Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. Whether you want to become a blogger for a big-time news publication, share your independent thoughts online, make millions as a blogger, or something in between, it all starts with a blogging platform. And choosing the right one sets precedence for everything else you do. But with so many options to choose from, picking the best blogging platform can feel overwhelming. So to help you out, I created a list of considerations to think about as you go through the process and reviewed the top five blogging platforms on the market today. By the end of this article, you’ll be well on your way to starting your own blog. The top 6 options for blogging platforms: Wix – Best drag-and-drop blogging platform WordPress.org – Best open-source blogging platform Squarespace …

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. The best VoIP phone services create exceptional customer experiences. And exceptional customer experiences work wonders for your bottom line. Imagine this: a potential customer calls the sales number listed on your website. Six states away, a personal cell phone rings. Your sales person picks it up, answers a few questions, and closes the sale. Within a matter of seconds, that potential customer turns into a paying customer rather than being transferred from employee to employee, wasting their time and testing their patience. With the right VoIP service, you can streamline and automate the customer journey, resulting in more money for less work. Furthermore, these services are easy to set up, easy to use, and most of the leg work happens behind the scenes. But choosing the right service feels …

Social media dominates the present-day marketing landscape. More so, a platform like Facebook that gives you direct access to 2.6 billion people. But is it actually worthwhile to use Facebook? Facebook advertising has definitely increased in popularity, with an increasing number of businesses using the platform to gain new leads and stay connected to their existing customers. Plus, there are solid stats that highlight how useful incorporating Facebook can be for your marketing strategy: A total of 1.6 billion users see Facebook ads , out of which 1.21 billion are between the ages of 13 and 34. An average Facebook user clicks on about 12 ads every 30 days. Approximately 80% of social reference to e-commerce sites stems from Facebook. Converting visitors into customers should be super easy on the platform then, right? Sadly, this isn’t the case. You see, all your marketing efforts will backfire if you don’t have …

30-second summary: We’re not in a “post-COVID” world, we’re in a “coexisting-with-COVID” world where essentialism and humanization will matter the most Now is the time for marketers to dive into their data and reconsider the technology they use to understand the customers’ pulse Emerging habits of the “Interim Normal” The common line of vision for the bigger picture of the oncoming times will be based on hyper-targeted advertising and marketing Keeping it light, engaging, and interactive isn’t an option anymore – it’s a prerequisite for brands wanting to succeed at marketing and advertising More on the big-four of microbrowser advertising, the sweet spot for engaging your audience globally, and the secret sauce to marketing success in emerging times The answers lie in the data and how it is digested and applied will continue to play a vital role. Today we’ll take you through key takeaways from our AI Summit, new …

Posted by MiriamEllis Image credit: Danny Sternfeld In creating a Google My Business listing for your local business, making a data-based decision is one of the most important steps you’ll be taking. Just how influential are the categories you select? Our recent State of the Local SEO Industry 2020 survey found that, out of all factors, GMB elements (which include categories) have the greatest impact on local pack rankings. Choose wisely, and these elements help ensure Google views you as a candidate for possible inclusion as a result for a set of search phrases. Choose wrongly and you can exclude yourself from this vital visibility. Google categories can also play a role in determining which features will be available to you in your Google Business Profile/Google listing. For example, if you’re categorized as a “hotel”, you won’t be able to use Google Posts. If you’re categorized as an educational institution, …

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. Here’s a business cliche for you: Employees are the greatest asset for every company. Precisely why recruitment is so challenging for HRs or recruiters. The process is quite elaborate and comprises several steps ranging from job posting to managing and streamlining applications. Let’s talk statistics : A corporate job post receives 250 resumes on an average. And even after that, 45% of employers say that they can’t find candidates with the skills they need. With the high influx of CVs, it’s crucial for HR specialists to raise their efficiency levels, which brings us to our next stat – recruiters only take six seconds to evaluate the candidate’s resume. Now, six seconds isn’t necessarily enough for recruiters to make the right decision every time, especially because every business has unique …

A chatbot for e-commerce gives you the power to engage with new, existing, and potential customers with real-time, text-style messaging, without actually providing (and paying for!) a live person. Through carefully scripted conversations, your brand can provide your customer base with support, information, and resources 24/7. Like any conversation, chatbots are a two-way street —- and there are benefits for both brands and users. Customers (or prospective costumes) can find information quickly, without having to wait for a human. And you can draw customers through the sales funnel, without interacting with them directly. Chatbots leverage artificial intelligence more than any other technology , and can help you: Identify and nurture qualified leads Provide customer service and support Interact with past customers, including providing shipping and return information Gather feedback on the customer experience Recommend related products to increase sales If you are looking for a way to build a real …

The new bill, sponsored by Senators Blackburn, Lindsey Graham, and Roger Wicker, attempts to condition tech platforms’ legal immunity on transparent and neutral content moderation. Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced a new bill Tuesday that would change the terms of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act , which shields tech companies from legal responsibility for user content they host, or expunge, from their platforms. The bill, called the Online Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity Act , would narrow the kind of user content tech companies can remove from their platforms, and restrict their ability to make “editorial” choices about what content to host and where it appears. Read Full Story

Posted by liambbarnes As most SEO specialists have learned, you must create quality content to grow organically. The same thing can be said for businesses that are building a social media presence or a new newsletter following. But as people consume more and more content each day, they become less receptive to basic content that doesn't provide a new perspective. To counter this issue, you must make sure that your content is native to each platform you publish on. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to start from scratch. There's a way to take one content idea and turn it into multiple, which can scale across multiple platforms and improve your brand awareness. It takes time to write a brand-new blog article every day, especially when you're an in-house team with a low number of resources and budget. The biggest challenge here is building a content strategy at scale. …

Posted by R0bin_L0rd Many of us are helping businesses that are facing hard times, or we’re facing hard times ourselves. If you’re working for a company (or client) that's in trouble, the use of SMS chatbots could be a way for you to look outside your normal list of solutions and help them succeed in a completely different way. If you’re a marketer looking for work, adding this to your list of skills could mean you keep things ticking along while many of the usual doors are closed — or that you open new doors. What you’ll get In this post, I give you instructions and code to produce not just one, but a series of text-based chatbots that can be managed by Google Sheets. The example here is set up to work with restaurants, but could be adapted to work with any business that needs to receive orders, check …