You’ve done a great job of finding new ways to drive more traffic to your website. But if that traffic isn’t translating into conversions, you’ve still got plenty of work to do.

I see this common misconception in my consulting work all the time.

Businesses spend much time and effort trying to improve their organic SEO while simultaneously running PPC campaigns to get more website visitors.

There’s nothing wrong with this strategy, but increasing site traffic isn’t the only metric that matters. You also need to focus on how visitors behave after landing on your pages.

Are they converting?

If not, that traffic isn’t translating to dollars. That’s why you need to learn how to use continuous A/B testing to increase conversions.

These experiments will help give you a better understanding of how to optimize certain design elements of your website. Subtle changes can make a major impact on getting your traffic to convert.

To those of you who have never run these tests before, I recommend reviewing my guide on everything you need to know before you start A/B testing.

However, if you already know how to run A/B tests but just don’t know what you should be testing, this list is perfect for you.

In reality, the number of things you could test on your website is seemingly endless.

That said, I narrowed down the top 13 elements you should start with. You can continue to tweak these and run several tests for each component on this list.

I’ll even give you some examples and real-life data to explain how other websites improved conversions by testing specific elements.  [click to continue…]

How are you managing the reputation of your company?

If you are struggling to find an answer to this question, you may need to re-evaluate your strategy moving forward.

There are certain aspects of your brand’s reputation you have control over, e.g., the way you distribute content through your marketing channels and use website elements to add credibility to your website.

But a news story or a review of your product on a third-party site can be out of your hands.

Your public relations strategy encompasses all these scenarios.

Public relations, or PR, can help expose your business to new audiences.

Simply put, public relations is how businesses communicate with people.

There’s a common misconception about PR. Many business owners I work with don’t have a PR strategy.

They believe it’s only for companies that made a mistake, needing to run PR campaigns to issue apologies or make their businesses look better in the public eye.

While that would fall under the public relations category, that’s not the only reason why you would implement a PR strategy.

Your PR efforts will manage how you spread information. It’s part of your overall branding strategy, except it focuses more on your reputation and communication as opposed to things like your company slogan and logo.

In a digital era, information gets spread faster than ever. That’s why every business needs to have a public relations strategy in 2018.

It doesn’t matter how new or old your business is. Even if you’re trying to create an effective marketing strategy for your startup company, it’s not complete without PR.

I’ll explain everything you need to know about the basic concepts of PR and how it can help your brand gain more exposure.  [click to continue…]

As a B2B company, you need to learn how to properly market your brand to the right audience.

That’s because your target market doesn’t consume content the same way as the average consumer does. Following the habits and trends of a typical consumer won’t help you.

This is especially important for businesses operating as B2B as well as B2C companies. You need to be able to segment your content for each audience.

If your company is strictly a B2B operation, the content creation process should be even easier for you. You won’t have to worry about consumer content at all.

But regardless of your situation, to do this effectively, you need to understand how B2B audiences engage with content.

Then, you can adjust your B2B marketing strategy accordingly to reach these people.

The majority of B2B marketers believe that their content marketing strategy is still in the early stages.

Further, 91% of B2B companies use content marketing to promote their brands and reach their audiences.

But as you can see from the metrics above, the maturity levels of their marketing efforts are all over the board. Unless you’re in that top 9% who believe their strategies are sophisticated, it’s safe to say you could use some improvement.

That’s why I created this guide.

I’ll tell you exactly how B2B audiences engage with content. Then you can take this information to tailor your content strategy accordingly.

As a result, you’ll be able to generate more leads for your B2B company. Here’s what you need to know.  [click to continue…]

Your business needs to have an active presence on Instagram.

With more than 1 billion active monthly users, Instagram is officially the fastest growing social media network.

According to Sprout Social, 71% of businesses in the United States are using Instagram for marketing. By now, I hope you have your profile set up and are taking steps to get more followers.

Once you’ve done that, you can convert your social media followers into customers.

You need to prioritize conversions.

But to do this, you need to find the best ways to improve your engagement rates on your Instagram posts.

You have to understand how users consume content on this platform. They’re scrolling through their news feeds.

Each day, 95 million pictures and videos are shared on Instagram.

If your posts aren’t jumping out at your followers, they will scroll right past them. You won’t be able to get conversions this way.

It’s tough to stand out from the crowd when everyone using the platform has the same features available at their fingertips. Here’s what I mean.

If you are using only the filters and effects offered directly on Instagram, your content will look strikingly similar to that of the other billion users on the platform.

After all, the number of these editing options and types of posts is limited.

However, if you want to gain a competitive edge and really make your content stand out, you need to take advantage of other tools. By enhancing your posts, you’ll be able to increase your conversions.

Here are the top 10 tools I recommend for improving the quality of your Instagram posts.

1. GIPHY Cam

With the growing popularity of GIFs, GIPHY Cam is a top option for you to consider.

This app is available for both iOS and Android devices. Your entire social media marketing team can take advantage of this tool, regardless of the platform they’re using.

The concept of this app is very simple.

The software allows you to create your own GIFs by recording content directly through the app.

Once your GIF is recorded, you can add effects and other elements to enhance the posts. This is a great way to make your content stand out from the typical pictures and videos uploaded to Instagram.

Since GIF creation isn’t a feature offered on Instagram, these posts will give you a competitive advantage over content from other profiles.

GIPHY has other apps to help you with your GIF needs:

• GIPHY
• GIPHY Capture
• GIPHY Sticker Embed
• GIPHY World

In addition to GIPHY Cam, you can check these out to help you use visual elements to improve your marketing strategy.

2. Perfect Video

If you are not tech-savvy, Perfect Video is extremely user-friendly.

It’s great for anyone who doesn’t have a background in video editing and is intimidated by fancy or expensive software.

None of that is necessary when it comes to uploading videos to Instagram if you use this app.

Yes, Instagram has editing tools built directly into its platform, but those features limit your ability to make your content great.

With Perfect Video, you can trim clips and merge multiple videos into one file.

Add subtitles to your videos to appeal to people consuming content without their volume on. You can even add watermarks to your videos as a branding strategy, in case someone wants to repurpose your content.

The software also has tons of transitions to choose from when you cut from clip to clip.

Take advantage of the ability to add music to your videos as well. It’s really easy to export your videos directly to Instagram.

Perfect Video is great for creating slideshows too.

This app is free to download. However, there are some in-app purchases for some features.

3. All Hashtag

Your Instagram posts don’t live and die by the visual content alone. You need to learn how to write Instagram captions that drive engagement.

Hashtags are part of these captions.

That’s why you need to take advantage of tools such as All Hashtag.

This resource will help you generate hashtags to complete your posts. Just type in words related to your brand, products, and campaigns.

All Hashtag will take care of the rest.

In addition to generating hashtags for your posts, you’ll also be able to discover the top hashtags being used right now.

The app displays the top trending hashtags for each day, week, month, and all time.

Analyze hashtags through this tool. Learn the probability of ranking and getting hits with the hashtags you’re planning to use.

It will save you time and money. While we’re on the subject, you can also review my favorite time-saving social media marketing tools.

4. Quik

Quik is another app available on both iOS and Android devices.

What makes this tool unique is that it was developed by GoPro.

If you’re using a GoPro to film content for your Instagram page, this is the perfect tool for you. The app makes it really easy to import videos.

You can do this from your phone gallery, Dropbox, or Google Photos. Quik also lets you import content from GoPro Plus and GoPro Quik Key.

One of the top features of Quik is the ability to analyze your video clips to make smart cuts automatically.

Further, this tool can detect faces. All images, clips, and videos will get framed perfectly. If you don’t want to take advantage of that feature, you can crop your content manually.

Quik comes with more than 100 free songs to add to your videos. If those songs aren’t what you’re looking for, you can import your own music.

This tool makes it easy for you to sync video transitions based on the beat of the music playing.

5. AutoHash

Can’t think of a hashtag? No problem.

AutoHash has a unique way of helping you generate hashtags specifically for each photo you’re planning to share on Instagram.

This tool scans the image and then, as the name implies, automatically generates a hashtag.

If you upload a picture of a dog, you’ll get hashtags related to dogs.

In addition to coming up with relevant hashtags, the app will sorted them by popularity in different niche categories. This will make sure that your post gets the widest possible exposure.

You can save your favorite hashtags to use them again in future posts.

Post your content directly on Instagram from the AutoHash platform, without wasting your time copying and pasting.

AutoHash has a feature for location-based hashtags as well. Simply enable your GPS location settings, and the software will produce hashtags relevant to your location.

6. Rookie Cam

Rookie Cam offers a more advanced version of the camera already built into your smartphone. But it’s just as easy to use.

This app also has more filters than the options available on Instagram, including a live filter function.

You can view filters and other effects in real time while you’re taking a picture or video.

This will give you a better understanding of what the image will look like for the final product.

Rookie Cam allows you to create collages. You won’t need to download another app for that specific feature alone.

These collages can have up to nine images in one frame. Select different image sizes, and create different filters and edits for each photo within the collage.

Rookie Cam has awesome design editing elements as well.

You can add text to images with tons of different fonts. Add badges, stickers, and unique frames to your content.

7. Ask Lisa

With Instagram, we all know the image that ultimately gets posted is one of potentially dozens of options.

If you can’t decide what photos are worth sharing, Ask Lisa can help you make an informed decision.

The Ask Lisa tool uses AI photo recognition software. Technology like this is one of the top ways machine learning is reshaping marketing.

You can compare between two and five photos on this platform.

In addition to helping you determine which photo will perform the best, Ask Lisa will also help you generate hashtags based on the images.

8. Hashtagify

Like some of the other tools on this list, Hashtagify helps you find the best hashtags for your posts.

But Hashtagify has some features that make this platform unique. You can explore hashtags related to current trends and specific categories.

This tool also helps you with analytics components.

Monitor how well your current hashtags are performing. Determine the best time to post, and analyze your marketing strategy based on this research and information.

Hashtagify helps you discover influencers using similar hashtags.

You can reach out to them to help you expand your reach and get more visibility. Then use the top platforms for effectively managing social influencers to your advantage as well.

Export PDF reports and download CSV files. These reports make it easy for you to share information with your entire marketing team.

9. MIKU

When it comes to editing your Instagram photos, some of you may be overwhelmed with all the options.

Some of the tools on our list give you even more filters and editing choices to choose from. But which ones are the best?

It’s hard to say for certain unless you experiment with them.

When you’re running a business, you may not have time to do this yourself. Wouldn’t it be great if someone else could do it for you?

Instead of assigning these tasks to a social media manager, try using MIKU.

All you have to do is upload your photo to the platform with a brief explanation of what you want to be edited, and a professional will take care of everything else for you.

The average response time is 30 minutes, but you’ll get your photo back within two hours.

Pricing for this service is based on volume. You can pay per photo or pay a set rate based on a monthly allowance.

For example, you can subscribe for $19.99 per month, which gives you a chance to get 20 pictures edited during that time frame. This ends up being $1 per photo instead of the standard rate of $3.99 per photo. It’s a good deal if you use this tool frequently.

10. Storeo

Storeo is a tool that helps you enhance the content of your Instagram story.

How many of you have encountered this scenario before?

You were recording something to post on your story directly from the Instagram platform, and then the time ran out. As a result, you missed what you were trying to record.

This ultimately hurts the overall quality of your video.

Even if you record content from your phone before you upload to your story, Instagram doesn’t allow you to upload story clips longer than 15 seconds. You have to manually cut longer videos and add each one individually to your story.

This is a pain and leaves much room for error.

Storeo eliminates this problem.

This tool allows you to record a long video without having to hold down the record button either. Then, it automatically exports the video to your Instagram story in 15-second intervals.

When users watch your story, it plays as one long video.

Conclusion

If you want to boost engagement on your Instagram posts and ultimately get more conversions, you need to enhance your content.

Sometimes, the editing options offered directly from the Instagram platform aren’t enough to make your post stand out.

Take advantage of the tools I’ve covered on this list. There are plenty of options for everyone, based on your needs.

Some of these tools are made for enhancing images, videos, and GIFs. While others are designed for hashtags, captions, or your Instagram story.

Use whichever ones will help you improve your Instagram marketing strategy the most.

What tools is your company using to improve conversions on your Instagram posts?

To have a successful website, you need to find ways to maximize your conversions.

Right now, you might think the layout of your site has an optimal design, but how can you know for sure?

The only way to figure this out is to test it. This isn’t something you just do once and forget about it.

You need to learn how to use continuous A/B testing to increase your conversions.

These tests are a great opportunity for you to make design choices that ultimately result in revenue.

Subtle changes, e.g., moving your CTA button or changing the color scheme on your site, can make a huge difference.

In the past, I’ve explained everything you need to know before you start A/B testing.

But now I want to take that concept one step further. I’ll show you the best tools for you to use for A/B testing.

That’s because these tests are not created equally. Depending on the size of your business, marketing goals, and technical experience, some tools will be more beneficial for you compared to others.

Regardless of your situation, I suggest you review my list of the top 13 tools for A/B testing. I’m confident you’ll find a solution in this guide that will benefit your business.  [click to continue…]