For a layperson, the two most straightforward ways to create a website are using WordPress or a website builder. Wix, GoDaddy, and DashClicks are the three most user-friendly website builders. The third option is to develop it yourself, which is tricky and requires coding knowledge.

This article aims to guide you through creating a website using a site builder within one to two hours.

How to Build a Business Website Using a Website Builder?

Here are the nine steps to building a website using a site builder:

1. Research & Choose a Website Builder
2. Select the Plan You Can Afford
3. Check Domain Name Availability & Finalize a Domain Name
4. Pick the Most Suitable Design Template According to Your Niche
5. Customize Your Template Design According to Brand Color, Fonts, & Theme
6. Create & Upload Your Content
7. Add Any Missing Functionality to Your Site by Downloading Apps
8. Conduct Website Testing Before You Publish It
9. Hit the Publish Button & Make Your Website Live

So, without further ado, let’s dive into the best ways to build a business website.

1. Research & Choose a Website Builder

You can find several website builders online, each with its specific USPs. With easy drag-and-drop features, website builders are the most popular choice these days. So, you can pick and choose one according to your needs. If you're wondering how to create a website from scratch, these user-friendly website builders can be a great place to start.

The most user-friendly website builders include DashClicks, Wix, GoDaddy, Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Weebly, etc.

A website builder allows even a novice to create a stunning multipurpose website without technical knowledge. When website builders were not developed, we needed HTML, CSS, Java, etc., to design and develop a website. Website builders involve templates and drag-and-drop interfaces making website development a pleasant experience.

For more complex eCommerce websites, you can use DashClicks' white label fulfillment services.

Watch this video for more details.

DashClicks helps you create professional websites using pre-built niche-based templates. The best part is that you don't need to make your website; all you need to do is feed your client's business information in the automation tool, and DashClicks' InstaSites builds the 50-60 page website within seconds.

Watch this video for the complete process.

Pro Tip: Try DashClicks' InstaSites, an automated site builder to make beautiful, well-optimized websites for businesses within seconds.

Using DashClicks' Instant Website Builder

DashClicks' InstaSites Builder lets you build professional websites using the power of automation. This tool allows agencies to create hundreds of niche-specific websites within seconds.

What’s more, it doesn’t require any technical knowledge on your part. Here are a few steps to build a website for a small business.

• Choose a pre-built website template from hundreds of niche-specific templates.
• Enter your client’s details and business information.
• Press the build button.
• The software will instantly render a niche-specific 40-50 page website for your client.

The website would be content-ready. Content can be tweaked and customized later according to your requirements.

Pro Tip: You can also use this instant website as a prospecting tool as it's free of cost until you activate it. The cost of website development is zero as it's rendered by an advanced automation tool. It won't require a drag-and-drop either. If you're curious about the technical differences that might affect the performance of such tools, understanding the difference between x64 and x86 architecture can be helpful. This knowledge can assist you in making better decisions when choosing the hardware or hosting solutions for your web development needs.

It will help you cast an excellent first impression on your clients, accelerate the prospecting process, and close the deal faster.

Salient Features of InstaSites

Website development is time-consuming and tedious, involves collaborating with developers, and lots of to-and-fros. Even after all this, it's possible not to get the kind of website you want. DashClicks' InstaSites Builder comes as a boon for agency owners by allowing them the freedom to choose from multiple templates and customize their website however they want.

The following video will immensely help you learn how InstaSites Builder can help your business grow.

2. Select the Plan You Can Afford

The next step is to check the price plans and choose the most suitable for you. For standard basic websites, cheaper plans will be fine. If you have more complex eCommerce requirements, explore feature-based plans. If you're still unsure, you can buy a more affordable package first and upgrade later. Don't pay for the features you don't need. Most website builders are available for under $40 per month (all charges included).

Whatever builder you choose will ultimately cost less than hiring a web developer.

Web developers are costly and will charge you anywhere between $500 and $1000 just for template customization. The cost of developing a fully customized website may well go into the thousands. If you are using a website builder, you can design a fully functional website at a throwaway price of a few dollars only.

The free website builders are also available online, but there might be a catch. Some of these builders cut corners by removing essential features. For example, they won't allow you to use custom domains, and your website will be cluttered with ads for the builder.

You can buy a builder for a professional-grade website for a few dollars a month.

Most website builders have a free trial, so you can sign up and check out the features.

3. Check Domain Name Availability & Finalize a Domain Name

Choosing a domain name is the first step to creating a website as it gives your site a unique address on the Internet. You can also use your website builder for this purpose. As soon as you sign up for your website builder, you are prompted to register a domain name. You can check the availability of different domain names here.

However, if you already have one, you can quickly transfer it to your website. If you want to register it separately, you may first go to domain registration sites like domain.com, HostGator, or GoDaddy.

Your domain name should be relevant and roll off the tongue. It will be best if it reflects your niche too. Keep your domain name short and memorable. It is also a good idea to avoid numbers in your URL.

Since millions of domain names are already taken, it's a good idea to always check the availability of your chosen domain names.

The annual renewal fee of a domain name is around $12. The premium plans cover this fee.

It is not difficult to move your domain name. If you already own a domain name, you can import it to any website builder.

4. Pick the Most Suitable Design Template According to Your Niche

After choosing your website builder and domain name, the next step is to select a template. Templates are mostly chosen according to the website type and the niche.

Here are the different niche-based templates available in DashClicks' InstaSites tool.

Templates are designed keeping in mind the online behavior of your target audience.

For example, if your target audience is young, your template will include vibrant colors and hues. So, the more choices you have, the better it will be.

DashClicks' InstaSites offers hundreds of niche-based templates to help you create the most stunning websites.

5. Customize Your Template Design

Creating a new website is like making a new dish. When you choose a template, it acts as a framework. So, you can think of it as a recipe.

You can customize it in many ways. It starts with your content and includes images, graphics, color palettes, and other website elements. Everything works within a framework, i.e., your website template.

Your template should be unique and convey your brand message effectively. With the proper customization, your website will stand out. Just as you can customize a dish by using and combining different ingredients and adding specific flavors, you can add various elements to your website.

These elements include forms, buttons' size, color, and fonts. It can also mean adding new navigation pages, images, menus, and social media buttons. The website builders will allow you to do all these things, so you shouldn't hesitate to experiment with them.

Most website builders have drag-and-drop features to make your job easy. They also offer many customization features, so you're free to use your creativity.

6. Create & Upload Your Content

Now, we move to the next most important thing on the cards – uploading content. “Content is king,” and as you might already know, also includes images, graphics, and text. For a generic website builder, you’ll replace the standard “Lorem Ipsum” text with your website content.

By this point, you’ve already fixed your website colors and layout. Now, drag and drop images and add relevant content and videos to provide more details about your business.

Don’t forget to add a call to action button on each page. Write a stunning “about us” page, as it’s an opportunity to create awareness and build a brand. Add product descriptions too.

Write unique persuasive content that illustrates your brand message beautifully using graphics and images. The image quality is crucial for user experience and search engine rankings.

Here is an informative post about optimizing your images for high search engine rankings: Optimizing Your Images for Better Search Results in 2022

When you use DashClicks’ InstaSites tool, you get a content-ready template, which means you don’t necessarily have to add content. However, you can customize it as per your business needs.

You can pick quality images for your website from Unsplash and Pixabay. These images are mostly free and can also be used in your social media posts.

Pro Tip: Kraken.io may be the best-paid option as it offers various compression options. The charges start from $5/month but are meant for limited use. So, if you’re looking for a solution that works for agencies, choose the BASIC plan @ $9/month as it offers 2 GB of data.

7. Add Missing Functionalities

You might also need to add forms and social media integrations to your website. You can use various apps for this purpose.

DashClicks' Forms app allows you to improve your workflow with powerful online form building & management software. The forms app makes data collection a cakewalk and is designed to meet your every need related to using forms on the website.

Similarly, with the help of the Deals App, you can manage leads and deals within your sales pipeline CRM software.

8. Conduct Website Testing Before You Publish It

Don't ever be in a hurry to hit the publish button after your website is ready. The development process should only be wrapped up with thorough website testing.

Preview the changes you’ve made to ensure that they look fine. Here is a list of checks you should perform before publishing your website:

• Run Spell Checks and Grammar Checks
• Check if buttons are working as desired
• Check if your website is ready to serve its purpose
• Check the formatting and make it consistent
• Check if it is optimized for different devices such as desktop, mobile, and tablets
• Check if it loads quickly

You can quickly locate the preview button when your website is in editor mode. Toggle it to see how your website looks on different screens.

Your website must be mobile-optimized since mobile phones generate 54.25% of web traffic.

Pro Tip: Get your website tested by people unfamiliar with the site structure. You may overlook specific faults as you'll likely check only the things you're aware of. A fresh perspective will help you explore the hidden issues on your website.

9. Hit the Publish Button & Make Your Website Live!

After the website testing, it's time to hit the publish button and make it live. Remember that you can still make changes to it as and when required. However, there is a possibility that you won't be able to change the template once your site goes live. Always check the terms and conditions of the website builder you're using to find out if this will be an issue or not.

Now, it's time to get the word out and promote it. Try your hands on Google Analytics and Google Search Console to improve your website and optimize it for search engines.

Final Words

As it's obvious, building a website is no longer a daunting task. Anybody can make it using user-friendly web builders. It becomes even more convenient with automated website builders such as DashClicks' InstaSites. You can also create a website using WordPress, but you may need some HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript knowledge to develop and update a WordPress website.

Can you earn money from blogging?

If your blog generates over 10,000 unique visitors every day, it is easy to earn a real stream of revenue from it.

However, if your blog generates fewer than 1000 visitors a day, then earning money through it can become more of a challenge.

Beginner bloggers give up way too early because they are not able to monetize their blog.

The truth is that you can't compare your chapter 1 with someone else's chapter 30. It takes time to build a blog that will generate revenue.

All you need is dedication, perseverance, and the right practices to make your blog profitable.

If your blog generates under 1000 visitors per day and you want to know how to monetize it, read on to know the different ways you can do that!

1. Create & Sell An Online Course

Online courses focus on a particular topic or subject. People perceive courses as something that offer more value than blog posts.

One of the best ways to monetize a blog that gets under 1000 visitors per day is to create and sell online courses. You don't require a lot of customers or leads to earn money from the first few online course you create. Just begin from where you are and scale from there.

Let's suppose your blog gets at least 60 visitors a day. Check out what those visitors want and craft a course accordingly. Even if your first course is not amazing, it is okay. You can always improve.

Takeaway: Creating an online course is an amazing way to upgrade your career in blogging. It allows you to offer the best content in an exclusive manner.

Today, there are plenty of platforms that help create and sell an online course. Websites such as Teachable, Course Merchant, and Udemy have become incredibly popular among aspiring bloggers and course professionals.

If you sell on Udemy, you can use social media and your blog to promote your course. You can even create and sell the course on your own blog.

Tip: You don't have to create a course on a complex topic. Just figure out the topic you know people are struggling with and create an online course on it.

Another thing you can do to create your online course is visit your best blog posts, make some tweaks to it, and share an updated version of it in the form of an online course.

In the end, ensure that your online course is unique, helpful, and engaging for your viewers.

2. Become an In-Demand Freelance Writer

A freelance writer is an individual who writes on different topics for emails, landing pages, websites, etc. If you are a blogger, then you already have what it takes to become an in-demand freelance writer.

Today, both B2C and B2B companies are recognizing content as the best-suited tool to acquire leads and nurture a loyal audience. As a result, a majority of businesses are always on the lookout for skilled freelance writers. Hence, taking this route holds the potential to transform your financial life. As per the latest statistics, 65% of freelancers earn more from freelancing than what they did in a full-time job.

Even though so many freelance writers are out there, it is hard to find the ones who have social media, SEO, and persuasive skills. If you learn these skills and add them to your writing roster, it will definitely work in your favor.

Tip: As a first step, market your freelance writing services via guest blogging on high-traffic blogs, social media marketing, consistent in-house blogging, and Facebook ads. If your clients find your work satisfactory, they will recommend you to more people.

3. Launch a Virtual Summit

Another way to monetize your blog is through a virtual summit. A lot of bloggers use this popular way to connect and build relationships with influencers.

Influencers bring you engagement, reach, and credibility.

Generally, a virtual summit is a video interview of 20 or more experts on a particular topic, which viewers opt-in to see. They are usually unchargeable for a specific time period, such as 1 to 3 days, and then subscribers may choose to buy an all-access pass for unlimited viewing.

Today, many bloggers have built their brands and income with the help of virtual summits. Many marketers and bloggers are easily making a six-figure income from virtual summits alone. What's more, virtual summits also help you become a go-to expert in your field.

Now, you may wonder how to succeed at a virtual summit launch? By making it a win-win for the experts! Select a topic that will inspire individuals to action, and ensure you have a product to sell at the backend.

4. Sell Coaching & Consulting Services

We all know that you can build an audience by consistently posting valuable content on your blog. This way, you educate with the help of content. But how about taking things up a notch and providing one-on-one coaching sessions?

A coach helps people face their challenges, achieve their goals, and provide timely feedback. Becoming a coach or a consultant is one of the quickest ways to generate money from your blog. This is because people are always looking for ways to learn, improve, and attain their goals. Plus, they are willing to pay for it.

Irrespective of when you started your blog, you can offer coaching services. Online coaching has become more popular after COVID-19 and has increased by 57%.

If you decide to sell coaching or consulting services, follow these steps:

• Do competitive research and check what other coaches in your industry are doing.
• Identify your potential customers and their problems. See how you can solve them.
• Ascertain what sets you apart from your competitors.
• Create a page on your blog dedicated to your coaching or consulting services.
• Use this page for advertising your services.
• Promote your services via social media channels that your prospects and potential clients actively visit.
• Create valuable content on your blog around the topics related to your prospects.

Tip: When you coach, you need to have an entrepreneur's mindset. Yes, we know that it will be hard to get your first client, but all the effort will seem worth it in the end.

Listen Up: If you start a coaching program that helps people propel their business forward, we know a way you can supercharge it! Simply leverage the DashClicks' business coaching solutions in your core coaching offerings. The easy-to-use, comprehensive platform allows your viewers to experience next-gen automation software and top-notch marketing solutions. It will help make their business goals a reality.

5. Create & Sell eBooks

You can always think about creating and selling eBooks to monetize your blog. There are many self-publishing platforms that you can use to publish your eBook. Amazon is one major retailer you shouldn't miss.

If you want to use this way to monetize your blog, then now is a great time to get started! Simply create eBooks and sell them on Amazon. Also, ensure you follow these steps:

1. Use your blog to pre-sell titles, create blog posts for promoting your eBooks, and redirect your blog readers to your kindle bookstore.
2. You can provide free copies or discounts in exchange for honest reviews as well. Having good reviews increases your book rankings as well as sales.

Listen Up: Blogging can help you turn your book into a bestseller. This is because you already have a reader base you can promote your book to.

6. Create a Marketing Funnel & Recommend Products

When individuals join your emailing list, do the following:

A. Follow up

Follow up on your prospects to convert them into buyers and generate sales. With the help of follow-up emails, you can reach out to motivated buyers, connect with them, and sell at the backend.

Note: Ensure you don't give up after just the first follow-up. Oftentimes, a number of follow-ups are necessary to generate sales.

B. Relationship building

When you generate awareness about your primary business, a relationship with your prospects begins. You then move them through a marketing funnel, while providing value with the help of content creation at every stage. The funnel further helps you build that relationship with your prospects. The purpose of the funnel is to attract viewers, transform them into leads, make them your customers, and delight them after they buy your product.

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When your prospects move along the funnel, ensure you nurture them with content such as infographics, videos, eBooks, blog posts, etc. Whenever you think they trust you enough to purchase from you, recommend affiliate programs and products, software, and any other product that should be shared with them.

Conclusion

A lot of beginner bloggers are not able to generate an income from their blogging efforts, because they think blogging alone is sufficient to make money.

But, so many successful bloggers generate a significant portion of their income by promoting and selling other services and products through their blogs.

To monetize a blog that generates under 1000 visitors a day, ensure you implement at least one of the methods discussed above and start working on it. If one approach doesn't work, you can always try another.

In case you find yourself unable to compete with others in your industry, don't worry. You can think about switching to some other industry where you are sure of becoming an expert. Then, start building links, drive organic traffic, and promote your services and products to your blog readers.

So, now that you know how to monetize a blog, which one of these ways are you going to try? Do let us know in the comments!

SEO is indeed an excellent strategy to grow your web traffic. However, you must not rely completely on it.

Let us explain this in more detail - think about a scenario where you only depend on SEO for your website traffic and Google introduces a change in its algorithm. As a result of this change, you risk losing potential customers.

To ensure that a change in the Google Algorithm doesn't halt your business, we recommend diversifying your methods of growing website traffic.

A word of caution here! We are in no way saying that you don't have to pay attention to SEO. Every website, regardless of niche, must follow the best SEO practices to make sure it gets indexed and does not get penalized by Google.

In this blog, we are going to discuss the strategies that work as fruitful additions to an already existing SEO plan.

All said and done, let's begin our list of the top strategies to increase website traffic without SEO:

1. Content Marketing

Content Marketing lets you organically advertise your business via high-quality content. Content marketing strategies include infographics, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, downloadable PDFs, blog posts, etc.

For example, Toggl is a time tracking software company that frequently produces insightful blog posts and research data related to work-life, career, and productivity.

This attracts users interested in productivity, time management, and well-being in the workspace. When they check out Toggl's blog, they discover the time tracking app, a productivity tool by the brand. Some of the users convert, increasing web traffic as well as the ROI of the company.

Tip: To know in detail about creating a content marketing strategy, read our start-to-finish guide.

2. Writing Guest Posts

For those who aren't familiar with the term, a guest post is a post you write and publish on another person's website or blog. When you do this, you benefit from their audience and traffic.

This strategy demands only one thing - your time. Dedicate a certain amount of your time in finding the correct website for guest posting, pitching the website-blog owner, thinking about guest post ideas, and then curating the blog. Alternatively, you can look for guest posting services to make things easier for you.

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After your guest post gets published, you get the chance to drive traffic back to your own website via your website URL. The link is added within the byline, which is posted after the end of the article.

3. Email Marketing

In 2020, 78% of marketers stated that email holds importance in overall company success.

Email marketing is a direct way of reaching your potential customers. Regarded as the perfect means for creating long-term relationships, it allows you to ask for feedback, post questions, and introduce soft sales in an easy manner.

Considered one of the best ways to increase web traffic, email marketing is a strategy you must surely try. A few tips for effective email marketing to grow website traffic includes:

• Post-behind-the-scenes content and share stories
• Make it convenient to read and share your post. Include links to your social media channels, recent blog posts, and sales page in all your emails.

4. Using Reddit

Reddit is another way to increase your website traffic without SEO, and that, too, for free!

In case you don't know, Reddit is more like a discussion forum. To grow web traffic via Reddit, you first need to take out time to engage with SubReddits. We say this because you may feel the urge to simply head to Reddit and post your links to a few SubReddits. But we recommend against it.

Redditors do not like self-promotions that much. Therefore we suggest that you engage with SubReddits and offer value in the form of comments and upvotes. Then, after you create some engagement, you can go ahead and promote some of your brand's stuff (without being pushy, ofcourse!).

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5. Social Media Marketing

According to the latest social media statistics, there are 4.59 billion social media users, meaning one thing - you should promote your business on social media.

An effective social media campaign can increase traffic to your website and raise brand awareness. Before executing the campaign, make sure you plan well. Remember to use the right channels for your business. Also, keep these key points in mind:

• To quickly broadcast an update, use Twitter. To gain more followers for your brand on Twitter, follow some tweeters from the same industry.
• If you want to get traffic by sharing images, use Instagram and Pinterest. Remember to keep your posts interesting so that users are prompted to click your link and share it.
• If you think posting on professional networks like LinkedIn will benefit you, ensure you regularly post on them. This will help drive traffic to your website and help establish your credibility in the industry. One way to amplify your reach on LinkedIn is to use an intuitive social employee advocacy platform. This powerful tool allows your employees to discover, filter, recommend, and share pre-approved company content to their personal social profiles.

6. Providing Amazing Customer Service & Asking For Review

Even when you ramp up your social media marketing efforts to grow web traffic, it can all go to waste due to one thing - poor customer service.

How to Provide Excellent Customer Service?

When users complain on social media platforms, ensure you offer a polite and prompt response. It will help build respect for your brand. If users send a complaint through email, offer the best possible service so that they purchase more products/services in the future.

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All in all, a few basic tips to keep in mind include:

• Reply in a prompt manner
• Provide as many suggestions for customer issues as you can
• Apologize if you make a mistake and provide refunds/coupons

If you consistently offer great customer service, you can also approach users to review your business.

Platforms such as Yelp and Trustpilot are well-suited for building positive reviews. A lot of users visit these websites before they decide to make a purchase. Hence having a good profile can increase your reputation.

7. Getting Interviewed

To try out this strategy, you first need to search for a podcast interview website as per your niche. Once you find one, pitch them for an interview. When you get interviewed, you grow traffic to your website and get recognized in your industry. It is also a great way to establish authority.

8. Influencer Marketing

Influencers are mainly social media users with a huge number of active followers, who trust and care about what the influencer endorses, shares, and recommends.

With influencer marketing, you promote your business via word of mouth with an influencer's help. With the support of an influencer, your brand gains exposure to their audience and their audience's network at the same time. As a result of this, more referral traffic comes your way.

Listen Up: As per the latest stats, 80% of consumers have bought something because an influencer recommended it. Hence, you can always get in touch with an influencer to promote your website.

9. Video Marketing

We all can agree on one point - videos are both visual and auditory. This makes video content more memorable than text. According to the latest stats, video content is 1200% more successful than other types of content.

Consider video marketing to increase traffic to your website. Upload videos on Vimeo and Youtube. You can also think about adding videos to your web content. 66% of people state they'd choose to see a short video to know about a service or product. These videos can help website visitors make a purchase decision. You can increase your website's conversion if you add videos to your product pages.

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10. Try Paid Ads

Content marketing is advantageous, but you may have to spend a lot on it, particularly if you have to pay established writers to produce well-researched, original posts. Most of these projects can even take months to deliver results - a timeline that a lot of brands may not find practical.

If you want quick results with a budget you can control, we recommend you consider paid ads.

Paid ads can instantly lead to hundreds of clicks to your website.

Today, getting your ads noticed by the right people has become so much easier. For instance, Facebook gives multiple targeting options and customer personas to help your business get noticed by your target customers without spending a lot on mass advertising.

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You can even advertise on lesser-known platforms such as Reddit if you know that your potential customers hang out there.

Conclusion

From writing guest posts to using reddit, we have discussed a range of options you can try to increase your website traffic without SEO. If you want a point to begin, we recommend that you work on improving your social media strategies. It creates brand awareness, helps connect with more users, and drives organic traffic at a relatively faster rate.

All in all, with these practical tips, you will have multiple traffic sources, and you will no longer be left stranded by changes in the Google algorithm. Make sure you track and scale the traffic sources you are using to bring individuals to your site.

These tips hold the power to transform the way you attract customers. Which ones are you thinking of using first?

If you are a marketer trying to retain a solid Google ranking, the changes that Google constantly makes to its algorithm can really bug you at times. But, fret not! We can help you hack the Google algorithm. Yes, you heard it right.

Before we show you how to do it, let’s learn more about Google’s algorithms to develop a better understanding of things.

Google’s algorithms are defined as a complex system that retrieves data from its search index, and immediately delivers the best results possible for a query.

If you take a look at the history of Google algorithm updates, Google only made a few changes in its early years. But that’s not the case now! Google makes a plethora of changes to its algorithms every year.

Now, you may wonder how often Google algorithm changes are released. Google makes minor changes to its algorithm daily. It can even release a number of updates in a day. However, you won’t notice a drop in search engine page rankings due to these minor changes alone. The core updates are the ones you should look out for, as they can directly affect your page performance. These are the significant changes that Google makes a few times a year.

Key Google Algorithm Updates

Let’s discuss some important historical Google Algorithm updates for you to easily fathom the function of Google algorithm changes:

1. Google Panda

Released in 2011, Google Panda targeted bad practices like duplicate content and keyword stuffing. It introduced a “quality score.”

The score helped in ranking web pages not based on the number of keywords the content had, but on how individuals would perceive the content.

As a result of this update, marketers wrote quality, educational content. They also rewrote the articles which underperformed and used keywords in a strategic manner.

2. Google Penguin

Introduced in 2012, Google Penguin combated black hat SEO tactics like spammy backlinks and link directories. This update also focused on keyword stuffing.

The aim was to move towards high-quality content with only engaging, valuable links and move away from the focus on link volume to increase the search ranking of a page.

3. Google Hummingbird

Released in 2013, the goal of this update was to humanize the search engine experience and take the most informative, relevant content to the 1st page.

As a result of the update, marketers started using more keyword variations as well as relevant search phrases to fulfill the reader’s expectations.

4. Google RankBrain

RankBrain, a Hummingbird extension, was released in 2015. It promotes the most relevant as well as informative content for a search phrase or keyword.

To pass RankBrain, you must research the user intent behind all the keywords individuals search for and write quality, rich content in order to fulfill their expectations.

Now that we know all the important information about Google’s Algorithms, let’s begin our Google algorithm cheat sheet.

Things to Know About Google Algorithm’s Ranking Factors

We don’t know about Google Algorithm’s top ranking factors as they are not revealed to us. No one is entirely sure how to achieve the first-page ranking. However, there are certain ranking factors we do know, such as:

• Content Relevance: You must not stuff your site with keywords. You should use some relevant keywords and create content around them. The content should hold relevance as well.
• Page Speed: We all know that slow-loading websites do not offer a good user experience. 47% of users expect not more than 2 seconds of loading time for an average website. Google updates with page speed may negatively impact you if your site loads slowly.
• Website Design: Ensure your site is easy to navigate and user-friendly.
• User Engagement: Google may impact sites with high bounce rates and few visitors returning.
• HTTPS Status: Usually, Google prefers sites that are more trustworthy. HTTPS is more secure than HTTP. Hence, having an SSL certificate will benefit you.
• Mobile-Friendliness: For ranking and indexing, Google uses your website’s mobile version. Hence, mobile-friendliness is also another ranking factor you should definitely consider.

After discussing the above factors, you can observe one thing Google algorithm boosts the websites that provide the best user experience to people. If the latest website statistics are to be believed, 88% of online consumers are less likely to revisit a website if they have had a bad experience.

Listen Up: Users take only about 0.05 seconds to form an opinion in their minds about your site. Hence, it is important to have an SEO-friendly and mobile-friendly website. We all know that building an SEO-friendly, mobile-friendly, professional niche-based website can take many days.

But, if you use DashClicks’ Site tool, you can make an SEO-friendly, mobile-friendly, custom-branded agency website in just a few seconds. A great way to impress your prospects, isn’t it?

How to Know if a New Algorithm Update Comes Up?

You don't have to track each and every tweak Google does to its algorithm. But, it is highly important to track core updates so that you can accordingly adapt your SEO strategy.

To know about algorithm changes, set up a Google Alert. With Google Alerts, you will get an inbox notification whenever there are online mentions of algorithm updates. We recommend you do this step as it helps you prepare for the changes without wasting any time.

Another thing you can do is to follow Google SearchLiaison on Twitter. On this official account, you will be able to see core algorithm update notifications. By following this account, you can know more about how the algorithm updates can impact you. Another benefit of following this account is that you get to know about the planned improvements to Google that can aid you in improving your SEO strategy as well.

We also recommend you use Google Analytics to see algorithm changes. Wondering how it can help? You can recognize unusual fluctuations in conversions and traffic with it. Plus, you can look at your performance closely and see if a Google algorithm change has impacted you.

Lastly, we also recommend you try an algorithm analytics tool called Grump by Accuranker. Grump keeps track of the changes made to the Google algorithm daily.

How to Know Which Google Algorithm Update Hit Your Site?

If you notice a steep decline in traffic recently, an algorithm change could be the reason behind it. To know which update hit your site and how to recover from its penalties, we recommend you do the following:

1. Check out Google Search Central as a first step. It has various resources to help you find common performance issues and recognize possible algorithm penalties.
2. After this, you can log on to a free analytics tool by Google called Search Console. It contains the resources you need to check your website’s performance, recognize mobile usability issues, etc.

How to Tackle Google’s Algorithm?

These tips can help you succeed with Google’s algorithm and boost your page rankings:

1. Optimize for Mobile

In order to boost your page rankings, you must optimize your site for mobile. We recommend that you visit Mobile-Friendly Test to check how your site appears on mobile devices. All you need to do is input your URL and go through the results.

2. Increase User Engagement

If there is a high bounce rate even if you are getting high traffic volumes, it is time to change your approach. We recommend you focus on user engagement. Concentrate on doing quality keyword research (so that you answer the right search intent). Also, we suggest you write trustworthy content on your website to engage users for an extended period of time.

3. Reduce Site Load Time

A poorly loading website can affect the user experience, negatively impacting your Google rankings. To take care of this, you can check your page loading times with the help of Google's PageSpeed Insights tool as a first step. After you do this, Google gives you specific tips for increasing page speed. Make it a point to go through them as well.

4. Check Your Inbound Links

Audit your inbound links. Ask yourself a question - Do they link to up-to-date, relevant content and work properly? If not, make it a point to fix the links and make sure they are redirecting to posts that are useful. Remember, good quality inbound links can increase your rankings.

5. Avoid Duplicate Content

An important thing you should remember is that having duplicate content on site can get you penalized. To check for duplicate content, use the Duplicate Page Finder. Enter the URLs you wish to compare, see the results, and make the necessary changes. You can also visit Siteliner to check if anyone else is using your content on their website.

6. Don't Over-Optimize

We all know that SEO matters, but you must not go overboard. Don't put irrelevant, unrelated links in your content, don't purchase links, and don't over-optimize your anchor texts.

Also, stay clear of aggressive link-building practices as well as black hat tactics.

7. Create Useful, Informative Content

If a person clicks on your site and stays on it, Google sees that you have probably provided an answer to the search query of the user. This means you are producing informative and useful content.

Creating this type of content will reward you with higher page rankings.

8. Don't Do Keyword Stuffing

Remain on the good side of Google and don't do keyword stuffing. You don't want to create content that is difficult and distracting to read, do you?

To avoid keyword stuffing, just use a keyword naturally within the text, and you are set!

9. Enhance Page Security

In case you have not moved from HTTP to HTTPS, we recommend you do it now. As mentioned before, HTTPS sites are more trustworthy. Google rewards higher rankings to trustworthy sites, so it is worth the effort.

10. Enhance Site Navigation

Make the user experience one of your priorities by:

• Creating a site map
• Streamlining website menus
• Making sure your navigation links work

Wrapping It Up

It's important to keep in mind that the Google algorithm changes from time to time and it can directly impact your SEO strategy. Whenever Google makes the announcement of its next core update, ensure you know how it can affect your page rankings.

Bottom line, we recommend that you concentrate on creating valuable, rich content for users, fix broken links, remove low-quality backlinks and replace them with fresh ones, and move from HTTP to HTTPS if you haven't already.

Now it's our turn to ask a question - how do you keep track of Google algorithm changes?

In this day and age, businesses try experimenting with multiple tactics to generate leads. However, one of the top techniques for it is a lead magnet. For those who aren't aware of what's a lead magnet, fret not! It's a tool that marketers have been using for decades.

A lead magnet is a tool that helps in lead generation by providing a long-form resource in exchange for the contact information of the prospect. Lead magnets can take the form of whitepapers, ebooks, templates, cheat sheets, checklists, and a lot more!

Before we discuss different lead magnet ideas, tips, and examples, let’s review the conversion path transforming website visitors into leads and the role of email marketing in this entire process:

• CTA (Call to Action): Website visitors click this button to access the resource you are providing them with.
• Landing Page: When website visitors click on the CTA, they are directed to a landing page. On this page, the visitors fill out a form where they enter details such as name, email address, and other important information you may need.
• Thank You Page: Next, the visitor-turned-lead is directed to a thank you page. This page has the required information regarding where to access the resource.
• Kickback email: After a brief time, you send a kickback email to the lead. You can think of it as a follow-up message. This email marketing campaign begins a conversation with the lead in order to keep them engaged with your brand.

How to Create a Lead Magnet?

Let's discuss the steps to create an effective lead magnet:

1. Know Who You Are Targeting and What They Want

The aim of a lead magnet is to provide a resource your audience wants and get their contact information in exchange. To determine what to offer your prospects, learn about the user persona you are targeting and what you can offer to entice them.

You create a user persona (a semi-fictional character) to represent different types of customers who use the services or products of your business.

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When you create user personas, you may end up having 1-3 of them with different pain points and needs. Keep in mind that one single lead magnet may not suffice in appealing to different personas.

For instance, you have created two user personas. One of the personas may need knowledge-based magnets such as ebooks. Whereas the other persona may require resourced-based magnets such as tools and templates.

Tip: To create different lead magnets for different user personas, you can check the lead magnets of your competitors to get a fair idea.

2. Create and Name Your Lead Magnet

After you decide what you will offer your prospects, it is time to create and design. To undertake the design work, you can take the help of an in-house designer or outsource the work using an independent contractor. You can also not choose either of the two options and simply use Canva.

Tip: Canva contains hundreds of customizable templates that let you create different lead magnets such as worksheets, reports, presentation slides, and books.

Post completion of this process, give a catchy name to your lead magnet that can effectively attract your audience. Also, highlight its advantages in the name itself. For instance - 102 Ways To Monetize Your Brand.

3. Create Your Conversion Path

The next step is building your conversion path, which should include your landing page, form, thank-you page, and email sequence.

Some practices you can follow to increase conversions are:

• Create a dedicated landing page without a navigation bar. Doing so will make the user focus on only your offer without any distractions.
• Your CTA must have words that can appeal to your prospects in the best possible manner. It should also be short, clear, and crisp in its message.
• Add testimonials and reviews to your landing pages to improve conversions. As per the latest testimonial statistics, 72% of consumers have stated that positive reviews and testimonials increased their faith in a business.

Tip: In the form, name and email are the two information pieces you should definitely include. Asking for other details is optional. We recommend you include fewer fields so that the user doesn't get frustrated and abandon the form.

Next, let's talk about your email sequence. After you acquire a lead, you can move them further down the funnel by adding them into a nurturing sequence. It can include newsletters, webinars, and other additional resources.

Lastly, ensure you track your conversion path and check the behavior of users on it.

4. Update Regularly

You need to regularly update your lead magnet so that it provides only the current data to your audience. If you do not do so, the resource will no longer stay valuable to your audience.

Tip: Carry out feedback surveys on your offers and check your lead's comments. When you take these steps, you get to know more about how you can improve your offer.

Lead Magnet Ideas

The most famous lead magnet among subscribers is an ebook. As per the latest statistics,Ā  27.7% of marketers are using them. Other famous ones are free tools and webinars.

There are plenty of ideas for lead magnets out there. Let's discuss some of them in more detail:

1. Webinars

A webinar is a seminar carried out over the internet and is a great way to create a sense of urgency that can push your audience to sign up. If you decide to go with this idea, we recommend you put a countdown timer to tell individuals how many hours or days are remaining to be a part of the webinar.

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2. ebook

An ebook is another idea you can go for. But there is something you should know here. Your target audience will have to take out time to read your ebook because of its lengthy nature. So, ensure it features an irresistible benefit when you decide to offer it as a lead magnet.

3. Tutorial

We all are aware of what a tutorial is. It is a content piece that teaches you how to do a certain thing. It can take the form of a PDF download or a video.

If you decide to go for this lead magnet idea, ensure you use a list-style headline such as X Steps to ABC. Doing so lets your audience know how many steps are there in the tutorial.

4. Checklist

Checklists are easily consumed and extremely quick to create. They condense all the things your prospect should know in a single, actionable list. For instance, you can turn your instructional blog posts into checklists.

Tip: Ensure you provide the checklist in a printable format to make it easy for individuals to tick off an item when they complete it.

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5. Cheatsheet

Cheatsheets provide the user with a process or a list of guidelines they can follow again and again in order to obtain a certain result.

Cheatsheet is an amazing lead magnet idea because it takes away the need to think - a person no longer has to rack their brain if they wish to achieve the desired result.

The list certainly doesn't end here. Other lead magnet ideas include discount codes, workbooks, case studies, newsletters, and so much more.

Lead Magnet Examples

Let's look at two lead magnet examples that can come in handy when you decide to create a lead magnet:

A. MuleSoft

Take a look at this lead magnet by MuleSoft. They have focused on a particular goal for a particular buyer persona. They are targeting Saas executives and their offer guides them on how to make their app enterprise-ready.

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B. HubSpot

Another great lead magnet you can consider is a calculator or grader. HubSpot provides a website grader that scans your website in seconds and offers a score based on the mobile experience, performance, security, and SEO.

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After a person enters their website and email id in the website grader, they get an exhaustive report about their website performance. The grader helps their audience recognize the potential problems with their website and provides a solution to rectify them.

Lead Magnet Tips

Now that you know some lead magnet ideas and examples, it's time to know how to use lead magnets in the correct manner:

1. Understand Your Audience

Not everyone who comes to your website is your target audience. So, if you provide a generic lead magnet, you may receive irrelevant information. So, we recommend you thoroughly know your audience before creating a lead magnet. Determine and understand who they are, what they want, and where they are coming from. This basic rule will aid you in creating the correct lead magnet.

2. Take a Look at the Analytics

Make it a point to check your analytics and know specific information such as the number of individuals who come to your website, the number of individuals who decide to access your content, and how many individuals take the step to download or use it.

Knowing these things helps you determine how you can improve to get more individuals to sign up.

3. Use Your Best-Performing Content

Check your content library and look for your best-performing content resource to create an effective lead magnet that too, in a lesser amount of time. It can be your most viewed/shared Slideshare presentation deck, the most downloaded ebook, or simply a webinar with the most number of attendees. Webinars, slide decks, and ebooks can be readily used as lead magnets.

In case you want to employ your best blog post as a lead magnet, ensure you repurpose it in a downloadable file. A word of advice here - never put a blog post behind a form. We suggest that you repurpose the blog post into a cheat sheet or a checklist and then use it as your lead magnet.

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All in all, when it comes to deciding your lead magnet, your star content is your best bet.

4. Make It a Point to Offer Top-Notch Content

Lastly, we would say that ensure your lead magnet is highly useful to your website visitors. Even if a half-cooked lead magnet gets you a thousand leads, most of them may not convert eventually.

Remember the following pointers:

• Ensure your content resource is easily understandable
• Never provide obsolete content resources
• Provide content relevant to your typical site visitor.

Conclusion

The bottom line? Ensure you understand your audience and offer useful resources to them when you decide to use a lead magnet. Remember, a lead magnet forms an integral part of marketing content. With its help, your prospects get a useful piece of content and you are able to maintain a healthy lead pipeline.

Now that you are armed with this knowledge, you are now in a more informed position to make a decision regarding your lead magnets. Use our lead magnet ideas and tips to see drastic improvements in your digital marketing efforts!

Lastly, we hope this guide gets you more signups and increases your conversions. Now it's our turn to ask you questions - which lead magnet ideas do you like and are definitely going to try?

According to Statista, a total of 4.59 billion people use social media. Users tend to spend 2 hours and 25 minutes daily (on average) on social media platforms.

If you own a business and want to quickly scale your business by reaching out to your potential customers, you must definitely turn your attention to social media advertising. For those who are not aware, social media advertising enables businesses to run paid advertisements on social networks. It is a digital marketing strategy involving spending money to promote content on social media platforms to reach people interested in your business and get them to explore it.

One of the significant benefits of a paid advertising campaign on social media is that it gives your exposure in front of a much larger audience as compared to the people who are currently following you.

We understand it may seem daunting when you decide to opt for social media advertising. Therefore, in this blog, you will get to know the different types of social media ads and how to use them in the most optimum way to attain results that pay off for your business, all while maximizing the amount you spend.

But first, let's understand which social media network to choose to place your ads on.

Which Social Media is Best for Advertising?

Every major social network provides advertising options. But you don't necessarily have to use each one of them. To choose the right social networks to place your ads on, check where your target audience hangs out the most and where they are the most engaged, concentrated, and accessible. Also, see which social media platforms perform well organically for your business. All of this information will help you determine your choice for your social ad campaigns.

Now that you know which social media platform will be the best for your business, it’s time to know the ad types of various social media networks as the first part of our social media advertising 101.

I. Facebook Ads

Facebook ads help you attain the following campaign objectives:

• Awareness: Expand reach or develop brand awareness.

• Consideration: Increase engagement, send traffic to your website, encourage video views or app installs, motivate individuals to communicate with you on Facebook Messenger, or generate leads.

• Conversion: Increase leads or purchases through your app or site or send foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store.

According to the latest statistics, 1.9 billion daily users access Facebook. From teens to their parents to seniors, all actively use this popular social media platform. Given the precise targeting options offered for such a massive pool of users, Facebook is an apt platform for social media advertising. You can use different types of Facebook ads, such as:

1. Image Ads

Creating an image ad is an effortless process with just a few clicks. All you need to do is boost an existing post featuring an image from your Facebook Page, and you are all set!

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2. Video Ads

Video ads can run in Stories and the News Feed. They also appear as in-stream ads in Facebook videos of a longer length.

Tip: Use these types of ads to showcase a product in action.

3. Poll Ads

A poll ad is a mobile-only Facebook ad format that incorporates a two-option poll to a video or image ad. You can embed different links for the two poll choices.

4. Carousel Ads

A Facebook carousel ad allows you to put up to 10 videos or images to advertise your service or product.

5. Slideshow Ads

A slideshow ad is an ad that generates a compelling video from still images, video clips, and text. In case you are not ready to give video ads a try but want to move beyond static images, you can consider opting for slideshow ads. You can easily create slideshow ads in minutes using AI slideshow maker.

6. Messenger Ads

Messenger ads are the ads you find in the Messenger app (in the chats tab in between conversations).

7. AR Ads

These ads use features such as animation and filters to let individuals interact with your business.

8. Stories Ads

Ā Facebook stories ads are full-screen vertical video format (mobile-only).

9. Dynamic Ads

Here's an example to understand this type of Facebook ad. Suppose a person visited a product page or added a product to their shopping cart on your website. However, they didn't complete the purchase. This is where dynamic ads can prove to be highly useful. You can use dynamic ads to create retargeting ads specific to the product and show it in that person's Facebook feed.

10. Lead Ads

Lead ads are mobile-only ads that make it easy for Facebook users to provide you with their contact information without typing a lot.

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11. Instant Experience Ads

Instant Experience ads are full-screen ad formats that load 15 times faster than compared to a mobile site outside of Facebook.

12. Collection Ads

Applicable only to mobile devices, collection ads let you showcase five videos or images customers can click to purchase a service or a product.

Listen Up: Own a small business? Learn more about Facebook advertising for small businesses.

II. Instagram Ads

Owned by Facebook, Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users.

67% of individuals aged between 18 and 29 use Instagram.

When you talk about Instagram ads, they support the same categories of campaign objectives we discussed about Facebook ads, i.e., Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.

Let's take a closer look at the different types of Instagram ads:

1. Photo Ads

Photo ads feature a photo, description, and a call-to-action.

2. Video Ads

Video ads help provide a closer look at your offerings in a much more engaging way. You can create long or short format videos as per your requirement.

3. Carousel Ads

This ad possesses a series of videos or images users can easily swipe through. Use these ads to display a collection of related products.

4. Collection Ads

Collection ads look the same as a traditional Instagram post. The only difference is a little shopping bag at the bottom-left corner, which, when clicked, redirects you to the products showcased in the post.

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5. Shopping Ads

These ads are somewhat similar to collection ads. When you tap on the image displayed in it, a link shows up, which takes you to the page where you can purchase the item.

6. Explore Ads

These ads appear in the Explore tab, an area of Instagram where users can access fresh content and discover new accounts, all tailored according to their Instagram usage habits. These ads can be both videos and images.

7. Story Ads

A story ad is a full-screen-sized video or image that you choose. It also has a swipe-up call-to-action directing the user to your website or profile.‍

Tip: Get a good professional photo editing app for amazing photos to build an awesome social media presence or to promote your business through social media.

8. IGTV Ads

IGTV ads are video ads that play when people watch an IGTV video from their feed.

9. Reels Ads

These are the ads shown in between Instagram Reels and can be up to 30 seconds.

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Tip: Use Lightroom Instagram Presets to get the desired effect on your shots, that too, in a minimum amount of time.

III. LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn is a platform that is far more business-oriented as compared to the other social networks discussed in this post. It provides targeting options based on job title, seniority, and other professional qualifications.

Let's understand the LinkedIn ad types in detail:

1. Sponsored Content

Also called Native ads, these show up on your audience's feed (both on desktop and mobile). When you advertise with Sponsored Content, you can opt for single image ads, carousel ads, or video ads.

2. Sponsored Messaging

Previously called Sponsored InMail, it allows you to advertise to users directly in their inbox.

3. Dynamic Ads

Dynamic ads are the types of LinkedIn ads that are automatically personalized for each of your prospects. Here's an example of a dynamic ad:

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4. Text Ads

Text ads show up along the right-hand side or the top of a user's LinkedIn feed (on desktops only).

IV. YouTube Ads

YouTube is the second-most visited website in the world. The latest statistics share some interesting insights on YouTube users to help you make an informed decision whether to use it to place your ads or not:

• 81% of individuals aged 15-25 use it
• 71% of individuals aged 26-35 use it
• 67% of individuals aged 36-45 use it
• 66% of individuals aged 46-55 use it
• 58% of people above 56 years of age use it

Over half of YouTube’s users are female.

YouTube ads can help you reach various business goals, such as:

• Get more website traffic
• Increase brand and product consideration
• Develop brand awareness
• Collect leads

The types of YouTube ads include:

1. Skippable In-Stream Ads

These play before or during a video, and the viewer can opt to skip them after the first 5 seconds.

2. Non-skippable YouTube Ads

These are brief ads appearing either at the start, end, or middle of a video. The maximum length of these ads is 15 seconds, and they can't be skipped.

3. Video Discovery Ads

Video discovery YouTube ads appear on the YouTube search results pages, homepage, and as related videos on YouTube video watch pages.

4. Outstream Ads

These ads aren't available on YouTube. These mobile-only ads appear on apps and websites that run on Google video partners. Outstream ads might run within apps or in-feed content, or in web banners.

5. Bumper Ads

Bumper ads are regarded as the subspecies of non-skippable in-stream ads. You can expect bumper ads to be less than 6 seconds.

6. Masthead Ads

This ad type works great for publicizing a new service or a product. Take a look at this image, and you will understand the positioning of masthead ads and the impact they can make:

Learn more about how to use YouTube Ads to grow your business.

V. TikTok Ads

TikTok is a social networking service that focuses on video. 18% of international internet users aged between 16 and 64 use TikTok (GlobalWebIndex).

TikTok ads enable you to achieve different business goals, such as:

• Increase engagement with creative content and interactivity.
• Connect with a variety of audiences worldwide.
• Encourage sales and app installs.

Now let’s talk about the types of TikTok ads.

In-feed ads are ads you create yourself. Types of in-feed ads are video ads (similar to a commercial), image ads (similar to a billboard), and spark ads (boosting your existing content to reach more users).

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There are also carousel ads (these run only in TikTok’s News Feed apps) and pangle ads (placed via TikTok’s Audience Network).

Ads formats for managed brands (those who work with a TikTok sales representative) include:

• TopView ads: Video ads that run on full-screen for 5-60 seconds upon opening the app.
• Branded Hashtag Challenge: It is a 3- to 6-day ad campaign format for engagement.
• Branded Effects: Branded filters, stickers, and special effects to get app users to interact with your brand.

VI. Twitter Ads

Twitter is a popular social network on which users post and interact with tweets (messages). The largest age demographic on this platform is 25 to 34-year-olds. Twitter ads can help you reach three objectives: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.

Let’s dive straight into the types of Twitter ads:

1. Promoted Accounts

The suggested accounts that show up beneath the “What’s happening” section and under the “Who to follow” section are promoted accounts. Based on the user interest, your profile gets suggested to the right users.

2. Promoted Trends

Sponsored by advertisers, promoted trends show up in a section called “Trends for you.” Brands can promote a trend for one day with promoted trends.

3. Promoted Tweets

Promoted tweets is an option you can consider for making a crucial status update stand out on the feed of your potential customers.

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VII. Pinterest Ads

Pinterest is a social site where you can collect as well as share images of anything that intrigues you. As per the latest statistics, six out of 10 Pinterest users are females.

When you talk of Pinterest ads, they help you with various business goals, such as building brand awareness, driving app installs, and driving traffic to your website.

Here’s what you should know about types of Pinterest ads:

1. Promoted Pin

Promoted Pins show up in users’ feeds the same way as a regular Pin would. The only difference between the two is a “promoted” tag.

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When you run these types of ads, you enhance the exposure of your pin and get discovered by people who may want to purchase from you.

2. Promoted Video Pins

The sole difference between promoted video pins and the other ad options is that the multimedia used is a video. These ads are used to grab the attention of your audience more effectively.

3. Promoted Carousel

Promoted Carousel is one of the Pinterest ad types where you can have more than a single photo (2-5 images).

4. Buyable Pins

Buyable pins allow individuals to shop straight from the pins you post. All the user needs to do is click on the white dots and visit your product listing page.

5. Promoted App Pins

You can use Promoted app pins to promote your business app.

VIII. Snapchat Ads

Snapchat is a sought-after multimedia instant messaging app and service. A lot of young adults are known to use it. When you talk of the different ad types of this platform, they can help you attain several marketing objectives, such as increasing your brand awareness and driving catalog sales or website conversions.

Here's what you should know about the different Snapchat ad types:

1. Single Image or Video

These are full-screen ads where you add an attachment (such as a link to your site) and users swipe up to take action.

2. Story Ads

Story ads help you get in front of your potential customers with a branded title in the Discover feed. Snapchat users can visit your ad and check out a complete collection of snaps (ranging from 3 to 20). With story ads, you can showcase any product launches or a new fashion collection. Users can also swipe up to complete your goal, such as purchasing something on your site.

3. Collection Ads

These ads contain four tappable tiles that allow users to browse and purchase your products.

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4. Lenses

Snapchat allows you to run interactive, memorable AR ads in its Ads Manager. With the help of Lens Web Builder, you can choose from a variety of animations, 3D objects, and effects to create your personal branded AR lens. After you are done, you can launch it in the form of an ad for Snapchat users to play with as well as share with their pals.

5. Filters

Filters let brands participate in millions of snaps sent between friends every day. When Snapchat users take a snap in the location you select beforehand, they are able to view your filter and use it to tell when, why, and where they took the snap.

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6. Commercials

Commercials are the ads that Snapchat users cannot skip for 6 seconds and can be up to 3 minutes long.

Social Media Advertising Tips

Some social media advertising tips can always come in handy when you are trying to get the most out of your ad budget. Let's begin:

1. Know the Goals You Want to Achieve

Start by reviewing the business objectives a social media ad can help you achieve. You can't attain your goals when you don't even know what they are in the first place. Precisely knowing your business objectives ensures you are selecting the correct social media platform to advertise on. It also helps you choose the suitable advertising solution in the social media platform you choose.

2. Know Your Target Audience

Before you decide to advertise on social media, ensure you have thoroughly understood and learned about your target audience. In this blog, we have discussed the different types of audiences that hang out on popular social media networks. Keeping this information in mind, you can develop audience personas to know which audience segments to concentrate on.

3. Design Your Ads Keeping Mobile in Mind

As per the latest statistics, about 99% of social media users access apps or websites via mobile. So, we can say that social media ads reach a lot of eyeballs on mobile.

Do you know what this means? You must put those images in your ads which your potential customers can easily view on a pocket-size device (except when you want to go for desktop placement).

4. Test Your Ads to Know What Works Best

Do you know the advantage of using social ads? You get feedback in an instant!

You can know how effective a sponsored post is performing and that too in minutes. You are even presented with an advanced analytics report.

Test multiple ads with tiny audiences and use the best one in your primary campaign.

5. Measure Results and Report on Them

Measuring results holds critical importance because it will let you know what worked out and what didn't. You can then make the improvements accordingly if any. The social media giants, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, provide analytics to let you measure and analyze the results of ads.

Social Media Advertising Cost

Now, you may wonder how much do paid social media advertisements cost? The answer is: It varies based on your business and your ads.

When you talk of social media advertising, a lot of networks require a minimum daily budget. This rate differs from platform to platform, with some basing their required budget on the bid type, such as clicks, impressions, views, or likes.

Here's the lowest possible ad spend spread across famous social media networks:

A. Average CPC for Social Media Ads

With social media advertising, your business can use different bidding options, such as CPV (cost-per-view) and CPL (cost-per-like). A universal bidding option you should also know of is CPC (cost-per-click).

See the table below to know about the average CPC for the social media networks in your ad campaign:

B. Average CPM for Social Media

Leading social media networks also offer CPM or cost-per-thousand impressions as a bidding option.

Here's a breakdown of the social media advertising costs by CPM:

Conclusion

Now that you know what social media advertising is, the different types of social media ads, social media advertising tips, and how much do social media ads cost, you are more informed to get the most out of your ad budget.

Hope this social media advertising 101 helps you achieve real business results when you use different types of social media ads.