab your audience's attention.

You can use a website as the main landing page where you discuss all the information about the event, including the date, the venue, and the agenda of the event on your website. Likewise, your platform should also include details about the speakers who will be attending. 

A website can also be used as a registration hub, allowing your audience to make payments directly through your website.

Adding photos and videos of your last event, as well as an FAQ section, is a great idea too. It'll help tease your audience by giving them a glimpse of what to expect. 

What's more, you can include links to social media to allow your website visitor to share the event info widely. 

Choose an Event Template

Understanding you need a website is one thing, but building a website using a template that perfectly matches your event messaging and objective is another thing. 

For your promotional objective to work, consider building a website from layouts that are primarily designed for events. Likewise, the layouts should ideally be fully customizable and easy to edit. This way, you can change the template to suit your event type and brand marketing guidelines to create strong brand awareness.

Additionally, a well-designed website exerts a sense of imagination that attracts more audience to the function. Studies have shown that you only have eight seconds to convince website visitors to stay on the page. Therefore, your website should not only be a powerhouse where you share valuable information about your event, but it should also be beautiful and functional. 

Advertise on Social Media

You can increase the odds of prospects finding you by taking your event to social media. More than half of the globe's population uses social media, allowing you to tap into this wider audience by implementing certain practices that work for social media platforms.

For example, run a social media contest. People will be more willing to participate and get the word out if there's a giveaway involved. You can have your audience complete a task, such as leaving a comment on your post or tagging some of their friends to win a ticket. 

You should also post about your event in different groups and communities to garner awareness.

Using hashtags is another way of doing it. So create your event hashtag, which can be a tagline that carries the core message about your event, and share it with your users. A hashtag creates a sense of community by giving users a way to stay connected. 

Also, consider running ads on social media. Most social platforms allow you to use keywords and geolocation to target a cold audience.  

Empower Speakers and Partners for your Promotions

If you don't already have speakers and partners for your event, consider collaborating with a few. This way, you will not only have people to come and talk at your function and support your event financially, but you can also make the most of their already established audience. 

Empowering the speakers and partners allows you to tap into an existing audience that may be interested in your event but hasn't heard about it.

Consider sharing important information and imagery that the speakers and partners can use on their platforms. Give them registration links, payment information, the event hashtag, and blurbs that touch on the core messaging you want to communicate through your event. 

Consider Ad Retargeting

Not everyone who sees your event campaign will buy a ticket immediately. They may think the event is a great idea but still hesitate to commit to showing up. Some may want to buy a ticket later but forget about your event eventually - as they say, out of sight, out of mind. And that's where ad retargeting comes in. 

Ad retargeting is a great way to remind people who have already come across your event campaigns that they should consider securing a ticket. 

Retargeting ads are typically run on social media platforms and other websites, and they target people who visited your website but haven't taken any action.

Nonetheless, don't try selling tickets to every Tom and Sally that visited your website. Consider their geographical area and the point at which they left your website. Is it on the checkout page? If yes, they are the right people to target. 

Offer Early Bird Registration

An exclusive early bird registration can help incentivize more people to sign up for the event. 

Additionally, offering early bird registration will help you gauge your audience's interest in the event. This will let you know if you should either go ahead with your marketing plan or strategize more. 

So how do you go about early registration? 

• One - offer a hard-to-resist discount. 

• Two - set a deadline for signing up and use a countdown on your registration page. A countdown typically creates a "fear of missing out," and interested people wouldn't want to miss out on your event.

• Three - put aside a limited number of tickets to be offered. A limited supply will create a buzz around your event as people will be up and down trying to get tickets before the discount is lifted. 

Create Content for Your Event

When it comes to marketing, content is king. And not just content, but great content. Great content connects your audience, your brand, and the event. 

Therefore, before your event takes place, you should start posting content across your channels. This can include videos, podcasts, social media posts, webinars, case studies, infographics, and blog posts. 

Content can help tell a story, and people love a good story. People want to know WHY they should come to your event, so let them know the cause. That way, even if their time is limited, they could squeeze their schedule to show up for the function because they want to be part of a cause that matters to them. 

Again, when creating content, have the user in mind. Don't talk too much about yourself. Instead, emphasize what your audience will get out of the event experience. 

Likewise, your content needs should be attention-grabbing, so incorporate eye-catching phrases and engaging videos.

Hire an Influencer

Influencers can help cut corners and make your marketing efforts less strenuous. 
This is because influencers come with their own audience and have genuine relationships with them. Moreover, some people will attend the event because a particular public figure will be present. 

Note that when partnering with an influencer, you must be smart about how you go about it. 

For example, if you are strong on Twitter and feel you can influence a considerable number of people to buy tickets through Twitter, then don't go for a Twitter influencer.

But if, let's say, you're not big on LinkedIn, you can go for a popular influencer on LinkedIn. 

Likewise, if you don't have a podcast, but there's an influencer that has a podcast that aligns with your event mission, you can prepare some essential points and share them. 

Keep in mind that influencer rates can vary, so you may want to ask around and partner with one who fits your budget and needs.  

Promoting Your Event: The Rundown

Planning for an event and seeing many people show up will give you so much fulfillment. You'll be able to communicate your message and sell your products or services seamlessly. And while this is attainable, remember to implement the tactics mentioned in this article to get the most out of your event. 

Remember to: 

• Create a website 
• Choose an appropriate template
• Advertise on social media 
• Empower partners and speakers
• Implement ad retargeting
• Offer early bird registration and discounts
• Create content surrounding your event
• Consider hiring an influencer 

You may need to use all of these tactics or maybe just the ones that fit your budget and requirements. Either way, it's time to start planning.

Good luck!

If you are at this stage, you might be wondering when it's a good time to start thinking about creating your own merch. This article will cover all the steps for creating an online merch store, including some merch ideas to get you started. 

Let's dive in!

Merch Is a Reflection of Your Brand 

It's evident that creators and influencers are predominantly focused on producing video content and sharing it with their audience. But why have so many of them started merch projects? 

You see, content creators already start a brand when they set up their channel and gain a following. Even if they do not refer to themselves as having one, their channel name, content, and fanbase are already part of their specific brand. However, by limiting engagement to just views and follows, brand monetization becomes limited. 

Thus, many creators have realized that an excellent way to promote oneself as an online influencer further is to create merchandise and bring more attention (and revenue) to a brand. 

Some great examples of popular influencers with highly recognizable merch brands are Logan Paul, Mr Beast, Ethan Klein (H3H3), Emma Chamberlain, PewDiePie, and many more (if we were to list all of the successful creators and their apparel, we would be here all day). 

Although it might seem strange that famous Youtubers are selling clothes, this practice has actually become common for most content creators with a good following (typically, 100,000 or more subscribers).

Why Create an Online Merchandise Store? 

So, aside from securing the brand, why do content creators start merch stores? A lot of the time, this may be an individual choice. However, the four reasons listed below should help explain why opening and promoting your own merch can make a huge difference for your channel.

Diversification of Income

This is where the saying "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" comes into play. Most content creators rely on video monetization and product or service sponsorships as part of their revenue-making strategy, but selling merchandise can increase a content creator's income significantly, too. 

According to Tube Filter, creators that have merch stores can earn up to ten times more revenue than those who rely purely on traditional methods. The same goes for dropshipping and PoD stores. Even medium-tier Youtubers and influencers (those with between 50,000 and 1,000,000 subscribers) can earn a good deal of income on merch sales alone. 

Profitable Practice

Creators usually have very loyal, enthusiastic fanbases who will jump at the opportunity to purchase a customized item from the people they follow. 

Even if your subscriber count is not in the millions, there will always be many followers who will want to support you, and the stock will sell. As long as the designs are good, the clothing is comfortable, the sizing range is inclusive, and the products are generally of a suitable quality (not only apparel but any product), content creator merch stock is likely to sell out pretty fast. 

Giving Back to the Fans 

Selling merchandise is a way of showing your fans love and giving something back to them that they can wear to show their support. Often, the largest customer segment comprises teenagers and young adults (or Gen Z, the generation influencing the future of eCommerce) who desire to feel like they are a part of something. 

Once again, the example of Logan Paul's merch comes in; his fans are mostly children and teenagers, who take pride in being part of the "Maverick" fanbase (Paul's brand name) and actively purchase everything the creator puts out. Fans can also provide their input, review the clothes, or even suggest new ideas to the creator, strengthening the influencer–viewer relationship.

Further Brand Growth/Recognition 

As mentioned above, influencers and creators automatically create a brand for themselves when they start a channel and gain an audience. However, when the creator becomes aware of their popularity, they may choose to grow their brand and make it more mainstream. For example, when a Youtuber gets their name printed on a shirt or hoodie, it begins to circle in the real world as well as the digital one. 

People will walk up to fans wearing influencer merchandise and ask them about it, expanding the brand and gaining a wider reach. Even people who don't actively watch the channels are likely to recognize some of the most famous merchandise, such as Logan Paul merch and PewDiePie merch (since their followings are so large, both Paul and Felix are now considered to be mainstream celebrities!).

Self-Expression

Lastly, a less commercial reason why many creators start researching how to sell merch stems from the desire to be creative, try new things, experiment with different styles, and so on. Although working on your videos and selling clothing items may seem miles apart, the two are not that different. Both are forms of self-expression, which is one of the main reasons why influencers do what they do. 

During our childhood years, most of us did arts and crafts, sometimes trying to "design our own clothes" by splashing paint over our new white T-shirts (much to the horror of our parents). As we get older, the desire to be creative is often suppressed by the pressure to do well in school, get a college degree and make money. This is why many influencers are embracing their childlike creativity, which may have been lost in the pursuit of success. 

How to Start a Merch Business and Promote It on Social Media 

We covered the reasons why many content creators and influencers decide to create and promote their own branded products. Merch can connect fans to your channel, giving them a chance to show that they belong to your project. It also allows you to use your creativity to generate something new and try new ways to utilize your content.

As you venture into this space, ensuring your online store stands out is crucial. For an exceptional online presence, considering hiring a Ucraft expert might be a great move.

If you think your channel can benefit from some unique merch, you might be wondering what tools are out there to help make the process a little easier. Don't worry; we're here to help!

How to Create Your Own Custom Merch Store

Creating merch has become one of the leading online sales channels for content creators. But the process doesn't have to be tedious! It's actually much easier than you think to open a merch store. 

The first thing you will need to do is find a tool that can allow you to create products and promote them. Ucraft might be exactly what you're looking for!

Ucraft is an extremely user-friendly website builder. Whether you are a blogger, YouTuber, or IG influencer, anyone can build a site for their brand. One of the biggest advantages of this platform (apart from the fact that you can drag-and-drop elements and don't need to know any coding to use it) is that all pages will automatically be mobile-ready and easy to navigate. 

Ucraft offers several eCommerce website templates you can use to start your own merch site. Don't forget to check out our collection of online store templates to get an idea of what's available and how you can use these themes to start selling merch right now. 

Merch Ideas for YouTubers and Content Creators

Now that we have found a tool to make the process of selling your own merch easier, it's time to pick the specific products you will want to use to promote your brand. There are a few options out there, so here are some ideas that are great for those who are a bit new to merch creation:

• Custom Mugs: Everyone likes to have a beverage, be it tea, coffee, or something else entirely! Offering your followers custom mugs is a great chance to add a little bit of your branding to their daily routine. And, if they work with others, do some promotion for you as well! 

This merch is perfect for: A millennial audience. 

• Socks: Yes, you read that right! Branded socks are actually some of the most successful merch you can offer. Consider adding novelty socks to your creator shop; you'll be surprised how well they will do. 

This merch is perfect for: Everyone! We all wear socks. 

• Notebooks: There are many reasons why notebooks are a great idea for influencer merch. People use notebooks for different purposes, such as taking notes in work meetings and school classes or as their personal journals. So, there's a chance this product will do really well in your shop, so why not give it a try?

This merch is perfect for: A younger audience, especially those going to school. 

• T-shirts and Apparel: Hoodies, tank tops, and even beanies can be great merch ideas for YouTubers and influencers. If you want to sell apparel, consider doing something that sets it apart. For example, offer T-shirts that are made with organic or recycled materials.

This merch is perfect for: People of all ages, particularly if you offer a few different apparel options.

• Keychains: Keychains are easy to produce and cheap to deliver, making them an excellent merch option. Plus, a lot of people like to collect them! 

This merch is perfect for: An audience that doesn't want to spend too much on merch.

• Stickers: Stickers are probably one of the best options for content creators who are wondering how to make merch for YouTube. They are even more convenient than keychains (much smaller and lighter), and they have a big plus: They can help you promote your channel as many people stick them to their laptops and phones for the world to see.

This merch is perfect for: An audience that doesn't want to spend a lot of money on merch but still wants to show appreciation.

• Plushies: Who really outgrows plushies? Most people, regardless of their age (and often even gender), love to keep a soft toy lying around their bedroom or even on their desk at work. Custom plushies are a great way of promoting your brand by having a piece of merch that associates with something cute and positive. After all, not many people can resist a good plushie - even if they have "too many."

This merch is perfect for: A younger audience (i.e., teenagers or young adults), but don't be surprised if people of all ages and genders start investing in your plushies. 

Influencer Merch is the Way to Go

Overall, it is evident that selling merchandise is a good route for influencers to experiment with, especially once they have established an adequate following. In fact, this choice is not limited only to Youtubers; Instagram influencers, bloggers, and upcoming Soundcloud musicians can find out how to make merch; well-designed products to give back to their fans and grow their brand. 

As we mentioned, one of the most important points to consider is how you can pick an honest, good-quality merch company to work with, so you can create genuinely good stock at affordable prices. If you have these three things on lock, you're set. Listening to what the fans want is also essential, which is why many influencers decide to create various polls and Instagram posts to figure out what design, type, and sizing range will sell out the best.

Creating online stores doesn't have to be a long and tedious process. At Ucraft, we have developed a uniquely powerful option for our users to set up great sales platforms in a matter of minutes. 

Giving your followers the chance to buy merch is always a great idea, but don't forget to look into other eCommerce marketing tips too, so you know how to promote your merch better and make the most out of your store. 

If you are a content creator or influencer looking for somewhere to sell your merchandise, check out our eCommerce platform and learn more about why Ucraft is the perfect option to build an online store. Good luck!

However, a high website ranking isn't guaranteed unless you get to the core of the issue - how the website is developed and what coding language is used. It's worth noting that most modern websites and website builders use React to create their pages. 

Below we'll discuss websites built with React and how to conduct the best React SEO improvements on your pages.

What is React?

React is a coding language: an open-source JavaScript library for building web and mobile applications. Some of React's main features are that it is declarative and component-based. This means that React was developed to create an interactive UI (user interface).

The simplest way to understand the components is by picturing them as plugins: these components allow you to build a design and quickly add functionality to a page. 

And if we look even deeper, we learn that React, initially developed to write Single Page Applications (SPAs), is now used to create full-fledged websites and mobile applications. So let's roll up our sleeves and look into some SEO tactics with React. 

How Google Processes Pages

To understand Next.js SEO and best React practices, we need to understand how Google processes pages since over 90% of all online searches go through Google. Let's take a closer look at how Google crawls and indexes. 

Google bots are used to rank your websites. When building your webpage, you can choose the pages you want crawled by listing them in the robots.txt file. Likewise, you can also choose to hide some pages.

During this process, a Google bot analyzes the content of a page to understand what it's about. Then, the results of this process are stored in the Google index - a vast database with information on all existing web pages. This process is automated, so if you want the machine to understand your page content, you need to structure and format it accordingly. 

The third step includes serving and ranking processes. When someone uses Google search, Google goes to the Google index and finds the most relevant results.

All this sounds straightforward. But if that's really the case, then what's the problem with React web apps?

Common Issues of JavaScript SEO and Their Solutions 

Below are some of the most common problems regarding JavaScript SEO, alongside their corresponding solutions. Let's dive in!

1. Slow Indexing/Rendering

Google bots can only quickly scan and understand HTML pages. And although JS indexing has improved over the years, it still is more complex. Likewise, JS indexing is linear and, thus, significantly slower than indexing an HTML page.

Solution: Pre-render and pick the correct rendering strategy

When pre-rendering, specific programs intercept requests to your website, and if the request is from a bot, pre-renders send a cached static HTML version of your website. This is a common approach to make both single- and multi-page web apps SEO-friendly.

However, you need to choose wisely: pick the right rendering strategy. There are several such strategies: Client-Side Rendering (CSR), Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR), Static Site Generation (SSG), and Server-Side Rendering (SSR). Pick the one that will best apply to your case. For instance, if you're running an online store built with an eCommerce website builder, you will probably turn to SSR since it's the most optimal solution for you.

2. Errors in JavaScript Code

JavaScript has a totally different approach to processing errors: a single mistake in JavaScript code can make indexing impossible. That's because the JavaScript parser is completely intolerant of errors. If the parser notices a misplaced character, it stops parsing the current script and brings a Syntax Error. Thus a single typo can lead to the complete inoperability of the script.

Now imagine this happening when the Google bot is indexing the page! Essentially, the bot will see an empty page and index it as a page without content.

Solution: Server-side rendering

If you create a React web app, you need server-side rendering vs. client-side rendering. Due to this, both the web browser and the Google bot receive empty HTML files or files with little content. A JavaScript code then proceeds to download the content from the server allowing users to see it on their screens.

As mentioned in the above solution with server-side rendering, browsers and Google bots receive HTML files with the corresponding content. Google bots can index the page correctly and rank it higher. Server-side rendering is the easiest way to create SEO-friendly landing pages. However, if you want to create a SPA that will render on the server, you'll need to add an extra layer of Next.js.

3. Indexing SPAs

Single-page applications (SPAs) are React-made web apps. Unlike multi-page apps, SPAs are responsive, fast, and provide users with a smooth experience. But as with any solution, there are some limitations here, specifically concerning SEO. 

SPA web apps can give content when the page is already loaded. If a bot crawls the page when the content hasn't been loaded, the bot will see an empty page. A significant portion of the site won't be indexed. Therefore, your site will get a much lower ranking in search results.

Solution: Next.js for SPA SEO  

Next.js is a powerful tool to solve the SEO issues of SPAs. Next.js is a JavaScript framework for creating static server-rendered apps. It has a range of capabilities that allow even heavily or partially loaded SPAs to render on the server without a glitch. Ecommerce website builders like Ucraft Next use Next.js and serve numerous users facilitating the process of client integration.

Verdict

You may face several challenges when building an SEO-friendly React app, but don't let that faze you. None of the problems are insurmountable, and they certainly don't undermine the worth of React and all of the benefits that come with using it.

Most leading search engines have claimed that they will make their solutions to React SEO evergreen, committing to regularly updating their web page rendering engine to the most recent, stable version of their browser. These regular updates will ensure better SEO for your React-built pages.

There are plenty of lead generation platforms on the market to choose from. We've collected our top picks for all aspects of lead generation, regardless of whether your business is big or small. 

What Is Lead Generation? 

Lead generation is the action of attracting prospects to your business and then growing their interest - with the end goal of converting them into a customer. This can be done through blog posts, free ebooks, coupons, live events, and content. 

Lead generation tools can help you capture contact information from people who are interested in your products or services, either through your website or online sources. The key to lead generation software is that leads are collected without any extra effort on your part, so you can begin the process of converting them into paying customers. 

As a marketer, you need a robust toolbox of lead generation tools to keep a healthy pipeline of prospects flowing into the business:

1. Landing Page Creation 

Landing page builders or creators are tools used to create websites without coding. Marketers can use these tools to build a customized landing page or squeeze pages quickly and easily. 

Ucraft 

Ucraft's landing page creator offers over 30 pre-designed, responsive landing page templates. It's very intuitive and doesn't require any coding skills, and is ideal for building intriguing lead-capturing landing pages, product pages, or whole websites. All you need to do is choose a landing page design and customize it to suit your brand.

Best Features of Ucraft

• 30+ landing page templates for a variety of industries
• Easy drag-and-drop customization
• Rich media features, including the ability to add video or images
• Ability to add custom web domains

2. Email Follow-Up Tools

It's important to keep leads warm when they do come in. For sales teams, pursuing opportunities means following up on emails. Fortunately, maintaining email threads alive is easy with modern automation tools. 

Mailchimp 

Mailchimp is one of the most popular email tools on the market. Using Mailchimp, you can send an entire welcome sequence to new subscribers, recover abandoned carts, create follow-up emails on purchases, and re-engage with your inactive customers. It's highly intuitive and comes with a number of attractive templates you can use. 

Best Features of Mailchimp

• Audience dashboards
• Content studio
• Campaign templates
• Rich analytics

Vocus.io

Vocus.io is a comprehensive email automation tool that sends Gmail follow-ups to non-responsive recipients. It can also track links, and opened emails between multiple recipients and comes with templates for quick and easy follow-ups. 

Best Features of Vocus.io

• Ability to send bulk emails and "if no reply" follow-ups for your contact lists
• Email scheduling tools 
• Templates with placeholders for follow-up messages
• Native integration with Salesforce 

Follow-up.cc 

Follow-up.cc enables users to set up emails using a sequence that will be sent if the original mail doesn't get a response in 1-10 days (depending on your preferences). You can use pre-filled default templates or write your own. 

Best Features of Follow-up.cc

• Native Salesforce integration
• Receive desk notifications when emails are opened
• Send Later features to time your emails perfectly 

3. Live Chat Software

Live chat is essential for lead generation because you can connect with website visitors as soon as they log onto the page. You can use this to steer customers directly to what they are looking for online, ask questions, or even present them with a survey or competition to collect leads. 

Hoory 

Hoory is an AI-powered assistant that not only provides excellent customer service but understands intent. Unlike many other bots on the market, Hoory will gather insights about your customers and provide a more personalized experience. The good news is you don't need coding skills to train your bot - you can do it yourself!

Best Features of Hoory

• Central inbox where you can keep track of all customer conversations
• Hoory will crawl your existing knowledge base to provide answers to common questions
• The ability to answer questions in your brand voice
• Teams can work together to train Hoory

Jivochat

Jivochat is a live chat assistant that is designed to engage your prospects from the beginning. It offers highly customizable widgets and tools to get the conversation flowing. 

Best Features of Jivochat

• Seamlessly fits in the side panel of any website for optimal browsing experience
• Works on any device 
• Available in 20 languages so you can serve a global audience

LiveChat

LiveChat covers multiple channels, including Facebook, SMS, email, and Whatsapp. It has a ticketing system, notifications, chat routing, and a sales goals tracker to make lead generation a breeze. 

Best Features of LiveChat

• Product cards enable you to recommend products in the chat
• Extensive reporting capabilities
• Chat widgets are customizable by page

4. Marketing Automation/CRM tools

Customer relationships are critical when determining your business's success; CRM and marketing tools can help you manage your relationships more effectively by automatically capturing the data you need to keep in touch with your clients. 

HubSpot

HubSpot offers a comprehensive free edition that rivals even paid CRMs. It works across marketing, sales, and customer service. You can easily scale up as your business grows, collaborate with team members, and create campaigns. They are also well-known for their customer service. 

Best Features of HubSpot

• Excellent customer support (including Twitter)
• Robust feature set
• Generous free edition 
• Support for integrated payment processing 

GetResponse

GetResponse is a full-stack marketing kit with lead generation features built-in. You can use full email automation to close deals and create sales funnels. You can also use the software to run webinars, build landing pages and create newsletters. 

Best Features of GetResponse

• Landing page creator
• Free for up to 500 contacts
• Build opt-in forms 
• Stay in touch with newsletters

Getsitecontrol 

Getsitecontrol lets you create several different lead generation widgets, from forms to pop-ups. You can use Getsitecontrol to grow your mailing lists, collect customer feedback, prevent cart abandonment, and even make announcements about upcoming products or promotions. 

Best Features of Getsitecontrol

• Wide variety of templates
• Easy-to-install widgets
• Split testing 
• Design flexibility 

5. Survey Tools

The more you know about your customers, the better. Online survey tools can help you gather insights about your prospects that can help you close sales down the line. 

Hotjar 

Hotjar sends surveys to customers when it matters most: immediately! Your survey will appear wherever you need it in the user journey. You can capture real-time feedback using popups or by sending customers a link. Of course, there are a number of other features you can use to collect feedback, including heatmaps. 

Best Features of Hotjar

• Heatmaps that provide insight into how customers navigate the site
• Simple, intuitive form builders
• GDPR & CCPA compliant data gathering 

UserVoice

UserVoice was designed for SaaS companies. It functions as a centralized product feedback solution that gathers and aggregates customer feedback and even internal teams, so SaaS companies can better understand why customers are churning. 

Best Features of Uservoice

• Collect feedback responses directly in Slack
• In-app feedback widget and API
• Contributor sidebar captures internal team feedback during product testing

Typeform 

With Typeform, you can create user-friendly surveys that really stand out from the crowd. Unlike many online tools, Typeform is attractive and functions like a conversation to keep your audience engaged. This can really boost the completion rate of your surveys and generate more thoughtful responses. 

Best Features of Typeform

• Personalizes user flows that qualify and segments your prospects into your CRM
• People-friendly forms with a unique design 
• The ability to add GIFs, videos, and images to surveys 

Conclusion 

Lead generation doesn't have to be a time-consuming task. With the right tools and platforms at your disposal, the work will be done for you so that a constant stream of new prospects is entering your sales funnel and moving towards conversion. In summary:

• Landing page builders like Ucraft can capture email addresses by offering compelling content;
• Email tools like Mailchimp, Vocus.io, and Followup.cc will keep leads hot by sending regular communications to customers; 
• Chat tools like Hoory, Jivochat, and LiveChat can initiate conversations and answer  customer questions when visitors land on your site; 
• Marketing automation tools like Hubspot, GetResponse, and Getsitecontrol make it easy to collect and mine prospects without any manual input after set-up;
• Survey tools like Typeform, Hotjar, and UserVoice can gather even richer insights about your customers through fun and engaging surveys. 

With tools like these, lead generation is simple, automated, and profitable.

In a world where people's attention spans are decreasing yearly, making your call-to-action messages stand out is becoming harder and harder. We meet CTAs everywhere, but how many of us really understand it?

If you want to learn how to create a call to action and what words to use to single out in the competition, follow along with this article.

What is a CTA Button?

A CTA (call-to-action) intends to make the site-visitor click and take action on your website. A compelling call-to-action involves two main elements: the design and the text. It can take the form of a button, a banner, an image, or text on your site. This button is an essential part of the inbound marketing process, transforming the user into a lead and then a customer.

You must have encountered expressions like "Buy now", "Click here", "Log in" and "Subscribe" on most websites. All these expressions aim to provoke an immediate, namely calling for an action. Usually, the CTAs include imperative verbs that create a strong sense of importance and urgency. 

Whether you have an online store, a personal blog, a news site, or an online business idea that you want to develop, these action triggers are essential. To generate a strong CTA button, you need to identify its type and the vital elements that always catch users' attention. The words that you use can be more than "read more", "learn more", "access", "subscribe" or "buy". These expressions have indeed created a reflex in people's minds, but why not give them an even greater value? Let’s try to create a clear call to action.

Types of CTAs

As mentioned above the type of your CTA will determine the wording you should use. Depending on the profile of your website, there are 4 major types:

1. Newsletter subscription CTAs
2. Lead magnet CTAs
3. Social sharing CTAs
4. Learn more CTAs

Newsletter Subscription CTAs

When your “product is a newsletter” what you want your reader to do is to subscribe to it. But, sometimes it isn't enough to just say "subscribe to my newsletter". You need to convince your visitors that they will receive valuable information, discounts, and promotions, once they have become your subscribers. Go beyond the customary. Risk it with a different tone of voice, use a catchy expression in a casual way, e.g. "Become a part of our community", "Join the fun", or "Ready for a great experience?". You need to stand out from your competitor and deliver original phrases that reflect the unique style of your website.

Lead Magnet CTAs

Lead magnets are the free gifts, the benefits you offer to your website visitors in exchange for their contact information. How does it work? You create a lead magnet that is short, valuable, and easy to use. Then you upload it on the landing page on your website or the homepage and offer it in exchange for the name, email address, phone number, or other data of interest. As the user gets interested in this gift, they click on the button. Remember: the lead magnet must solve a specific problem and come up with a valuable solution for your target audience. Ebooks, podcasts, checklists, video tutorials, and guides are some of the most common lead magnet ideas.

Social Sharing CTAs

It's imperative to link your website to your social media pages. However, it's even better when social media platforms guide people to your website. Especially knowing that it's easy to set this up. Go to your Facebook business page and click "Add a button" from under the cover photo. There are many options to choose for your business. For example, if you have an online shop, then the best button for your Facebook page is "Shop Now". This CTA button will send your customers directly to your website from your social media account.

Learn More CTAs

You want the visitors to spend time on your website, create traffic, and eventually make a purchase. The "Learn more" button on your homepage will serve this purpose best. How to make best use out of it? Place them on your homepage, landing page, and other strategic spots, and if you think that "Learn more" is highly conventional or will not work for your purposes, try using expressions like "See in action", "Explore" or "Discover our experience".

4 Elements to Include in Your Website CTA

All winning call-to-actions have some elements in common. Remember we spoke about psychology? The psychology behind the perfect call-to-action button is not merely the message, but also its physical appearance: text, color, shape, outline. 

Here are the 4 most important features that you should consider:

1. Text / Word Count

The text on the call-to-action buttons is the most critical aspect. If you choose irrelevant words or long phrases, most likely, the results will be negative. One of the most important rules in copywriting is that "the first idea is never good because someone else has had it before." This applies to call-to-actions as well. Get creative to stand out from the crowd. 

Best results are achieved by texts that:

• contain a verb – buy, download, subscribe;
• are addressed to the second person – find out, sign up, ask;
• imply urgency or fear of missing out (FOMO) – book now, get one of 30 copies, buy today;
• are clear and concise – try it for free, contact us, and get an offer.

Keep your CTA texts short, maximum 4 words, and don’t forget to use imperative verbs. Also, keep in mind that the number of characters should not exceed 15 characters. Here are some examples: buy, start now, take advantage of the offer, free download, enter the competition, sign up for free, enjoy discounts, etc. 

2. Color

You can use light colors that attract attention, but these colors need to be pleasant to the eye. Research shows that the most preferred colors for the purpose are red, orange, green, blue, black, and gray. These colors should always be accompanied by text with letters of contrasting colors, that are both: visible and easy to read.

It's important to have a contrasting color with the rest of the image but within the limits of the used color palette. There are many color combinations for websites that can surely inspire you to choose the most suitable design of colors for your call-to-action buttons. 

3. Shape

The call-to-action button must not be loaded with other graphical elements. Give it enough space to be spotted as easily as possible. You can choose a rounded shape or a button with square edges. The CTA design should match the shapes with your website's styling and layout. It should be attractive enough to convince as many visitors as possible to take an action and click on it.

4. Outline

The CTA button must be placed as centrally as possible, with blank space around it, so that it can be immediately spotted. You risk losing potential customers if you have other elements with similar shapes and sizes near the CTA. According to Google, the best place for a CTA button is "above the fold" of a page but closer to the bottom than the top of this area. 

Once you've created a great CTA button, you can check our list of tips to improve your landing page, so that your website will generate more traffic and sales.

How to Create CTA Buttons on Ucraft?

Now that we’ve emphasized and recognized the importance of having outstanding call-to-action buttons it’s time to act. And no worries if you’re not a designer. As a website builder, Ucraft offers something that will help you make whatever CTA button you want with no design skills. Simply activate the designer tools and go to the UI Kit through your Ucraft account. Voila! Now you can make a real CTA by altering the message and setting up the trigger you prefer. 

All set and ready to launch? Good! Keep in mind that it all takes practice. Do not stick to one CTA if you see that it does not work. Experiment and change according to the requirements of the time. Enjoy!

What is a Subscription Business? 

The subscription business model is when a customer pays a set price at set intervals to access a product. This pattern was pioneered by book and newspaper publishers in the 17th century and is now used by many companies, websites, and streaming platforms like Netflix and HBO.

This creates a predictable and steady income stream from subscribers for the entire agreement period. Not only does it significantly reduce the uncertainty and risk of your business, but it often offers payment in advance while allowing customers to use your services as long as they pay. You can start a loyalty program or offer exclusive discounts to create a positive relationship with your clients. 

Clients may find subscriptions convenient if they believe they will gain access to service regularly, which could save them money. With the repeated delivery of a product or service, the customers also save time - a significant advantage. Therefore, it is very likely that your customers will extend their memberships. Ideally, this business model should serve the customer's and the provider's best interests. A satisfied client is likelier to renew their membership and possibly at an increased rate. 

You can offer personalized content/services and lower-cost customer options. This model can turn one-time clients into loyal customers willing to pay a monthly fee to access their favorite products. 

If you feel like this may not be the right niche for you, consider checking out the top eCommerce trends of 2022 and picking another niche. However, we wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet - a subscription business is a great alternative to selling physical goods, as described below. 

How the Subscription Business Model Works

The satisfaction of receiving a personalized package of products has become a big attraction for consumers today, especially considering the pandemic had confined us all to our homes. Now is the right time, as this type of business model is becoming a growing niche.

This model means that your customers are charged regularly (usually monthly) for a product or service your company delivers. The customers can choose how long they want to receive your services, as most companies offer them the possibility to renew or cancel their memerbships anytime.

The subscription can be regarded as a contract between the customer and the business owner. The customer is willing to pay repeatedly while the company provides the products/ services that the clients need.  

Benefits of a Subscription Business Model

• Higher conversion rates due to lover costs

• Predictable monthly revenue

• Lower acquisition costs

• Customer loyalty

• A strong bond with your customers

• It's easier for the business to up-sell and cross-sell

And the best part - you don’t even need to have an office. In fact, the subscription niche entails that you can easily start your business from home. 

How to Start Your Own Subscription Business 

First, you must be flexible about the benefits you're offering to your loyal customers. You also need to know your audience and learn more about their preferences. This way, you can create personalized content/ products that you can include in their subscriptions. 

Suppose you are new to this specific business community. In that case, the best strategy is to offer limited access to your product or service for free, then invite customers to sign up for a more extensive premium selection if they like your products. This is called a freemium model. You can also include several benefits that only subscribers have access to. 

One of the most important things you need to consider is your online presence. From a business point of view, if you don't exist online, you don't exist. The pandemic has proved the point. There are many sales channels for eCommerce that your business can benefit from.

If you want to truly maximize your online presence, hiring a Ucraft expert can give your site the professional edge it needs.

You need a precise online strategy to run any successful business. Building, designing, and structuring a great website requires constant work and improvement. After your site is ready, you can start promoting your business on social media platforms.

Essential Steps for Starting Your Business Subscription

• Decide on your offer;

• Create a pricing strategy;

• Offer occasional gifts/ benefits and personalized content/services;

• Create a reliable billing system;

• Improve the user experience;

• Deliver flawless customer service;

• Include a call-to-action button on your site that leads to the subscription option;

• Explain to the customer the benefits in terms of time, money, and services.

Last but not least: while trends come and go, they can inspire the right approach for your business.

Choosing the Right Subscription Business Model 

In a business model where your customers subscribe directly to your services, you need to establish the best strategy: the customer is willing to pay regularly, and your business keeps growing and making a profit. There are many subscription model business ideas, but you must determine what makes your services unique.

To improve the customer experience, you also need to research your customers' profiles. What is their average income? - this is one of the most critical questions you must ask yourself. How much money are they willing to pay monthly for your services? These answers will help you determine the best pricing strategy for your business. After you clear this aspect, you can focus on choosing the suitable model for your business.

Here are a few examples of successful niches.

Subscription Business Models

• eCommerce - an eCommerce subscription has a standard online store and offers recurring purchases to its regular customers

• Refill - a refill subscription is all about convenience and automation. After signing up for your service, your customers will receive a weekly, monthly, or quarterly refill of items to replace the ones they used previously.

• SaaS - SaaS (software as a service) refers to software companies that sell their digital products as online subscriptions, as opposed to one-time payments (e.g., Adobe Suite, Microsoft)

Following the right trend, we will launch our new product soon, Ucraft Next, and we will have a membership that provides physical products and services.

Mistakes to Avoid When Starting a Subscription Business

If you plan to start a subscription business, it is essential to analyze every aspect of your business, from your strong points to your weak ones. Remember that every business is different, and no strategy will guarantee your success. However, there are a few Dos and Don'ts that you need to consider when starting a business in this niche. 

The Essential 'Dos' of Starting a Subscription Business

• Discover and develop your niche;

• Be present on the leading social media platforms;

• Develop and diversify your marketing strategy;

• Offer different subscription levels (basic, premium, etc.);

• Send newsletters and regular updates;

• Offer exclusive discounts to your customers;

• Create a loyalty program;

• Ask for feedback;

• Give incentives to your subscribers for referring friends;

• Make sure your website is working properly;

• Constantly refine and improve your services/ products;

• Follow eco-friendly and sustainable practices.

You must consider all these modern marketing tools to build a loyal customer base. Furthermore, you also need to keep an eye on the competition. This is why competitive intelligence can help you strengthen your brand and bring you more subscribers.

The Main 'Don'ts' of Starting a Subscription Business

• Don't make the process of unsubscribing too difficult;

• Don't become obsessed with monthly sales;

• Don't disregard your customers - find out more about their preferences and send them personalized messages;

• Don't ignore the importance of customer support;

• Don't underestimate the value of your products;

• Don't focus on quantity over quality.

Also, remember that price shouldn't be your main competitive advantage. Instead, you can focus on creating a loyal customer database that trusts your services/products. This way, the process will become a natural answer to their needs.

Conclusion

People love exclusivity. Being part of a club makes people feel included while also offering plenty of benefits. The best subscription business model creates a safe environment where subscribers can access discounts, member benefits, lower shipping costs, durable products, and premium services. If you create a great product and provide an affordable subscription to your customers, you can make sure your business will thrive.

With these email marketing tips, we’ll help you build more effective campaigns of your own. 

The 4 Main Types of Email Marketing

Email marketing can be used to acquire, engage, and retain your customers. By implementing a few effective email campaigns, you can grow your business and achieve your goals. 

Generally speaking, we can divide email marketing into four categories:

1. Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are perhaps the most common email marketing campaign out there. You can use an email newsletter to provide subscribers with helpful knowledge and tools, share engaging content, make important announcements about new products or services, or just stay in touch. Well-crafted newsletters can increase retention and engagement and strengthen loyalty to your brand. 

2. Acquisition Emails

Effective email campaigns are guaranteed to help your small business convert your leads into customers. Someone may have opted in to receiving mailers but haven’t made a purchase yet. Implementing a few of our email marketing tips can change that, especially if you can communicate informative content and attractive offers. Acquisition emails are designed to move leads through the conversion funnel faster and drive additional revenue by targeting users that have already shown interest in your business. 

3. Retention Emails

One of the most important email marketing tips we can give a small business is not to forget its existing customers. When a customer hasn’t interacted with your brand in a while, retention emails can keep the lines of communication open and keep your hard-won customers by your side. 

4. Promotional Emails

Promotional emails drive sales and signups. Email campaigns always include offers that entice and encourage your target to buy a new product or service. You can reward loyal subscribers with exclusive offers or early access to sale items, drive new product sales, or cross-sell new products to your customer base. 

Quick Email Marketing Hacks

For a more in-depth guide on the ins and outs of email marketing, feel free to check out our official Ucraft Email Marketing Guide. However, if you are more familiar with the practice and just wish to refresh your memory, the tips below will help power up your existing email campaigns or create new ones. 

• Including a number or statistic in your subject line can increase clicks and replies;
• Smartphone users prefer communication via email as a means of brand communication, so optimize your email templates for mobile view;
• Appealing to someone’s sense of curiosity with your copy can increase your click-through rates dramatically;
• A/B testing your email subject lines will boost your ROI and help create better email campaigns.  

4 Key Benefits of Email Marketing

1. Email marketing offers high returns at a low cost. 
2. You can measure your email campaign ROI and results in great detail. 
3. You can create an entire email campaign in minutes. 
4. You can hone in on people who are already interested in your product or brand.

How to Plan Your First Campaign

Now that you have a better idea of what email marketing is and why it’s important, let’s take a look at the steps you need to take to plan your first email campaign. 

1. Define Your Audience

Like anything else in marketing, you should decide on your target audience. It’s a good idea to create a buyer persona. Picture your ideal visitor. How old are they? What gender are they? What do they like? What device are they using? Once you understand who your customer is, you can tailor your campaign according to their needs. 

Effective Email Marketing Tips For Buyer Personas: You can learn more about buyer personas and audience profiles by consulting our Marketing Terms Guide. Creating several buyer personas and corresponding messages can really help get the ball rolling. 

2. Establish Your Goals 

Before you devise your campaign goals, try to find out whether there are any email marketing benchmarks for your industry. These benchmarks are just a guideline, but they can help you determine your email campaigns' effectiveness. 

3. Build An Email List 

Good email campaigns start with a good email list. Your email list is a group of users that have given you permission to send them relevant content. To build that list, you’ll need several ways for prospects to opt into your emails. 

Effective Email Marketing Tips for Email lists: To start gathering up subscribers, include an email marketing signup call-to-action on your landing page. You can learn more about creating effective landing pages by reading our landing page guide. Never email anyone without permission, as this could violate local laws. Skip ahead to learn more about creating an email marketing list. 

4. Schedule Your Mails

Decide how often to get in touch with your list and if possible, let your audience know. 
Staying consistent will build trust, ensure that you stay on top of your mind, and will actually encourage you to plan your newsletters in advance. 

5. Measure Results

One of the best email marketing tips you’ll ever receive is to keep measuring everything. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, so be meticulous about your metrics. 

Effective Email Marketing Tips for Measurement: Knowing what to measure will vary depending on your goals. In general, you want to keep an eye on the total number of emails you’ve sent, the number of emails delivered, the bounce rate, the open rate, click-throughs, and your unsubscribe rate. If your bounce rate is high, you may need to clean up your email list. If your unsubscribes are high, you should consider changing your content. And if your open rates are low, you should experiment with your subject lines and designs. 

Building An Email List: Where to Start 

You can’t start an email campaign without emails. There are several ways to build your email list, but creating a good lead magnet and opt-in form is the best place to start. 

What Are Lead Magnets?

Lead magnets are anything that attracts customers to your email list, like a free offer, a discount, an ebook, or a template. You don’t need to break the bank; you can repurpose your existing content into an ebook or a guide. Remember to keep your lead magnet relevant to your leads. A simple PDF or voucher code will suffice. Think of it this way: your personal information is precious. Your prospective users won’t give up their personal information unless you give them something valuable in return. 

What Are Opt-In Forms?

Opt-in forms are the way your prospect provides information so you can add them to your email list. 

Here are just a few opt-in email marketing tips to keep in mind: 

• Use an attractive landing page design and attention-grabbing header that stands out from the rest of the page. 
• Keep your form simple. Long contact forms with too many fields can be daunting. 
• Once your customers opt-in to an email, send a confirmation mailer to let them know that they’ve been added and how often you’ll mail them (and when). 
• Always test your opt-in form to ensure it’s working as it should before making it live. 

Sending Your First Emails 

Let’s dig into the step-by-step process of sending your first email campaign: 

1. Choose the Right Mail Platform

Fortunately, plenty of email platforms can create great email campaigns, from design to execution to reporting. These sites often share email marketing tips, so make sure to keep an eye on your inbox after creating your account. Intercom, Mailchimp, Keep, and Moosend are all good options. We like Mailchimp because it’s one of the most popular options, and it’s effortless to use. 

2. Create Your Content 

Once you’ve followed our email marketing tips for creating an email list, you’ll be ready to send your first mailer. You can start right away. Decide:

• Which topics to cover 
• Who do you want to target
• What are your goals are 

If you are using Mailchimp, you can choose a specific list of subscribers to target each time, e.g., subscribers interested in men’s or women’s fashion. You’ll need to segment them yourself and save them as separate lists. 

Your content is a powerful conversion tool, so brush up on your content marketing before creating your campaign. 

3. Choose Your Subject Line

Your subject line can make all the difference. Boring and passive emails will go straight to Trash, while intriguing subject lines will rope readers into opening your content. 

Effective Email Marketing Tips For Subject Lines: Keep your subject lines short and relevant to your audience. You need to grab their attention immediately and let them know what they can expect by reading your mail. 

When you are writing an email subject, focus on the short and relevant topic of your email that will immediately tell your targeted audience what they can expect. This way, you will not only intrigue people who are really interested in what you have to say but also get the attention of people who may perform the desired action.

4. Choose Your Call to Action

The key to converting a prospect to a customer or a customer to a repeat sale is by adding a call to action. Good calls to action include, “Sign up for your free trial,” “Buy now,” “Claim your discount,” or “Learn more.”

5. Check Your Stats and Review 

Now we get to the measurement and review portion we mentioned earlier. If you are using Mailchimp or a similar provider, you can view your email stats in your dashboard. Alternatively, you can set up Google Analytics to help you track your performance. You can use what you’ve learned to improve your next campaign. It’s a good idea to create two emails each time, with one element that differentiates them, e.g., different headers or subject lines. That way, you can A/B test and determine which one resonates the most with your audience. 

Verdict

When it comes to email marketing, there are four main types of email campaigns you should focus your attention on: email newsletters, acquisition emails, retention emails, and promotional emails. 

In order to plan your first campaign, the following steps will help you considerably: 

1. Defining Your Audience
2. Establishing Your Goals
3. Building an Email List
4. Scheduling Your Emails
5. Measuring Results 

Likewise, when it comes to sending out your first email campaign, you should choose the right platform, create good, compelling content, choose an attention-grabbing subject line, include a CTA and then track your results. 

And remember - although email marketing may be viewed as less important when compared to social media campaigns and ads, this is definitely not the case when it comes to helping your business grow. Make the most of this strategy, plan carefully and watch the positive results of your marketing campaigns come flooding in.

So, what is a winning social media marketing strategy? Is it about eye-catching aesthetic design? Or maybe the authenticity and connection that the brand builds? What about providing valuable educational content?  

Here are some stats we think might give you some insight:

• Half of the accounts on Instagram use Explore monthly (Instagram survey)
• 97% of small businesses use SMM to attract new shoppers (Social Media Examiner). 
• 78%  of shoppers make purchasing decisions based on social media recommendations (Sprout Social).

So, to get this straight: the number of potential shoppers is growing every day, competitors are riding the wave of social media marketing, and buyers are influenced by both user-generated content and targeted ads on social media to make specific purchasing decisions. 

The numbers mentioned above might make SMM look like a daunting activity but don't worry - practice makes perfect, especially when combined with the correct tips. That being said, we're here to walk you through the social media marketing journey. 

Why Do You Need a Social Media Strategy? 

There are three reasons why every modern business should have a social media strategy. 

1. Purchasing decisions of shoppers are strongly influenced by social media. As mentioned above, shoppers tend to trust brands that have active social media accounts and regularly showcase their products/services.  
2. The absence of a social media strategy hands an advantage to competitors, leaving you behind. Having active social media accounts with compelling content gives you a high chance of being chosen over your competitor. 
3. It’s very likely that the majority of your target audience is already active on social media and looking to make online purchases. 83% of Instagram users discover new products and services on the platform. 

What Is Social Media Marketing?   

Social media marketing incorporates different social media platforms to promote brands/services, provide customer support, and boost sales. 

Here are some steps to follow to create a winning social media marketing strategy: 

• Identify your goals; 
• Get to know your audience;
• Determine your KPIs or key performance indicators;
• Engage in compelling content marketing.    

Let's dive into each of these types to get a better grasp on your social media plan:

Identify Your Goals

The content you generate on social media should align with your goals. A social media goal is an objective you want to achieve based on your social media plan. Setting your goals will help you understand how to use your social media for marketing. Let's take a look at some examples: 

• Boost brand awareness. Increasing the number of people familiar with your brand will never stop being the prime interest of any marketer. The higher the awareness, the higher the likelihood of winning new clients. 

• Generate interest around your product. This is the second stage of a consumer's journey. First comes awareness, then consideration which might be achieved if your product meets their needs and gives them value. 

• Drive leads. Encourage customers willing to make a purchase or that show interest in your product/service to provide personal information. Lead generation should be one of your top priorities. 

• Provide customer support. Instead of going to the website to seek help, many clients turn to social media to get answers. Customers tend to choose brands that communicate with them over social platforms and answer their questions. Social media platforms are becoming customers' first choice regarding interaction with customer support. 

• Build brand loyalty. One of the ways to measure a company's success is to see if the customers choose to come back for the services you provide. Try to build an authentic connection between you and your audience. Showing them what's happening behind the scenes may be a good idea since customers trust the brands that try to be as transparent as possible.

Get To Know Your Audience

You might have the best visuals, inspirational posts, or educational content on your account. Yet, it won't give you the anticipated engagement as long as it's not in front of the right audience. 91% of all consumers report that they are more likely to be interested in a product that recognizes and intends to provide them with relevant services or products. 

Getting to know your audience is essential if you don't want to waste time and ad money on people who have zero interest in it. Once you've identified the ideal customer and buyer personas, you can aim your paid advertisement at the demographic group most likely to purchase your product. 

How do you categorize the target market? There are three segmentations to bear in mind: 

• Demographics: it includes different age groups, religions, ethnicity, income level, marital status, and education level. 
• Location: the most common currency, language, country/city. 
• Psychographic: an overview of values, interests, shopping habits, and opinions that your audience shares.  

Another thing to remember about your audience is understanding their preferred social media platforms. The tone of voice varies greatly depending on the platform you use to leverage your target audience. We go more in-depth on these aspects in our social media marketing guide, so consider giving it a skim for more detailed technical information regarding SMM. 

Determine Your KPIs 

Once you've identified your goals and analyzed your target audience, you are all set to start implementing your strategy. Keep in mind that you may have to test what works and what doesn’t first, but don’t let that hold you back - no strategy is 100% perfect from the first attempt. 

That being said, how will you know if the social media plan is working as planned? When it comes down to measuring the success of your social media strategy, the most commonly-used tracking metrics are KPIs (key performance indicators). This is good news, considering each platform already offers built-in analytics tools, especially for business accounts, so it won’t be hard to pinpoint the information you need. 

Here are some numbers to focus on:

• Reach/impressions: how many people your content reached;
• Clicks: number of people who clicked on your post;
• Engagement: percentage of people who interacted with the content;
• Account mentions: percentage of people who mentioned you on their accounts;
• Profile visits: number of people who opened your account;
• Followers: number of new subscribers;
• Shares/reposts: number of people who shared your content.

Let's say your number one goal is increasing brand awareness; your KPIs could be profile visits, reach/ impressions, and followers.   

Create Compelling Content

Don't get fixated on self-promotion. Most probably, users' reactions to it will be adverse. Promoting your product every now and then is great, but don't forget that the most important thing is the customer and their interests. According to some stats, the perfect balance is 80% of valuable content and 20% of self-promotion. The following report conducted by Facebook on cultural changes and trends in 2022 should provide some more insight.

So, what should your content strategy for social media be? Let's have a look at different types of content: 

• Social media posts. Choose the social platforms you'll be focusing on. Also, check out each platform's tone of voice, the posts' frequency, and the best time to share something. Consider that each platform has unique features that should influence the content you share and the tone of voice. 
• Videos. The most popular and consumed type of content. You can use them either to film tutorials or to reveal what happens behind the scenes, the daily routine of your employees. 
• Blog posts. Usually, blog posts are used to present valuable information and helpful tips. Also, they play a massive role in increasing a website's visibility in the search engine. 
• Podcasts. According to Hootsuite's 2022 Social Media Trends survey, nearly three-quarters of businesses plan to invest in audio-only content. 
• Infographics. When we feel like the amount of information we consume every day is too much, infographics are a great way to present important information concisely, providing numbers and facts combined with good visuals. 
• Case Studies/success story. Sharing success stories of your clients gives transparency to the brand, invoking trust in the buyer. 

5 Benefits Of Having a Social Media Strategy 

We've already covered how to develop a social media strategy. Let's see what benefits social media strategy planning has. 

The benefits of running a social media strategy planning are the social media marketing goals that are successfully achieved. For instance, among the benefits of SMM, you might find better brand awareness, increased website traffic, higher rate of leads, generated sales, and customer support. 

But, here are some other benefits of a social media strategy: 
 
• Humanize your brand. SMM gives you a unique ability to create something beyond likes and comments -  authenticity. It contributes to building brand transparency, which evokes trust and, therefore, sales. 
• Help see the pains of the competitor's clients. By analyzing your competitors' websites and checking the feedback from their audience, you can see what brings them dissatisfaction. Having this insight, you can offer a better service and win over the client. 
• Get a better grip on your audience. Each social media platform provides various analytics tools that help you make smarter business decisions. By knowing more about your audience, you can retarget your advertising to reach the right market. 
• Retargeting. One of the problems that marketers face is abandoned carts. Don't give up on customers like this. They are your primary target audience because they went through 2 stages of the customer's journey: awareness and consideration. You need to push them a little bit further to purchase the product. For example, you can target ads promoting the same product they were looking for using Meta Pixel. 
• Analytics. Thanks to social media tracking and analytics tools, you can get proof of ROI (return on investment). You can use Google Analytics, Cyfe, and MarketingCloudFX to track your digital marketing performance and see if anything needs to be tweaked. 

Verdict 

Wrapping everything up, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of social media marketing due to its numerous benefits. Always remember that your social media marketing strategy isn’t future-proof unless you keep making tweaks in order to be up to date with the latest digital trends and meet the changing needs of your audience. Be bold and original with your ideas, and keep testing things out to see what hooks your audience best. 

We know running your own business might not feel like sunshine and rainbows. To make this experience easier for you, consider creating a professional website with Ucraft. We believe this step will contribute to making your business more centralized. 

Good luck!

What Are the Terms and Conditions? 

The terms and conditions can be regarded as a safety method and a virtual contract. Although websites are not required by law to have a Terms and Conditions page, it is undoubtedly beneficial in most cases.

When you create a website, the Terms and Conditions page helps you avoid confusion and misunderstandings. Furthermore, it protects you from possible abuse by customers and users of your website. In essence, this contract guarantees the quality of the products and content on your site. If the terms and conditions are not followed or respected, the user can file a legal complaint at the agencies for consumer protection.

The best way to ensure that the Terms and Conditions page will protect you from fines is to have the users accept your site's terms & conditions when they are using your website or placing an online order. For example, you can display a box that links to this page.

Why Do I Need Terms & Conditions?

As a website owner, you are not required by any law to have a Terms and Conditions page on your website. However, by providing this page to your users, you will get to decide all the details of your relationship with the visitors. If they agree to enter into a business relationship with you, they will abide by these terms. You must take on the responsibility of providing a valid Terms and Conditions page for your website to avoid copyright infringement and the costs of a possible lawsuit.

In short, proper clauses from the Terms and Conditions page can legally protect you in the event of a disagreement with one of your website's users or even in the unfortunate event of a lawsuit against your business.

The terms and conditions page is essential for several reasons, including:

• Prevents abuse
• Establishes copyright
• Acknowledges the applicable law and the method for resolving conflicts
• Can save you from fines and penalties 

The design, content, logos, product names, and business names are elements that must be specified on the terms and conditions page in order to determine copyright. It is also important to mention where a site operates (country) in terms of the applied law.

There is no universal formula for a site's terms and conditions page. Of course, you have certain legal obligations, but remember that your site is unique. No template will cover all the details of how your business really works. 

Where Should I Place the Terms & Conditions Page?

First, the Terms and Conditions page must be presented on a dedicated page on your website. It needs to be easy for the users to find this page. As a website owner, it is your obligation to ensure that all visitors agree to the terms and conditions before taking any action on your site.

To do this, you need to add a few links in key places:

• a link to the Terms and Conditions page in the footer section of the site
• a link in the pop-up referring to the cookies policy
• a link at the end of each online form

In addition, all forms on your website must have a checkmark at the end stating, "I have read and agree to the terms and conditions of use." This way, you can ensure that every visitor is well informed and that everyone will read and agree to the terms of use of your site.

What Should My Terms & Conditions Include?

There is no regulation regarding the information that must appear on this particular website page. The reason is that each site has its own terms and conditions. However, there is only one condition that all sites must respect: no law should be violated.

The Terms & Conditions page on your website should cover the following aspects:

• Defining terms (keywords and phrases)
• Company identification data (name, address, tax code, account, etc.)
• Buyer's rights and obligations (obligation not to provide false information; right to modify or delete the user's account for specific reasons)
• Rights and obligations of the owner (e.g., right to change the content of the site)
• Information about the products/services on the site
• Payment and invoicing policy (payment and invoicing methods, obligation of the buyer to provide all data to issue the invoice according to law)
• Delivery policy
• Product return policy 
• Guarantee policy 
• Promotion policy
• Privacy policy referring to the use of personal data, how it's managed, as well as the purpose of the requested data
• Cookie information policy - It is essential to respect the recommendation of the National Authority for the Supervision of Personal Data

Processing and avoid sending promotional messages to those who have not given their consent.

When it comes to writing your site's terms and conditions, you have two options: you can write the policy yourself (with the help of a software solution), or you can turn to a lawyer that will define the clauses for the terms and conditions of your website.

How to Create My Data Privacy Page

You can easily create your own site using Ucraft, our user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder. Ucraft offers responsive ready-made templates for any type of business or brand while providing the best solutions for the privacy policy. You can create a valid privacy policy page for your website using software solutions like iubenda's Privacy & Cookie Policy generator.

The ePrivacy (Cookie Law) mandates that informed consent should be collected before cookies or similar trackers are run by your website. Cookies can either be produced by your website or by third-party services located on your site (widgets, analytics programs, scripts). Before user consent is collected, you must block all the cookie scripts.

Some rules apply to EU-based page visitors and others to US-based page visitors. First, you need to know the laws of the country where you run your business and the laws of the country your site visitors typically apply to. It is vital to clarify your website's Privacy Policy. This page should also be easily accessible from all the other pages of your site. 

If you decide to create a website with Ucraft, don’t hesitate to check out our support article on how to apply compliant data privacy laws to your website for further guidance. 

I Agree to the Terms and Conditions. Do I?

When a site visitor clicks on the "I agree to the terms and conditions" checkbox, the legal authorities regard it as the user's consent. Mandatory agreements in which the user engages in affirmative behavior by accepting the terms and conditions of a site are legally valid.

The terms and conditions clarify what should happen in any given situation. They set out the key business terms your site offers its users and help both parties understand their rights, roles, and responsibilities. It is important to remember that the user's acceptance of the terms and conditions is a legally binding contract. Therefore, it is also in the user's best interest to ensure that he has read the terms before accepting them.

But how many internet users actually read the entire section of the Terms and Conditions page on every website they visit? A Deloitte survey of 2,000 site visitors from the USA discovered that 91% of people agree with the legal terms and conditions of services without reading them. The rate for young people between 18 and 34 is even higher, with 97% agreeing to the terms and conditions before reading this page.

Other Important Pages on My Website

If you really want to get people to notice your site, you need to get creative. It's pretty easy to create a website using a user-friendly website builder. You can decide what you want your site to look like, but also what are the mandatory pages. Now, all the important pages to include in your website are ready to be styled according to your wishes.

Every professional and responsive website should have the following pages:

\u25cf Homepage
\u25cf About
\u25cf Contact
\u25cf Privacy Policy
\u25cf Terms and Conditions
\u25cf FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Furthermore, depending on your business profile, you can add a testimonial or blog page to your website. But the most important thing you must remember is that all the information on your site must comply with international regulations.

Due to the increase in global website traffic from mobile devices, owning a mobile-friendly site is necessary. As a side-note, you can also increase your search engine rankings and conversions by following the best practices for a mobile-friendly website.

Bottom Line

We hope this article answered all of your questions concerning the terms and conditions page on your website. As mentioned above, you are not obligated to have such a page, but it can definitely protect your site and business from legal problems and dissatisfied customers waiting for a chance to sue. 

Make sure to follow all of the steps mentioned in this article, and feel free to do your own more extensive research to get your legal pages where they need to be. If you decide to create a website with Ucraft, keep in mind that our customer support team is always ready to answer any questions, so drop them a message if there are any points in your website building journey that are not fully clear. 

Good luck! 

The extensive use of mobile devices to access the internet (about 80% of internet users access the internet with their mobile devices) has influenced the development of new web design strategies. This article will help you design websites or apps with a mobile-first design approach.

What is Mobile-First Design?

As the name implies, it is a strategy web designers use to design product websites to meet the needs and requirements of primarily mobile device users. This approach involves creating a prototype of a website design for the smallest screens first and then progressively advancing to larger screens. 

Mobile-first design opposes the method of designing websites for larger screens and then going back to the smallest screens, which is known as graceful degradation. The dimension of a user’s device determines how much content they get from a website, producing different experiences for various devices. 

Prioritizing web design for mobile devices is more reasonable considering the space on small-screen devices is limited, and designers need to ensure the main elements of a website are notably displayed for the users. Creating and developing small-screen websites urges web designers to remove unnecessary things for smooth website navigation and rendering.

Mobile-First Design Best Practices

With nearly 50% of traffic coming from mobile in 2019, mobile-friendly websites are essential. To create effective, well-layered, and complex designs, web designers and UI/UX experts must ensure they adopt the following ​​mobile-first design best practices:

Provide Intuitive Navigation

Intuitive navigation is crucial when delivering a clean and high-quality user experience on various mobile devices. Web designers can capitalize on features such as navigation drawers to exhibit the website’s secondary elements. It is also important to note that intuitiveness and speed go together. You can adapt other web design platforms to give you more insights and recommendations for an improved website layout.

Ensure Visitors Can Contact You Easily

Mobile users are more interested in getting simple and quick access to the vital information on your website, including your contact info. If users need to contact you but find it challenging to locate your contact info, they might become impatient and abandon your site. We explain how to create a killer Contact Us page in-depth, but one quick tip to bear in mind when creating your website is to ensure your contact us page is easy to locate.  

The best solution is to utilize tools or features that will display your email, phone number, social media links, and physical address in a straightforward manner. Consider adding a visible Contact Us on your top navigation panel instead of, for instance, writing your content information in the footer. 

Avoid Using Annoying Pop-Ups

As stated, mobile devices have space limitations, and users dislike being confronted with sudden and frequent advertisements or pop-ups on their screens. A web designer should always focus solely on the crucial features of the website and on meeting the users’ needs. However, there are a few ways to effectively use pop-ups on your eCommerce site, so make sure you follow best practices. 

Comprehend Mobile Content

Web designers must never forget that there are rules in mobile browsing, and two things should be considered when designing a website. The first is that the small sizes of mobile screens will affect how users relate to your content, and the second is that visitors frequently access your website in a rush when they are out and about. You must be able to provide specific, immediate, and explicit content and answers to questions but not at the expense of good quality web design. 

Improve Images

Eye-catching images enhanced for mobile screen sizes can significantly improve the user experience and web design. Sloppily cropped images which are usually either too small or too large, or images that collide with other design components can ruin the whole website design. Adopt tools and features that will help you create correct pictures to save your effort and time.

Focus on Readability

Your website can have the best design, navigation, and content but still experience a high bounce rate due to different factors. A key one is readability. Readability is even more crucial in smaller mobile screens than in larger ones, and it is not just the font size that’s important; the font type also matters. Various fonts provide varying reading experiences because while some are easy to read, others aren't.

Other crucial factors to ensure readability are sufficient spacing and color contrast. Leaving adequate space between texts, other elements, and in your paragraphs will significantly boost the site’s readability. Your website text and background colors should also complement and not contradict each other to improve readability.

Why is Mobile-First Design Important?

Perhaps, as a web designer or owner, you wonder what the importance of mobile-first design is; the following reasons will help you understand why you need to implement in your websites.

Accessibility 

Designing for mobile gives users greater control over the accessibility of a website. Creating a website accessible to mobile users will make your content available to everyone, including individuals with disabilities, especially those with sight impairment. 
For instance, mobile-first website design makes e-learning usable and accessible to mobile users since they can listen to the content or use voice commands while exercising or driving, creating learning opportunities during those periods.

Enhanced User Experience with UX Design

Mobile device trends unveil both the opportunities and challenges for web and UX designers. If you design for mobile, you place the user’s experience front and center. Also, they provide users with fast results, zero friction, minimal effort, and an improved and well-calculated user experience. 

For those eager to ensure their design truly stands out, hiring a Ucraft expert team can be invaluable, merging aesthetics with optimal user experience.

Scalability

A mobile-first strategy helps in scaling your web design across various devices. Conceptualizing a web design idea on a mobile device makes it easier to modify the contents to meet the requirements and needs of a desktop computer. For instance, it is easier to include website elements in the desktop version than remove them to fit a mobile site.

Improved Website Performance

A fundamental principle of website performance is mobile optimization. The better a website is designed for mobile use, the better the performance and the more straightforward it will be. Research reveals that improving the speed of a mobile retail website by 0.1 seconds will improve conversion by 8.4%. Google has been using mobile-first indexing for over a decade, mainly indexing and crawling the pages that have an effective mobile design. 

Mobile-First Design Principles

Before you design a website with the mobile-first method, consider the following principal elements for a successful and smooth design.

Prioritize Your Content

Ensure you prioritize your website content and tactically select the vital elements. The header content of your desktop and mobile website is the first noticeable element to visitors, so ensure it communicates your brand’s identity well. 

For instance, the desktop version of your website might have additional decorative imageries for the viewers. However, because of the limited space, you’ll need to ensure the displayed imagery on the mobile version best communicates your brand’s identity, like your product images and logo.

Maintain Hierarchy

When designing the layout of your website for mobile device users, you need to regard website hierarchy. Meticulously plan out the content of your website by using white spaces, adding sub-headers and headers, boosting navigation tools, and designing image blocks. 

Design a User-Friendly Interface

Beyond the visuals and content of your website, ensure that your mobile-friendly is also user-friendly. For instance, mobile users have first-hand access to their touch screens, cameras, autocomplete fields, face and fingerprint recognition. Therefore, you must pay attention to your website buttons since a mobile website user is more likely to click the wrong buttons.

Follow Navigation Principles

Follow calculated website navigation tips, such as selecting the correct menus and adding clear CTAs, to assist users in navigating the site and reading your content. Several web designers go for a hamburger menu to utilize the available space on mobile screens.

Test on Real Devices 

Before publishing your website, ensure you test the mobile website on real mobile devices and under actual conditions to understand how the users will experience the website. Test it on various mobile devices and screen sizes to note their differences.

How to Implement a Mobile-First Approach in Product Design?

Now that you know what mobile design means, let’s learn how you can practice and implement this strategy in your website designs. For example, suppose you want to adopt the mobile-first approach to design a website for a destination resort. In that case, you must first consider a mobile user’s expectations for viewing a resort website. 

You must be able to identify the principal elements an end-user is searching for while examining a destination resort website on a mobile device. And since it’s a mobile user, you can safely assume the user is primarily looking for the precise location, source of attraction, opening days and time, book now buttons, and contact details.

Tablet users have more space and time to probe the website, so you can leverage this by including additional information or functionalities regarding the resort’s attractions, surroundings, and amenities in the form of images and videos. Desktop websites have all the needed space to include more details like positive reviews, helpful blog posts, trust factors, Google maps and driving direction widgets, etc.

Verdict 

We cannot overemphasize the importance of mobile-first design when creating a website. Not only does it improve accessibility and user experience, but it also scales your web design. 

Following the mobile-first design strategy will help you create websites suitable for mobile users. It’ll also make it easy to expand functionalities for larger screens without making errors. 

Bear in mind all we discussed in this article when creating your next website and for the best results, use a mobile-friendly website builder like Ucraft. 

When it comes to entering the SaaS (software as a service) industry, many startups make the mistake of developing elaborate, intelligent solutions without checking whether there is even a demand for them in the first place. We’re not trying to bring anybody down for doing the hard work and developing a fantastic product - effort and innovation should always be applauded. Nonetheless, it’s essential to take into account user requirements as well. 

Ucraft is a good example of this. When developing the first version of our website builder in 2014, we could have gone the route of elaborate SaaS product design and included an array of intelligent features and endless options for our soon-to-be users. However, after conducting an industry demand analysis, we realized that there was a lack of simple, straightforward website builders without many features that often confuse beginners rather than entice them. 

That’s where the idea for Ucraft was born: a simple, straightforward, user-friendly, drag-and-drop website builder that would allow even the most tech-averse users to build stunning websites without any prior experience. Could we have gone the route of developing something more flashy? We could have. And maybe we would have, if not for the simple fact that we wanted to prioritize user demand over everything else. 

Eight years later, we are developing an intelligent, AI-powered eCommerce solution, which takes a different direction from our initial website builder and includes more elaborate features. Although we’re very proud of what we’re currently building, it’s safe to say that entering the industry with such a sophisticated product would not have been the best decision. 

That being said, we believe our nearly decade-long experience in the SaaS market comes with a responsibility to guide startups and give them advice that we had to figure out for ourselves. Welcome to the SaaS Startup Guide, where you will learn all there is to know about entering the industry and growing from a start-up to an established business - with customer satisfaction at the forefront of your operations. 

As you may have guessed already, our first article will be about analyzing the industry to develop products users actually need. Whether you are on your first product launch, or looking to market a new product to existing customers, this guide is for you. So without further ado, let’s dive into all the tips and tricks! 

What is Industry Analysis? 

You’ve got a great idea for a SaaS product. All that’s left is to create and launch the product, right? Not so fast! Before putting in all the work it takes to plan, design, code, and launch your software, you should check the current dynamics of the industry you are planning to enter. How much competition is there on the market? What are the potential threats? What external factors may be influencing the industry of your choice? This is where industry analysis comes in. 

Businesses use industry analysis to get a better understanding of what is happening in the industry they want to enter. Industry analysis focuses mainly on demand-supply statistics, the degree of competition, similar emerging industries, future prospects (including technological changes), and the influence of external factors. 

This is an excellent tool for assessing both opportunities and threats, as well as understanding the bigger picture and whether the industry is worth entering in the first place. Although every industry analysis will be somewhat unique, some universal steps should be taken to conduct a valid, helpful assessment. Let’s take a closer look at what these are.

How to Conduct an Industry Analysis 

When it comes to conducting industry analysis, there are several blueprints used to make a successful assessment. We’ll be focusing on the two most widely used models in this article: 

1. Porter’s 5 Forces 

Established by Michael Porter, this model helps businesses gain a multi-faceted picture of the industry they plan on entering. It focuses on five competitive forces that impact an industry most, helping you understand how profitable your chosen direction may be. 

These forces include: 

• Competition in the industry
• Threat of new entrants
• Bargaining power of suppliers
• Bargaining power of customers
• Threat of substitute products

Competition in the Industry

This refers to the number of competitors and potential strategies they may use to undercut or affect your product. The more competitors there are, offering solutions similar to yours, the fewer chances you have of competing unless your product offers something they don’t have. For example, when we came up with the idea for Ucraft, we had several competitors that had already established their positions in the industry. Therefore, we had to offer something they didn’t - e.g., ease of use and 24/7 customer support. 

Threat of New Entrants 

If your chosen industry is easy to enter without incurring significant costs, this can work both to your advantage and against you. Yes, you may save money in the short run, but in the long run, you may notice that the competition is growing. This is why it’s important to, once again, offer something unique and establish your place in the market and reputation before competitors come rushing in. 

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

This refers to how easily suppliers can drive up the costs of raw materials or services needed to make a product. The point may seem irrelevant to the IT industry, but only in the case if you’re doing everything in-house. If you plan to outsource developers or web designers, consider that the cost of their work may increase if their services become more in demand. Although this may not be a significant factor, in theory, consider hiring your own staff from day one if you can afford it - it’s simply more reliable. 

Bargaining Power of Customers

As well as suppliers, customers can also have significant bargaining power that can result in price fluctuations. Industries (and companies) with fewer or more influential customers allow them to negotiate for better deals and lower prices. Likewise, an industry (or company) that is saturated with customers or has many small, independent customers can set better deals for themselves - i.e., charging higher prices. 

Threat of Substitutes

And last but not least, we have the threat of substitutes - goods or services (in this case, software solutions) that can be used as a replacement for your product. Once again, we had to overcome this barrier by offering extra features that competing websites did not provide. In an industry with many close substitutes, you really have to power up the user experience to get your customers to stick around. 

Make sure to research each force carefully and document your findings in order to plan in advance and be successful upon launching. 

2. SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis is another popular tool used to conduct a valuable and informational industry analysis. SWOT stands for: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. 

Strengths - the factors of your business that can give you an advantage over your competitors. For the SaaS industry, this can include (but is not limited to): how much capital you have, the uniqueness of your product, the quality of your product, your user experience, etc. 

Weaknesses - factors that can give you a competitive disadvantage. These can include a lack of capital, an unclear solution, a lack of funds for advertising, etc. 

Opportunities - the market opportunities your company possesses. If you have the chance to satisfy the demand of many customers, that’s an opportunity. If you have the option to go global later in the future, that’s one as well. 

Threats - factors that can endanger your profitability. If your chosen industry is at risk of declining, that’s a threat. If one of your competitors comes out with a similar product to yours, that’s also a threat. 

Industry Analysis: 6 Tips to Follow

Choosing a model and gathering information is just part of the equation. If you want your industry analysis to be a reliable blueprint for developing and launching your product, make sure to follow the tips we have compiled below: 

1. Document everything. If any information can be helpful to take into consideration, write it down or type it up. Even if this information does not support your initial product idea or design, it will help you make better decisions and tweak some factors that could have hindered your success.

2. Choose a specific category. You don’t want to be all over the place with your product, not in the beginning anyway. Likewise, you don’t want to be all over the place with your research. Investigate information specific to your chosen industry, market, and product.

3. Consider supply and demand. How many software solutions are already offering what you are planning to offer? How many of them actually satisfy user requirements?

4. Analyze your competitors thoroughly. It’s better to be overinformed than under-informed. Analyze their products, business, and marketing strategies, and even read customer reviews.

5. Consider prospective customers. You can use surveys, readily available statistics, or any other method of your choice - more on that below.

6. Research industry trends and forecasts. Conduct a more detailed analysis of your chosen industry and its direction. Is it shrinking? Expanding? What opportunities are there for the future?

Now that you’ve obtained all the information on your chosen industry, it’s time to tailor your software solution accordingly. This is where demand analysis comes in.

Moving on to Product Demand Analysis

Suppose the industry of your choice has turned out to be a suitable environment for a product or service launch. In that case, you should start product demand analysis - i.e., checking whether the product idea is valid or whether it requires some alteration to be successful.

Product demand analysis can be done anytime; you don’t have to be an established company to conduct one. A simple outline of your product is already enough to see whether it is a good idea. Likewise, product demand analysis will help you understand more about your direct competition, your customers, what factors can affect your business, and which features are in demand (or not). 

But first, it’s essential to distinguish between the four main types of demand:

1. Direct demand: how many customers want to buy a product. 
2. Indirect demand: how the demand for one product may affect the demand for another product. A decline in fast fashion may lead to less demand for dropshipping solutions. 
3. Joint demand: when the need for two products is correlated - e.g., more demand for dropshipping solutions will lead to more demand for online store builders. 
4. Latent demand: a key demand category in the SaaS industry, referring to unsatisfied demand, which usually arises for three reasons: 

• The product consumers want is too expensive.
• The product (in the form they would like) does not exist. 
• Consumers aren’t aware of its existence. 

If you plan to launch a SaaS product that provides users with certain features or experiences they can’t find elsewhere, you are looking to satisfy latent demand. However, prior to building and launching your product, you need to figure out precisely what your future customers are looking for, how competitors do not entirely satisfy them, and the features and experiences you need to focus on. For Ucraft, it was the ease of use, freedom of customization, and top-tier customer support. For you, it might be something else.

Analyzing Product Demand: Where to Begin

You can take several steps to assess the demand for your future product and confirm whether it’s a viable option in its current state or if changes need to be made. Let’s look at some of these options below: 

Conduct Surveys 

The best way to find out what people want is by asking them. You need to set a goal for your demand survey and construct your questions based on this principle. Use social media to your advantage and share your survey with your target audience. You can make it anonymous or allow prospects to share their thoughts with you directly. 

How you decide to build your survey and what settings you choose is entirely up to you since this will vary depending on your product, chosen industry, etc. The key here is to collect as much information about your idea as possible and then tweak your product based on what customers want. Remember to include direct questions, and don’t make your survey longer than a few minutes to fill out. You can share your survey through email, social media, or both, but try to grasp a large audience. 

Research Consumer Trends 

Consumer trends are a valuable tool in your demand analysis because they show the direction in which the market is going and the priorities of your future customers. Google Trends is an excellent tool for exploring this further, as well as keeping an eye out for trending topics on social media that are relevant to your chosen market or industry (more on social media in a bit). 

Don’t hesitate to join Facebook groups or other online communities that can give you a better insight into what potential customers may be looking for, and even participate in online forum discussions to really merge yourself with your target audience. 

Dig Into Social Media 

Social media can be a source of distraction or a valuable pool of information, depending on how you utilize it. It provides ample data on customer demands, user satisfaction with your competitors, industry trends, etc. Platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and even Facebook can be valuable tools as long as you search for relevant keywords related to your product, market, and industry. As mentioned above, you can even share surveys, collect data on prospective customers, and facilitate 1-1 interactions with them and find out what they are looking for. 

Observe and Study 

Don’t underestimate the power of competitive intelligence! Study your competitors, and observe what they are doing. Find relevant data and statistics on your chosen market, and include them in your presentations and brainstorming sessions. Try to also uncover case studies of companies similar to yours and observe what decisions made them successful or, on the contrary, resulted in failed products. 

Use SEO

Although search engine optimization is mainly associated with boosting existing websites and optimizing content for better reach, it can also be an excellent research tool to determine what prospective customers in your industry are looking for. Simply pick an SEO tool of your choice, and you will be able to view keyword suggestions, search volume, and traffic for pages related to your product, market, and industry. Such tools will also allow you to filter by time period and region, providing excellent insights into your demographic. Who is searching for what, and from what location? 

Experiment 

Oftentimes, especially after you’ve done all the prior research, the best way to finalize your idea and get an understanding of user expectations is to launch your product and gather feedback. Ideally, you should have a product that satisfies user demand if you’ve put some effort into your research, but expect some minor tweaks along the way. This is why you need a great customer support team to help record user queries, feedback, and even problems and report them back to you so you can tweak your product to perfection. Don’t be afraid to tweak features, pricing packages, and even your product design to provide a better user experience and offer a product that customers really care about. 

Bottom Line 

Analyzing industry trends and product demand should be at the forefront of your brainstorming and planning sessions. You don’t want to enter the highly competitive SaaS industry with a product idea that has been offered many times before or, even worse, a dying market with no demand for what you are planning to offer. Remember to record your findings and categorize them to allow for clear reflection before your product launch. 

Stay tuned for more valuable tips from the Ucraft team, and good luck with your research!

This is why it’s essential to understand the different eCommerce marketing strategies available to you and how they can help you grow your brand and make your business successful. 

Let’s start with the basics. What are we talking about when we refer to eCommerce marketing? What are the different channels and tactics, and why is it important to implement on-site and off-site strategies? 

What is eCommerce Marketing?

eCommerce marketing uses promotional tactics to drive more traffic to your website or store, convert visitors into paying customers, and ensure they return for more. Although the end goal is to have more visitors and paying customers navigating to your eCommerce website, your marketing efforts can occur online and offline - depending on the campaign.

Examples of popular eCommerce marketing channels that can help you boost your sales include email marketing campaigns, online marketplaces, search engines, comparison shopping engines, affiliate networks, paid advertising (or PPC), and social media platforms. 

Since channels are not identical and don’t always cater to the same audience, you usually combine different ones depending on your goals. For example, while search engines can attract new customers, email campaigns reach users who have already provided you with their information - and social media can target both. 

Top eCommerce Marketing Essentials

You can use several marketing tools to promote your business, drive more sales, and ensure your customers return for more information and products. Below you will find an overview of the best eCommerce marketing tools and a few practical tips to try out in your own store.

1. Run PPC Campaigns

If you are researching eCommerce marketing strategies, you have probably heard of PPC campaigns. Pay-per-click campaigns assume that you (the merchant) pay an advertising fee for every click on your public ad. 

Most PPC ads are featured in a search engine’s sponsored links, usually at the top of the page, giving websites a wider reach. To ensure your PPC ads are effective, you should always make them:

• Relevant: They should show users what they are searching for using the best keywords for a topic of interest.
• Targeted: You should choose the ads depending on the users’ device and make sure they look great. 

PPC campaigns are a cost-effective eCommerce tool since you are only required to pay after an action has been taken (i.e., a click) and you gain a visitor to your website. This is a fairer deal than just buying ad space, which requires you to pay regardless of whether users click on your ad or scroll past it. 

One thing to keep in mind is that you should always be aware of your ROI, or Return on Investment, which can be calculated using the formula “ROI = Revenue - Costs / Costs x 100”. Once you determine your ROI, you will be able to see how successful your PPC campaign really is.

Learn more about PPC Marketing

2. Invest in SEO

The world of search engine optimization is vast and full of opportunities. Once you set up your eCommerce store, a crucial next step is ensuring potential visitors can find it easily. You need to check if search engines are not only showing your content but also ranking higher up so it cannot be missed (you can wait for Google to discover your site or submit your pages to achieve this more quickly).

The way SEO works is relatively simple. Search engines use algorithms to recover data from their engine index and show good results for a query. When you optimize your pages around specific keywords that are important to your business, you are essentially telling Google your content is exactly what users are looking for. 

Ultimately, your goal using SEO should always be to rank in the top positions of a search engine. On average, 93% of online experiences begin with a search, and most customers will only care about the first five or so results - or at least only about the first page of Google. Therefore, optimizing your keywords is crucial to ensure people can find your eCommerce store - making SEO one of the most essential eCommerce marketing tips you can utilize for your online business.

Learn more about SEO Optimization

3. Embrace Email Marketing

Email marketing is a popular strategy for eCommerce businesses, even though some might consider it outdated. The truth is, experienced marketers know this tool can play a significant role in collecting leads and building a community around your eCommerce store.

There are four types of emails you can use to promote your products:

• Email newsletters: These are regular messages sent to your subscribers (weekly, monthly, annually, etc.) They aim to build relationships with your subscribers and turn them into customers. 
• Transactional emails: You send these emails once an action has taken place; for example, after a person buys a product, signs up for a newsletter, or lets them know their trial might be coming to an end. 
• Direct emails: These are messages you send directly to your subscribers to let them know about offers, new products, events, sales, etc. You can think of them as digital coupons or flyers. 
• Cold emails: Lastly, some businesses send cold emails to create new connections and get people’s attention. This is a valid tactic if you are just getting started and want to introduce yourself or your company. 

About 90% of emails you send will arrive in a recipient’s inbox, while just 2% of your Facebook followers will see a post in their news feed. This is why email marketing is still considered a great way to market an eCommerce business.

Learn more about Email Marketing

4. Focus on Your Sales Channels

Even when you have created the best, most relevant, and valuable content, invested in SEO, and launched some PPC campaigns, this doesn’t mean your eCommerce website can now be left unattended. In fact, the hard work is far from over.

No matter the number of eCommerce marketing channels you use, to create a seamless shopping experience, you will also need to set up sales funnels. Nowadays, purchasing products through multiple platforms is a hallmark of younger shoppers. Naturally, you want to take advantage of this trend, so you should always maximize the use of all sales channels to promote your business.

For example, you can make your products available through:

• Online marketplaces: Think of Amazon, eBay, Walmart Marketplace, etc. These platforms already have huge audiences and can give your product a lot of exposure.
• Social media: Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook all let you sell your products using a Buy button and payment links. In addition to a massive audience, they also provide good metrics to check how your products are doing.
• Retail and Wholesale: You can place your items in a store in a mall or present them in pop-up shops, farmers’ markets, craft fairs, etc. The possibilities are almost endless. If you can produce in bulk, you can also sell to other businesses.
• Product comparison sites: Sites like Shopzilla and Pricerunner can help you promote your products and have them link to your eCommerce site.
• Dropshipping: This eCommerce model is all about selling things you don’t manufacture yourself, so you don’t have to worry about inventory and shipping. 

Learn more about your Sales Channels

5. Launch a Content Marketing Strategy

An essential component of learning how to market your eCommerce business more efficiently is creating and publishing valuable and relevant content to your audience. The goal of your eCommerce website is not only to rack in instant sales but more focused on helping customers become more familiar with a product, understand its benefits and eventually purchase it. 

Anyone can produce content; the key is giving your users valuable information linked to your business goals. Your content should, ideally, persuade a person to take final action, such as buying a product, but you can also use articles to educate and create more brand awareness.

Content marketing is made up of three phases:

• Creation: Create product descriptions, website content, and informative articles to accompany and better explain your offer.
• Publishing: Make sure all pages are available online, and users can see them from any device or browser.
• Promotion: Highlight your best content by promoting it using SEO, social media, etc. 

A content marketing strategy tends to be less expensive than other alternatives, but this doesn’t mean it’s not capable of having a massive impact on your channels. If your article has excellent keywords, it will improve your SEO. If it’s relevant, it will do really well on social media and enhance your brand's reputation. 

This is why it’s always a good idea to support your content planning with sound research, write for the audience you want to target, and set clear goals for your content marketing campaigns.

Learn more about Content Marketing

As we’ve identified above, there are several ways to promote your eCommerce site and your products. The key is to do your research, pick the strategies that go well with your business model, and combine them to gain access to a larger audience. If you do this efficiently, your sales will increase in time. 

Ready to build your online store? Check out Ucraft, our user-friendly website builder, which allows for the easy, stress-free creation of exceptional eCommerce platforms. 

Expert Tips for Choosing a Domain Name

Considering that you’ll probably make this decision once, it’s necessary to weigh your options and be informed of all the ins and outs of choosing a domain name. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of all the key aspects you need to consider while doing so. Let’s dive in!

Think About Your Brand Name

Choose a brandable domain name. Avoid generic, boring names and go for something that grabs attention. Find a name that will represent your brand and your product line in the best way, instead of choosing one that sounds like a generic string of words. 
 
The domain name can be an already existing word, completely made up, or something in between. For example:
 
- The most obvious one is Apple. They took the name of common fruit and created one of the biggest brands in the world - a good example of how you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to find a good name. Because many single-word names are already taken, the trending approach that worked for many new brands is taking two words and merging them. It worked well for Snapchat and more serious B2B brands like MailJet. Combining words is a great way to tell the story, purpose, and value while also providing you with a brand name in the process. 
 
- If you have a creative streak, you can use a made-up word as your domain name. Just make sure that the word is easy to write and pronounce because you don’t want to confuse your customers. Most of these made-up names have a fun story behind them, like Mozilla, inspired by the famous pop-culture monster Godzilla.
 
- Another emerging trend is taking an existing word and misspelling or modifying it. A good example of this practice is Grammarly, an online grammar and spelling checker (which we will later use to check this article for typos before publishing). There’s a reason why domain names are the same as company names. Those two are inseparable, allowing you to kill two birds with one stone. 
 
Occasionally, brands use CTA words such as “get” or “download” in front of their company name to imply the action you should take once on the website. Doing something unique like this can help draw attention to your website. You can always purchase both URLs and eventually direct one to the other.

Pick Something Simple

To avoid confusion, choose a domain name that is easy to spell. If it’s a made-up word, then use conventional spelling. Don’t try to be too clever or creative because it can backfire. If your domain name is hard to pronounce and difficult to type, people will lose patience and just forget about your website altogether, especially when hearing about it through word of mouth. 
 
Moreover, you should avoid hyphens and numbers. While this may make your name unique, it also makes it harder to remember. Confusing or hard-to-spell domains will cause you to lose customers. Striking a balance between memorable/unique and accessible will help you land on the perfect domain name. However, it’s easier said than done, so make sure to brainstorm, research, ask friends and follow our guidelines. 

Avoid Domain Name Keyword-Stuffing

 
Once upon a time, having a relevant keyword(s) in your domain name meant that you would rank better in search results. It was essentially a great SEO hack that could get you ahead of the competition, causing many people to use and abuse this trick. Consequently, the importance of having a keyword-rich domain is declining, and according to every reputable SEO expert, this trend will continue on a downward spiral.
 
So, what should you do? Don’t force it, and prioritize uniqueness over buzzwords. If you do want to include a keyword, make sure it sounds natural - e.g., if your name is Jo and you are a plumber, then it’s perfectly ok for your domain to be: plumberjo.com.
 

Choose the Correct Extension

A .com domain name is the most popular choice for a domain extension or for your top-level domain (TLD) since it’s the first extension people think about in association with any website. However, over 50% of all websites have this domain extension, meaning your desired domain could be already taken.
 
Luckily, there are more domain name extensions available than ever before. When choosing and purchasing your domain, you can pick from a wide variety of domain extensions. As mentioned above, the most common top-level domain is .com, standing for a website with a commercial purpose. So if it’s possible to grab a .com domain name, don’t hesitate to do so. 
 
Other common options include .edu, .biz, .co, .net and .info. All of them have a specific meaning and purpose; the most prominent ones illustrated below:
 

Recently, extensions related to a specific industry have arisen such as .marketing, .news or even more specific like .broker or .brand. This is still an emerging trend, so maybe you can profit from being the first one to jump on this bandwagon.

Assign a Language to Your Domain 

Depending on the location of your business, you can also choose a top-level domain that reflects your country, such as .ca (for Canada). This is suitable for everyone planning to do business locally.
 
When building your website with Ucraft, you can easily assign a language to your domain via the Languages App. This will help localize your content and reach a wider audience across the globe instead of just sticking to English and leaving users to rely on Google Translate (which is not always accurate, as we all know). 
 
To put this into perspective, picture that your website is in English - e.g., example.com. If you wish to localize your content for the Spanish market, the URL of the Spanish website will be example.com/es. Learn more about this feature here. 

Alternative Extensions

 
Other than disclosing the origin of your company, some country domain extensions can be used for other purposes because of their unique meaning. We have already mentioned that .tv is the country code for Tuvalu, but for obvious reasons, it is used by big media and entertainment companies. Another example is the top-level domain ‘.to’, which is used for How-To websites.
 
Particularly popular in recent years is the .me domain extension. It can be a good branding tool, and you can use it to personalize your website - e.g., marry.me or connect.me. 
 
Another domain hack that is used mostly by tech startups is the domain extension for British Indian Ocean Territory, or as you all probably know it - the .io domain extension. The reason this unofficial practice came into play is that IO can be an acronym for input/output.
 
It is important to choose an extension that makes sense for your business and is easy to remember. Choosing the wrong extension because your first choice has been taken can harm your business in the future.

Verdict 

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you are making the best choice for your business in particular. This means that these tips are just guidelines that you should take into consideration when making this big decision about your domain name; you’re the only one who can know what is best for your business.

Assuming you’ve decided on the perfect domain name, it’s time to go grab it before somebody else does! When setting up a website with Ucraft, you can get your domain name for free in accordance with our yearly plans. Also, when it comes to the security of your domain, make sure you are informed on SSL certificates and the distinction between free vs paid SSL. Note: users will be more likely to leave your website if they see http:// instead of https://. 

Likewise, you have the option of connecting an existing domain name through the Domain App by choosing the “connect existing domain” option. The process is simple, and you can learn more about connecting a custom domain here. 

Good luck!

What is Competitive Intelligence?

You already know that your market shifts and changes all the time. You can probably get away with a bit of guesswork and trial-and-error initially, but if you don’t work smartly, your competitors can quickly swoop in and undercut your prices or offers with their own to push you out of the market. 

Competitive intelligence is the ongoing effort and result of a company’s effort to gather and analyze information about its industry, operating environment, competitors, and product and pricing strategies. 

Competitive intelligence will guide you through choosing the pricing strategy for your business, identify gaps in your strategy or chinks in your armor, and help you position your brand in an appealing way to your customers. 

What Are the Goals of Competitive Intelligence?

Now that you know what competitive intelligence is, we can dig into why you should conduct competitive intelligence in your business. The goals of competitive intelligence include: 

To identify and analyze trends to decide your next move

You can respond in turn if you know what your competitors are planning. For example, if you know that your competitor will run an early Black Friday sale special, you might experience a dip in sales during your own Black Friday promotion. You won’t be able to prevent them from running their sale, but you can reschedule yours to start earlier or simultaneously to avoid missing out on business. 

To obtain insight into trends and expectations

Let’s face it: customers' expectations are high these days. If your competitor can offer faster turnarounds, overnight delivery, international or free shipping, or even drone delivery, they believe you should be able to match their offering. Of course, if you don’t know what others are doing, you won’t know that you are falling short of those expectations. Keep an eye on the international market as well. You might find inspiration or spot a trend that you could emulate locally and become a market leader in your territory. 

To allocate resources more efficiently and improve ROI

You might be spending money on features or services people simply don’t care about. You could spend hours maintaining a feature on your website or operating phone lines that no one will ever call. If your competitors have swapped their landline for an AI chatbot, maybe you should too! 

Predict the steps of competitors

If you find out that your competitor will pivot from being a website-based business to a mobile-first app enterprise, what will you do? You could decide to copy their move or pick up the business they will lose when they switch. Either way, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Knowing what your competitors are likely to invest in and focus on will help you respond in the best possible way. 

What Are the Main Components of Competitive Intelligence?

Believe it or not, competitive analysis is actually more involved than just looking at what your competitors are doing. Here are a few of the components of a comprehensive competitive intelligence plan: 

1. Product Analysis 

How do your business’s products and services stack up to those of your competitors? You should regularly evaluate your products and services in order to continually increase the value you give your users. Look at its strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities you haven’t pursued yet. Customer conversations and feedback, demos, reviews, and surveys can help you find out how you can improve your offering. 

2. Competitor Analysis

We’ve already touched on this topic in detail. Competitor analysis is all about studying the strategies your competitors are following against your own strengths and weaknesses so that you can determine which resources and strategies you need to implement to stand out from the crowd. Your competitor analysis is never complete. New competitors will always enter the market and change their strategies. Make sure that you evaluate the market at least once a quarter to stay on top of your game. 

3. Market Analysis

Where are customers spending their time and money? Which customers are spending the most? Is there a need you haven’t met yet or a product line that could double your revenue? You won’t know unless you look at the big picture. Avon was a book company that gave away free perfumes to buyers. When they realized how popular the perfume was, they switched their entire revenue model around. Nokia started off as a paper mill before investing in telephony. Tiffany’s was a stationery store before they realized there was a huge market for jewelry and silverware. These are extreme examples, but you never know where the opportunities lie if you don’t know the market. 

4. Customer Analysis

If you want to know how to serve your customers to the best of your ability, you shouldn’t just look at your competitors…you should ask them! What do they like or not like about your products? If they could change anything about your business, what would it be? Surveys, feedback, and social media analysis can reveal a lot about your customers, their challenges, and their likes and dislikes. If you know what they want, you can meet their needs and keep them coming back for more. 

Examples of Competitive Intelligence

So, what does competitive intelligence look like in practice? Remember that competitive intelligence research isn’t the same as business espionage or other unethical practice. It refers to using information freely available in the public domain to make an informed assessment. 

You can conduct your own business competitive intelligence by following these easy steps:

Follow your competitors on social media & online platforms 

When you follow your competitors in the media or set up Google alerts, you can quickly pick up if they are pivoting to a new strategy, e.g., changing their logos, slogans, or pricing. You’ll also pick up new price promotions or strategic partnerships they’ve entered into so that you can respond with a counter-strategy of your own. You don’t need to change your whole logo because they do, but if they are trying to change their image, you need to know why. 

Analyze their website and online marketing campaigns

It’s a good idea to periodically analyze competitors’ websites to see how their messaging, design, and products compare to your own. You might pick up new pricing strategies, product line expansions, or even A/B tests. A/B tests can reveal changes in their marketing strategy before they launch, giving you time to respond. For example, if you notice a call-to-action (e.g., “Start Your Free Trial”), you can deduce that they are trying to change up the way they generate leads online. 

Read customer reviews

You read your own customer reviews religiously, but you should always keep an eye on competitor reviews as part of your ongoing competitive business intelligence practices. Reviews are a great way of gaining insight into competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Are customers unhappy with their guarantees or service? Highlight the strength of your customer service center or money-back guarantees in your marketing messaging! Do they love that the competitor doesn’t offer a call-out fee? Consider changing your fee structure. That way, you are always one step ahead. 

Job postings

Job postings can reveal a lot about your competitors’ plans to expand. For example, are they hiring a lot of in-house developers? Your competitor is very likely planning to overhaul their website or build an app. Are they looking for a freelance PR professional? Chances are they want to amp up their public image or are going to launch a new initiative soon. 

Conclusion

Competitive intelligence is very simple, but you must be disciplined about conducting the necessary analyses as often as you need. Try to automate it as much as possible. Set up Google Alerts, use plug-ins to gather customer reviews, and set reminders in your calendar to view job boards, competitor sites, and media articles. The more you know, the more empowered you will be to take your business to the next level.

And when that business is Affiliate Marketing, launching an appropriately-structured affiliate email marketing campaign becomes even more important. Affiliate email marketing is quite different from traditional email marketing, where promotional email campaigns aim to sell. Here, you are not simply selling but rather sharing your positive experience of a solution you used as a customer.

Let’s delve deeper into what affiliate email marketing is and why choose this method?

What is Affiliate Email Marketing?

Promoting affiliate links through highly-targeted and well-prepared emails is what affiliate email marketing is all about. Consider this as killing two birds with one stone. Whether you are an influencer or someone who has a respected opinion in a particular field, you can craft your email marketing campaign and introduce the links to your subscribers to improve the conversion rate and site traffic. 

How Does it Differ From Traditional Email Marketing?

As mentioned above, traditional email marketing is different from affiliate email marketing. As an affiliate, you do not sell - you introduce. This is why it is necessary to have a good set of skills to describe the product accurately and be able to convince someone else to purchase it. 

How to become a natural, you ask? By just being honest and sincere. The same rule applies to succeeding as an affiliate in general. You choose the affiliate niche that is familiar and/or appeals to you, and you share your most sincere opinion and advice as a customer. It’s that simple. Now, all you have to do is apply the same logic to your emails. 

Why Use Email for Affiliate Marketing?

Before we go into specific examples of how to best craft your email campaign, there is another important aspect to cover - understanding the benefits of this medium. 

Email marketing has the highest ROI compared to other methods. An email has an addressee - i.e., someone on the other end who checks their email, often several times a day. With email marketing, you own the connections - you don’t have to worry about algorithm changes and their effect on your SEO.

Last but not least, with an affiliate email marketing campaign, you can include your affiliate links straight away, without having to guide the users to somewhere where they should go through a lengthy sign-up process. 

Affiliate Email Marketing Campaign in Examples

Now, it’s time to get more practical. Let’s talk in examples, and think of some steps we should and shouldn’t take when drafting our affiliate email marketing campaigns.

Think Ahead of Time, Be Constructive

It’s a campaign, not a single email, right? You are trying to catch your “passengers” and lead them, follow up and reach the destination. Be constructive, and make sure to have an outline of the email chain through which you will take your audience. 

Seeing things ahead of time helps you to arrive at a point where you are not confused about what's the next step and how to join the dots. Email campaigns usually contain 5 to 8 emails that are scheduled to be sent within a specific time frame and are aimed at leading the customer/audience through an informed decision to purchase/use the product. 

Example 1 | Campaign outline

• Welcome email: 
Subject line: Let’s Learn and Grow Together | Ucraft Affiliate Program

• Deeper into the topic: 
Subject line: Top 5 Affiliate Mistakes | Ucraft Affiliate Program

• Factual base: 
Subject line: Affiliates Marketing on Reddit and Quora | Ucraft Affiliate Program

• Get some hands-on practice: 
Subject line: Building a Landing Page | Ucraft Affiliate Program

• Reference to professionals: 
Subject line: Exclusive Interview with a Successful Affiliate | Ucraft Affiliate Program

• Time to practice: 
Subject line: The Right Product at the Right Time | Ucraft Affiliate Program

• Options to choose from: 
Subject line: Bloggers as Affiliates | Ucraft Affiliate Program

Having a campaign outline does not mean you have to stick to it no matter what. Times change and there may be some factors that you need a change in your campaign. But not having one is an issue.

Behave Appropriately

It’s a busy life and people are nonetheless interrupted and spammed by numerous ads, emails, and campaigns. You do not want to get lost in a pile of other emails and end up being ignored. Remember, you are a guest in their inbox, and you should behave accordingly. Be courteous and understanding, without being overly-polite or apologetic. Remember - you are trying to be helpful, you are offering something really useful and your task is to make sure the person sees the benefit of it without any extra headache and wasted time.

Example 2:

Building a landing page for your affiliate marketing is like building your office. It should have a good design, a good atmosphere, and be easy to navigate. 

This blog article on How to Start Affiliate Marketing: Building a Landing Page will elaborate on:

• Why affiliates need a landing page.

• How to create a landing page that works for your type of marketing.

Be Selective!

Both the email content and the links you share are of great importance in regards to attracting your audience and ensuring the desired click. Although there is usually no extra cost involved in adding affiliate links to your email sequence, the effort and the time spent are also valuable, which is why it is better to only concentrate on affiliate links with a worthwhile earning potential and not confuse yourself and your audience with more. 

Example 3

The Right Product at the Right Time | Ucraft Affiliate Program

You think as long as you want to be an affiliate the rest doesn’t matter? Not really! Why is it necessary to choose the product you affiliate for? What are some telltale signs you should know when choosing the product? 
 
Read on the blog to learn more about 

• How to find your niche.

• How to know your target audience and more.

Want to learn more of the vital tips? 

READ Guide 

Keep in mind that the links your share should be profitable, relevant, and constant.

Personalize Your Emails, Connect with Your Audience

Another way to be natural is to be friendly. Affiliate marketing efforts can only succeed if you build and foster a relationship with your base. Personalized emails will give you a friendly and helpful tone rather than a salesperson. Personalization starts with the subject line and follows into the very content of your email.

Example 4

Subject line: 1. Let’s Speed It Up | Ucraft Affiliate Program
Subject line: 2. All Good Things Can Be Made Better | Ucraft Affiliate Program
Subject line: 3. Let’s Learn and Grow Together | Ucraft Affiliate Program
Subject line: 4. Do You Want to Earn More? | Ucraft Affiliate Program
Subject line: 5. Are You Satisfied With Your Monthly Income? | Ucraft Affiliate Program
Subject line: 6. Your Next Steps to Capture More Leads | Ucraft Affiliate Program

Wrapping It Up

Launching a successful affiliate email marketing campaign is not as challenging as it sounds. With the right tools and practices, you can make the most of your mailing list to promote your affiliate products and watch as your commissions continue to soar higher.

In today’s world, omnichannel retail has become the norm. Also known as omnichannel eCommerce, this term refers to a business strategy that provides a seamless shopping experience to consumers across all sales channels, including in-store, on marketplaces, across social media, and via resellers. 

There are several sales channels for small business ventures, so you should choose those that fit your brand and product. 

The Benefits of Using Different Sales Channels

Shopping on multiple channels is one of the hallmarks of young shoppers, especially Gen Z customers. They are always on the go, shopping on different devices as well as in person. If you want to take advantage of these crucial eCommerce trends, you have to wrap your head around the concept of sales channels. 

The good news is that there are plenty of advantages of using multiple sales channels to promote your business, including:

• Widening your audience: The more channels you use, the greater the chances of a new customer discovering, loving, and buying your product. 

• More buying options: The more sales channels you incorporate, the more opportunities customers have to buy your product, making it easier for them to support your business. 

• Expansion at a low cost: It’s much cheaper to add sales channels to your business than to open physical stores and branches in various locations. 

• SEO improvements: Having more quality reciprocal links to your online store improves your profile and SEO. 

Sales Channels to Consider for Your Online Store

So, which channel is the right one for your eCommerce business? There are channels for sale, hire, or partnership opportunities. Each has its pros and cons that need to be considered carefully. Let’s look at a few of the best sales channels for your eCommerce business:

1. Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces include the likes of Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Google Shopping, and Walmart Marketplace. These channels have huge selections and broad audiences, which can give your product massive exposure. They also have their own pre-existing distributors and marketing channels and excellent product discovery algorithms. The downside? You need to pay over a commission for every sale you close on that marketplace. There are also strict terms and conditions you need to adhere to and a lot of competition on the sites themselves. You may need to cut your prices and give up more profit than you bargained for, so read the terms and conditions carefully before committing.