In this guide, we’ll break down what bounce rate is and why it matters. We’ll also equip you with actionable strategies to keep visitors engaged and lower that bounce rate.

Plus, we’ll show you exactly where to find bounce rate in the new world of Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Let’s get those visitors sticking around and exploring all your website has to offer!

Table of Contents

• What is Bounce Rate?
• What is a Good Bounce Rate?
• How to Find Bounce Rate on Google Analytics
• Why Do People Bounce?
• How to Reduce Bounce Rate

What is Bounce Rate?

A bounce is when a visitor lands on your website, checks out a single page, and then disappears. In Google Analytics terms, a bounce is a visit where someone only triggers one request to the system. This basically means they viewed one page and didn’t click anything else or navigate further before leaving.

A bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who check out a single page and then leave, without clicking anything or exploring further. These quick visits are counted as sessions lasting zero seconds because there’s no additional activity for Google Analytics to track.

Bounce rate is a key metric for understanding your website’s effectiveness, and here’s why:

1. Conversions: High bounce rates often mean missed opportunities. When visitors leave after just one page, they’re not converting into leads or sales. By lowering your bounce rate, you can increase conversions and get more value from your website traffic.
2. Search Engine Love (Maybe): While the exact impact is debated, some studies suggest search engines like Google might favor websites with lower bounce rates. This means bounce rate could be an SEO ranking factor and better bounce rate could potentially boost your search ranking.
3. Website Health Check: A high bounce rate can be a red flag for issues with your website. It might indicate confusing content, poor user experience, or unclear calls to action. By analyzing bounce rate, you can identify areas for improvement and make your website more engaging for visitors.

Does a high bounce rate mean trouble? Not always!

Bounce rate matters when your website thrives on visitors exploring multiple pages. Think news sites with in-depth articles or eCommerce stores with product categories. If people are bouncing from your homepage, it might indicate that you are missing the mark.

Bounce rate is less concerning when your website is designed for single-page engagement. This applies to blogs with self-contained articles or landing pages with clear calls to action. In these cases, a high bounce rate is simply visitors finding what they need quickly.

What is a Good Bounce Rate?

You may be wondering what a good bounce rate is, which is a valid question. Here’s a baseline to start:

• 26-40% is optimal
• 40-70% is average
• 70-90% is poor
• 90%+ is very poor
• 80%+ is very bad

Don’t get too excited if your bounce rate is lower than 20%. This is likely because of an error like duplicate analytics code, incorrect implementation of events tracking, or third-party addons such as live chat plugins.

While the above metrics are good starting points, bounce rate varies across industries, your content type, and even the device used. These bounce rate patterns give us a clue about why visitors bounce and what, if anything, to do about it.

Average Bounce Rate by Industry & Website Type

Take a look at the chart below to see an average bounce rate by industry:

Retail and eCommerce sites have the lowest bounce rates because there are so many webpages on a typical shopping site. Most shoppers will visit one page, then see another product that interests them and click there. Or they’ll purchase that item, which will take them to the checkout page. There’s a clear pathway for visitors to follow.

On the other hand, landing pages, dictionaries, portals, and blogs typically have much higher bounce rates. But this doesn’t mean all these websites aren’t converting. It just means that they serve a specific purpose that is usually filled in a single page.

Someone looking for the definition of a word will leave as soon as they’ve found that definition. Portal websites, by definition, link to content on other sites, so visitors likely only spend one session on the portal itself. And landing pages are often specifically designed without navigation or internal links so that visitors don’t get distracted from the one desired conversion event.

Average Bounce Rate by Channel

Next, let’s look at the average bounce rate by channel or traffic source:

As you can see, display and social have the highest bounce rates. That’s because visitors from those channels are likely to just be clicking casually on a banner ad or social media link, and then leaving to get back to their originally intended action.

On the other hand, referral and email tend to have the lowest bounce rates. Visitors coming in through a link from a similar website are more likely to already be interested in your content. Email subscribers are even more invested in your business, since they opted into your email list. As you’re thinking about how to reduce the bounce rate on your site, make sure to look at which channels bring in most of your traffic.

Average Bounce Rate by Device

Finally, another factor that affects bounce rate is device. Unfortunately, you don’t have any control over what devices your visitors are using, but you can still use this data to improve bounce rate.

As you can see, mobile users have a higher bounce rate across all industries. This makes sense, since people browse on their phones while waiting in line, riding the bus, and doing other things that might pull their attention away at any time. If you get a lot of mobile users, your bounce rate may appear higher than a site with mostly desktop users. This is just good to keep in mind as you work to reduce your bounce rate.

So the definition of a good bounce rate is complicated. Perhaps more important than comparing your bounce rate to other websites is monitoring your own bounce rate over time. If you have a content-heavy site like a blog, your bounce rate may always be higher than your neighbor’s eCommerce site. That’s okay! Bounce rate is not the only metric of how well your site is converting, and it’s definitely not the most important one.

How to Find Bounce Rate on Google Analytics (GA4)

GA4 redefines bounce rate by focusing on engagement. It considers a variety of factors beyond mere page interaction.

A session in GA4 is considered engaged if it:

1. Lasts longer than 10 seconds,
2. Triggers a conversion event,
3. Generates at least two page views or screen views.

In GA4, the bounce rate is essentially the inverse of the engagement rate. A lower bounce rate in GA4 indicates higher engagement, meaning more sessions meet the engagement criteria.

This approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of how users interact with a site. It acknowledges that engagement can take many forms, not just clicking through to another page.

Here’s how to find bounce rate on  Google Analytics 4 (GA4):

Step 1: Navigate to Engagement » Pages and screens

Step 2: Click the pencil icon in the upper right of your screen; a sidebar will open

Step 3: Click on Metrics

Step 4: Click on the bottom Add metric option, then type “bounce” to find and select Bounce rate

Step 5: Once it’s been selected, you’ll see Bounce rate added to the list of Metrics. Click Apply.

Step 6: Click the Save button. A dropdown will appear – choose Save changes to current report.

Step 7: A popup will appear asking if you’re sure you want to save your changes. Click Save

Why Do People Bounce?

Website visitors bounce for a variety of reasons, but some of the most common reasons are:

• Unrelevant Content: If the content on your page doesn’t match what the visitor was searching for, they’ll likely bounce to find a better fit.
• Poor User Experience (UX): A confusing or cluttered website layout, slow loading times, or difficult navigation can frustrate visitors and lead them to bounce.
• Mobile Unfriendliness: In today’s mobile-first world, a website that’s not optimized for smartphones and tablets will quickly lose visitors.
• Technical Issues: Broken links, error messages, or website crashes will send visitors scrambling for the exit button.
• Misleading Headlines and Descriptions: If your page title and meta description don’t accurately reflect the content, visitors might feel deceived and bounce.
• Slow Page Speed: People are impatient! If your website takes too long to load, visitors will likely bounce before they even see your content.
• Hidden Costs or Unexpected Information: If visitors discover surprise charges or unexpected requirements after clicking through, they might bounce out of frustration.

How to Reduce Bounce Rate

1. Suggest Other Content

Perhaps the content on a particular webpage really wasn’t what the visitor was looking for. Rather than just shrug your shoulders and let them go, you can use OptinMonster’s signature Exit-Intent® Technology to help them find what they need before they leave your site.

You can use a related post plugin to suggest other posts that might be more helpful. And because WordPress shortcodes work beautifully in OptinMonster, you could even create an exit intent popup showing related posts.

You can also use exit popups to offer a content upgrade, discount, or free shipping code. OptinMonster’s gamified campaigns are a great way to recapture wandering attention.

2. Show Targeted Content to Engaged Users

Remember, not all bounces are bad. A user may read your article, find exactly what they wanted, and then leave. This is normal and very common for blog posts and resource sections.

But that doesn’t help your bounce rate or conversions. In this case, you want to show these users with the most relevant offer.

For example, if a user lands on a blog post about cooking, then your offer should be a recipe book instead of fashion items.

Using OptinMonster’s page-level targeting, you can show visitors customized offers based on the pages they visit, traffic source, and more. You can even specify that a campaign only displays to visitors who have scrolled a certain distance down the page or spent a specified amount of time on the page.

Showing targeted content will help you reduce your website’s bounce rate, boost engagement, and conversions.

3. Give Users Something Else to Do

Every page on your website should have a clear call to action (CTA).

Some CTAs include purchasing a digital or physical product, opt into your email list, share your article, or fill out a contact form.

OptinMonster can serve all kinds of CTA campaigns to precisely targeted audiences.

For example, you could use WPForms to create a survey that displays right before visitors exit.

4. Display External Media Onsite

Many businesses embed feeds of their own social media or video content as a way to show the latest updates.

But this can unintentionally create too many opportunities for visitors to bounce. They might see an interesting image from your Instagram feed and click on it. If this was the only page on your site they visited, this counts as a bounce even though they’re going to your social media.

You can use Smash Balloon plugins to build beautiful social media feeds right on your site. With Smash Balloon, visitors can click on an image or video to see the caption, description, and comments, all without leaving your site.

5. Optimize Content for Search Intent

Another major cause of bouncing is from search engine result pages (SERPs). When a visitor clicks on a search result, they’re looking for something specific. If they don’t find the answer or solution quickly, they’ll bounce.

MonsterInsights can help you understand what visitors are searching for.

Then you can use a premium SEO plugin like AIOSEO to optimize your content for the most-searched keywords.

6. Improve Your Site Speed

One of the easiest ways to improve bounce rate is to improve your site speed.

Users are in a hurry and decide whether to stay on a site within the first few seconds. If your site doesn’t load quickly, they might assume it’s broken, or simply run out of patience and leave.

You can measure your site speed with tools like Pingdom and Google Page Speed. These tools also give you recommendations for boosting your site speed.

To speed up your site, you should optimize your images, use a Content Delivery Network (CDN), add better caching, and consider switching to a faster hosting provider like Bluehost.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to keep your website speedy is by using a CDN. Find the right one for you on our list of the best CDN providers to speed up your website.

7. Optimize Your Site for Mobile Users

Many users are browsing on mobile devices while on the go. If they see a full desktop site squashed into a tiny screen, they won’t stick around trying to figure out a way to access your site.

Make sure your site is easy to use on a smartphone. Consider creating mobile-only landing pages or using click-to-call and click-to-scroll buttons to make the mobile user experience better. You can read other best practices for mobile landing pages here.

8. Make Your Text Readable

While images and video capture the attention, most of the important information on a website is still communicated with text. Don’t pay so much attention to pretty visuals and fancy design that you ignore basic readability.

For example, this site looks nice but is very difficult to read. The navigation links are low contrast and lightweight. There is even a banner that says the site is best viewed on desktop, and that banner itself is low contrast and hard to read. This all creates a poor user experience, especially for mobile users!

You need to make sure that the text on your website is easily readable on all devices. It shouldn’t be too small or else users will have to squint or zoom in to read it. Use font sizes that are large enough on smaller screens.

Choose fonts that are clear and easy to read. Cursive or handwritten accent fonts are fine when used sparingly. Use contrasting colors and enough line spacing, font weight, padding, and margin for the text to be clearly readable. This example does a good job balancing high contrast body fonts with accent fonts, and also uses a high contrast button call to action.

Another important point to consider is the language and style you choose to use on your website. Use easy-to-understand language in a normal conversational tone.

9. Split Test Headlines and Page Design

It’s possible that your content does match the visitor’s intent, but the headline or call-to-action doesn’t make that clear.

That’s why A/B testing different elements on your site is important. A/B split testing is when you create 2 versions of the same page with different headlines, copy, imagery, social proof, or CTAs. Then you see which version performs better.

You can also create different landing pages targeting different audiences, regions, or keywords. If you are serving an international audience, then you can detect a user’s location and show them a localized landing page. Showing users content in their own language, currency, and cultural background greatly improves user experience and can help improve page bounce rate.

10. Help Visitors Find Their Way

Your webpage may actually be exactly what your visitor is looking for, but if they have to scroll 80% of the way down the page to find it, chances are they’ll bounce.

Make sure your content answers the question or gets to the point quickly. If your blog post or webpage has multiple sections, consider adding a table of contents or button that jumps to the most interesting part.

For example, many recipe blogs include a long explanation of the recipe development process along with step by step photos. Some visitors may find that content interesting, but many just want the recipe to cook from. Recipe bloggers often place a Jump to Recipe button on all their posts. This lets the visitor who needs something to cook right now find the most helpful part of the post.

11. Match CTA to Intent

You always want make sure that your CTAs are clear and that they match the intent of the visitor.

User intent can fall into 4 categories:

• Informational: they want a specific answer or general information
• Navigational: they’re looking for a specific website or webpage
• Commercial: they’re investigating products or brands with future intent to purchase
• Transactional: they’re intending to purchase or complete an action

A user wondering how to clean sneakers is unlikely to appreciate an intrusive popup selling new shoes. Instead, perhaps at the end of your sneaker-cleaning tutorial, you could link to your post reviewing a brand of machine-washable sneakers. On the other hand, someone searching for that same review might be interested in your affiliate coupon for that brand. It all comes back to understanding your visitor’s intention and making sure all your content aligns with that intent.

12. Optimize Call to Action Placement

Most users decide whether or not they like a website in the first couple of seconds. So the content in the very first part of your webpage is important. You can optimize this area to immediately describe what you are selling and include a prominently visible call to action.

Make your call to action clear and honest. Misleading users will create a bad user experience which is the number one reason for high bounce rate and low conversions.

There you have it, our favorite ways to reduce website’s bounce rate. When you match your content with the visitor’s intent, you can keep your visitors happy and your bounce rate low.

If you’re looking for other ways to capture more traffic and boost your conversions, check out this article on how to Create a Promotional Strategy for Higher Conversions.

What are you waiting for? Start increasing pageviews with OptinMonster.

More on Conversion Rate Optimization:

• The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing
• 8 Digital Marketing Best Practices for 2024 and Beyond
• Cracking the Code: Unveiling 10 Powerful SEO Ranking Factors

Think of it like the top half of a folded newspaper on a newsstand. Back in the day, that’s where all the important headlines and attention-grabbing stories were placed to entice people to buy the paper. Websites use the same concept for the content they want visitors to see first.d

To help you get your visitors scrolling down, we’ve collected some great examples of above the fold content you can use for inspiration.

Let’s get started.

What Is Above the Fold?

Why Above the Fold Matters for Online Businesses?

Key Elements of Effective Above the Fold Content

Above the Fold Website Examples

What Is Above the Fold?

“Above the fold” is the part of the webpage visible before the user scrolls down. It is prime real estate for web designers because it attracts the most attention.

Web designers put their most important content “above the fold” to engage visitors and keep them scrolling. The exact location of the fold will vary depending on the device someone uses to view the website.

Why Above the Fold Matters for Online Businesses?

Here’s why “above the fold” is important:

• First Impressions: It’s where visitors form their initial opinion of your website. Strong content above the fold can keep them engaged and encourage them to explore further.
• Attention Grabbing: This is prime real estate for grabbing visitor attention. Compelling headlines, clear calls to action, and interesting visuals are all important elements for the “above the fold” area.
• Limited Viewport: With so many different screen sizes and devices, there’s no guarantee how much content will be visible initially. Focusing on what’s most important “above the fold” ensures visitors see the key information regardless of their device.

Key Elements of Effective Above the Fold Content

Crafting Compelling Headlines: Your headline is the first thing visitors see. Make it count. It should be clear, engaging, and reflective of your brand’s voice.

Utilizing High-Quality Visuals: Humans are visual creatures. High-quality images or videos can convey your message quickly and effectively. Remember, these visuals should be optimized for fast loading.

Clear Calls to Action: Your CTA should be prominent and persuasive. It guides users on what to do next, whether it’s subscribing to a newsletter or checking out a product.

Embracing Responsive Design: Responsive design ensures your above the fold content looks great on any device. This isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about functionality and accessibility.

Testing and Optimization: Always a/b test your designs across different devices. Tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can be invaluable for this.

Balancing Design and SEO: While above the fold is crucial for user experience, it also impacts SEO. Google values user experience, and a well-designed above the fold area can contribute to better search rankings.

Measuring Effectiveness: Use tools like Google Analytics to understand how users interact with your above the fold content. Look at metrics like time on landing page and bounce rate to gauge effectiveness.

Above the Fold Website Examples

1. HubSpot

HubSpot is all about growth, and that’s exactly what its above the fold design shows. The image suggests learning (notebook) and advanced technology (space helmet).

The headline is a play on the common phrase “all systems go”, suggesting that the reader will be forging ahead with growth. That idea’s reinforced in the subhead. Then there’s a compelling offer of free software on the CTA button.

2. Jeff Bullas

Jeff Bullas has two sets of above the fold content. When you first land on his site he has a welcome gate, with a compelling offer to get his tips on doubling traffic. The large background image attracts readers’ attention immediately.

Click on the arrow, at the end of the welcome gate, and it takes you to his main page, where there’s social proof of his readership and online authority. You still have to scroll once to get to the content, but by then most readers are likely convinced.

3. SnackNation

SnackNation‘s above the fold content shows exactly what’s on offer, with a background image of a person with a snack sampler box in an office. The content offers visitors the chance to sign up for their own sampler box. This is a great way to get business leads. In fact, thanks to OptinMonster, SnackNation gets 1200 new leads each week with this above the fold design.

4. Missinglettr

Missinglettr‘s homepage also works because the headline gets right to the point of what its visitors want: a hassle-free way to drive social traffic with their content.

The two-sentence explanation gives more detail on the product, then there’s a visible CTA below. The landing page also includes two other CTAs targeted to those who might not yet be ready to sign up.

Having three actions to take instead of just one might make them less effective, but we’re willing to bet this design is based on rigorous split testing, so the company knows it works for their audience.

5. OptimizeMyAirBnB

Optimize My AirBnB takes a more personable approach to its above the fold website design. There’s a big picture of the site owner who appears to be looking directly at the reader, thus drawing their gaze.

To the right of the page, there’s a welcome sentence which outlines the key benefit of the site. And by the time you’ve read that, there’s an OptinMonster floating bar offering you the chance to sign up for more tips and tools. This was one factor in growing the site’s list 650%.

6. Content Marketing Institute

The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) takes a slightly different tack with its above the fold content. At the top, there’s a menu listing all the different types of content they offer.

But the bulk of the landing page is taken up with the products they most want to promote: their events, consulting services and magazine. Everything is in the brand colors, creating a harmonious visual experience.

7. MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights keeps it simple with a white background. Against this, the headline stands out well, and the subheadline subtly underlines two key benefits for readers. There’s also a clear and visible call to action, with a subtle arrow inviting readers to scroll down if they still want more info. In the case of this above the fold design, minimalism works!

8. The Guardian

As you’d expect from an online newspaper, The Guardian nails above the fold content. In this example, two stories stand out. The one on the left has a bigger headline and picture to draw the eye.

But the online publication is taking no chances; there’s another story just in case the main one doesn’t grab readers. The story category is in red, contrasting with the black of the headline, to create a compelling visual effect.

9. Guido’s

The most effective aspect of Guido’s above the fold content isn’t the statement about its authentic cuisine. And it isn’t the compelling image of the wine rack with labeled bottles sticking out of it.

It’s actually the menu button that says “Get free appetizer”. That button triggers an OptinMonster MonsterLink, which got the restaurant more than 1000 new leads in four months.

Here’s how you can add a popup to your website menu, too.

10. OutreachPlus

OutreachPlus grabs readers’ attention with a question that makes them think. Then it shows how the product could help solve that problem. The homepage is simple. Apart from the headlines, there’s a screenshot of the product, plus two choices of what to do next: buy, or learn more by viewing a demo.

11. Search Engine Journal

Search Engine Journal is a content site, so its above-the-fold design puts their content in the spotlight. The site’s design lets them showcase three stories above the fold. There’s also a clever bit of web design here. The three stories are listed on the right of the page. Each is highlighted in green in turn. When a story’s highlighted, it takes the top spot on the left of the page, displaying with an attention-grabbing image and headline.

12. ConversionXL

You’d expect Peep Laja’s ConversionXL to get above the fold content right. It’s another simple design. This page has an in your face headline, and a subheadline that states their core belief. There are also two CTA buttons giving choices for what to do next, and a secondary CTA below that to sign up for their email newsletter.

13. Christmas Lite Show

Christmas Lite Show converted 30% of visitors simply by triggering an OptinMonster MonsterLink in its above the fold content. The button launched a countdown popup with a coupon offer. The combo converted 30% of visitors and added 7,000 new subscribers to the company’s email list.

14. Problogger

Problogger is another content heavy site, so its above the fold content focuses on making it easy for people to find the information they want. At the top, there’s a comprehensive navigation menu. There’s an image of founder Darren Rowse to create a personal connection with the visitor, plus a 2-step optin that triggers an email signup form popup.

15. Kennedy Blue

Kennedy Blue is a great example of above the fold online content. The main banner includes an image of three women in different styles of bridesmaid dresses.

Meanwhile the copy highlights how easy it is to shop for dresses, and gives a price range. The CTA sends visitors straight to the shop. And the site’s using an OptinMonster floating bar to highlight the current sale – just one of the ways they were able to achieve a 50% increase in sales.

16. Copyblogger

Copyblogger‘s above the fold content is minimalist. Most of the space is taken up by an image showing a person looking at a piece of Copyblogger content. Since she’s facing left, her gaze draws the visitor’s attention to the headline. The headline shows the benefit (building online authority) with the offer (effective marketing).

17. Bluehost

On its homepage, Bluehost uses an image on the right with the person’s eyes looking towards the text on the left. This is a clever bit of psychology that directs readers’ eyes there, too.

When they look, they see a headline, a reduced price (which is always appealing) and a short list of key benefits. Underneath is a visible CTA button urging readers to get started.

That’s it! Now you’ve seen some above the fold web examples that really work, apply these principles to get your visitors on board.

Want to learn how to use custom fonts on your optin campaigns? Learn how to upload custom fonts to your OptinMonster campaigns.

Next, check out our guides to email marketing and growth hacking your ecommerce business. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep track of all our new content.

Buying an email list sounds like a quick way to grow your revenue potential. But it is a huge waste of time and money. In this post, we’ll share 8 reasons why you should never buy an email list (and what to do instead).

What Does It Mean to “Buy Email List”?

Why You Should Never Buy an Email List

Don’t Buy Email List, Build One for Free Instead

What Does It Mean to “Buy Email List”?

An email list includes a list of names, email addresses, and perhaps other demographic data like company name or income level. You can buy these lists from email database providers like ZoomInfo and Apollo.

Smaller marketing agencies that scrap email data from platforms like LinkedIn also sell email marketing lists online.

Since email marketing is the #1 way to sell anything online, many amateur business owners buy a list of emails to run their email marketing campaigns.

If you set to create an organic email list with thousands of customer data on your own, it would take several months. But when you buy an email list online, you get instant access to hundreds or thousands of customer data.

But is buying email lists worth it?

Short answer: no.

Buying an email list is a really bad idea and a huge waste of money. It’s one of those hacks that simply doesn’t work and will likely cause your business far more harm than good.

Why You Should Never Buy Email List

Here are 8 reasons why you should never purchase an email list.

1. You Can’t Trust the Quality of the List
2. You Might Have to Pay Hefty Fines
3. You’ll Come Across as a Spammer
4. Email Marketing Platforms Can Ban You
5. You’ll Risk Your Brand Reputation
6. Other Brands Might Use the Exact Same List
7. Your Response Rate Will Suffer a Lot
8. No Reputable Expert Recommends It

1. You Can’t Trust the Quality of the List

Buying an email list is not like building a quality email list from the ground up. You get a ton of junk leads when you buy a second-hand email list. Purchasing email lists also poses several other problems, such as:

• Missing or incomplete data: There’s a high chance that the email list has wrong names and email addresses.
• Out-of-date information: Depending on how old the email marketing list is, it might include email addresses that no longer exist or are abandoned.
• Illegally sourced email addresses: Many email list sellers scrap social media platforms like LinkedIn to curate the email addresses of people without their consent. Using these email addresses for your marketing campaigns is against the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003).

Businesses that buy contact lists might think getting 5,000–10,000 email addresses overnight is like hitting a jackpot. But an email address list is pretty worthless if it has outdated, incorrect, and unlawful lead data.

2. You Might Have to Pay Hefty Fines

Buying email lists isn’t illegal. But how you use the email data can land you in costly legal battles.

Most countries have stringent laws against sending unsolicited bulk emails, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the USA.

If the email list you buy violates the CAN-SPAM Act, you can pay a fine of up to $50,120 for each separate email you send:

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a similar data protection law in the European Union (EU) that has specific clauses against spam. GDPR states that you need people’s consent to contact them through email.

But when you buy an email list from 3rd-party vendors, you don’t have the explicit consent of people included in that list. That’s a violation of GDPR’s data privacy rule. As a result, you might have to pay up to 10 million euros or 2% of your entire global revenue, whichever is higher.

Facebook’s parent company Meta forked up $1.3 billion in early 2023 after it violated the GDPR rule against processing people’s personal data from the EU to the USA.

Canada has Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) that has similar prohibitions to encourage permission-based email marketing.

Different countries have different laws around spam. If the email list you buy includes people from a country that has anti-spam laws, you’ll have to abide by those laws.

3. You’ll Come Across as a Spammer

Your emails might be well-written and valuable. It might have the best subject lines and call-to-action (CTA) buttons optimized for conversions.

But email outreach works best when people receiving your emails can recall your brand. That’s rarely the case with purchased email lists.

For recipients who don’t know your brand, you’re just an unknown company spamming their inbox. Customers either delete or unsubscribe to emails from brands they don’t know. Many will mark unsolicited emails as spam to stop getting those emails in the future (more on this in the next heading).

Research says that marketing messages are the most common type of spam, which makes up 36% of all spam emails. In 2022 alone, we saw over 162 billion spam emails sent daily!

Too many people reporting your marketing emails can hurt your email deliverability and IP reputation. Email verification and spam blocklist databases like Spamhaus and Spamcop can flag your IP address and blacklist your domain.

Pro-tip Do you want to learn how to improve your email’s reach? Follow the email deliverability best practices.

4. Email Marketing Platforms Can Ban You

When people start mass reporting your emails as spam, you get on the wrong side of your email marketing platforms.

These are marketing automation platforms such as AWeber, ConvertKit, or Constant Contact that integrate with your CRM and let you manage your email marketing campaigns.

Most email marketing platforms have strict policies that forbid users from buying business email marketing lists. They can close your account, impose a fine on your brand, or start legal action against you if you violate the rules.

Here’s an example.

Aweber considers buying email lists as spamming, and it is a serious violation of their service agreement. It has explicit warnings against the use of spam on its website.

Email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail and Yahoo! also discourage businesses from sending emails without people’s consent. The ESPs might mark your email messages as spam or suspend your business account without prior notice.

5. You’ll Risk Your Brand Reputation

Besides email marketing platforms banning you, buying an email list is also a serious risk to your brand reputation.

A lot of customers take to social media to rant about brands that send too many spam emails. Even worse, your brand name can become synonymous with spam and can get ranked in the list of companies that send the most spam.

Creating a respectable brand is crucial, and you don’t want to spend huge amounts of money on damage control later.

6. Other Brands Might Use the Exact Same List

To maximize their profits, email list providers sell the same set of email contacts to multiple buyers. It’s one of the reasons why they sell business email lists at a discount.

Using duplicate lists affects your conversion rates and other marketing metrics in the long term. Imagine 5–10 brands bombarding marketing emails to the same set of people. It gets annoying and creates a bad customer experience.

These recipients are unlikely to buy from you or interact with you, no matter how appealing your offer is. Many of them might even put spam filters in place to never see your emails in the future.

7. Your Response Rate Will Suffer a Lot

Let’s say you have an eCommerce store that sells a product for $20 per unit. You buy an email list of 10,000 names. You figure that on a 5% conversion rate, you’ll sell 500 units of your new product, which gets you $10,000.

Not bad, right?

Well, your response rate will likely be far lower than 5%. In reality, most people on purchased lists don’t even open your email, let alone click on the call-to-action buttons in your email.

Purchased email lists have far lower open and click-through rates. Statistically speaking, only 1 out of 12,500,000 emails convert successfully. That’s because 74% of buyers hate receiving irrelevant emails.

Contrast that with the average email open rates of 20–25% for healthy, targeted email lists.

Pro-tip Are you looking for ways to improve your eCommerce conversion rate? Read our guide on the ultimate eCommerce optimization tips.

8. No Reputable Expert Recommends It

On most marketing topics, people have differences of opinion about which strategies work and which don’t. But everyone agrees that buying an email list is not worth it.

Read any major blog on email marketing, and you’ll get the same validation from all of them: Don’t purchase email lists.

Here’s what experts have to say on the topic of purchased email lists:

“Purchased lists are ticking time bombs, waiting to devastate your reputation as a sender. Riddled with dead emails and spam traps, they quickly inform mailbox providers that you break the rules by sending unsolicited emails. If you still buy email lists, STOP NOW.”

– Neil Patel, YouTube Content Creator and Co-Founder of Crazy Egg, Kissmetrics, and Hello Bar

“It’s tempting because you want to do it fast. But you don’t want to be in the business of spamming people. Unsolicited emails are not how you want to get out there. You want to build relationships.”

– Evan Carmichael, Author and YouTube Content Creator

“There is too much to lose when you use this method to obtain leads for your small business. If you want to maintain a relevant customer base, follow the law, and keep your reputation, work on building your own email list from scratch.”

– Syed Balkhi, Founder of WPBeginner, WPForms, and OptinMonster

To summarize, buying emails is a waste of money and marketing efforts that can affect your brand awareness negatively.

Don’t Buy Email List, Build One for Free Instead

The best alternative to buying email lists is building targeted email lists from scratch. Building an audience should be a priority in your digital marketing strategy, and list-building is the best way to achieve it.

Targeted list building helps you create a strong inbound marketing strategy instead of relying too much on outbound channels like cold emails, cold calling, and paid advertising.

In the long run, an inbound marketing strategy like driving website traffic through blogs is more scalable and cost-effective because it’s organic.

But if you’re just starting, you might not be sure where to begin. Here’s an easy step-by-step guide to building your email list organically.

Step 1: Build an Audience With Engaging Content

Every brand has something of value that they can offer to their target market. Use your expertise to trade good content for customers’ contact information, like email addresses and phone numbers.

If you don’t have a website yet, start there. Publish high-quality content like blogs, videos, tutorials, or infographics to drive relevant traffic to your website.

Next, create an optin campaign to let people join your email list.

When you create engaging content that’s relevant to your target audience, they are more than willing to subscribe to your email newsletters or blogs.

This builds trust, and you can easily sell your products or services to your subscribers without much friction.

Step 2: Create a Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is an incentive you offer potential subscribers in exchange for their email addresses.

This is slightly different than asking people to join your list. With lead magnets, the trade-off is very straightforward. You can create a landing page, publish valuable content, and let people access it in exchange for their email addresses.

Depending on your niche and what your audience prefers, the lead magnets can be:

• Industry reports
• How-to guides
• Webinar
• Ebooks or whitepapers
• Templates
• Quizzes, surveys, or polls
• Giveaway contests
• Online courses
• Free product trials
• Free consultations
• ROI calculators

Here’s an example of a lead magnet on our blog:

Pro-tip Want to learn how to use lead magnets to boost your lead generation? Here are a ton of examples to help you grow your email list.

Step 3: Work With a Reputable Email Marketing Platform

Don’t try to cut corners by sending out bulk emails through your email client like Outlook or Gmail. Your internet service provider (ISP) will block or penalize you for this, and you’ll miss out on many crucial features that email service providers offer.

Instead, create an account with a reputable email marketing platform. We recommend Constant Contact. But you can pick anyone from this list of the best email service providers.

Step 4: Add Optin Forms to Your Website

Don’t make the mistake of creating just 1 type of optin form and placing it in your website’s sidebar. You have to optimize your website and experiment with a variety of optin campaigns for maximum conversions.

The good news is, creating and embedding optin email forms is dead simple with a tool like OptinMonster. You can choose from over 100 ready-to-use templates to fit your use cases.

OptinMonster’s drag and drop interface allows you to easily create and customize signup forms. With OptinMonster, you can build multiple types of optin forms like:

• Lightbox popups
• Exit-intent popups
• Slide-in scroll boxes
• Floating bars
• Inline forms
• Fullscreen welcome mats
• 2-step optins

We don’t recommend overwhelming your website visitors with too many popups. It creates a bad user experience and increases your website bounce rate.

Instead, have a good mix of 1-2 optin campaigns on a few pages that drive the highest traffic. Run A/B tests to measure which campaigns and variations convert the best.

Once you have data, double down on the campaigns that convert well and pause the ones with poor results.

Err on the Side of Caution: Don’t Purchase Email Lists

Can you buy email addresses? Legally speaking, nothing stops you from scraping email addresses or buying them from others. But is buying email lists worth it? Certainly not.

There are plenty of reasons why you should never purchase an email list, but not even 1 good reason why it’s useful.

Bottom line: Never buy an email list. It’s simply not worth your time and money.

Instead, spend your marketing efforts on building a targeted email list of customers who are eager to buy from you. Here are some more resources to help you get started:

• Email Marketing: How to Build an Email List
• How to Create an Email Campaign
• Email Segmentation Strategies You Need To Know
• Email Signup Forms: 12 Places to Add Them for Higher Conversions

And if you want to grow your email list, get started with OptinMonster. It’s the #1 lead generation software that helps you convert website visitors into subscribers and customers.

PodBike used OptinMonster to build an organic email list and improved its conversion rate by 18.22% with just one campaign!

You want to choose a payment plugin that is trustworthy, fast, and hassle-free for both you and your customers. To achieve successful payment integration in WordPress, you’ll also need features that are tailored to your type of business.

In this article, I’ll review the 8 best WordPress payment plugins, including features, pricing, and the type of business they’re best for, to help you make a smart and profitable decision for your business.

• What Is a WordPress Payment Plugin?
• 8 Best WordPress Payment Plugins
  • 1. WP Simple Pay
  • 2. WPForms
  • 3. Easy Digital Downloads
  • 4. MemberPress
  • 5. WooCommerce
  • 6. WP Full Pay
  • 7. Accept Stripe Payments
  • 8. LearnDash
• What’s the Best WordPress Payment Plugin for My Business?

What Is a WordPress Payment Plugin?

A WordPress payment plugin is a software extension that you install on your WordPress website to facilitate online payments. These plugins are designed to integrate seamlessly with your WordPress site, enabling you to accept payments from customers through various methods such as credit cards, debit cards, and online wallets.

Key Features of WordPress Payment Plugins:

• Easy installation and setup: You can install these plugins directly from the WordPress dashboard, making it simple to configure your payment options without needing extensive technical knowledge.
• Multiple payment options: Many plugins support various payment methods, giving your customers the flexibility to choose their preferred way to pay.
• Additional functionalities: Beyond processing payments, these plugins often offer features like recurring billing, refunds, order management, and transaction reporting.

Interaction with Payment Gateways and Processors

WordPress payment gateways and payment processors are integral components of online payment systems, and understanding how they interact with your WordPress payment plugin helps business owners to ensure smooth operation.

A payment gateway is a front-end service that collects a customer’s payment information. It acts as an intermediary between your website and financial institutions to ensure secure transaction data transfer. When a customer makes a purchase on your site, the payment plugin connects to the payment gateway to verify the transaction.

• Role of payment gateways: Authorizing the transaction by encrypting sensitive information and ensuring it reaches the bank securely.
• Examples: Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net

A payment processor is a service that handles the technical aspects of completing a transaction. This includes communicating with the cardholder’s bank and your merchant account to transfer funds.

• Role of payment processors: Facilitating the transfer of payment data between the buyer’s bank and the seller’s bank, ensuring funds are deducted from the customer’s account and credited to your merchant account.
• Examples: Square, PayPal, Stripe

As you can see, many services, such as PayPal and Stripe, perform both the gateway and the processing functions in online payments.

How They Work Together

1. Customer Makes a Purchase: A customer decides to buy a product on your WordPress site and proceeds to checkout.
2. Payment Plugin Activation: The payment plugin captures the payment details and sends them to the payment gateway.
3. Transaction Authorization: The payment gateway securely processes this information and authorizes the transaction.
4. Funds Transfer: The payment processor handles the actual transfer of funds from the customer’s bank to your merchant account.
5. Completion: Once the transaction is approved, the payment plugin updates the order status on your WordPress site, completing the purchase process.

By using a WordPress payment plugin, you integrate these processes seamlessly into your site, ensuring a smooth and secure payment experience for your customers. This integration not only enhances the functionality of your website but also builds trust with your customers by providing reliable and secure payment options.

8 Best WordPress Payment Plugins

1. WP Simple Pay

WP Simple Pay is an easy-to-use WordPress payment plugin.

It’s perfect for beginners and veterans alike because it comes with payment form templates, it requires no coding, and it’s fully optimized for mobile.

You can easily add recurring payments, create your own payment forms inside the builder, and allow your customers to pay directly from their bank accounts.

Features:

• Secure payment processing
• Optimized for mobile
• Payment form builder
• Payment form templates
• Coupon codes
• Non-card payments

Payment Gateway/Processor:

Stripe

Best for:

Self-employed individuals, small business owners, consultants, nonprofits, and developers. In short, anyone who wants a hassle-free payment experience without having to worry about coding.

Pricing:

The pricing starts at $49.50 per year for the Personal plan, and it goes up to $299.50 per year for the Elite plan. No transaction fees, outside of those charged by Stripe.

Get started with WP Simple Pay today!

2. WPForms

WPForms is the best form plugin for WordPress, and it doubles as a payment plugin.

The Pro version of WPForms allows you to accept payments. It also allows you to set up recurring payments and receive money without additional fees.

One of the best things about this plugin is the freedom it gives you. More specifically, you can add a payment form anywhere on your website, within widgets, posts, pages, and any other place you can think of.

Features:

• Recurring subscriptions
• Flexible placement
• Unlimited forms
• Integration with multiple marketing platforms for Plus, Pro, and Elite plans
• Integration with CRMs for Elite plan

Payment Gateway/Processors:

Stripe, Square, Paypal for Pro plan and above. Authorize.Net for Elite plan.

Best for:

Any site that needs to include a variety of forms and accept payments through them. Form types include registration forms, surveys, and contact forms, and there are over 1,800 templates available.

Pricing:

The Pro plan, which is required to accept payments, starts at $199.50 per year, with no additional transaction fees. The Elite plan starts at $299.50.

Get started with WPForms today!

BONUS TIP

With OptinMonster, you can easily integrate WPForms with your popup campaigns! See how in this quick video:

3. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is my go-to WordPress plugin for selling digital products.

This particular plugin might not be a good fit for you if you’re selling physical products, but if you’re solely dealing with digital goods, then you can count on it to handle all your transactions..

It’s easy to work with, it has advanced functionality, and great customer support.

We use it at OptinMonster, and it never fails us. You can read our full Easy Digital Downloads review to get more details.

Features:

• Full shopping cart
• Discount codes
• Download activity tracking
• Full data reporting
• Customer account page
• Unlimited file downloads

Payment Gateways/Processors:

PayPal at Personal plan and above. The Extended plan and above includes all of EDD’s payment gateway extensions, which include Stripe and Authorize.net.

Best for:

Any business that deals primarily in downloadable digital products. If you do offer a small number of physical products, the Professional plan offers basic product management functionality.

Pricing:

The Personal plan starts at $89.50 per year, with no additional transaction fees. If you want access to more advanced payment gateways, the Extended plan starts at $199.50 per year. For more advanced functionality, such as physical product management, choose the Professional ($269.55) or All Acces ($449.55).

4. MemberPress

MemberPress is the very best WordPress membership plugin, and it lets you accept payments through PayPal and Stripe.

What are membership plugins for? These tools let you require users to log in to access members-only content. This content could include online courses, subscription-only blogs, downloadables, or member-only products.

MemberPress won’t be right for just any business, but it’s an excellent choice if you use a membership or subscription-based business model.

Features:

• Recurring payments
• Locked downloads
• Flexible payment gateway
• Pricing pages
• Paywall
• Coupons

Payment Gateways/Processors:

PayPal and Stripe

Pricing:

The pricing starts at $179.50 per year for the Basic plan, with no transaction fees. It goes up to $399.50 per year for the Pro plan.

5. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the most well-known WordPress plugins on the market.

It’s the perfect option for those who want to run full-fledged eCommerce stores, because it has plenty of useful features.

Most WordPress eCommerce websites use WooCommerce as their main plugin. If you’re doing eCommerce, you should give it a try.

Features:

• Extensive list of additions and plugins
• Stripe integration
• Stripe refunds
• A wide variety of themes
• Fast mobile checkout

Payment Gateways/Processors:

WooPayments, Stripe, Paypal, Square, and more

Best for:

Online store owners who want an extremely customizable experience.

Pricing:

WooCommerce’s basic WordPress plugin is free. For more advanced features, WooCommerce offers a wide variety of free and paid extensions, so you can tailor your payment plugin to have exactly what you need.

6. WP Full Pay

WP Full Pay is a beginner-friendly WordPress Stripe payment plugin.

It doesn’t require coding, it’s easy to use, and it’s trusted by over 7,000 users.

The vast majority of payment management tasks can be done inside the WordPress dashboard, so it’s not confusing even if you’ve never used a similar plugin in the past.

Features:

• Recurring payments
• Donations
• Settling invoices
• Collecting customer payment information
• Secure payments

Payment Gateway/Processor:

Stripe

Best for:

WordPress sites that want to be able to quickly and easily start accepting payments for one-time purchases, donations, or subscriptions.

Pricing:

There is a free basic version of the plugin. For more features, the Starter plan is $49 per year with no transaction fees, and pricing tops out at $269 per year for the Agency plan.

7. Accept Stripe Payments

Accept Stripe Payments does exactly what the name says it does. It’s a WordPress plugin created specifically for those who want to receive payments through Stripe.

It’s simple, and it doesn’t have advanced functionality. All you can use it for is to add “Buy now” or “Donate now” buttons on your website with the help of shortcode.

Features:

• Responsive
• Flexible placement
• One-click payments
• Stripe payment history
• Easy installation

Payment Gateway/Processor:

Stripe

Best for:

Individuals and small websites with low sales or donations or that are just getting started.

Pricing:

Free

8. LearnDash

LearnDash is a learning management system (LMS) plugin for WordPress. In simpler terms, it helps users sell online courses in a format similar to Udemy.

Just like MemberPress and WooCommerce, LearnDash is not a standalone payment plugin, but it allows you to receive payments for your courses.

Features:

• One-time payment or subscription courses
• Automatic user enrollment after payment
• Course and group management
• Beautiful design
• Detailed reporting

Payment Gateways/Processors:

PayPal and Stripe

Best for:

Websites that offer a significant number of online courses.

Pricing:

The LearnDash LMS plugin starts at $199 per year for a single site. It’s $399 a year for up to 10 sites and $799 for unlimited.

What’s the Best WordPress Payment Plugin for My Business?

The list we put together has several standalone payment plugins, as well as more robust plugins that have a more targeted purpose.

• If you want something efficient and easy to install, your best option would be a standalone payment plugin like WP Simple Pay.
• If you need to host multiple types of forms on your site, WPForms is the best plugin.
• For subscription or membership-based sites, MemberPress would be a better choice.
• Full eCommerce stores should consider WooCommerce
• Educational sites should look into LearnDash.

In short, there is no single best payment plugin for WordPress. Instead, you should choose the one that best fits your business’s needs.

Get More Sales Through Your Payment Plugin

I hope this article helps you find the best WordPress Stripe payment plugin for your business!

If you found it helpful, then you might want to also check out these resources:

• 15 Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins
• 23 Best WooCommerce Themes for Your Online Store
• 11 Best WordPress Marketing Plugins (Compared)
• Ultimate eCommerce Optimization Guide: 13 Steps to Instantly Boost Revenue

Now that you’re all set to accept payments on your WordPress site, it’s time to start making sales!

OptinMonster is the best tool for converting more of your website visitors into customers and subscribers.

You can use our popups, floating bars, and other onsite campaigns to show your best offers to the right people at just the right time. For the visitors who aren’t quite ready to buy, our optin campaigns let you collect email addresses so you can nurture those leads through email marketing.

Plus, your first high-converting campaign is on us!

When you join OptinMonster, one of our conversion experts will create a powerful campaign for you – FREE of charge.

You’ll be able to generate sales from the get-go!

If that sounds good, sign up for OptinMonster below.

Get Started With OptinMonster Today!

Growing an eCommerce business can seem like a never-ending battle, from finding the right niche to optimizing your eCommerce store.

The good news? Most eCommerce challenges have solutions that you can apply to overcome them.

In this article, you will discover how to overcome seven key challenges and unlock explosive growth for your online store!

• Challenge #1: Fighting Online Fraud
• Challenge #2: Losing Customers to Competition
• Challenge #3: Retaining Customers
• Challenge #4: Managing Product Returns and Refunds
• Challenge #5: Pricing Products and Managing Shipping Costs
• Challenge #6: Hiring the Right Talent
• Challenge #7: Growing Your eCommerce Business

Challenge #1: Fighting Online Fraud

When someone visits your website, how do you know if that person is genuine or a cybercriminal posing as a buyer? Are they entering their real name and contact information? For all you know, all the information they enter could be fake.

The eCommerce industry lost more than $40 billion in online payment fraud in 2022 alone. Most data breaches involve cybercriminals using hacking techniques to steal credit card information.

Online shopping is growing in popularity. That also means the number of cyber attacks in eCommerce is growing. Criminals are always on the lookout for new technologies to hack profitable websites.

Without identity theft protection, criminals can break through your website’s weak security. Recently, online fraudsters exploited Honda’s e-commerce website to gain unauthorized access.

Solution:

As a responsible entrepreneur, take the necessary steps to improve your website’s data security. Use tools that offer robust data privacy features to overcome this eCommerce business challenge.

Use Google Authenticator or LastPass to apply two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your website. These apps will protect your website against cyber attacks.

Invest in cybersecurity solutions such as LexisNexis that can prevent fraudulent behavior. LexisNexis verifies user identities and uses multi-layered authentication for fraud control.

Some of its features include:

• Electronic identity verification
• Social Security Number (SSN) verification
• Instant authentication
• Identity checks
• Real-time data validation for seamless payment processing

Related ContentSometimes, you don’t need to know your customers’ identity. But you do need to verify their age for adult content or products. Check out this guide on how to add age verification to websites in under 10 minutes.

Challenge #2: Losing Customers to Competition

Online shopping is gaining steam worldwide. However, some eCommerce niches are more competitive than others.

For example, dropshipping niches like clothing and electronics are not as profitable. That’s because there are too many online retailers selling similar product offerings.

Too much competition leads to comparison shopping and an increase in shopping cart abandonment. Buyers abandon their shopping carts to save money on products from a different seller.

If you operate in a hyper-competitive niche, you need to figure out ways to stay ahead of the competition.

Solution:

Conduct detailed competitor analysis to determine how they price their products. What platforms are they using to connect with potential customers? How are they generating leads? Do they have any promotions going on?

Figure out what products are high in demand and remove the ones that aren’t. Offer exceptional user experience to set your online business apart from the competition.

Challenge #3: Retaining Customers

It’s a known fact that it costs 5 times more to earn a new customer than to keep an existing one.

Here’s another kicker: the success rate of selling to a new customer is only 5-20%. But the success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%.

These stats highlight an important point. It’s as crucial to retain customers as it is to find new ones.

The reality is that most eCommerce websites suffer from the inevitable customer churn. A study by Omniconvert found that the average churn rate in eCommerce ranges from 62–82%.

Even worse, eCommerce companies with less than $1 million in revenue don’t invest in customer loyalty. These are worrying stats for eCommerce business owners.

Solution:

To improve customer satisfaction, build a strategy to reduce customer churn. Some of the strategies that can help you improve customer retention are:

• Target the right audience from the start
• Offer a personalized customer onboarding process
• Provide excellent customer service
• Create delightful customer experiences
• Keep a close tab on your competition
• Invest in good customer support and customer success
• Run user feedback surveys to understand customer expectations
• Offer your customers flexible payment options

When your customers are happy, they will come back for more and refer your brand to more people in their network.

Challenge #4: Managing Product Returns and Refunds

One of the biggest problems an online retailer faces is managing returns and refunds. If you have a generous returns policy, you’ll have fickle buyers exploiting the policy. And it’ll cut into your profits.

But not having a returns and refunds policy in place is a bigger challenge. Research says that 86% of consumers check a retailer’s return policy before buying.

It’s also true that 72% of people are likely to buy from brands again if they have a hassle-free return experience.

Clearly-stated return and refund policies are important to customers.

Amazon, Nordstrom, and Costco are brands that offer a seamless return experience. Their policies assure potential customers that they can return their orders if needed.

Solution:

Never hide your return policy or make it tricky for online shoppers to find. Make your returns and refunds policy simple and easy to find in the checkout process.

Nordstrom uses a website notification bar to let customers know of its return policy. You can also include the policy in the frequently asked questions (FAQs) section of your website.

Make sure you set the right expectations if you don’t accept refunds or returns after a specific number of days. When you do it right, you can win loyal customers with your refund process.

Challenge #5: Pricing Products and Managing Shipping Costs

Shopify’s report published in 2022 found that pricing impacts 74% of consumers.

But despite the growth in eCommerce sales, only 12% of brands have a winning pricing strategy. Most eCommerce sites price products based on their operational costs, competitors, or guesswork.

This isn’t sustainable in the long term and can hurt your profits. To improve your product pricing, you have to consider factors like brand positioning, inflation, and location.

But the challenges in growing eCommerce don’t stop at pricing your products. Shipping and inventory management are other sides of growing an eCommerce platform.

Shipping is a tricky affair because it incurs costs for both, you and your customer base. If you offer low-price shipping, it’ll eat into your profits. And if you price it too high, it’ll turn away online shoppers.

Unlike smaller eCommerce companies, retailers like Amazon sell products for a competitive price. They also offer free shipping because they have an efficient supply chain network of their own.

Take, for example, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). It’s a program by Amazon that lets its sellers outsource their shipping duties to Amazon.

Amazon’s free shipping doesn’t hurt its profits as much because of its own supply chain network. When a buyer places an order from an Amazon seller, FBA ships orders from the closest facilities.

But if you run a smaller business, how can you manage your pricing and shipping costs?

Solution:

The first step to fixing your pricing challenges is to come up with a good pricing strategy. You can use automated competitor price-tracking software like Prisync to monitor your competitors.

Use promotions in your eCommerce sales to improve conversion rate and increase sales. Holiday discounts, coupon marketing, and bundle pricing help you improve your profit optimization.

Want to master the nuances of pricing your products? Here are some posts for you to dig deeper into the topic:

• How to Price a Product in 6 Easy Steps: A Guide for Beginners
• 20 Pricing Page Best Practices That Will Increase Your Sales
• How to Create a Price Calculator for Your Website
• How to Add Wholesale Pricing in WooCommerce (Step by Step)
• How to Grow Pricing Page Conversions by 30% Today

When it comes to keeping your shipping costs low, look beyond big-name carriers like FedEx or UPS. Forge partnerships with local courier companies to deliver products at a competitive rate.

Apps like Roadie provide low-cost door-to-door delivery for just about anything. As a UPS subsidiary, Roadie’s delivery options are as good as any major courier company.

If your eCommerce runs on WooCommerce, use the WooCommerce Shipping plugin. It lets you print USPS and DHL labels right from the WooCommerce dashboard. It also shows shipping rates live on your online store, saving you time and money.

Challenge #6: Hiring the Right Talent

Most fast-growing eCommerce brands face the unique challenge of hiring the right talent when they need them.

The world saw a huge surge in eCommerce businesses after the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to an unprecedented labor shortage in eCommerce.

For instance, the eCommerce industry has the second biggest challenge in recruiting in the UK at present. This is representative of the acute labor challenge in the eCommerce sector globally.

When your business is growing at a healthy pace, it’s important to have the right people in the right roles. The right people can set up new processes and bring stability to your operations.

Solution:

If you’re facing problems in hiring the right talent, know that this is a common challenge across the board. Luckily, there are many potential solutions to overcome this challenge.

If your budget allows, rethink your hiring strategy. Look for top talents in your industry and offer them competitive salaries.

But if you’re a smaller eCommerce brand with a limited hiring budget, you can use automation for day-to-day recurring processes. Use AI-based chatbots to provide instant customer service and cut overheads.

Automating your operations also helps you cushion against talent shortages in the future.

Another great way to handle the talent shortage is to hire independent consultants. In most cases, hiring contractors costs you way less than paying a full-time employee.

Many small businesses also outsource their operations to specialized eCommerce agencies. These agencies offer end-to-end services like website design, app development, and digital marketing.

Challenge #7: Growing Your eCommerce Business

Although most challenges of eCommerce hinder the pace of growth, not all of them are bad. When your business grows, you’ll likely come across problems like taking it to the next level.

These are good challenges, and they need you to think creatively.

The barrier to starting an eCommerce store is at its lowest right now. It has attracted a lot of competition in the industry. This means you can’t take your brand to the next level if you aren’t investing in branding and marketing.

Similarly, your business is as good as a new eCommerce brand if you don’t build an audience or a community. You need to engage with your target audience and offer them incentives to stay loyal to your brands.

Solution:

To take your eCommerce brand to new heights, start thinking about your business as a brand entity. Don’t just run it like a money-making machine.

To grow your brand to its full potential, invest in search engine optimization (SEO). Publish high-quality content for your ideal customers to find you online.

Here are 3 easy ways to start building an enviable brand for your eCommerce business:

• Start a blog
• Start a newsletter
• Grow your social media following

You’ll need reliable tools to succeed with these brand-building initiatives. We recommend the following tools to ensure steady growth:

• AIOSEO to get more people to visit your website
• OptinMonster to convert visitors into leads
• TrustPulse to enhance your website’s credibility
• Smash Balloon to grow your social media following

You don’t have to invest thousands of dollars each month to use these tools. These tools are affordable and easy to get started with, even if you haven’t used them before.

Start using these tools to improve your omnichannel marketing strategy. Soon enough, it will help you stand out from the generic brands in your niche.

These experiments will help you attract new customers and keep the existing ones. Over time, this results in improved sales without the need to invest heavily in ads and marketing.

Overcome the eCommerce Challenges to Rise Above the Rest

Tackling the eCommerce growth challenges that we discussed in this post needs a holistic approach. From fighting online fraud to growing your business to its full potential, you need to come up with innovative ways to overcome these eCommerce challenges.

If you can adapt to the ever-changing dynamics in eCommerce, you’ll achieve sustained growth for your business.

Interested in learning more about how to grow your eCommerce business? Here are a few resources to help you in your journey:

• 15 eCommerce Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Online Sales
• 36 Global eCommerce Statistics To Pay Attention
• 13+ Power Hacks To Grow Your Business Online
• eCommerce Best Practices: Set up Your Business for Success
• eCommerce Conversion Rate: Benchmarks & Insights

If you want to start by improving the conversion rate on your eCommerce store, get started with OptinMonster. Unlock your brand’s revenue potential by reducing cart abandonment and increasing sales.

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1. Optimized content that earns a #1 ranking for your search keyword
2. A piece of copy that Google sees as valuable enough to feature

With so much competition out there, featured Google snippets can feel like an impossible goal. However, there are plenty of SEO strategies that can improve your chances.

In this article, I’ll show you how to get featured snippets for your content. While there are no guarantees, these tactics will make it more likely for Google to feature your content as a search snippet, driving more traffic to your site.

• What Is a Featured Snippet?
• Types and Examples of Featured Snippets
• How to Get Featured Snippets (4 Proven Tips)
• FAQs

What is a Featured Snippet?

A featured snippet is a Google search result that provides a short answer to the user’s search query, in addition to the link to that answer’s source. Featured snippets are sometimes called “answer boxes.”

Here’s a featured snippet example that I found by Googling “featured snippet”:

This brief definition is at the very top of the SERP (search engine results page). Google bolds the most important part of the definition and highlights it in blue. The URL and linked title tag are listed below the snippet.

This answer box draws the eye of searchers, hugely increasing the chance that they’ll click on that search result.

In fact, a study from the digital agency Tallwave found that featured snippets boost click-through rate (CTR) by a whopping 859%, from 2.7% to 25.9%.

Types and Examples of Featured Snippets

I’m going to cover for 4 most common types of featured snippets and provide an example of each:

1. Paragraph snippets
2. List snippets (both numbered and bulleted)
3. Table snippets
4. Video snippets

Of these, paragraph snippets are by far the most common, with about 70% of search snippets falling into this type.

Lists are the next most common, with table and video being fairly rare.

1. Paragraph Snippets

For this type of featured snippet, Google uses text from the source page to provide an answer to the searcher’s question immediately.

For example, here’s an answer box we earned for our OptinMonster blog. Users who searched for “email subject line” saw this definition, which was pulled from our post on 184 Email Subject Lines And Why They Work.

This article is one of the highest-traffic posts on our blog due to search volume, our consistently high ranking, and the fact that we often have the Google featured snippet.

How did we achieve this snippet?

• By creating a high-quality, helpful post
• By optimizing the post for the top SEO ranking factors
• By including a concise and precise explanation for the search term
• By making it easy for Google to find that definition

This screenshot shows the blog copy that the featured snippet was pulled from:

We wrote our copy as a direct answer to the question in our subheading. We followed this formula:

“What Is X? X is . . . “

By formatting our definition in this way, Google can easily find it and pull it for a featured snippet.

2. List Featured Snippets

List snippets come in 2 flavors: numbers and bullets. They often feature steps, tips, or instructions.

Here’s an example of a numbered list snippet for the search term “tips for email copywriting”:

This exact list doesn’t exist within the HubSpot article. Instead, Google pulled the list from the article’s subheadings.

List snippets can also take the form of numbered instructions, like in this recipe result:

Bulleted snippets will come up when content doesn’t use numbers, and the order doesn’t really matter.

If your list doesn’t fit within the answer box, you’ll see “More items” link. This signals to the searcher that there is more information available and could easily lead to increased click-through rates!

3. Table Featured Snippets

Table snippets show collections of data in a clear table format.

Here’s a table featured snippet example that I found by Googling “American to metric conversion”:

This example shows the potential pitfalls of table snippets, as Google has actually incorrectly pulled the data. After all, 1 inch does not convert to 4.929 ml. In this case, Google pulled data from multiple side-by-side tables in the original article.

Here’s an example of a more successful table snippet, which provides correct information:

In both of these cases, the original article included tables that Google could pull data from. As with the “More items” link for list snippets, Google will feature a “More rows” link for longer tables.

4. Video Featured Snippets

Google often prioritizes video results for how-to search queries, and that can include the occasional video featured snippet, where the video can be played right on the SERP page. In this example, Google highlights the 90-second clip that’s most relevant to the user’s search.

Video snippets are always pulled from YouTube, as that platform is owned by Google. Despite the fact that there are 14 billion videos on YouTube, video snippets are quite rare.

What’s more common these days is getting a rich search result, like the one below that features key moments in the video:

You can also win a spot in a list of video results:

In order to win video featured snippets and rich results, you should:

• Organize your content in a step-by-step format
• Upload a script for the video’s closed captions
• Optimize the video’s description using long-tail keywords
• Add timestamped chapters to your YouTube videos
• Use a video schema markup on any videos you embed on your website

How to Get Featured Snippets (4 Proven Tips)

Featured snippets are challenging to earn. However, here are 4 actionable tips to help you learn how to get a featured snippet for your chosen keyword.

1. Include Concise Explanations
2. Help Google Find Your Snippet With Headings & Questions
3. Use Data-Driven, Well-Structured Content
4. Always Consider Search Intent

1. Include Concise Explanations

While it’s no secret that Google favors long-form content, you need to be precise when providing your definitions and explanations.

The average length of a paragraph snippet is 40-50 words, so keep that in mind when you’re writing the content that you’re specifically trying to get recognized as a featured snippet.

After that initial brief explanation, you can go into more detail with examples and use cases.

2. Help Google Find Your Snippet With Headings & Questions

Once you’ve written a perfect and concise answer for a search query, you need to make sure Google can find it. You can do that through your subheadings and by including direct questions in your content.

Here’s a featured snippet example for the search term “accounts payable vs. receivable.”

I clicked on that result so I could see how GoCardless had presented their snippet text:

GoCardless included both a subheading and a question to make it easy for Google to recognize that their copy would make a good featured snippet.

3. Use Data-Driven, Well-Structured Content

Google loves lists, numbers, and steps that are well-organized, and it picks up on standard formatting tags like <table>, <ol>, and <ul>.

Here are a few tips for getting list and table snippets:

1. Number your subheadings: If your content includes steps, instructions, or best-of lists, create numbered subheadings that Google can easily recognize. Also, place those subheadings under a descriptive main heading. For instance, you might have an H2 heading that reads “How to Start a Butterfly Garden.” Your H3s under that heading might be, “1. Pick a Sunny Location,” “2. Till and Fertilize Your Soil,” and so on.
2. Include tables of contents: A table of contents that includes all your headings and subheadings also helps Google find lists to pull for featured snippets.
3. Summarize your content in a table: Your article might cover a topic such as the average income in top cities. If you add a table that summarizes the data in your article, Google will be more likely to use it as a featured snippet.
4. Use bulleted and numbered lists: Always look for information that would be best presented as a bulleted list. Not only do lists make your content easier to scan online, but helpful lists are often used for Google snippets.

Remember that your ultimate goal is to be the best at answering the searcher’s question, so your answer should always contain well-researched and factual information.

4. Always Consider Search Intent

When implementing any of the above strategies, you have to ask the question: What information is the searcher looking for?

Search intent, also called keyword intent, is the ultimate goal of the searcher. Google uses search intent to determine which results to display for a given search query.

If you want to get an answer box for a specific topic, Google some of the top related keywords to see what Google believes the intent is for those queries. Then, try to make your content more concise, precise, and helpful than the competition. This keyword research will help you earn higher search rankings, get more answer boxes, and drive more traffic to your site.

Featured Snippet FAQs

1. Are featured snippets good for SEO?
Yes, featured snippets are excellent for SEO. They place your content at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), significantly increasing your visibility and click-through rates (CTR). Featured snippets drive more traffic to your site, as users are drawn to concise and relevant information.

2. What is the difference between featured snippets and rich snippets?
Featured snippets provide a direct answer to a user’s query at the top of the SERP, above the regular search results. They often include a summary of the content pulled directly from a web page, along with a link to the source. Rich snippets, on the other hand, are enhanced search results that include information such as ratings, reviews, or product details. Rich snippets make use of structured data markup, also called schema markup, to provide this extra context within the search results.

3. What tools can I use to find featured snippet opportunities?
There are several tools you can use to identify answer box opportunities:

• LowFruits: Helps you find low-competition keywords to optimize your chance of getting high rankings and Google snippets.
• Semrush: Offers a powerful feature for finding keywords that trigger featured snippets and can help you identify gaps in your content.
• Ahrefs: Provides insights into which keywords your competitors are ranking for in featured snippets and how you can optimize your content to capture those spots.
• Moz: Helps you track your rankings and find potential featured snippet opportunities by analyzing the SERPs.
• Answer The Public: Lets you discover common questions and search queries related to your topic, which can be used to optimize your content for featured snippets.

4. Can I lose a featured snippet once I have it?
Yes, it’s possible to lose a featured snippet. You may lose it to a competitor that has optimized its content, or Google might update its algorithms.

5. How often should I update my content to maintain featured snippets?
Google favors fresh and relevant content, so you should revisit your posts every few months to add new information, update statistics, and improve readability. Additionally, keep an eye on changes in search intent and your competitor’s content, so you can find opportunities to re-optimize your pages.

6: How do featured snippets impact voice search?
Featured snippets play a significant role in voice search. When users make voice queries, virtual assistants like Google Assistant often read out the featured snippet as the answer. Because of this functionality, optimizing your content for featured snippets can increase your visibility and engagement in voice search results.

Level Up Your SEO With Featured Snippets

When you optimize your content for Google featured snippets, you can catch the attention of more users, improve your search rankings and traffic, and demonstrate your authority in your niche.

If you’re interested in more ways to boost your rankings, check out these resources:

• Beginner’s SEO Guide: Learn the Basics & Most Important Tips
• What Is Off-Page SEO? 15 Proven Off-Page SEO Tips to Boost Rankings
• On-Page SEO Checklist: Drive More Traffic with On-Page Optimization

Of course, driving traffic to your site is only the first step. Next, you need to focus on converting that traffic into subscribers, sales, and revenue.

That’s where OptinMonster comes in!

You can use our popups, floating bars, and other onsite marketing campaigns to show your best offers to the right people at just the right time.

OptinMonster is now integrated with the popular email service provider Omnisend.

Omnisend is an Email Marketing Provider (ESP) and Marketing Automation Platform focused on helping ecommerce businesses deliver personalized messages through email and SMS.

What does this mean for you?

You’re able to instantly send and collect the leads you generate through OptinMonster, to Omnisend.

So, if you’ve been on the fence unsure about whether to use OptinMonster because you weren’t sure how to pass leads to your Omnisend list, now you can, and with just a few simple clicks.

How to Use Omnisend with OptinMonster

Connecting OptinMonster to your Omnisend email list is a simple and straighforward process.

To send leads to Omnisend, follow these steps:

Step 1. Get your Omnisend API Key.

Before you start, you’ll need an Omnisend API Key. To generate and copy the key from your Omnisend account, follow this simple guide. Make sure to give permission for “Contacts.”

Step 2. Navigate to Integrations and select Omnisend.

Go to the Integrations view in the OptinMonster campaign builder, search for Omnisend, and select it.

Step 3. Enter your Omnisend Account Name and API Key.

In the appropriate fields, enter an Omnisend Account Name (internal use only) and your Omnisend API Key, then click the “Connect to Omnisend” button.

*The Omnisend Account Name can be anything that helps you identify the specific integration within OptinMonster. It’s possible to add more than one Omnisend integration to your account and this is an easy way to differentiate between them when assigning integrations to individual campaigns.

Step 4. Configure Optional Settings
The following options can also be configured for Omnisend:

• Tags: Assign any tags you want by typing the tag name and pressing Enter. Omnisend uses Tags instead of Lists
• Send welcome email: To have Omnisend send a welcome email when a lead is saved, check the “Send welcome email from Omnisend” box (you’ll need to configure the email in your Omnisend account).

Step 5. When you’re finished, Save your campaign.

That’s it. For a more detailed walkthrough, see our documentation.

Capture Better Leads to Increase Sales Conversations

Lead quality plays a big role in the sales process.

If your leads are poorly targeted prospects that share their 4th email address with you, your email list won’t generate much revenue.

However, if your leads are prospects interested in what you have to offer, and you’re able to gather more information from them to use in the selling process… you will have a much easier time to convert, even when sending boilerplate emails.

Easily add radio buttons, phone fields, text areas, number fields, lists, and more to your OptinMonster campaigns, then pass that data on to Omnisend automatically.

Having these additional details about your prospects will help you capture better leads every single time.

Before you begin the OptinMonster integration for Omnisend, please consider the following:

1. Custom fields are referred to as Custom properties in your Omnisend account.
2. You do not need to create custom fields in Omnisend. OptinMonster will create custom fields once you map your fields.

The following custom fields are reserved in Omnisend and cannot be mapped to:

• email
• firstName
• lastName
• Lead_Source
• privacy_consent
• phone (use the Phone field to send data to this custom field)
• coupon_code (the Coupon Code won when creating a Gamified spin-to-win campaign)
• coupon_label (the Coupon Label when creating a Gamified spin-to-win campaign)

For more details on how to do this, see our documentation.

3 Easy-to-Use OptinMonster Campaign Ideas to Grow Your Omnisend Email List

Once you’ve chosen Omnisend as your integration, it’s time to finally grow your email list.

There are many ways to do that with OptinMonster, depending on what type of website you have, what kind of business you’re running, and what products or services you’re selling.

Let’s walk through some of the most popular and high-converting campaign types, to get you set up for success.

For each campaign type, we’ll give you a real-life example.

Exit Intent® Campaign

Shockbyte, a game server provider from Australia, used an Exit-Intent® campaign to show an offer to website visitors that were about to leave the website or close their browser.

It’s a simple optin popup that asks for a single piece of information (an email address) in exchange for a nice discount, making it easier for the visitor to agree.

This simple campaign converts at 13.73%.

As you can see, it all comes down to making a good offer, at the right time, in the right place.

“Through OptinMonster’s exit-intent popups, we have more than doubled our sales conversion rate. Best of all is the compound effect of using OptinMonster over a long period of time—more conversions mean more customers, which means more word of mouth.” – Mitch Smith, Managing Director, Shockbyte.com

2-Step Optin Popup Campaign

Cosmetic Packaging Now, a distributor of laboratory-grade cosmetic packaging containers, implemented a 2-Step Optin popup campaign to show an offer to visitors who’ve either been on the page for at least 7 seconds, have scrolled at least 20% of the page, or were going to leave the website.

It used the Yes/No view to segment the visitors: The “Yes” button takes the visitor to the “Optin” view, and the “No” button closes the campaign.

Even though this is an extra step when compared to showing the Optin view alone, it actually prompts interested visitors to follow through with signing up by employing the Zeigarnik Effect.

The result? This single campaign increased Cosmetic Packaging Now’s list by 753.8%, growing it from just 396 subscribers to 2,985!

You could easily do something similar on your website, and grow your Omnisend list much faster than your average competitor.

“Our conservative calculation puts our return on investment from using OptinMonster at 49,900%!” – Roman Randall, Founder, Summit Digital Marketing

Content Locking Campaign

Casey Stubbs, founder of Trading Strategy Guides, added a Content Locking campaign to one of his most popular blog posts on bitcoin trading.

Content locking denies access to content until the reader completes a specific action, for example providing their email address. Any content below the placement of the campaign will be blurred out, or removed altogether until the reader subscribes.

In just under two months, Casey added almost 7,500 subscribers to his list from this single content locking campaign.

Seems easy, right?

That’s because it actually is. OptinMonster makes it super simple to generate leads and grow your email list, even if you have no marketing or design experience.

Here’s what other businesses have done to grow their email list with OptinMonster:

• How Nick Gray Increased Conversions by up to 1000% With Smart Opt-in Popups
• How PodBike Gets 18.22% More Email Subscribers with GeoTargeting
• How DateID Increased Subscriptions by 175%

In a 2023 study by Venngage, 80% of marketers said visual content was either “Very important” to their marketing strategy or chose the answer, “My strategy is nothing without visual content.”

The bottom line is that if you want to stay ahead of the marketing game, you need to use visual content marketing.

But not everybody’s a design whiz. We totally get that, but free tools and software are available to help.

And so, in this article, we’ve compiled a list of the best visual content creation tools.

And there’s a bonus: All visual content creation tools listed below are free.

Recommended Resource Need to jumpstart your content marketing results? Get more traffic and conversions with our Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing.

We’ve divided the tools into categories, so you can easily find the visual content creation tools you need first:

• Image Creation Tools
• Video Creation Tools
• Animation Tools
• Infographic Creation Tools
• Screen Capture Tools
• Meme Creation Tools
• GIF Creation Tools
• Presentation Creation Tools

Image Creation Tools

Let’s start our list of digital content creation tools with some tools focused on creating and editing images.

1. Adobe Express

Adobe Express is a fast content creation software that lets you easily combine text, images, and video content for better storytelling online. While we’re including it as an example of image creation software, you can also use it to make just about any visual media.

The basic version of Adobe Express is completely free, with no credit card required. There are tons of templates available for different image types, such as Instagram posts and Reels. Note that there are some templates that require the Premium version, which is $9.99 a month with a 30-day free trial.

2. BeFunky Graphic Designer

If you’re looking for a way to quickly create collages and other photos, BeFunky Graphic Designer can help. You can also make cards, banners, brochures, and posters with this fast content creation software package. Enjoy the free version, and you can always upgrade to the premium plan if you need more advanced features.

3. Canva

Canva is one of our favorite tools, making it easy to create and edit customized images for sharing on social media, illustrating blog posts, and much more. It’s an essential content marketing tool for any visual content creator.

Most of Canva’s basic functionality is available in its free version. Features such as the background remover and Magic Resize tool require Canva Pro.

4. Fotor Photo Editor

Looking for photo editing, photo effects, and image retouching? Try the templates and tools from Fotor to make graphic design easy.

5. Pablo

If you’re looking for content creation tools for social media, then Pablo, by Buffer, is a good choice. After all, Buffer is one of the best social media management tools on the market.  It makes it easy to combine beautiful images with text, and it includes filters. You can add your own logo, too.

6. Pixlr

Pixlr is another useful free content creation tool. It’s available in three flavors:

• A quick tool for adding fun filters
• Pixlr Express, which offers AI-powered photo editing
• The full Pixlr Editor, which has many of the same functions as professional image editing software like Photoshop

The premium versions are ad-free and offer upgrades such as AI credits.

7. Quotes Cover

You don’t have to log in or sign up to use Quotes Cover. This free digital content creation tool lets you easily create quote graphics online. And you can use their designs as a starting point, making the process pretty quick.

While Quotes Cover is a pretty basic web application, it can come in handy if you need to create a quote graphic in seconds.

8. Snappa

The next on our list of free content marketing tools is Snappa. This web app is a full-featured drag and drop image editor, which lets you add and edit effects with a slider. You can upload your own graphics and save designs in folders.

9. Stencil

Stencil streamlines content creation for social media. This fast, simple app lets you easily combine photos, icons, and more to create your own images. And it includes image templates and quote graphic templates, too.

Video Creation Tools

Our next selection of free visual content creation tools is all about video. Here are a few examples of video-making software that will help you ramp up your content marketing.

10. Animaker

Want to get the effect of a studio-created animated video without the hefty price tag? That’s what Animaker offers. You can create multiple video types including explainer videos, whiteboard videos, and even infographic videos. Note that the free version only allows you to create videos up to 2 minutes in length.

11. iMovie

If you’re using iOS or MacOS, then iMovie is likely one of the best free video tools you can use. This app makes it easy to create and share videos, and to make Hollywood-style video trailers.

12. Lumen5

Lumen5 is one of the more interesting visual content creation tools on our list. That’s because it uses artificial intelligence to let you create a video from text. Enter a URL and the software will create videos to match, including photos and music. This is definitely one to keep an eye on.

The free version lets you create up to 5 videos a month, and they will have a watermark. But it’s a great choice for beginners without a budget.

13. RawShorts

RawShorts is a drag and drop video editor designed to make it easy to create animated and explainer videos. It includes tons of free templates, which users can select and customize. And it’s easy to add other media, transitions, and audio to your video creation.

14. Soapbox

Wistia is a video marketing platform that offers a lot of tools and features. It lets you create and share videos in your browser window through your webcam or via screen recording. No technical skills required!

Tools to Use11 Best Instagram Video Editing Tools Compared (Free and Paid)

Animation Tools

Want to make short animations to liven up your content marketing? These free animation tools will help.

15. Google Photos

Google Photos has a built-in Assistant that works with the photos you upload to automatically create short movies and animations. If you want more control, you can also create them yourself from within the cross-platform app. You simply select up to 49 of your photos, click the + icon, and select Animation.

16. Powtoon

Powtoon bridges the gap between videos and presentations, making it easy to create appealing visual content in only a few minutes. These are an excellent way to get attention and engage your audience.

17. Renderforest

If you’re looking for a way to create cute animated videos fast, RenderForest is a good option. This cloud-based animation and video maker helps you quickly make intro videos, explainer videos, presentations, infographics, and much more. They have multiple cartoon templates that you can customize to your needs.

Infographic Creation Tools

Next, it’s time to look at tools for infographics, which are one of the most engaging visual content formats.

18. Infogram

If you’re looking for interactive visual content creation tools, Infogram is worth a try. In the free version, you get access to templates for infographics, charts, maps, and more. You’ll be limited to 10 projects with their free infographic tool. To make more, you’ll need to upgrade.

19. Venngage

Venngage makes it easy to create infographics via a three-step process. First, choose a template, then add elements, and finally, customize your design. Some functionality is reduced in the free plan, but there’s still a lot to love, with its easy interface and sharp design templates.

20. Visme

If you want to get started with infographics, Visme has a lot to offer. It includes several templates, charts and widgets that you can use to create your infographic. Unfortunately, you need a premium plan to actually download your image. The free version only lets you share a link to your infographic.

Note: Canva, which he discussed earlier, also has dozens of free infographic templates that you can customize with your data.

Screen Capture Tools

Do you want to create tutorials or guides related to technology? A free screen capture tool is a great way to illustrate steps for your audience. Here are some worth checking out.

21. Zight (formerly CloudApp)

Zight is an excellent too  for creating screenshots, screen recordings, and animated GIFs. It’s available as an app or as a Chrome extension. It’s simple to use and allows unlimited screenshots, even in the free version. However, you’re limited to 25 drops per month.

22. Awesome Screenshot

Awesome Screenshot is a browser extension available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari that lets you quickly capture web pages and add annotations. You can store, organize, and share images, too. The free version allows you up to 100 screenshots and 20 recordings per month.

23. Firefox Screenshots

Recent versions of the Firefox web browser include the built-in Firefox Screenshots tool. This lets you take a photo of a part of the screen, the visible screen area, or the whole web page with just a couple of clicks. You get online storage for images, too.

24. Kap

If you need a digital content creation tool for MacOS, then Kap could be useful. It’s an open-source screen recorder that’s fast, functional, and easy to use.

25. Nimbus Capture

Nimbus Capture is another browser screenshot tool that allows you to capture and edit screenshots. It works with Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

26. Windows Snipping Tool

The Snipping Tool built into Windows is another easy way to create screenshots. You can use different types of screen captures and can highlight, annotate, and remove URLs from snips.

Meme Creation Tools

Whether they’re cat pictures or screenshots from movies, it’s hard to imagine the web without memes, so here are some free meme creation tools to help you create your own.

27. iMeme

iMeme is image editing software specifically designed for memes. It includes 50 common memes, or you can use your own photos. You can also customize the text. There’s just one downside: there’s no built-in sharing. You’ll have to download your newly created meme and share it manually.

28. Make a Meme

With Make a Meme, you can upload an image, add text via the onscreen input boxes, and then press a button to create your meme. If you’re happy with the meme preview, it’s then easy to share from the preview page.

29. Meme Buddy

Meme Buddy is an online meme generator with a difference: it lets you make a meme by voice via an integration with Google Assistant. You can choose images, add text, translate memes, and much more, all without having to touch a keyboard.

GIF Creation Tools

A little bit of animation is great for getting visitors’ attention, so it doesn’t hurt to add GIFs to your digital content creation mix. Here are some free GIF creation tools to help you get started.

30. Ezgif

Want to create a GIF fast? With Ezgif you can upload a series of images and it’ll create the GIF for you. You can adjust the order of uploaded images, change the GIF size, and tweak animation settings, too. In fact, this is the tool I use to create GIFs here at OptinMonster.

31. Giphy

Giphy is one of the best-known GIF platforms for social media. It integrates with multiple apps to help people find the right GIF to share. But it also includes an online GIF creator. Just upload a photo or a video, set your animation speed, and add some decorative effects, and then your GIF is ready to upload and share.

32. Imgflip

Like other online meme generators, Imgflip works with existing memes or lets you upload your own image. Once that’s done, you can easily add text to the top, bottom, or both to create your meme.

Presentation Creation Tools

Whether you’re presenting at a conference or during a webinar, a slideshow is an important visual guide. Here are a few free presentation tools that make slideshows a snap.

33. Google Slides

If you’re already using other Google services, then Google Slides is a useful part of the suite. It allows you to quickly create visually appealing presentations using pre-made templates. You can also use Slides to work with imported PowerPoint presentations or to export your creations to PowerPoint. Best of all, you never lose your work since everything auto-saves.

34. Emaze

Emaze is an online presentation tool, with templates for design, business, and education in a variety of categories. Just choose a template and start editing, and you’ll soon have an attractive presentation. You can also create other visual content, as well as websites, with this software. The free version limits you to 5 projects per month

35. Prezi

Prezi offers presentation design for non-designers, letting you get started quickly with templates relating to different niches. This fast content creation software also makes it easy to change how you navigate through a presentation based on your audience. And it provides stats on audience interaction. The free version has some limitations, but it’s a great start.

36. SlideDog

SlideDog lets you create and play presentations and media playlists. Presentations are interactive, and you can livestream and share content. SlideDog integrates with all common presentation and media software. The free version does lack a feature important features, such as dual screen/presenter view and the ability to use your mobile device to control your presentation.

37. Slides

Slides is a browser-based presentation tool that offers a live presentation mode. It includes vertical slides and lets you create private slide decks by default. And it includes the ability to embed presentations and to get data on viewer activity.

38. Sway

Sway is an online presentation tool from Microsoft that lets you create presentations from existing templates or documents. It’ll also help you get started by gathering resources related to your chosen topic.

Improve Your Marketing With Visual Content

That’s it! With these visual content creation tools, you have everything you need to grab visitors’ attention.

Want to learn more about creating great content? Check out these resources:

• The Ultimate Content Marketing Toolbox: 55 Tools You Need to Know
• 15 Visual Content Creation Tips to Start Using NOW
• 29 Impressive Content Marketing Examples

But don’t stop at creating great content! Use your videos, presentations, memes, GIFs, and more to improve your OptinMonster marketing campaigns.

OptinMonster customer Sportique doubled conversions by using an edited image as part of an optin form and combining it with OptinMonster’s exit-intent technology to get visitors’ attention just before they clicked away from the site.

Check out OptinMonster’s other features, and see how you too could combine our software with the content you create to convert more abandoning visitors into subscribers.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also want to read this post, How to Use Popup Animation Effects for Eye-Catching Promotions.

Sign up for OptinMonster today to start creating visually stunning campaigns that convert!

But what is it? Is it important? And, if it is, where do you learn how to improve domain authority?

In this post, we’re going to answer your questions and teach you how to improve your domain authority through proven, time-tested techniques.

Table of Content:

• What Is Domain Authority?
• Why Is Domain Authority Important?
• Page Authority vs. Domain Authority
• How Is Domain Authority Calculated
• How To Increase My Domain Authority
• How Do I Find My Domain Authority
• What Is a Good Domain Authority?

What Is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority (DA) is a score (0 to 100) developed by Moz that predicts how well a website might rank in search results. Websites with a higher DA are generally considered more established and trusted by search engines, which can influence their ranking.

It’s important to note that DA isn’t a direct ranking factor used by Google, but it reflects factors that Google likely takes into account.

DA is often used by marketers as a comparative metric to measure the potential search engine ranking strength of a website relative to competitor websites. It can also help in identifying the growth of a website’s backlink profile over time.

Why Is Domain Authority Important?

Domain Authority is important for several reasons, especially in the context of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and digital marketing. Here are key reasons why Domain Authority is considered important:

1. Benchmarking Against Competitors: DA provides a quick and easy way to gauge the potential ranking strength of your website against competitors. By comparing DA scores, you can identify how your site stacks up against others in your industry, which can inform your SEO strategy.
2. Evaluating Link Building Efforts: Since DA is influenced by the number and quality of inbound links, a rising DA score can indicate that your link-building efforts are effective. It helps in understanding whether your strategies for acquiring new links are working towards enhancing your site’s perceived authority.
3. SEO Strategy Planning: A higher DA score suggests a greater likelihood of ranking higher in SERP results, which can lead to increased organic traffic. Knowing your DA can help you prioritize SEO tasks, such as content creation or link acquisition, to improve your site’s overall search engine performance.
4. Monitoring Website Health: Changes in your DA score can signal shifts in your site’s health, especially in relation to your link profile. A significant drop, for example, might indicate lost links or penalties that need to be addressed.
5. Content Marketing Insights: Websites with higher DA are often seen as more authoritative and trustworthy. This perception can make other sites more likely to link to your content, strengthening your content marketing efforts. Understanding your website’s Domain Authority can help you leverage your site’s authority to secure guest posting opportunities or collaborations.
6. Investment and Partnership Opportunities: For businesses, a high DA can attract potential investors or partners who see the site’s strong online presence as a valuable asset. It can also be a selling point for advertising space or sponsorships.

Page Authority vs. Domain Authority

Here’s a breakdown of the differences between Page Authority and Domain Authority:

Page Authority (PA)

• Scope: Page Authority measures the ranking strength of a single webpage.
• Calculation: PA is calculated based on data from Moz’s web index and includes link counts, MozRank, MozTrust, and dozens of other factors. Like DA, it uses a machine learning model to find the algorithm that best correlates with rankings across the thousands of SERPs that they predict.
• Use Case: PA is useful for comparing the strength of individual pages within a website or against pages on other websites. It can help you understand how likely a specific page is to rank in SERPs and is particularly useful for assessing the effectiveness of content or SEO strategies at the page level.

Domain Authority (DA)

• Scope: Domain Authority measures the overall ranking strength of an entire website or domain.
• Calculation: DA is calculated by considering multiple factors, including linking root domains and the total number of links, into a single DA score. This score is derived from a machine learning model that predicts a website’s likelihood to rank on SERPs based on its link profile.
• Use Case: DA is used to compare one site’s likelihood to rank in search results against another’s. It’s a broad measure of a site’s overall SEO strength and is useful for benchmarking and tracking the ranking potential of a website over time.

Key Differences

• Specificity: PA is specific to individual pages, while DA applies to entire domains or subdomains.
• Application: PA can help in optimizing individual pages or understanding why certain pages perform well. DA is more about understanding the competitive strength of an entire site and guiding strategic decisions at a higher level.
• Comparative Use: Both metrics are best used as comparative tools rather than absolute indicators of success. They are more valuable when comparing your pages or domain against competitors’ rather than as standalone values.

Both Page Authority and Domain Authority offer valuable insights into SEO and ranking potential, but they serve different purposes.

PA is best for page-level analysis and optimization, while DA provides a broader view of a site’s overall strength and competitiveness. Using both metrics together can give a more comprehensive understanding of a website’s SEO performance and potential areas for improvement.

Not to be confused with PageRank, an algorithm used by Google Search to rank web pages in their search engine results. Named after Larry Page, one of the founders of Google, PageRank was one of the first algorithms used by the search engine to determine the importance of a webpage. 

How Is Domain Authority Calculated

Domain Authority is calculated by analyzing various factors, such as the number of unique linking domains to a website and the total volume of links included in a singular DA score. This metric is a tool for comparing websites’ relative “ranking strength” over time or against each other.

Following the update to Domain Authority 2.0 in early 2019, the computation of a domain’s DA score is derived from a machine learning model’s estimations of the frequency of a domain’s appearance in Google’s search results. If domain A is more likely to show up in Google’s search results compared to domain B, domain A’s DA is expected to be higher than that of domain B.

Since DA calculations are rooted in machine learning, fluctuations in your site’s score are normal, as the algorithm adjusts based on new, removed, or altered data points. For example, should a site like facebook.com gain a billion new links, the DA of all other sites would decrease compared to Facebook’s.

This is because domains with extensive and authoritative link profiles, such as Facebook, occupy more high-DA positions, leaving limited space at the top of the scale for other domains with smaller link profiles.

Consequently, increasing your DA score from 20 to 30 is considerably more feasible than elevating it from 70 to 80. Hence, using Domain Authority as a relative measure rather than an absolute benchmark is more effective.

How To Increase My Domain Authority

Increasing your Domain Authority involves improving your overall SEO and creating a website that excels in its content quality, user experience, and link profile. Here are strategies to increase your Domain Authority:

1. Improve Your Off-Page SEO

• Build High-Quality Backlinks: Focus on getting do-follow links from high-authority sites in your niche. Use guest blogging, influencer outreach, and the creation of shareable content to earn these links.
• Disavow Bad Links: Use tools like Google’s Disavow Tool to remove spammy or harmful links that could negatively impact your DA.

2. Optimize On-Page SEO

• Use SEO Best Practices: Ensure each page has a title tag, meta description, headers, and images with alt text. Use keywords naturally and effectively throughout your content.
• Improve Internal Linking: Create a logical link structure within your site to help search engines and users navigate your content easily. This also helps distribute page authority throughout your site.

3. Ensure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly

• Responsive Design: With the increasing use of mobile devices, having a website that looks good and is responsive on all devices is crucial for user experience and SEO.

4. Increase Page Speed

• Optimize Images: Use compressed images that load faster.
• Minimize Code: Reduce CSS, JavaScript, and HTML code to increase page loading speed.
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): CDN providers distribute your content across multiple servers worldwide, reducing the load time for users no matter where they are.

5. Publish High-Quality Content

• Create Valuable Content: Publish informative, engaging content that addresses your audience’s needs. High-quality content is more likely to be shared and linked to.
• Regular Updates: Keep your website fresh with regular updates and new content to engage visitors and encourage repeat traffic.

6. Social Media Engagement

• Promote Your Content: Use social media platforms to share your content and engage with your audience. While social signals are not a direct ranking factor, they can increase visibility and backlinks.

How Do I Find My Domain Authority?

In this article, you will learn how to find your domain authority in two ways:

1. Moz’s Link Explorer Tool
2. Ahrefs

1. Moz’s Link Explorer tool

Simply enter your website and it will show you your score, how many links you have, how many of those links come from unique root domains, and how many keywords you’re ranking for as a result.

As you can see, OptinMonster has a domain authority score of 73. It has 292,400 total backlinks coming from 10,500 root domains.

2. Ahrefs

Moz’s Domain Authority’s closest competitor is Ahrefs.

Instead of calling it domain authority, they refer to their authority metric as domain rating. It’s the same thing, different name.

On Ahrefs, OptinMonster’s score is 88. It has 885,000 total backlinks coming from 35,900 root domains.

Similarly, Semrush has an Authority Score that measures a domain or web page’s overall quality and SEO performance.

It’s important to note that each tool uses its own algorithms and scoring systems, which results in the different scores. They also have their own crawlers, which results in the different reported backlinks and keyword rankings.

Now you’re probably wondering…

Is 73 a high DA score? Where did the DR of 88 on Ahrefs come from? What is considered a high domain authority, and what is considered a weak domain authority?

What Is a Good Domain Authority?

A “good” Domain Authority score depends largely on the context, including the industry you’re in, the size of your website, and the DA scores of your competitors.

Industry and Competition

• Comparative Analysis: A good DA score is one that is higher than or comparable to the DA scores of the websites you compete with in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). For instance, if your competitors have DA scores in the range of 30-40, a score within or above this range can be considered good for your website.
• Niche Specific: Some niches or industries might naturally have higher or lower DA scores on average. Highly competitive industries, like finance or health, often have websites with higher DA scores due to the intense competition and the high quality of content required.

Website Size and Age

• Newer and Smaller Websites: For a new or small website, a lower DA score is common and expected. As your website grows in content, user engagement, and backlinks, your DA will likely increase.
• Established Websites: Larger, more established websites often have higher DA scores due to their extensive link profiles and long-standing presence on the web.

General Guidelines

• DA 1-30: Often seen with new or small websites. Improvements can be made through SEO and content marketing strategies.
• DA 30-50: A moderate score indicating that your website is making progress in terms of SEO and has a growing backlink profile.
• DA 50-60: A good score for most websites, indicating a strong link backlink profile and the potential for competitive performance in SERPs.
• DA 60-100: An excellent score, typically seen with very large, established brands. It indicates a very strong backlink profile comprising of external links from other higher domain authority sites and high competitiveness in search rankings.

There you have it! You now should have a much better understanding of domain authority and its importance to your site’s rankings. Plus, you learned how to improve domain authority through high-quality backlinks.

Did you know: Poorly designed popups can ruin user experience and hurt your Google rankings. Join OptinMonster today to get access to gorgeous, professionally-designed, fully customizable popups and optins that can help you make your visitors’ experiences on your site even better!

More on SEO:

• Discover the Best SEO Plugins for WordPress: Expert Picks!
• Social Media SEO: How To Incorporate Social Media Into SEO Strategy
• SEO Best Practices: Simple Routines for Ultimate Success
• 15 SEO Tips To Help You Boost Your Traffic & Rankings in 2024
• On-Page SEO Checklist: How to Fully Optimize Your Posts
• How To Choose the Right Keywords for SEO in 5 Steps
• 50+ Powerful SEO Statistics That Will Help You Boost Traffic to Your Site
• Shopify SEO Guide: Your Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Rank #1

SEO (search engine optimization) is constantly evolving, especially with Google’s frequent algorithm updates. On-page SEO remains a critical part of getting seen online, but best practices are shifting quickly.

As a content writer at OptinMonster, I carefully track which on-page SEO tactics will drive the most traffic to our site and apply those strategies every day. I’ve condensed what I’ve learned into this guide to the most important on-page strategies.

In this article, I’ll share an on-page SEO checklist full of tactics that we currently use at OptinMonster to optimize our own WordPress posts. With these tips, you’ll be better prepared to meet current SEO standards and improve your search rankings.

• What Is On-Page SEO?
• On-Page SEO Checklist (10 Steps for Higher Rankings)
• Make On-Page SEO Easy with All in One SEO

What Is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing individual web pages, so they’ll rank higher in search engines and earn more relevant traffic. This optimization involves tweaking both the content and the HTML source code of a page.

On-page optimization includes improving elements such as content quality, SEO keywords, titles, URLs, subheadings, and more.

Effective on-page SEO ensures that your website is easy to read and understand by search engines. When you engage in on-page optimization, your pages will rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). Not only that, but your pages will also have greater appeal to users, so they’ll be more likely to click your links in their search results.

On-page SEO is one of the major categories of SEO ranking factors, along with off-page SEO, technical SEO, and content SEO.

Imagine your webpage as a brick-and-mortar store. On-page SEO is like choosing the name of your store, putting up clear signage, organizing your products neatly, and ensuring everything is easily accessible.

In other words, on-page tactics are like the efforts you make on and within your store to make everything easy to understand. These practices help customers find what they’re looking for and have a pleasant experience. With SEO, however, those “customers” are search engines and users.

On-Page SEO Checklist (10 Steps for Higher Rankings)

Creating a fail-proof on-page SEO strategy is essential for boosting your website’s visibility and driving organic traffic. Here’s a comprehensive checklist to ensure each page on your site is fully optimized.

1. Write High-Quality, Helpful Content
2. Optimize for Keywords
3. Create Compelling Title Tags
4. Write Engaging Meta Descriptions
5. Use a Simple URL
6. Optimize Internal Linking
7. Improve Content Readability
8. Enhance Mobile Friendliness
9. Add Image Alt Text
10. Use Schema Markup

1. Write High-Quality, Helpful Content

Your content is the heart of your website. It’s what engages users, provides value, and keeps them coming back.

High-quality content should be:

• Relevant: Ensure your content addresses the needs and interests of your target audience.
• Informative: Provide in-depth information that answers questions and solves problems.
• Engaging: Use a conversational tone, compelling visuals, and interactive elements to keep readers hooked.

The quality of your content is also absolutely central to your SEO efforts. Google’s most recent algorithm updates have largely focused on prioritizing webpages the search engine sees as most helpful to users.

If you want your webpages to rank in Google, your content needs to be people-first. Focus more on creating genuinely helpful posts and pages rather than stuffing in as many keywords as you can.

You’ll also need to keep in mind Google’s E-E-A-T ranking factors. E-E-A-T stands for:

• Expertise: Show that the content is created by someone with expertise in the subject matter. For instance, you can highlight the author’s credentials and experience. For instance, in the introduction of this post, I mentioned how on-page SEO is a central part of my job.
• Experience: Share firsthand experiences and insights. Personal anecdotes or case studies can add depth and authenticity to your content.
• Authoritativeness: Establish your site as an authority in your field. This can be achieved through backlinks from reputable sites and mentions in industry publications. The best way to earn this authoritativeness is by consistently writing excellent content.
• Trustworthiness: Build trust with your audience by providing accurate, up-to-date information and being transparent about your sources.

On-page SEO requires quality over quantity. It’s better to have a few pieces of outstanding, regularly updated content than many mediocre ones.

2. Optimize for Keywords

While keyword stuffing is an outdated SEO tactic, keyword optimization is still absolutely vital. Keywords let you target your content to the information that people are searching for.

Effective keyword optimization includes:

• Research: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, LowFruits, or Semrush to find relevant keywords with good search volume and low competition.
• Placement: Naturally integrate keywords into your title, meta description, headings, and throughout the content. Avoid keyword stuffing as it can lead to penalties.
• Variations: Include long-tail keywords and related terms to capture more search traffic and answer various queries.

By strategically using keywords, you help search engines understand your content and improve your chances of ranking higher.

3. Create Compelling Title Tags

Your title tag is one of the most critical on-page SEO elements because it’s what appears as the clickable headline in search results.

Here’s an example of a title tag that I used for one of my blog posts for OptinMonster.

This title, plus other on-page SEO tactics, has made this article one of the most successful posts on our blog.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when writing your title tag:

• Include Primary Keywords: Place your main keyword phrase near the beginning of the title to catch users’ attention.
• Be Descriptive: Clearly describe what the page is about in a way that entices users to click.
• Focus on Benefits: Tell readers exactly what they’ll gain by reading your content.
• Keep It Short: Aim for 50-60 characters to ensure your title isn’t cut off in SERPs.

A well-crafted title tag is a vital part of your on-page optimization efforts. A great title can improve your search rankings, significantly increase your click-through rate (CTR), and drive more traffic to your site.

4. Write Engaging Meta Descriptions

While meta descriptions don’t directly impact rankings, they play a crucial role in attracting clicks. And a higher CTR likely will improve your rankings over time.

An effective meta description should:

• Summarize the Content: Provide a brief overview of what users can expect from the page.
• Include Keywords: Incorporate your primary keyword to align with users’ search queries.
• Be Persuasive: Use a compelling call-to-action or a question to encourage users to click.
• Be the right length: Aim for a meta description length of around 150-160 characters to ensure it will be displayed fully.

Keep in mind that there’s no guarantee Google will display your meta description, but if Google does display it, a convincing description can boost your CTR.

5. Use a Simple URL

A clean and concise URL is important for both user experience and SEO. Your URLs should:

• Be Descriptive: Use words that clearly describe the content of the page.
• Include Keywords: Incorporate your main keyword to enhance relevance.
• Be Short: Keep URLs as brief as possible while still conveying meaning. Avoid unnecessary words or characters. For example, a URL like www.yoursite.com/seo-checklist is much better than www.yoursite.com/12345-p=seo-checklist.

6. Optimize Internal Linking

Internal linking is when you link to other pages and posts on your website. It’s essential for helping search engines understand your website’s structure.

For example, I recently added these links to one of my blog posts, where I included a list of some of OptinMonster’s top features:

Here are a few guidelines for internal links:

• Use Descriptive Anchor Text: Anchor text is the text that you use for your hyperlink. Ensure your anchor text is relevant to the linked page and includes keywords when appropriate.
• Link to Relevant Pages: Connect your content with other relevant pages on your site to provide additional value to users.
• Avoid Overstuffing: Use internal links naturally and only where it makes sense. Too many links can be overwhelming.

These links do more than help search engines understand your website. Relevant internal links also encourage visitors to stay on your website longer, which signals to search engines that you’re providing helpful content.

7. Improve Content Readability

Readable and scannable content keeps users engaged and reduces bounce rates, which can positively impact your rankings.

• Use Short Paragraphs: Break your content into short, digestible paragraphs.
• Incorporate Bullet Points and Lists: These make information easy to scan.
• Use Subheadings: Organize content with clear subheadings to guide readers through your post.

If you scroll through this post, you’ll notice that I’m incorporating all of these tactics.

This on-page SEO tactic is all about making your content easy to read and scan on the web. That’s why you should also consider the grade-level of your writing. I often use the free Hemingway Editor to determine my posts’ grade level and identify sentences that are hard to read.

8. Enhance Mobile Friendliness

Did you know that Google predominantly uses the mobile version of websites when determining search rankings?

That’s because the market share for mobile devices has far surpassed desktop:

To make your content appealing to Google and to mobile users, you should:

• Use a Responsive or Mobile-First Design: Ensure your website adjusts smoothly to different screen sizes.
• Optimize Page Speed: Mobile users expect fast-loading pages, so make sure you compress all images that might slow down loading. Tools like BrowserStack let you check your speed on different devices.

9. Optimize Image Alt Text

Alt text helps search engines understand what your images show and improves accessibility for users with screen readers.

• Be Descriptive: Write alt text that clearly describes the image. What would a reader need to know if they couldn’t see that image?
• Include Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords naturally, without overstuffing.
• Keep It Relevant: Ensure the alt text is pertinent to the content of the page and what’s in the image. Again, don’t just stuff keywords in that don’t make sense.

In addition to improving your overall SEO, alt text can help your images show up in Google Image search results.

10. Use Schema Markup

The final tip in our on-page SEO checklist is a bit more advanced. Schema markup is a type of code that you add to your website to help search engines better understand the different content elements of your page. These elements include:

• Products
• Star Ratings
• Reviews
• FAQs
• Recipes
• Events

With a schema markup, Google can use these elements to create rich results, like this one:

Schema markup is also called structured data, and you can use Google Structured Data Markup Helper to generate the code for your markup.

By focusing on these on-page SEO elements, you can significantly improve your website’s visibility and performance in search engine results.

Make On-Page SEO Easy with All in One SEO

You may have noticed that it will take some time to go through our on-page SEO checklist for every web page.

Thankfully, there are SEO tools that can speed up the process if you have a WordPress website

My favorite is All in One SEO.

All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the best SEO WordPress plugin to help you improve your website search rankings.

I especially love the TruSEO feature, which makes it super easy to optimize every single post and page on your website, even for beginners.

Before we get started, I want to remind you that user experience is still the most important ranking factor. Don’t force yourself to follow suggestions from AIOSEO or any other SEO tool if the suggestion doesn’t improve the quality of the content. For example, don’t overuse keywords if it makes the post sound unnatural. In fact, keyword stuffing can get you penalized by Google.

Step 1: Install All in One SEO

First, you need to sign up for an All in One SEO plan. There’s a free version available on WordPress.org, but if you want an edge over your competitors with advanced SEO modules, smart schema markup, and other advanced features, we recommend choosing a paid plan.

Once you’ve purchased your AIOSEO subscription, log into your AIOSEO account. Download your plugin file and copy your license key.

Next, log into your WordPress site and click on Plugins » Add New.

Choose the plugin file you downloaded earlier and click Install Now.

After WordPress uploads and installs the plugin, click Activate.

Next, go to All in One SEO » General Settings and enter your license key.

Now you’re ready to use AIOSEO for your on-page SEO checklist!

Bonus: You may also want to set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console to help with other parts of your WordPress SEO strategy. For now, we’ll stick with what you can do with All in One SEO.

Step 2: Check Your Basic SEO

Create a new post or page in WordPress or open one that you’d like to optimize. Add your content if you haven’t already.

Underneath the block editor where you added your content, you’ll see a section called AIOSEO Settings.

Scroll down until you see the field where you can add a meta description. The meta description tells searchers what the page is about. It should be 160 characters maximum. There’s a character counter on the bottom right corner of the meta description field.

Now, keep scrolling until you see a section labeled Page Analysis. The first tab we’ll look at is Basic SEO.

You’ll see whether your meta description and content are the right length. Again, your meta description should be no more than 160 characters. You also don’t want it to be too short. You’ll see an indicator here if you need to add or remove characters.

The general standard for content length is at lease 300 words. But remember, content quality is still the most important factor. Only make the page or post as long as it needs to be. If that’s less than 300 words, feel free to ignore this indicator.

AIOSEO also checks whether you’ve included internal and external links.

Step 3: Add a Focus Keyphrase

Next, you need to add a focus keyphrase for this page. This is the target keyword that you want this page to rank for.

We don’t have space for an in-depth review of keyword strategy here, but check out our ultimate guide to keyword research for keyword research tools and strategies you can use.

One quick tip is to use long-tail keywords whenever possible. These are longer phrases that users search for, often when they’re ready to make a purchase.

There may be less search volume for these long-tail search terms, but the user intent to purchase is often very high. So even if you don’t get as much traffic as you would for a highly competitive keyword, the users who do click through are more likely to purchase.

Latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords that relate to your keyword can also be a good option if the keywords you want are very hard to rank for.

To add your focus keyphrase, scroll up to the Focus Keyphrase section. Enter your keyphrase into the field and click Add Focus Keyphrase.

A new checklist will appear along with a keyphrase score out of 100. If your keyphrase score is low, don’t worry! I’ll optimize each of these items in the next few steps.

Step 4: Optimize SEO Title Tag

First, let’s optimize the SEO title.

The SEO title is what appears in the search results. It doesn’t have to be the same as the post or page title in WordPress, though it often is. You can see your current SEO title and meta description in the snippet preview.

The SEO post title defaults to the WordPress post title plus the site title. You can change it in the Post Title field.

Remember, the SEO post title has 1 job: to convince users to click on your search result instead of someone else’s. Make sure your focus keyphrase is included in the SEO title. If possible, include the phrase near the beginning of your title so users see it quickly. The phrase must exactly match the focus keyphrase you set in the last step.

You can get some extra help with your title with the Headline Analyzer feature of All in One SEO. To use the Headline Analyzer, click the SEO Headline Analyzer button in the top right of the editor screen. Note: the Headline Analyzer only works if you’re using the default Block Editor in WordPress.

The Headline Analyzer will give your headline a score based on factors such as:

• Word balance between common, uncommon, emotional, and power words
• Sentiment that is positive, negative, or neutral
• Headline type from either how-to, list, question, or general
• Character count above 35 characters
• Word count above 6 words but not too long
• Beginning & ending words since most readers only look at the first and last 3 words of a headline

You can preview how the headline will look in search to make sure words don’t get cut short.

If you scroll back up to the top of the SEO Headline Analyzer box, you can try a new headline and see how it compares to your previous one.

Step 5: Revise Your Meta Description

Now let’s go back and improve your meta description.

Include the exact focus keyphrase in your meta description. This will signal to searchers that your page has the information they want.

The meta description is a great place to emphasize search intent. If someone is searching for the phrase “challenge funnel,” their primary goal could be:

• Learn what a challenge funnel is
• Make a challenge funnel
• Pick a challenge funnel software

Your post may not cover all of those but that’s okay. You just need to make sure your content and headline clearly match a specific intent.

Step 6: Set the URL

Make sure you have an SEO-friendly URL. The URL or web address of your page should be short and descriptive. Compare these 2 URLs:

• https://optinmonster.com/how-to-create-an-online-challenge-funnel/
• https://help.clickfunnels.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409678093847-Challenge-Funnels

The first one is easier to read and gives more information about what the page will include.

Shorter URLs won’t get cut off in search results. Keeping your URLs short also means search engine crawlers won’t need as much time to crawl your sitemap.

In most cases, you can easily include your focus keyphrase as the URL slug. This is another indicator to users that your page has information they want, which will increase your clickthrough rates (CTR).

To change your page URL, click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the page editor. Look for the permalink settings and change the URL slug. You’ll need to use dashes instead of spaces since spaces are not allowed in URLs.

Step 7: Check Keyword Density

Now you can scroll back down to the Focus Keyphrase section under the block editor and check your keyphrase usage again.

I’ve already added the focus keyphrase to the meta description, SEO title, and URL.

Now let’s make sure to use keywords in the first paragraph, some of the headings and subheadings, the alt text of images, and the content itself.

Again, don’t force the keyphrase anywhere that doesn’t sound natural or if it will confuse the reader.

Step 8: Review Readability

Finally, you can review your overall page readability.

Scroll down to Page Analysis and click the Readability tab. All in One SEO looks for:

• Images and videos in content
• Paragraph lengths of under 120 words
• Passive voice use of under 20%
• Transition words in over 25% of sentences
• Consecutive sentences starting with different words
• Subheadings every 300 words or less

As always, these are suggestions made by software, not laws governing how you must write your content. You know your audience and your business best, so always write quality content for people first, not robots.

Use This On-Page SEO Checklist to Skyrocket Traffic

Whether you decide to use AIOSEO or just follow our checklist yourself, these on-page SEO factors can help you improve your search rankings and drive more traffic to your site.

Want to learn more about SEO? Check out these resources:

• SEO Beginner’s Guide: Learn the Basics & Most Important Tips
• Cracking the Code: Unveiling 10 Powerful SEO Ranking Factors
• What is White Hat vs. Black Hat SEO: How to NOT Do SEO

Once you’ve started driving more traffic to your website, it’s time to convert those website visitors into subscribers and customers. With OptinMonster, you can use popups, floating bars, and other onsite marketing campaigns to show your best offers to the right people at the right time.