11 Proven Hacks to Keep Your Customers Buying More

It costs 5X less to retain a customer than it does to acquire a new one.

That’s why customer retention is crucial to growing your Ecommerce business.

What is customer retention?

Customer retention is the ability to encourage customers to keep coming back to make purchases. Research shows that repeat customers spend more than once-off customers, making retention a priority for any Ecommerce business that wants to grow. With research showing that retail Ecommerce sales are set to be more than $548 billion by 2024, you’ll want your customer retention strategy to be solid enough to get you a piece of that pie.

This post will dive into the strategies you can use to boost your customer retention rates. We’ll also look at foundational principles like attracting and converting customers. So, let’s get to it, shall we?

5 Customer Retention Strategies and Corresponding Tools for Ecommerce Companies

Many businesses make the mistake of investing heavily in customer attraction. Sure, if you don’t attract new customers, there’s a possibility your business may fold. However, attracting custoTapymers is not the key to business growth.

The key to business growth is customer retention.

That’s why you must develop strategies that will help you retain the customers you attract. You also need to have the right tools for the job.

Why is customer retention so important?

I’ll give you a few good reasons:

boosts loyalty
helps drive referral marketing
increases ROI
increases average order value (AOV)

Speaking of ROI, research shows that a mere 5 percent increase in customer retention can boost your revenue by over 25 percent, depending on the industry, product, and other factors.

With that said, let’s dive into the five customer retention strategies you can use to grow your Ecommerce business.

1. Understand the Customer Journey and Optimize Your Customer Experience Accordingly

One of the first steps to designing a customer retention strategy that works is to understand the customer journey. The heart of customer retention lies in meeting or exceeding the expectations your customers have.

To do that, you must understand the customer journey and optimize it for positive customer experiences (CX) at every step.

If you can keep your customers happy, they’ll keep coming back for more.

How do you do that?

Understand Your Audience

Understanding your audience allows you to know how to craft personalized messaging and experiences at every stage of the journey. Personalized experiences are essential in driving return sales. To better understand your audience, use:

Audience research tools like surveys and quizzes to gather demographic and psychographic data on your target audience.
Social media platforms and tools like Facebook’s Audience Insights tools to better understand your audience demographics.
Tools like HubSpot to build buyer personas.

To build and optimize customer journeys that effectively retain your customers, you must first understand who your target audience is and what they want. This way, you can ensure each touchpoint is meaningful, resulting in a positive CX and, ultimately, higher customer retention rates.

Design an Effective Customer Loyalty Program

Part of your customer journey must include creating a customer loyalty program.

Customer loyalty is your customers’ willingness to keep buying from you. Loyalty programs encourage them to do just that and help increase their customer lifetime value (CLV). Designed and executed well, it increases sales and, most importantly, improves your customer retention rates. Here are a few tips and tools to help you design an effective customer loyalty program:

Know what rewards are meaningful to your customers.
Define the rules of your loyalty program. This includes which actions get rewarded and the kinds of rewards tied to each action.
Use tools like the Net Promoter Score to gauge your customers’ loyalty. This will help you know how effective your customer loyalty program is and how much work is needed to improve it.
Leverage customer loyalty programs like ReferralCandy to build and execute customer loyalty programs.

Designing a customer loyalty program must never be an afterthought; it must be an integral part of your customer retention strategy.

Running a hybrid B2B/B2C business?

My partner for this post, BigCommerce B2B Edition, makes it easy for you to offer different price lists and products to your different customer segments. You can also tailor your customer loyalty program to each customer category.

2. Follow Up After the First Transaction Is Completed

For most, a sale is the ultimate goal of running an Ecommerce business. However, to retain your customers, you must follow up after the first transaction is completed. Some follow up strategies you can implement include:

Use Email to Build Meaningful Relationships

Many Ecommerce businesses send a thank you email after a transaction. To retain your customers, though, you must do more than just thank them. You must build meaningful relationships with them.

That’s why following up after a transaction is essential. Here’s an example from Zoe’s Kitchen:

Customer Retention Strategies for E-Commerce Companies - Follow Up After the First Transaction Is Completed

Following up after a transaction helps you build meaningful relationships with your customers. For your follow-up to be effective, you must show your customers that you can provide more value. You do that by sending post-sales emails like:

product updates
cross-selling and upselling emails
feedback surveys
promotional emails
informational emails

This is where Ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce come in handy. It has many features you’ll get to help you grow your business. One of them is the automated email tool and integrations that will help you run follow-up campaigns. Coupled with BigCommerce’s fully customizable email templates (using code or the text editor), creating follow-up campaigns couldn’t be easier. That’s especially since you can add discount codes and coupons to your email templates to encourage conversions.

Be Proactive With Customer Onboarding

Customer onboarding is one of the most crucial steps to ensuring that a first-time customer becomes a repeat buyer. Onboarding refers to all the steps you take to gain customers’ trust until they become loyal customers. A few tips to enhance your customer onboarding include:

Use email marketing to welcome and nurture new customers.
Invest in interactive content to engage customers and get more data to create hyperpersonalized experiences.
Where necessary, create a tutorial to educate your customers on how best to use your product.

Customer onboarding is an essential follow-up process that allows you to show your customers that you value their success. Once they see that, it becomes easier for you to retain them.

3. Segment and Target Existing Customers for Customer Loyalty Programs

By this time, your interactions with your customers have opened up a gold mine of data. Every interaction helps you paint a better picture of each customer.

This is precious data you can use to segment your customers.

Segmentation is crucial in helping you create targeted and personalized campaigns. When it comes to customer retention, segmentation plays an integral role in creating effective customer loyalty programs for your existing customers.

Segmentation is key to increasing your chances of creating a customer loyalty program that will help you retain your existing customers.

For your loyalty program to work, you must create tailored rewards and experiences for the different segments as their needs are different. Examples of segments you can consider creating among existing customers include:

high spenders
cart abandoners
coupon lovers
one-time buyers

This is another area in which platforms like BigCommerce shine. It has a built-in tool that allows you to create loyalty groups, making it easy to target particular segments of your customer base for your customer loyalty program.

4. Allow Changes to Orders

Customer retention hinges on creating memorable experiences for your customers. One way to do that is to allow your customers to change their orders once they’ve made a purchase. For example, a customer may change their mind and want a product that’s a different size, color, etc. For BigCommerce users, allowing customers to change their orders is a cinch. That’s thanks to the order editing functionality the platform provides.

Allowing customers to change their orders is an excellent way to encourage customer retention.

When that happens, allow your customer to swap their purchase for the one they really want.

One of the results of this is that your customers will trust you more. It shows that you have their back and are willing to bend over backward to make them happy. Of course, that kind of trust can only lead to one thing—higher customer retention rates.

5. Offer Outstanding Customer Service

Customer retention is a function of the experiences your customers have with your brand. Besides the shopping experience, customer service is one of the biggest elements of ensuring you serve your customers exceptionally well.

That’s why you must offer outstanding customer service.

When you solve your customers’ problems in a friendly and efficient manner, they’ll see you as a reliable partner. Although they had an issue with your product, you’ll have earned their trust and loyalty.

How do you ensure your customer service is good enough to bolster your customer retention strategy?

Offer omnichannel customer service: Make it easy for your customers to reach you by being available on multiple communication channels. MobileMonkey is one of the best customer service tools that will help you create a cohesive experience across multiple channels.
Assign the right agent to the right customer: Assess your customer’s needs and assign the agent most qualified to handle them.
Learn from your competitors: Research how your competitors handle customer service issues like returns, faulty products, faulty charges, etc. Also, read customer reviews and call their customer service line to see what the customer service experience is like.
Help your customers help themselves: Some people prefer to troubleshoot and solve their problems. Creating an easy-to-navigate knowledge base using tools like HelpJuice will help you do just that.

Creating an outstanding customer service experience will undoubtedly help you win your customers’ loyalty. People want to know that they can depend on you to help them fast and efficiently if anything goes wrong. On the other hand, poor customer service will cost you customers and, ultimately, your business.

Customer Retention Bonus Tips/Pro Hacks

Customer retention is all about creating memorable experiences for your customers. Here are a few more ways you can do that:

Ask Customers to Set Up Profiles

Creating profiles offers a platform where customers can input important dates like anniversaries and birthdays. Doing this allows you to send reminders and personalized product recommendations for the special occasion.

Create an Affiliate Program

Create an affiliate program where satisfied customers can begin promoting your products and earn a commission. Besides the potential to earn revenue, an affiliate program makes your customers feel like part of your brand. The result is heightened customer loyalty.

Create a Community

People love being part of a special group. That’s why creating a community around your brand is an excellent way of boosting customer retention. An example of this would be creating an exclusive Facebook group where you share content surrounding your brand.

Now that you know how to retain your customers let’s briefly take a step back and look at how you can attract and convert your customers.

How to Attract Customers to Your ECommerce Businesses: 3 Strategies

While customer retention is one of the main pillars of business growth, you can’t have retention without attraction. So, let’s briefly look at a few ways you can attract customers to your Ecommerce store.

1. Have Great SEO to Attract Organic Traffic

Paid ads are a great way to gain traction, especially for a new Ecommerce store. However, if you want to play the long game, you must invest in a robust SEO strategy. The main reason being SEO is one of the best ways to attract organic traffic. A few tips to help you with your Ecommerce SEO include:

Let the Pros Take Care of It

If you have the budget, one of the easiest ways to boost your SEO is to hire an agency to take care of it for you. Besides freeing up your time to run your business, hiring an SEO agency has the advantages of:

Access to the right tools, resources, and human resources.
Agility to change strategy to align with the ever-changing SEO landscape.

Learn SEO and Take a DIY Approach

No budget for an SEO agency?

Then you could DIY your SEO.

While this approach will require time and commitment, learning the ins and outs of e-commerce SEO will help you better understand what it takes to attract the right traffic to your store. So, invest in a couple of SEO courses or teach yourself the art and science of driving traffic to your Ecommerce store.

Leverage an Ecommerce Platform Designed With SEO in Mind

An essential aspect many entrepreneurs overlook when picking an Ecommerce platform is the SEO aspect. Always consider the SEO features of a platform before investing in one. This is one of the reasons BigCommerce is one of the best platforms on the market. Here are a few SEO-centric features you can expect:

Fully customizable URLs.
Access to editing robot.txt files.
301 redirects and URL rewrites to reflect any changes in product names.
CDN to increase site speed.
Microdata and schema markup to enhance your search result listings.

BigCommerce also offers in-depth guides like this one and this one to help ensure your store’s SEO is on point.

2. Create Engaging and Targeted Paid Ad Campaigns

As said, SEO is about the long game—it takes time to see results. To drive traffic to your site quickly, you’ll need to leverage targeted paid ad campaigns. Research shows that 46 percent of the most visited Ecommerce stores spend up to $1,000/month on paid ads. The top 16 percent spend upward of $20,000 per month, so yes, if you want to drive traffic to your store, you must invest in paid ads. While paid ads may cost you, they have several advantages that include:

Drive hyper-targeted traffic.
Generate sales faster.
Boost brand awareness.

The main advantage of paid ads is the speed at which they produce results. So, if you’re running a promotion or simply want to boost your monthly sales, paid ads could help you drive the traffic you need.

For your ads to be effective, though, you must ensure they’re engaging and targeted. To do that:

Understand your target audience and develop an ideal customer profile (ICP).
Choose and understand the platform you’re advertising on and follow best practices.
Thoroughly research your keywords and negative keywords (Ubersuggest is an excellent tool for this).
Craft personalized ad copy.
Determine the ad format you’ll use (video, text, etc.)
Use a campaign management tool like AdEspresso to create, manage, and optimize your paid ads.
Optimize your landing pages for better conversions.

It can be quite scary to put money in paid ads. After all, the ROI is never guaranteed. Creating engaging and targeted ads helps make your ads more effective, ensuring that you drive relevant traffic to your products.

3. List Your Products On as Many Channels as Possible

Today’s buyer is spoilt for choice regarding the platforms and channels they consume content on.

That’s why, when creating your Ecommerce paid ad strategy, you must advertise your product on as many channels as possible.

You must adopt an omnichannel approach to advertising.

Omnichannel marketing will ensure that you meet your customers where they are. It makes it easier for you to create ads that will appeal to your customers—ads that convert.

What exactly is omnichannel marketing?

It is an approach to marketing where you anticipate that your customers may start their journey with your brand on one device or platform and continue on another. With omnichannel marketing, you create a cohesive and unified experience for your customers across all platforms and at every touchpoint.

The result is a positive CX that results in more conversions and, ultimately, higher customer retention rates.

This is important as research shows that over 73 percent of online shoppers use multiple channels when shopping. A few tips to help you create an effective omnichannel strategy for your Ecommerce store include:

Make Every Touchpoint a Shopping Experience

Thankfully, with Ecommerce platforms like BigCommerce, your customers can easily buy from other channels (like social media) other than your store. You can also leverage external social media payment processing solutions to sell products directly on social media.

Offer Omnichannel Customer Support

Being available for your customers on their preferred channels helps you create a positive experience that will get them hooked to your brand.

Create a Mobile App

It’s no secret that mobile has overtaken desktop in terms of usage. Creating a mobile app helps you create tailored experiences for your customers on multiple platforms. It also helps you put your store in your customers’ pockets.

Listing your products on multiple channels is a great way of getting them in front of a larger audience. As a result, you’ll drive more traffic to your store and generate more sales on the different platforms you leverage.

Customer Attraction Bonus Tips/Pro Hacks

Besides the three main customer attraction strategies mentioned above, you can use other more advanced ones. Here are a few of them:

Leverage AI: AI can help you create accurate buyer personas and serve users personalized product recommendations.
Create viral content: Understand your audience’s pain points and aspirations and create your content around these. Also, make sure to meet search intent.
Distribute your content: Effective content distribution results in your content being published on the right platforms and being seen by the right audience.
Partner with influencers: Partnering with influencers is a great way of tapping into a large demographic that’s a perfect fit for your ICP. The followers are more likely to be interested in your products, and thus the chance of them visiting your website (and converting into customers) is higher.

Developing a strategy to attract customers to your Ecommerce store is an essential step to customer retention. If you can attract an audience in the right way, it improves your chances of them converting and, ultimately, becoming loyal customers.

How to Convert Customers: 3 Strategies

There are three steps to growing a loyal customer base:

Attracting the right audience.
Converting traffic into paying customers.
Retaining your customers.

We’ve already dealt with attracting and retaining customers. Now let’s take a quick dive into how you can convert visitors into customers.

First—what is a conversion?

A conversion in Ecommerce is any visitor who purchases one of your products. Conversion rate, therefore, is the percentage of visitors to your store who turn into customers.

The higher your conversion rates, the more sales you make. Don’t take our word for it. Check out LARQ’s case study. After partnering with BigCommerce, their conversions lifted by 80 percent and they enjoyed a 400 percent average increase in YoY revenue.

How do you improve your conversions?

Create Outstanding Landing Pages
Your landing page is an important element of your sales funnel as it’s usually the one that does the heavy selling. That’s why you must ensure you create outstanding ones that convert.
Here are a few tips to help you do that:

Keep it simple: Your landing page must be easy to read and understand at a glance. To do that, keep your design clear and uncluttered.

Have only one objective: Your landing page must only have one goal—conversion. Keep it focused on that.

Personalization is crucial: From meeting search intent to using language and visuals that appeal to the visitor, personalize your landing page as much as possible.

Add detailed product descriptions: Your landing page is meant to sell, and one of the best ways is to give visitors a detailed description of what they’re buying. Include high-quality images.

Use multiple CTAs: Include the same CTA at different places on your landing page. Doing so makes it easier for your visitor to click-through and purchase whenever they’re ready.

Use a tried, tested, and proven landing page builder: If you’re a BigCommerce customer, you can use the built-in Page Builder tool to quickly and easily build landing pages.

Your landing page is an essential part of your sales funnel. Besides helping you target specific customer segments, they also help you drive higher ROI for your paid traffic. That’s why you must invest in creating optimized ones for your Ecommerce store.
Ensure Your Site Is Secure to Make Users Feel Safe Making Purchases From Your Shop
Another crucial factor that helps boost your conversions is site security. Your customers want to feel safe when handing you their details during the checkout process, especially with the recent spike in data breaches. To ensure your site is secure, you must:

Use a Secure Ecommerce Platform

The first step to securing your Ecommerce store is to use a platform designed with security in mind. For example, platforms like BigCommerce offer sitewide HTTPS and other security features like firewalls, intrusion detection, and much more. A secure platform makes your customers feel safe to transact with you. It’s essential to boosting your conversions.

Support Multiple Payment Methods

Your customers will have different preferences when it comes to how they want to pay for your products. They feel more secure using a payment gateway they’re familiar with.

Using multiple payment methods is a great way of giving your customers more options. Besides, it also enables you to offer multi-currency options—a crucial ingredient to improving your CX for global customers.

While supporting multi-currency payment options may seem like a daunting task, with a platform like BigCommerce it isn’t. That’s because BigCommerce natively supports over 140 local currencies and over 65 payment gateways.

Closely Review and Monitor All Plugins and Third-party Integrations

When installing third-party solutions to enhance your store, you must make sure they’re from a trusted source. It’s also essential that you monitor them to ensure they’re regularly updated. Once you have no use for one, remove it from your store. You must keep third-party applications on your store to a bare minimum as they can create vulnerabilities in your store.

Stay on top of your Ecommerce store’s security by using tools like FreeScan to check for vulnerabilities and TrustWave for threat detection regularly. A secure store will not only protect you from cyberattacks, but also helps boost your conversions. Just make sure to invest in a secure Ecommerce platform and additional security tools if necessary.
Use an Abandoned Cart Saver
Cart abandonment is an aspect of Ecommerce you can’t avoid. Research shows that, on average, close to 70 percent of carts are abandoned at checkout. That’s why, if you’re to improve your conversions, you must address this issue.

One of the best ways to do that is to use an abandoned cart saver.
An abandoned cart saver is a feature that allows you to send an email to customers who loaded their carts but didn’t complete the transaction.

With BigCommerce’s Abandoned Cart Saver, the emails are fully customizable, allowing you to create personalized invites (with discount codes or coupons) to encourage customers to complete their purchases.

Other Customer Conversion Pro Hacks

Besides the three conversion strategies discussed above, here are other tips for increasing your customer conversion rates:

Run targeted ads: Targeted ads appeal emotionally to your target audience. They also make your product seem like the perfect solution to their needs.
Retargeting: Use social media ads, apps, banner ads on websites, or email to retarget customers who viewed products on your store.
Use easy-to-fill forms: A/B test different form designs on your landing page to find out which works best for your customers. Test the number of form fields, copy, placement, etc.
Offer free shipping: Free shipping is another great incentive to encourage visitors to your landing page to convert into customers. Make sure to display this benefit.
Optimize your checkout page: Optimize your checkout page by eliminating distractions, showing trust signals, offering multiple payment options, etc. These will encourage customers to go through with their purchases.

Attracting the right kind of traffic is always the first step to customer retention. The next critical step is converting that traffic into customers. Be deliberate about both.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ecommerce Customer Retention Strategies

Still have a few questions concerning customer retention strategies you can use to boost your Ecommerce business?

Let’s quickly clear the air on some of the most common ones:

What Is Customer Retention?

Customer retention is the ability for a business to generate repeat customers from visitors to their business. Therefore, customer retention rate refers to the percentage of your customers that continue to buy from you over a given period.

How Can I Improve My Customer Retention?

Improving your customer retention rate is dependent on many factors. However, at the heart of a good customer retention strategy lies creating positive customer experiences at each touchpoint.

What Are Some Examples of How You Retain Customers?

There are several activities you can undertake to retain customers. Here are a few examples: creating loyalty programs, using email to build relationships with your customers and designing outstanding customer service experiences.

What Is a Good Customer Retention Rate for ECommerce?

Customer retention rates are affected by many factors such as industry, product, and others. However, the average customer retention rate for Ecommerce is said to be around 30 percent.

{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “FAQPage”,
“mainEntity”: [
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What Is Customer Retention?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Customer retention is the ability for a business to generate repeat customers from visitors to their business. Therefore, customer retention rate refers to the percentage of your customers that continue to buy from you over a given period.”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How Can I Improve My Customer Retention?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Improving your customer retention rate is dependent on many factors. However, at the heart of a good customer retention strategy lies creating positive customer experiences at each touchpoint.”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What Are Some Examples of How You Retain Customers?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “There are several activities you can undertake to retain customers. Here are a few examples: creating loyalty programs, using email to build relationships with your customers and designing outstanding customer service experiences.”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What Is a Good Customer Retention Rate for ECommerce?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Customer retention rates are affected by many factors such as industry, product, and others. However, the average customer retention rate for Ecommerce is said to be around 30 percent.”
}
}
]
}

Summary of Ecommerce Customer Retention Strategies

One-time sales are good, but they don’t grow your business.

For your Ecommerce business to be successful, you must encourage your customers to keep coming back.

That’s why designing a customer retention strategy is crucial.

Using the tips above, growing your business by attracting, converting, and retaining customers is no longer a lofty dream. Putting the tips into action will turn your dreams of growing your Ecommerce brand into reality.

And remember, your choice of Ecommerce platform also plays a huge role in your success in retaining customers. Platforms like BigCommerce that come with in-built customer retention features (like single-page checkout, coupon and discount codes, etc.) are your best bet.

Which customer retention strategies and tools have worked well for your business?

How to Use Twitter Advanced Search to Drive 100% More Leads

There are 69.3 million U.S.-based users active on Twitter, meaning it’s a platform full of potential when it comes to lead generation within the states.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to know how to find leads effectively on Twitter—unless you know how to use Twitter’s advanced search queries. That’s why I’m going to tell you what advanced search queries are and how to use them to help drive more leads.

Why You Should Use Twitter’s Advanced Search

Twitter’s Advanced Search function allows you to narrow down your searches to precisely the type of user you want, including location, interests, and more. You can even find users who are talking about your company without tagging (or @ing) you.

Chances are, you have already used Twitter’s search panel on the right-hand side of your desktop screen or the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your mobile screen to search for basic things like hashtags and users.

Say you search for a company, such as Converse. You’ll be able to see accounts related to your search, top tweets, and recent tweets mentioning that keyword.

These searches are general, so you probably couldn’t learn much from them.

And if Converse was your company or competitor, that’s disappointing.

Millions of tweets go out each day, so finding exactly what you’re looking for means you need some filtering tools to narrow down your search.

Twitter’s advanced search option does just that.

Ways and Reasons to Use Twitter’s Advanced Search Options

There are a multitude of reasons you may want to use advanced search functions in Twitter. The way you perform the search depends on what information you are seeking.

1. Use Twitter’s Advanced Search Functions via the Search Bar

You can see tweets from people or companies in any location with any particular phrase you can think of with Twitter Advanced Search. It’s just a bit more complicated than the normal search option.

Currently, you can only access Twitter’s advanced search tool on their desktop site or web app, not the actual Twitter app on your phone or tablet. The next several suggestions can be used on the app or website, but frankly, the desktop advanced search function is easier, and we suggest going that way if you can.

2. Search Twitter by Sentiment

Sentiment searches can help you understand what keywords people use and why they use them via a basic form of natural language processing (NLP). Such searches are generally categorized as positive, negative, and neutral.

Knowing both what and why people search can help you figure out what your potential customers need.

You can purchase programs to run complete NLP analyses on Twitter, but you can do this on your own to a certain extent. For starters, search for happy or sad faces and punctuation combined with your chosen keywords.

In the example below, I searched for the phrase “iphone?” to find people asking questions about iPhones. You can filter results to see top tweets, latest tweets, people, photos, or videos. There are more options on the app, though they sometimes changed based on current events.

Twitter advanced search sentiment options for iPhone?

A simple search like this is a great way to determine what questions people are asking in your industry or about your products or even your competitors’ products.

Be sure to read through the context of each tweet, though, because sentiment filters depend on context.

Someone asking questions about an iPhone could be looking for apps, security information, or troubleshooting guides. However, they could also be looking for a buyer for their used phone, making some kind of joke, or asking a totally unrelated question—it only looks for the word and the punctuation in this search.

Even with the less relevant results still included, sentiment search narrows things down a bit and could be a great way to find users looking for answers or recommendations. If you can answer your questions, showing your brand’s authority, you could find yourself with a new lead.

This method may be more successful if you run a local brand and aren’t competing against international players.

3. Use Location Filters

Find tweets in any country or city with geolocation filters.

That way, you’ll be able to weed out the tweets from faraway places. This is important if you’re a small local business because you can target leads right in your area.

Just add ‘near:(city/country)’ and ‘within:(X mi)’ to find tweets from any specific location worldwide.

The ‘near:’ addition filters out exactly where you want to see tweets from. The ‘within:’ addition lets you pick the distance from that location you want to see tweets from.

Essentially, it creates a radius around the city, county, or other region you specific with the ‘near:’ filter.

For instance, if you own a restaurant in a particular location, for example, you could find anyone who’s looking for a place to eat and send them to your business.

Do this by entering a keyword related to your industry (like ‘Japanese restaurant’) and add ‘near:(your location) within:(X mi)’ to find potential local customers. We recommend looking at “Latest” for this so you can find people who are hungry right now.

Your results should look something like this:

Finding new customers could be as simple as that.

And providing help to users with questions—like where they can find good soba!—can boost your online reputation, which is an added perk of using sentiment searches.

Sentiment searching can give you insight into what people are saying to your competitors and asking them about, too.

If you find that customers are unhappy with one of your competitor’s features, tweet back at them with relevant information about your service.

You can dive into any conversation and add your opinions and answers to build an engaging relationship with Twitter users.

4. Track Twitter Mentions by Searching for Usernames

One of the easiest ways to track new leads is to do username searches to track mentions.

All you’ve got to do is add “to:” or “from:” before a username.

The “to:” search reveals tweets sent to that user. For example, if you search for “to:NeilPatel,” you’ll be able to see tweets that other Twitter accounts sent to me, whether in response to my Tweets or independently.

If you enter in ‘from:’ before my name, you’ll see tweets that I have sent out instead:

twitter advanced search - mentions example of using "from"

You probably would use this option more to search for tweets from your competitors, not yours.

Say I’m interested in seeing if anyone has questions for me about branding. All I would have to do is add that keyword to a ‘to:’ search, like this:

Twitter advanced search to: with question

Note I added the question mark back in to help narrow it down to questions only.

Then, all I’ve got to do is engage with those users.

5. Save Your Twitter Advanced Searches

Twitter lets you save as many as 25 searches per account. That’s plenty of searches to keep tabs on.

To save a search, all you’ve got to do is click the three dots on the right-hand side of your search query. Then, select “+ Save search.”

That way, you can keep an eye on people sharing your blog posts, mentioning you or your competitors, or tweeting about certain keywords.

6. Use Twitter Advanced Search to Exclude Irrelevant Results

Cut out the search results you don’t want by using the exclusion filter.

All you’ve got to do is add the “-” symbol before a keyword, filter, or Twitter user.

For example, if you want to find Twitter users who are talking about smartphones, but you don’t want to see tweets from a competitor (let’s say Samsung), just search for ‘smartphone’ -samsung.

twitter advanced search - samsung example

Getting refined results really can be that easy.

7. Create Hashtags and Search for Them

If you use hashtags correctly, you can build your own filter for driving leads.

Use just one hashtag at any given time, ensure it’s branded and creative, and add it to the majority of your posts.

One of the most successful branded hashtags was Redbull’s #PutACanOnIt:

The hashtag became popular worldwide because it encouraged people to use Red Bull cans creatively, take a photo, and share it with the hashtag.

This not only allows your customers to do your marketing and product placement for you, but it also creates a branded hashtag you can search later to interact with Twitter users.

Hashtags like this might encourage people who have never purchased your products to buy them so that they can participate in the fun.

You don’t have to do advanced searches manually, though. Save yourself some time by letting Twitter do the work for you.

8. Use the Advanced Search Function on the Web

As mentioned, the actual advanced search function is only available on Twitter’s website, not the app. If you have a computer or access the site through your browser on your mobile device, this method can shorten the time you spend searching.

Next to your search bar, you can see three dots. Click those dots, then choose “Advanced search.”

From there, it will take you to this form where you can do a variety of different things. You need to scroll multiple times to see all the available options; that’s how advanced this function has become. What shows up on each scroll may vary a bit by your computer, but here is what you can generally expect.

The first screen shows the basics: words to use, words to exclude, and hashtags to search.

After your first scroll, you can choose a language, tweets to and from accounts, tweets mentioning accounts, and the top of the choices regarding filtering replies.

Your next scroll gives you additional options regarding replies, allows you to choose whether to include links, and the amount of engagement you want a post to have had before you view it.

Your final scroll allows you to choose the date ranges of the tweets you want to see.

You can choose as many filters as you want, then hit search.

The only thing this option can’t seem to do with advanced search is the specific distance option. If I wanted to search Tweets regarding Japanese restaurants within 10 miles of Seattle, I should do that through the regular search bar. However, I can search for Japanese restaurants in Seattle via advanced search by including “Japanese restaurants Seattle” in the first search filter.

I recommend narrowing down dates with every search you do. Tweets from seven years ago aren’t going to help you drive more leads, but recent ones may.

You can look for tweets from the last few days, weeks, or months, or even the last year.

If you want to shell out a few extra bucks each month for even more advanced Twitter searches, there are various paid programs out there, such as Twilert.

How to Connect with Your Twitter Advanced Search Leads

All of this could be for nothing if you don’t talk to Twitter users who could be within your target audience. Once you’ve filtered your search to the types of tweets you’re looking for, start to connect with users.

Respond to the User
Whether a user tweeted directly at you, asked a question you can answer, or was looking for advice on what to purchase, if you can respond in a relevant way, do so.

Here’s how Apple does it:
Follow Your Leads
Once you’ve identified a lead, head to their profile and follow them. If they follow you back, you may be able to engage further and more efficiently.
Include a Link to Your Website
No matter why you engage with a customer, if it’s appropriate, add a link to your website somehow. Only do this if it’s directly relevant to their query, though—just tacking one on could make you seem like a salesman rather than a person using their expertise to help.

Best practice may be to simply add a link to your first response, then simply answer follow-up questions unless a link is necessary to expand upon the answer.

For instance, if someone asked “What’s the best Japanese restaurant in Seattle?” and you run one, respond with something friendly and include a link. For instance, “Hey, we think we’re pretty good! Come give us a visit! [Link]”

Then, if they ask, “do you have soba?” you can simply answer with “Yes, and it’s awesome!” or “no, but we do have [acceptable replacement.].”

Advanced Twitter Search Conclusion

There are millions of users on Twitter, potentially making it a great place to drive leads. But you’ve got to know how to use advanced search options to find them first.

Advanced searches let you find specific leads to target and build relationships with by adding extra filters to Twitter search queries.

If you’re on a mobile app, you do this by manual searches through the standard search function. If you’re on a browser, try out their advanced search function in all its glory.

Be sure to connect with your potential leads personally and remain engaged with them over time.

That said, if you simply don’t have the time to run all this yourself, we’re here to help.

Which advanced search queries help you drive the most leads?

SIRUM (YC W15) is hiring to make access to medicine more equitable

SIRUM is making medications affordable for all.
We’re a small (~25) but quickly growing team that’s passionate about our mission of reimagining healthcare access for those in need. We like to work hard, solve tough problems, and are determined to improve healthcare access for families who have trouble affording the medications they need to stay healthy.

We’re currently hiring for both our Palo Alto Office and Atlanta Warehouse, as well as some fully remote roles. We have opportunities for senior software developers, software architects, sales, communication, and many other positions and are especially interested in anyone with pharmacy experience.

If you want to work in healthcare, love mission-driven work, and thrive in a startup environment, then we may be a good fit. Check out our open roles at https://www.sirum.org/about#careers.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27668040

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

How to Get More Twitter Followers Fast (7 Easy Steps)

What if I told you that you could get 10,000 Twitter followers without having to follow others or spend a bunch of money on ads?

What if I also told you that it would be pretty easy to do?

Well, I’ve got seven simple, straightforward, and super effective Twitter tips to help you do just that.

Twitter is still among the top social networks today for users with over 192 million daily active users.

Twitter could be the secret ingredient to connecting with the biggest possible audience, and I am going to help you do it.

First, though, let’s talk about why you would even want more Twitter followers.

Why do Twitter Followers Matter?

Sure, Facebook is the biggest social network with the most monthly active users.

However, you shouldn’t underestimate Twitter’s importance.

It’s a global powerhouse.

Even though nearly a quarter of Americans use Twitter regularly, much of Twitter’s user base is international users.

This means that Twitter allows you to connect with a global audience.

There are other factors to consider, too.

Such as how Twitter’s millennial and Gen Z audience is a coveted one from a marketing perspective.

In fact, 42 percent of Twitter users are between the ages of 18 and 29, and 27 percent are between the ages of 30 and 49.

twitter follower guide users by age group

Not only are there tons of millennials on Twitter, millennials more frequently use social media as a tool for discovering new brands.

Statistically speaking, millennials and Gen Z are an ideal target demographic for many companies because they make up a huge market.

So why not reach out to them where they live?

twitter followers guide percentage of consumers who buy after seeing on social

Millennials eat out more, love trying new products, and they’re always looking for unique experiences with brands and companies.

In fact, the rise of the millennial generation has forever changed the world of marketing, from the strong focus on video to the rise of influencer marketing, and the emphasis on emotional connection.

There’s another reason Twitter is so attractive to marketers, and that’s because it gives you 100 percent reach.

However, there’s a caveat.

When you post to Twitter, your tweets are only seen by your followers or when your tweets are shared with others’ Twitter followers.

You have 100 percent reach only with your followers and their followers.

This means 100 percent reach on Twitter doesn’t matter if there aren’t people seeing your content.

According to recent research, 74 percent of the people who follow small and medium businesses on Twitter are following these businesses because they want updates on future products.

twitter followers guide why people follow brands on twitter/

Additionally, nearly half of those who follow brands and businesses are more likely to visit those companies’ websites.

So your Twitter followers will often become people who visit your website and invest in your brand through purchases.

Fortunately, I can help you get followers quickly and effectively.

How to Get Twitter Followers Fast

Now that you know why Twitter followers matter, let’s talk about how to get them. Keep in mind, quality is always better than quantity. 100K followers is great — but not if they don’t care about your business.

1. Optimize Your Twitter Profile to Attract Twitter Followers

For all the power you stand to gain by using Twitter for your business, not having a professional, up-to-date profile can be a major turn-off to prospective followers.

So one of the first steps on the road to amassing tons of followers is to make sure your Twitter profile rocks.

Your profile picture is the centerpiece of your Twitter profile.

It’s the part of your Twitter profile people probably notice and look at first.

Aside from your username, it’s the one profile element that doesn’t just appear on your profile. It’ll show next to your tweet in the other users’ feeds when you post.

So, choose a photo that’s appropriate for your business or brand.

Whether you’re using a professional photo of yourself or your brand’s logo, you want to make sure that the most important elements appear toward the center of the image.

Due to the circular format, anything that appears toward the edges of your profile photo won’t show on your profile.

It’s even a good idea to resize your image. Although you can upload higher-res files, your profile image doesn’t need to be any bigger than a 400px by 400px square.

Here are some examples of how these profile image best practices can be implemented:

Bitfinex — a cryptocurrency exchange company — uses their logo for their profile image.

Similarly, you can see New York Magazine’s iconic logo as the profile pic used for their Twitter account.

New York Magazine NYMag Twitter follower guide

However, Virgin Group founder and colorful businessperson Richard Branson uses a photo of himself. The photo looks professional yet casual and relatable.

Not only is this smart for promotional purposes, but it also helps people make stronger associations between your brand and logo.

Your profile photo should draw attention because it will be the identity that your followers will come to see behind all the content you post on Twitter.

Using a branded logo as a profile image, like Louis Vuitton, is an easy and quick way to get followers to recognize your posts instantly.

Beyond the profile photo, there’s the ‘Bio.’

This is the area of your Twitter profile where you provide a little — just 160 characters in total — information about your brand or business.

Here’s an example from the Washington Post’s Twitter profile:

Washington Post washingtonpost Twitter follower guide

As you can see, the goal of your profile is to give a prospective follower an idea of (a) what your business is and (b) what they can expect by becoming a follower.

There’s another reason why your bio is important: it’s searchable.

Of course, you’ll want to include all the essential info, such as your website, location, and possibly a phone number.

You’ll want to include keywords that are relevant to your brand or company in your bio.

PlayStation does this well.

playstation bio example twitter follower guide

PlayStation’s bio includes common variants of the company’s name as well as their products’ names, such as “PS4” for “PlayStation 4.”

A consumer tech outlet called Gadgets Now uses keywords in the bio, too.

gadgets now twitter bio example use keywords twitter follower guide

Another element you can include in your Twitter bio is hashtags.

News network CNN incorporates a single hashtag in the bio.

CNN’s hashtag is a great example because “Go There” is the slogan for the network, emphasizing ingenuity and tenacity in journalism.

So the hashtag reinforces the network’s desired brand image.

Your bio can be an opportunity to show some personality, so don’t be afraid to get a little creative.

Content marketer and author Ann Handley’s profile is an excellent example.

Ann Handley MarketingProfs Twitter followers guide

Ann’s use of the phrase “waging a war on mediocrity in content marketing” is accurate and effective while also showcasing her personality.

Once you’ve chosen your profile photo and written your bio, the next step in a great Twitter profile is to find (or even create) your header imag e.

Though it changes from time to time, the current dimensions that your Twitter header image should be are 1500px by 500px.

This can be a great opportunity to reinforce your brand or to promote your latest product or service.

coca cola twitter follower guide example

If you have trouble finding the right image with the appropriate dimensions, use a tool like Canva to create your own header image for free online.

Besides being free, Canva also offers tons of templates.

Now that you’ve spent some time ironing it out, your profile will leave a strong impression on visitors who view your profile, making them much more likely to follow you.

2. Engage With Your Twitter Followers

Although your follower count is a convenient metric, many social media marketers have begun putting more stock into engagement than followers.

In fact, Socialbakers account manager Jeraldine Tan actually considers follower growth an outdated metric.

“It is extremely important for brands to stop looking at outdated metrics like fan growth,” Jeraldine said in an article posted on LinkedIn.

“The overall fans number doesn’t matter if the audience isn’t consuming your content.”

So if you have a million Twitter followers but your posts get zero engagement, what are those followers really worth?

Jeraldine’s perspective is reinforced by Incite Group’s State of Corporate Social Media Survey.

According to Incite’s data, there’s no correlation between the number of followers and engagement, meaning that more followers doesn’t mean more engagement.

But when followers interact with and share your content on Twitter, their followers see that engagement and often become curious. The engagement serves almost as an endorsement.

So engagement does lead to increased reach and visibility, which, in turn, yields more followers.

However, interactions your followers are having with your Twitter content isn’t the only type of engagement you should care about.

twitter followers guide example of twitter engagement

If you really want to grow your Twitter audience, you should be actively engaging back with them.

Responding to the comments and mentions of your followers reinforces their engagement and makes them more inclined to engage with you in the future.

Engaging with your audience yields more tangible results, too.

According to data from Sprout Social, 48 percent of social media users cite responsiveness as the top characteristic that prompts audiences to purchase from a brand or company.

Fortunately, engaging with your Twitter audience is easy to do and something you can start doing right away.

There are three main strategies for actively engaging with your audience:

Respond to Comments and Mentions

Responding is certainly the simplest and easiest of these strategies, but it’s also effective.

It’s as simple as this:

When a user tweets to you or comments on one of your tweets, respond.

The acknowledgment will give them a sense of validation.

If you can make the exchange memorable in some way, they may actively seek out your content in the future. So don’t be afraid to show a little personality.

Don’t just respond to other people’s comments — pay attention to your own tags as well. Responses like these build good will and increase your reach on Twitter.

Respond to Direct Messages from Twitter Followers

Take the time to respond to direct messages. Today, customers expect brands to monitor their social platforms.

A lot of big brands and companies are finding success with DMs, including 1-800-FLOWERS and T-Mobile.

2. Host or Engage With Twitter Chats to Increase Twitter Followers

Twitter chats are live conversations that use a specific hashtag. They function sort of like a chat room, but are visible to a wider audience due to the use of the hashtag.

Buffer Chat session twitter followers guide

Public relations professional Janet Murray considers live chats an incredibly effective marketing strategy for Twitter.

According to Janet Murray, one way to get even more out of your live chat is to like and retweet other participants’ replies.

“Retweeting the posts of [other users] is a great way to build relationships,” Janet says.

She offers another useful tip: When you’re responding to other participants’ tweets, “don’t forget to use the hashtag so people can follow along.”

Or if you want to tweet someone privately, simply “don’t include the hashtag.”

Buffer — a well-known social media management app — hosts weekly Twitter chat sessions using their own hashtag, “#BufferCha t.”

As far as actually hosting the chat, tools like tchat.io and Twchat can turn your hashtag into a more chat-like live stream.

You can access the live Twitter chat directory on Twubs without even needing to register for a free account.

Additionally, you can put your own live chat on Twubs so that others can find it more easily.

Another tip is to either post your questions or ask your followers for some questions ahead of time.

Buffer Chat Questions twitter followers guide

When it comes down to it, actively engaging your audience reinforces the decision to follow you.

Plus, their own followers can see how interactive you are with your audience, which makes a strong impression at large.

3. Stay Active by Creating Daily Twitter Routines

If your goal is to gain followers, I can’t stress enough the importance of staying active.

It’s not enough to post a few times a week or even once per day like you probably do on Facebook.

You could even lose followers if you’re not tweeting regularly.

how often to post on social media infographic twitter followers guide

According to CoSchedule, you should post curated content — quotes and retweets — three to seven times per day. Including your own original content, it should be about 15 tweets daily.

Do you have time to sit on Twitter 24 hours per day to make sure you’ve got awesome tweets going out at all the right times? Probabley not.

That’s where your routine can be a life-saver.

The best way to create your Twitter routine is to create separate daily, weekly, and monthly routines.

twitter schedule twitter followers guide

Automate and schedule out your posts in advance with a tool like IFTTT.

Your daily Twitter routine should consist of things like following and unfollowing other users, replying to DMs and mentions, and responding to comments on your tweets.

On a weekly basis, you should focus on broader and more long-term aspects of your marketing strategy.

Your monthly routine should include things that could result in big payoffs down the road.

As such, it largely includes networking with industry influencers, which tends to increase your Twitter reach and visibility.

4. Plan and Schedule Tour Tweets

Compared to a non-chronological network like Facebook, the time of day you post on Twitter matters.

If your tweets are posted when your followers aren’t on the platform, those tweets won’t be seen, and less visibility means less engagement, less traffic, fewer followers.

The logical solution to this problem is to post when the most users are on the platform.

Sprout Social compiled data and found that average global engagement on Twitter is highest on Tuesday between 9 AM and 1 PM, Wednesday between 9 AM and 3 PM, Thursdays between 1 and 11 AM, and Fridays from 9 to 10 AM.

twitter global engagment twitter follower guide

The problem is you’ve got a lot of other tweets to compete with during those times.

That’s where knowing your audience comes in handy.

Different demographic groups have different usage habits when it comes to Twitter.

For instance, there are differences between businesses and consumers.

Twitter content that targets businesses — or B2B content — performs best during business hours.

Content that’s consumer-oriented — or B2C content — performs better on the weekend, according to CoSchedule.

The same study also found that branded content does better overall on Wednesdays.

Branded content like this tweet from Coca-Cola:

Optimal performance on Twitter means knowing your audience and knowing when you can reach them.

Twitter gives you an audience overview right inside the Twitter platform. With this information, you can tailor your content to your audience’s demographics and interests.

twitter analytics overview twitter follower guide

Just go to analytics.twitter.com for information about your audience, including what topics they’re into, what type of consumers they are, and even the wireless carriers they’re using.

With this information, you can choose the best times to tweet to your audience for optimal engagement and reach.

From this point, you can proceed in one of two ways:

You can make sure your daily Twitter routine coincides with your audience’s most active time of day, or you can schedule your tweets to post during that time.

Just know that you need a constant flow of content posting to Twitter, and the best resources to make that happen are readily-available data and possibly a tweet-scheduling app.

5. Make Sure There’s Value in Your Tweets

Twitter marketing is like any other type of marketing in that you’ll experience the greatest success with high-quality content.

With so much competition in most industries, great content helps you stand out from the crowd.

Great content is even more important when you’re trying to build your audience on Twitter.

It’s as simple as this:

Good tweets get likes, comments, shares, and followers. Bad tweets don’t.

So what separates a good tweet from a bad tweet?

Value.

Every time you tweet, you must provide value to your audience.

Because when your content is deemed valuable and relevant, your audience is more likely to connect with your brand.

Isn’t value subjective?

Yes, but only to the extent that what’s considered the most ‘valuable’ can vary from one person and demographic to the next.

It’s no lie that people tend to prefer content that’s informative or educational.

This can include an infographic, how-to article, or even current events coverage.

twitter follower guide infographic example

Others put more value on entertainment.

This can include things like memes, gifs, funny videos, or even the actual entertainment industry.

funny twitter example Twitter followers guide

Then there are those who want to be inspired.

Inspirational content largely equates to popular quotes as well as inspirational true stories (weight loss, rescued animals, etc.).

twitter inspirational content examle twitter followers guide

Don’t forget interactive content.

Interactive content refers to things like polls, quizzes, web browser-based games, etc.

Another common type of content on Twitter is promotional.

Typically, promotional content consists of advertisements, coupons, customer testimonials, etc.

Each of these types of content represents a particular perspective in regards to value.

When people find value in your tweet, it gets more engagement. That’s just the way it works.

twitter valuable example twitter followers guide

Of course, this is another reason why knowing your audience is important.

You gain a better sense of what they find valuable and can personalize your content accordingly.

6. Pick the Right Tweet to Pin to Your Profile

Pinning a tweet is like putting a spotlight on that tweet, calling the attention of anyone who visits your Twitter profile.

There are a couple of ways you can approach choosing the right tweet to pin to your profile.

The first strategy is to pin a tweet that has performed particularly well.

If it gained lots of attention from your followers when you initially posted it, the tweet will probably appeal to others who are visiting your profile.

twitter follower guide pinned tweet example

It will certainly get more views and is likely to get more likes, comments, and shares as well.

Since new tweets push older tweets further down in your timeline, your newer followers are unlikely to ever see your best ones.

Pinning a tweet that was well-received by your followers will ensure that profile visitors and potential followers get to see it, too.

It’s also common to pin a tweet that highlights a temporary promotion or an upcoming event that your business is involved with.

When the promotion or event is over, you simply unpin the tweet and pin a new tweet for your next one.

Another strategy for choosing the right tweet to pin is to pick a tweet that promotes your business or brand.

For example, if you tweeted a link to an interview you participated in.

tweet an interview twitter follower example

In effect, it’s actually someone else’s promotion of your brand or business, but you’re pinning it to highlight the value that others have placed on what your brand offers.

Much like a job interview or a business pitch, a pinned tweet gives you a small opening to make a big impression.

7. Link to your Twitter Account on Your Website and Other Social Media Profiles

It may seem counterproductive to be diverting traffic from your website to your Twitter profile.

After all, don’t you want traffic going to your website so they can make a purchase?

But surveys show your social media profiles are just as effective for content marketing as your own website.

Barchart accessing consumermarketing Twitter followers guide

This makes a lot of sense.

So to a large degree, sending traffic to your website actually gives you more opportunities for conversion.

Of course, you don’t want to simply drop a raw link into the body of your website.

Instead, you should link to your Twitter profile in a way that’s a bit more professional.

It could be as simple as attaching the link to an icon.

If you want something a little fancier, you could even link to your Twitter profile by embedding a tweet into your website or blog:

embedded tweet example twitter followers guide

Simply go to publish.twitter.com where you’ll find options to embed a grid, tweet, timeline, or a button.

All you need to do is copy the link you want to use and paste it into the prompt at the top of the page.

Similarly, you should link to your Twitter profile on other social media.

For example, Facebook gives you the option to include your Twitter username in a specific section of the ‘About’ section on your Page.

It gives any of your Facebook followers who also happen to use Twitter the ability to access your Twitter profile easily.

Because if you have people following you on other social networks, there’s a good chance that any of them using Twitter would want to follow you on that platform, too.

Gain Twitter Followers FAQs

What does my Twitter profile need to increase followers?

Make sure all available fields are completed, like your URL, name, and bio. Include applicable keywords or hashtags in your bio to get found by people searching.

How can I engage with my Twitter followers?

Engagement leads to increased reach and visibility, so be sure to answer mention tweets, participate in Twitter chats, and reply to tweets from accounts you follow.

How often should I tweet to increase Twitter followers?

Many studies recommend tweeting 5-15 times per day.

What should I tweet about?

Make sure your tweets offer value to your audience, either through knowledge, humor, customer support, and answering questions.

{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “FAQPage”,
“mainEntity”: [
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What does my Twitter profile need to increase followers?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Make sure all available fields are completed, like your URL, name, and bio. Include applicable keywords or hashtags in your bio to get found by people searching.”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How can I engage with my Twitter followers?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Engagement leads to increased reach and visibility, so be sure to answer mention tweets, participate in Twitter chats, and reply to tweets from accounts you follow.”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How often should I tweet to increase Twitter followers?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Many studies recommend tweeting 5-15 times per day.”
}
}
, {
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What should I tweet about? “,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Make sure your tweets offer value to your audience, either through knowledge, humor, customer support, and answering questions.”
}
}
]
}

How to Get 10,000 Twitter Followers Conclusion

Twitter is an international platform with millions of users. It’s just as valuable (if not more valuable) for racking up an audience than sites like Instagram or Facebook.

Getting as many as 10,000 Twitter followers doesn’t have to be hard.

First, you need to optimize your profile. Add a high-quality profile picture, since it’s the first thing people will see when they come across your brand on Twitter.

Complete your bio and don’t forget a header image, too.

Start engaging with your followers by responding to comments, mentions, direct messages, and live chats.

Create a Twitter routine you can stick to. If you aren’t active, your engagement will dip. Make a daily, weekly, or monthly Twitter schedule.

Make sure that what you’re sharing is valuable. Share interactive content, like a poll, quiz, or infographic for best results.

Pin a relevant tweet to your profile. If you have an ongoing promotion or upcoming event, tweet about it and pin it to the top of your page.

Finally, be sure to link your Twitter account to your website and on your other social profiles for maximum exposure.

Each of these steps will result in substantial growth but put them together, and you are likely to see some pretty phenomenal gains.

What are your favorite Twitter follower growth hacks?

Why Clickbait Works (And Why You Should Do More of It)

Clickbait has gotten a bad rap in recent years.

In the age of misinformation, people are hesitant to make sensationalist claims—and rightfully so.

When done right, though, clickbait is one of the most effective ways to get people’s attention and drive traffic towards your content.

What’s important is once you get them to your site, you offer more than just a catchy headline.

In this post, we’ll explain why clickbait works, how to do it ethically, and why you should be using more of it.

What Is Clickbait?

Clickbait is any content written to attract clicks. It can include any web content, from news articles to blog posts, infographics, videos, interviews, and more.

Clickbait content usually contains:

a catchy or compelling headline
a strong appeal to emotion
scannable content optimized for web reading
witty copy
content aimed at social media sharing

Although widely attributed to online media, this type of content has been around since the dawn of print journalism. In the 19th century, when newspapers were fighting for circulation numbers, they found the best way to attract new visitors was using catchy headlines to entice readers.

Here’s an example from a 1913 version of New York World, a newspaper run by the infamous Joseph Pulitzer. As you can see, every headline is attention-grabbing, emotional, and aimed at hooking a read at first glance.

What Is Clickbait - Example of New York World from 1913

Fast forward to the 21st century, and catchy newspaper headlines have transformed into catchy blog titles.

With the introduction of SEO, and more brands wanting to increase traffic to their websites, clickbait titles had a mainstream resurgence.

Brands such as Buzzfeed, Upworthy, and Gawker began publishing popular listicle content like: “27 Famous Actors Who Tricked You Into Thinking They’re American” and “6 songs that seem romantic but aren’t, and one that seems like it isn’t but is.” This content was widely successful, primarily due to the popularity of social media and the virality of relatable content.

These days, it is used in almost every type of digital content, from “15 Marketing Tools You Need to Dominate Your Social Strategy” to “The Secret Behind My 1,866,913 Monthly Search Visitors.”

Types of Clickbait

Clickbait content can be anything, from blogs to videos, news articles, ads, and beyond.

The most common types include listicles, how-tos, and blog posts that capitalize on trending topics.

Here are a few examples of common headings:

“The Ultimate Guide to _____”
“X Ways to Improve Your _____”
“A List of the Best _____ in L.A.”
“The Secret to ______ That Will Change Your Life Forever”
“Why We Love _____ and Why You Will, Too”
“You’ll Never Guess What _____ Did Last Night”

Clickbait headlines can also be used on video platforms like YouTube. You’ll see an example of this below.

Why Clickbait Works

Clickbait often gets a bad rap online, mostly due to allegations about misleading content.

That being said, there are so many ways to leverage it ethically without misleading your readers.

It works because of its ability to tap into genuine human emotion and curiosity.

Everyone wants to know the secret to get more followers, just like everyone wants to know what weird things happen on movie sets.

This is called the curiosity gap and it is the psychological feeling of wanting to know more.

Most clickbait titles are structured to make the reader think they will learn something new by clicking on the link.

The important ethical note is to offer real value within your article, not simply using a misleading headline to get page traffic.

Clickbait is also an important part of measuring online success.

If no one clicks on your blog, then you lose the opportunity to talk to thousands of potential customers.

If you want to expand your reach, then you want more clicks. If you want more clicks, you need to build a strategy to get them.

That being said, you don’t need to resort to sensationalism to do this.

Instead, think about the goals of your audience. Our blog, for example, teaches readers about digital marketing techniques. While we may use catchy headlines, such as “The 10 Ingredients of Great Content Writing” or “19 Strategies That’ll Help You Become an Influencer,” we offer actionable information within those blogs that help our readers achieve their goals.

When using clickbait strategies, focus on your customer pain points and create content that will educate and excite them.

If your headline matches your content, you can avoid audience backlash.

Clickbait Strategies to Avoid

While clickbait can be a successful digital marketing strategy, it can also hurt your brand if done wrong.

Many social media sites and search engines have added rules to their policies to discourage the use of sensationalist or misleading content.

Google’s policy prohibits “Ads that use clickbait tactics or sensationalist text or imagery to drive traffic.” This can include:

Ads that claim to reveal secrets or other sensationalist information.
Ads that use wording such as, “Click here to learn more …” or, “You won’t believe what happened next …”
Ads that use altered images or disaster photos.
Ads that use “before and after” photos showcasing significant changes in the human body.
Ads that use negative events, such as death, illness, or disaster, to evoke action in viewers.

On Facebook, clickbait articles will show up lower in News Feeds and repeated sharing can result in page restrictions.

It’s also important to avoid misleading clickbait on your website, as it can damage trust in your brand.

Ultimately, success comes down to two things:

Write compelling, honest, engaging headlines.
Don’t disappoint your readers once they click on them.

Tips to Use Clickbait in Your Content Marketing Strategy

Now that you know how to use clickbait ethically, it’s time to implement these strategies into your content marketing.

Here’s how to get started:

Utilize the curiosity gap, but don’t exploit it. Avoid sensationalist material and inaccurate claims.
Deliver on any promises you make. Your audience expects the information you promise to them. If they consistently feel they can’t trust your claims, they won’t continue interacting with your brand.
Be honest with your readers and avoid misinformation. Be a beacon of honesty. According to Edleman, 53 percent of consumers need to trust brands they purchase from. If you remain truthful with your viewers, you’ll have a better chance of converting them.
Use numbers in your headlines. Numbers represent actionable steps users can use to reach their goals. Numbered lists also improve scanability and make it easier for readers to digest content.
Pay attention to your data. When using clickbait headlines, measure them against other headlines and see which perform better. Like anything in marketing, the numbers don’t lie. There’s no point investing in a tactic if it doesn’t work for your audience.
Write for more than clicks. A headline is just the beginning. What really matters is the quality of your content as a whole. While a witty headline may bring them to your page, your content will make them stay—so don’t neglect the rest.

Examples of Great Clickbait Strategies

Now that you know what not to do, let’s take a look at some clickbait strategies done right.

When Shopify and Google teamed up to promote Shopify Premium plans, they knew the best way to get people interested was to offer them something in return.

Using their media leverage, they featured their off e r in the Daily Mail, offering a free Google smart speaker to anyone who signed up for Premium.

Everyone loves the word FREE!

Examples of Great Clickbait Strategies - Spotify

Smartwatch brand Blocks also leveraged clickbait headlines in its Kickstarter campaign.

By using numbers, Blocks displays the high worth of its product, public trust in the campaign, and scarcity.

Not only will users who read this headline trust a large community supports Blocks, but they will also feel motivated to act immediately before the campaign ends.

Examples of Great Clickbait Strategies - Blocks

Another great example of clickbait in ads comes from One Smart Penny, a financial advice blog.

In their ad, they use the curiosity gap, by alluding to a secret you’ll only find out if you read the blog. They also leverage the power of celebrity with a feature by Barbara Corcoran, which brings an element of social proof to the ad.

Examples of Great Clickbait Strategies - One Smart Penny

How to Create a Clickbait Headline

Ready to start writing your own? Follow these steps to write a great headline that drives clicks.

1. Use Google Alerts to Find Out What’s Trending

Leveraging popular trends and news is a great way to engage your users.

By setting up Google Alerts for trending or viral topics, you can stay ahead of your competition and be the first to break the news to your audience.

Pair your trending headlines with relevant keywords to boost your SEO.

How to Create a Clickbait Headline - Use Google Alerts

2. Use Numbers or Listicle Format

Numbers are a time-honored blogging trend that increases reader engagement.

Numbers in blog titles are effective because they show your readers there will be actionable steps to follow and the content will be easy to scan.

Because online users are looking for quick, efficient information, they prefer content they can easily access and ingest.

Numbers also imply the presence of a listicle, which are often the most shared blog types on the internet.

How to Create a Clickbait Headline - Use Numbers or Listicle Format

3. Offer Immediate Value to Your Reader

Offering immediate value is a great way to encourage clicks on your post.

You can offer physical value through discounts, free products, consultation services, and more. Or, you can offer something less tangible, such as a secret or an industry trick.

When using this clickbait strategy, be sure to follow through with your promise in your post.

No one wants a misleading headline, and if you don’t seem trustworthy, you’ll lose your audience’s attention.

4. Use a Teaser

One of the best clickbait strategies is to use a teaser in your headline.

By suggesting the reader will find something they don’t already know in your post, you’re leveraging the curiosity gap and creating immediate engagement.

A teaser can be a number of things, from “The X things you wish you knew…” or, “You’ll never guess what ____ did in Paris”.

As we said before, be sure to follow through with your teaser in the body of your post to avoid annoying your audience.

How to Create a Clickbait Headline - Use a Teaser

Clickbait FAQs

Is clickbait good or bad?

Neither. It is a powerful marketing strategy if used correctly. There’s nothing wrong with encouraging clicks on your post, as long as you’re offering value to your audience that goes beyond the headline.

What is the goal of clickbait?

The goal is to grab a user’s attention and encourage clicks on your content.

Does clickbait still work?

Yes, though it is different now. Because of the prevalence of misinformation online, many entities now have regulations in place to discourage misuse of clickbait headlines. Yet there are still ethical and productive ways to use this tactic.

How does clickbait affect us?

It works in our curiosity gap and piques our interest in topics or news.

Why Clickbait Still Works Conclusion

Although it often gets bad press, clickbait is an important marketing strategy that can help improve traffic to your content or website.

When using this strategy, it’s important to be ethical and not mislead your users or capitalize on negative content just to boost your views.

If you believe in your content and think it will benefit your users, then there’s no reason to feel bad about crafting enticing titles.

What is your favorite kind of clickbait headline?

Who lost out more in Baku – Hamilton or Verstappen?

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both missed a golden opportunity to claim a big victory in their championship fight at the Azerbaijan GP.

The post Who lost out more in Baku – Hamilton or Verstappen? appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

How to Check Subscriber Count on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, & More

Whether you run a YouTube channel, blog, or social media empire, it pays to know how many subscribers you have on each platform. Not only do subscriber counts show you which channels are working and which aren’t, but you can also leverage them to build stronger and more profitable partnerships with brands.

Checking your subscriber count isn’t always easy, though. For every platform like YouTube that makes your following incredibly transparent, there’s a channel where it can be next to impossible to find your subscriber count.

Notice I said “next to impossible,” not “totally impossible.”

I’m here to explain how you can check your subscriber count on every major channel and social media platform.

Why Is It Important to Know How Many Subscribers You Have on Different Platforms?

It’s vital to know exactly how many subscribers you have on each platform for several reasons.

Let’s say you’re an up-and-coming marketing influencer. Part of your income will come from brands paying you for sponsorships and endorsements. Exactly how much they pay you hinges on how many subscribers and followers you have.

If you can show 50,000 people subscribe to your podcast, 100,000 people read your blog each month, and almost half a million people follow you on Instagram, you’ll be in a very strong position to command a big payday.

Your subscriber count can also help you make decisions on your way to becoming an influencer or growing your business’ following in general. Imagine you created accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest when you started your business and posted to all of them equally.

At some point, you need to focus your efforts on the platform where you see the most success. Your subscriber count is a great way to quickly separate the good social media platforms from the ineffective ones. After all, what’s the point of wasting time on Pinterest, where you have half a dozen followers, over Twitter, where you have several thousand?

It’s not just social media subscribers you should think about, though. Perhaps you have a blog that gets upwards of 100,000 visitors every month, but you only have a couple of hundred people on your email list. This indicates your email marketing strategy isn’t working, and you should take steps to change that.

How to Check Your Subscriber Count on YouTube

YouTube is one of the more transparent subscription-based platforms out there. Log in to your account, click on your profile photo, and head to your channel. You’ll see your subscriber count underneath your channel’s username.

You can also see your subscriber count by navigating to YouTube Studio. In addition to the overall numbers, you can find a list of your 100 most recent subscribers.

Visitors to your channel see a shortened version of your subscriber count rounded down to the nearest 10, 100, or 1000 subscribers. YouTube Studio provides a handy table showing how your subscriber count will be displayed to viewers.

How to Check Your Subscriber Count on YouTube

YouTube also notifies you within YouTube Studio and via email when you hit certain subscriber milestones.

How to Check Your Subscriber Count on Your Podcast

Podcast success goes way beyond subscriber count, but the metric many podcasters want most is how many people subscribe to their podcast. This is often the hardest number to find.

Part of the problem is consumers can use dozens of different podcast apps to subscribe to shows rather than a single platform like YouTube. That means your podcast subscriber count will only ever be an estimate.

Most podcasting platforms, from the free to the pricey ones, provide some way to check your subscriber count. The method (and accuracy) varies by platform. The platform, however, should make it clear how to find this number. It’s usually to the side of where you post your podcast to begin with.

Some podcasting apps release subscriber numbers, though. You can end up with a bit more accuracy this way, but it takes more legwork on your part.

A couple of these are Podcast Addict and Castbox, though both account for about two percent of the market. Multiplying either subscriber count by 50 could give you a vague idea of how many subscribers you have in total, but it won’t give you the full picture.

A final suggestion from The Podcast Host is to publish a new episode and hold back from promoting it on social media, email, or anywhere else. In theory, any downloads occurring within about 24 hours of your show being posted are automatic downloads from subscribers; so if you have 50 downloads within a day of posting your episode, you likely have around 50 subscribers.

How to Check Your Subscriber Count on Social Media

Most social media platforms make your number of subscribers readily available, so finding them is simply a matter of knowing where to look.

Here’s how you can find your subscribers on all of the major social media platforms.

Facebook

How you check your follower count on Facebook will depend on whether you have a private user account or a business page.

Private users can allow people to follow them by turning on public posts and allowing people who aren’t their friends to follow them. This is an excellent option for bloggers and public figures who don’t want to have a private and a business Facebook account.

If this is you, head to the “Friends” tab on your profile page and click the “Followers” sub-tab. This will show you a full list of followers. You can see the total figure even faster by reading the “Intro” section on your profile page.

Facebook Business Page owners will need to navigate to their page, click on the “More” tab and then “Community” in the dropdown menu. Here you can find your total follower count, what your followers have posted on your page, and any posts where your business page was tagged.

Instagram

Instagram puts your number of followers front and center. At the top of your profile, you can see how many people you’re following and how many people follow you. Once you get over 10,000 followers, the number will be rounded down to the nearest 100 or 1000 followers.

If you want to get an exact subscriber count, use Instagram’s Insights tool. Navigate to that section on the app and click on “Audience” to see an exact follower count and a growth comparison with the previous week.

Twitter

If you have fewer than 10,000 followers on Twitter, you can see exactly how many people follow you by looking at your profile page. If your follower count is higher than that, Twitter rounds the nearest one hundred followers.

To find the exact subscriber count on Twitter, head to the Analytics section and hover your mouse over the subscriber number in the top right-hand corner. An exact count will appear.

Snapchat

The only way to see your subscriber count on Snapchat is to have a Public Profile. Not only will you be able to see your subscriber count on the back-end of the platform, but you’ll also have the option to display your follower count publicly.

TikTok

You need a Pro account to check your subscriber count on TikTok. With this kind of account set up, head to the “Settings” menu and click on “Analytics.” This shows a graph with how many video views you received over the last 28 days and how many followers you have.

Note: You need to wait seven days after creating a TikTok Pro account before analytics data becomes available.

When I talk about subscribers on LinkedIn, I don’t mean the number of connections you have. I’m talking about the number of followers you have.

To see how many followers you have, sign into your account and scroll down to find the “Activity” section. There you can see your exact number of followers.

Track your Pinterest subscriber count on your Analytics dashboard. In addition to your follower count, you can see engagement metrics, popular pins by your fans, referral traffic, other top influencers, and competitor data.

How to Check Your Blog Subscriber Count

People don’t subscribe to blogs in the same way they subscribe to YouTube channels or podcasts. That makes coming up with a subscriber number a little trickier. Here’s what you can do to estimate your subscribers.

Create an email newsletter and see how many people sign up.
Having an email newsletter is probably the best way to gauge how many people “subscribe” to your blog. However, you need to ask people to enter their email addresses without giving them anything other than your updates in return, as Ahrefs does, for example.

If you offer them something like a discount on a product you sell, you can’t prove they actually read your blog every week—they may immediately stop reading after they get their discount.
If you already have an email newsletter, count your subscribers.
Checking your blog subscriber count can be as simple as opening up your email marketing platform and seeing how many people you have on your email marketing list.
If you don’t have or want to send an email newsletter, use Google Analytics.
If you don’t think your email list accurately depicts your subscriber numbers, you can use a Google Analytics report to estimate the subscribers you have. Navigate to the “Audience” tab, click on the “Behavior” dropdown menu, and choose “New vs Returning.”

This will give you a chart that separates new users from returning visitors. I’d recommend taking the data over the last 30 days to get an accurate idea of your subscriber count.

Conclusion

Your subscriber count is certainly worth knowing, but it isn’t the end-all, be-all. Measuring the engagement on your website, YouTube, and social channels is also an effective way to show brands and other potential partners how valuable your following is.

It’s also a great way for you to determine which social media accounts are worth your time.

If you’re still feeling a bit stuck, whether with subscribers or engagement, that’s okay—there are a lot of metrics to take into consideration. For some extra help, check out my guide on how to make social media marketing work for you.

On which platform do you have the most subscribers?

Credit is More Than a Score: How to Address a Derogatory Account on Credit Report When You’re Fighting a Public Record

Do You Have a Derogatory Account on Credit Report? Did You Know You Can Fix Issues in Your Public Records?

A derogatory account on credit report doesn’t have to sink your chances for getting business funding. But let’s start with fundability.

Fundability and Derogatory Account or More

Fundability is the ability of a business to get funding. This is everything from getting credit to business loans. Because every business needs money, it quite literally pays to enhance your fundability whenever and wherever you can.

Public Records and Any Derogatory Account

In addition to how well your business pays its bills, and your personal credit score, and whether your industry is a risky one, there’s the matter of public records.

Public records include bankruptcy (both personal and business), liens, judgments, and UCC Filings.

Errors in any of these kinds of public records will affect fundability, so correcting such mistakes will enhance your ability to get funding.

What if Your Derogatory Account is a Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy is a process a business goes through in federal court. The idea to help a business eliminate or repay its debt under the guidance and protection of the bankruptcy court. Business bankruptcies are often described as liquidations or reorganizations. This depends on the type of bankruptcy an entrepreneur takes.

3 Types of Business Bankruptcy

There are three main kinds of business bankruptcy:Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13. The type to use will depend on organizational structure. See thebalancesmb.com/what-is-business-bankruptcy-393017.

Chapter 7 and Chapter 11

Corporations are legal business entities separate from their owners. They are more truly separate than partnerships. But in the event of a bankruptcy, either type of structure commonly will file of Chapter 7 (bankruptcy protection), or Chapter 11 (reorganization). The chapters refer to the US Bankruptcy Code.

Chapter 7: Liquidation

This one may be the best choice when the business has no viable future. It is typically used when the debts of the business are so overwhelming that restructuring them is not feasible. Chapter 7 bankruptcy can be used for sole proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations. It is also appropriate when the business does not have any substantial assets. For Chapter 7, see: law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/chapter-7.

If a business is a sole proprietorship, and an extension of an owner’s skills, it often does not pay to reorganize it. Hence Chapter 7 would be appropriate.

Before a Chapter 7 bankruptcy gets approval,the applicant is subject to a “means” test. If their income is over a certain level, their application does not get approval. But if a Chapter 7 bankruptcy gets approval, the business is dissolved.

In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court appoints a trustee. The trustee’s job is to take possession of the assets of the business and distribute them among all of the creditors. The order in which creditors get their payments can depend on the type of debt (secured vs. unsecured).

After the distribution of the assets, and the trustee is paid, a sole proprietor receives a “discharge” at the end of the case. It means that the owner of the business is released from any obligation for the debts. But partnerships and corporations do not receive a discharge.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Chapter 11: Business Reorganization

Chapter 11 may be a better choice for businesses with a realistic chance to turn things around. It is usually a choice for partnerships and corporations. It can also be an option for sole proprietorships if their income level is too high to qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. For Chapter 11, see: cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/chapter-11.

Chapter 11 is a plan where a company reorganizes and continues in business under a court-appointed trustee. The company files a detailed plan of reorganization explaining how it will deal with its creditors. The company can terminate contracts and leases, recover assets, and repay some of its debts, while discharging others to return to profitability.

The business presents the plan to its creditors who will vote on the plan. If the court finds the plan is fair and equitable, it will approve it. Reorganization plans provide for payments to creditors over some time. Chapter 11 bankruptcies are rather complex and not all of them succeed. It usually takes over a year to confirm a plan.

Chapter 11 and the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019

The Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 enacted a new subchapter V of Chapter 11. This subchapter of Chapter 11 seems to favor the side of the applicant for business bankruptcy. But it only applies if the applicant wants it to apply. See cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/chapter-11/subchapter-V.

For example, subchapter V does not require the appointment of a committee of creditors, or that creditors have to approve a court plan. Per the U.S. Department of Justice, the act:act: “imposes shorter deadlines for completing the bankruptcy process, allows for greater flexibility in negotiating restructuring plans with creditors, and provides for a private trustee who will work with the small business debtor and its creditors to facilitate the development of a consensual plan of reorganizations. See justice.gov/opa/pr/us-trustee-program-ready-implement-small-business-reorganization-act-2019.

Chapter 13: Adjustment of Debts for Individuals with Regular Income

Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a form of bankruptcy for individuals. Since a sole proprietorship is an extension of its one owner, the owner is responsible for all assets and liabilities of the firm. It is most common for a sole proprietorship to take bankruptcy by filing for Chapter 13. This is a reorganization bankruptcy. See Chapter 13: law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/chapter-13.

Chapter 13 is good for small businesses when a reorganization is the goal instead of liquidation. The entrepreneur files a repayment plan with the bankruptcy court. This details how they are going to repay their debts. Note: Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 bankruptcies are very different for businesses.

Chapter 13 is vital for individuals whose personal assets are tied up with their business assets, because they can avoid problems like losing a house if they file Chapter 13 versus Chapter 7. Chapter 13 lets a business stay in business and pay its debts. But Chapter 7 does not.

Chapters 12 and 15

There are two other forms of individual bankruptcy. These are less common. Chapter 12 is bankruptcy protection for family farmers and family fisherman. See uscourts.gov/services-forms/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-basics/chapter-12-bankruptcy-basics. Chapter 15 is bankruptcy protection when a bankruptcy matter involves people from another country. See uscourts.gov/services-forms/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-basics/chapter-15-bankruptcy-basics.

Correcting Bankruptcy Errors

In general, to correct bankruptcy issues, all you or your lawyer will need to do is file an amendment to your bankruptcy petition. These can be errors like forgetting to list an item of property, or disclosing an incorrect property value, or forgetting a creditor or income from a side business. See alllaw.com/articles/nolo/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-petition-mistake.html.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

What if Your Derogatory Account is a Lien?

Per Investopedia, “A lien is a claim or legal right against assets that are typically used as collateral to satisfy a debt. A lien could be established by a creditor or a legal judgement. A lien serves to guarantee an underlying obligation, such as the repayment of a loan. If the underlying obligation is not satisfied, the creditor may be able to seize the asset that is the subject of the lien. There are many types of liens that are used to secure assets.”

Errors in Liens

Some of the worst errors when it comes to liens can involve real estate if land was used to secure a debt. Minor or typographical errors are called Scrivener’s errors. You can often fix them through either rerecording the deed of trust or by recording an instrument explaining and correcting the error. You cannot cure more substantial errors except by a Reformation lawsuit. This type of lawsuit asks a court to correct the deed of trust to reflect the parties’ intent.

Keep your business protected with our professional business credit monitoring.

Legal Judgments

The main ways you can lose in court are if you: default at the start and never answer a summons and complaint, lose a motion for summary judgment brought by the other side, lose a bench or jury trial, or exhaust all appeals and end up on the losing end.

If you or your business lose in court, then you may have a judgment entered against you. Judgments generally take the form of paying damages (money), or specific performance where you must do (or not do) something. Or the court enters an injunction and to prevent you from doing something. A civil judgment can’t send you to jail (that’s criminal, which is rather different).

Errors in Legal Judgments

Errors can take the form of a judgment entered against the wrong person and/or company. Or they can be a typo in the amount of money damages in the court’s records. Maybe there’s a judgment is entered but it’s already been satisfied (paid). Or there can be fraud or other misrepresentation on the part of one of the parties, or excusable neglect. For example, a city recovering from a major hurricane might not make the proper clerical entry of judgments a priority.

Correcting these errors can take several forms. Different states have differing rules. But every state wants their records to be right. They just have different ways you need to go about correcting the record.

Correcting Errors in Legal Judgments

For example, in Massachusetts, you or your lawyer will need to make a motion before the court under Rule 60(a). See mass.gov/rules-of-civil-procedure/civil-procedure-rule-60-relief-from-judgment-or-order. In Texas, you or your lawyer would need to file a motion for judgment nunc pro tunc (a motion to have the judgment corrected). See texaslawhelp.org/article/correcting-clerical-error-court-order-answers-common-questions#toc-9.

In Georgia, correcting a judgment comes under the general umbrella of relief from judgments. See law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2010/title-9/chapter-11/article-7/9-11-60. In Louisiana, it falls under an Amendment of Judgment, and you can correct calculation or language errors via motion. See law.justia.com/codes/louisiana/2015/code-codeofcivilprocedure/ccp-1951.

Like with most things, the faster you work to correct a legal judgment, the less it will cost you. In particular if the wrong person (you) is the defendant in a lawsuit, acting as fast as possible will save you in legal fees. Ignoring these problems will not make them go away.

What if Your Derogatory Account is a UCC Filing?

When you secure a loan with property, creditors can tell other creditors about any of your assets in use as collateral for the secured transaction. UCC liens filed with Secretary of State offices act as a public notice by the creditor of the creditor’s interest in the property. It’s in a creditor’s best interests to check for UCC filings, so they can make sure they’re the only creditor with a claim on that collateral.

Errors in UCC Filings

Like anything else, there can be typographical errors in UCC filings. But the law says that, unless the errors “make the financing statement seriously misleading”, the UCC filing is still in effect. So if you’re depending on a typo to get out of a UCC filing, you might want to rethink that strategy. See law.cornell.edu/ucc/9/9-506.

Correcting Errors in UCC Filings

For the most part, unless the errors are seriously misleading, the UCC says you don’t have to correct them. This is because the policy behind the law governing secured transactions under the UCC explains financing statements provide notice of a transaction. They give enough information to later potential creditors that the debtor’s property may be covered by an earlier creditor’s security interest. Essentially, a financing statement is the starting point in a later creditor’s due diligence process, not the conclusion. See jdsupra.com/legalnews/it-may-be-foul-but-there-is-no-harm-not-11403.

A Derogatory Account, and Correcting it – the Upshot

You can fix errors in public documents like judgments and UCC filings, but the mechanism for doing so will differ. This depends on the error, the type of record, and the jurisdiction. The faster you act, the better (and cheaper). Ignoring these mistakes will not make them go away. Correcting mistakes can make your business more fundable.

The post Credit is More Than a Score: How to Address a Derogatory Account on Credit Report When You’re Fighting a Public Record appeared first on Credit Suite.

10 No Code Creation Tools to Build Websites, Apps, and More

While you once had to be fluent in code to successfully build a website or an app, those days are now far behind us.

How?

Thanks to no-code creation tools.

These revolutionary interfaces allow users without classic programming backgrounds to build websites and apps through a graphical interface rather than using code.

The utility doesn’t stop there: No-code tools can help entrepreneurs and marketers achieve feats that in the past were reserved exclusively for programmers.

These tools also support automated processes, allowing organizations and individuals to save time by automating time-consuming tasks.

What’s better than time saved?

Money saved.

By eliminating programming fees and reducing billable hours spent on tedious processes, you can drastically reduce your costs.

Want to learn more?

In this post, we’ll unpack the 10 best no-code creation tools and what they can do for you.

Who Should Use No-Code Creation Tools?

The short answer: everyone.

If you don’t have a background in writing code or app development, don’t fret.

No-code tools provide users with visual interfaces that eliminate the need for a seasoned code writer.

Perhaps you want to launch a new personal website but are intimidated by the process behind the layout. There’s a no-code tool for that.

By using these tools, you can take website or app creation into your own hands, whether you’re familiar with code or not.

Even if you are familiar with code, these tools can help you automate tedious processes that bog down your daily workflow.

Benefits of No-Code Creation Tools

While we’ve already covered the obvious benefits of code-free creation tools, there are several other benefits to these tools that can have an impact on your business.

Increased Focus on Pain Point Solution

Rather than spending excessive amounts of time trying to find and hire the right programmer, you can focus on honing in on the true value of your app for your customer by identifying and speaking toward their pain point.

Reduce Development Cost

When you opt to use a no-code creation tool, you can plan to save a substantial amount of your budget previously dedicated to development needs. With low or no price points, these tools can make a significant difference in your bottom line.

Speed of Release

Not only will you save money when you use a code-free creation tool, you’ll also save time. Developing custom websites and apps is hard and time-consuming; using a tool with prebuilt templates is easy and saves countless hours.

Secure Environment

Regardless of what you’re building, a secure environment should be of the utmost importance. When you use no-code creation tools, safety nets are prebuilt into the platforms, allowing you peace of mind.

10 No-Code Creation Tools You Need to Try

There are a lot of no-code creation tools out there, all with different functions for different user groups. We picked out our top 10 favorites that help solve specific needs without having to write a line of code.

Bubble

When you use Bubble, you gain the ability to craft interactive apps for both desktop and mobile browsers.

With Bubble, you get design freedom without having to wrangle the intricacies of code.

While traditional web applications require a manual deployment process, Bubble manages deployment and hosting. The platform also offers limitless users, traffic volume, and data storage.

In short, this is your go-to for building production-ready apps.

Zapier

We’re fans of any tool that enhances connection and automation, which is why Zapier is on this list. With this tool, you can connect the apps you use daily.

Through “Zaps,” users sync Gmail with Dropbox, Dropbox with Slack and so on.

If you don’t use the above apps, don’t worry. Zapier connects thousands of apps.

By building these connections, workflow is simplified, saving you time and eliminating unnecessary processes.

Stacker

This one is pretty cool. Stacker allows users to turn spreadsheets into apps, enabling you to securely share data with customers.

This lets you turn manual processes into automatic ones, streamlining onboarding and applications, enabling real-time collaboration, and ensuring secure file upload.

In essence, Stacker supports automation and collaboration through an easy-to-use, app-like interface that does all the coding for you.

Voiceflow

In need of a voice or chatbot? Voiceflow should be your go-to no-code creation platform. Regardless of what channel you’re using to reach your audience, Voiceflow designs, prototypes, and launches conversations for any channel.

With Voiceflow’s unique functionality, you can build engaging, contextually-layered conversation and voice apps to create an always-on interaction for your customers.

Additionally, you can standardize approach across sites, projects, and channels with the tools’ simple duplicative ability.

BugHerd

BugHerd helps you aggregate and implement website feedback.

This easy-to-use tracking tool enables users to instantly identify bugs through a visual component similar to a sticky note.

Comments will be pinned to the buggy element, allowing you to address issues directly from your website.

This tool also allows users to track given feedback on a list of bugs, ensuring you resolve issues as they arise.

Functionality includes adding comments, ranking bug severity, bug assignment, and report generation.

Perfect for the coder and non-coder alike, this tool makes bug removal a breeze.

SquareSpace

This easy-to-use website builder provides users with countless aesthetic templates to build the site of their dreams.

Whether you’re setting up a third-party extension or starting an e-commerce store, SquareSpace provides users with access to designer fonts and color palettes to allow for endless customization.

Equipped with an intuitive dashboard, SquareSpace also allows users to track visitors’ behavior and origin, allowing for a better understanding of the audience.

Once you’ve identified that audience, the platform comes equipped with social tools and email campaign builders to help you stand out among the crowd.

MemberSpace

This tool allows you to segment your website for different member groups.

Offering paid courses or video tutorials? Restrict access to payment groups with easy-to-use MemberSpace.

With MemberSpace, site owners control all member experiences, since members never move to an external site. They can login, manage access, and interact with content all from the safety of your site.

MemberSpace works across the content management system (CMS) tool continuum, so if you change platforms, you don’t have to change functionality.

Additionally, and perhaps predictably, given the tool’s purpose, users gain access to a private community that hosts conversations centered on the tool and membership topics.

Airtable

This online database allows collaborators to edit, store, and share information, whatever the term information means for the particular user group.

With similar functionality to an editable, online spreadsheet, users are invited to interact with Airtable.

While this tool may sound like other online spreadsheets, it has two distinct differences.

First, it’s easy-to-use nature instills in novices and experts alike feelings of proficiency.

Second, Airable allows users to manage databases, not sheets. Given the complexity of databases, the ability to handle them through simple, streamlined workflows is a boon to collaborative teams.

What’s more, the tool Airtable grows in tandem with teams, allowing increasing levels of sophistication as team needs evolve.

Parabola

Is your workflow bogged down by time-consuming manual processes?

If you answered yes, Parabola might be your new best friend.

This handy tool automates any task you can do in a spreadsheet.

Save time, reduce errors, and boost efficacy through automation. By using the tool’s drag-and-drop builder, routine reports and complicated tasks are all automated, allowing you to focus on what really matters: growing your business.

Payhere

Wading into the world of e-commerce? Payhere can help you get paid anytime, anywhere.

This no-code creation tool enables you to send a simple link across any medium (think video call, social media, email) and get paid.

The tool also features both one-time and recurring payments, making it easy for consumers to set up their payment schedules.

In addition to the overall payment functionality, Payhere allows users to create a simple, one-page storefront where all your payment links can be displayed. You can link to this storefront from your social platforms or in your email signature.

This simple tool is a must for you sellers out there.

No-Code Creation Tool Trends

It makes sense that the demand for low- and no-code tools will continue to grow since usage doesn’t demand extensive background.

In fact, Research and Markets reports the low-code market could be worth upward of $187 billion by 2030.

As the market for these platforms continues to skyrocket, here are the top three trends users of these tools should anticipate in the coming months and years:

1. Increased Adoption

As more and more consumers move away from traditional programming, you can anticipate increased availability and adoption of both no- and low-code platform models.

2. Rise of Automation

With the profusion of no-code tools with functionality to automate cumbersome, manual processes, expect to see a much more streamlined workforce.

3. Fusion Developer Teams

While developer teams have historically been made up solely of programmers, the rise of code-free creation tools is driving a more blended development team. By combining traditional coding with tools, organizations can build custom websites and apps that are created with a variety of different expertise.

Want to build an app, website, or other digital asset but don’t know how to code? Here are 10 tools to try.

Bubble
Your go-to tool for building apps for desktop and mobile.
Zapier
Connect apps, tools, and other programs to streamline your workflows.
Stacker
Turn spreadsheets into apps and automate processes like onboarding and apps.
Voiceflow
No-code chat bot or voice bot creator.
BugHerd
Better understand web feedback with this easy-to-use tracking tool.
SquareSpace
Build and launch your website in minutes with no coding experience.
MemberSpace
Control the membership experience by integrating with your CMS>
Airtable
Online data base that makes storing, editing, and managing information easier.
Parabola
A handy tool to automate tasks from a spreadsheet to reduce errors and boost efficiency.
Payhere
Get paid fast with a one-page storefront.

Conclusion

Regardless of where you work or what you do, it is inarguable that some function of your life can benefit from the offerings of the above 10 tools.

You no longer need a background in programming to accomplish your digital goals. As you start your next digital marketing campaign, ask yourself: Which processes can I automate to reduce manual workload and increase focus on overall success?

By answering this question, you’ll be able to isolate areas for improvement, optimizing your strategies and reducing manual processes.

What’s your favorite no- or low-code creation tool to use?

How to Claim Knowledge Panels in Google For More Organic Visibility

If something is written about your brand online, you want to know about it, right?

That’s even more true if it’s an authoritative source speaking about your brand and giving information to the public about what you sell, where you’re located, your hours, your website, and more.

When Google shares information about your brand in what is called Google Knowledge Panels, you don’t want to just know about it—you want to claim it.

Why do you want to claim knowledge panels? You get to control the narrative. When you tell Google you’re the owner of that brand, you can make sure the information is accurate and up to date.

This is a critical step when you’re using SEO to build your brand.

To claim knowledge panels for your brand is relatively simple and something you want to get on top of to keep customers coming through your doors or to your website with consistency, arming them with the right information.

What Are Google Knowledge Panels?

You don’t have to use too much imagination. Remember the last time you googled anything? The information you were looking for just popped up, towards the top of the screen, with relevant data all in one place.

Enter Google Knowledge Panels. You don’t have to know what they’re called to know what they are. They are the boxes of information you see near the top of a Google search for anything from a person to a brand.

Knowledge panels can include:

a brand or entity name
descriptions
details about the person or brand
history
contact information
featured images

According to Google, it uses different factors to decide what goes in that panel. As you start to look around, you’ll start to notice some information seems gathered from other sources, such as Wikipedia or other online websites.

In addition, Google uses its data involving keyword searches and questions people tend to ask regarding that particular entity or item, and it pulls those questions and answers in.

It’s all based on Google’s Knowledge Graph. Google uses all that data to build the knowledge panels you see when you search for something. These aren’t necessarily generated by the person who has claimed their Google knowledge panel.

Now, let’s look at a couple of examples.

claim knowledge panel watermelon example

This one is about watermelons. It’s not specifically owned by anyone in particular and therefore not claimable.

Here is an example of a knowledge panel associated with a person. She could go in and claim it using the button on the bottom left.

We’ll discuss more about how this works.

Why Should You Claim Knowledge Panels in Google?

Is it worth taking the time to claim knowledge panels in Google? If you’re the owner of a brand with a knowledge panel, you can verify your relationship to that entity and at least influence some of the information provided in the panel.

There are several reasons why you should consider taking the time to claim knowledge panels:

increase control over what’s being highlighted about your brand
ensure accurate and up-to-date information
keep social media profile links up to date
choose which featured images are used
have a more engaged relationship with what Google is showing about your brand

While you don’t have direct access to the panel to make changes, by claiming your knowledge panel, you have Google’s ear, so to speak. You can send in a suggestion or request an update with your Google account associated with that knowledge panel so when Google receives your request, it knows it’s coming from an authoritative source.

Steps to Claim Knowledge Panels in Google

ow you’re ready to claim knowledge panels that relate to you, your brand, or entities that you represent in Google. Here are some steps to get you started:

1. Sign in to Your Google Account

You need to have a Google account to be able to claim knowledge panels. If you have a Gmail address or other Google product where you’ve set up an account, then you are good to go. If not, go ahead and set one up. To continue, you’ll need to be logged in.

Now log in to your preferred Google account. If you use a specific account for your brand or your related business needs, sign in to that one.

2. Search for the Knowledge Panel Topic

Once you’re logged in, use Google to search for yourself, your brand, your entity, or your organization. It may seem self-explanatory, but you need to actually type in the entity for which knowledge panel you’re looking for.

The goal here is to pull up the knowledge panel like any other searcher on the internet would see it. There is no back-end way to see the knowledge panel, like the development or content end of your website.

The nice thing about this is you’ll be able to see what users see. Maybe since you’re sitting down to work on this anyway, you may think of related topics you want to check out. You can do that from here by performing a search for that knowledge panel.

Now that you’ve searched for it, you should see the brand or other name at the top of the knowledge panel. If not, search again. Many brands or organizations have similar or even identical names, so make sure you see yours before continuing. You don’t want to accidentally claim someone else’s—or get stuck not being able to claim your own.

3. Click the Claim Knowledge Panels Link

Look for the link on the bottom that says, “Claim This Knowledge Panel.”

The button is located at the bottom of the box surrounding the knowledge panel. The size may vary, but all are surrounded by a thin line.

Go ahead and click the link. If you don’t see it, the knowledge panel may already be claimed by another entity. Make sure you’re looking at the right panel.

Here you will be able to review the available features. As we mentioned above, knowledge panels are not created by those who claim or verify them. Google uses various algorithms and machine knowledge to pull what it deems to be relevant information into these panels.

4. Look for Profiles You Can Use to Claim Knowledge Panels

Google uses a number of different connections on other web platforms that you can sign into to prove your identity or relation to the knowledge panel you want to claim. You can choose from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and more. Once you sign in to one of these, you’ve claimed your knowledge panel and can make updates or changes as available.

5. Give Others Access

Once you’ve gone through all the work to claim your knowledge panel, you may want to make sure other people on your team have access to your brand’s knowledge panels as well.

To do this, you need to be logged in to the same Google account you used to claim the panel. Go to Google’s Manage User page.

Click to add people and then add the email addresses of those you want to give access to your knowledge panels. Choose which levels of permission you want to give them. Every level has the option to go in and suggest changes to your knowledge panel, which we will discuss in more detail below. However, an owner or manager can add or delete others from access.

7 Steps to Update Your Google Knowledge Panel

Now that you have verified yourself and have claimed your knowledge panel, you can begin the work of actually managing it.

This won’t eat up all your time or require constant maintenance, but you may want to check in every once in a while. If you do see an error in your Google knowledge panel or if one has been reported to you, you can take certain steps to make necessary updates. It’s at Google’s discretion, however, so it may take some time and patience.

Sign In
Make sure you’re logged in to the Google account you used to claim your knowledge panel, or the one someone used to gain you access to the knowledge panel. Otherwise, Google won’t recognize you as someone related to that account.

In addition, you need to turn on “Web and App Activities” under Google’s Activity Controls in your Google account. Essentially, this helps track your steps as you are moving around your searches and helps Google ensure you have access to the knowledge panel.
Search for the Knowledge Panel
Just as when you claimed your knowledge panel, you need to use Google Search to look for the entity whose knowledge panel you want to update. Googling your brand’s name is probably the best and easiest way to get there, but remember to look carefully at the knowledge panel and make sure it’s referencing the entity you intended. If not, keep searching until you find the right one.
Click Suggest Edits
If you are logged in to the correct Google account and are looking at the associated knowledge panel, you should see a link at the top of the knowledge panel that says “Suggest Edits” or a similar iteration. If you don’t see it, verify you are signed in correctly and are looking at the right knowledge panel.

When you are, go ahead and click it. This is your portal for suggesting updates.
Choose What You Want to Update
Click the area you want to update. You will be doing each one separately, so if you have more than one change you would like to see, just start with one, and you can continue with more changes later.

Areas you want to update might include images, descriptions or titles, social media profile links, and more.

Here is an example using Boden’s knowledge panel. You can see how each bit of information is broken into different options. You can choose which section you want to suggest an update for.
Write Out Your Suggested Updates
Because this is Google’s product and not one you can directly control yourself, you can’t just go in and make updates on the areas you would like.

You can, however, ask Google to go in and review your suggestions.

When you click on the area you want to update, a small text box will open where you can enter your suggested update.

Be as specific as possible and provide as much background as you can. This helps the reviewer on Google’s end have as much context as possible to understand the logic behind the suggested change. You can also provide links to any websites or pages to verify your requested change.
Wait
This isn’t the easy part, but you will have to wait for your review to be accepted. Google will manually review your suggestion and check for verifiable information online to back up your update for accuracy. That’s why providing the specifics and URLs as mentioned above is important.

When Google accepts your updates, you will be contacted via email.
Create More Suggestions
You should send each update as a separate request. In other words, if you want to see the image updated as well as social media profile links, you should do these separately.

This keeps the review process clean and easy to follow. It also allows you to be specific and detailed without muddling your requests.

Get in there and make suggestions for updates whenever you deem necessary.

Conclusion

Knowing what people are learning about you and your brand is key to understanding how the public perceives you. If the information at the top of a Google search isn’t accurate or isn’t reflective of what you want to project, you need to claim knowledge panels and request those updates are made.

Claiming knowledge panels can give you at least a little more control over how your brand appears in a Google search, but it’s not the end. In fact, it’s just one step in building an online brand and SEO. There’s so much you can do to improve your SEO and stay in front of your customer base with the knowledge they need to interact with your brand well.

Have you claimed your brand’s Google knowledge panel yet?