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Tag: Content
How to Use Data Visualization in Your Content to Increase Readers and Leads
Have you heard of data visualization? Even if you don’t know the term, you’ve probably seen some examples.
Data visualization refers to graphical images that represent and explain data trends or other numerical information, such as charts, maps, scatter plots, or graphs.
You can use data visualization in articles or on web pages to make numbers and data easily digestible to the reader. Especially when you are trying to distill down complex topics to convert more readers, data can add value and help you make your case.
The Benefits of Data Visualization
Visuals are a powerful addition to your articles and presentations.
Our brains process images at a rapid pace, according to an MIT study. Including visuals in your article not only breaks up the text and gives your reader something else to look at, but also may help them process the information more quickly.
Think about it: we’ve been communicating visually from the cave painting days. Data visualization just takes image communication to the next level, integrating stats and data into compelling visuals that your brain can absorb faster than just scanning numbers.
Plus, it’s more than just laying out the numbers. Data visualization is about presenting data in a very specific way to back up your claims or illustrate your point. It’s more than just a table of statistics the reader has to work through to figure out for themselves.
Numbers can often be the “proof” you need to convince your reader to take the next step or to make a purchase, but many people don’t want to take the time to read through all the data.
According to the Nielsen Norman Group, people don’t read word-for-word online, going back to the internet’s earliest days. Instead, they scan, looking for stand-out headlines and images that grab them. Data visualization gives you that opportunity to capture their interest and get important stats in front of their eyes.
Examples of Data Visualization
Are you inspired to start creating data visualization images for your content, or are you still needing some examples? Here are a few ideas to get you thinking.
1. USA Today Housing Bubble Graphic
Using an interactive map, USA Today created this graphic to help readers understand the data behind current housing sales trends. The simple color palette makes it visually appealing, and the ability to scroll over each state to learn more means readers may spend more time on the page, interacting with the data.
2. CNBC Job Change Graph
This visual from CNBC is an example of using a bar graph in a visually compelling way. At a quick glance, you can see what’s growing and decreasing. As you look closer, you can check out more detail about the numbers and specifics.
3. NY Times Nutrition Scatter Plot
Scatter plots can get complex, which is why this graphic from the NY Times uses images to help make the point. It also explains the XY axes, so readers understand what they’re looking at.
Types of Data Visualization
When it comes to creating unique images, the only limit is your imagination, but here are a few common types to get you started.
Bar Graphs
Bar graphs are a simple option. Think back to your school days and science projects. Bar graphs can be vertical or horizontal, with each bar representing the values of each category.
Bar graphs can represent any set of numbers you need to compare side-by-side, and you can use colors to reflect different categories. For example, you could compare salaries for different jobs, prices for different products, or populations of different groups.
Pie Charts
Pie charts consist of circles representing 100% of something, broken into “slices” of ratios or percentages.
They are a great way to illustrate how various categories compare to their larger context. For instance, you can show how many people of a certain group have different behaviors, habits, or preferences.
Tables
While not always the most visually compelling, tables can allow you to provide multiple data points or categories to help people understand the relationships among items.
On a table, you can lay out in rows the main categories you’re comparing. Along each column, you can include as many different topics as you need to.
Tables are simple and useful but can easily get cluttered. Make sure to highlight the sections that need your attention and use colors to make things stand out. Keep everything lined up and clear to make it easily scannable for your readers.
Infographics
A power horse of online images, infographics can mean almost anything. However, an infographic typically acts as a curated collection of charts, graphs, icons, and short text to share high-level information about a topic or tell a narrative.
They are usually vertically designed, with strong headlines and numbers. Its power comes in combining various elements to tell a story. Infographics are great for an overview, such as a brief history behind a topic or a quick lesson.
GIFs
What’s more visual than a GIF? Functioning as a quick video, a GIF can allow you to show growth, movement, regression, or progress. GIFs often involve an animated graph or chart that shows demographics or change over time.
Maps
When the information you present is demographically or locally focused, maps can help tell that story visually. You can connect readers with information relating to specific areas or groups of people in those locations.
Color-coding different areas of your maps can give your readers a quick visual of exactly which areas relate to which topics in your content. For instance, you can shade areas red or blue depending on how that region voted on a particular topic or election.
Heat Maps
A heat map can show areas of concentration or intensity. You can use this for actual temperatures, such as climate or record temperatures in certain areas, or you could use it for proverbial heat, showing intensity or even popularity.
Sometimes heat maps illustrate population density, for instance, or the behavior of users on a website, such as how often they interact with a certain area.
Scatter Plots
A scatter plot is a type of graph that shows the correlation or relationship between two topics on a horizontal and vertical axis, with dots scattered throughout to represent examples of that relationship.
You can draw a line through the area where the dots are concentrated to see trends. Your reader can see that as one factor changes, such as increases or heats up, the other factor tends to respond in some way.
Pair Up Simple Data Visualization Types
The above are just a few of the simple elements you can use to illustrate your data. The options are almost innumerable. Just about any kind of chart, graph, or map can be employed.
However, some of the best data visualizations integrate multiple types or pair up more than one element. For instance, you can use a series of pie charts to show how trends have changed over time.
Sometimes, matching up multiple elements can illustrate your point more fully or allow you to describe various points of your narrative better. You could even use a chart within a chart or lay them out in an infographic style to tell a story.
Make Data Visualizations Interactive
To make your data visualization work hard for you, you may want to consider interactive options.
Interactivity allows readers to scroll over or click on various parts of your charts or graphics to learn more about each section. Maybe each bar on your graph or each area on your map has more specific information that your viewers can read.
This not only provides more powerful data points to your image, but it also allows it to be a more relevant and customizable experience for more users.
Data Visualization Tools
You can create data visualization images for your content from scratch using design software or an online option like Canva. However, data visualization tools can give you a leg up by allowing you to create truly stand-out projects.
These tools can take the guesswork out of the process and let you focus on plugging in the data and cranking out designs that reflect your brand and convey your message.
The great thing about these tools is that they are made for the casual creator. You don’t need to be a developer or coder to get into making great charts or graphs. Here are a few of the plug-and-play options that can get your idea off the ground.
Flourish
Flourish advertises an easy option for creating and sharing data visualization. You can upload spreadsheets directly to the platform or create your images from scratch. It has a number of animated or interactive templates, which you can update with your brand graphics and elements.
Flourish has a free option that allows you to explore and create public data visualization. If you want to interact with your team or create private projects, it offers a few levels of paid options.
Datawrapper
Datawrapper promises to be easy to use, with no coding experience required. It provides several intuitive options, with tools such as a color-blind check that remind you of colors that are color-blind friendly.
With a variety of defaults in its templates, Datawrapper brings the details of each data visualization that newbies may not have thought through.
Infogram
This tool allows you to create charts and graphs that have the animation and customization you need to wow your audience. You can also use Infogram’s drag-and-drop feature to drag the images around and combine elements into a single, highly-effective visual.
Tracking the Success of Your Data Visualization Elements
The time and effort it takes to create data visualization and work it into your content can pay off if it helps drive people to your goals, like increasing readerships or leads. However, you’ll only know if they’re successful if you track the metrics.
Consider the Big Picture
As you start incorporating data visualization into your content, one of the easiest ways to track their success is to see how well your content is doing. The most basic questions to ask are: is the content with data visualization more popular? Do those pieces get more readers and more shares?
Dive Into the Data
One way to get a little geeky with your data is to set up a heat map tool, such as Hotjar. This can give you more data about how people behave on your page, such as how and where they scroll or click. This is especially useful for a landing page where you’re trying to convert people to sales.
Help Them Act
The only way to know if your data visualization is actually converting is to give readers a way to be converted. Once they have been convinced by the data you are sharing, what do you want them to do next? Make sure you keep clear CTAs near the data visualization. Clicks or email sign-ups can help you track the effectiveness of that image.
Conclusion
Data visualization can help you drive readership and more leads by engaging with them from the start. People come back to your online hub when they find quality content there. They’re also more likely to share your content with others when they find it interesting and engaging.
Data visualization can help you take complex or dry concepts and make them more compelling, helping drive home your point and increase sales along the way.
If it feels daunting to create and manage your data visualization elements, we are here to help out. We also offer services like SEO, content marketing, and paid media.
What kind of data visualization are you going to use in your content?
The post How to Use Data Visualization in Your Content to Increase Readers and Leads appeared first on Neil Patel.
How to Use Data Visualization in Your Content to Increase Readers and Leads
Have you heard of data visualization? Even if you don’t know the term, you’ve probably seen some examples. Data visualization refers to graphical images that represent and explain data trends or other numerical information, such as charts, maps, scatter plots, or graphs. You can use data visualization in articles or on web pages to make …
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6 Tools to Bring Your Content Marketing to the Next Level
Content marketing is not just the most effective forms of online promotion that you can take part in, it’s the foundation of pretty much any other form of digital marketing. It remains stable over time, …
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The 6-Step Guide to Creating a Content Cluster that Ranks
The past few years have witnessed an increase in the evolution of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) content marketing. Such a positive change gives you an edge over other professional SEOs out there. With the exponential increase in competition for high ranking on Google, a number of people are coming up with great content. However, they …
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4 Content Marketing Lessons Bob Ross’ “Happy Little Trees” Can Teach You
People who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s can’t possibly not know who Bob Ross is. His trademark afro hair and his “happy little trees” were all the rage, turning the “Joy of Painting” …
The post 4 Content Marketing Lessons Bob Ross’ “Happy Little Trees” Can Teach You appeared first on Paper.li blog.
How Using Emotional Marketing in Content Can Help Drive Way More Sales
Whether you care to admit it or not, the decisions you make today will be driven by your emotions. In emotional marketing, we talk a lot about using psychological triggers to get customers to click, convert, engage, etc.
“By leveraging common psychological triggers all people have,” you might hear, “you can drive more sales.”
While it may feel like we make decisions with our minds, using logic and reasoning, the “mental triggers” we hear about are tied more to emotion than anything else.
Case in point, Antonio Damasio spent time studying individuals with damage to the area of the brain where emotions were generated and processed.
While these subjects functioned just like anyone else, they couldn’t feel emotion.
The other thing they had in common was they all had trouble with making decisions.
Even simple decisions about what to eat proved difficult.
While they could describe what they should be doing using logic and reason, most decisions couldn’t be settled with simple rationale.
Without emotion, they weren’t able to make a choice.
This is supported by data from Gerard Zaltman, author of “How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market.”
Zaltman found that 95% of cognition happens beyond our conscious brain, instead coming from our subconscious, emotional brain.
Emotions are an X factor you can’t control, but you can’t afford to ignore them in your content marketing.
Why is Emotion Marketing so Effective?
When you make an emotional connection with your audience, it’s incredibly easy to steer them to the desired outcome.
You’ve formed an emotional bond, however brief and fleeting, that makes them open to ideas and suggestions. It creates a certain level of trust that’s virtually impossible to artificially manifest.
Rob Walker and Joshua Glen found firsthand what an emotional connection can do.
In one experiment, they bought hundreds of items from thrift stores and similar locations — all cheaply priced.
The duo wanted to see if they could sell the products using an emotional connection through the power of stories alone.
With 200 writers on board, they generated fictional stories for the products and used those stories to sell the thrift store items at auction on eBay.
They raised just under $8,000, which was a profit of approximately 2,700%.
And they did it all using that emotional connection through storytelling.
That’s not to say there isn’t a place for the logical or the rational in decision making.
This is where marketers often leverage the theory of dual processing in psychological marketing.
The theory holds that the brain processes thoughts and decisions on two levels.
The first level is that of emotion, which processes automatically, unconsciously, and provides a rapid response when we need it with virtually no effort.
The second level is the more deliberate and conscious thought process, where we handle decisions with reason and logic. It happens far slower than the emotional response.
In most cases, we fire back with a ready response from our emotions and then try to consciously rationalize it.
Think about some big-brand rivalries and preferences will surface in your mind.
How do you feel when you look at this major brand comparison?
Here’s another common one that has people divided, sometimes within the same family:
And then there’s this brand rivalry we know all too well.
In each of these, you likely have an opinion almost instantly about which you prefer, but it’s not because you have a logical reason.
It’s typically tied to emotion and/or experience; how you feel using their products, or how the brands left you feeling after an experience or reading a news article.
The brain then tries to rationalize that emotional response.
For example, your emotional response goes straight to Coke and then your brain works to rationalize the decision by deciding that it tastes better in a can, it’s fizzier, has a stronger bite than Pepsi, etc.
So, while you might feel like you’re making a rational choice about your beverage, it’s really just an emotional one.
The most successful marketers know how to lean on the emotional over logic in order to make their content draw in the audience.
That’s why nearly a third of marketers report significant profit gains when running emotional campaigns, but the number of successful campaigns dips if you introduce logic into the marketing.
And those results get sliced in half when marketers switch to logic over emotion.
Emotion Marketing Doesn’t Guarantee Successful Engagement
We experience a laundry list of emotions every day.
Is it really as simple as leveraging some emotion to make content more effective?
Yes and no.
Emotion is certainly important, but there are also other factors like timing, exposure, the format of the content, how it’s presented, who produced or shared it, etc.
Despite understanding the role emotion plays in content, we still haven’t quite perfected a formula for what makes content go viral.
Though we’ve gotten pretty close.
Brands have long tried to inflate the consumer’s emotional response through manufactured content; some met with great success.
Take, for example, Intel’s five-part “Meet the Makers” series.
The videos profile a person around the world who uses Intel’s technology to create new experiences and build new technology that makes a difference in the world.
Like 13-year-old Shubham Banerrjee, who used Intel’s technology to build an affordable Braille printer.
And of course, some companies try to leverage emotion and create viral campaigns that just don’t take off.
CIO reported a number of failed viral marketing campaigns, such as “Walmarting Across America.”
In this blog, two average Americans travel across the country visiting Walmart locations, reporting their interactions on a blog along the way.
After countless upbeat entries about how people loved working for the company, it was discovered that the trip was paid for by Walmart and the entire thing was a campaign created and managed by the company’s PR firm.
That didn’t receive a warm reception from the blogosphere, which deemed the content to be a “flog” or fake blog.
Which Emotions Attract the Most Marketing Engagement in Content?
Many emotions fuel our behaviors and our decisions, especially our purchase decisions.
Some more than others — especially when they’re authentic.
A study was done by Buzzsumo analyzing the top 10,000 most-shared articles on the web. Those articles were then mapped to emotions to see which emotions had the greatest influence on content.
The most popular:
- Awe (25%)
- Laughter (17%)
- Amusement (15%)
Conversely, the least popular were sadness and anger, totaling just 7% of the content that was most shared.
Two researchers at Wharton also wanted to dig deeper into virally shared content to find commonalities and better understand what makes that content spread.
What they found was the emotional element, and some very specific results tied to emotions.
- Content is far more likely to be shared when it makes people feel good or it creates positive feelings such as leaving them entertained.
- Facts or data that shock people or leave them in awe were more likely to be shared.
- Instilling fear or anxiety pushes engagement higher, from comments being posted to content being shared.
- People most commonly shared content that incited anger, leaving comments as well.
While some emotions are more likely to engage than others, every audience is different. What drives one to action may do very little for another.
This modern adaptation of Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion, illustrated by CopyPress, shows the range under eight primary emotions: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation.
For content to be widely shared and have an impact on your audience, it needs to leverage one or more of these emotions.
The proof is on the web, not only in the statistics I shared above, but also in the popularity of user communities that regularly share content.
Just look at Reddit and some of the most popular subreddits by subscriber count. Each can be tied back to emotions (some more obviously than others) like anticipation, awe, joy, and more.
Here’s how some of those emotions can play into the engagement with your audience:
Anxiety May Cause Uncertainty For Customers
You don’t want your audience to make bad decisions. Bad decisions can lead to buyer’s remorse, which can paint your brand and the overall experience in a negative light.
But it can be helpful if you leave the audience a bit more open to influence.
A Berkeley study revealed that anxiety can be linked to difficulty in using information around us to make decisions. When we experience uncertainty, it becomes harder to make decisions and our judgment is clouded.
Still, anxiety can also spur people to act as a result of that uncertainty.
Take a two-year study by Wharton Ph.D. student Alison Wood Brooks and a Harvard Business School professor.
They found that upon increasing the anxiety of certain subjects with video footage, 90% of the “anxious” participants opted to seek advice and were more likely to take it.
Only 72% of the participants in a neutral state, who viewed a different video, sought advice.
Capture the Focus of Your Emotional Marketing Audience With Awe
Awe is comparable to wonder, but it doesn’t always fall under the umbrella of joy or humor.
It’s intended to captivate the audience and keep them riveted.
You often see this kind of hook in headlines that seem so earth-shatteringly significant that no one in their right mind would want to miss it.
Here’s a good example of that kind of awe used in content when Dropbox first launched.
Co-founder Drew Houston submitted his product to the website Digg, hoping to get some visibility from the social bookmarking site. That headline helped significantly.
Another great example of using Awe to capture attention is a video produced by Texas Armoring Corporation.
To emphasize the quality of the company’s bullet-resistant glass, the CEO crouched behind one of TAC’s glass panels while several rounds were fired at it from an AK-47.
Awe can impact decision making as much as anxiety.
A study from Stanford University found that people experiencing awe are more focused on the present and less distracted by other things in life. They also tend to be more giving of their time.
When you have their attention and their focus, they’re more likely to have time to rationalize a decision.
Drive People to Action With Laughter and Joy Through Emotional Marketing
While joy and laughter can have their lines blurred, they’re really two different emotions when it comes to your content.
Because while laughter often leads to joy, not everything that is joyful is laugh-out-loud funny.
Still, next to awe, joy, laughter, and amusement were the highest contributors to social sharing and engagement in the above studies.
That influence goes all the way back to early childhood.
As babies, out first emotional action not long after being born is to respond to the smile of our parents with our own smile.
Per psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, joy and amusement are hardwired into us from birth.
His studies tell us that our innate desire for joy increases when it’s shared. That’s the nature of the “social smile.”
That explains why these feelings or emotions are such huge drivers behind the virality of content. Happiness, overall, is a huge driver for content sharing.
In fact, Jonah Berger’s study of the most-shared articles in the New York Times (around 7,000 articles) revealed the same kind of results around emotion.
The more positive the article, the more likely it was to go viral.
Brands have worked “joy marketing” into their strategies for decades, aiming to make their audience feel warm, comfortable, and happy.
That’s the intent of campaigns like P&G’s highly successful and viral “Thank You, Mom” campaigns that are injected with a lot of emotion (especially joy) when celebrating the strength of mothers.
Joy can take a lot of forms, though, and it doesn’t have to be commercially intended to elicit a direct sale.
Look at what Beringer Vineyards did with influencer marketing.
Russian Instagram sensations Murad and Nataly Osmann built a following of more than 4.5 million people with photos featuring them holding hands at locations around the globe during their world travels.
They attached the hashtag #FollowMeTo on those posts.
The couple teamed up with Beringer Vineyards to create some images meant to inspire joy, love, and of course the sense of adventure the couple already shared with their hashtag.
Immediate Gains in Emotional Marketing From Anger
Anger may be perceived as a negative emotion by some, but it can have positive influences as well as positive outcomes when leveraged in the right way.
A leading researcher in the study of anger, Dr. Carol Tavris, draws a parallel between anger and how it impacted society over the years.
Women’s suffrage, for example, developed from anger and frustration.
Anger can be empowering for the individual, bringing a sense of clarity and positive-forward momentum. It gives people a feeling of direction and control according to a study from Carnegie Mellon.
In the previously mentioned study on content shares in the New York Times, negatively perceived emotions like anger are equally associated with the virality of content.
In fact, Berger’s study of the New York Times content found that content which incites feelings of frustration or anger is 34% more likely to be featured on the Time’s most emailed list than the average article.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you deliberately create controversy by taking shots at readers or picking fights.
The key with using anger in content is to frame an issue that incites anger or frustration in a way that’s constructive.
You have to be thought-provoking and engaging.
This interactive graph from the New York Times is an example of how content can lead to frustration and anger over economic or societal issues.
This piece of content is simple, yet it provokes engagement as well as thought when results are revealed in comparison to what an individual perceives to be the truth.
Using the Right Emotional Marketing Words in Content
The difference between logic and emotion in content comes down to the words we use and how we position statements and information.
It’s just like the laundry list of power words used to improve conversion, or terms commonly used in e-commerce to get customers to buy more products.
When creating copy and content, you have to be acutely aware of whether you’re taking a rational or emotional approach to the information you’re sharing.
You need to think about the response you want to elicit to help guide your content development to make the right kind of psychological and emotional connection with your audience.
The context of your copy can remain the same.
By changing the words you use, however, you can make content appeal more to the emotions of the audience and prospective customer.
The simplest approach to finding the right high-emotion words takes only three steps:
- Think about the action you want your audience to take when they read your content.
- Decide what kind of emotional state will drive that action. What would make them do what you want them to do?
- Choose emotionally persuasive words appropriate to the action and the emotion.
What you’ll find in researching the right words is that emotionally persuasive and impactful words tend to be abrupt. It’s the short, concise, basic words that appeal most to our emotions over our intellect.
Just look at this list from the Persuasion Revolution.
The majority of this emotionally weighted list (and there are over 350 items) is made up of shorter words.
The rational mind, on the other hand, tends to associate with longer and more complex words.
You Can’t Assume When it Comes to Emotional Marketing
It’s not easy to make that emotional connection with your audience. You have to know them.
Like anything else in marketing, your decisions and the content you create needs to be based on data. In this case, that data is your audience research.
That same research that tells you what topics to create, where your audience spends their time, and the content they prefer to view, can clue you into how to make that emotional connection.
You just need to expand your buyer personas.
In this case, you want to build up the psychological profile of your audience. You can achieve this by asking the right questions to help steer your content research and production.
- What do they find humorous?
- What are the pain points that frustrate them?
- What topics make them angry?
- What are common problems they speak about?
- What kind of content is being shared that clearly pleases them or brings joy?
Your research could turn up a common topic or theme that appears frequently in the content they read and share.
For example, you might discover that a certain segment or demographic in your audience has a strong affinity to family values, or health and wellness.
Turn that into a content campaign that shares the feel-good side of your company.
Delve into the family life of your employees, how your company supports the work/life balance, or better health initiatives.
Google is well known for its company structure, promoting flexible schedules, support of family time, personal projects, and a focus on work/life balance.
The company often shares behind-the-scenes images (visual content) showing off employees enjoying what they do. Here’s an example from Google Sydney’s offices:
That can influence a positive emotional response toward the brand when targeted segments see that content.
Emotional Marketing Works in the B2B Process
Don’t get caught up with the dated idea that emotion is only applicable to consumer-focused businesses.
Emotional marketing has its place in the B2B world as well.
You may be dealing with a longer buying process between one or more organizations, but the decisions are still made (and fueled by) people who are absolutely driven by emotion.
That includes emotions like:
- Awe: over what a solution is capable of and feeling empowered to bring that solution to the workplace.
- Anticipation: in finding a piece of the puzzle in a product or service that will help the company achieve its next goal or milestone.
- Fear: in purchase decisions that could reflect on the individual, resulting in a personal risk associated with a B2B purchase.
- Joy: in knowing that a B2B purchase is likely to lead to a positive outcome that will reflect positively on the individual.
Emotion absolutely influences B2B purchases, and in some cases, emotion matters even more than logic and reason.
Conclusion
You hold a great deal of influence with your audience when you’re able to tap into their emotions.
Once you understand your audience, you can better determine their emotional state.
From there, make the decision about whether you need to influence and exploit emotions that are already present, or if you want to create or give rise to emotions the audience wasn’t initially expecting or experiencing.
Even the most (seemingly) rational decisions are influenced by emotion — and that applies to everyone.
When you learn how to leverage that emotion in your content, you will see increases in engagement, social action, and conversions within your funnel.
How do you use emotion in your content and copy?
The post How Using Emotional Marketing in Content Can Help Drive Way More Sales 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.
32 Free WordPress Themes For Effective Content Marketing
You already know that WordPress is a popular CMS and that most content marketers love it for their business or personal blog. But there’s a question lingering: How do you choose the right free WordPress theme when there are so many out there?
Trust me; it’s not as easy as you think.
When I started blogging, one of the crazy activities that killed my productivity was checking out new personal blog themes. I just couldn’t find the right one for me. But I know better now.
The reality is you need to find one of the responsive WordPress themes for your personal blog launch’s success.
Did you know that your success as a content marketer goes beyond writing great content?
There are so many factors that will ensure that you’re always at the top of your game and getting the juice from any given search engine.
Your attitude to work, the way you market your content, and, most importantly, your blog’s look all play a key role. It must have a responsive design, not just be pretty.
Investing in a professionally-looking theme is important, but what if you’re just a beginner and you want a free WordPress theme that still looks gorgeous? Can you find one?
Sure you can. I decided to write this article because I get a lot of emails from readers who want to find the right WordPress themes that will aid in effective content marketing.
A free WordPress theme is great, but don’t forgo a responsive design for your personal blog when many themes have a very cost-effective, one-time fee.
Trust me, I’ve got you covered. Without much ado, here is a list of 32 professional, free WordPress themes that you can download:
1. Sparkling [Preview – Download]
It’s time to sparkle your personal blog. If you’re looking for a flat, clean, and professional-looking theme, Sparkling may just be the right one. It was developed using Bootstrap 3.
This modern theme has a front-end framework feature that optimizes it to display smartphones, desktops, tablets, and other devices well. This WordPress theme is unique from the millions out there because of its pixel-perfect design, full-screen slider, and widgets that you’ll fall in love with.
‘Sparkling’ is built to have a premium layout, and every content marketer who prides content above everything else will benefit from it. If you’re looking for one of the SEO-friendly responsive WordPress themes, you’re in luck.
It’s Schema compatible — which is great for SEO. Most of the free and paid plugins out there are supported, such as SEO by Yoast, W3 Total Cache, Quick AdSense, Akismet, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, and more.
For effective content marketing, you need a WordPress theme that hands control over to you so that you can add, modify, or delete any plugin, section, or even modify the layout as you see fit.
Whether you’re interested in using the Sparkling WordPress theme for your personal use or business, you’ve won the jackpot. This theme cuts across different industries such as education, business, web design, marketing, health and fitness, and many more.
2. Dazzling Free WordPress Theme[Preview – Download]
Dazzling is an unrivaled responsive theme. It’s developed using Bootstrap 3 and comes with an optional full-screen slider. This is useful when you’re building your first corporate or portfolio site.
This flat theme has mint green accent colors and will inspire you to embrace the best side of content marketing. I’m fond of this theme because it’s clean, unbeatable, and will enhance your personal brand. What more could you want?
Startup entrepreneurs, CEOs, and public speakers will benefit from the full-screen slider because they’ll use it to showcase their keynote speeches or other key presentations.
Dazzling WordPress theme includes added optimization for a lot of the essential plugins and custom widget designs out there, such as All-in-one-SEO Pack, JetPack, Contact Form 7, and more.
3. OceanWP [Preview — Download]
OceanWP is a single theme, but it’s so customizable that it feels like getting multiple themes all at once. With more than 3 million downloads, there’s a good chance you’ve come across a few websites using this ultra-flexible theme.
What really stands out about OceanWP is its demos — these are essentially fully-build websites you can copy and then customize. The theme is fully responsive, offers fast load times, built-in SEO features, and is translation ready.
If your business sells physical or digital products, OceanWP has you covered with built-in WooCommerce functionality.
4. Travelify [Preview – Download]
Travelify is another free WordPress theme. It has some premium functionalities that allow you to change the theme layout (full, no sidebar, or wide, for example).
This responsive WordPress theme is mobile responsive, modern, and can be used for virtually any subject or business objective. For example, if you’re a content marketer, Travelify puts value on your content and highlights your best work for your readers to enjoy.
It’s a pixel perfect design, with a featured slider which you can turn off with a single click. The flexibility that the theme offers enables you to alter its layout until it suits your objective. You can also use a background image to customize the theme to your brand.
5. Ascent Free WordPress Theme[Preview – Download]
Ascent WordPress theme is designed with responsiveness in mind. This means that it’ll appear well on tablets, smartphones, laptops, and desktop of all sizes. The innovative technology used is based on CSS3 and HTML5.
What I like about Ascent is the richness of the slider that appears above the header. It’s more than just a personal blog; it’s a visual blogger’s dream.
In other words, your pictures get an added optimization that would make them stand out from the rest. If you’re a photographer, digital marketer, or content marketer, you can use Ascent to improve user experience.
This theme has been downloaded over 30,000 times, making it one of the most popular responsive WordPress themes of both professional and free.
A right and left sidebar gives you added flexibility, and this theme is translation-ready. This is essential if you’ll be serving a wider audience in different languages.
6. Auberge [Preview – Download]
Do you struggle to create the right content for your customers? You’re not alone. If you want to attract and nurture an audience with your personal blog, you need various content.
But, let’s assume that you’ve created a variety of content; how do you showcase all of them in the right manner? You need the right WordPress theme and Auberge may just be the right one.
This impressive WordPress theme is free, professionally-designed and it’s currently used by over 30,000 blogs. Auberge’s overwhelming quality and usefulness make it a one-stop theme for those who want to expand their content marketing reach.
Auberge is built around a mobile-first design concept, which makes it 100% mobile responsive. One vital reason why you probably should consider this theme is because the content can be easily showcased on retina displays that have high resolutions.
A challenge that most site owners face when showcasing their best content, is resizing and compatibility issues, which severely drops the value of the content.
The theme would suit every niche, but it’ll probably best serve restaurants and cafe pages. When constructing your pages, you can use the Beaver page builder plugin. You can download and use the lite version at no cost.
7. Hestia Free WordPress Theme [Preview – Download]
Hestia is a website builder that features a slick, fully customizable design. Don’t let their branding as a”one-page theme” make you think it will limit you — you can build a fully functional, multi-page site with this theme.
Top features include easy to use customizer, WooCommerce ready, page builder compatibility, and fast load times. It is also SEO friendly and provides clean, optimized code for fast loading times.
If you are looking for a highly flexible theme with e-commerce capabilities, Hestia is a solid choice.
8. Awaken [Preview – Download]
Awaken WordPress theme is free and has a 4 out of 5-star rating. If you’re fond of a minimalist design, this theme is for you. It’s extra white spaces push your content to the forefront and eliminate distractions.
Awaken is a magazine theme that includes two widget areas. The posts are also showcased, using three distinct widgets.
The layout of this theme is constructed using the Bootstrap framework, with mobile responsiveness in mind. In particular, mobile users will benefit from your blog, if you use this theme.
Another essential feature of Awaken is the nifty slider. The theme options panel gives you added flexibility, which enables you to change the theme color, font attributes, and links.
9. Neve Free WordPress Theme [Preview – Download]
Neve is a light, modern WordPress theme that will serve your content marketing needs because it has clean and validated code.
This means that no matter how minimal your technical skills, you can edit and structure your theme to display your content well.
With basic HTML/PHP knowledge, you can structure your content display area. If you’re not a skilled developer, you don’t have to worry, because the theme options panel enables you to update your settings, including custom header and footer designs and layout.
One other feature of Neve WordPress theme offers easy setup, reliable updates, fast load times, and it is compatible with AMP.
Neve is focused on being lightweight, fast, and easy to use, making it an ideal free WordPress theme for beginners or anyone who wants an easy-to-build site.
10. The SSMAG [Download]
SSMAG is a mobile responsive, plug and play free WordPress theme that has a grid-based layout. Content creators will find this theme useful, because of its feature that positions your content to go viral– well-designed social share buttons.
The design layout is optimized to engage readers and to cause them to explore your site further. SSMAG was created in 2015. It has custom widgets, to display text and HTML elements.
Apart from being browser compatible, the SSMAG theme supports embedded video, which will play a vital role in explaining what your blog is all about, instead of using your featured image on a post page.
11. Albar Free WordPress Theme [Preview – Download]
Albar is a multipurpose WordPress theme that can be used to build a business website, portfolio, e-commerce store, or blogging site. It is responsive, which means it easily adapts to all types of devices including tablets, mobile phones, and desktop computers.
The theme features minimal settings to make it easier to use, but enough customizations to let you build exactly the site you need. It is lightweight, scalable, and offers security features so your site will be fast and secure.
12. Esteem Free WordPress Theme[Preview – Download]
Most beginners to blogging are looking for a WordPress theme that will showcase their portfolio or samples so that potential clients can find them easily. If that’s what you’re after, Esteem will be the right personal blog theme for you.
Esteem is a simple theme that offers unlimited theme color options so that you can change the feel and look of your site to stand out from the competition. The Esteem theme comes with two custom themes.
One of the themes is custom-built to display your products, portfolio or services. You can upload and set your custom logo and site title from the theme options panel.
If you want to gain traction, nurture a loyal audience, and establish your brand online, you should leverage the Esteem theme customizable header image.
13. Accelerate Free WordPress Theme [Preview – Download]
Who says that you can’t find a modern WordPress theme with a premium look for your site?
Well, Accelerate is right here to fill that spot. Accelerate is a super flexible theme that’s suitable for portfolio, personal, travel, corporate, or business services sites.
If you’re an artist, like a photographer or illustrator, you can use the fullscreen slider to showcase your best work.
Accelerate theme sends a strong, clear message to your target audience, through its flat and straight-forward design that blends perfectly with your content (video, blog posts, audio, etc).
Accelerate is fully responsive and displays well on any type of mobile device. Moreover, the theme is retina-ready, to enhance your audience viewing experience and lower bounce rate.
14. Ample [Preview – Download]
It’s time to personalize your blog with this eye-catching and professional theme. Ample is a free minimalist and multipurpose WordPress theme that comes with feature-rich options for customizing your layout and setting the right metrics for your site. Mobile device responsiveness helps your search engine results.
Building your personal brand is an essential part of running a successful online business. So, it’s necessary to customize your site, by adding a professional logo and relevant header text that will appeal to your target audience.
Ample multipurpose WordPress theme is suitable for business or personal blog use and will play well in any industry, but it’s particularly useful for authors, freelance writers, and book review writers.
15. WP-Premium Free WordPress Theme[Preview – Download]
If you’re familiar with Copyblogger, you’ll agree with me that their first theme looked similar to this theme. I also know a few bloggers who started out with this theme, but later changed when their business grew.
Why am I saying this?
Well, it’s to let you know that WP Premium free WordPress theme provides a rich experience for the end-user, as well as premium functionality and a trendy look.
If you’re looking to start a serious blog, you should consider using WP Premium. It’s 100% responsive, which means that your texts and images will display smoothly on any device.
This theme is powered by Foundation – a front end framework that’s flexible, user-friendly, and professional.
WP Premium takes a content-first approach. The homepage widget areas let you manage your sidebar, header, navigation menu, and footer. Other functionalities are a wide selection of widgets, such as the author widget that displays relevant information about the author or blog owner.
You also have the advertisement widget, for monetizing your blog content with AdSense, ClickBank, CJ, and any third-party affiliate network that supports HTML code and CSS.
16. Quickstart [Preview – Download]
This is a free and professional theme from Gabfirethemes.com. What differentiates this theme from others is the fact that you can structure your personal blog layout as you want it to be.
Your category page doesn’t have to be a bland list of articles; you can now put the right content there and re-engage your audience. From the themes control panel, you can select alternative header templates quickly. No coding experience is required to effect this change in a highly responsive design.
Localization support is also enabled, because Quickstart was designed to appeal to international and local site owners. It supports multiple languages and it’s compatible with WPML’s multilingual plugin.
There is also another feature that makes this theme unique. The Gabfire module. This is an extended functionality that enables users to embed videos and default post images, so that the difficulty associated with embedding YouTube videos, for example, is eliminated.
Quickstart free WordPress theme is equipped with a single post image slider, category templates, page templates, and an advanced control panel. It’s search engine optimized and mobile one of the mobile responsive WordPress themes we like.
17. Astra Free WordPress Theme[Preview – Download]
Astra has some amazing functionalities that you’ll love. This is a professional-looking theme that would have sold for $39 or more, but you can download and use it as a free WordPress design.
It has a clever ‘above-the-fold’ slider that displays your best and latest works. If you’re an author, you can use this to showcase your book. If you’re an artist, such as a photographer, illustrator, or web designer, this sleek slider will be very helpful for you.
Astra free WordPress theme displays your content using the default font face that’s clear and professional. If you’re an intermediate blogger or online entrepreneur and need a sophisticated theme that has all the modern functionalities intact, Astra may just be the right one for you.
18. Onesie [Preview – Download]
As the name implies, Onesie is a flat and free WordPress theme. It’s a one page, responsive theme and can be used for business or personal blog purposes.
It adapts to different screen sizes, making it possible for your texts and images to display perfectly on iPads, iPhones, tablets, and other mobile devices, including smartwatches.
Onesie is easy to customize. You can change the background image to whatever you want. The header images can be customized to your taste. You can also create custom navigation menus, choose the right font, and alter the layout design for optimal user experience.
Onesie is browser compatible, which means that it displays perfectly on popular search engine platforms that your target audience will most likely be using, such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and more.
It also contains standard theme features, such as the theme options, automatic updates, and translation-reader functionality.
19. Path [Preview — Download]
Note: Path is no longer free, but at just $14, it’s still incredibly affordable and may be worth the cost if you love the features!
You can use Path, a stylish WordPress theme, if you’re working on a multi-author or magazine-related site.
One powerful functionality of Path is that you can use the built-in WordPress custom header to manage your site’s feel, control the logo and other branding aspects of your site, as long as it’s in agreement with WordPress and Hybrid Core.
Several plugins, such as Gravity Forms, Social Path, SEO by Yoast, and more, are fully supported. No matter your industry, as long as you’re passionate about building a community, creating viral content, and generating leads for your business, you can use the Path theme.
20. Sinatra Free WordPress Theme [Preview – Download]
If your theme looks professional, it’s going to give you a mindset that makes you think as if you’re on top of the world. You might be a personal blog beginner, but it wouldn’t make any difference – because you’re already on the right foot.
Sinatra is one of the most lightweight and easily customizable WordPress themes that you can download for free. It’s designed by sinatrateam.
This is one of those themes that could have been sold for $39 or more, but the company decided to give it away. While it’s still free, you can download it for your next blog.
It’s mobile responsive, SEO-friendly, and contains multiple layouts for customizing your blog so that your content gets attention. It’s also translatable and built with SEO best practices in mind.
21. Calenotis Magazine [Preview]
Calenotis Magazine WordPress theme comes free of charge. It’s ideal for any type of project.
If you’ve just launched your book (whether ebook or hardcopy), or you want to create in-depth content that will generate organic traffic for you, this magazine theme will do the job right, from the very beginning.
Calenotis is a popular theme used in the health and fitness industry. The majority of the internet marketers out there aren’t aware of this theme. If they were, why would they not be using it?
The good news is that you’ve got the chance to use it while it’s free. The fullscreen slider will house your best works, latest pictures, upcoming programs, and more. This theme was designed using the minimalist principle – “omit needless things!”
The default font size for the body text may not be perfectly legible, but with HTML and CSS experience, you can always change your text’s size to suit your users.
22.Portum Free WordPress Theme[Preview – Download]
Portum WordPress is free, responsive, and has a stylish front page slider where you can showcase your best work. This theme also supports modern web tools and plugins.
Site speed is one of the Google ranking factors that you’ve got to always consider. This theme is super fast. Your users will thank you for it.
The single post area is professionally designed, and the font style and size are carefully set to make maximum impact. This is a true, modern free WordPress theme that’s responsive, used by thousands of sites, and is absolutely free.
23. Typepress [Download]
Typepress is a free and colorful WordPress theme. Colors drive people. In fact, in the psychology of colors, certain colors have proven to improve click rate on call-to-action as well as increase sales.
If you’re looking for a free theme that will be colorful, agile, and has all the powerful functionalities to build your business, Typepress could be your answer. It was developed by Arm Studio and released for free to the world.
Browser compatibility is one feature that makes this theme a resourceful one. No matter what browser that you or your visitors are using, they’ll not have issues reading your content, watching videos, or downloading your report. Even on mobile devices, mobile users will enjoy navigating your site because of it’s mobile-friendliness.
24. Foodica Lite Free WordPress Theme [Download]
Not all content marketing sites are business blogs or news sites. If you’re looking to build a food or recipe-based website, consider Foodica.
Foodica fills the food-blog gap by providing a beautiful, easy to use theme for food or recipe-based websites. It features a beautiful slider, responsive layout, and featured slider support for posts.
Note that there are two versions of Foodica — the Lite version is free, while the Pro version costs $69 and comes with additional customizations, support, and a recipe index.
25. Business Free WordPress Theme [Preview – Download]
When you mean business (a site that will make you money), you’ve got to consider a theme that was designed for that. There are several ways to monetize and make money from a blog.
That said, do you know that the manner by which you place your affiliate links, promotional banners, and other calls-to-action plays a vital role in your conversion rate?
Absolutely. It does!
Business WordPress theme may be free, but it comes with premium functionalities that make it easier to advertise on your blog like a pro. Apart from the monetization aspect, the single post is given top priority, as well.
You can customize your logo, header image, background color, or other images. Its responsive design with the drag-and-drop slideshow interface gives you an added experience, and your site visitors will fall in love with it.
26. GreatMag [Preview – Download]
GreatMag is 100% free to use. It’s a magazine theme and has features that enable you to optimize your homepage and add important sections such as about us, our portfolio, products, and careers.
The front page image slider is ideal for showcasing your latest completed projects, clients you’ve worked with, testimonials, or some of the works you’re proud of.
When it comes to branding, GreatMag is flexible. You can upload your logo in the header section, and it’ll be seen clearly because the space provided is large. You can also use different themes to customize your site to your liking.
It also offers bundled widgets so you can easily (and quickly) get your site up and running, works with Google Fonts, features a page builder, and is 100% translation ready.
27. Basic Free WordPress Theme [Preview – Download]
At some point in your blogging business, you’ll need to focus on getting the right content out, attracting a loyal audience, and answering their questions. You may not need a fancy theme at such points, except if you don’t have enough money to buy a premium theme. But, you can use this Basic theme.
You may think that there is nothing special about ‘Basic’ free WordPress theme, but that’s not true. Most successful marketing blogs are built on minimalist personal blog designs, with the primary focus on the content and user.
If you’re just starting out with WordPress, you need to start with a theme that you can learn from, not a sophisticated one that requires a high level of coding experience.
The layout of the Basic free WordPress theme is super simple, giving you the freedom to customize your site’s look and feel. You can achieve this through the Themify options panel.
This theme was designed with features that will take you from where you are in your content marketing career to a new level. The lightbox gallery, RSS, footer menu, 5 theme skins, social icons, child theme support, and more will enhance your blogging experience and that of your users.
28. Parallax [Preview – Download]
Parallax is a free WordPress theme, and I’ve seen it at work on several industry blogs. It’s well designed and has modern features to bring your content to life. It features parallax scrolling to present beautiful images in an easy-to-navigate format.
One of the challenges of content marketing is producing engaging content. Even if you succeed at creating the right type of content, how do you present it to your audience? What format will be best for you? Parallax is one of the responsive WordPress themes that can help here.
What if you can cut through the chase, use the different widgets for the header, sidebar, footer, and single post to showcase different content types such as videos, slide presentations, blog posts, e-books, and continue to evolve your site based on real metrics?
Parallax offers a drag-and-drop editor, meets SEO best practices, and helps increases time on page with 3D animation effects. Just remember that these images are heavy, so they can slow page speed down.
29. Airi Free WordPress Theme[Preview – Download]
Airi is the right WordPress theme to use for pretty much any type of business site. For example, if you run a digital camera reviews blog, you can use this theme to display your best shots, edited works, and more.
This theme is highly customizable, as it was built with the Elementor plugin that allows you to easily move all the elements around. It also supports Ecommerce if your business sells physical or digital products.
Airi also offers a bunch of demos you can import, edit, and publish. If you want a professional website done fast, this is an ideal theme to consider.
30. Live Wire [Preview]
I like Live Wire WordPress theme because of two things: it’s free, and it’s clean. Any search engine will love its responsive design. It’s primarily designed with mobile in mind and includes an advanced options panel for structuring your layout. It supports Hybrid Tabs, post formats, Gravity Forms, and much more.
Live Wire has features that make it possible for you to customize several elements, such as your navigation menus, layouts, CSS, and even your background.
The theme also includes breadcrumbs, sticky posts, translation-ready capability, featured images, and more.
Note: LiveWire hasn’t been updated recently, but it still gets great reviews. Just keep in mind you could have issues with newer WP features and plugins.
31. Hemingway Free WordPress Theme[Preview – Download]
Hemingway’s free WordPress theme is specifically made for bloggers who want to improve their blogs. This theme was designed to conform with the latest version of WordPress, it’s streamlined, and it has the parallax scrolling effect.
It features a two-column layout that was designed specifically with bloggers in mind. Other features include retina-ready assets, block-editor supports, and customizable styles.
As a high-quality theme, Hemingway is sleek, but the developers kept it minimalist design style that always puts content first compared to some other highly responsive WordPress themes. It’s mobile responsive, which means that any device can display this theme perfectly.
32. Fullby [Preview – Download]
Fullby was inspired by Twenty Fourteen, one of the world’s most popular themes, with over 1 million downloads. At first glance, Fullby gives you that feeling of a professional site, because of its layout design.
The framework for this free WordPress theme is based on the latest Bootstrap framework. This is a grid style, lightweight, and fully responsive (displays well on any mobile or desktop device) theme.
You’ll also like the lightweight theme, which includes two customizable images, and the featured option for the posts can be structured exactly as you want it.
This is a good platform for your content, and the galleries and videos that are supported make this theme a favorite for most celebrities. If you’re a blogger, you’re a celebrity, too.
This Fullby free WordPress theme is fully optimized for search engines and has functionalities for your single post page and custom sidebar.
Conclusion
There, you’ve got it, the 32 professional, free WordPress themes to help make your content marketing more effective. Remember that it doesn’t matter which industry your working in because as much as content is king, design is the prime minister.
Getting one of the most responsive WordPress themes is important, even when starting. And there are so many to choose from.
When you give ample time to choosing the best theme for your blog, especially at the beginning, you’re establishing your foot in your industry. Your brand becomes noticeable to your target audience, and, trust me, that is priceless.
What is your favorite free WordPress theme, and why do you love it?
The post 32 Free WordPress Themes For Effective Content Marketing appeared first on Neil Patel.
How to Choose The Right Content Marketing Agency
Content marketers who blog regularly receive 55 percent more website visitors and 67 percent more leads than those who don’t. Organizations that prioritize content marketing receive 13X more ROI than those that don’t.
It’s no secret that content marketing works.
What’s difficult is showing up day after day, with fresh content your readers find educational and valuable. After a while, the content marketing arms race can become a grind. If you have the right content marketing agency, growth is easier. It’s simple to create content that’s focused, helpful, and profitable.
Know your content marketing goals and desired outcomes
Research from the Content Marketing Institute shows 80 percent of B2B marketers use metrics to measure their content performance, 65 percent have set KPIs, and 43 percent measure their content marketing ROI.
Do you?
If you’re not sure about your goals and desired outcomes, content marketing can become an expensive black hole. Successful content marketing starts with setting goals and objectives. The metrics and KPIs you use depends on a few different factors — the size and location of your business, your industry, and your circumstances. Here’s a list of the top six metrics marketers have used to measure their content marketing performance in the last 12 months.
- Email engagement (e.g., opens, clicks, downloads)
- Website traffic (e.g., page views, unique visitors, backlinks, conversions)
- Social media metrics (e.g., shares, follows, views, likes)
- Conversions (e.g., traffic to leads, traffic to subscribers, leads to sales)
- Subscriber counts (e.g., # of follows, growth, unsubscribes)
- Search rankings
What should your goals and desired outcomes be?
When it comes to content marketing, there really isn’t a shortage of metrics. If you wanted to, you could track 50+ metrics around your business. That’s not helpful if you’re focused on vanity metrics that don’t help you grow. You’ll probably want to focus your attention on the metrics that are directly tied to your revenue.
This is why goals and outcomes are so important.
If you’re aware of the goals and outcomes you want, you have a better sense of the metrics you need to track. These metrics show you whether you’re getting close to your goal or not.
Here’s an example.
If you’re running a SaaS business, you’d be focused on improving the five must-have metrics.
- Increasing monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
- Decreasing user churn rates
- Decreasing cost per acquisition
- Increasing average revenue per customer
- Increasing Customer lifetime value
If you’re focused on these goals, your content marketing metrics would be directly tied to these as well. If you’re a SaaS business, you’d prioritize content marketing metrics like traffic, subscriber counts, and conversions. These would have the biggest impact on your SaaS business.
- What specifically do I need to stay in business? (e.g., $75K per mo., 300 basic customers, churn rate of 4.7% or less)
- Which areas of my business cost me money? (e.g., low return on ad spend, high acquisition costs, high churn rates)
- Where are my most/least profitable customers coming from?
- Which content produces the most revenue?
Start with the core metrics in your business. Ask yourself these four questions to get a better idea of your core metrics. You can always add more metrics if you need more data.
9 Characteristics That Make a Great Content Marketing Agency
Clutch.co lists more than 13,873 content marketing agencies on its website. New agencies are added every day. How do you know that the agency you choose is a good fit? What kind of characteristics make a great content marketing agency?
You need to know what you’re looking for in an agency.
Here’s a list of the qualities and characteristics you need to find the right agency for your business.
- A good reputation: Good reviews and testimonials are a good start. If you’re looking for an agency, they should have a portfolio of well-written content as well as online reviews, case studies, or references they can provide. You’ll want to go deeper; the agency you choose should have a portfolio of relevant content you can review. They should also have a good reputation with journalists, publishers, and influencers. If you run into any red flags here, they’ll need to explain why.
- No ethical grey areas: Your agency should have a hard-line stance against obvious issues like plagiarism, inaccurate or misleading content, or material that’s socially inappropriate. But they should also have a clear stance against ethically murky issues like pay-for-play, paid links, or undisclosed conflicts of interest. When exposed, these unethical moves do permanent damage to your business, even if your agency did this with another client.
- Project management skills: Content marketing depends on deadlines. If you’re working with journalists, partners, or influencers, you’ll need an agency that can provide you with on-time and in-budget content delivery. An editorial calendar can be difficult to manage; your agency should be able to handle these details for you. Ask them to show you their project management process.
- Clear goal setting: Your agency should be comfortable working with your goals and objectives. They should understand your business well enough to be able to track and manage the key metrics and KPIs you need to grow. The right agency should be able to show you how each metric fits with your goals and outcomes.
- Consistent ROI: Experienced agencies create content that meets your goals consistently. Their content development keeps you, the client, ahead of your competitors. It’s pretty easy to verify ROI; ask for case studies in the references that go along with them.
- Subject matter expertise: Your agency should have experience creating content in the same industry or space. They should have in-depth knowledge and experience with your industry, business, product, or service. If they don’t have the expertise you need, they should be able to demonstrate that they have experience with a similar topic or niche.
- A stable team of content creators: Good content marketing agencies have a list of reliable writers on their team, stable writers are skilled at writing, grammar, logical consistency, and storytelling. These writers should be specialists who have the subject matter expertise or experience you need.
- Match your voice, tone, and style: Experienced agencies shouldn’t have a problem matching their client’s brand voice. It should be easy for them to create content that sounds like something their clients would say, using the tone and style their client already uses.
- Write for people and search engines: Agency content pieces should be created to attract the right visitor at the right time, whether you’re speaking to a cold audience, subscribers, customers, followers, fans, or a combination.
This is a lot for clients to handle on their own. That’s why 84 percent of marketers outsource their content creation activities.
How to work with a content marketing agency
You’ll want to make sure that you give your content marketing agency the tools they need to work hard for you.
- Usernames and passwords. You can use tools like LastPass to handle credentials management for your agency.
- Work-related content. The content your agency needs to work. This includes items like marketing materials, brand and style guides, photos, and media.
- Legal content. The list of do’s and don’ts your content needs to follow — terms of use, privacy policy, return/exchange policies, warranty and guarantee information, and intellectual property details.
- Case studies and accolades. Your case studies, awards, recognition, PR (positive or negative), testimonials, praise, review profiles — any recognition you’ve received in your business.
- Good feedback. In the beginning, your agency will need lots of input from you. A good agency will ask lots of questions about your business. They’ll need consistent feedback from you to create the kind of content you need.
Here are some tips you can use to keep your relationship with your agency healthy and successful.
Give your agency a point-of-contact
Make sure they assign a dedicated account manager or point-of-contact to your account. Verify that your agency has access to a point-of-contact in your business and decision-makers when necessary. Make sure you both know when and how to reach each other.
Set your expectations upfront
Your agency needs to know how to work with you. Do you want your agency to be hands-on, or would you prefer that they focus on the work? Make sure your agency knows what your expectations are—ask them to verify that your expectations are realistic and achievable.
Outline your approval process
Are you an influencer or decision-maker? If you don’t have the power to make important decisions on behalf of your company, you want to let your agency know that ahead of time. They’ll probably need access to a decision-maker at some point. If you’re not a decision-maker, give your agency the chance to earn buy-in from them. This will keep the agency/client relationship stable.
Ask your agency for feedback
Sometimes agencies are nervous about offending their clients. Ask your agency for feedback on your feedback. Find out ahead of time whether your thoughts were helpful or clear. Ask your agency about how you can provide better feedback during your next meeting.
How to Find the Right Content Marketing Agency For You
If you’d prefer to do your research from scratch, you can use ratings and review websites like Clutch.co, G2, or TopSEOs to create a list of content marketing agencies. Use the criteria I mentioned above to create a list of agencies you can interview.
To make things easier for you, we’ve created a list of the best content marketing agencies of 2020.
8 Top Content Marketing Agencies
1. NP Digital – Best for Immediate and Consistent Revenue Growth
NP Digital is my content marketing agency. I focus our agency on revenue and the metrics that increase revenue. Our focus with content marketing is helping clients build a business that produces traffic, leads, and revenue. Most agencies separate services like technical SEO, link building, or conversion optimization. We keep SEO and content marketing as a package deal.
2. Seer Interactive – Best for Big Data Search and Content
Seer Interactive doesn’t trust their gut; they use their data warehouse and tools to look across millions of keywords instantly. Using big data, they look for new, hidden, and unexpected customer trends in competitive industries. They’re one of the few agencies with a big query environment of 202 million SERP records.
3. Distilled – Best for Technical SEO
As an agency, Distilled builds its content marketing campaigns around technical SEO. All of the services they offer are oriented around search. Distilled created an Optimization Delivery Network (ODN) that allows clients to make changes to their site and run SEO split tests.
4. Fractl – Best for In-Depth, Research-Heavy Content
Fractl is a research-heavy, data-driven content marketing agency. They focus on rapid organic growth via a combination of content marketing, data journalism, digital PR, and SEO. They have deep knowledge in specific industries, and they publish original research in journals and well-known publications.
5. Column Five – Best for Data and Content Visualization
As a content marketing agency, Column Five is focused on the creative side of content development — storytelling, design, data visualization, interactive motion graphics, and exhibition design. Creativity is the priority; their agency uses a mix of organic and paid distribution to promote client content.
8. Single Grain – Best for Conversion-Driven Content Marketing
Single Grain uses its content marketing and conversion optimization services to boost client conversions. They’re focused on rapid and consistent growth for each of their clients.
9. The Content Bureau – Best for B2B Content Marketing
These B2B content marketing specialists are woman-owned, 90 percent female, and fully remote. They’re focused almost exclusively on clients in the tech, VC, and financial sectors, focusing their attention on global corporations that need consistent, year-over-year growth.
10. Web Profits – Best for SaaS Content Marketing
Webprofits focuses exclusively on SaaS content marketing and advertising. These SaaS specialists use their experience as SaaS business owners to build other SaaS clients. They work with large and small clients, including Rackspace and Shopify.
Conclusion
It can be tough to show up day after day with fresh content for your customers. The right content marketing agency makes content development simple and straightforward. Choosing the right content marketing agency isn’t rocket science; you just have to ask the right questions.
It starts with your goals and outcomes.
If you’re aware of the goals and outcomes you want, you’ll know which metrics you need to track to reach those goals. With the right goals and metrics, you’ll be able to find, vet, and choose the right content marketing agency — you’ll have the team you need to generate more revenue for your business.
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