Best Call Center Software

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What would it be like for your business to never miss another call?

Nothing scares away new business like hard-to-reach customer service or disorganized sales calls. Adopt the best call center software and you will outfit your teams with the tools they need to communicate effectively.

Today, an affordable call center is within reach of any business with an internet connection.

Forget about the requirements of a physical office space, infrastructure, or even a business phone system.

Modern call center software is all you need to get up and running. You still have the hard work of engaging your customers and clients, but all the heavy lifting associated with maintaining a call center is off your plate.

The Top 5 Options For Call Center Software

Fi v e9 – Best for Blended Call Centers
Aircall – Best for Collaboration
8×8 Contact Center – Best for Enterprise
Dialpad – Best for Startups
Talkdesk CX Cloud – Best for Best for Salesforce Integration

How to Choose The Best Call Center Software For You

I make calls when I’m thinking about committing to a new product or service. Lots of people do.

The human connection is real, intimate, and—unfortunately—easy to mess up.

One dropped call. One mistaken name from an agent who’s spoken to 35 other people within the hour.

It doesn’t take much to lose a lead or earn a 1-star review carved in digital stone on the internet.

You’re looking for a system that establishes trust with customers because they know they can call and speak with the right person quickly.

It must also come with an interface that empowers agents by giving them insight into calls, client histories, and any other information they need to resolve issues in real-time.

Customers need prompt answers from helpful agents. End of story.

The best call center software comes with everything you need to meet these two fundamental call center objectives, and much more.

Let’s go through the core call center features that help businesses make their customers happier and their agents more productive.

Calling Capabilities

Blended call center software will let the same agent receive incoming calls and make outgoing calls. This isn’t the case with every product, as some are limited to a single direction: inbound or outbound.

This can work to your advantage.

If you only need one or the other, you may be able to get a less expensive plan that’s easier to secure and manage. A helpdesk might only need inbound and a sales team might be fine with outbound calls only.

Dialing Capabilities

For outbound call centers, having the right dialing capabilities can make a huge difference in terms of agent productivity (and sanity). The four types you are likely to see are:

Preview dialer: Lets an agent review contact information before they call
Progressive dialer: Automatically dials one contact per available agent
Power dialer: Automatically dials multiple contacts per available agents
Predictive dialer: Automatically dials based on predicted agent availability

Dialers decrease an agent’s down-time considerably and completely eliminate the manual grind process of making calls from their cognitive workload.

Channels

Call center software should be able to accommodate every channel you currently use or plan to use in the future. If you see something billed as omnichannel, it should cover:

Phone
VoIP
Email
SMS
Chat
Social
Video

Ensure that whatever product you choose will let customers interact seamlessly with agents across all supported company channels.

Call Routing

Call center software comes with routing features that segment and direct incoming calls, potentially automating the processes which connect callers with the expert or agent they seek.

Some of the popular call routing features explained:

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD): Greets customers and allows them to select from a main menu or enter extension to route themselves.
Automated attendant: Takes calls when all agents are busy, plays hold music, relays wait times, and reminds callers that their time is valuable.
Intelligent call routing: Uses automation, AI, or interactive voice response to route customers to the most appropriate agent.
Mobile device routing: Allows calls to be routed to mobile devices.
Omnichannel routing: Allows calls to be routed across any channel.
Virtual hold: Gives customers the option to receive a call back when an agent is ready, instead of waiting on the phone.
Warm transfer: Lets customers speak to a new agent before the call is transferred, and allows the previous agent to explain any ground that’s already been covered.

If call center software comes with intelligent call routing, it’s safe to assume it can handle most, if not all, of the capabilities listed above.

Interactive Voice Response

Interactive voice response (IVR) enables customers to use a phone system to access information from a connected database. This could be someone calling to find out their checking balance, hear the status of their order, or pay a bill.

If you have customers routinely calling to access information, you can free up a lot of phone time simply by implementing IVR. It’s a truly self-service solution that helps people get what they want, without ever talking to an agent.

Call Recording

You have probably heard a thousand times that “this call is being recorded for safety, security, or training purposes.” Well it’s all true.

Call recording is extremely important. Supervisors can listen back to trainee calls and give advice about how to improve. In the event of a legal or compliance issue, call recording will cover your bases.

Good call center software makes it as easy as possible to save and store every call in a highly organized, searchable database. If you integrate your CRM, every recording can also be tied to the appropriate customer or client account.

One advanced call recording feature that can be really useful for sales teams is voicemail-to-email. This sends an email with an audio attachment or transcription of the voicemail to the account owner who missed the call. This is a huge time saver, especially for agents who are remote and on the go.

Workforce Management

How efficient is your call center? How do you know?

Reporting and analytics are important features of modern call center software. Look for products with both historical and real-time reporting capabilities to support workforce management and optimization.

By tracking key metrics about calls, wait times, and first contact resolution, among others, those in supervisory roles are better able to forecast staffing needs to fit fluctuating demand.

Integrations, APIs, and SDKs

Put key customer data in front of your agents by integrating customer data sources with your call center software. The top products come with seamless integrations that work out of the box with leading CRMs like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics.

Many top call center software options have APIs and software development kits (SDKs) that allow you to build out custom solutions.

The better connectivity you can provide, the richer the customer information your call center will collect.

Done right, you’ll provide marketing, sales, and customer service with data-driven insights to steer their efforts.

Security

Even if your customers aren’t giving their social security number over the phone, they’re sharing personal and potentially sensitive information. It’s unpleasant to imagine how much havoc an attacker could cause with full access to a database of client conversations.

Consider potential vulnerabilities that come with deploying call center software. Does it integrate with your current security stack? If not, be sure to add the cost of securing your new IT perimeter to the total cost of ownership.

The Different Types of Call Center Software

It’s getting less and less important for call center solutions to offer traditional business phone systems. Some do, but most are focused on helping companies migrate gradually to a centralized, cloud-based, multi-channel interface.

As important as the phone is, the reality is that customers are reaching out on more and more channels.

This is why you’ll see the name “call center” being dropped in favor of “contact center.”

It simply reflects that companies have to be able to respond however they are contacted: phone, chat, email, and so on.

Whether you are starting from zero or looking to modernize your existing system, picking the right type of call center software is the first step.

On-Premises Call Center Software

Many companies still maintain their own call centers and it can be important to keep everything in house for compliance reasons.

If this is a concern, make sure you choose an option that supports your infrastructure needs.

Cloud Call Center Software

Cloud-based call center software provides the same capabilities as a traditional call center, but it’s delivered as a service. Companies don’t have to manage any of the hardware or software.

A SaaS call center can be deployed in just a few hours or days, since there isn’t much required beyond headsets and devices to work from.

It’s very easy to run a distributed or work-from-home call center with a cloud-based solution, which is another reason these solutions are so popular.

CCaaS

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) centralizes all of the channels your teams use to communicate externally.

Whereas a cloud call center may only give you VoIP, a CCaaS solution is going to loop in text, chat, social, and video as well.

UCaaS

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) has all the capabilities of a CCaaS, with an additional focus of integrating legacy communication technology like fax and teleconferencing.

These products truly unify all forms of communication, helping companies adopt future-proof solutions as they phase out old equipment.

#1 – Five9 — Best For Blended Call Centers

Five9 empowers call center agents to deliver the best possible experience to their customers by providing true omnichannel functionality from anywhere within an intuitive interface.

Agents can switch between chat, email, mobile, social, video, or voice to maintain seamless customer interactions.

Plus, integrations with top CRM platforms mean that all data is captured, providing an end-to-end contact center solution. Whether agents are reaching out or picking up a call, they always have current information about who they’re speaking with.

There are also built-in workforce management tools that make accurate forecasting and scheduling much easier.

For all the power of Five9 call center software, it’s not overwhelming, and people can quickly master the tools at their disposal, such as:

Predictive, power, progressive, and preview dialers
Intelligent omnichannel routing
IVR
Historic and real-time analytics dashboards
Six built-in CRM integrations
Cloud APIs and SDKs

Blended call centers will definitely notice increased efficiency using Five9. Active blending, one of the intelligent routing features, automatically sends inbound calls to agents working outbound campaigns when call volume is high.

Five9 pricing is based on whether you want inbound, outbound, or blended service. You’ll have to get in touch with sales, but there are three options for how to pay:

Monthly on-demand
Per-minute fees
Annual contracts

The lowest price will come with an annual contract, but companies can scale quickly at low cost with on-demand pricing if need be.

As sleek as it is, Five9 is one of the top call center solutions for companies that need to integrate legacy technology. If you’re thinking about using a cloud-based solution for your blended call center, Five9 can help no matter where you are starting from.

#2 – Aircall — Best For Collaboration

Air c all is a CCaaS you can deploy this afternoon.

The VoIP quality is great, calls don’t drop, and agents can work from anywhere on their laptop or personal mobile device. It’s a great solution for virtual cloud call centers because of the built-in security, workforce management, and collaborative features.

Customers can leave voicemails which can be quickly assigned to the right person. New hires can listen into calls to hear what good service sounds like. In fact, you can host up to five people on the same live call.

One of the biggest perks for teams is the ability to assign, tag, and comment on calls. This is so helpful—assign the call to an individual, tag it to a specific department, and leave a short explanation about what’s going on.

It’s not that other call center software can’t do this—it’s just easier in Aircall.

For all the ease of using Aircall, it is a complete CCaaS that provides

Automatic call-back
Intelligent call routing
IVR
Power dialer
One-click CRM integrations
Call center analytics

Aircall pricing is broken down into three tiers:

Essentials: starting at $30 per user/month
Professional: starting at $50 per user/month
Custom: contact sales

One quick thing: Salesforce integration only comes at the Professional tier, whereas integrations for Pipedrive, Zendesk, Hubspot, Slack and more than 60 others come with Essentials.

Aircall still supports traditional phone systems, which makes it an attractive option for companies that want to expand their call center operations to the cloud at their own pace.

#3 – 8×8 Contact Center — Best For Enterprise

8×8 Contact Center is one of the more robust tools on the market. 8×8 has been around for a long time and can fully support migration to a UCaaS call center.

It’s a powerful solution that can help large organizations in particular. Build out complex IVR paths, optimize a large workforce, and process payments all within a navigable interface.

There may be a little more of a learning curve with 8×8 than with other call center software simply because the platform is so feature rich.

That said, once you have everything set up, the support and online documentation is enough to help people take advantage of 8×8’s advanced features, including:

Call and screen recording
Predictive dialer
Drag-and-drop IVR designer
Speech analytics
Customer surveys
Native CRM and integrations with top products

The pricing for 8×8 Contact Center breaks down into three tiers:

Contact Center – Voice
Contact Center – Omnichannel
Contact Center – Advanced

8×8 is not going to be the most budget-friendly option, even at its voice-only tier.

To include digital channels, you will need the Omnichannel plan. For speech analytics and screen recording, you will need Advanced.

For voice-only call centers, other options from this list will meet your needs at a lower cost. If you are trying to build out an omnichannel contact center, however, 8×8 will give you a level of visibility and control that lighter products can’t.

#4 – Dialpad — Best For Startups

Dialpad is a next-generation UCaaS that completely supports today’s on-the-go, distributed workplace. Choose Dialpad for agile, constantly improving call center software.

You can add agents via the web client or Dialpad app. Both are updated frequently for security and to add new features.

For all the flexibility provided to end-users, Dialpad doesn’t skimp on the backend reporting, recording, or monitoring features. This is huge for companies that are still trying to figure out what’s important.

With Dialpad, your team can assess KPIs and discover meaningful trends in real-time. Simply integrate your CRM and watch as Dialpad surfaces the most important metrics from calls on clean dashboards or highly-visible leaderboards.

Some of the other great capabilities of Dialpad include:

IVR
Seamless mobile routing
Call/Voicemail transcription
Warm transfer
APIs and webhooks
Integrations with top SSOs, CRMs, G Suite, and Microsoft 365,

There are two plan options for Dialpad Contact Center:

Pro: starting at $225/month for 3 agents
Enterprise: contact sales, 100 agent minimum

Businesses thrive with Dialpad because of its efficiency. Deployment is simple, integrations are tight, and it performs extremely well for organizations with many remote workers.

#5 – Talkdesk CX Cloud — Best For Salesforce Integration

Talkdesk is a leading CCaaS product that works well for large organizations who need to scale their contact center operations. Quickly provision new agents and securely connect them to sensitive customer data, no matter where they are.

It’s a feature-rich, yet very approachable, solution. People who have never used Talkdesk can sit down and start taking calls.

Talkdesk has more than 60 integrations ready to go, but the seamless connection with Salesforce CRM is definitely a key selling point. Agents can see a rich history of who they are talking to and all calls are automatically recorded in the proper place.

When agents forget call details, they can listen back with a few clicks.

Some tasks, like creating new IVRs, take some getting used to, but for the most part, non-technical users are going to be able to get the most out of every feature, including:

Intelligent routing
Warm transfer
Customer sentiment surveys
Real-time dashboards for workforce management
Custom IVR
Guardian Standard fraud prevention

Talkdesk also offers AI-driven add-ons for speech analytics, workforce management, and quality control.

Talkdesk has rolled out affordable solutions for SMB call centers. Adopting something this powerful early on will deliver superior customer engagement, and may even cut down on costs by increasing agent productivity.

Summary

Ten years ago, setting up a call center took months. Today, you can deploy one over the weekend.

To make your choice, focus on how the feature set of each product will:

Enable customers connect to the right agent quickly
Empower agents serve customers and connect with clients

While every option on this list is fairly easy to get set up, Dialpad or Aircall are exceptionally easy in this regard. Aircall will better accommodate legacy technology than Dialpad, if that’s a consideration, and the collaborative features are more mature.

Then again, it depends how you collaborate. The ease of routing calls between devices on Dialpad is phenomenal, which is critical for distrubed call centers.

Five9 has the edge on many other full-scale contact center software when it comes to outbound dialing capabilities. Sales teams can automatically ramp up their call volume without increasing call abandonment numbers. As the inbound call functionality is comparatively rich, Five9 is a great option for a blended call center.

Companies using Salesforce CRM will enjoy using Talkdesk. The integration works with ease and employee familiarity with the Salesforce interface makes adopting Talkdesk that much easier.

Choose 8×8 if your company is going to benefit from building out complex IVR pathways. It’s easy to design customer journeys in the visual, drag-and-drop editor, which really stands out from the crowd.

Additionally, the security in 8×8 is payment card industry compliant, so you can rest assured that connecting customers to sensitive information via IVR won’t cause problems down the line.

The post Best Call Center Software appeared first on Neil Patel.

The Best Luxury Marketing Strategies

Have you ever seen a Facebook ad for Chanel? Or an Instagram ad for Lamborghini? Me neither. That’s because luxury marketing strategies don’t follow the same rules as mass-market brands. Selling to high-end consumers requires a different approach. But that doesn’t mean popular digital channels are off-limits. SEO, PPC, even some social media sites can drive …

The post The Best Luxury Marketing Strategies first appeared on Online Web Store Site.

The 11 Best Dropshipping Tools

Dropshipping is a popular method for building an e-commerce empire. The challenge is, there are tons of people out there trying to do the same thing. So, how do you get a competitive edge? By using dropshipping tools to get the most out of your dropshipping business.

This post covers the basics of dropshipping and the 11 best dropshipping tools to maximize this fulfillment method’s benefits while minimizing the drawbacks.

What is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a fulfillment method that allows e-commerce stores to sell products without storing or maintaining stock.

Using the dropshipping model, your store markets a third-party’s (a wholesaler or manufacturer) products. When someone places an order from your site, you buy the product from a third-party, who then sends the product directly to your customer.

You don’t have to worry about logistics, and the difference between the price you sell at and the price you buy at is your profit.

This model is popular (in fact, 23% of online sales are fulfilled through dropshipping) because it allows e-commerce businesses to focus on what they do best, marketing and selling products without worrying about logistic issues.

What are the Benefits of Dropshipping?

One of the major benefits of dropshipping is starting an e-commerce store with low start-up costs. You can create the framework for a great online store with relatively little investment.

The issue is, you’ve still got to invest in and warehouse stock — unless you use dropshipping.

Dropshipping limits startup costs while allowing e-commerce stores to offer a wide range of items to customers.

By working with a third party, you can quickly set up your online store and tap into a wide selection of high-quality products from suppliers around the world.

The benefits of this are:

Low overhead costs: No need to pay for stock, warehousing, or employees to fulfill orders
A wider selection of products: Choose from an endless list of suppliers.
Expanded shipping capabilities: You’re working with businesses with years of experience shipping items around the world.
Easy to scale: You don’t have to worry about stock. No matter how many orders you have coming in, you’re always able to fulfill them.
Focus on your strengths: Concentrate on where your competitive advantage is – making sales.
Location independence: Your stock doesn’t tie you down because you don’t own any.

These benefits sound pretty great, right?

As you might expect, there are also some drawbacks to dropshipping. The most apparent negative to dropshipping is lower profit margins. Companies that buy in bulk can save money, but buying one item at a time can be more costly.

Although you’re in control of your pricing (you can lower and raise prices as you like), you’ll have to keep your prices in line with your competition. And, because there are few barriers to starting an e-commerce business with a dropshipping model, there’s lots of competition out there.

Here are some challenges to consider with dropshipping:

Customization and branding: You’re selling someone else’s products, so it can be harder to develop a strong brand.
You’re reliant on a third-party: If they mess up, then in your customer’s eyes, you’ve messed up.
Understanding costs: If you’re working with lots of different suppliers, it can be complicated to work out your profit margins when shipping is factored in.

Whether dropshipping is an effective strategy will depend on your business needs. If you’re ready to take on the stiff competition and aren’t reliant on branding to sell your products, then dropshipping could be a viable option.

What Dropshipping Tools Should I Use?

As you can see, there are plenty of benefits to using dropshipping as your fulfillment method, but there are some drawbacks as well.

These dropshipping tools can help you run a successful dropshipping business.

Shopify

Shopify is the biggest e-commerce platform out there, and it’s one of the quickest and easiest ways to get your store up and running.

Shopify isn’t so much a dropshipping tool as the starting point for creating your store, so it’s important to feel comfortable with it. To ensure Shopify is right for your business, you can test out a 14-day free trial.

Once you’ve decided to build your store on Shopify, you have the following pricing options:

Basic Shopify – $29/mo
Shopify – $79/mo
Advanced Shopify – $299/mo

You will still have to pay for your website hosting (here are some recommendations) which can be factored into Shopify’s price.

Whatever your goals, Shopify has a plan to suit your business needs and allows you to make the most of their customer support and a wide range of helpful plugins.

Oberlo

Oberlo is a Shopify app that links you to a large market of suppliers, allowing you to choose from a huge range of products and sync them to your website in seconds.

Their free starter package allows you to sell up to 500 products a month, so it’s an ideal way to dip your toe into dropshipping.

If you see good results, you can upgrade to the basic package for $29.90 a month, allowing you to sell more products and benefit from enhanced order tracking.

You can also choose the pro package for $79.90 a month, which allows you up to 30,000 sales.

WooCommerce

If you already have a website that runs on WordPress, or you want a cheaper alternative to Shopify, then try WooCommerce. It’s a free plugin that can turn your WordPress website into an e-commerce store.

WordPress powers around 35% of the web, so you know you’re in safe hands with this platform, and the WooCommerce plugin allows you to give it powerful e-commerce capabilities.

Spocket

Already have an e-commerce store set up? Spocket is one of the best dropshipping tools to connect you with suppliers from around the world.

Spocket integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, BigCommerce, and AliScraper. It offers a free trial which allows you to view their catalog, but to truly benefit from this tool, you need one of the paid plans:

Starter: Sell up to 25 unique products – $24/month
Pro: Sell up to 250 unique products – $49/mo
Empire: Sell up to 1,000 unique products – $99/mo

With many suppliers based in the US and Europe, Spocket is an excellent dropshipping tool for stores that value fast, easy fulfillment.

AutoDS

AutoDS is an all-in-one dropshipping tool for e-commerce stores that plugs into both Shopify and eBay. With AutoDS, you can automate processes like stock monitoring, optimizing pricing, updating tracking numbers, collecting social proof, and much more.

This dropshipping tool takes a lot of the busy work out of running your store and gives you more time to focus on boosting your sales.

One of the great things about AutoDS is they offer a vast range of packages designed to suit your business. They start at $6.33 a month for basic stores but can accommodate stores with up to 100,000 products.

Dropified

Dropified connects you with suppliers and automates your dropshipping processes. With integrations for e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, GrooveKart, and CommerceHQ, it aims to give you all the dropshipping tools you need to run a successful business.

With lots of helpful automation, Dropified is ideal for sellers looking to develop their custom brand. They offer two distinct pricing structures:

Import: $14/mo
Private Label On-Demand: $168/mo

This dropshipping tool price might seem costly, but the ability to use private labels helps you overcome one of the most significant drawbacks of dropshipping – difficulty establishing your brand.

SaleHoo

SaleHoo is a directory of wholesale companies and a great dropshipping tool for market research. Their annual plan gives you full access to the directory for $67, or you can choose a lifetime plan for $127. Those prices make it an affordable tool to research the market and find the best suppliers.

There’s also the option to upgrade to full automation, and you can get lifetime access to the SaleHoo education program for $47.

Zapier

With so many apps helping you run your business, you might be wondering how to coordinate them all. The answer is Zapier.

Zapier automates workflows across different apps, which reduces manual work. For example, when you receive an order on Shopify, Zapier can instruct MailChimp to add that customer to your monthly newsletter and create an invoice through Invoice Ninja.

With a free lifetime plan that allows you to create 5 “zaps,” Zapier is one of those dropshipping tools you’ve got to try. If you find it significantly streamlines your store, then there are many plans to choose from.

AliDropship

AliDropship connects you to suppliers. However, there’s one big difference — with AliDropship there are no monthly fees. Instead, you make a one-time payment of $89 for a lifetime subscription.

You can also have AliDropship create you a website for a one-time price of $299, making it a viable alternative to Shopify. You will have to pay for your monthly hosting, but this option is about as quick and easy as it comes in terms of getting started with dropshipping.

For sellers looking for a fast, convenient way to get into dropshipping, AliDropship is an ideal option.

Google Analytics

While many of the dropshipping tools on this list offer important insights about customers and traffic, some of the most important metrics can be found in your Google Analytics dashboard. All the data you need to know about your store is in your analytics for free.

There’s no need to pay for extra website analytics if you know how to make the most of Google Analytics, and this is the reason why it’s one of the most powerful dropshipping tools.

Track your visitors, understand where your traffic comes from, what content works well, and how to boost your store’s all-round performance by making use of the data that’s available to you.

Chili-Hunter

If you’re dropshipping through eBay, then Chili-Hunter is a handy market research tool. Use it to discover new trends, find the most profitable items to sell, and get insight into your store’s performance and your competitors.

This dropshipping tool provides vital information to maximize your profits, and the best part is it comes in one simple plan.

You can choose either a monthly membership for $39.99 per month or a yearly membership for $16.66/mo.

With Chilli-Hunter, you can find the best products to dropship and boost your business’s performance in seconds.

Conclusion

One of the biggest challenges with dropshipping is maintaining workable margins. To do this, you need your e-commerce store to be as streamline as possible so you can adapt to changing markets and build up a large volume of sales.

To scale your business, look for ways to automate areas such as marketing, order processing, and product selection. This is where dropshipping tools come in handy.

While you will need to pay the monthly subscription fees for the right dropshipping tools, the return on investment can be immense.

How do you use dropshipping tools to give your store the edge?

The post The 11 Best Dropshipping Tools appeared first on Neil Patel.

Best Content Management Systems

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A content management system—CMS for short—gives you the ability to publish content on the Internet.

These systems make it possible for everyday users to build websites and post content without having to write code or learn programming languages. Without a CMS, you’d have to write web pages using JavaScript, CSS, and HTML.

There are tons of different content management systems available on the market today. So naming just one as the definitive “best overall” option is impractical.

With that said, there are definitely CMS platforms that are better than others, depending on your specific use cases and unique scenarios. This guide will help you choose the best content management system for your website.

Here are my top picks:

The Top 6 Options For Content Management Systems

How to Choose the Best Content Management System For You

There are specific elements that you need to consider as you’re shopping around and evaluating various CMS platforms. Use the following factors as a buying guide to help narrow down your options and choose the best option for your site:

Usability

The primary factor that you need to consider is the usability of a CMS. What will you be using it for? Who specifically will be using it?

Marketers and writers might be creating the content, but those people may not have the skills to manage it online, format it, and write lines of code. If this sounds like your scenario, make sure the CMS is easy enough for non-technical users to manage.

Look for solutions with a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, drag-and-drop building tools, simple publishing features, and the ability to embed third-party content or add rich media.

The type of website you’re creating will also fall into this category. For example, blogs, ecommerce sites, and portfolio sites won’t have the same needs.

Security

Security should always be a top concern when you’re looking at CMS software.

Some platforms will have built-in safeguards and security features to fight off malicious attacks and hackers. Other tools rely on third-party plugins and extensions for security. Generally speaking, popular and open-source CMS platforms are more vulnerable to attacks. You’ll have to install your own security plugins to adequately keep your site safe.

But these platforms typically have an extensive marketplace with a plethora of plugins—so it shouldn’t be too difficult, even though it requires an extra step.

SEO

The best content management systems will come standard with features and tools to boost your SEO efforts.

Examples include XML site maps, meta descriptions, custom permalink structures, alt text, title tags, etc. In addition to these out-of-the-box SEO features, you should consider using CMS software that will let you add third-party plugins or extensions to better serve and enhance your SEO strategy.

Support

Find out what type of technical support is provided by the CMS platform you’re using.

What happens if you have a question, run into a problem, or need help? Will you be stuck to figure it out on your own? Or can you seek assistance from a support agent?

If you’re using an open-source CMS, you probably won’t have the luxury of dedicated support. You’ll have to rely on tutorials, self-help articles, and forums. But if you’re using a site builder or SaaS CMS, you can usually expect 24/7 support.

Custom Capabilities

Some CMS software will restrict what you can do with your website.

For many people, this is a non-issue. But for those of you looking for complete customization with no restrictions, you’ll have to go with an open-source CMS system.

These platforms let you customize everything using the HTML code of your site. So it’s a great choice for developers and tech-savvy users. With that said, even non-technical users can benefit from customization by leveraging third-party plugins or extensions.

If you can’t find a custom function from a feature marketplace, you’ll need to have a developer build one for you. Make sure your CMS is compatible with this level of customization if you plan to go this route.

The Different Types of Content Management Systems

CMS platforms come in all different shapes and sizes. Before we dive into the reviews for my top picks, I want to quickly explain the different options you’ll come across as you’re shopping around. Understanding the differences between these systems will make it much easier to find the best CMS for your website.

Open Source CMS

An open-source content management system can be for any purpose. Anyone can use these without a license. These platforms can be fully customized without the need to request special permission.

An open-source CMS will be cheaper than other platforms that require subscriptions. Developers and users who want full custom capabilities without restrictions will benefit from using an open-source CMS.

It’s usually fairly easy to optimize your content for search engines with open source CMS platforms. Adding plugins and other extensions to extend the functionality is fairly simple as well.

Website Builders

Site builders are great for beginners. They make it possible for non-technical users to build a website without writing code or dealing with the backend requirements.

These will usually have drag-and-drop or WYSIWYG editors.

Website builders are easy to use and allow you to publish content quickly on the web. But they are a bit restrictive in terms of what you can customize. You’ll eventually run into limitations with site builders.

For many people, that’s fine. If you don’t need to create anything complex, a website builder should be more than suitable for your needs.

Ecommerce Platforms

As the name implies, ecommerce CMS platforms are built specifically for online stores.

These platforms come out of the box with everything you need to manage your ecommerce content. You can still run an online store using an open-source CMS or website builder with ecommerce capabilities. However, if you’re starting a new ecommerce site from scratch and don’t want to do a ton of heavy-lifting, look for an ecommerce-specific CMS.

Proprietary CMS

A proprietary CMS will require a license to use.

In short, this means that someone else owns the rights that CMS. You’ll need their permission to use it. Even if you obtain a license, you probably won’t be able to duplicate the CMS. You might also encounter restrictions related to what you can customize and alter within that license. Some proprietary CMS platforms will offer developer licenses for these scenarios.

If you’re using a proprietary CMS to build your website and decide to move it somewhere else down the road, you could run into some serious problems. Some sites only work if they stay within the proprietary CMS that they were built with. So use caution if you go this route.

SaaS CMS

SaaS (software as a service) CMS are typically cloud-hosted subscription-based tools. Many of these tools come with CMS, tech support, and web hosting, all from a single provider.

The rates are usually offered on a per-site or per-user basis. Pricing is also based on storage levels, bandwidth, and support level. These systems can be offered as fully managed or partially managed solutions. The best option for you will depend on if you want to manage updates, security, backups, and other customizations on your own.

#1 – Wix Review — The Best CMS For Building New Websites

Wix is one of the easiest website builders available on the market today. Its simplicity makes it a popular choice for non-technical users who want to create a website from scratch.

I like Wix because it offers an intuitive drag-and-drop building tool. So you can add elements to your site and manage your content without writing a single line of code.

Aside from Wix being an excellent choice for beginners, here’s a quick overview of the other highlights that make this CMS stand out from the crowd:

500+ free templates
Optimized for SEO and mobile
Create password protected membership pages
Contact management tools for subscriber lists
Ecommerce capability with product pages, payment acceptance, and store management
Bookings and calendar management
Blog management tools with multiple writers and contributors
Photography, video, and media management tools
Free hosting and free SSL certificate

Overall, Wix’s content management system is extremely versatile. It’s trusted by restaurants, musicians, online stores, small businesses, bloggers, and sites in virtually every industry.

The platform is free to use with a Wix subdomain, but that’s not really practical for most users. Premium plans start at just $14 per month.

#2 – Shopify Review — The Best CMS For Ecommerce Sites

If you’re starting an online store and need an ecommerce-specific CMS, look no further than Shopify.

Businesses of all shapes and sizes have been using Shopify to sell online. Whether you’re building a new site from scratch or switching from your existing CMS, Shopify can accommodate your needs.

Let’s take a closer look and see why Shopify’s CMS platform ranks so high on my list:

Manage products and sell from your site, social media, and online marketplaces
Built-in marketing tools
Simple dashboard to manage products, orders, payments, and shipping
4,100+ apps to add features and functionality to your site
Free SSL certificate
Unlimited products
24/7 support

Shopify even has a marketplace of experts for hire. So if you need assistance with SEO or getting your store setup, you can find a qualified expert directly within the platform.

Another reason to consider Shopify as your CMS platform is because it’s built to scale. Plans start at $29 per month, and you can try it free for 14 days.

#3 – WordPress Review — The World’s Most Popular CMS

WordPress powers 38% of the Internet, making it the most popular content management system on the planet.

The platform supports everything from small personal blogs to some of the biggest news websites in the world.

As a free and open-source CMS, WordPress is virtually limitless. You’ll have total control over every aspect of your site, with no restrictions on customizations. This makes WordPress a popular choice for developers and tech-savvy users.

But even non-technical users can take advantage of WordPress. It has an extensive library of 57,000+ plugins, which makes it easy to add functionality to your site.

Other top features include:

Fully customizable designs
Mobile responsive content
SEO friendly
Powerful media management tools
High performance and easy to access

The downside of using a free and open-source CMS is that you don’t have dedicated support. But WordPress has an extensive network of developers, content creators, and site owners who are active on community forums.

You’ll also have to get your web hosting plan and domain registration on your own from third-parties.

#4 – Drupal Review — The Best WordPress Alternative CMS

Drupal is another free and open-source content management system.

If you need multiple page templates and content types, Drupal is a viable alternative to WordPress. It’s also more equipped to handle advanced user permissions.

Drupal is a popular choice for developers, marketers, and agencies alike. It’s used to manage content across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, ecommerce, retail, FinTech, travel, media, government, and more.

Some of the top features and noteworthy highlights include:

Content authoring
Content as a service
Marketing automation
Robust security
High performance, scalability, and accessibility
Advanced personalizations

So if you’re looking for open-source functionality but don’t like WordPress, I’d go with Drupal for content management.

#5 – Squarespace Review — Best CMS For Creative Professionals

Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder. But unlike other similar CMS platforms on the market, Squarespace has a unique differentiator—beautiful designs.

The award-winning templates offered by Squarespace are second to none. These can be fully customized to fit your site’s needs.

These modern designs make Squarespace a popular content management choice for creative professionals, musicians, artists, and portfolio sites. Let’s take a closer look at some of the other noteworthy highlights available with this CMS:

Free domain for the first year
Intuitive website builder
Free logo making tool
Ecommerce and blogging capabilities
Third-party extensions for expanding functionality
Built-in marketing tools
SEO tools and mobile optimized
24/7 customer support

Squarespace plans start at $12 per month. If you’re looking for a simple way to manage your portfolio site, this will be a top content management system to consider.

#6 – TYPO3 Review — The Best Enterprise CMS

TYPO3 isn’t the most well-recognized name in the CMS space. But it’s not for everyone.

It’s another free and open-source platform (like WordPress and Drupal), but it’s branded as an “enterprise-class CMS.” Global leaders like Mercedes-Benz and Sony rely on TYPO3 for content management.

In addition to being used by large corporations, TYPO3 is actually a popular choice for European-based websites. Here are some of the reasons why this CMS platform made my list:

Ability to support corporate environments
Fully scalable multi-site management
Multilingual installations
Easy to set up on your existing infrastructure
High speed and performance

The average user will likely lean towards WordPress or Drupal. But global organizations with complex content management needs should consider an alternative like TYPO3.

Summary

With so many CMS systems available on the market today, there are really only six that I can recommend with conviction.

Personally, I use WordPress. But there are plenty of other viable options to consider based on your personal needs.

Just refer to the buying guide and reviews outlined in this post to find the best content management system for you.

The post Best Content Management Systems appeared first on Neil Patel.

The 4 Best Technical SEO Companies of 2020

No matter how great the content on your website is, your hard work could amount to nothing without proper technical SEO.

Technical SEO gives your site structure, makes it super easy for search engine bots to crawl and index, and helps Google understand what each page is about.

URL structuring, robots.txt, redirect codes, canonical tags, .htaccess files, load time, and many others. It all matters.

Do all those things sound unfamiliar to you? No?

Well, you don’t need to.

Tons of companies already know this stuff and it’s really easy to work with them.

That’s where this guide comes in.

Our team at Neil Patel Digital researched, reviewed, and listed the top technical SEO companies on four criteria:

Outstanding customer reviews.
Awards, impressive clientele, and a long history of delivering stellar technical SEO work.
Thought-leadership—consistently publishing of insightful articles and trends on the topic.
A strong reputation amongst other SEO professionals.

From these criteria, we found technical SEO companies you can trust and what they’re good for:

The 4 Top Technical SEO Companies in The World

Neil Patel Digital – Best for Technical Content Structuring
Webris – Best for Technical SEO Audits
Salt.agency – Best for Enterprise Technical SEO
Orainti – Best for Ecommerce Brands

Without further ado, let’s dive into what makes us trust and bet our reputation on these companies.

1. Neil Patel Digital – Best For Technical Content Structuring

It’s been touted over and again that content is king. While there’s truth in this, what most people never take into consideration is content structuring.

Neil Patel Digital is the go-to SEO company for excellent content structuring.

Well, don’t take my word for it. Let me show you why.

From our years of extensive search engine optimization experience, we found that for content marketing to work and power long-term SEO strategy, it must have the right structure.

This is a key piece of our comprehensive SEO program.

And what have we to show for doing this, you ask?

The result of doing this speaks for itself:

Over 3 million visitors per month on this blog. All built from scratch.

Content was a huge part of this but the site wouldn’t be nearly as large without the right structure and technical SEO.

You can get access to this vast technical SEO expertise by working with the Neil Patel Digital team.

Today, we’ve developed a content marketing program with content structuring (in the form of content clusters) to help clients get technical SEO right from day one.

2. Webris – Best for Technical SEO Audits

Almost all great endeavors begin with taking in-depth audits of what’s already existing.

Technical SEO is no exception.

You won’t achieve much in your effort to optimize your site for search engine bots’ crawling and indexing without first doing a proper audit of your site’s structure.

And Webris is the company we recommend for technical SEO audits.

If you a do quick Google search for “technical SEO audit,” you’ll find this excellent content piece by Webris:

Ranking on Google’s top spot for this search term is another way of saying that earned its stripes on this list.

No company can earn that by accident.

This proves that Webris walks the talk when it comes to technical SEO audits and is a reliable option if you’re just getting started.

Founded by Ryan Stewart, the core strengths of Webris is technical SEO audits and conversion-focused UX. This company boasts of an incredibly talented team of advanced technical SEO consultants.

Major brands like Shopify and Accenture trust Webris and have worked with them.

3. Salt.agency – Best for Enterprise Technical SEO

Salt.agency prides itself on “Technical Excellence” and that’s for a good reason. This company breathes technical SEO before anything else:

Massive enterprise sites can have all sort of crazy technical problems.

If you’re running one of these sites, you need a team that’s worked with that type of complexity before.

In this case, Salt.agency is the best option.

With offices in Boston, Leeds, and London, Salt.agency’s clients include Cloudflare, Hartley Botanic, Brex, Travel Supermarket, and many others.

4. Orainti – Best for Ecommerce Brands

Orainti specializes in providing technical and strategic SEO services for brands in competitive industries.

This company approaches digital marketing and search engine optimization with a technical mindset, which justifies its inclusion in this highly-vetted list.

And they work mostly with ecommerce brands selling internationally.

International ecommerce businesses have tons of unique challenges like dealing with multilingual sites, getting product and category pages ranked properly, and avoiding duplicate content.

Orainti comes highly recommended for this.

Aleyda Solis is the Founder of Orainti. She is a veteran SEO practitioner, speaker, and author who has earned recognition and awards for her technical SEO expertise by organizations such as Forbes and European Search Awards.

Orainti boasts an impressive portfolio of top brands, including Zillow, Under Armour, Sage, Eventbrite, and others.

5 Characteristics That Make a Great Technical SEO Company

What separates the good technical SEO shops from the great ones? What would you specifically look for when choosing someone to work with?

Here’s what I look for.

1. A Complete Implementation Process that Includes Technical SEO

Technical SEO brings structure to your site. It helps search engine bots crawl, index, and rank your website correctly, which is essential for driving traffic.

Also, it helps to boost your site’s load time.

However, this doesn’t mean that once you have an excellent technical SEO, everything search engine optimization will fall in place automatically.

The best technical SEO companies have a complete SEO program including manual site review, technical SEO implementation, content strategy, and others.

If you’re really good at SEO already and just need a quick SEO audit to double check everything, you could get value at working with a specialist. But for everyone else, I recommend working with someone that understands the complete SEO strategy. It’s the only way to build a site with tons of traffic.

2. Thought leadership

It takes lots of experimentation to implement technical SEO strategies that move the needle. Companies that embark on this kind of excruciating work always like to document their experience and findings.

Working with SEO thought leaders increases the odds of a successful project.

After all, if someone can successfully teach technical SEO, they can also help your business directly.

Publishing cutting-edge content about technical SEO is a great sign that they’ll deliver amazing results.

3. An Impressive Client Portfolio

An excellent way to see if the expertise and processes used by a technical SEO company works is by looking at its client portfolio.

There is nuance here.

Having a ton of major brands is great. But that doesn’t mean that you can get help with your exact situation.

Ideally, the technical SEO company has worked with similar companies like your own.

4. Real Life Results

The nice thing about technical SEO is that it’s extremely practical. Technical problems come up that tanks traffic. Then technical SEO experts fix those problems.

It’s cut and dry.

Any great technical SEO company should have plenty of case studies where they turned around a site after it got hit. The more obscure the technical problem, the more likely they’ll be able to find weird problems on your own site.

Sometimes, these case studies are published on their site. But a lot of companies don’t like sharing the best stories. So ask their team as you talk to them. They should be able to give you plenty of examples during a call.

5. A Diversified Team

Covering every last technical SEO requirement is way too big of a task for a single person. You’ll need a fully-staffed team to do it all. Especially on major sites.

Go through the company’s team pages and LinkedIn employees, then look for lots of depth and expertise across the entire team.

What to Expect from a Great Technical SEO Company

If you’re like most people who only realize the need for technical SEO late on, you’ll probably be wondering what you should expect from one.

The most significant things to expect are what follows.

1. A discovery session

After you reach out to a technical SEO company, they’ll want to get on a call to understand what you’re looking for.

It’s the only way to understand the goals that you have for your site.

If a technical SEO company wants to jump straight into an audit without even getting on the phone, it’s a sign they’re running an “audit mill” and aren’t going to spend much time on your project.

Find a company that wants to go really deep and understand the full picture.

2. A one-time audit proposal

Most technically SEO companies will perform a one-time audit for a flat fee.

Since this is a standard part of their practice, they can usually jump into this right away.

Assuming their fee works with your budget, you could have someone get started within a week. That’s how easy it is to get going.

Before starting the audit, ask them for everything that they’ll check. It should include everything like canonical problems, indexing issues, duplicate content, other Google Search Console errors, everything.

If the list doesn’t feel extremely comprehensive, get a few quotes from other companies.

3. Completing the audit

Once you’ve agreed to move forward with an audit, the company will get started.

These usually take a few weeks to complete, depending on the size of your site.

Of course, you’ll need to give them access to your Google Analytics, Google Search Console, WordPress account, and possibly your web host.

During the audit, there shouldn’t be much work for you or your team. The company performing the audit may have questions but they can do the vast majority of the work on their own.

4. Implementation proposal

Most technical SEO audits only include the discovery of site issues. The project doesn’t usually include the work that’s required to fix any problems.

This is because most problems don’t have easy fixes.

For example, if your site has terrible site speed that’s impacting your rankings, you’ll need to do a ton of front-end work in order to fix it. That will also involve your marketing team and possibly other agencies.

So once the audit is complete, expect to see a proposal that includes implementing any solutions.

Something to watch for here: a great technical SEO company will know the limits of it’s expertise. When they find problems outside their capabilities, they’ll tell you and advise you to work with someone else on fixing them. Site rebuilds and content marketing are good examples of this.

If a technical SEO agency tells you that it can fix every single problem, double check and make sure they truly have real expertise in those areas.

Should I take Technical SEO Seriously?

Yes!

Technical SEO is like the frame of your house. Only with good bones can your content and marketing drive traffic to your site.

But, as things add up, and you have hundreds or thousands of pages on your site, something is going to break.

Search engines have a harder time crawling your site, content isn’t indexed, and your site speed slows way down.

Even if you start with a great foundation, you need a healthy rebuild every few years.

If you haven’t done a deep technical SEO audit recently, now’s the time.

The post The 4 Best Technical SEO Companies of 2020 appeared first on Neil Patel.

The 5 Best Email Marketing Companies of 2020

Almost everyone uses email.

But here’s the sweet part.

The people you’re trying to reach or retain already have active email addresses. Heck, most of them used or would use one to sign-up for your service or product.

If you can get into (and stay) in people’s inbox, you can make a ton of money. Data shows companies can generate $38 for every $1 email investment.

Unfortunately, getting into an inbox is not a stroll in the park.

Now that’s where the best email marketing companies come in.

These companies will help you to strategize, collect relevant email addresses, create, and manage email marketing campaigns that drive business growth.

How do I know this?

Our team at Neil Patel Digital vetted hundreds of email marketing companies based on their brand reputation, client portfolio, ratings, and their areas of expertise.

The result?

The very top email agencies you can trust. Not only would they get you into the inbox of your ideal customers, but these companies can keep you in there till you turn prospects into brand advocates.

The 5 Top Email Marketing Companies in The World

Neil Patel Digital – Best for email content
Inbox Army – Best for full-service email management
Fix My Churn – Best for SaaS onboarding email and churn
Action Rocket – Best for custom HTML & CSS enterprise email
SmartMail – Best for ecommerce email marketing

I’m confident the best email marketing companies listed above and reviewed below are reliable because of their proven track records.

Hire any of them, according to your needs, and they’ll help you to turn email marketing into a growth channel for your business.

Without further ado, let’s explore each of these companies and see for yourself why we consider them the very best.

#1 Neil Patel Digital – Best For Email Content

Email marketing is effective, no doubt. But it has its downside too.

According to two different studies, between 0.19% and 0.52% of your email subscribers would unsubscribe per email you send.

Now, guess what was one of the top three reasons found Jilt, an email marketing software, responsible for why people unsubscribe from emails?

Bad content!

In other words, irrespective of how excellent your email marketing strategy is, writing killer emails that resonate with your prospects and keeps you in their inbox requires excellent content.

And that’s where we, Neil Patel Digital, come in. It is also why clients, from startups to enterprise brands, love working with us.

Email is also an excellent channel for content distribution.

However, he quality of content has to be amazing. If not, your unsubscribes will tank the ROI of your email campaigns.

Again, this is one area we stand out from the crowd.

At Neil Patel Digital, our email content service starts by producing engaging content your customers and prospects will love.

Then, we use email marketing as one of the channels to promote it:

You can check out Neil Patel Digital’s content services here.

#2 InboxArmy – best for full-service email management

For in-house teams looking for rapid email marketing turn around, InboxArmy comes highly recommended.

As a full-service email management company, InboxArmy offers a spectrum of services, including email templates’ design, custom coding, and 360-degree email marketing management:

This agency offers volume-based pricing for companies and white label services for fellow digital marketing agencies, which goes to prove their experience.

And they serve clients from government agencies like Texas Health Resources, to companies such as LandCentral, Airbnb, Jockey, and several others.

#3 Fix My Churn – best for SaaS onboarding email and churn

When it comes to email marketing, Software as a Service (SaaS) brands have special needs.

First, when new trial users sign-up, they need excellent email onboarding sequences to convert them into happy, paying customers.

And if an existing customer stops using your product or wants to churn, you can retain them with relevant churn email.

Fix My Churn specializes in these two areas:

Fix My Churn collaborates with tech companies with a monthly subscription business model.

The company applies top-notch SaaS copywriting skills to craft relationship-based email sequences to keep customers happy.

#4 Action Rocket – best for custom HTML & CSS enterprise email

Action Rocket needs no introduction in the enterprise email marketing sector.

This company even partners with the top email marketing software brands like MailChimp, Litmus, and Campaign Monitor to drive innovation in the email space.

Action Rocket has years of experience strategizing and executing custom HTML and CSS email and CRM development programs for enterprise companies:

Founded in 2011, the company works with a knit-team of experienced developers who are excellent at strategy, design, and coding of complex and customized email programs.

And their clientele speaks for themselves, including the BBC, Marks & Spencer, Global Radio, and many others.

#5 SmartMail – Best for eCommerce email marketing

SmartMail is the Done For You (DFY) email marketing company that comes highly recommended by ecommerce businesses.

This company handles everything ecommerce email marketing for online stores. And excel most at launching campaigns based on automated triggers.

Across the customer lifetime cycle, SmartMail is exceptional at strategizing and executing optimized email marketing campaigns for ecommerce businesses.

And they have a track record and excellent results to show.

SmartMail has generated over $187 million in revenues for ecommerce brands via email, sent billions of emails, and serve over 87 businesses, including Skechers, French Connection, Cotton:On, and others.

5 Characteristics That Make a Great Email Marketing Company

What characteristics make an email marketing company great?

They are as follows.

1. Well-versed in content creation

Most companies get buried in strategizing and outlining plans for email marketing.

What they wrongly relegate to the backseat?

Content creation!

The quality of your email’s content goes a long way in determining how effective your email marketing campaigns would be.

A fundamental characteristic of the top email marketing company is to focus on creating engaging content to power your email campaigns.

And a world-class email company will help you blent top-tier content with amazing promotions to also get the conversions that you need. Great companies blend the two seamlessly.

2. An Impressive Portfolio

An email marketing company that claims to be among the best must have something to back that claim up.

One of such things is their client portfolio.

Who have they implemented a series of email marketing campaigns for? Were those campaigns successful?

Anyway, you don’t even need to ask a top email marketing company those questions, as you’ll find the answers in their clients’ portfolio.

And looking out for this portfolio-displaying characteristic in top email marketing also does you good.

It helps you to see who they have helped and to decide if they’ll be a good fit for your company.

At Neil Patel Digital, we have a clients you may recognize.

3. Thought Leadership

In its 40 years of existence, email marketing has evolved tremendously.

What worked yesterday may not work today. And even if it does work, it may require a different approach.

Due to the always-evolving nature of trends and modern strategies applicable to email marketing, top companies must keep pace with these changes to deliver the best work.

Thought-leadership is how the top email marketing brands keep such needed pace with the industry.

And they do this by sharing new learnings, experiments, emerging strategies, and tactics publicly to retain brand reputation among other professionals.

So, you should do some research and look out for this characteristic, as it is an excellent way to spot a top email marketing company.

4. Real Life Testimonials

Anyone can claim to be the best, but it is what others say about them shows their competence most.

In the business setting, you’ll find how past and existing clients feel and say of a company’s work in the testimonials they leave behind.

The truth is executing a successful email campaign that drives growth for a company is hard.

A notable characteristic of the top email marketing company is the real-life testimonials they receive from clients for their work publicly.

5. A Diversified Team of Experts

A lot of thought goes into a successful email marketing campaign.

From strategy to the acquisition of email addresses, selection of email marketing software, email copywriting, and campaign management, they all require some different kind of expertise.

Established email marketing brands are never a one-person show. It is usually a team of experts, collaborating to drive results.

And that’s one characteristic of top email marketing companies: Displaying the entire team that works to plan, execute, manage, and optimize email campaigns:

What to Expect from a Great Email Marketing Company

Ultimately, an exceptional email marketing company to help you turn email into a real business growth channel that:

Nurture prospects into customers
Facilitates customer relationship management
Turns email marketing into a reliable content medium.

But to get to these benefits, there are steps to expect before you start working with one. Some of the most notable ones are what follows.

1. A discovery session

As you saw in the review and categorization of the best email marketing companies based on their areas of expertise above, not all can serve all clients across all industries.

To determine if they can solve your specific problems, excellent email marketing companies start by getting to fill an inquiry form.

Filling this inquiry form allows you to share your challenges and business goals related to email marketing.

After filling this form, expect a discovery session where an expert would talk one-on-one with you to understand your needs better.

2. Research & strategy recommendations

A discovery call allows the company to gain more clarity and context about your business needs relevant to email. But, don’t expect them to propose a solution right off the bat.

Top email marketing brands would typically use what you shared with them to delve into research.

From there, they can make sense of how to tackle your challenges and identify the best possible strategies they can deploy to work with you.

Expect to receive a summary of their research and recommendations via email or another call, which usually ends with deciding if you’re fit to work together.

3. A contract with project deliverables

If everything goes well up to this point, and you like their recommendations, expect a contract that outlines what a top email marketing company would do, and what it’ll cost to work with you.

This contract also outlines project timelines and deliverables, legal requirements to work together, and your expected investment.

4. Client onboarding

If the contract, project scope, deliverables, pricing, and others look good, exceptional email marketing companies would have a custom onboarding process to initiate the process of working with your company.

This onboarding process will help you and the company to establish an understanding of how to manage your product, and any other thing necessary for a smooth working relationship.

Start Email Marketing from Day One

Don’t make the mistake of starting email marketing later on.

Most businesses recognize the need for social media, SEO, content marketing, and others early on, but they leave emails to the backseat because it is not trending.

Well, you shouldn’t.

A few reasons to take start email marketing from day one are:

Marketers who used email marketing to segment their audience said they saw a 760% increase in revenue.

That’s unreal.

Whether you do email yourself and get help from one of the top email companies, get started today.

The post The 5 Best Email Marketing Companies of 2020 appeared first on Neil Patel.

The 5 Best Link Building Companies of 2020

What are backlinks to search engine optimization? Short version: They’re signals Google uses to determine if your website is a reputable resource worthy of citation. The long and sweet version? The more quality backlinks pointing to your website, the higher your chances of ranking for profitable keywords and competitive search queries that drive sales. You’ll …

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The 5 Best Link Building Companies of 2020

What are backlinks to search engine optimization?

Short version: They’re signals Google uses to determine if your website is a reputable resource worthy of citation.

The long and sweet version?

The more quality backlinks pointing to your website, the higher your chances of ranking for profitable keywords and competitive search queries that drive sales.

You’ll generate more targeted traffic, leads, and customers.

TThe SEO research tool, SEMrush, revealed backlinks account for as much as five SEO top 10 ranking factors:

Due to how essential links are to rankings and traffic, you’ll find a host of companies promising to help you generate backlinks at the click of a button.

If only it were that easy!

Acquiring top-quality backlinks isn’t a stroll in the park.

Our team at Neil Patel Digital reviewed and listed the top companies for building links.

The 5 Top Link-Building Companies in the World

Neil Patel Digital – Best for Linkable Content Marketing
FATJOE – Best for Blogger Outreach
Page One Power – Best for Strategic Links
The HOTH – Best for Guest Posting
RhinoRank – Best for Curated Link Building

1. Neil Patel Digital – Best For Linkable Content Marketing

The creation and distribution of linkable assets is the most reliable way to get people linking back to your website.

Called editorial links, Google and other search engines prioritize such links.

The reason for this?

They’re natural, and indeed a vote of confidence other sites show for the content resources on your own website.

Another name for this type of link-building strategy is linkable content marketing.

And Neil Patel Digital excels at this.

I’ve amassed millions of backlinks to this blog:

That’s over 3 million backlinks.

And they came from organic keywords (over 1.7 million), generating more than 3.4 million monthly organic traffic in the process.

The Neil Patel Digital experience spans over five decades to help you get similar results.

And we leveraged this experience and vast expertise to develop a holistic, battle-tested content marketing program that helps our customers generate high-quality backlinks.

It starts with auditing, optimizing, and creating new, high-quality content people would love to link to.

Then, promotion, so even influencers can find and reference them.

This proven program powers us to create and distribute content marketing assets that get high-quality backlinks, higher rankings, and qualified traffic.

In short, this is why our customers, from startup to grow-stage and enterprise companies, love working with Neil Patel Digital.

2. FATJOE – Best for Blogger Outreach

You may have linkable content resources on your site. What if other websites or bloggers don’t know those assets exist? No one would link to them, right?

Yup, that’s a problem.

To make people, especially bloggers, aware of your content, you need what SEOs call blogger outreach.

And this is what FATJOE excels at doing. They’re a reliable blogger outreach service even other agencies rely on for generating backlinks:

The experienced SEO expert, Joe Taylor, founded FATJOE. And they’ve been in business since 2012, helping over 5,000 clients worldwide get backlink placements via blogger outreach.

About 97% of those 5k plus customers rate FATJOE a 4.5/5.

However, FATJOE is best for acquiring links from websites with domain authority between DA10 and DA50. And prices per link placement range from $45 to $465.

3. Page One Power – Best for Strategic Links

Getting backlinks from higher domain websites (DA60+) needs a combination of linkable assets, outreach, and high-level strategy.

Page One Power, although more expensive and not a productized service like FATJOE, excels at this.

Yearly, this company is behind the acquisition of more than 15,000 strategic backlinks on average to its clients from higher domain websites.

And Page One Power achieves this, leveraging its 10 years of experience and 982 active partners:

If you have the budget that starts at $550 per link, with more for a monthly retainer, you should turn to Page One Power for their consistent, strategic link-building expertise.

And can you make this turn, knowing other businesses, such as QuickBooks, Healthline, BOTTSTICH, and several others, trust Page One Power’s strategic link acquisition services, too.

4. The HOTH – Best for Guest Posting

What if you’ve done everything possible, yet people still won’t link to your site?

The HOTH, a company successful for its guest posting services, can help, and they come highly recommended:

The HOTH’s guest post, backlinking service covers everything from manual outreach, securing guest post slots, and creating the guest content piece with links to your site.

Their industry experience and expertise have seen them work with or get mentioned on reputable websites such as Forbes, Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies, Salesforce’s Dreamforce, and others.

The HOTH is a productized link-building service like FATJOE, allows you to purchase guest posts and backlinks with a few clicks.

With this company, you can get backlinks from websites with domain authority ranging from DA10-DA50. And prices are between $100-$500, depending on the quality of website you want links from.

5. RhinoRank – Best for Curated Link-building

Sometimes, other websites already have published content pieces with info relevant to assets on your own site.

In such a case, reach out to the webmasters of those sites and ask for a link, otherwise called curated link-building.

Based on our review, RhinoRank is the go-to company for this type of link acquisition tactic. They do all the hard labor, reaching out to several webmasters to secure backlinks for its clients in existing content on those webmasters’ domains:

Not only will RhinoRank reach out to webmasters, they’ll take it a step further by ensuring those links are weaved naturally with the right anchor text.

RhinoRank serves over 200 companies and SEO agencies globally.

The price of each curated link generated for customers by RhinoRank starts from $35.

5 Characteristics that Make a Great Link-Building Company

For each link-building strategy and company recommended above, you’ll find hundreds, if not thousands, of others promising the same things.

So, what characteristics make a great link-building company if you wanted to find an ideal company to work with and do your own due diligence?

Let’s look at the most significant ones.

1. A Holistic SEO Implementation Process that Includes Link-Building

Link-building is a crucial part of SEO, but it is not a silver bullet. On its own, it won’t drive traffic and help you generate leads.

You can amass links, but if the search engines don’t trust those links or the content being linked to, those efforts amount to nothing.

Thus, an essential characteristic of great link-building companies is to have a holistic SEO program with all the bolts and nuts, including content creation, promotion, and link acquisition.

2. An Impressive Client Portfolio

An excellent way to judge the processes and expertise of a company is via its client portfolio.

Thus, as other companies with hands-on experience would do, the top link-building companies have the characteristic of displaying their ability to generate backlinks by showing off a portfolio of clients they’ve helped to get backlinks.

3. Thought leadership

The best link-building companies aren’t just great at acquiring backlinks.

They also have the characteristic of sharing all their learnings on their way to helping themselves and other companies generate high-quality backlinks.

You want a team that knows the best strategies and tactics that work today.

For example, if you Google “link-building Neil Patel,” you’ll find my in-depth guides.

4. Real Life Testimonials

A good criterion for determining if a link-building company is among the very best is to look at their customer testimonials.

Thus, a characteristic you’ll find with the top link-building companies in the world are real-life testimonials, highlighting what customers say about working with them.

5. A Diversified Team

One person can write a guest post and send you a few links. But you’ll need a diversified team of experts to execute more strategic and extensive link-building campaigns.

As we’ve shown you, the best link-building companies excel at planning and executing these bigger, more effective link acquisition strategies.

And to do that, they usually work with a team of diversified experts, which you can look up to as one of their characteristics:

What to Expect from a Great Link-Building Company

If you take on the services of a link-building company, you judge them by their ability to get you links. It’s that simple.

However, there’s a wide gap between contacting a company and getting those juicy links.

So, what should you expect if you decide to work with any of the link-building companies reviewed above?

1. A discovery session

Your business needs are different from those of others, and so would your link-building needs. Thus, the link acquisition strategies that worked for one site won’t work for yours automatically.

The best link-building companies have experience generating links for different organizations. Thus, they don’t jump straight into sending you proposals.

Instead, they start the process of helping to customize a strategy for your business by allowing you to share your exact business needs over a discovery session.

2. Research & strategic recommendations

Once you’ve booked and discussed your business needs with a link-building company, the best ones take what you tell them and leverage their experience to conduct in-depth research.

After this research, you should receive a host of strategic link-building recommendations most suited to your business. Most companies would share this with you via email or over another discovery call.

3. A contract with project deliverables

Once everyone decides that the project is a good fit, it’s time to get a contract in place.

Deliverables, deadlines, resources required, and budget should all clearly be outlined in detail.

4. Client onboarding

The next thing to expect from a top link-building is an onboarding process. It sets the stage for working with you to achieve your link acquisition and related business goals.

Depending on your work scope, you’ll need to bring on your in-house staff and share your website, blog, analytics, etc. with the company.

This onboarding process also establishes an understanding of how the company would manage your project.

Link-Building Isn’t a One-Time Activity

Unfortunately, link building isn’t a one-off project. I wish it was.

But links decay, pages decay, and Google’s always looking for freshness.

You’ll need ongoing links to keep your site at the top of the rankings.

This is the main reason why companies try to get help. It’s exhausting trying to do it yourself all the time.

However you decide to do it, treat link-building as an ongoing, long-term activity that’s a core part of your SEO strategy.

Doing this is how you’ll get maximum results.

The post The 5 Best Link Building Companies of 2020 appeared first on Neil Patel.

The 5 Best Amazon Marketing Companies of 2020

Amazon continues to dominate as the world’s largest e-commerce site.

They already have an existing pool of active users and billions in revenue to plug your store into and start making sales.

But as you’ll expect, millions of other store owners are also fighting for a piece of Amazon’s customers.

So, with over 2.5 million sellers and more than 353 million different products to contend with, how do you rise above the noise and get your store found?

You need excellent marketing strategies unique to Amazon’s marketplace.

And that’s where the top Amazon marketing companies come in.

From setting up your store properly, optimizing the content of your product descriptions for target keywords to PPC, email marketing and others, you’ll need it all. What Amazon marketing companies can you trust?

You’ll find the answer to that question and more in this guide.

The 5 Top Amazon Marketing Companies in The World

Neil Patel Digital – Best for Store & Product Content Marketing
Thrive Agency – Best for Amazon PPC
Vertical Rail – Best for Amazon Account Management
Voice SEO – Best for Amazon Echo and Voice Search Optimization
Voy Media – Best for Amazon Social Media Marketing

No doubt, there are hundreds, if not thousands of Amazon marketing companies. A quick search on Google, and you’ll come back more confused than when you started your search.

And online, you’ll find dozens of domains, listing digital marketing companies and consultants on their ranks of top Amazon marketing agencies.

The only problem?

Most of these ranked agencies offer the same services or only have Amazon marketing as one of their numerous services.

Marketing that generates sales on Amazon is highly competitive. Hence, it’s best to avoid marketing generalists who do everything under the sun for a buck when marketing on Amazon.

My recommendation?

Work with a marketing company with deep expertise in Amazon, and they’ll help you to grow your store on the Amazon platform.

To make it easier for you, my team took the time to review and rank the top Amazon marketing companies based on what they are exceptional for, as you’ll find below.

#1 Neil Patel Digital — Best for Store and Products’ Content Marketing

About 23% of global shoppers said they first visit Amazon when they lack shopping inspiration. And for general online shoppers, 89% of them said they preferred Amazon to other e-commerce sites.

Do you know what this means?

It means that if your store and products are excellently optimized for the internet and Amazon’s search engines, they’ll find you when they make this research.

No doubt, a lot goes into the mix of getting your store and products to rank highly on the web and Amazon. But, content is still the king of the web, and that includes on Amazon.

With exceptional, SEO-driven content marketing, you can steer clear of the competition and help shoppers to find your store and products when they jump online to shop.

Content can make your store and products discoverable to drive targeted traffic. It can also help to engage prospects until they hit your checkout button on Amazon.

Neil Patel Digital’s specialty and core thinking is developing content marketing strategies that are both discoverable and engaging:

And don’t take my word for it.

Companies around the world, including those who sell on Amazon, turn to Neil Patel Digital and love us for our expertise in using content to drive sales.

We regularly do audience and keyword research, store optimization, and product descriptions that align with search queries on Amazon.

And at Neil Patel Digital, we have a battle-tested SEO program to drive effective and engaging content marketing campaigns for Amazon sellers.

Finally, Neil Patel Digital is one of the few marketing companies with positive ratings on countless independent review sites:

#2 Thrive Agency — Best for Amazon PPC

Only 3% of online shoppers who search for goods and services on Amazon go on to shop elsewhere.

That is, when shoppers start on Amazon, they end up buying from a seller on Amazon.

But when these buyers search things on Amazon, 70% of them don’t go past the first page and a whopping 64% click on the 1st three results.

In other words, if you sell a competitive product, not only must your store be on Amazon’s top search results’ page to get found, you must also make the very top spots.

For this, you need to invest in Amazon PPC.

And the company that comes highly recommended is Thrive Agency:

Thrive Agency has been helping Amazon sellers drive sales via PPC management since its existence in 2005 and have grown into a household name with offices in 25 locations in the US.

This company has over 150 five-star reviews across Google, Facebook, and Clutch.

Thrive Agency’s work and expertise in Amazon PPC is among the services that has earned them numerous awards from reputable domains, and they equally have Amazon-specific case studies.

#3 Vertical Rail — Best for Amazon Account Management

How you manage your Amazon account goes a long way in determining how much sales your store can generate on the platform in the long-term.

And a lot go into the equation of managing an Amazon store to transform it into a thriving business.

For example, account health, shipping performance, product deactivation, intellectual property violations, and several others all have an impact on how you market your store and products on Amazon.

Hence, to ensure 100% compliance, most sellers turn to seasoned Amazon account management services.

And one company you can trust in this area is Vertical Rail:

Vertical Rail also consults for sellers that prefer to keep the management of their Amazon accounts in-house.

For this, they provide consulting services such as Amazon store setup, product listings, Buy Box strategy, ongoing staff training, and others to help you market your store on Amazon more effectively.

They have numerous Amazon-specific case studies to show their for their work:

#4 Voice SEO – Best for Amazon Echo and Voice Search Optimization

Worldwide, the use of voice-enabled technology for shopping is growing rapidly.

In the US, for example, over 111 million people used voice-assisted devices in 2019.

And one of the most-used devices is the Amazon Echo.

In short, over 65% of brands project voice ordering would play a critical role in future marketing and sales strategies. Also, two-thirds of consumers with a voice-enabled device said they consider using their voice devices to place orders.

What do these trends show?

If you properly optimize your Amazon store and product listings for Amazon Echo and voice search generally, you’ll boost your marketing efforts.

And one company focused on helping Amazon sellers on this front is Voice SEO:

Voice SEO offers a full-fledged voice and Alexa search optimization services, including coverage for Apple’s Siri and the Google Assistant.

TopSEOs, a reputable ranking domain, ranks Voice SEO as the number one marketing company for voice search optimization.

Voice SEO is a California-based marketing company with a transparent pricing model, which starts at $3,000 monthly.

And this company has earned relevant awards and accreditations to show for their commitment to excellence

#5 Voy Media – Best for Amazon Social Media Marketing

With this amount of addiction to social media, it’s safe to assume that when people aren’t shopping for new items on Amazon, you could find them on one social media platform.

If you do a great marketing job on a social platform your target audience frequents, you can engage and drive them to your Amazon store and product listings.

Most successful Amazon sellers leverage social media to drive growth.

And one marketing company exceptional at helping Amazon sellers take advantage of social media to drive sales is Voy Media:

Not only is Voy Media a top Facebook marketing company for e-commerce brands and Amazon sellers, but their Amazon marketing services extends to Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and others.

Voy Media combines strategy and high-level creative deployments to help Amazon sellers drive sales via social media.

And they have dozens of impressive case studies in their portfolio.

5 Characteristics That Make a Great Amazon Marketing Company

No Amazon marketing company becomes great overnight. Even in rare exceptions where one does, there are characteristics that show they know their onions.

Let’s explore some of such characteristics below.

1. They Know the Amazon Platform In-side Out

Most marketing companies will claim their generic digital marketing services apply to the Amazon ecosystem automatically.

That’s not 100% correct.

Marketing on Amazon has its best practices, dos and don’ts. Hence, a characteristic of exceptional Amazon marketing companies is a practical, in-side out knowledge of the platform.

To can check for this trait, see if the company has guides or training resources, teaching how to increase sales on Amazon:

2. A process for implementing their core service

This characteristic of the best Amazon marketing agencies has two dimensions.

First, it’s a reminder that the top agencies have a core Amazon marketing service. And that they have developed tested programs for implementing this service.

3. A diverse team of experts

Successful Amazon store and products’ marketing campaigns start from proper store setup, optimization and products listings to descriptions development of brand-specific creatives, and others.

It also depends on knowing what PPC keywords to bid on and how to optimize your pricing strategy to outrank competitors with positive ROI to show.

All the above hardly works with a one-man team.

Hence, a characteristic you’ll find with exceptional Amazon marketing companies is a team of diverse experts:

4. Impressive clients’ portfolio

Scrolling the website of any marketing company is something we do on default before we even consider talking to them.

And I highly recommend this, as that’s an excellent way to see who they have produced results for.

But when it comes to Amazon marketing companies, you can confirm if they belong in the top league by checking if they have an impressive clients’ portfolio:

5. Real customer testimonials

Next to an impressive portfolio of clients, real testimonials by past and existing customers is a characteristic of exceptional Amazon marketing companies.

You should look out for this, as it gives you a sense of what customers they’ve served think of their services.

What To Expect From a Great Amazon Marketing Company

Top Amazon marketing companies exist first to help sellers score positive ROI on the platform.

As I’ve shown you so far, the seller competition is sky-high on Amazon. And with more adoption of the platform by consumers and sellers alike, there’s no sign of this slowing down soon.

With a top Amazon marketing company, you can navigate this growing competition, reach customers when it matters, and grow a profitable business on the e-commerce site.

To partner with one, some steps you’ll likely follow are:

1. Filling an inquiry form

Filling an inquiry form is the first step to partnering with a top Amazon marketing company.

As I said earlier, exceptional Amazon marketing brands are there to help you drive more sales. But to help your store generate more sales on Amazon, you’ll need to share your unique challenges and needs via the inquiry or contact form on their site.

2. A discovery session

An inquiry form usually only scratches the surface on your needs or how a marketing company can help you.

Expect an experienced Amazon marketing company to invite you to a discovery session where you’ll share more insights into your needs and challenges over a one-on-one call with an expert.

3. Strategic recommendations

A discovery session allows an expert at a top Amazon marketing company to get a more insightful grasp of your challenges and needs.

After this call, most will assign tasks to relevant members on their team to perform in-depth research, using what you shared with them.

Strategic recommendations customized to your needs, as it concerns driving more sales on Amazon with marketing is usually the outcome of conducting in-depth research based on what you’ve shared with a top Amazon marketing company up to this point.

So expect this.

4. A Proposal and contract

Top Amazon marketing companies usually hop on a call to discuss and clarify findings from their research and strategic recommendations.

In some cases, you’ll receive this as a document via email.

And if conversations with you and a top Amazon marketing is positive up to this point, expect to receive a proposal and contract to work together.

Conclusion: Is Partnering with a Top Amazon Marketing Company Worth it?

Yes.

Amazon’s growth is steadily on the rise.

Not only is Amazon the world’s largest e-commerce marketplace for sellers with but it is miles ahead of its closest rival, Walmart.

Millions of sellers are flocking to Amazon for a bite of the billions the platform generates. And this scenario explains why selling on Amazon is so competitive.

For instance, only 200,000 (about 0.08%) on Amazon manage to cross the $100,000 revenue mark.

To give yourself a chance of succeeding on Amazon, partnering with a top Amazon marketing company is a no-brainer, as there’s more that meets the eye in driving sales on Amazon.

And you won’t go wrong, choosing from any of the top five companies I profiled above. Or, start by going through this detailed marketing training I created for Amazon sellers.

The post The 5 Best Amazon Marketing Companies of 2020 appeared first on Neil Patel.

Best Collaboration Software

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Collaboration software has become a must-have tool for businesses today.

With teams scattered across different locations working remotely, these tools ensure that everyone can communicate and collaborate effectively. From simple check-ins and real-time status updates to ongoing project management, collaboration software can accommodate businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Your organization can even use collaboration software to improve the way you work with clients, contractors, and stakeholders in your business.

By leveraging collaboration tools, everyone will benefit from improved workflows and have greater access to crucial information.

But in order to take advantage of these benefits, your first task will be finding the right collaboration software for your business—and there are a ton of options out there.

To make your decision easier, use the buying guide and recommendations that I’ve reviewed in this post.

The Top 6 Options For Collaboration Software

How to Choose the Best Collaboration Software For You

As previously mentioned, there are lots of different collaboration tools available on the market today. With dozens, if not hundreds of options to choose from, narrowing down the best option for your business can feel like a tall task.

To ease the buying process, I’ve identified the top factors that must be considered as you’re evaluating different options. I’ll quickly explain each one in greater detail below.

Software Type

Collaboration software comes in all different shapes and sizes.

You’ll come across solutions built for project management, while others are made specifically for instant messaging or video conferencing. There are even some all-in-one solutions on the market today.

The best option for you will depend on the needs of your business. Some of you might just need an internal messaging tool, as opposed to a platform for document storage or task management. We’ll discuss the different types of collaboration software in greater detail a bit later in this guide.

Business Size

How large is your company?

In addition to the number of people on your team, the amount of teams, departments, and other segments should also be taken into consideration.

For example, you might want to have a tool that every single person within your organization can use to contact another employee. But files being shared by the accounting team or human resources department shouldn’t be available for your marketing team to access. Your sales staff shouldn’t be able to access sensitive financial records.

So make sure the software you’re considering allows you to create different groups for each department or project. You’ll also want to look for features to manage permissions and access for each individual user.

Usability

Collaboration software should be making your life easier, not more difficult.

There are some tools out there that are undoubtedly more complex than others. Depending on your needs and the technical skill level of the end-users, that’s fine. Any time you’re using new software, there will always be a learning curve. So you’ll need to keep that in mind.

However, after the first couple of weeks or months using the software, your entire team should be fairly proficient. If not, it could add complexity to your processes, as opposed to boosting performance and productivity.

I strongly recommended that you take advantage of demos and free trials. This will truly give you a better understanding of which options are the easiest to use.

Organizational Tools

This piggybacks off of our last point. The best collaboration software will make it easy for you to stay organized.

Depending on the software in question, there might be task cards, folders, groups, or other ways to keep everything in order. How can you jump from one project to another? Will users easily be able to find a file or document that was shared by a coworker? Can supervisors and project managers keep track of everything at a higher level?

At scale, the way everything gets organized within your collaboration software is amplified. If you’re just running a small team with five users working on a single project, this may not be important. But when that number jumps into the hundreds or thousands, staying organized becomes critical.

Integrations

Your collaboration software should seamlessly integrate with other tools and software that your company is using.

From CMS to CRMs, email software, cloud storage services, and more, make sure you check out those integrations before you finalize your decision. It’s easier to use collaboration software if everything can be managed and accessed from a single platform. Otherwise, users will have to bounce back and forth between different tools, which isn’t ideal from an efficiency standpoint.

The Different Types of Collaboration Software

Before we jump into the reviews and recommendations, I want to clearly identify and explain the different types of collaboration tools on the market today. Here are some of the options that you’ll come across as you’re browsing around:

Project Management Software

As the name implies, project management software is designed for teams that are working on different projects. A project can be defined as something with a clearly defined start and end date.

This could be anything from a full-scale app development project to a smaller marketing campaign.

Project management tools allow your teams to work on projects collaboratively while sometimes automating tasks. If this is what you’re looking for, make sure you find a solution that fits your project management style (lean management, agile management, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, etc.).

Lots of project management tools are branded as an all-in-one team collaboration solution.

File Sharing and Document Storage

Some solutions are made specifically for sharing files and documents.

With these tools, team members can transfer, distribute, and customize access to shared files. A file could be anything from an image to a PDF or even larger files like software, videos, or ebooks.

It’s much easier and more secure to manage files and collaborate with a cloud tool as opposed to transferring files via email.

Instant Messaging

Messaging tools are ideal for teams that want to benefit from real-time communication. If you need a quick answer or want to communicate back and forth with a coworker, an instant message is definitely more efficient than an email.

These are also great for group chats where multiple members can communicate in real-time with each other. Again, it’s a better alternative to traditional email.

Some collaboration tools will have built-in instant messaging features, while others specialize in instant messaging specifically. Not every collaboration software includes team messaging.

Conference Calling Software

Conference calling software takes real-time communication to the next level.

Aside from instant messaging (or in addition to instant messaging), these tools allow teams to collaborate using voice and video chat. You can even benefit from extra features like screen sharing, presentation mode, etc.

Businesses use conferencing calling software for both internal collaboration, as well as collaboration with clients, contractors, stakeholders, and more.

Coordination Tools

Generally speaking, coordination tools are a component of collaboration software.

I’m referring to features like time tracking, scheduling, calendars, status updates, etc. For example, a collaborative calendar can help you understand everyone’s availability in real-time without having to disturb them. It improves efficiency when scheduling meetings or similar tasks.

Most collaboration software will have features for real-time status updates as well. So when someone completes a task, they won’t have to notify everyone about their progress. That information will be available within a general feed.

#1 – Slack Review — The Best For Team Messaging

Slack is a name that many of you might already be familiar with. It’s quickly become the go-to platform for internal business messaging over the past few years.

Whether you’re working remotely or in a traditional office environment, Slack will be a great option to consider.

More than 750,000 businesses trust Slack for team collaboration. Here’s a quick overview of some of its noteworthy features and highlights:

Stay organized using Slack channels for projects, teams, or topics
File sharing capabilities
Audio and video calls with screen sharing
2,200+ Slack apps for integrations (Zoom, Jira, Salesforce, Google Drive, etc.)
Create your own time-saving workflows
Use Slack API to integrate your internal tools
Enterprise-grade scalability and security
Collaborate with partners like clients, contractors, vendors, etc. by adding them to channels

Plans start at just $6.67 per user per month. All plans come with unlimited messaging. Regardless of your team size or industry, Slack is the best collaboration tool for team messaging.

#2 – Trello Review — The Best For Simple Task Management

Trello is a simple solution for task management. For ongoing work and projects alike, it’s one of the best ways for your entire team to collaborate and stay organized.

With the help of Trello’s boards, cards, and lists, businesses across any industry can use this platform to improve productivity.

Here’s a quick explanation of what you can accomplish with Trello’s collaboration software:

Add comments, attachments, and due dates to cards
Create boards to separate projects and teams
Built-in workflow automation (rule-based triggers, due dates, etc.)
Add lists to create a unique workflow for each project
Integrate with third-party apps that you’re already using
Collaborate from anywhere using the Trello mobile app (iOS and Android)
Notifications and team tagging
Easy to assign tasks or cards to one or more users

Trello is powered by Atlassian, a global leader in the software and project management space. So you know that it’s a solution you can count on. That’s why more than one million teams across the globe rely on Trello.

This collaboration software is free for up to 10 boards with unlimited cards and lists. Paid plans start at $9.99 per user per month.

#3 – Flock Review — The Best For Remote Work

Flock is another collaboration tool with a primary focus on messaging. But it’s a little bit more advanced than Slack in terms of the features and capabilities.

The software is great for teams that work collaboratively from remote locations.

With Flock, you can keep all of your messages, apps, and productivity tools organized from the same place. Here are some of its features that are worth highlighting:

Real-time messaging
Customizable channels and team directory
Video conferencing
Screen sharing
File sharing
Powerful search (for messages, links, documents, etc.)
Productivity tools for note sharing, to-do lists, reminders, polls, and more
50+ seamless app integrations (Google Drive, Asana, Twitter, etc.)

For small teams, Flock is free with 10 channels included. You’ll also get unlimited 1:1 and group messages. Paid plans start at just $4.50 per user per month, which is a great value.

Try Flock for free with a 30-day trial.

#4 – Zoho Projects — Best Feature-Rich Collaboration Software

Zoho Projects is one of the most popular and easy-to-use collaboration tools on the market today. The software makes it easy for teams to collaborate, plan, and track work more efficiently.

As a cloud-based solution, you can use Zoho Projects to collaborate and manage tasks from anywhere.

Compared to other tools out there, Zoho Projects is loaded with robust features. Here’s a quick overview of some of my favorites:

Task management with Kanban boards
Set dependencies between tasks based on the order they are completed
Map your entire workflow
Gantt charts
Task reports
Time tracking tools
Issue tracking
SLA management
Automations

Zoho Projects even has industry-specific solutions for categories like software development, real estate, construction, marketing, education, and more.

Plans start at just $3 per user per month (with a minimum of six users). You can try it for free with a 10-day trial.

#5 – Wrike Review — Best All-in-One Project Management Tool

Wrike is a powerful and versatile project management solution. The software makes it easy to give your team complete control and visibility over projects and tasks.

If you’re looking for collaboration software with a primary emphasis on project management, this will be a top choice for you to consider.

Wrike is trusted by 20,000+ companies across the globe, including some big names like Dell, Google, Airbnb, and Siemens. Let’s take a closer look at some of its features and benefits:

Agile project management
Custom dashboards and workflows
Process automation
Real-time comments and editing
Notifications
Live editing and dynamic reports
Easy to share information with stakeholders
End-to-end visibility and real-time updates
Enterprise-grade security
File sharing and attachments

Wrike is a popular choice for marketing teams, creative professionals, and product development teams. However, it’s versatile enough to accommodate the needs of really any business type.

The software is free for up to five users. But you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to take full advantage of the project planning and collaboration features. These start at $9.80 per user per month. Try it free for 14 days.

#6 – BlueJeans Review — Best For Audio and Video Conferencing

For those of you who need collaboration software for conference calling, look no further than BlueJeans. It’s a simple and safe way to empower your remote staff with audio and video conferences.

Brands like Zillow, Facebook, ADP, Intuit, and National Geographic all trust BlueJeans for team collaboration.

Let’s take a closer look at what makes BlueJeans so great for collaboration:

Collaborate with video, audio, and web conferencing from any device
Live meeting controls and automated alerts
Meeting highlights and transcriptions
Enterprise-grade security
Single-touch interoperability
Exceptional call quality with HD video and Dolby Voice audio
Dynamic content sharing
App network of software integrations (Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.)
Support 24/7/365
Unlimited 1:1 meetings
Unlimited group meetings

Plans start at just $9.99 per host per month. If you’re not quite sold just yet, you can have unlimited access to BlueJeans and all of its features for free with a 7-day trial.

Summary

Collaboration software makes it easy for your entire business to stay organized and connect with each other in real-time.

To find the best software for your business, start by reviewing the buying guide I highlighted at the begging of this article. Then go through the recommended options above to narrow down the best tool for you.

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