16 Examples of Awesome Email Marketing Campaigns

If you’re reading this, you probably have an email address (or two, or three …). In fact, you’ve probably been sending and receiving emails for years, and you’ve definitely received some questionable deliveries in your inbox. 

Whether they were unexpected, uninformative, or had a subject line tHaT wAs fOrmAtTeD liKe tHiS, we bet you didn’t hesitate to direct them towards the trash, right?

While email has managed to stand the test of time, many marketers have failed to update their strategies since its inception.

So to ensure you’re sending modern emails that warrant some of your recipients’ precious time and attention, we’ve compiled a list of effective email examples to inspire your next campaign. 

And for help creating effective email marketing campaigns of your own, download our free guide here.

16 of the Best Email Marketing Campaign Examples

1) PayPal

There are a couple things we love about this email example from PayPal. Not only is the opening copy clever and concise, but the entire concept also reflects a relatable benefit of using the service. Think about it: How many times have you been in a situation where you went out to dinner with friends and then fussed over the bill when it came time to pay? By tapping into this common pain point, PayPal is able to pique the interest of its audience. 

2) ModCloth 

Great companies are always evolving, and your customers expect to experience change. What they don’t expect (because too many companies haven’t lived up to this end of the bargain) is to be told about those changes. That said, this email from ModCloth serves as a refreshing change of pace. If you’re going to change the way you communicate with a lead or customer, give them clear, fair warning so, if they aren’t on board, they can make the necessary adjustments to keep their inbox clean.

3) Tory Burch

Did you see that? Did you see it move? Pretty cool, right? This small bit of animation helps to separate this email from Tory Burch from all of the immobile emails in their recipient’s inboxes. They also leverage exclusivity by framing the promotion as a “private” sale. Often times, this type of positioning makes the recipient feel like they’re specially chosen, which encourages them to take advantage of the special opportunity they’ve been presented with. 

4) Zipcar

This example sample comes courtesy of my coworker who started signing up for Zipcar, got busy, and had to abandon the form. As a result, the email calls her back to the website with some lighthearted copy that nudges her in the right direction, and also reminds her of the value of using Zipcar – being economical and helping the planet.

If your site visitors are abandoning shopping carts or landing pages, use your email marketing in this way to remind them they have some unfinished business on your website!

5) RunKeeper

RunKeeper makes an effort to reengage lost users with this friendly, informational email. By highlighting their app’s most recent changes and benefits, the copy works to entice recipients to give the app another chance. Small inclusions like the “Hi friend” greeting and the “You rock” closing makes the content feel welcoming and less aggressive. 

6) Litmus

Here’s another great example from Litmus of animation being used to create more interesting email marketing design. Unlike static text, the swipe motion used to provide recipients with a look “under the hood” of their email tool is eye-catching and encourages you to take a deeper dive into the rest of the content. Not to mention the header does an excellent job of explicitly stating what this email is about.

7) Loft

This email from Loft aims to demonstrate their understanding of your crazy, mixed-value inbox. In an effort to provide you with emails that you actually want to open, Loft asks that their recipients update their preferences to help them deliver a more personalized experience. This customer-focused email is super effective in making the recipient feel like their likes, dislikes, and opinions actually matter. 

8) UncommonGoods 

You’ve heard it a million times (and a few thousand of those times may have been from us): You should create a sense of urgency with your calls-to-action. That’s what makes a lead take action, right? Well, this email from UncommonGoods succeeds in creating a sense of urgency by focusing on the value of acting now. 

Instead of saying, “Order your Mother’s Day gift NOW before Preferred Shipping ends!”, this email asks, “Don’t you think Mom would’ve liked a faster delivery?” Why yes, she would. Thank you for reminding me before it’s too late – I don’t want to be in the dog house because my gift arrived after Mother’s Day.

9) JetBlue

Confession: We have a serious email marketing crush on JetBlue. And they continue to deliver their lovable marketing in this cheeky email campaign that aims to humorously reengage customers. Every element from the header, to the three witty points, to the actionable, contrasting CTA work together to create a lovable campaign that’s promotional without being pushy. 

10) Bonobos

It’s simple: If you want people to engage with your emails, give them a reason to do so. This clean, minimalistic, and easy-to-click email campaign from Bonobos creates an interactive experience that encourages the recipient to take action.

The structure of this email aims to cater to those who don’t have time to waste scrolling through pages of shorts that may or may not be in stock in their size. By providing a direct pathway to what they’re looking for, Bonobos creates a seamless online shopping experience.

11) Amazon Local

This email from Amazon Local is short and sweet, with just one CTA: click through this email to tell Amazon what you like and dislike. That way, the deals they send you going forward can be more in line with what you’re likely to actually want. What’s wonderful about this experience is not just that they asked, but also how consistent the experience is from email to landing page. Take a look at the email below, and the landing page that follows.

Notice how the language in the email above, “like” and “dislike,” mirrors the language in the buttons below? This is a simple way to get feedback from your email recipients to provide more personalized offers in their inbox, thus increasing the chance of a high clickthrough and offer redemption rate.

12) Focus Pointe Global

Focus Pointe Global provides focus groups so regular businesses can get some meaty market research. While research is known for being a little complicated, this email is impressively simple. All of the information you need to know to determine whether you want to participate is called out in bold, and extremely short explanatory copy follows it.

What is the survey about? What do I get for taking it? How long will it take? Where can I begin? You can figure this all out pretty immediately. All emails should aim to provide such clear instruction.

13) Harpoon Brewery

My friends at Harpoon are so thoughtful, aren’t they? This simple, timely email really does feel like it’s coming from a friend, which is why it’s so effective. In an age of email automation, it’s easy for email campaigns to feel a little robotic. And while I’m certain that this email was, in fact, automated, it feels really human.

If you’re looking to strengthen the relationship you have with your existing customers, consider taking the time to set up a quick email like this to let them know you’re thinking of them. 

14) Bonafide

HubSpot customer Bonafide uses this email in one of its lead nurturing email series, and it’s a great example of a principle so many email marketers forget. Your inbox recipients don’t always remember who you are! 

Take a look at the callout in orange – the first paragraph of this email tells the reader why they are being contacted. With the amount of inbox overload we all suffer, reminders of this nature are critical to preventing deletions and unsubscribes. 

15) Rip Curl

“JOIN THE REVOLUTION.”

That’s quite powerful, wouldn’t you agree? Rip Curl, an Australian surfing sportswear retailer, combines urgency and our psychological need to be part of something to create an email headline that jumps off the page. This positioning is designed to lead people to believe that there’s a “revolution” taking place and it’s their turn to get in on the action. At the end of the day, people want to be part of something that’s bigger than themselves, and this email aims to motivate them to do so by purchasing this sleek watch.

16) J.Crew Factory

For many of us, when it comes to wrapping gifts, the struggle is real. J.Crew Factory recognized this problem, and then created this email to serve as a solution for those incapable of pulling off a Pinterest-esque wrap job: gift cards. The email offers up two different says to pick up a gift card – in store or online – in an effort to avoid excluding anyone. 

They’ve also included a map of the nearest store location at the end of the email to lower the purchasing barrier even further. 

There are hundreds of other examples of excellent email marketing. Share some of your favorite campaigns in the comments.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in May 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

 

from HubSpot Marketing Blog http://bit.ly/1Ew9hHr

Mobile Marketing

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Compounding Posts Generate 38% of Your Blog's Traffic: Here's What HubSpot's Look Like

Did you know that there is a certain type of blog post that makes up 10% of a blog’s repertoire, but are responsible for generating 38% of total blog traffic? If you do the math, that means just one of these special posts brings in the same amount of traffic as six regular posts.

In a recent study, we investigated these standout posts, which we call “compounding posts,“ and discovered that they’re found in all types of business blogs. Yep, even yours – you just have to know how to find them.

To give you some more information on what these posts look like in real life and what kind of effects they can have, we decided to dive into our own blog data. Using this information, we can work toward increasing the number of compounding posts we have in our arsenal.

Before we dive into the data we have, let’s do a quick recap of what compound posts are in the first place.

What Are Compounding Posts?

The signature characteristic of compounding posts is that they eventually surpass the initial traffic that they generate soon after publication. Compounding posts may not necessarily be blockbusters when they’re first published, but their structure and substance are so relevant that they continue to deliver value and grow traffic organically – no additional marketing needed.

Here’s a real life example of one of HubSpot’s compounding blog posts. Starting in November 2013, you can see traffic increasing and surpassing the initial traffic the post received in its first month. Sometimes traffic dips – so it’s not a constantly growing line – but overall, it consistently exceeds the initial traffic it received. These posts are amazing assets to blogs because they just build more and more traffic to your site without you or your team needing to expend any further energy.

So what actually makes a post compound over time? To paraphrase the research report, compounding posts:

• Authoritatively answer the reader’s question. These posts answer the common questions you receive from customers. Chances are there are lots of people searching for the same questions you hear daily. Position your post as the authoritative answer to their question(s).
• Cover a broad topic and offer tactical advice. If you’re trying to create a compounding post, write for as large as possible a segment of your potential customers. That means the post needs to cover a topic that has mass appeal. Broad tactical posts include product reviews, breakdowns of processes, or instructions on how to diagnose an issue.
• Are titled in a way that reflects common SEO best practices. Compounding titles contain words that suggest certainty and utility, such as “How”, “What”, “Why”, and “Best” – and it’s no coincidence that people often search for ‘how to do x’ or ‘what is the best y’.
• Are structured to make information more easily digestible. The post should be laid out in an organized matter, with images, bolded headlines, links, and bullet points that orient readers and allow them to quickly digest information.

For more details about compounding posts, check out the entire study. 

An Analysis of HubSpot’s Compounding Posts

Now that we’ve defined compounding posts, we can share what we found when we reviewed the archives of HubSpot’s own blog. It turns out that 14% of our blog posts compounded 12 months after being published, just slightly over the 10% average we found in the study.

Generally HubSpot receives a large amount of traffic upon initial publication, so our compounding posts aren’t necessarily standouts in the first couple of months after going live. However, as time goes on, the majority of traffic we receive is from older compounding posts. As we found in our historical optimization experiment, older posts generating large amounts of traffic can be a blog’s bread and butter.

What Do HubSpot’s Compounding Posts Look Like?

Okay, so we found compounding posts. Now what? We wanted to understand what unifying characteristics our compounding posts had.

Where are they being shared? How comprehensive or wordy are they? And are there clear topics that gets shared more than others?

We pulled social share data of over 660 of HubSpot’s compounding posts and segmented the shares by each post’s total word count. We discovered that the longest posts (those with over 2,000 words) received more average tweets, LinkedIn shares, and Facebook shares, Likes, and comments. (This nicely ties into our recent editorial analysis where we found our deep tactical posts are more popular.)

In general, posts with 1,000 or more words receive more social attention, but we also found that very short posts (those with fewer than 250 words) perform better on social media than posts with 251-1,000 words. Typically HubSpot’s short posts are infographics or promotional posts about recently launched ebooks, which more naturally lend themselves to be shared socially.

However, longer posts are clearly the social winners for the HubSpot blog. We calculated that posts with 2,000 or more words generate 4.3X the social shares generated by a post with 501-1,000 words.

So how does the social sharing data compare to overall visits?

Well, once again, it’s clear longer posts are HubSpot’s best performing posts. Interestingly, our short posts, which get pretty high social sharing numbers, do poorly when it comes to average visits. So while our short posts are good at getting shares, they don’t necessarily generate a huge return in visits for us.

We were curious if topics had any impact on the number of social shares a post generates, too. Our most socially shared compounding blog posts are related to content marketing, design, and branding. These are also our top-performing topics in terms of total average views.

Finally, Twitter is the primary source for sharing across the board. LinkedIn, which targets our readers’ business contacts, often outranks Facebook shares. Since we are a B2B company, it makes sense our content would be shared out to our visitors’ professional contacts on LinkedIn rather than their personal network.

What We’re Going to Do 

So how will this data help HubSpot make editorial decisions? Exposing and then finessing what is most likely to compound will allow us to get more bang for our buck with posts. So based on this data, we’ll:

1. Focus on writing longer, more comprehensive posts that are tactical. Content marketing, branding, and design are also topics we know our readers want.
2. Continue to produce great, short posts that feature infographics since they generate a lot social shares and are relatively easy for us to create. But, we’ll look into how to better share that content so that people feel compelled to click links and read our posts.
3. Track our promotions on Twitter and LinkedIn and see which brings us more visits, and higher quality leads and MQLs.
   
4. Review our compounding posts and update any outdated content so that it continues to be relevant to our readers today

Do you want to learn more about the impact of compounding posts and how to craft them for your blog? Click here to download Compounding Blog Posts: What They Are and Why They Matter.

from HubSpot Marketing Blog http://bit.ly/1KCzlSl

Mobile Marketing

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Are Your Advertisers a Good Fit for Inbound?

Inbound marketing is an established practice for industries like ecommerce, software, financial services, and and travel. The idea is simple: attract leads and customers, and use technology to nurture those relationships at scale. Inbound has been shown to save $14 for every new customer acquired and double conversion rates from 6% to 12%.

Digital publishers and advertisers are in a great position to see similar results.

You already have great content and large audiences. With inbound, you can reposition your audience platform into a scalable, predictable, and repeatable customer acquisition and retention process.

Are You and Your Advertisers a Good Fit For Inbound?

The following questions will direct you to an answer.

1) Are Your Advertisers Measuring Success Through Leads?

Inbound, as a methodology, creates an optimization point between lead quality and quantity. Publishers are in a unique position to help the lead generation and nurturing process. Why? Because media companies attract eyeballs at scale. 

The challenge, however, is that most publishers stop at the top of the funnel and leave the rest of the marketing process to their advertisers. Why not disrupt the mold? Advertisers are in a strong position to provide a full end-to-end experience. Consider AdAge as an example. The company hosts sponsored webinars in which advertisers can provide a lead magnet or special offer. In addition to helping advertisers build awareness, these webinars help audiences and brands build lasting, valuable relationships with one another.

Publishers are in a great position to help their advertisers find buyers. Inbound can help by providing the tools and infrastructure to enhance lead quality, at scale. 

2) What Determines the Value of a Lead for Advertisers?

Here’s where publishers can connect the dots between inbound and new monetization opportunities. 

Costs-per-lead (CPL) targets vary between industries and businesses. That’s why publishers are in a strong position to control their monetization models. While programmatic ad models force media companies into standardized display ad rates, publishers can control the price points they’re setting for lead generation. One of the biggest challenges of working with a CPL model is knowing where to get started. Industry data from HubSpot’s 2015 Demand Gen Benchmarks Report can help. In media & publishing, for instance, the average CPL is $11-$25. 

Know what your advertisers care about, and package solutions accordingly. Use industry data to ballpark ideal CPLs, and work with your advertiser to define that target. Expect to see some variation by vertical.

3) Can You Offer New Campaign Structures to Current Advertisers? 

It’s common for publishers to work with their best advertisers for years. You get to know your contacts, their business models, and monetization goals. What you’ve probably learned is that you, as a publisher, fit into a much larger marketing picture. More bluntly, you can offer more to your advertisers by introducing new product lines.

HubSpot’s Publishing Benchmarks Report points out that media industry is undergoing extreme change. That’s a good thing, and here’s a stat that you should know: 54.8% of the survey’s respondents expect new revenue sources like sponsored content and native ads to increase within the next six months.

In response, publishers are making big changes to their business models. If you’re not part of the race, your advertisers may take their budgets to greener pastures. Stay ahead of the curve by working closely with your advertisers. In an ideal world, what marketing products would they like to see? What is your digital media company best-suited to build? In addition to offering content takeovers, sponsored articles, and sponsored webinars, for instance, media leader ClickZ also works with brands to create and distribute custom whitepapers.

You already have an engaged audience. Get closer to your advertisers’ needs by asking them what products they’d like to see. Build around your unique strengths and value adds, as you help your advertisers nurture relationships for the long-haul. Unlike banner ads, inbound marketing is versatile and can take many shapes and forms. It’s a powerful way to connect with audiences in an authentic way.

4) Are You a Relationship Builder?

Relationships are the heart of inbound.

This marketing methodology, in addition to driving top-of-funnel brand awareness, helps brands forge stronger bonds with their audiences. Digital publishers are already taking steps to facilitate this process: your social media presence, email lists, and engaging articles are all valuable assets that you bring to your advertisers. 

There’s an opportunity to stretch your value-add even further. Give your audiences a reason to come back to your website. For most publishers this process is as simple as creating trustworthy, entertaining, and engaging content. There’s an opportunity to plug your advertisers into this formula too. For instance, you could work with your advertisers to create an ebook, sponsored post, or email program.

Financial education platform Investopedia, for instance, has a rolodex of long-form tutorials. Why not work with advertisers to create custom, in-depth courses?

The Bottom Line

Inbound is a perfect fit for most media companies. At first, the investment seems tough to justify because display ad profits are so slim. The key to succeeding with inbound is to look at your marketing from the perspective of your two biggest stakeholders: your advertisers and your readers. You’re a connector between the two, and inbound can help you increase the value of the relationships that you build. 

 

from HubSpot Marketing Blog http://bit.ly/1ig3dJ9

Mobile Marketing

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Making Changes to Your Website? Draw Inspiration From These 13 Web Designs

When you’re planning to make changes to your website, it helps to poke around other companies’ websites to see what they’re up to. How have they structured their navigations? Do they still use hero images? How many CTAs do they have? What do their mobile websites look like?

While you’re certainly not trying to copy features exactly, seeing what others are doing can help you figure out what’s new in the fast-paced world of design and inspire new ideas for your own site.  

Trouble is, it can be hard to randomly stumble across lots of great examples. So we decided to curate some in this very post to help inspire your next redesign. 

Before we dive into the websites themselves, it’s important to note that not every design is meant to look like Apple’s website and aesthetic. Of course everyone loves a “beautiful website” and smooth customer experience, but the end goal of any website is great usability – and that can have multiple definitions depending on your site purpose and target audience.

Some designs you’ll love, others you’ll hate, and some you’ll think are just mediocre, but the important thing is that you’ll see and think about design elements that you hadn’t before. Take a moment to understand why a site might have been designed a certain way. A few tactics you might look for include:

• Use of imagery
• Use of video
• Use of colors
• Use and sizing of fonts
• Logo placement
• CTA placement
• Responsive design
• Social media links
• Search box
• Headlines
• Punctuation
• Menu bars
• Box design

The point of reviewing these designs isn’t for you to love all of them, but rather to find a few interesting design tactics that you can take back to your team. Let’s get to it. 

1) Paul Stuart

Why we like this site:

The homepage does a few things well. First, site visitors are drawn to the screen by seeing visually captivating images of neckwear. While neckwear isn’t usually the most interesting subject, the use of bright imagery draws the eye. To the right of the image, the content states “light and bright late summer neckwear” … which is exactly what users are seeing. Between the imagery and the concise copy, the tone of the site makes it easy to understand what they’re selling – right in time to notice the “shop ties” CTA.

What we would test: 

Increasing the size of the “shop ties” CTA.

2) TutorSync

Why we like this site:

As soon as users arrive on this page, they know what the company does, and can decide whether they want to stay or leave. For those who are interested, the page displays three overlay boxes briefly highlighting a few credentials, as well as offerings for first-time purchasers. Finally, the contact options are well displayed and include both phone and form capabilities.

What we would test: 

A new hero image to show tutors and students in an actual work setting.

3) Laural Home

Why we like this site:

Laural Home’s homepage does a great job at making users feel relaxed, providing a light and unintimidating feeling with its choice of colors and font. In addition, users see a variety of sale-related CTAs, including 40% off dorm room items and free shipping on orders over $50. To make sure users know that Laural has new products in stock, the site also features a “20% on New Sizes” image-based CTA.

What we would test: 

Testing an end date on the “40% off dorm sale” to drive urgency.

4) Linguistiko

Why we like this site:

Maybe it’s just our experience, but this image perfectly captures a situation at the office when language barriers can arise. It portrays an international conference call with people in the office speaking one language and the person on the other end of the call speaking another. It’s one of those things that’s hard for both sides, often leaving people saying “I need to improve my English, Spanish, German … etc.”

… So why do we love this page? Because everything we just wrote about Linguistiko was thought within a second of seeing the homepage. You just get what they do.

What we would test: 

Include a statistic in the headline about the professional benefits of learning a new language or the rise of people learning a second language for business.

5) Laura Jayne Bridal Design

Why we like this site:

This site is laser-focused on one thing: bridal design. In the wedding industry, making a bride feel like she has the spotlight on her is essential to developing relationships that turn into sales, and this site definitely showcases that laser focus on the bride. In addition to bride-focused imagery, visitors have both primary and secondary CTA options available to them as they can view collections or contact the company via phone or form.

What we would test: 

Different copy on the hero image CTA that invites the visitor to shop for that specific hair accessory or view how it fits into a specific outfit. 

6) Fashion Delivery

Why we like this site:

While we don’t love being different just for the sake of being different, this site is different for the right reasons. By using a cartoon-based theme design, Fashion Delivery is creating its own private world that visitors enter into when arriving on the site. It works because the service – same-day clothing delivery – also seems like a fantasy. We also love the expiring clock letting visitors know that they still have time to order, but there is an expiration.

What we would test: 

A phone number above the fold to answer last-minute questions about orders. The company may not be staffed to handle such an increase in call volume, but it would be a good test to run to see if the revenue generated would be worth an increase in hiring. 

7) Heal Your Life

Why we like this site:

While we’ve all heard the phrase “you can’t be everything to everyone,” Heal Your Life has managed to offer a lot of things at once to their target market. For those looking for a life boost, the website offers a number of options for users to find what suits them best, including: daily affirmations, daily meditations, articles, audio, video, topics, contributions, blog articles, events, and shopping. However people feel comfortable engaging, Heal Your Life has a form of content, engagement, or product offering for them.

What we would test: 

Include the number of members in the community in the sign-up CTA at the top of the page as a form of social proof.

8) Lily

Why we like this site:

Want to know how cool this product is? Just go to Lily’s website. A lot of companies struggle to portray how amazing their offering is via the company website – but not Lily. Upon arriving, visitors are instantly hooked, shown a bunch of press logos (making you feel silly if you haven’t heard of them) and then an amazing product video. The best part about the product is that it’s not even available yet, but the website still makes you want to pre-order it. 

What we would test: 

A different product image on the homepage, showing the product in action.

9) Dallas Apartment

Why we like this site:

Direct response websites don’t have to look pretty – they just need to convert. Dallas Apartment, however, has found a way to make direct response look beautiful. The site instantly looks to capitalize on visitor urgency by offering phone numbers, hours of operation, and a CTA to call someone directly at Dallas Apartment. For those users that don’t want the primary “contact us now” CTA, the site also offers a less salesy offering with a “start your apartment search today” option.

What we would test: 

An “apartment of the day” hero image with a CTA to book a tour today.

10) Barre 3

Why we like this site:

Website visitors are in different mindsets when arriving on your site. Some are ready to convert, others want to learn more, and a bunch are just browsing. Barre 3 does a wonderful job at making sure they have something for everyone. First, they offer information on their physical locations for people who are looking for classes now. If you’re not interested in attending an in-person class, a CTA for online workouts is easily found next to the in-person class CTA. For those just perusing the site, Barre 3 offers great content and fashion offerings.

What we would test: 

Using smart content in the hero image module to tailor the type of workout (online vs. in-person) to the visitor’s previous browsing habits. 

11) Home Grown Cow

Why we like this site:

It’s hard to be both funny and informative, yet Home Grown Cow manages to accomplish both on their site. The product offering is all about farm to table, fresh and healthy meat options. By adding in one-liners such as “Chickens like your grandma knew,” they're able to convey that the company cares about quality while also getting its audience to smile. Trust me, balancing both is harder than it looks.

What we would test: 

The site offers links at the top for meat, poultry, dairy, seafood, and farms. We would consider testing a “specials” link for sales or special offerings that might be time-sensitive.

12) Mathalicious

Why we like this site:

There are three big reasons why I like this site. First, it’s clear what they do. Second, they bring a sense of humor to an often mundane and frustrating topic. Third, for people who want to learn more, additional links are clearly provided to the lessons page, about page, FAQs, and blog. These reasons all make it easy for their target audience to understand what they offer – and, you know, actually use it.

What we would test: 

Include a statistic about how improving math skills can be beneficial later in life.

13) Bean & Bite

Why we like this site:

The reason we love Bean & Bite’s website is because it initially makes visitors feel like they’re in the restaurant reading the menu. As users browse through the site, the menu-style theme continues, giving you a sense of what the restaurant is like in real life.

It’s not just pretty and unique though – Bean & Bite offers all of the information people need to know, great content, and even has a suggestion box. In addition, users can sign up to be members of the restaurant and find a location near them by entering in their zip code.

What we would test: 

Whether the forms to sign up for membership and find a nearby location should be at the bottom or the top of the page. 

Want to see all 91 of the designs we considered for this post? Head on over to Crayon.

from HubSpot Marketing Blog http://bit.ly/1KoTSv7

Mobile Marketing

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Hit With a Google Penalty? Here's How to Quickly Diagnose & Fix Your Issues

Every marketer has a story about getting penalised by Google. Evidence suggests that though many websites have been penalised (not just by the big updates, but also by one of the thousands of tiny little manual Google updates), the average marketer or webmaster hasn’t noticed. According to Kissmetrics, only 5% of penalised websites are submitting a reconsideration request every month to recover their rankings.

Since we are all reliant on search engines for traffic, we have to stay in the know about the latest updates – and make changes if we’re affected. Not only is it good common sense to keep abreast of the updates, but it can give you the competitive advantage if you can recover faster than others. Double win!

Thankfully, there are plenty of free tools out there to help even the busiest marketer watch out for these dreaded silent traffic killers. Keep on reading to learn what you need to do to ensure your SEO stays agile and ahead-of-the-game at all times.

Step 1: Familiarise yourself with the kinds of updates that were rolled out.

Below is a quick list of the most significant updates and an overview of what they included. For an extensive list, check out this infographic that breaks down the history of algorithm updates.

Panda: Born in 2011

There were updates before Panda, but this was the first massive pain in the [you guessed it] for websites. Its purpose: to crack down on websites containing poor content, excessive ads, and possibly better design. This was rolled out in stages, and it continues to this day.

Venice: Born in 2012

This was the one that increased the number of local results for broad queries.

Penguin: Born in 2012

Penguin is designed to combat actual spammy sites rather than sites that are legit, but poorly made. Google cracked down on keyword stuffing, cloaking, link building … basically, any method you’ve heard of referred to as “black hat.”

Pirate: Born in 2012

This update was targeted at websites that violated copyright on multiple occasions. Stolen content or copied content would have been hit here.

Secure Update: Born in 2014

Preference is given to websites with SSL security. As website hacking becomes more sophisticated and people are more aware of the risks, it is important to assuage those doubts by offering security (particularly if you require personal and financial details from your web visitors).

Mobilegeddon: Born in 2015

Preference is given to websites that are responsive. Unsurprisingly, having a website that is readable and navigable on a handheld device as well as desktop is preferred by visitors.

These updates are not one-offs; they are repeated to keep up with changes in black-hat techniques and to keep ensuring that searchers are satisfied with their results.

To summarise, before you go further, make sure your website:

• is not full of ads
• is not keyword-stuffed
• has long-form and/or quality content
• is localised where localisation matters
• does not engage in any spammy link building practices
• has a legitimate security certificate
• does not steal or copy content from other websites
• looks good and functions well on mobile

Step 2: Find out if you have a ranking problem.

First of all, diagnosing the issue is key. Without knowing what you have been penalised for, you can’t tackle it. For example, back in October 2014, most people thought they were dealing with a Penguin update, but it was in fact an extended Panda update. Here are a few tips to help you properly diagnose what happened.

a) Use a penalty indicator tool to find out what has happened to your website in the past, and if you have yet to recover from it.

A fast and simple tool to drop this knowledge bomb on you is this succinctly titled Website Penalty Indicator.

This handy tool from FEInternational can show you which of the major Google penalties hit you and at what point they hit. (Of course, to be cheeky, I tried out “www.google.com” to see what would happen.)

However, you’ll notice that this tool focuses on the Big Bad algorithm changes and not all of the little manual ones in between. To find out those, you’ll need to follow the next step.

b) Use tools like SEMrush to find out if you’ve been penalised by one of Google’s updates.

By using tools like SEMrush, you can do a complete site audit and check how your position has changed in SERPs, check your backlinks, and analyze your content.

Step 3: Learn how to recover.

This section was contributed by Elena Terenteva, Content Strategist at SEMrush. 

The best thing you can do for your website is to avoid penalties in the first place. Website owners who break SEO rules risk manual penalties or being seriously harmed by algorithm updates. When a website is hit with a penalty, it’s more than likely because of one of the follow reasons:

• A lack of knowledge on behalf of the SEO specialist
• A purposeful violation of basic SEO principles
• The use of black-hat techniques

But if you have been hit by a penalty, how you’ll figure out the root cause will depend on what kind of penalty it is:

1. If a website gets a manual penalty, the owner will be notified through Google Webmaster Tools and receive a letter explaining the reasons for its failure. This means the website owner will at least have an idea of how to recover and can begin working on the suggested changes.
2. If your website is hit by an algorithm change, the situation becomes slightly more difficult. You need to find a correlation between Google’s last actions and your website’s losses. Don’t forget that website position and traffic losses can be caused by general problems and may have nothing to do with algorithmic changes. If you do find that you were harmed by a specific algorithm change, get all the information you can about that update so you can start to resolve the issue.

Of course, all of us want to avoid being hit by a penalty in the first place. So if you want to be prepared, I recommend consistently running SEO audits. Here are a few things you should do:

• Remove or disavow unnatural or spammy links manually
• Be sure that your anchor text is diversified
• Get rid of all duplicate content
• Create non-keyword-stuffed, quality content
• Keep an eye on UX

You can also see some of these tips for avoiding a penalty visualised in this infographic.

Remember that the best strategy is to avoid penalties and realise that SEO is not just about trying something new. It’s also about constantly monitoring the success of your previous efforts.

Although avoiding penalties may seem like building a house of cards that may collapse at any minute … well, that’s kinda the way it is! That’s why it’s important to ensure that your website is up-to-date, helpful, and trustworthy.

Watch us do a live analysis of three real websites on Sept 3rd at 15:00 BST / 10:00 EST. We’ll evaluate the SEO, content, social, and design of three real businesses, and give tips on how they could improve. Register here to watch!  

from HubSpot Marketing Blog http://bit.ly/1MZtPcF

Mobile Marketing

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/1htRKoE