TikTok For Business: 6 Ways You Can Use it to Boost Your Brand

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms ever. The numbers are staggering:

It was the most downloaded app of 2021, topping out with 656 million downloads.
In the summer of 2021, it hit one billion monthly active users.
It’s also the only non-Meta app to hit the three billion install mark.

It’s not just a place for dance challenges or pranks, either. Brands can use TikTok to build their reputation, engage audiences, and drive conversions. However, unlike Facebook and Instagram, it’s not immediately obvious how brands can best use TikTok to their advantage.

That’s why TikTok created TikTok For Business. This marketing tool offers everything brands need to create awesome TikTok ads that drive real business results.

This article explains what TikTok For Business is and how it works, who should use TikTok For Business, and how you can get the most from this tool. By the end of the article, you’ll have a clear idea of how you can succeed with this phenomenal social network.

What Is TikTok For Business?

TikTok For Business is highly recommended. It won B2B Brand of the Year at The Drum Awards for B2B in 2021, thanks to its rebranding efforts and glowing recommendations from brands of all sizes.

Before we dive into actionable strategies, let’s take a moment to cover what TikTok For Business is. TikTok For Business, formerly called TikTok Ads, is an all-in-one marketing tool built to help businesses release their creative side and create awesome campaigns that can go viral.

The tool makes it easy for brands to start advertising on TikTok. It contains in-depth guides on the solutions it offers, including:

Introduction to TikTok For Business
Creative Best Practices
The Creative Exchange
The TikTok Shop

It also offers plenty of inspirational success stories (something we’ll cover in more detail below) and loads of blog posts and how-to videos.

Why Should You Use TikTok For Business?

OK, TikTok For Business sounds great. However, is it right for everyone?

I think almost every business has a lot to gain from TikTok. For one, it is the leading app for consumer spending. In 2021, users spent a whopping $2.3 billion in the app, up from $1.3 billion in 2020. It also offers the following three major benefits to brands.

Enormous Exposure Potential

Consumers love videos. In 2022, we watched an average of 2.5 hours of online video content per day, up from 1.5 hours per day in 2018. The same study also shows we’re twice as likely to share video content with friends than any other online content.

There are few better places to watch videos than on TikTok.

As the leading video-based social network, TikTok gives brands access to millions of potential views. As I mentioned in the introduction, TikTok has a phenomenal number of users in over 140 countries.

What’s even more important is that those users are highly engaged. Data released by TikTok shows the average user opens the app 19 times a day and actively uses the app for 89 minutes per day—basically an hour and a half.

Even better, almost anyone can create a viral TikTok video. The nature of the platform’s algorithm means even creators with tiny audiences can become viral hits. Just ask Nathan Apodaca, whose video become so popular it reached Fleetwood Mac, whose song he sings in the soothing video he records while skateboarding to work.

Brands Look More Authentic on TikTok

No one wants to be known as the company that runs cheesy adverts on social media. Consumers don’t want crap ads, either. Consumers want an emotional connection to brands now more than ever, and 90 percent say authenticity is important when deciding which brands they support.

Thanks to the solutions offered by TikTok For Business, it’s easier for brands to come across as authentic and create the same level of content pushed out by veteran content creators.

Of course, it’s easy to go too far and jump on all of the latest TikTok trends. While it’s important to be creative and authentic, take care to stay true to your brand’s personality. If the trend doesn’t mirror your brand image, you don’t need to jump on the bandwagon.

Access to Endless Influencers

The power of influencer marketing is well understood. Three in four marketers use influencers as a marketing tool, and 90 percent believe it to be effective.

TikTok takes influencer marketing to a new level. Because it’s possible for someone with very few influencers to go viral on TikTok, brands have access to a potentially unlimited number of influencers.

TikTok also makes it easy to connect with influencers thanks to its Creator Marketplace. We’ll talk about this analytics tool below, but it’s a great way to find partners with the engagement, reach, and demographics you care about.

Who Should Use TikTok For Business?

It doesn’t matter who you are or what kind of business you run; TikTok has something to offer everyone from large enterprises to small businesses and agencies.

Big brands with even bigger marketing budgets have quickly made TikTok their home. Companies like Coca-Cola, Google, and Sony have already established effective partnerships with popular TikTokers to promote brand awareness and drive conversions.

The New York Times reports that at least 18 public retail brands have referred to marketing efforts on TikTok on calls with analysts and investors between August and December.

TikTok goes to great lengths to promote itself as the social media platform of choice for small businesses. In 2021, the company unveiled its Small Wins initiative, which showed the value it can bring to smaller businesses around the globe. This includes a bakery that turned 3,000 followers into 2 million and a candlemaker who went viral.

Agencies are also a focus of TikTok’s marketing efforts. The company has created TikTok Marketing Partners, a community of companies that help marketers grow their businesses on TikTok. These partners provide a range of services, from creative design to campaign management. Agencies who have a penchant for TikTok can even sign up to become Marketing Partners themselves.

As you can see, virtually any company can use TikTok to their advantage. However, you’ll want to ensure your audience is present on the platform. Just because you find success on Instagram or Facebook doesn’t mean TikTok is a good fit.

TikTok has already become the app of choice for Gen Z consumers, surpassing Instagram in popularity. They aren’t the only people using the app, however. One in five U.S. adults uses the platform, including 22 percent of consumers aged 30-49.

Even if you don’t think TikTok is suitable for your brand, it’s still worth creating an account to reserve your business username. Maybe you’ll change your mind by the end of the article.

6 Strategies to Use TikTok For Business

Finally, it’s time to start using TikTok to promote your business. Here are six ways you can use TikTok For Business today.

1. Get a TikTok Business Account

TikTok offers two types of Pro accounts: Business Accounts and Creator Accounts. We’re going to focus on the former here.

TikTok Business Accounts are designed especially for brands and companies. They come packed with awesome features to help engage your audience, including in-depth metrics, campaign management advice, TikTok’s Web Business Suite, and a commercial music library of over 500,000 royalty-free sounds.

Creating a Business Account is easy.

If you already have a TikTok account, you can convert your current account into a Business Account. Click on the menu dots in the top right-hand corner of the Me page, then click on Manage My Account and select Business Account under the Switch to Pro Account option.

If you don’t have a TikTok account yet, you can sign up for a Business Account here.

It’s similar to setting up an account on any social media platform. You’ll need to enter an email and create a password.

Next, you need to create your business account.

Start by finding a username that isn’t already taken. Ideally, it will just be your brand name, but you may need to add a prefix or suffix to make it unique. Try one of these handle ideas if your brand name is taken.

With your Business Account created, you can start thinking about what you want to achieve with your account, who you want to target, how you’ll use your account, and the kind of videos you’ll create.

2. Use the TikTok Ads Manager

TikTok’s ads are fantastic. According to Hootsuite, they reach 17.9 percent of all internet users above the age of 18—and you have the potential to reach 884.9 million people.

Better still, TikTok users actually enjoy seeing ads. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of users surveyed by Kantar perceived ads as inspiring. They also find them to be 21 percent more trendsetting than ads on other platforms and are more enjoyable and optimistic, too.

One of the best things about running ads on TikTok is that they blend in seamlessly with organic content on the platform. There are several forms of TikTok ads, including:

In-feed ads: Standard TikTok ads that show up as videos in a user’s feed. They can last up to 60 seconds and can link to landing pages.
Brand takeovers: These ads show up when a user opens the app. They can be three-second photos or 3.5-second videos. They are more expensive than in-feed ads but potentially more powerful.
TopView ads: These are enhanced versions of brand takeover ads, lasting between five and 60 seconds.
Sponsored hashtag challenges: Hashtag challenges are huge on TikTok, and this ad form lets brands sponsor a hashtag challenge, complete with a custom banner shown on the Discover page.

TikTok makes it easy to get started with their ads manager.

First, select your goal. That could be to connect with your audience, generate web traffic, or generate leads.

Next, you choose your audience. You can let TikTok choose your audience or set the audience size yourself.

Next, set your daily budget and the dates you want your campaign to run.

While much of TikTok advertising is dominated by big brands, you don’t have to blow your annual marketing budget to see success. TikTok has a minimum campaign budget of $500 when using the ad manager and a minimum ad group budget of $50.

Finally, design and launch your ad. Now watch the impressions, engagement, and revenue roll in.

3. Partner With Creators

Influencers are crucial on TikTok. Interest in creating influencer advertising campaigns is on the rise too, with a 325 percent increase in 2021. 68 percent of marketers now say they want to leverage the platform.

In response, TikTok released the Creator Marketplace (TCM) in 2019 to make it easier for brands and content creators to collaborate.

Brands use the marketplace to search for registered content creators, manage their campaigns, pay creators and generate reports and insights.

The Creator Marketplace means brands can manage multiple influencer campaigns in one place and keep track of everything through a single dashboard.

Better still, the Creator Marketplace massively increases transparency. Accurate reporting is notoriously difficult when working with influencers, but it’s baked into the Creator Marketplace.

As a result, brands can see at a glance which influencers help them meet their goals and which aren’t. This not only lets brands drop the influencers that aren’t working out, but also gives influencers the information they need to create awesome campaigns.

Finding the right influencers is another notoriously tricky part of working with influencers. Again, the Creator Marketplace comes to the rescue by letting you filter influencers by several criteria, including:

country
topic
reach
average views
gender
age
audience device
e-commerce anchor feature

Once you’ve found the perfect influencer, you can use TCM to send them messages, manage your joint campaign, and pay them.

Get started by signing up for the Creator Marketplace.

4. Use the TikTok Creator Exchange

The Creator Marketplace isn’t the only way to find and work with content creators on TikTok. TikTok also launched the Creative Exchange, designed to help brands and content creators form successful partnerships.

Finding influencers is one of the biggest challenges for brands, making this a fantastic addition to the TikTok Business suite. The 2021 Influencer Benchmark Report survey found that 22 percent of participants find the task difficult, and 56 percent rated it as having medium difficulty.

The Creative Exchange flips the script on influencer marketing. Rather than searching for the right influencer, brands create a campaign plan and let content creators respond to it with their suggestions.

Once you sign up for the Creative Exchange, TikTok walks you through the process of creating your project and provides several campaign ideas. These include a “Story” and “Product Intro,” among others.

Next, you’ll fill in a questionnaire related to your brand and product so content creators can get a better idea of who they’re working with.

Creators registered with the Exchange get notified every time opportunities match their interests. If they’re interested, they can apply to relevant projects by submitting their ideas or entering into a conversation with the brand.

The TikTok Creator Exchange is a faster and more efficient way of working with influencers on TikTok. However, it’s important to have a clear idea about the kind of campaign you want to create. The more information you can provide influencers, the better responses you’ll get.

5. Find a TikTok Marketing Partner

Every minute, people watch a staggering 167 million TikTok videos. That’s a huge number, and it shows just how hard you have to work to stand out from the crowd.

Most brands won’t be able to do this on their own.

Luckily, TikTok has a partnership program that connects brands with vetted TikTok experts. TikTok Marketing Partners have a wide range of skill sets and specialties, meaning they can help your business succeed at every stage of the campaign creation process. This includes:

Campaign Management Partners help you get the most from the TikTok Ads platform.
Measurement Partners help you squeeze as much performance from your campaigns as possible.
Creative Partners have the audiovisual skills to help you create awesome ads that are a natural fit for the platform.
Effects Partners can create augmented reality effects to help your ads really stand out.
Sound Partners can help brands leverage TikTok’s sound-on environment.

Helping you create killer ads is just one of the benefits of working with a TikTok Marketing Partner. There are plenty more, including getting access to new features first, benefiting from expert advice, and knowing what’s coming next.

When you work with a TikTok Marketing Partner, you’re eligible for early access to the platform’s alpha and beta releases. Since TikTok Partners have a strong understanding of the platform, they’ll be able to make these new features work for your brand almost immediately.

Because they’ve achieved success on the platform many times over, they know the exact strategies you need to implement to meet your goals. TikTok also vets every partner to make sure they can do everything they promise.

Finally, a TikTok Marketing Partner has a deep knowledge of the platform’s product roadmap. That means they can notify you immediately of future developments in the app so your brand can take advantage faster.

6. Create a TikTok Shop

Social commerce is a huge, growing market. There were roughly 79 million social buyers in the U.S. in 2020. By 2025, it’s estimated that figure will grow by 37 percent to 108 social consumers million.

More and more businesses are jumping on the social commerce bandwagon. A 2021 survey found eight in ten businesses plan to sell on social media platforms within the next three years.

If you’re looking to get to grips with social commerce, TikTok should be your starting point. According to the company’s own research, 67 percent of consumers say they’re inspired to shop due to TikTok, even if they weren’t planning to. You only have to look at the TikTok feta effect for proof.

With TikTok’s new shopping program, getting started is easier than ever. The social media platform has recently partnered with Shopify to allow businesses and creators to promote and sell products directly on the platform.

There are three core ways merchants can promote products on TikTok:

Merchant-led LIVEs and In-Feed Videos: Merchants can promote products directly in the app through LIVEs or standard in-feed videos.
Creator Collaborations: Merchants can collaborate with creators to leverage their communities.
Campaigns and Promotions: Merchants can participate in TikTok Shop’s monthly campaigns.

Creating a seller account is easy:

Open the TikTok Shop app and click Become a Seller if you already have an account. You can also create an account from scratch.
Fill in your personal data.
Fill in the TikTok Shop Seller Center profile.
Click continue and start selling.

Many major brands are already selling on TikTok, like Kylie Cosmetics and Manly Brands. Even smaller brands have seen success selling on the platform.

U.K. perfumer retailer PerfumeBoss created their first live shoppable event just two days after signing up. It now hosts five live events every week and has seen a 438 percent increase in net revenue and a 369 percent increase in order volume.

TikTok For Business Success Stories

If you’re looking for inspiration before you dip your toe into TikTok For Business, you’re in luck. The company has plenty of case studies showcasing just how much brands can achieve on the platform. Here are three of the most impressive.

SLATE & TELL

Are you looking to use TikTok to drive online sales for your business? Then you need to learn how SLATE & TELL leveraged TikTok For their spring promotions. The personalized jewelry company aimed to see a 2x return on ad spend over six months by using TikTok For Business’ Smart Video Creative Tool.

They launched a series of in-feed ads that looked like a natural part of consumers’ For You feeds. By the end of the campaign, SLATE & TELL had reached four million people on TikTok, generated 1000 add-to-carts, and hit their goal of a 2x return on ad spend.

How can you replicate SLATE & TELL’s results?

Use TikTok’s Smart Video Creative tool.
Make ads look like a natural part of a consumer’s For You feed.
Coincide TikTok spend with your busiest time of the season.

Momentary Ink

Increasing brand awareness is a massive benefit of TikTok For Business, and one Momentary Ink took full advantage of. The company, which specializes in custom temporary tattoos, worked with TikTok’s partners to use in-feed ads featuring influencers trying out the product to demonstrate how good they looked.

Taking things further, the brand grew the campaign using TikTok’s auction feature and used the Conversion Objective feature within TikTok’s Ads Manager to track the campaign’s effectiveness. They followed up every purchase with a survey asking customers how they discovered the brand—a survey that further proved the power of TikTok for product discovery.

By the end of the campaign, they had reached 14 million video views, with 60 percent of buyers saying they discovered the brand on TikTok.

How can you replicate Momentary Ink’s results?

work with a TikTok partner agency to develop awesome creatives
partner with influencers to showcase your products
use conversion tracking to prove the effectiveness of TikTok ads

Princess Polly

When your brand’s values match those of TikTok users, the results can be incredible. That was the case for Princess Polly, a Gen Z-focused fashion retailer that prides itself on ethical and sustainable fashion and has a no-photoshop policy.

That’s the perfect brand for TikTok’s youthful audience that cares about creating genuine connections between bands.

The brand ran a unique discount code and promoted it using auction ads focusing on driving traffic. By the end of the campaign, the brand’s ads had garnered 9 million impressions and had delivered a 15x return on ad spend.

How can you replicate Princess Polly’s results?

tie your brand values to TikTok’s audience
promote your brand values
focus on conversions with discount codes

TikTok For Business Frequently Asked Questions

Is TikTok For Business free?

It’s free to sign up to TikTok For Business, but you’ll need to pay to work with content creators or run ads on the platform.

Can TikTok help small businesses?

TikTok can do wonders for small businesses. There are several small business success stories on TikTok’s site, and they even ran a Small Wins campaign to highlight the impact they can have on small businesses.

Should I switch to a TikTok For Business account?

If you’re only using TikTok for yourself, stick to a personal account. If you are using TikTok to make money, either as a business or an influencer, it makes sense to switch to a TikTok For Business account for additional insights and data.

Why should I use TikTok For Business as opposed to other social media platforms?

TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform and the most downloaded app of 2020. The nature of the site means it’s possible for brands to develop genuine and authentic connections with their audience that result in better business results.

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Conclusion: Is TikTok For Business Right for You?

TikTok isn’t just an app for Gen Z to kill time on; it’s a serious tool for businesses to increase brand awareness, build relationships and drive purchases. TikTok For Business makes it easy for companies of any size to get started advertising on the platform, whether that’s by partnering with creators or creating a TikTok shop.

Now it’s time for you to take the next steps. Get started by learning how to edit your own TikTok videos, or save yourself all the hard work by having users create videos for your brand.

So, how will you use TikTok For Business?

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3 Surprising Ways Personal Financing Affects Business Funding

It makes sense that, if you do not separate your business credit from your personal credit, you could run into issues. Most get that if they fund their business with their personal credit, their personal finances could suffer. But, did you know that even if you have separated everything beautifully, the reverse can still be true? Here are 3 ways personal financing can affect your ability to get funding for your business.

How Does Personal Financing Impact Business Lending?

Some business funding options consider your personal credit score no matter what. For example, all traditional loans, SBA loans, and even the Credit Line Hybrid focus on personal credit score. Generally, they want to see a personal score above 650, though there are exceptions. The issue goes beyond this however.

Factors that Affect Personal Credit

The number one factor that affects personal credit is paying on time. However, some other factors that can affect your personal credit score include:

How many accounts are reporting payments?
How long have you had each account?
What type of accounts are they?
How much credit you are using on each account versus how much is available

This last point is important. It includes everything from credit card debt to personal financing for auto loans and mortgages. If you max out your limits on everything without paying it down significantly, your personal credit score will be negatively impacted. All of this means, you could be making all payments on time and still run into issues.

#1:Your Personal Credit Score Can Affect Your Business Credit Score With the Business Credit Reporting Bureaus

It’s true. Some business credit reporting agencies take your personal credit into account. They use your personal credit in the calculation of the business credit score they release to lenders. This means if your personal credit score is bad, your business credit score could suffer.

Experian Business Credit

Experian is different from the other two main business credit reporting agencies in one very important way. Of course, business credit is credit in a business’s name. It depends on how well a company can pay its bills. Yet, Experian uses both consumer and business credit information to gauge risk. They find a blended score is more accurate and predictive.

FICO SBSS

This score is becoming increasingly common and it’s a lot trickier. FICO SBSS stands for FICO Liquid Credit Small Business Scoring Service. Unlike your personal FICO, the SBSS reports on a scale of 0 to 300. The higher the score the better, and most lenders demand a score of at least 160.

The scoring model for this score is not the same as other business credit scoring models. It uses your business and personal credit scores, but it does so much differently than Experian.

The formula for calculations is proprietary and well-guarded by FICO. They do not make the information public. Unlike the other business credit reporting agencies, you cannot request a copy of your report or see your score. Here’s why. Surprisingly, this score can actually vary from lender to lender. That’s right, two different lenders can get two different scores for your business from FICO SBSS at the same time.

FICO SBSS Calculation

Here’s how that works. Lenders can ask for certain factors in the score to carry more weight than others. Your score can vary depending on how a lender weighs each factor. One lender may put more weight on your personal credit score or your business credit. Meanwhile, another may choose to weigh annual revenue as more important than payment history. It is their choice.

FICO searches business credit information from business credit agencies. This includes D&B, Experian, and Equifax. They use this information in the calculation of your score. So, your score with these bureaus affects your FICO SBSS.

The only way to ensure that your personal credit doesn’t impact your business credit in a negative way is to keep your personal credit in good order. This is because you really can never know which factors the lender is going to weigh more or less for that matter.

#2: You May Have to Use a Guarantor to Get Business Funding

Because some types of funding require a strong personal credit score, you may need to use a guarantor to get access. This includes some funding types that can help you build business credit, like the Credit Suite Credit Line Hybrid.

Credit Line Hybrid

A credit line hybrid is a form of unsecured funding. Our credit line hybrid even works for startups, and you can get a better interest rate than a secured loan. It reports to business CRAs, but you need a FICO score of at least 680 to qualify.

However, if your personal FICO isn’t that great, you can use a guarantor with good credit to get approval. It’s no-doc financing, meaning you do not have to turn in any financial documents. Using a guarantor could be worth it if you need funding quickly.

#3 Personal Financing Can Affect Overall Fundability

Business lending, at its core, is affected by the Fundability of your business. There are 4 core factors that affect business Fundability, and each of these factors is made up of a number of principles. Personal financial statements and other data bureaus are included in these factors.

Financial Statements

Some lenders will ask for personal financial information no matter what. Others may only look at them if the business is not considered creditworthy on its own. When it comes to personal financial statements, lenders are usually looking primarily at tax returns. It’s best to have a tax professional prepare them. Other information lenders may ask for include check stubs and bank statements, among other things.

Bureaus

There are other agencies that hold information related to your personal finances as well. ChexSystems is one example. They track bad check activity, and their report makes a difference when it comes to your bank score. If you have too many bad checks, you will not be able to open a business bank account. That, in turn, will cause serious fundability issues.

LexisNexis and the Small Business Finance Exchange also fall into this “other bureaus” category. They can have all sorts of information on you, like:

Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
Do you have a bankruptcy or short sale on your record?
How about liens or UCC filings?

While these bureaus do not directly generate credit reports, they do share information with certain credit agencies. They then use this information for their reporting.

This means personal finance information they hold can affect the fundability of your business, and thus your business lending options.

Personal Financing Can Affect Your Ability to Get Business Funding

Whether it’s credit card debt, a mortgage, or just how you handle your personal bank account, your personal finance management can affect your ability to fund your business.

You cannot change that entirely. Still, you can limit the extent to which this is true. Separating your business from yourself and building a strong business credit score is the best way. Lenders will be able to depend less on the personal financing aspects of your creditworthiness, and focus more on the fundability of the business itself.

The post 3 Surprising Ways Personal Financing Affects Business Funding appeared first on Credit Suite.

6 Ways Applying for a Small Business Loan Can Affect Getting Approved

The 125 factors that affect the fundability can be broken down into 4 main categories. One of those categories is the Application Process.

Here are 6 ways applying for a small business loan can affect the fundability of your business.

# 1: Timing

When you apply for a loan makes a difference. Consider your current circumstances. If you have recently paid off a lot of credit card debt, that’s great! But, the payoff will not show up on your credit report immediately. Lenders will see more debt than is actually there.

The same is true of any change on your reports. UCC filings, liens, bankruptcy, and anything else that may be added or about to roll off can affect a credit provider’s decision.

You have to monitor your business credit and personal credit reports so you can get the timing right when applying for a small business loan.

#2: Lender Negotiations

Having a good relationship with a lender that is familiar with your business and its industry is priceless. It can allow you insight to understand if you have flexibility to negotiate. Maybe you apply for a loan and get initial approval for $10,000. If you have a couple of other credit providers that are ready to extend substantially higher amounts, you might be able to use that to convince the lender to approve more.

#3: Application Format

It may seem like applying online is always the best option these days. It’s for sure faster and easier. Yet, there can be substantial differences in what is available if you apply in person or with a paper application.

Some lenders may require a personal guarantee if you apply online, but have a paper application that does not require one. There are any number of possibilities, that’s just one example.

#4: Lending Product Selected

You have to choose the right lending product for your business. A large project you want to complete may mean you need a business loan. However, if you simply have a lot of smaller expenses and want a way to manage cash flow, a credit card or line of credit may work better

#5: Lender Selection

Some lenders may loosen their belts and lend more around the end of the

year. Eventually, they will tighten up again. Then, another group of lenders may decide it is time to increase lending. Knowing which lenders are lending more what you are applying for a small business loan greatly increases your chances for approval.

6: Verifiable Information

When you apply for credit, you have to include your business name and address on the application. Lenders will then search with the Secretary of State to make sure you are the owner. They will also verify your business phone number and business address match what is on file with the Secretary of State.

Get Help Applying for a Small Business Loan

Lending trends, choosing the best lending product, and a number of other factors in this process are difficult to maneuver on your own.

This is where the business credit specialists at Credit Suite can really help. We are in a unique position to be able to see the big lending picture throughout the year. Our finger is always on the pulse of the industry, so we can help direct you toward lenders that are lending the most at the moment. We can see the big picture.

The post 6 Ways Applying for a Small Business Loan Can Affect Getting Approved appeared first on Credit Suite.

Best ways to save your phone’s photos before it’s too late

It’s best to back up your photos, so they’re safe and sound

5 Ways Small Businesses Can Benefit from a 2021 Credit Review

What is a 2021 Credit Review and Why Should You Do One?

In a time when the economy is tumbling toward a recession, it’s important for small businesses to get their finances in order. Here are tips on how to do that by doing a 2021 credit review.

Also, we’ll show you how this can give your business an advantage over competitors who are not aware of what they’re missing out on. And why financial experts recommend this type of review. So look at the 5 ways a 2021 credit review can help your business. Get more information about what you need to do now so you don’t have any regrets later!

All year, we’ve been talking about building business credit. And we’ve talked about business credit reporting agencies and their reports. But do you know how to read your business credit reports? And do you know what to do with the information you might find?

The Benefits of Doing a 2021 Credit Review

Knowing what’s in your business credit reports can only help you. Learning what the CRAs are scoring you on will help focus your efforts. For example, if on-time payments matter to a CRA more than utilization percentage, then wouldn’t it be a good idea to concentrate on paying your credit bills on time? <Spoiler alert> they do.

Why it is Important for You to Know About Your Business Credit Scores

Business credit is an actual asset, and it is worth money! That means you can factor business credit into the cost of your business, should you ever decide to sell. Plus, what you do to build business credit will often help you build a clientele!

Better business credit scores will help you get business financing. They will help you get better financing, with lower interest rates and payback terms. For some entrepreneurs, better business credit scores are the difference between getting some financing….

Or none.

What Information Should be Included in Your Review

You want to be looking at your actual, full business credit reports, which are more than the scores. It’s time to look at the details. These should be reports from:

Dun & Bradstreet
Experian and
Equifax

About the Process

Get your D&B business credit report by signing into the D&B website. You want their CreditMonitor product, which shows the most scores. Get your Experian credit report by running a search for your business. You want their CreditScore^SM Report. To get your Equifax business credit report, you’ll need to contact them. Specify that you want a single Equifax business credit report.

How to Get Started with a 2021 Credit Review Now

If a highly detailed report isn’t in the budget right now, at least a shorter summary report will keep you informed. And it will get you in the habit of checking your credit reports. Today, we’ll look at high level information. This is what you absolutely need to know right now.

#5 Way a 2021 Credit Review Can Benefit Small Businesses: Get to Know Your Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Report

It always makes sense to start with D&B. They are the biggest business CRA in the world, by far! You need a D-U-N-S number to start building business credit. If you don’t have a D-U-N-S number, you’ll need to get one; they’re free. This number gets your business into their system.

But your business will not get a PAYDEX score, unless there are at least 3 trade lines reporting, and a D-U-N-S number. Your business must have BOTH to get a D&B score or report.

D&B Data

D&B’s database contains hundreds of millions of companies around the world, both active and out of business. So D&B lists over a billion trade experiences. It works to improve its analyses to assure the greatest degree of accuracy possible. To ensure as accurate a report as possible, give D&B your company’s current financial statements.

Predictive Models and Scoring

D&B takes historical information to try to predict future outcomes. This is to identify the risks inherent in a future decision. They take objective and statistically derived data, rather than subjective and intuitive judgments. There are sample reports online available on the D&B website.

D&B Reports

D&B offers database-generated reports. These help their clients decide if your business is a good credit risk. Companies use the reports to make informed business credit decisions and avoid bad debt. Several factors go into creating such a report.

In general when D&B does not have all the information that they need, they will show as much in their reports. But missing information does not necessarily mean your company is a poor credit risk. Instead, the risk is unknown.

Executive Summary

The report starts with basic company information, like:

Number of employees
Year your business was started
Net worth
Sales

D&B Rating

This rating helps companies check your business’s size and composite credit appraisal. Dun & Bradstreet bases this rating on data in your company’s interim or fiscal balance sheet plus an overall evaluation of your business’s creditworthiness. The scale runs 5A—HH. Rating Classifications show your company size based on worth or equity. D&B assigns such a rating only if your company has supplied a current financial statement.

The rating contains a Financial Strength Indicator. It is calculated using the Net Worth or Issued Capital of your company. Plus there’s a Composition Credit Appraisal. This number runs 1 through 4, and it shows D&B’s overall rating of your business’s creditworthiness.

The scores mean:

1—High
2—Good
3—Fair
4—Limited

A D&B rating might look like 3A4.

D&B PAYDEX

This part shows two gauges: an up to 24 month PAYDEX, and an up to 3 month PAYDEX. As a result, you can see recent history and your company’s performance over time.

Both gauges have the same scores:

1 means greater than 120 days slow (when it comes to your business paying bills)
50 means 30 days slow
80 means prompt payments
100 means anticipates

100 is the best PAYDEX score you can get. The PAYDEX score is Dun & Bradstreet’s dollar-weighted numerical rating of how your company has paid the bills over the past year. It shows how well your company pays its bills.

Predictive Analytics

This next section shows the chance of business failure. It also shows how often your business is late in paying its financial obligations. These are comparative analyses: the Financial Stress Class, and the Credit Score Class.

Financial Stress Score

This section shows your Financial Stress Class, and a Financial Stress Score Percentile. The Financial Stress Class runs 1—5, with 5 being the worst score.

Financial Stress Score Percentile

It is a comparison of your business to other businesses. The percentile contains a Financial Stress National Percentile. The Financial Stress National Percentile shows the relative ranking of your company among all scorable companies in D&B’s file. It also contains a Financial Stress Score. The report shows the probability of failure with a particular score.

Financial Stress Score Percentile Comparison

So the idea behind the score is to predict the chances your business will fail over the next 12 months. The average probability of failure comes from businesses in D&B’s database. It is provided for comparative purposes. The Financial Stress Score offers a more precise measure of the level of risk than the Financial Stress Class and Percentile. It is meant for customers using a scorecard approach to determining overall business performance.

Credit Score Class

The Credit Score Class measures how often your company is delinquent in paying bills. Overall numbers run 1—5. 1 is businesses least likely to be late. More granular scores run 101—670. 670 is the highest risk.

Credit Limit Recommendation

It shows a spectrum of risk. Your risk category can be:

Low
Moderate or
High

D&B checks risk using their scoring methods. It is one factor used when creating recommended limits.

D&B Viability Rating

This section contains:

Viability Score— to show risk
Portfolio Comparison—also a demonstration of risk
Data Depth Indicator—descriptive vs. predictive
Company Profile—showing if financial data and other info was available

Credit Capacity Summary

This part repeats the D&B Rating above. It includes financial strength, the composite credit appraisal, and payment activity

Business History and Business Registration

This section contains information on ownership. It also shows where your corporation is filed (i.e. which state). This includes the type of corporation, and the incorporation date

Government Activity Summary and Operations Data

This section gives basic information on if your company works as a contractor for the government. It also shows the kind of industry your company is in. It shows what the facilities are like, including general data on its location.

Industry Data and Family Tree

The section shows your business’s SIC and NAICS codes. It also shows where your branches and subsidiaries are. This list is limited to the first 25 branches, subsidiaries, divisions, and affiliates, both domestic and international. D&B offers a Global Family Linkage Link to view the full listing.

Financial Statements

This section is devoted to financial statements D&B has on your business. It shows assets and liabilities, with specifics like equipment, and even common stock offerings.

Indicators and Full Filings

This part shows public records, like:

Judgments
Liens
Lawsuits
UCC filings

This part also breaks down where filings are venued, like the court or the county recorder of deeds office. It shows if judgments were satisfied (paid). It also shows which equipment is subject to UCC filings.

Commercial Credit Score

This part shows the Credit Score Class again. It also shows a comparison of the incidence of delinquent payments. It also includes key factors to help anyone reading the report interpret these findings. And it explains what the numbers mean.

Credit Score Percentile Norms Comparison

Here, your company is compared to others based on:

Region
Industry
Number of employees and
Time in business

Financial Stress Score and Financial Stress Percentile

This section shows a Financial Stress Class and a Financial Stress Score Percentile. The Financial Stress Class runs 1—5, with 5 being the worst score. he Financial Stress Score Norms calculate:

An average score and percentile for similar firms
The norms benchmark where your business stands

This is in relation to its closest business peers.

Financial Stress Score Percentile and Financial Stress Score Percentile Comparison

These two scores are a repeat of the Financial Stress Score section, above.

The average probability of failure is based on businesses in D&B’s database. t is provided for comparative purposes. The Financial Stress National Percentile shows the relative ranking of your company among all scorable companies in D&B’s file. And the Financial Stress Score offers a more precise measure of the level of risk than the Financial Stress Class and Percentile. It is meant for customers using a scorecard approach to determining overall business performance.

Advanced PAYDEX + CLR

This section repeats the 24 month and 3 month PAYDEX gauges. It also includes a repeat of the Credit Limit Recommendation. There is also a PAYDEX Yearly Trend. It shows the PAYDEX scores of your business compared to the Primary Industry from each of the last four quarters.

PAYDEX Yearly Trend

The PAYDEX Yearly Trend is a graph. It includes detailed payment history, with payment habits and a payment summary. It helps show if your business pays the bigger bills first or last.

Let’s look at an Experian business credit report.

#4 Way a 2021 Credit Review Can Benefit Small Businesses: Explore Your Experian Business Credit Report

Experian offers data and analytics to businesses to help them better gauge risk. They have a massive consumer and commercial database for checking risk. They have found that blended data and reports work a lot better for them. For troubled businesses, blended scores dropped an average of 30% over the four quarters leading up to a bad event. But the owner’s consumer scores showed no statistically significant decline during the same period. Their best known and most widely used score is Intelliscore Plus℠, a percentile score.

A Typical Experian Business Credit Advantage^SM Report

Experian provides a sample report where you can get an idea of what to expect. The best, most accurate and up to date source for this information is the Experian website itself.

Business Background Information

The first part of a report contains:

Basic details like business name, address, and main phone number
Experian BIN (Experian’s BIN is like Dun & Bradstreet’s D-U-N-S number. It’s a unique identifier for each business in the database)
Annual sales
Business type (corporation, etc.)
Date Experian file established
Years in business
Total number of employees
Incorporation date and state

Experian Business Credit Score

Business Credit Scores run 1—100; higher scores mean lower risk. This score predicts the chance of serious credit delinquencies in the next 12 months. It uses tradeline and collections data, public filings as well as other variables to predict future risk.

Key Score Factors:

Number of commercial accts with terms other than Net 1—30 days
The number of commercial accounts that are not current
Number of commercial accounts with high utilization
Length of time on Experian’s file

Experian Financial Stability Risk Rating

Financial Stability Risk Ratings run 1—5; lower ratings mean lower risk. A rating of 1 means a 0.55% potential risk of severe financial distress in the next 12 months. Experian categorizes all businesses to fit within one of the five risk segments. This rating predicts the chance of payment default and/or bankruptcy in the next 12 months.

This rating uses tradeline and collections info, public filings, and other variables to predict future risk. Key Rating Factors:

Number of active commercial accounts
Risk associated with the business type
Risk associated with the company’s industry sector
Employee size of business

Credit Summary

This section contains several counts of various data points. For the most part, details are available further in the report. The info contains:

Current Days Beyond Terms (DBT)
Predicted DBT for a particular date
Average industry DBT
Payment Trend Indicator (stable, or not)

This sector also contains:

Number of payment tradelines
Number of lender consortium experiences
The number of business inquiries
Number of UCC Filings, bankruptcies, and liens

The last part of this section shows:

Number of judgments filed
Number of accounts in collections
Company background (includes founding date, where headquarters are, and what your business does)

Payment Trend Summary

This section shows your company versus your industry on:

Monthly payment trends
Quarterly payment trends

These are the percentages of on-time payments by month and quarter.

Trade Payment Information

This next part shows details on payment experiences (financial trades). There is also data on:

Lender consortium experiences (financial exchange trades)
Tradeline experiences (continuous trades)
Aged trades and payment trend detail

There is also a link to send any missing payment experiences.

Inquiries, Collection Filings, and Collections Summary

The Inquiries part has the industry making the inquiry and a total made during a given month. The Collection Filings sector has the date, name of the agency, and status (open or closed). If a collection is closed, the Collection Filing sector also has the closing date. The Collections Summary shows: status, number of collections, dollar amount in dispute, and amount collected (even if $0).

Commercial Banking, Insurance, Leasing

For leasing, this section shows:

Leasing institution name and address
Product type and lease start date and term
Original and remaining balances
The scheduled amount due
The number of payments per year
And the number of payments which are current, late, or overdue

Judgement Filings

This sector shows:

Date and plaintiff
Filing location
Legal type and action
Document number
Liability amount

It also includes cases where your company in the report is the plaintiff or the defendant.

Tax Lien Filings

This part has:

Date and owner
Filing location
Legal type and action
Document number
Liability amount and description

UCC Filings

This section has:

Date and filing number
Jurisdiction
Secured party
Activity (filed, or not)

UCC Filings Summary

This part shows:

Filing period
Number of cautionary filings
Total filed, released, or continued
Amended/Assigned

Cautionary UCC Filings include one or more of the following collateral:

Accounts
Accounts receivable
Contracts
Hereafter acquired property
Leases
Notes receivable, or
Proceeds

But the Experian Business Credit Advantage^SM Report does not have Intelliscore Plus℠. And it does not have the Experian Finance Stability Risk Score.

Experian’s Intelliscore Plus℠

It is a highly predictive score. This score provides detailed and accurate data on your business’s risk. It blends commercial data and consumer data on you, the business owner or guarantor. Reports include trades, legal filings, and more. Business credit scores run 0—100; 0 represents a high risk.

This score shows the percentage of businesses scoring higher or lower than yours. Many large financial institutions use it. So do over half of the top 25 P&C insurers and most major telecommunications and utility firms. Industry leaders in transportation, manufacturing, and technology also use Intelliscore Plus as their main risk indicating model. It has more than 800 aggregates or factors affecting business credit scores. Experian checks the scores of the millions of businesses in their database.

The Experian Financial Stability Risk Score (FSR)

FSR predicts the potential of your business going bankrupt or defaulting on obligations. The score finds highest risk businesses by using payment and public records which include:

Severely delinquent payments of 61+ and 91+ days
High utilization of credit lines
Tax liens
Judgments
Collection accounts
Industry risk
Short time in business, etc.

FSR shows a 1—100 percentile score, plus a 1—5 risk class. The risk class puts businesses into risk categories. The highest risk is in the lowest 10% of accounts. A score of 66—100 and a risk class of 1 means a low risk of default or bankruptcy. But a score of 1—3 and a risk class of 5 means your business has a high risk of default or bankruptcy.

Time to look at Equifax.

#3 Way a 2021 Credit Review Can Benefit Small Businesses: Understand Your Equifax Business Credit Report Better than You Ever Have

You can get a sample Equifax business credit report online. The company gets its data through a data sharing agreement with the Small Business Exchange. And it uses Net 30 type industry trade credit info.

Equifax Business Credit Reports

Equifax will combine financial data with industry trade credit data and add in:

Utility and telephone data
Public record information (bankruptcies, judgments, and tax liens)

Company Identifying Information

The first section shows identifying info, like business name, and address and telephone number. This section will also include your Equifax ID. An Equifax ID is how Equifax can tell your business from similarly-named businesses.

Credit Risk Score

This score runs 101—992. Higher numbers are better. This section also shows key factors. These are positives and negatives about your business. Such as the age of your oldest account, if you have any charge-offs, and the size of your business.

Credit Utilization

This pie chart shows which percent of your available credit line you are using. It also has labels to show how much each percentage is. It is only for your financial accounts.

Payment Index

This score runs 0—100. Higher numbers are better. It also shows Industry Median.

90+ means paid as agreed
1—19 means 120 or more days overdue

Days Beyond Terms

This is a line graph of the average days beyond terms by date reported. It is for nonfinancial accounts only. Plus it shows any recent trends. So if you’ve improved your payment habits, it shows up here.

Business Failure Score/Inquiries

The score runs 1000—1880. It shows key factors like recent balances. The section on inquiries shows the date, and if it was an inquiry on a financial or nonfinancial account.

Bureau Messages

This part seems to be a free form field. Its purpose is to add notes to your profile. These can be notes on the number of your locations, or any business aliases.

Bureau Summary Data

This section shows:

The number of financial and nonfinancial accounts
Date the credit became active
Number of charge offs and total dollars past due
Most severe status in 24 months
Single highest credit extended
Total current card exposure
Median balance and average open balance

It also shows Recent Activity, which includes:

The number of accounts delinquent
New accounts opened
Inquiries and
Accounts updated

Public Records

This section has:

Type Status:

Bankruptcy
Judgments, whether satisfied or not
Liens filed and opened, or released
Number, dollar, and most recent date filed

If there are none reported, then the date field will show that.

Additional Information

The final section appears to contain miscellaneous information, like:

Alternate Company Names and DBAs
Owners and Guarantor Names (name, type, date reported)
Business and Guarantor Comments (seems to be another freeform field) and
Report Details (the date of the report)

#2 Way a 2021 Credit Review Can Benefit Small Businesses: You Can do a 2021 Credit Review on Your Own

Checking your business credit reports in depth is the way to go to do your own credit review. But how do you know if there’s an issue you need to address? The answer is business credit monitoring. Each of the business CRAs has their own plan(s).

D&B Business Credit Monitoring

Pricing is current to September of 2021.

Use D&B Credit Monitor to check your report. It costs $39/month. View recent scores and ratings and benchmark your business versus your industry. It also alerts you to special events like suits, liens, and judgments. It includes dark web monitoring. This means it scans the dark web to help protect your business from possible fraud.

Experian Business Credit Monitoring

Prices are current as of September 2021.

Business Credit Advantage: $189/year, monitor business credit for 1 year, alerts of changes
Business Credit Score Pro: $1995/year with trade details or $1495/year in summary form only, get access to several business credit reports
Profile Plus: $49.95 for a single report
Credit Score Report: $39.95 credit summary report with score

Experian Subscription Plans: The Business Credit Advantage Subscription Plan

This is just one report including nearly everything Experian offers. This includes:

Business Credit Score (Intelliscore)
Financial Stability Risk Rating
Collections and trade payment details

Experian Subscription Plans: The Business Credit Score Pro Subscription Plan

Get 30 reports per month. This plan does not include:

Alert Emails & Monitoring
Dispute Resolution Status Alerts
3 Month Score Trend
Unlimited Access to Your Report
Business Identity Monitoring

Experian Subscription Plans: The Business Credit Score Pro Subscription Plan (Enhanced Version)

Experian also offers an enhanced version of this plan. Get more info, including:

Trade payment detail
UCC detail
Inquiry detail

Currently costs $1,495 per year.

Experian Reports: The Profile Plus Report

Get everything in the Business Credit Score Pro Subscription Plan. Plus (optional with the more expensive report):

Trade Payment Detail
Inquiry Detail
UCC Detail
Corporate Financial Information

Experian Reports: The Credit Score Report

Get everything in the Business Credit Score Pro Subscription Plan, but no optional sections. This one is like a one-time version of the Business Credit Score Pro Subscription Plan. You can use it to decide if you want to subscribe to the more expensive plan.

Equifax Business Credit Monitoring

These prices are current to September 2021. These reports include credit summary, and payment trends and public records. So the idea is to help you identify potential risk of late payments and business failure. Order a single Business Credit Report for $99.95. Or order a Business Credit Report multipack (5 for the price of 4) for $399.95.

Tips for Maintaining Good Credit after Your 2021 Credit Review

Pay your bills on time! It’s the most effective and fastest way to raise and maintain good business credit scores. You should also dispute any material inaccuracies in your reports. Inaccuracies are material (important) if they’re dragging down your scores.

Disputing Issues with Your Reports

The business CRAs will not change your scores without proof. They are starting to accept more online disputes. Include proofs of payment with it. These are documents like receipts and cancelled checks. Be specific about the concerns with your report.

#1 Way a 2021 Credit Review Can Benefit Small Businesses: Monitor Business Credit at D&B, Experian, and Equifax for Less

But all these reports are expensive! You could spend HUNDREDS of dollars trying to keep up with reports from all three of the big business CRAs. But… Did YOU know you can get business credit monitoring for all 3 big business CRAs in one place—for less? Credit Suite offers monitoring through its Business Finance Suite (through Nav). See what credit issuers and lenders see. So you can improve your scores and get the business credit and funding you need.

Your 2021 Credit Review: Takeaways

So there are many reasons to review your business credit reports and understand them.

Business CRAs D&B, Experian, and Equifax all provide reports on businesses like yours. They tend to tap similar info and draw somewhat similar conclusions. Paying on time will help your scores more than anything else. And monitoring your reports will help you find errors fast, before they can do a lot of damage. Monitor with Credit Suite for a lot less than if you monitored your reports and scores at each business CRA.

What’s YOUR business’s biggest benefit from doing a 2021 credit review?

The post 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Benefit from a 2021 Credit Review appeared first on Credit Suite.

18 Ways to Improve Your Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Many times, marketers focus their SEO efforts entirely on discoverability.

They want to tick that careful balance between keyword optimized and “keyword stuffed,” but here’s a secret: being on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs) won’t do you any good if searchers aren’t interested in your content.

Instead of focusing all your efforts on creating local SEO content to bag that top spot, you need to understand what turns searchers into readers, and readers into customers, through first improving your organic click-through rate (CTR).

Why Should You Care About Your Organic CTR?

Organic click-through rate refers to the percentage of users who click on a search engine result. In this case, that result would be your URL. While it’s primarily dependent on ranking position (the more people that see your content, the higher chance they’ll click), it is also influenced by a variety of other factors.

If you focus your efforts on improving organic CTR, you can also improve your Google ranking. When URLs are being frequently visited, the search engine algorithm will consider your page to be valuable and relevant to future queries containing your content keywords.

18 Ways to Improve Your Organic CTR

Now that you know what organic CTR is and why it’s important, let’s dive into how you can improve yours.

1. Use Long-Tail Keywords

One of the first ways you can boost your organic CTR is by using long-tail keywords—especially in your headings and title tags. Long-tail keywords are highly descriptive and, as a result, they match your content to search intent.

When users see a descriptive long-tail keyword relevant to what they’re looking for, they’re motivated to click on your URL as they’re confident your post will contain the information they’re looking for.

How do you find long-tail keywords that meet user intent?

Using keyword research tools like Ubersuggest will help. Simply plug in your seed keyword in the search bar and click “search.” Next, click on the “Keyword Ideas” in the left sidebar.

Use tools like Ubersuggest to find long-tail keywords that help boost your organic CTR.

All that’s left is to select the keywords that are relevant to your post, and include them in your new content.

2. Write Effective Meta Descriptions

Another strategic way of improving your organic CTR is to write effective meta descriptions. These are the snippets of text that appear below your title tag in the SERPs. An effective meta description informs users what your page is about and also compels them to click through to your post.

Again, your keywords will come in handy here. Use them to show users that your article solves a problem they’re needing answers for. Other ways of optimizing your meta description include:

Answering questions: If you can answer your users’ questions in the meta description, you’ve won half the battle driving your organic click-through rate up.
Make it specific and relevant: You only have 160 characters to craft a meta description. That’s why you must make yours as specific and relevant as possible.
Powerful language: Use persuasive and powerful language, such as emotionally charged words to elicit strong responses associated with your post to improve your CTR.

Meta descriptions shouldn’t just be a product feature—turn it into an elevator pitch to convince users you have the content and solution for them. If possible, you can also add a CTA (such as “learn more” and “find out how.”)

3. Implement Structured Data

Implementing structured data is a great way to “speak” to search engine algorithms. You can do this by using Schema.org to change your content into code that search engines can easily process. This will help them display rich, interactive search results. These are commonly called rich snippets (which we’ll talk more on later).

Of course, this type of search result attracts more clicks because:

They appear at the top of the SERPs.
They are more attractive than plain URLs.
They give more information about the content at a glance.

Implementing structured data will boost your organic CTR rates as people love interactive content.

4. Create Posts With Images

Using images in your posts is a common practice, but did you know it can improve your organic CTR? Images in your content are a powerful way to boost engagement. They are an essential ingredient to your content appearing in the featured snippets and other infoboxes on the SERPs.

Using images is a great way to boost your organic CTR.

Not only that, but it also improves the chances of your URL being clicked on when users look for search results in the images section. For this to work, you must implement image SEO best practices like naming your images properly and adding alt text.

5. Use Descriptive URLs

Your page URL is one of the main pieces of information shown on SERPs. As such, you must optimize it to help you improve your organic CTR.

One way you can do that is by making it as descriptive as possible.

Using descriptive URLs helps improve your organic CTR.

Try to naturally include your keyword in your URL. This will reinforce the core topic your post is about, thereby showing users that your content is relevant.

Another tip for optimizing your URL is to keep it short. This makes it easier on the eye as well as more attractive. As a result, more people will click on it.

If you’re a WordPress user, you can change your URL in your permalink settings.

6. Simplify Your Title Format

Your title tag is another part of the information displayed on the SERPs, and you must take your time to format it properly. The best way to do so is to keep it simple.

Remember, people usually skim through the search results looking for the most relevant result. If your title is simple and clearly explains what the post is about, you’ll drive more clicks.

Another title tag tip that will optimize your organic CTR is to leverage your corporate or personal branding. Here’s how I do it:

Improve organic CTR by paying attention to your title tag.

This tip will work especially well if you’re already an authority in your niche. Recognizing that the post is from a respected and trusted source will give users the confidence to click on your URL. Make sure you:

Don’t frontload your brand: I used to put my name at the front of the title but then I noticed it caused my rankings to drop.
Make sure your title is clear: notice that the title in the above screenshot is cut-off, but the topic has already been covered.

Use tools such as Avid Demand to preview what your content will look like on the SERPs.

7. Localize Your Content

Mobile has rapidly overtaken desktop for internet traffic sources. Most mobiles have locations turned on, for map functions, allowing Google to read their location and provide local solutions. Creating localized content is great for SMEs who only operate in certain areas and in-person service businesses.

Increase your organic CTR by localizing your content. Local content is what most mobile users search for.

Through localized content, you can target your audience efficiently—and receive high-intent customers as a result, who are already looking online for something you sell or offer.

One way of localizing your content is to add your location in your content, meta description, and title tag. Another tip is to list your business on Google My Business (GMB). This literally puts you on the map. When local searches are made, your location and other business info will appear in the search results alongside competitors.

Remember, to drive clicks, you must offer relevant information. For local searches, it doesn’t get more relevant than seeing your location in your metadata.

8. Use the Listicle Format

People love lists.

Why? Listicles require minimum cognitive effort to digest.

Include them in your content strategy to improve organic clicks. To do that, make sure to include numbers in your headline and title tag. This will make it clear to users that beyond the click is an easy-to-read listicle.

Another organic CTR boosting reason to use listicles is that they increase your chances of appearing in featured snippets.

Listicles are a great content type that helps boost organic CTR.

Notice how the headline doesn’t include a number, yet Google shows users that the post is a listicle in the featured snippet? Google’s SERP knows what content types are most useful to its audiences, and using listicles is bound to boost your organic CTR.

9. A/B Test Headlines on Social Media

Your headline is your first chance to compel users to click on your article. As it plays such an important role, you must make sure it resonates with your target audience.

One way to do that is by testing it on social media.

Once you’ve optimized your headline with tools like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer, test out your headline by sharing your article on your favorite social media platforms.

Give it a few days and then change the title of your headline and re-publish your post. Share the new article on social media and wait for the same number of days as you gave the first post then check the engagement rates for both.

The headline that drives the most engagement wins and should be the headline to use. This A/B test works best if you have a large audience on social media.

10. Use Yoast Preview (in WordPress)

For WordPress users, Yoast is another SEO tool you can use to improve your organic CTR. Before you publish your post, preview your snippet as it will appear on SERPs. You can then make changes according to the recommendations given.

This will help you see if any keywords are cut off, or even if your snippet makes sense. It also works for mobile, too, so no need to worry about cross-platform searches.

11. Use Google Ads to Preview (Other CDN)

Google AdWords Preview Tool is an alternative to Yoast SEO that also has an extra feature: it allows you to preview Ads.

Ad previews can also be optimized for organic CTR on both mobile and desktop, with alternative titles provided. This is a great way to see how different ideas would work while possibly generating new ideas for content.

12. Identify CTR Winners and Losers

One essential step to improving your organic CTR is to calculate the winners and losers of your current pages. This will show you which pages, titles, and content types are performing well as well as which are performing poorly.

You can easily use Google Analytics for this information.

First, go to “Acquisition,” then “Search Console,” then “Queries” and learn which Google searches lead to your current pages.

Google Analytics shows you the current organic CTR of your pages.

The report will show you valuable information like the clicks, impressions, CTR, and average SERP position of your pages. It also shows bounce rates, sessions, conversions, and other valuable data.

Next, in the same menu, you can also check your landing pages.

Using these two reports, you can see what works and what doesn’t. You can then revisit old pages and web content to optimize them for more organic click-throughs.

13. Optimize Site Speed

With Google prioritizing Page Experience and Web Core Vitals as ranking factors, site speed has never been more important.

If your website isn’t optimized for speed, people may click on your link but will quickly bounce off, negatively affecting your organic CTR. To put it in perspective, on mobile devices, a leap from one to three seconds in site speed increases bounce rates by 32 percent.

A 3 second lag in page load speed can cost you as much as 32% of your traffic. Your organic CTR will take a hit.

Again, this is where a tool like Ubersuggest comes in handy. To check your site speed, enter your URL into the search bar and click “Search.” Next, head to the left side of the sidebar and click “Site audit.” Scroll down to “Site Speed” and you’ll be shown the loading time for mobile and desktop. In addition to loading time, it also tests:

First Contentful Paint
Speed Index
Time to Interactive
First Meaningful Paint
First CPU Idle
Est. Input Latency

Ubersuggest will outline where you can make site improvements. Take its guidance into consideration, make the necessary changes, and then test your site speed again.

14. Utilize Rich Snippets

As we touched on earlier, rich snippets are another way you can drive clicks to your website. These are search results with data displayed alongside. Here’s an example:

Rich snippets are an excellent way to increase your organic CTR.

The only ways to show those reviews and ratings in search results are either (A) activating a rich snippet plugin or (B) coding it manually. The extra information (like ratings, for example), helps users decide whether to click on your URL or not.

15. Activate Breadcrumb Navigation

“Breadcrumb navigation” is coined after the trail of bread crumbs left by Hansel and Gretel to find their way back home. Just like in the fairy tale, its secondary navigation helps you easily trace your steps back on a website.

The primary purpose of bread crumb navigation is to provide users with a positive user experience. This has a snowball effect that results in your website ranking higher and thus results in higher organic CTR.

Activating bread crumb navigation on your website is not an option. It’s vital to your success, and must be a deliberate part of your strategy. Here are detailed instructions on how you can do just that.

16. Leverage Google Analytics Reports

Have you been keeping an eye on your Google Analytics reports? These actually deliver the information you need to improve organic search performance and your landing page conversion rates. This will result in better calls-to-action and, ultimately, a higher quality score.

If you know what to look for, your Analytics Dashboard can tell you exactly how Google’s AI and your users perceive your site’s pages. You can then tailor them to be optimized to rank and for engagement.

17. Build High Converting Landing Pages

Landing pages are an essential element of your digital marketing strategy.

After all, designed well, they are an excellent source of traffic. To ensure your landing pages succeed in doing that you should:

Understand landing page anatomy—elements such as a clear and concise headline, high-quality images, well-produced videos, persuasive copy, and calls-to-action should be done right.
Optimize for UX—give users a positive experience by ensuring the landing page loads fast and is easy to read.

Doing this will likely increase your conversions and improve your click-through rates.

18. Use Heatmaps to Improve Site Clicks

A smart way to get the most out of your site users is to understand the areas of your web page where they click the most. It’s also an excellent idea to check where most users drop off. This is essential as it will help you know which parts of your website to improve.

Why is this important?

When people spend more time on your website and engage with it by clicking through to other pages, search engines take it as a signal that your content is valuable. On the other hand, if your bounce rate is high, your website will be ranked lower as search engines see that as a sign that your content is unhelpful.

Organic CTR Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a Good Organic CTR?

The average organic CTR is between 3-5 percent. However, a good organic CTR is not benchmarked against industry standards but against your own CTR curve.

What Is the Significance of the Organic CTR ?

Organic CTR is an important metric to track as it impacts your rankings and the amount of traffic that comes to your website.

What Are Some Common Reasons for a Low CTR?

Common reasons for low CTR include metadata that’s not compelling enough. It could also be because of not utilizing rich snippets among other things.

Is a High CTR Good or Bad?

Having a high CTR is good for business as it means more traffic to your website. It also means better brand awareness as your rankings will improve.

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Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR) Conclusion

Your organic CTR plays a crucial role in the success of your digital marketing campaigns.

It’s “free” customers coming in to browse your business, brand, products, and services.

Therefore, optimizing your content must be a priority.

With so many options for improving CTRs, it’s no longer a hassle for website and business owners. Plus, the results are certainly worth the effort and speak for themselves.

What strategies do you use to improve your organic CTR?

8 Powerful Ways to Monetize a Blog That Generates Under 1,000 Visitors Per Day

Can you really make money from blogging?

If your blog gets over 10,000 monthly unique visitors, then yes – you can monetize your blog and create a nice revenue stream with it.

The real challenge is making money from a blog that generates fewer than 1,000 visitors per day.

Just as in life, there are different stages to a blog’s life cycle. You can’t compare your new blog to one that’s been around for years.

The truth is: it takes time to build an income from blogging.

No matter what you’ve read, blogging success doesn’t happen overnight — but it is possible.

Identify the stage you’re in, and work from there. There’s no shortcut to getting blog traffic. Yes, I can show you how to drive traffic to your blog, but you have to be patient and consistent, and you have to work really hard.

This in-depth article will guide you on monetizing your new blog. There are still opportunities to make money with your blog, even if it’s not as popular as this blog.

Without further ado, here are eight proven ways to monetize a blog that generates fewer than 1,000 visitors per day:

1. Offer Coaching Service to Motivated Clients

If you’re looking for a way to start making money within the shortest period of time, become a coach. Giving prospects and customers direct access to expertise is where it’s at.

Data from Disc Insights found that “as a whole, the life coaching industry takes in a yearly revenue of $2 billion.”

Jenni Elliot, the founder of TheBlogMaven.com, makes $397 on a one-to-one blogging intensive coaching session.

how to monetize a blog with less than 1000 traffic per day

It doesn’t matter when you started blogging or how much experience you’ve gained in that time — offering a coaching service to motivated clients can bring in money.

Inevitably, your readers will face challenges in life. A coach’s responsibility is to help people manage their challenges, and react in a positive way instead of getting frustrated and giving up.

A lot of bloggers I know started out as online coaches. Initially, they struggled to attract regular clients, but they overcame the challenge by reaching out through social media.

The major reason why becoming a coach in your industry can help you earn extra income is because people want to learn new skills, or improve in certain areas.

Coaching services are in demand because of the dramatic results the process can bring.

As an example, after working with Walk of Life Consulting, 98 percent of clients reported that they thought their CV was more compelling using achievement statements, and 87 percent said their LinkedIn profile became 5X more effective. Here’s the rest of the statistics:

Powerful Ways to Monetize a Blog That Generates Under 1,000 Visitors Per Day stats on coaching

Life coaching is just one area to consider, and it’s increasingly popular these days. As a coach, you’ll help people deal with challenges in their personal or professional lives.

For example, if someone is a web developer, they may need a business or personal coach to help adjust to changes in the web development industry, increase their rates, and retain clients who will, in turn, refer others through word of mouth.

Why coaching? Well, the benefits are enormous. Take a look:

why coaching how to monetize a blog with low traffic

How can you use your blog to promote your coaching services business?

Start by creating useful and interesting content on subjects that matter to those clients and prospects.

For example, if you offer coaching services to freelance writers you might cover topics like:

attracting new clients
nurturing prospects
generating and capturing leads
retaining existing clients
setting and raising rates
weeding out difficult or “problem” clients
branding
content creation and copywriting case studies

When offering coaching services, you need a strong value proposition, because the market is already saturated. Having a strong reason “why” people should prefer you instead of your competitors will give you a necessary edge.

Tim Brownson, the founder of ADaringAdventure.com, positioned himself as “the life coach who gets people unstuck.” With his 10 years of life coaching experience, clients trust him for his ingenuity and knowledge.

life coach example how to monetize a blog with 1000 or less traffic a day

If you’re driven to succeed as a coach, you don’t need to follow dozens and dozens of other coaches in an effort to “learn.”

Instead, pay more attention to your blog and create high-value content.

After all, you’re the coach. The only way to prove your expertise is through the content you create on a regular basis. Use blogging to increase your prospects’ success, preferably by including case studies wherever possible.

According to Jeff Molander,

Blogging is most useful when you strive to help [your prospects] believe what they want (what you sell) can actually happen for them on time, on budget and without pain. It removes the fear from buying.

When you become a life, personal, or business coach, you have three key jobs:

Teach prospects how to set and attain goals, overcome challenges, or avoid risks in ways they can put to work instantly;
Improve the prospect’s perception about their business and create confidence in them to trust your recommendations and reach their goals; and
Lead customers to constructive, proven processes, encouraging them to ask questions and increase their drive to succeed.

No matter what industry you’re in or cater to, offering a coaching service to motivated clients can help them reach their goals and make you money.

Peter James Sinclair benefitted from Yaro Starak’s coaching program, and he’s more organized and effective now.

Through investment coaching, Todd R. Tresidder helped Gary Craig, an entrepreneur, and former hedge fund owner, to grow his monthly cash flow from $5,000 to $50,000 per month.

coaching case study how to monetize a blog with less than 1000 traffic per day

Before you rush in and start offering coaching services to motivated clients, you have to understand that a coach is an entrepreneur. You’ve got to have that mindset because that’s what you need to thrive.

Mediocre coaches give up in the face of unfavorable circumstances, but coaches who’ve focused on improving their entrepreneurial skills thrive. When you think like the entrepreneur you truly are, you’ll command higher rates.

2. Become an In-Demand Freelance Blogger

If you’re a blogger, then you already have the skills to become an in-demand freelance blogger.

Linda Formichelli makes $250 per hour, and Elna Cain makes a full-time income as a professional freelance writer.

make full time money as freelance blogger how screenshot: how to monetize a low-traffic blog

Brands are desperately looking for bloggers with relevant skillsets, and becoming a freelance blogger can transform your financial life.

According to a study by Upwork, 36 percent of the total US workforce freelances. Those freelancers earn a combined annual income of $1.2 trillion.

A freelance writer is a professional who writes articles on different topics for sites, emails, landing pages, etc.

Skilled freelance bloggers are increasingly needed as B2B and B2C companies recognize content is the ultimate tool for attracting leads and nurturing a loyal audience.

Data from Content Marketing Institute found that 21 percent of B2C brands spend more than $100,00 a year on content in 2020, and many are increasing their spending.

B2C content marketing spend how to monetize a blog with less than 1,000 daily traffic

Yes, I know what you’re probably thinking, “But there are so many writers out there already!”

That’s true. But professional freelance bloggers who have WordPress, SEO, social media, and persuasive skills are much harder to find. So if you can add these skills to your writing, you’ll become an in-demand freelance blogger.

Initially, you’ll have to market your freelance blogging services through guest blogging on high-traffic blogs, consistent in-house blogging, social media marketing, and even Facebook ads. But eventually, your happy clients will refer more clients to you.

3. Create and Sell Online Courses

Another profitable way to monetize a blog that generates fewer than 1,000 visitors per day is to create and sell online courses. You don’t need many leads or customers to make money with your first online course.

Here’s the secret: start where you are and scale from there.

If your blog receives at least 50 visitors per day, find out exactly what those visitors want and create a course from there. The truth is that your first course may not be that “awesome” — but that’s okay.

You can always improve. It’s time to avoid the excuses and get started.

Online courses are focused on a specific subject or topic. They’re organized and ready to be put into action.

Online courses have a higher perceived value than blog posts alone. That’s because your target audience can tell how much time you spent creating it. Consequently, they conclude that it must offer some form of value to them.

So don’t be afraid to create an online course – even on a topic that’s been thoroughly covered online. Bryan Harris launched his second online course to 22,000 email subscribers and generated $511,466 in invoiced sales.

stats on selling a course how to monetize a low traffic blow

Creating an online course is a great way to upgrade your blogging career. Instead of writing for everyone, you create a platform that delivers your best content exclusively to customers.

Online courses are incredibly popular. That’s why there are so many platforms to create and sell online courses.

Keep in mind that the online course market is evolving on a daily basis. Sites like Udemy, Teachable, and Course Merchant have become popular with marketers and technical instructors. And more platforms are coming.

Phil Ebiner makes $100,000 per year selling on Udemy. Even though he doesn’t own or control the platform, he does quite well for himself. He also uses his blogs and social media to promote his Udemy courses.

Then there’s Corbett Carr, who shared a video case study on 10 merchants who earned $1.6 million on Udemy in one year.

In fact, the average instructor brings in $7,000 from Udemy courses, though there is a wide range of outcomes.

Beyond leveraging third-party online learning platforms, you can create and sell your own online course at your blog.

Or you could use a premium online course plugin for WordPress, such as Zippy Courses, CoursePress, WP CourseWare, WooCommerce’s Sensei, and so on.

As a blogger, you can create an online course on any topic that people are struggling with. It doesn’t have to be a complex topic like A/B testing – it could be as simple as “how to use Google Docs.”

Are you surprised? Well, here’s proof that this works: Joseph Michael Nicoletti created an online course that helps novelists write their novel with Scrivener and he makes between $20,000 – $30,000 per month.

You want your course to be engaging, useful, and unique. Follow these four tips for creating an engaging online course:

how to create engaging content for online courses: how to monetize a low traffic blog

So how do you choose a course topic? Start with your best blog posts. If I were to create an online course on SEO, I’d probably start with my Guide To SEO – because people like it and will be happy to get an updated version. A few tweaks would make that guide another home run as an online course.

4. Write and Make Money from Kindle Books

Want to make money writing short ebooks?

Well, people are doing just that with Amazon Kindle publishing.

U.S. ebook sales revenue has experienced an impressive upward growth trend. There’s no doubt that the growth will continue. When it comes to reading ebooks, there are many mobile devices you can use, but Amazon Kindle is the most popular one in the US.

The good thing about writing and making money from Kindle books is that there are already millions of buyers who are ready to buy from Amazon.

You already know that Amazon is a trusted online shopping site – and you don’t have to work that hard to convince people to buy your Kindle book. People believe Amazon passes its credibility to your product, in a sense.

At the age of 21, Stefan Pylarinos started his Kindle publishing career. As a blogger, the bulk of his income comes from his Kindle books and an online course on how to create and make money with Kindle books.

Specifically, he made over $1.1 million in 2015 from his online business, which is actually based on Kindle publishing.

Stefan makes a decent income from his KMoney Mastery 2.0 course, which teaches people how to profit with Kindle publishing.

sell kindle books example: how to monetize a blog with less than 1000 daily traffic

However, in order to make a living from Kindle books, you need to work extra hard and publish books regularly. The more quality books you have, the more money you’ll make. Stefan Pylarinos has over 20 Kindle books and still counting.

You’ll need to offer several short Kindle books because individually, they’re priced pretty cheaply – usually from $0.99 to $4.00. Probably doesn’t sound too encouraging, right?

However, if you price your Kindle book at $1.99 and sell 200 copies per month, your total income will be $398. That’s nothing to sneeze at, and many authors make more.

Chris Guthrie estimated the earnings of one Kindle book in one year at $377.87 per month, which adds up to $4,534.41 per year at a price of $2.99

revenue break down chart: sell kindle books to monetize a site with less than 1000 daily visitors

You can use your blog to promote your Kindle books, give discounts, and give away free copies of your book in order to generate honest reviews (which are essential for boosting your Kindle book rankings & sales).

You don’t have to spend money to promote your Kindle books. With your blog, you’ve got the influence, authority, audience, and platform to make it work. Through blogging, you can launch and make your first $1,000 from Kindle books.

There are even some smart marketers out there who make a decent income from Kindle Books without writing. They simply outsource the content creation, then use their blogs to drive sales.

One of those smart marketers is Arman Assadi. According to him, his first ebook cost him $375 – $350 to get the book written, and $25 for a professional cover design.

At the time of writing this, he makes $2,500 per month by publishing Kindle books he didn’t write.

writing kindle books blog post how to monetize a site with less than 1,000 daily visitors

To learn more about Kindle publishing and how to make money from it, see the resource guides below:

5. Make Money From Private Label Rights

Private label rights is a strategy where you sell (or in this case buy) intellectual property and market it as your own.

As a marketer, you can benefit from over 50 ways to make money with private label rights (PLR) products. However, make sure you pay attention to the details.

First, don’t use the product word-for-word. Tweak it and make it at least 65 percent unique.

Once you understand your PLR usage rights, you can repackage and make money from it.

Before Panda struck in February 2011, PLR products were popular, and many marketers and bloggers used them to generate content for their sites.

In other words, PLR products are pre-written content that you can claim as your own without incurring any legal action.

In the past, you could start a new site, download a few PLR articles and publish them for your audience. But the game has changed.

Duplicate content is a serious violation of Google’s terms, and could get your site penalized.

However, you can still make money from private label rights as a blogger. If you’re a new/beginner blogger, you can leverage other people’s products.

Creating an information product (e.g., ebooks) from scratch is difficult. If you’re new to blogging you may not have the experience required. Worse, imagine after all the hard work creating the product, no one buys it.

Here are some reasons why product creation from scratch is tiring:

why use PLR how to monetize a low traffic website

With a PLR product, you don’t need all of that.

Even if you’re not particularly knowledgeable about a certain topic, you can become an author in that field. For example, you can use PLR articles to write a Kindle book related to “plastic surgery” even if you didn’t study that in school.

You can also generate content for your blog using PLR content. When evaluating PLR products, look for these three factors:

recently developed
written by a reputable author
published in limited circulation

Most bloggers and internet marketers struggle to make money with PLR products because they’re lazy. They use the content word-for-word on their blogs. Even when they create ebooks, most people don’t change anything.

If you find a valuable PLR product, you need to rewrite it and make it at least 65 percent unique. You can get quality PLR ebooks, articles, videos, and audio content from sites such as InDigitalWorks

PLR site how to monetize a site wiht less than 1,000 daily traffic

Aside from rewriting the PLR articles or ebooks, you can do so much more with a PLR product. Typically, PLR content is based on profitable niche keywords and information that the target audience is looking for.

You can use the insights of PLR products as research sources, and then create your own high-value ebook based on the information they provide.

Note: To retain your credibility, I don’t recommend you use PLR articles on your own blog.

Yes, you can learn from the author’s wealth of knowledge about a particular subject/topic, but do your best to always write your own content from scratch.

You can also use PLR products indirectly. For example, you could rewrite a PLR ebook and give it away to build an email list. Then you can make money from your list.

6. Create a High-Converting Funnel and Recommend Products

When people join your email list, what happens next?

Do you feel excited that you have email subscribers and then ignore them?

Follow-up and relationship building is vital.

According to Marketing Donut, “44 percent of salespeople give up after one follow-up, and the average salesperson only makes 2 attempts to reach a prospect.”

marketing donut 80 percent of sales require five follow up calls: how to monetize a low traffic website guide

Following up on prospects to convert them into buyers is where the majority of sales will come from. Through follow-up emails, you connect with motivated buyers and sell at the backend.

A relationship is the easiest way to establish trust with blog readers and sell a product. It sounds so simple, but a lot of people aren’t doing it.

A relationship begins when you create awareness about your primary business. You then lead your prospects through a funnel, while delivering immense value with your content in every phase.

marketing funnel visual how to monetize a site with less than 1000 daily traffic

First, understand this: there’s nothing wrong with selling to your readers as long as the product is useful and valuable.

However, forget about the product and build a relationship with them. That’s where the funnel comes in.

The purpose of a marketing funnel is to attract strangers, convert them into leads, close the deal by turning them into customers and delight them after they have purchased your product.

The moment you drive potential customers to your funnel, they opt in to your list and they’re added into your follow-up autoresponder. Then you can start building the relationship.

You nurture them through your blog posts, videos, infographics, ebooks, and so on. Ideally, you ask them exactly what they’re struggling with, then use the questions to create relevant and high-value content for them.

Along the way, recommend affiliate programs and products, your own ebooks, or software.

Any product that will help them after you have established a level of trust with them should be shared with them.

After creating their first product, Gael Breton & Mark Webster gave away a part of it to collect leads. Altogether, they collected 301 emails, nurtured the leads, recommended their own quality product, and generated $2,684 in 30 days.

case study how to generate income from a low traffic website

7. Partner with Influencers in Product Creation/Launch

Do you know why so many product launches fail?

Joan Schneider and Julie Hall from Harvard Business Review had this to say:

The biggest problem we’ve encountered is lack of preparation: Companies are so focused on designing and manufacturing new products that they postpone the hard work of getting ready to market them until too late in the game.

If you think that making money online boils down to driving traffic to your blog and generating email leads, you’re making a mistake.

Leads are only the beginning.

One recent study found that 79 percent of marketing leads never convert into sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance.

You need to generate the right leads. The truth is that you may not have this type of lead right now, but you can leverage influencers’ audiences.

Do you have an idea for a product? Most people struggle to launch their products because they go about it all by themselves. It’s reported that 70 percent of all new product launches fail in the first year. The question is, why do some succeed when others fail?

There are several aspects of a successful product launch that you may not be able to handle alone. If you try to go it alone, you’re bound to waste more time, and there’s no guarantee you’ll succeed.

You have to understand that your efforts can only lead you far.

To make a real impact in the lives of people, you need to build relationships with influencers and leverage their influence to create and launch your product.

Of course, generating leads is important when launching your product. Even before you release the product (e.g., ebook, software, plugin) for sale, you should start pre-selling and communicate with prospects.

Ideally, you should build a landing page to collect emails prior to launching your product.

According to MarketingSherpa, “61 percent of B2B marketers send all leads directly to Sales; however, only 27 percent of those leads will be qualified.”

marketing sherpas stat 61 percent of b2b marketers send leads directly to sales. How to monetize a blog with less than 1,000 daily traffic guide

Leveraging influencers could turn out to be the most powerful marketing tool in your arsenal.

As an example, Sujan Patel connected and built relationships with influencers and expert growth hackers before launching an ebook, 100 Days of Growth.

And in six months, Patel and his partner Rob Wormley sold 10,000 copies of the book, which costs $27 per copy.

how we sold 10000 ebook using lead pages how to monetize a blog with less than 1,000 traffic guide

Here are a few resources to get started leveraging influencers:

8. Launch a Virtual Summit

No matter where you’re as a blogger, you can monetize your blog by launching virtual summits, which are growing in popularity these days.

Many bloggers use summits to connect and build relationships with influencers. Influencers can bring you credibility, reach, and engagement.

Virtual summits or conferences are powerful. According to Kristen Matthews of Convince and Convert,

Virtual conferences are the most underrated marketing tactic at our fingertips.

Many success stories keep pouring in from bloggers building their lists and income through virtual summits. For one, Aj Amyx earned $16,000 (and 2,300+ subscribers) with a virtual summit.

Here are some of the results of a virtual summit by Navid Moazzez:

virtual summit results how to monetize a site with less than 1,000 daily traffic guide

There are bloggers and digital marketers making a six-figure income from virtual summits. You may be wondering whether a virtual summit is the same thing as podcasting. Well, here’s a clear description from Entrepreneur:

When Jan Koch launched his first virtual summit, he grew his email list by 600 percent, got featured on major industry websites, and become the go-to expert in his field.

how to create virtual summit image: guide on monetizing a site with less than 1000 daily traffic

To truly succeed at a virtual summit launch, you need to make it a win/win for the experts who will share their knowledge.

Choose a topic that will inspire people to action, and make sure you have a product to sell at the backend.

How to Montetize a Blog: Frequently Asked Questions

What are some ways to earn blog revenue?

Offer coaching services, on-demand products, and use the blog to build relationships and networking.

How can I convert users better?

Easier navigation, simple-to-navigate design, and clear copy that creates compelling results.

If I don't want to offer products and coaching, how else can I earn money?

Advertising and sponsored posts are always a good way to earn money if you are popular in your niche.

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How to Monetize a Blog Conclusion

At the heart of blogging is a deep-seated desire to build and nurture an audience.

Most beginning bloggers struggle to make a living from their blogging efforts, because they believed that blogging alone was enough to make them money.

The majority of successful bloggers make the bulk of their money by selling and promoting other products or services.

For example, Darren Rowse makes more money from his Digital Photography School, and Ryan Deiss generates over six-figure income annually from SurvivalLife. There are countless success stories in this regard.

In a nutshell, if you can’t compete with other players in your industry, you may want to switch to other industries where you can become an expert, then get to work building links, get organic traffic, and promoting products and services to your blog readers.

That said, you have to be consistent. Success doesn’t happen overnight.

Which of these methods do you think is the best way to make money as a blogger when your blog generates fewer than 1,000 visitors per day?

4 Ways to Use Micro-Influencers to Grow Your Business

Getting more customers in today’s competitive world is nearly impossible.

Search engine optimization takes months to drive any measurable traffic, PPC costs tons of money and is often difficult for the average marketer to run without hiring an agency.

Referrals are great, but you can only generate so many of them.

The reality is most marketing tactics require tons of effort and months of planning before you see results.

Most of us can’t wait that long for results.

So, what do you do?

You take advantage of nano and micro-influencers.

Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to drive sales.

In fact, according to BigCommerce, 17 percent of companies spend over half their marketing budget on influencers.

But most people can’t afford celebrity influencers like Kim Kardashian.

Thankfully, you actually don’t want to use influencers like that.

You want smaller, niche-focused influencers called “micro-influencers.”

Here are what micro-influencers are and four ways to use them to gain customers.

What Are Micro-Influencers and Why You Should Use Them?

It’s no secret that influencer marketing is already a booming industry.

The growth of influencers and social media platforms is astounding, to say the least.

In fact, influencer marketing is a tactic I’ve used countless times to build my brands and companies.

Promoting when you have no followers for growth is tough.

That’s why influencers come in handy.

They provide instant promotion of your product or service with amazing conversion rates.

It’s one of the best ways to drive big sales.

All types of companies and brands take advantage of it.

So, what is a micro-influencer? How does micro-influencer marketing differ from typical influencer marketing? Why should you focus on micro-influencers and not ordinary influencers?

Well, let’s start off with some basic definitions.

Micro-influencers are pretty much exactly what they sound like.

They are hyper-specific influencers who have lower follower counts in a given niche. They have intensely engaged audiences, yet a relatively low (below 25k) follower count.

Major celebrities are not micro-influencers.

They have millions of followers.

Accounts with less than 25,000 followers are generally considered micro-influencers. They often have very active audiences. Furthermore, nano-influencers have followers in the thousands.

The data proves that nano- and micro-influencers are successful.

Markerly studied over 800,000 Instagram accounts, each with over 1,000 followers. They analyzed how engaged their audiences were in comparison to major celebrity influencers.

They found that as the follower count increased, like rates dropped significantly.

micro influencers guide likes vs followers guilde

They also found that comments and engaged users decreased as followership increased:

micro influencer guide comment vs followers chart

This means that the more followers an account has, the fewer likes and comments they get (relative to the follower count.)

So using influencers who have millions of followers might get you less bang for your buck.

On top of this glaring data, they also found that Instagram influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers earned likes at a 4 percent rate. In contrast, accounts with over 10,000 only achieved a 2.4% like rate.

The big-ticket celebrity accounts with over 1,000,000 followers only got a 1.7 percent like rate.

Experticity studied big groups of micro-influencers to see what power they held.

Here are two of the incredible statistics they uncovered:

Micro-influencers achieved 22.2 times more conversations than average consumers when they recommended products.
82 percent of consumers reported that they were highly likely to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer.

So micro-influencers have more conversations about buying recommendations than macro-influencers. At the same time, they hold greater power when driving actual conversions.

If you think you need millions of followers to grow your brand, think again.

Nano and micro-influencers drive more engagement and hold better recommendation power.

So it’s time to stop wasting money on expensive influencers who aren’t driving engagement or traffic.

Here’s how you can find micro-influencers and four ways to use them to gain more customers.

How to Find Micro-Influencers for Your Brand

Before we jump into the ways you can use micro-influencers to gain more customers, you need to understand how to locate these people.

Finding the right influencer is critical.

It can make or break your campaign.

If you select the wrong influencer in the wrong niche, you risk wasting money on a failed campaign that won’t grow your business.

Fortunately, there are a few tools we can use to collect influencers and begin the process of outreach.

My favorite tool is HYPR.

It’s an analytics-based tool that allows you to find data on tons of different influencers in any given niche.

It’s also free for over 100 searches.

Most of these tools cost tons of money, but HYPR gives you free searches and detailed reports.

To get started, create your free account.

Once you’ve made it to the dashboard, it’s time to search:

Once we’re here, we want to set some search filters based on the data we covered earlier.

Remember: influencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers earned likes at a 4 percent rate, while accounts with over 10,000 followers only achieved a 2.4 percent like rate.

For micro-influencers, we want to focus on accounts in the 1,000 to 10,000 following range.

To do this, select the following ranges as your minimum and maximum:

Next, type your niche category into the keyword search engine at the top:

You can select up to five different interests to target.

Next, you want to refine your audience based on typical demographics of your customer base:

hypr micro influencer guide refine search

Remember, micro-influencers work because they are specific, niche audiences that are hyper-engaged.

So, focus on as many narrowing filters as you can to get a better conversion rate.

Once you’ve searched, you can click on any of the given influencers to start inspecting their profile and data:

HYPR gives you a ton of free influencer data that can help you decide who to use for your next campaign:

hypr micro influencer guide influencer data example

Once you’ve created a list of influencers, start reaching out to them.

These micro-influencers will help you drive tons of growth and gain more customers quickly.

Now, here are four ways to use these micro-influencers to gain more customers.

1. Use Campaign-Specific Hashtags

Campaign-specific hashtags are one of the best ways to spread brand awareness and drive sales.

They allow niche micro-influencers to connect easily with your brand.

For example, check out how sparkling water brand Lacroix does it:

They work with tons of micro-influencers to promote their products and gain more customers.

You’ll see that the influencer in this photo has barely over 1,000 followers:

But that specific micro-influencer gets tons of interactions, which makes the partnership worth it.

And on top of that, Lacroix runs dedicated hashtag-based influencer campaigns:

They send out free products for promotions to these influencers and get tons of traction on Instagram.

If you click on any of these influencer posts, they almost all have fewer than 10,000 followers:

Why do they work?

It’s because they’re genuine and authentic.

These people truly live the Lacroix lifestyle and embody the brand image.

They are down-to-earth, real people.

Accounts with over 1 million followers may seem like a cool way to promote your brand. But at the end of the day, their engagement rates are lower than that of micro-influencers.

On top of that, they likely are major celebrities who don’t embody your brand.

Follow in Lacroix’s footsteps by creating your own hashtag-based campaign.

You can start a hashtag with your company name in it to drive tons of branded traffic and explode your customer growth.

2. Leverage User-Generated Content

One of the best user-generated content campaigns I have ever seen used a batch of micro-influencers.

In January of 2015, the Hawaiian Tourism board took micro-influencer campaigns to a new level:

They leveraged the power of micro-influencers in a way that revolutionized Instagram marketing.

Here’s what Vince Soliven, the executive creative director of the campaign, said about it:

When you have a social media star who is ‘a regular person,’ it bridges the gap for the consumer. If this person is having this experience, it’s not fabricated, it’s not the result of some crazy $5,000 photo shoot. They got that with a GoPro. Maybe I could have that experience, too.

Hawaii’s “Let Hawaii Happen” campaign generated 100,000 posts in a single year.

On top of that, the campaign reached 54% of all U.S. travelers!

The cherry on top: 65 percent of people who saw the campaign said that they planned to visit Hawaii in the next year or two.

They did this by leveraging local Hawaiian micro-influencers like Lindsey Higa:

They focused on influencers who connected to their ideal vision and brand image.

Despite being a boring tourism board, they were able to generate incredible traction and drive high amounts of interest in travel.

One of the key reasons that they found such success was because of user-generated content.

They didn’t merely post pictures on their account.

They allowed influencers to post pictures for them, suggesting authenticity and boosting their credibility.

In fact, 93 percent of consumers find UGC to be an influence when making a buying decision!

On top of that, UGC can increase your campaign conversions by 29% on average.

Thankfully, it’s not hard to start leveraging UGC in your campaigns.

Buffer does it all the time:

User-generated content may be the “ace in the hole” for your next micro-influencer campaign.

Focus on creating great connections with your influencers and using them to position your brand with a trustworthy image.

3. Create Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are similar to UGC in that you focus on getting the influencers to post the content on their own accounts.

These posts drive up engagement and create a more authentic brand vision.

They also allow your influencers to make detailed videos or content pieces surrounding your product.

This publicity reinforces your brand to the audience and gives you valuable traffic and interest.

You can see this all the time on Instagram:

instagram microinfluencers sponsored post

They are on YouTube, too:

Sponsored posts are one of the most common ways to leverage a group of influencers, and it works great for micro-influencer campaigns as well.

One of the best ways to do this is by reaching out to your desired influencer and offering to send them free products in exchange for honest reviews.

If you already have influencers that you work with, it’s even easier. Depending on your campaign contracts, you can simply ask them to post sponsored content!

It’s no secret that influencers hold significant power to drive conversions.

People trust them, and they will trust what they recommend.

Use this to your advantage by having your influencers create sponsored posts for your brand.

4. Tell a Story With Your Promotion

Storytelling increases conversions. There’s no doubt about it.

A few years ago, when I was starting to ramp up my blog, I was struggling to get visitors.

My blog posts were great. I was posting consistently, but the blog wasn’t compelling users to stay.

So I started to personalize it by telling stories with my content that people could relate to.

Here’s what happened:

micro influencers guide increase in visitors due to storytelling.

In just a few months, my traffic started to skyrocket.

I found the growth I never knew I had access to!

The same goes for micro-influencer marketing.

Storytelling drives conversions naturally because people begin to care about you and your brand.

For example, check out how American Express uses influencers to tell stories:

american express storytelling example micro influencers guide

They connect a boring consumer product to the desires of nearly every human: travel, exploration, and fun.

The influencer doesn’t merely post a sponsored post saying “AMEX is the best!” Instead, they use a story to craft why AMEX fits the influencer’s life.

It helps people bridge the gap between a boring product and developing the need for that product in their daily lives!

Ultimately, they are much more likely to understand why they need it.

To start using storytelling, inspect your preferred influencer platform. Look for specific micro-influencers who already have a story.

For example, do they love to travel?

microinfluencers guide lukebarrow travels example

Are they a popular niche micro-influencer?

NeilPatel com 4 Ways to Use Micro Influencers to Gain More Customers txt Google Docs

The goal here is to find influencers who fit your brand story.

For example, let’s say your brand donates part of the sales it makes to charity. In that case, find someone who travels the world volunteering and helping third-world communities.

If your brand gives computers to underprivileged kids, find an influencer who works with similar groups.

Telling a detailed story with your marketing is one of the best ways to drive sales and gain more customers.

I’ve personally used it on my blog to gain more clients and scale growth.

I even use it on social media when I share personal posts:

It helps connect people to your brand in ways that sponsored posts and UGC simply can’t.

It’s another level of influencer marketing that gives people inspiration, purpose, and a reason to love (and talk about) your product.

Be sure to incorporate storytelling into any micro-influencer campaign you run.

Micro-Influencers Conclusion

Driving more sales and landing more customers is a grind.

That’s especially true in today’s world where every niche and subset of that niche has a competitor.

There are countless businesses just like mine and just like yours.

So how do you compete? How do you drive sales in such a difficult environment?

Well, most people turn to SEO or PPC.

However, SEO takes months to start bringing in reputable, quality traffic, and PPC is a nightmare when you have other things to focus on.

So what do you do?

You start investing in influencer marketing.

Specifically, with micro-influencers.

It’s a growing niche within the influencer-marketing space that is seeing a huge return on investment.

Start by scouting micro-influencers. HYPR is one of the best tools you can use to compile a list of micro-influencers to utilize.

Remember, influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers will net you the best bang for your buck when it comes to engagement.

Next, use campaign-specific hashtags. That’s one of the best ways to use micro-influencers to drive tons of growth.

Take advantage of the buying power that user-generated content can give you.

Create sponsored posts to spread awareness quickly.

Finally, get your influencers to tell a story with their posts. It’s one of the best ways to connect users to your product.

How have you found success using nano- or micro-influencers in your marketing strategy?

5 Ways E-Commerce Companies Can Use BrickSeek to Increase Sales

If you’ve heard of BrickSeek, you likely know it’s a powerful tool for consumers, allowing them to track down inventory and find the best deals at big retailers.

However, once you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll find out there’s a lot more to BrickSeek. Far from just a customer-facing app, it has a lot to offer e-commerce companies.

In this guide, I’m going to explain how e-tailers can start using BrickSeek right now to boost their sales and revenue.

What Is BrickSeek?

I’ve written before about BrickSeek’s feature set and how consumers can use it to find hidden inventory sales, so for a more in-depth explanation of the app, check out my previous article.

However, to give a brief overview, BrickSeek started out in 2014 as a web application enabling LEGO collectors to track down popular sets online and in-store.

Then it branched out, leveraging the same technology to help users find inventory levels, sales, and clearance deals at some of the nation’s largest retailers, including:

Amazon
Best Buy
Lowe’s
Macy’s
Office Depot
Target
Walmart

Why Should E-Commerce Companies Use BrickSeek?

The same things that make BrickSeek such a useful tool for consumers also make it a potentially invaluable resource for online retailers. Think about it. Wouldn’t you love to know:

How much of a certain product your biggest rivals have in stock?
How much other brands are charging for a specific item?
Which products are being marked down, and in which locations?
Which products are attracting the most interest from shoppers?

You can find all that information and much more on BrickSeek. In other words, it can be a vital source of competitive information if you know how to use it intelligently. It’s almost like having your own network of spies inside your rivals’ warehouses. Who wouldn’t want that?

Ways E-Commerce Companies Can Use BrickSeek to Increase Revenue and Sales

If you’re an e-commerce store owner, here are a few ways you can use BrickSeek in your business:

1. Use BrickSeek to Help You Set Your Prices

Do you sell the same products as your rivals? Then it’s vital you get your pricing right. After all, 91 percent of consumers say product price impacts their online purchase decisions, ahead of factors like free shipping (78 percent), brand preference (65 percent), and recommendations from friends and family (60 percent).

Set your prices too low and you won’t earn enough margin, which eats into your profits. Set them too high and you won’t drive enough sales. Get them just right and you’re well-placed to increase sales and revenue.

That’s where BrickSeek comes in.

First, search for a product’s stock-keeping unit (SKU) or universal product code (UPC). You can either find this through the website of the retailer in question or by using BrickSeek’s built-in SKU finder:

Then run a search on the SKU, using a zip code that aligns with an area you cover, to be presented with all the pricing information for your chosen product. Now you know how much you can afford to charge.

2. Use BrickSeek to Buy Materials for Cheap

Just because you sell products to consumers doesn’t mean you’re solely a B2C business. After all, your products need to come from somewhere. If you do some of your own manufacturing, you’ll need to source your own materials, too.

In those instances, you can simply access BrickSeek as if you’re a consumer, using the app to track down wholesale-standard prices on the products and materials you require.

3. Save Time Checking Retailer Inventory

Looking for the best prices on products to sell is a time-consuming endeavor. BrickSeek helps you do it faster as you can quickly check the inventory from many different retailers.

Just enter the SKU or UPC using the same steps I described earlier, enter a relevant zip code, then hit “Check Inventory” to immediately see stock and pricing information from a given retailer on a specific product:

4. Discover Hot Sellers

Running a successful e-commerce business hinges mainly on knowing the right products to sell. This is something else BrickSeek can help you with. By checking the inventory of the retailers the platform supports, you can pick trends in products that move fast. That’s an indicator of which products you should consider selling.

5. Monitor Market Trends

The secret to success and longevity in the e-commerce industry is understanding market trends. That’s where BrickSeek’s top product searches feature comes in. By observing the products your customers frequently search for, you can anticipate trends in your niche. Monitoring market trends will help you make data-based decisions to help you stay ahead of the curve and your competitors.

FAQs About BrickSeek

Is BrickSeek.com legitimate?

Yes, BrickSeek is a legitimate tool for finding pricing information and inventory levels, as demonstrated by its A- rating from the Better Business Bureau.

How accurate is BrickSeek?

While it’s definitely legitimate, BrickSeek isn’t always 100 percent accurate, as with any third-party tool. The site freely admits retailers will not honor inventory or pricing discrepancies between BrickSeek and “real life.”

How often does BrickSeek update?

All the inventory information provided through BrickSeek’s inventory checker is collected in real-time when you do a search.

Is there an app for BrickSeek?

At the time of writing, the BrickSeek app is in beta testing and is only available to Premium and Extreme members. In other words, you can’t currently access it without a paid BrickSeek account. If you’re a paying subscriber, you can request access to the Android or iOS apps here.

BrickSeek for E-Commerce Companies Conclusion

In less than a decade, BrickSeek has gone from being a simple, niche tool for finding obscure LEGO sets to a potentially mass-market app offering huge value to consumers and retailers alike. That’s some transformation!

Use BrickSeek intelligently, and you can gain unique insights on your biggest rivals, which in turn can help you:

set competitive pricing
pick up bargain prices on raw materials and products
understand when other retailers are struggling to access stock on key product lines
figure out whether a new product is worth selling based on levels of consumer interest
keep track of trends in your market

Best of all, BrickSeek is still comparatively underutilized among e-commerce companies. By learning how to make it work for your brand, you can position yourself to beat your competition.

What do you think are the biggest reasons for retailers to start using BrickSee

5 Ways to Convert Paid Ad Leads

As it becomes increasingly challenging to grow organic reach, more and more marketers are looking to paid ads.

Since this monetary model is by no means novel, that means there’s a crowded space for these ads. You want to ensure your dollars dedicated to pay-per-click (PPC) are getting their money’s worth.

Maybe you’ve written scintillating paid ad copy that speaks directly to your audience’s pain points. Maybe you’ve drafted a graphic that is the perfect balance between branding and intriguing. Maybe you’ve set your budget and ad parameters and are ready to go.

How do you get those paid ad leads to actually convert?

This, of course, is the challenge of paid marketing. You can do nearly everything right, but without clear direction for your audience to further interact with your paid ads, you’ve done little more than create a pretty picture.

To help you make the most from your paid ad dollars, we dive into the five best methods for converting paid ad leads.

5 Methods to Convert Paid Ad Leads

While the term conversion can conjure different meanings to different marketers, for the purpose of this post, we’re defining conversion as any desired action, whether that be purchase, form-fill, email capture, or simply a learn-more action.

Regardless of your current working definition of conversion, the following methods can help your paid ads convert, enabling you to reach your marketing goals.

Below, we break down five tried-and-true methods that can help your paid ads translate to valuable conversions.

1. Route Leads to a Chatbot or Messenger

As technological capabilities evolve, so do our strategies for lead conversion. As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance, increasing opportunities for chatbots arise.

In fact, it’s projected that chatbots will manage 85 percent of customer interactions in the near future.

These days, chatbots are built into many websites. Visit nearly any site, and you’ll be greeted by an automatically generated message asking you what you’re searching for and how the bot can help.

In addition to simply operating as a help feature, chatbots can be used as a tool to improve site visitor experience, not to mention completely changing the way brands communicate and interact with their existing and would-be consumers.

Since chatbots are infinitely customizable and can provide personalized responses, how consumers interact with your brand has changed drastically.

With successful chatbot addition to your marketing strategy, you can improve your customer’s journey through increased personalization and drive conversions through an interactive platform.

How can you incorporate chatbots into your paid ad strategy?

It’s easy: Instead of sending an individual who clicks on your paid ads to a classic web form, direct them to a chatbot. There, they can engage in a personalized, targeted conversation that can lead to the conversion you’re aiming for.

While simply having a chatbot is a great strategy to increase paid ad conversions, writing good copy for the bot can make a good strategy great.

Here are our top three tips for successful chatbot copywriting:

Sound conversational: Chatbots are not the time to flex your vocabulary. In fact, messages written at a third-grade level receive 36 percent more responses. Using simple and clear language is key.
Have a cohesive tone: Choosing the right voice for your chatbot depends on the tone of your business. Whether you’re fun or formal, be sure to mimic that style as you develop your chatbot’s responses.
Use a catching hook: You want your site visitors to interact with your bot. To ensure this interaction happens, use a compelling hook to catch their interest. Check out this example from Purple, a mattress company that excels at snagging attention through an emotional pull.

purple mattress chatbot supports paid ads lead conversion

2. Direct Leads to a Landing Page

Historically, paid ads drive to landing pages, and this isn’t a bad thing.

The trouble with landing pages occurs when they’re not optimized properly. You may have the most compelling paid ads on the web, but if your landing pack is lackluster, your conversion rates will be, too.

Below, we share our top five tips for making your landing pages work as hard as you do:

Research user behavior: If you don’t understand how users interact with your page, it’s hard to understand what is and isn’t working. You can employ free tools that build a heat map on your pages, letting you better understand what your users are doing so you can tailor the layout to meet their movements.
Identify pain points: Be sure to create copy that indicates you have a clear understanding of your audience’s problem—not to mention a clear, simple solution. When you lead with pain points, you’re that much more likely to intrigue your audience, getting them to sign up for that demo or join your email list.
Provide value: Without fail, your landing page should offer some carrot to your audience. Whether that’s a whitepaper or a video, a webinar or a podcast, make sure your landing page offers your audience something they’ll find valuable (and find easily on your page).
A/B test: Test everything. We mean it. Anything you can track the performance of, track it. The more data you have about how specific elements on your page are performing, the more likely you are to get very close to the ideal set of on-page elements that lead to conversion.
Remove distractions: Less is more when it comes to your landing pages. Have a lot of great content? Good. Hold onto it—now is not the time to use it. As you build your landing pages for paid ads, be selective in what you include. There’s a singular action you want your site visitors to take. Don’t confuse that message by overburdening your page.

3. Direct Leads to Forms on Social Media

Another way to increase conversions from your paid ads leads is to drive direct leads to forms on social media. With 83 percent of marketers using social platforms to advertise, there are a lot of paid ads appearing on social.

How do you get your paid ads to translate into a conversion on social platforms?

By following best practices. Let’s take Facebook, for example. The social media giant reports over 2.7 billion active users per month. With that many active users, you know there’s a plethora of marketers.

To make your paid ads stand out in the crowd and actually convert, you can build forms into your paid ads on the platform. That way, users don’t have to navigate away from their social scrolling to, say, sign up for your newsletter.

To drive even more conversions via forms on social media, consider using these two best practices for incentivizing:

Share a discount code: Everyone loves a discount. To increase your paid ads conversions through forms on social, try offering audience members who take your desired action a unique discount code. This way, you’re not only converting, but you’re also building goodwill with your audience.
Host a competition: If offering a discount code doesn’t apply to your product or will reduce the perceived value, host a competition.

Both of these strategies allow you to deliver value to your audience while still achieving your conversion goals.

4. Route Customers to a Purchase Page

If your aim is conversions from paid ads, drive customers to a purchase page. This strategy is highly effective, as it considerably shortens the buyer’s journey, taking an individual directly from interest to purchase. By eliminating steps in between these two phases, you dramatically increase the likelihood that your ad will convert.

Clothing line Hello Molly uses Instagram paid ads to advertise its garments. If users click on one of the images, they’re taken directly to the purchase page for that item.

Method to convert paid ad leads - Route customers to a purchase page

By driving directly to the page, you shorten the number of steps your potential customer has to take to convert.

What’s more, the consumer doesn’t need to leave the confines of Instagram. The entire sales process occurs in the app.

5. Direct Leads to Your Blog

While, at times, blogging may feel like a technique of the past, your blog should still play a vital role in your content marketing strategy.

In fact, blogs continue to outrank emails, books, and whitepapers as the most effective type of content, and if you’re not driving your paid ad leads to your blog, you may be missing out on a slew of conversions. After all, your blog is a hub of content that speaks to pain points and fills in knowledge gaps within your industry.

If your conversions are focused on asset downloads, you should definitely drive traffic from paid ads directly to relevant components on your blog.

How to Know Which Method Is Right for You

Feeling overwhelmed by these five options? Don’t be! Knowing which method is right for you is all about understanding the true goal of your overall ad campaign.

Determine your conversion goals
Think about what action you want your leads to take. Do you want their email address so you can send them your newsletter? Do you want them to download resources you publish? Do you want them to make a purchase? These are common conversion goals, though yours may be something else entirely.
Decide where you want to direct users who click your ad
You will most likely direct your users to a landing page, purchasing page, or a lead generation form.
Decide which method is best for you
Map out your goals with the strategies listed above and decide which will be most helpful for you to reach your goals.

For example, if you’re hoping to increase whitepaper downloads, consider linking to a synopsis blog that includes a download option of the entire paper.

If your goal is to increase purchases you should definitely drive your leads from paid ads directly to product pages.

Paid Ad Conversions FAQs

If you’re still not sure about how to convert paid ad leads, here are a few commonly asked questions to help guide you:

How Can I Encourage Paid Ad Leads to Convert?

To drive your paid ad leads toward conversion, be sure to align their destination with your conversion goal. If you’re looking to drive purchases, consider directing leads to a purchase page. If you’re looking to drive whitepaper downloads, drive to a blog. Regardless of the goal, be sure to send your leads to a location where they can take clear and direct action.

How Can I Incorporate Chatbots Into Paid Ad Strategy?

Incorporating chatbots into your paid ad strategy is simple and can result in increased conversions given the endless possibilities of this conversational tool. Instead of sending an individual who clicks on your paid ads to a classic web form, direct them to a chatbot. There, they can engage in a personalized, targeted conversation that can lead to the conversion you’re aiming for.

Which Paid Ad Conversion Strategy Is Right for Me?

Regardless of your conversion goal, be sure that the location you’re driving leads to that goal. When conversion and destination are aligned, the conversion process is compressed, making it easier than ever to achieve your conversion dreams.

How Can I Optimize My Landing Pages for Conversion?

Here are five keys for website optimization: A/B test, prove value, address pain points, remove distractions, and research user behavior.

Conclusion for Paid Ad Conversions

As the use of paid ads becomes increasingly ubiquitous, driving consumers to the right location to convert becomes even more important than ever before.

Clear direction is always important for online consumers, but it’s never more important than in the steps that lead to conversion. By having a clear and direct goal for your paid ads and aligning that goal with a landing location that correlates, your potential customers are that much more likely to become consumers.

When you pair the right content with the right process, you unlock the door to successfully converting paid ad leads.

If you decide you want to employ these strategies yourself even though you think they may be beneficial, let our agency know. We can handle the heavy lifting for you.

What’s the most successful conversion path for leads from paid ads that you’ve used?

What Is TikTok For Business?

Why Should You Use TikTok For Business?

Enormous Exposure Potential

Brands Look More Authentic on TikTok

Access to Endless Influencers

Who Should Use TikTok For Business?

6 Strategies to Use TikTok For Business

1. Get a TikTok Business Account

2. Use the TikTok Ads Manager

3. Partner With Creators

4. Use the TikTok Creator Exchange

5. Find a TikTok Marketing Partner

6. Create a TikTok Shop

TikTok For Business Success Stories

SLATE & TELL

Momentary Ink

Princess Polly

TikTok For Business Frequently Asked Questions

Is TikTok For Business free?

Can TikTok help small businesses?

Should I switch to a TikTok For Business account?

Why should I use TikTok For Business as opposed to other social media platforms?

Conclusion: Is TikTok For Business Right for You?

How Does Personal Financing Impact Business Lending?

Factors that Affect Personal Credit

#1:Your Personal Credit Score Can Affect Your Business Credit Score With the Business Credit Reporting Bureaus

Experian Business Credit

FICO SBSS

FICO SBSS Calculation

#2: You May Have to Use a Guarantor to Get Business Funding

Credit Line Hybrid

#3 Personal Financing Can Affect Overall Fundability

Financial Statements

Bureaus

Personal Financing Can Affect Your Ability to Get Business Funding

# 1: Timing

#2: Lender Negotiations

#3: Application Format

#4: Lending Product Selected

#5: Lender Selection

6: Verifiable Information

Get Help Applying for a Small Business Loan

What is a 2021 Credit Review and Why Should You Do One?

The Benefits of Doing a 2021 Credit Review

Why it is Important for You to Know About Your Business Credit Scores

What Information Should be Included in Your Review

About the Process

How to Get Started with a 2021 Credit Review Now

#5 Way a 2021 Credit Review Can Benefit Small Businesses: Get to Know Your Dun & Bradstreet Business Credit Report

D&B Data

Predictive Models and Scoring

D&B Reports

Executive Summary

D&B Rating

D&B PAYDEX

Predictive Analytics

Financial Stress Score

Financial Stress Score Percentile

Financial Stress Score Percentile Comparison

Credit Score Class

Credit Limit Recommendation

D&B Viability Rating

Credit Capacity Summary

Business History and Business Registration

Government Activity Summary and Operations Data

Industry Data and Family Tree

Financial Statements

Indicators and Full Filings

Commercial Credit Score

Credit Score Percentile Norms Comparison

Financial Stress Score and Financial Stress Percentile

Financial Stress Score Percentile and Financial Stress Score Percentile Comparison

Advanced PAYDEX + CLR

PAYDEX Yearly Trend

#4 Way a 2021 Credit Review Can Benefit Small Businesses: Explore Your Experian Business Credit Report

A Typical Experian Business Credit Advantage SM Report

Business Background Information

Experian Business Credit Score

Experian Financial Stability Risk Rating

Credit Summary

A Typical Experian Business Credit Advantage^SM Report