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.

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.

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.

A higher average time on page can help your site rank higher on the search engine results page (SERP). It also gives you more time to encourage your website visitors to subscribe, purchase, or take another action on your website.

In this article, I’ll show you what average time on page is, why it matters, and 10 easy ways to increase it.

Here’s everything I’ll cover in today’s post:

• What Is Average Time on Page?
• Why Does Average Time on Page Matter?
• Average Time on Page in Google Analytics
• What Is a Good Average Time on Page?
• How To Increase Average Time on Page?

What Is Average Time on Page?

Average time on page is the average amount of time a site visitor spends on any one page on your website.

If most people who land on your eCommerce website spend about 2 minutes on your homepage, your homepage’s average time on page is likely close to 2 minutes.

To calculate the average time on page, you divide the total amount of time spent on the page by the number of non-exit pageviews.

For example, let’s say in a given month, 2,000 pageviews spent 500 minutes on a landing page. 500 of those pageviews were page exits or bounces, so we exclude those. The average time on page would therefore be:

500 minutes / (2,000 pageviews – 500 page exits or bounces) = 500/1500 = 0.33 minutes or 20 seconds

Here’s what the average time on page looks like in the Google Analytics dashboard:

I’ll show you how to access or measure your website’s average time on page in Google Analytics in the next section.

For now, remember that the average time on page does not take into account exits or bounces.

Page exits are when the user goes to a different website after viewing a landing page or other product pages on the same website. That last page is counted as an exit page in Google Analytics.

Bounces are single-page sessions where the user visits the page but then clicks back to the search results without going anywhere else on the website.

This definition will be important later when we think about how to increase the average time on page. But first, let’s discuss why average time on page is important.

Why Does Average Time on Page Matter?

Average time on page is a measure of your website’s usability and how well visitors engage with your content.

It’s not enough to just get tons of traffic on your website. You need visitors to actually read what’s on your website, click links, subscribe to your email list, purchase products, and engage in other ways.

Because it’s a measure of user engagement, average time on page may contribute to search ranking.

Search engines tend to prioritize high-quality websites, and one indicator of that is how long visitors spend on various pages. If most visitors are leaving a page almost immediately, that may be a sign of poor user experience and low content quality.

As you work to increase your average time on page, chances are your user experience will improve. And as your user experience gets better, your conversion rate may also rise.

Average Time On Page in Google Analytics

If you have been following the news, Google will soon shut down Universal Analytics. In its place, Google is encouraging users to start using Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

However, if you have been using Universal Analytics to measure your website performance, you might not be familiar with the new metrics that GA4 uses to track your website.

But don’t worry, I’ll explain them in detail for you to understand these metrics.

To find your average time on page in GA4, go to Google Analytics.

In GA4, the average time on page is called the average engagement time.

To find it, click on Reports» Engagement » Pages and Screens. Scroll to see a report of your page engagement metrics, including average engagement time.

In Google Analytics, you can search for a specific page’s engagement metrics from the Pages report.

In the past, Universal Analytics had a few metrics that were related to average time on page. Since Universal Analytics will no longer be in use, I’ll explain the differences between the metrics that the tool used to avoid any confusion.

Average Time on Page vs Average Session Duration

In the Audience Overview screen of Universal Analytics, you’ll see another metric called the Average Session Duration.

While this may sound very similar to the average time on page, it’s actually quite different.

The average session duration measures how long visitors spend on your website as a whole, including multiple pages. Average time on page measures time spent on a specific page.

Another important difference is that the average session duration does not ignore exits and bounces. So bounces and exits often contribute very low-duration sessions to the overall average.

Because of this, the average time on page is often greater than the average session duration.

Average Time on Page vs Bounce Rate

You’ll also see something called bounce rate on the Behavior report in Universal Analytics. GA4 does not have this metric.

Bounce rate is the percentage of users who click directly back to the search results after viewing a page.

For the most part, all pages with a higher average time on page tend to have a lower bounce rate. But this is not always the case.

A user might spend 2 hours reading a page from start to finish, leaving comments, and actively engaging with the page. If they click back to the search results after all that, however, it’s still counted as a bounce.

That’s why you don’t need to panic if you see a high bounce rate or low average time on page in isolation. What matters is the big picture of all these page metrics put together.

What Is a Good Average Time on Page?

A good average time on page varies by industry. But generally 50-60 seconds is considered good.

Rather than comparing yourself to competitors or random brands you see on social media, focus on what’s normal for your business.

When you have a good understanding of typical visitor behavior on your website, you can make the changes necessary to increase the average time on page.

The average time on a page is influenced by a combination of factors related to both your website and your visitors. Here’s a breakdown of the key influences:

• Relevance: Content that directly addresses user intent and offers value keeps them engaged for longer.
• Comprehensiveness: Lengthy, in-depth articles naturally hold user attention longer compared to short snippets.
• Readability: Easy-to-read content with proper formatting and visuals encourages users to stay on the page.
• Page loading speed: Slow loading times lead to frustration and prompt users to bounce off the page.
• Navigation: Clear and intuitive navigation allows users to find the information they need quickly and keeps them engaged on the site.
• Visual appeal: A well-designed website with engaging visuals is more aesthetically pleasing and holds user attention.

I’ll cover some of these factors in more detail later. Next, let’s go over the actual strategies to improve the average time on page.

How To Increase the Average Time on Page?

Simply driving up the number of sessions or pageviews is not always enough to increase your average time on page. The traffic needs to be high quality and visitors need to engage with your pages.

Remember how the average time on page is calculated:

Total time spent on page / (Total pageviews – Page exits or bounces)

Based on this formula, there are 3 ways to increase the average time on a page benchmark:

1. Increase time spent on page
2. Reduce bounce rate
3. Reduce exit rate

Now let’s look at some specific strategies that will help you achieve these 3 and increase average page engagement time.

1. Create Good Content
2. Use Exit-Intent Popups
3. Optimize Page Navigation
4. Embed Videos
5. Run a Comment Contest
6. Add a Quiz
7. Use Gated Content
8. Add a Chatbot or Live Chat Popup
9. Improve Page Load Time
10. Optimize Your Site For Mobile

1. Create Good Content

Good, informative, and well-written content is engaging. It grabs the reader’s attention and keeps them interested. When users are engaged, they are more likely to spend more time reading and exploring the content.

All the tech and design-based tricks in the world can’t rescue your user engagement from bad content.

If your site content is hard to read or doesn’t deliver what you promised, no one will want to stay on your site. Fortunately, a few best practices can help.

• Tell readers exactly what they’re going to get in the first few sentences of your content. Get to the point quickly to catch their attention. You can go into more detail later.
• Create actionable, in-depth content, not just fluff. Make sure to include calls-to-action (CTAs) in your content as well.
• Break down your content into digestible chunks with clear headings, subheadings, and bullet points. Make it easier for users to skim and find the information they need, encouraging them to delve deeper.
• Go beyond static text and images. Embed quizzes, polls, or surveys directly related to your content. This keeps visitors engaged in actively participating in the topic.
• Weave first-person narratives or anecdotes into your content to illustrate your points. Stories are inherently engaging and can hold users’ attention for longer stretches.
• Aim for a Flesch-Kincaid reading ease score in the 60s to 70s range. This ensures your content is clear and understandable for a broad audience.
• Use relevant keywords throughout your content, but naturally. Don’t stuff keywords as this can hurt readability. Using the right keywords helps you attract the right people to your page, deliver valuable content, and increase the average time on page.

To audit your content quality from the search engine optimization (SEO) point of view, you can use All in One SEO (AIOSEO) to check your content readability right in WordPress:

2. Use Exit-Intent Popups

Exit-intent popups are another great way to keep visitors on your individual pages longer.

But wait, popups are annoying, right?

Only if they appear right when visitors get to a page before they have even had a chance to read anything.

Not really. Popups can actually improve your conversions if they appear for the right people at the right time and on the right page.

Take, for example, exit-intent popups. If you trigger them when visitors are about to leave, you get an important opportunity to improve the user experience (UX).

Exit intent popups with a relevant and enticing offer can recapture abandoning visitors and turn them into subscribers or customers.

You can use exit intent popups to offer content or product suggestions based on how quickly they leave the page.

For instance, people who try to leave immediately may not have found what they were looking for. So you can direct them to content that may be more helpful.

On the other hand, visitors who spend a few minutes reading a page may be eager for related content. For them, you can create a popup that they might prefer.

You can also offer discount codes, free shipping, or other incentives at checkout to win back eCommerce buyers who are about to leave without purchasing.

And the easiest way to create these exit-intent popups is with OptinMonster.

OptinMonster is the best popup builder for re-engaging visitors throughout your website.

Its signature Exit-IntentTM Technology uses precise targeting rules to show the right message to the right visitor at the right time.

OptinMonster also features a super intuitive drag-and-drop builder that anyone can use to create a popup campaign from scratch.

You can choose from its 100+ templates to create an exit intent popup or customize a template to match your brand style:

If you’re curious, you can see how Flywheel increased engagement and conversions with OptinMonster.

Get Started With OptinMonster Today!

BONUS: Done-For-You Campaign Setup ($297 value)Our conversion experts will design 1 free campaign for you to get maximum results – absolutely FREE! Click here to get started →

3. Optimize Page Navigation

One easy way to increase time on page and decrease bounces and exits is to make your pages easy to navigate.

Adding a table of contents (TOC) near the beginning of a page can provide structure and direction for readers.

You might have noticed this blog has a table of contents towards the beginning. If you check out other blogs in OptinMonster, you’ll see almost all blogs open with a table of contents.

That’s because we, at OptinMonster, understand the value of a TOC from the UX point of view and how it can impact the search engine rankings.

Many visitors see a huge wall of text and feel overwhelmed or discouraged trying to find what they need. Adding a table of contents can help them navigate instead of leaving the page.

You can also increase your page session duration by adding internal links to other pages on your site throughout your content.

To keep these links from decreasing your average time on page, just make sure you don’t have too many unnecessary links peppered throughout the post. Only add links where it matters or where they provide more depth and context.

For external backlinks, set these to open in a new tab or window. That way the user won’t leave your page by default if they click on a link to another website.

4. Embed Videos

Videos are a great way to build engagement and improve the average time on page because it takes time for people to finish watching videos.

Good videos are inherently captivating. They break up text-heavy content and cater to visual learners, keeping users engaged for longer stretches.

Videos also allow you to tell stories, showcase processes, or demonstrate concepts in a way that static text can’t. This makes your content deeper and more interesting.

Recent research done in the field of video marketing states that 82% of customers are convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video.

Ideally, you should add your own video content. But you can also embed videos made by others as long as the videos are relevant to your page.

With a plugin like Smash Balloon, it’s easy to add a YouTube feed or embed standalone videos anywhere on your WordPress site:

Here’s a short video that tells you how you can use Smash Balloon to create a beautiful YouTube feed using Smash Balloon’s YouTube feed:

5. Run a Comment Contest

Contests are fun and super engaging. With contests, you can gamify the user experience to make people spend more time on your page. Here’s how:

Let’s say you announce a comment contest where people have to leave a blog comment at the end of an article for a chance to win the contest.

But to leave a comment (and to enter the contest), readers will first need to read the post:

It’s a clever way to improve your average time on page while incentivizing your readers to read your content.

RafflePress makes it easy to track and confirm comment entries in WordPress. You can then pick the winner with a click of a button:

6. Add a Quiz

Just like online contests, quizzes are another interactive element you can use to boost engagement and even generate leads.

Thanks to the Zeigarnik effect, most people will want to finish a quiz once they start.

You can create lead generation quizzes with tools like Interact or Typeform, then embed your quiz in an OptinMonster campaign.

Here’s an example. GoPro uses an online quiz on its website to understand how its customers plan to use its product. Once the quiz is over, GoPro requires people to sign up with their email addresses to see the results:

If you can create quizzes that offer personalized feedback or results based on the users’ choices, it’ll motivate them to complete the quiz. Furthermore, you can also lead them to other content pieces on your site related to their outcome.

And the best part? Well-designed quizzes have a virality quotient in them. People who take them are likely to share it with their friends on social media networks, inviting more website traffic and more users interested in taking the quiz.

This, naturally, will help you attract more people to your site and improve your average time on page.

7. Use Gated Content

Gated content is a type of content piece that you can offer to your website visitors. The use of gated content requires people to share their email addresses in exchange for the content piece.

Gated content comes in various formats like ebooks, white papers, reports, webinars, or exclusive videos.

Here’s an example of a gated content piece that we use at OptinMonster:

It might seem counter-intuitive to use gated content to increase the average time on page because it restricts access to the full content.

However, there are ways gated content can achieve this if you use them strategically:

• Highlight Value: Provide compelling previews or summaries of the gated content. This builds curiosity and entices users to invest their information for the full value.
• Focus on Benefits: Clearly communicate the benefits users will gain by accessing the gated content. This could be exclusive insights, in-depth analysis, or valuable resources.
• Deliver on Promises: The gated content itself should deliver on the promised value proposition. High-quality, engaging content justifies the user’s information and keeps them engaged for longer durations.
• Focus on Problem-Solving: Frame the preview to highlight a common pain point your target audience faces. Then, position the gated content as the solution with specific benefits it offers (e.g., “How To Increase Blog Traffic: 25 Proven Strategies“).
• Complementary Content: Consider offering ungated content alongside the gated piece, such as a short blog, outline, or testimonial video. This gives users a taste of your expertise and entices them to access the full-length gated content.

Plus it’s a great way to build your email list with interested leads. Learn more with our ultimate guide to gated content marketing.

8. Add a Chatbot or Live Chat Popup

Chatbots and live chat are the perfect ways to keep visitors on your page because you are helping them make a decision that will benefit them.

You can use chatbots or live chat services to answer presale and support questions, recommend products or services, and resolve any problems quickly.

OptinMonster comes with a chatbot block built in, and you can also create a floating live chat popup with OptinMonster:

Here are some ways to use a chatbot to increase the average time on a page:

• Proactive Support and Assistance: Train the chatbot to offer proactive support or assistance to users throughout their browsing journey. For instance, it can suggest relevant content, offer help with finding specific information, or provide a friendly presence.
• Go Beyond Simple FAQs: Instead of just answering the most frequently asked questions (FAQs), train your chatbot to have engaging conversations. It can ask follow-up questions, provide interesting facts related to the topic, or even offer lighthearted banter. This keeps users interacting with the chatbot for longer.
• Personalized Recommendations: Based on user queries or browsing history, the chatbot can recommend relevant content, products, or other blogs on your site. This personal touch encourages users to explore further and discover new content pieces.
• Interactive Tutorials and Guides: You can use the chatbots to deliver interactive tutorials or guides on specific topics. This can break down complex information into smaller, more manageable steps, keeping users engaged as they learn.
• Gamification Elements: Integrate gamification elements like quizzes, polls, or challenges within the chatbot interaction. This adds a fun layer to the user experience and motivates them to spend more time engaging with the chatbot.

9. Improve Page Load Time

If you want to boost engagement, figuring out your page load times is a crucial first step. Freelancers and business owners, and everyone in between, should know just how big of an impact speed can have on the average user experience and their overall marketing strategy.

Poor loading times can affect how people find and interact with your website. When a site takes too long to load, there’s a very good chance visitors will leave without taking action.

Alternatively, fast-loading pages means more opportunities to connect with your audience and boost conversions.

So it makes sense that decreasing load time will reduce your bounce rate and increase your average time on page.

Most leading eCommerce websites have some of the best and fastest page loading times. Take, for example, Gymshark:

Want to check your site’s loading speed? Here are some free websites you can use to test your website’s page loading time:

• Pingdom Website Speed Test
• GTmetrix
• PageSpeed Insights by Google

If you’re using WordPress, check out this ultimate guide to improving load time.

10. Optimize Your Site For Mobile

Statistics show that 60% of web traffic now comes from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. That means a significant majority of visitors will likely bounce off your site if it’s not optimized for these devices.

That’s why it’s important to make sure that your site is mobile-friendly.

Optimizing for mobile means your website is easy to navigate, read, and interact with on smaller screens. This creates a smooth and enjoyable browsing experience for users who will want to stay on your site longer.

A positive user experience on mobile usually leads to better engagement metrics, such as lower bounce rates and longer average session duration.

Search engines like Google consider these metrics when ranking websites, which gives your site an SEO edge.

We’ve got a complete guide to mobile SEO that you can use to get started.

If you want to check your website’s mobile-friendliness, here are 2 free websites that you can use:

• Google Lighthouse: This is an open-source tool from Google itself. Simply download its Chrome extension and analyze any website you want to test to generate audit reports.
• Mobile Friendly Tester by BrowserStack: This tool allows you to see how your website looks on different mobile devices and browsers. It also offers a free plan with limited testing options.
• Small SEO Tools: This free online tool lets you check your website’s mobile responsiveness for free. It provides a basic report on mobile-friendliness and highlights potential issues.
• Responsive Design Checker: This tool allows you to resize your browser window to see how your website adapts to different screen sizes. It’ll give you a general idea of its mobile-friendliness.

Here’s a look at how well OptinMonster’s website fares when I entered its URL address into the Small SEO Tools’ mobile-friendly test:

Ready To Apply These Tips To Your Site?

Those were some of the best and easiest strategies that you can use to boost your website’s average time on page.

By implementing these ideas and continually refining your approach, you can create a website that not only captures user attention but also offers a delightful user experience.

And if you liked this article, you might also be interested in the following resources:

• 45 Best Digital Marketing Tools To Boost Your Business
• Ultimate eCommerce Optimization Guide: 13 Tips to Boost Sales
• SEO Beginner’s Guide: Learn the Basics + Top Tips for 2024
• SEO Ranking Factors: Unveiling 10 Powerful Factors for 2024
• 12 Tips to Reduce Bounce Rate and Boost Your Conversions

Ready to keep users on your site longer? Get started with OptinMonster today!

It’s an influential marketing hack bloggers and businesses use to reach new audiences, share expertise, and boost their online presence.

Here are just a couple of examples to prove our point:

• Elna Cain used guest posting to make a full-time income from freelance writing
• Buffer used guest posting to attract 100,000 customers.

As the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) points out, guest blogging is an essential part of your marketing funnel, providing offsite expert content:

Note: Throughout this article, the terms ‘guest posting’ and ‘guest blogging’ are used interchangeably, as they convey the same meaning.

If you’ve ever wondered how guest posting can benefit you or how to get started, you’re in the right place.

This guest posting guide will dive deep into the ins and outs of guest blogging, offering tips and insights for startups and established businesses.

• What Is Guest Posting?
• What Is a Guest Blog Post?
• Benefits of Guest Blogging
• Essential Steps for Successful Guest Posting

What is Guest Posting?

Guest posting, also known as guest blogging, refers to the practice of writing and publishing an article on someone else’s website or blog. It’s a way to share your expertise and insights with a new audience and can offer several benefits for both the guest bloggers and the host sites.

What is a Guest Blog Post?

A guest post is an article or piece of content written by someone who is not a regular contributor to a website or blog. Instead, the content is contributed by an external writer, often aiming to promote a particular message or brand.

Benefits of Guest Blogging

Now, let’s look at some benefits of becoming a guest blogger. By writing guest posts on blogs, you can improve on the following:

• Referral Traffic:
  • Boost referral traffic and content marketing ROI by driving traffic from other reputable sites.
• Brand Awareness:
  • Introduce your brand to new audiences through content on other sites.
• Lead Generation:
  • Attract new subscribers and improve lead generation due to new readers visiting your site or landing page.
• Social Proof:
  • Gain credibility when trusted, authoritative sites publish your content.
  • Regular guest blogging can position you as an industry expert.
• SEO Link Building:
  • Obtain backlinks from high-quality sites, a key SEO ranking factor.
  • Quality backlinks are seen as signals by ranking algorithms, improving your site’s position on Google search engine results pages.

• Content Marketing:
  • Guest posting helps website owners meet their content needs, addressing a major content marketing challenge.

Remember, the success of guest posting largely depends on the quality and relevance of the content, as well as the reputation of both the guest blogger and the host site.

Related Content Ultimate List of Blogging Statistics and Facts

Essential Steps for Successful Guest Posting

Here’s the step-by-step tutorial you need to follow to do guest posting successfully:

1. Know Your Goals
2. Find Guest Posting Opportunities
3. Guest Post Outreach
4. Choose a Winning Guest Post Idea
5. Submit Your Pitch
6. Write Great Content
7. Work That Bio
8. Be Responsive
9. Promote Your Content
10. Write More Guest Posts
11. Track Success

Step 1. Know Your Goals

Like every other marketing strategy, a successful guest blogging strategy starts with knowing your goals. After all, you have to know where you’re headed if you ever expect to get there.

The typical goals for a guest blogging strategy align with the benefits described earlier. They include:

• Driving traffic to a specific landing page (or to your site in general) to get more leads and sales
• Building awareness of your brand, products, and services
• Improving SEO by attracting inbound links
• Positioning yourself as an expert so you can be cited more often and get speaking engagements
• Increasing email subscriber numbers or your social media audience

It’s essential to have a goal in mind so you can frame your author bio appropriately and ensure that your links deliver what you’ve promised. It’s the best way to build trust with the new audience you’re attracting.

Step 2. Find Guest Posting Opportunities

Before you write a guest blog, you’ll have to find a site that accepts guest authors and is actively looking for content. Beyond that, you’ll need to ensure that posting on the site will help you meet your goals.

How to Find a Site That Accepts Guest Posts

There are lots of ways to find sites that are happy to accept guest posts.

For example, you can use Google to find sites that accept guest posts on the topics you want to write about. Some sample search queries include:

• [topic keyword phrase] + “write for us”
• [topic keyword phrase] + “guest article”
• [topic keyword phrase] + “become a contributor”

These queries should direct you to a blog’s guest post guidelines page, guest post submission page, or actual guest pieces from other contributors.

See this list of search queries from Optimize Smart for even more suggestions.

You can also use similar queries on Twitter. Just type “guest post” or “guest article” into the search box, and you’ll see a list of tweets showing guest posts.

Whether you’re using Google, Twitter, or another search source, make a note of the guest blogging sites. You’ll need those later when it’s time to see if the opportunity is right for you.

You can also find guest posting opportunities by checking out where your competitors are guest posting. Most guest bloggers will share their posts to enhance their reputation. When you follow competitors on social media or subscribe to their email newsletter, you’ll likely see links to their guest posts.

Another way to find this information is to see where their inbound links are coming from. To do this, log in to Semrush (Ahrefs is also a good alternative), and go to Backlink Analytics. Type the URL of the competitor site you want to check into the search box. Then select the Backlinks tab.

When you get the report, you’ll be able to see the actual backlinks, the anchor text, the referring domains, and more. Look for the dropdown menu that says Ref. page platform and change the platform to Blog. This will narrow the results down to blog sites, and some of these backlinks may be from guest posts.

This information will help you find more sites that accept guest posts. For more information on using Semrush for guest blogging research, see their article on How to Guest Post for SEO

Other places to find guest posting opportunities for your guest blogging strategy include:

• Alltop, which lists the top guest posting sites in almost every niche
• Lists of sites that accept guest posts, like this one
• Checking out where the most prolific bloggers in your niche are guest posting

How to Assess Guest Blogging Opportunities

Finding the sites is only one part of the equation. You also have to figure out if those sites are worth your while and will help you meet your goals. Most importantly, you should choose sites that aren’t spammy. Publishing on spammy sites can hurt your guest blogging SEO.

Here are some areas to assess. Pick one of the sites you identified above to get started.

Domain Authority

First, use Moz’s Link Explorer to check the domain authority for the site you’re considering. This tactic tells you if the site is well-regarded online. It’ll also give you an idea of whether guest blogging on that site will provide good value in terms of links and referral traffic. Here’s a domain authority report for the Content Marketing Institute as an example.

The higher the number (on a scale of 0 to 100), the better.

There’s no clear benchmark for what is a “good” domain authority score. The average will vary based on industry and the size of your niche. But as you’re comparing potential sites to guest post for, it’s a smart idea to prioritize the ones with the highest domain authority.

You must create an account to use Moz’s Link Explorer. The free account allows a limited number of searches per month. Pricing for Moz Pro starts at $99 per month

Follower and Subscriber Count

You should also check for the brand’s email subscriber and social follower numbers. Most site owners publish these if they’re big enough, and it’ll give you an idea of the size of the potential audience you could reach.

If social follower numbers aren’t on the site, check out their social media profiles yourself and see if the website owners have an audience, and whether they actively promote all content published on their site (including guest content). If you look back over a month’s worth of content, you’ll see whether they regularly post links to blog posts.

Blog Content

Next, look at the content of the website’s blog. See if the content published is a match for the topics you want to write about. Don’t worry if comment numbers are low; that’s true of many sites these days. And even if the number of social shares isn’t impressive, a site that reaches your ideal target audience can still help you meet your goals.

Check out the author bios at the end of guest posts, to make sure you’ll be able to get appropriate credit and send readers back to your site, as in the example below from the OptinMonster blog.

We’ll look at how to create a great guest blogging bio later in this guide.

Step 3. Guest Post Outreach

Before you approach site owners to suggest a guest post (known as “pitching”), you’ll need to form a connection with them.

Don’t be fooled by all these guest blog post pitch templates you see online. For most site owners, cold pitches won’t work unless the content is stellar.

In fact, many website owners are so tired of irrelevant pitches and poor quality content that they’ll only take guest content from people they already know, like, and trust. Here’s how you can become one of those people.

First, get to know their site and the type of content they publish by following them on social media, where many people share their content, or by subscribing to their site in Feedly, so you get updated whenever there’s something new.

Read the content consistently for a few weeks, or longer, so you understand what matters to them and their audience. If they list their top-performing or featured content on their site, check that out, too. For example, anyone visiting WPBeginner can easily see what kind of content is most popular by looking at the sidebar:

Connect with site owners on social media, so you can tag them when you share their site content. Share anything you really love and include a comment so it’s not just a plain link.

Comment on their blogs, sign up for their email marketing newsletter, and respond to their emails.

The point is to build a relationship with the site owner. Don’t fake it; they’ll figure it out and you won’t achieve your goals.

Step 4. Choose a Winning Guest Post Idea

Once you have a good understanding of your target site, and what matters to the site owner, it’s time to find a topic to pitch.

You should already know what’s popular on the site. Now, think about how you can add value by:

• Responding to what’s on the site
• Providing additional information on a popular topic
• Writing something new on a topic that’s likely to be popular with the audience

When you’re ready to narrow your choice, Buzzsumo is a great tool to use. With Buzzsumo, you can search for the most shared content on a specific site, within your industry, or within a general topic.

You can use these results to discover what blog topics readers are likely to share. When more readers share your guest post, your brand will get more reach.

If you find a topic that’s widely shared, and relevant to a site, but hasn’t yet been published on your target site, that’s a good topic to kick off your guest blogging strategy.

Buzzsumo has a 30-day free trial. After that, pricing starts at $199 per month.

Looking for an edge when choosing your topic? Research shows that in-depth content, posts that use proprietary research, and posts that share experiences and life hacks tend to be popular.

Important note: Before pitching a guest blog topic, make sure the site doesn’t already have a post about it. If the blog has a search bar, search for a few related keywords to see what posts they already have. You can also use the Google operator site: xyz.com to search for results within that website. While you want to create posts similar to the site’s most popular content, you shouldn’t pitch specific topics that have already been covered.

One last thing: if the site has guest post guidelines for pitching and writing, read them. If you don’t, website owners might just reject your pitch before even reading it.

Step 5. Submit Your Pitch

For a successful guest blogging strategy, it’s important to avoid generic guest posting pitches. If you’ve done your homework as we suggested earlier, you’ll be able to craft a winning pitch that’s personal to each site owner with very little effort.

The first rule is to keep the pitch short and to the point. Site owners, especially those with authoritative sites, get a LOT of pitches, so don’t waste their time.

Second, use their name – most site owners won’t read pitches from people who can’t be bothered to research this basic contact detail.

Third, include the post title. In fact, some successful pitches use this in the email subject line and as a secondary heading within the body of the email.

Your Buzzsumo results also give you a snapshot of popular headlines. Use this as a starting point for coming up with your own, and nail the right headline with this list of headline tools. If the person you’re pitching loves your title, you’re halfway to a successful pitch.

Next, describe the post briefly. Say what it will cover in a couple of sentences or a few bullet points.

Say how this piece of content will help their readers. Since by now you’re familiar with their existing content, this will be easy to do.

Finally, show why you’re the right person to write the post. Note, this isn’t a resume; just hit a couple of high points.

Here’s one example of how this would work.

Remember, this is not a guest posting template. Craft your own unique pitch for the site you want to reach, using your own natural tone and language.

Step 6. Write Great Content

If your pitch is accepted, the next thing to do is write your guest post. Especially if it’s the first time you’re writing for a site, you want to make it better than your best.

Craft a Stellar Headline

Start by taking a look at the headline in your pitch again. Even if the site owner loved it, it won’t hurt to come up with some alternatives. Some of the best headlines:

• Include the benefit for the reader
• Use action words
• Tap into emotion

We use headlines like those on the OptinMonster blog, and our readers love them! Here’s a guide to writing great headlines to help you nail yours.

Research Keyword Phrases

Website owners will love it if your guest content ranks well in search engines and drives organic traffic to their site. So, just like you’d do for your own content, carry out some keyword research to find a couple of core phrases you can use to optimize it.

Good keyword usage (not stuffing) shows search engines that content is relevant, which helps searchers find it – and you. Read our full keyword research guide for help with this.

Link Appropriately

Ideally, your guest post will have a great link profile, which helps with SEO and building authority. That means you should include relevant internal and external links in the guest post you’re writing.

Within the content, link to great content from the site you’re writing for, and useful resources on external sites. This helps give the content a good link profile, which is also good for SEO and building authority.

Make sure you follow any linking guidelines set out by site owners. As you’ll see when we get to the bio section, some limit links.

Include Images

Finding images can be a hassle, so unless site owners prefer to do this themselves, help them out by including or suggesting relevant images for your guest post. These will underline your main points and break up the text to make it easier for readers to scan. Use our guide to free image sites to help get high-quality images for your guest blogging strategy.

Format the Post Correctly

Finally, format the post so it matches others on the site. Note how they use subheadings, capitalization, bold text, lists, etc. The less work you leave for site owners to do, the happier they’ll be to keep working with you. Some sites provide guest post guidelines for guest post writers, in which case, all you need to do is follow them.

Step 7. Work That Bio

The bio is the payoff for the hard work you’ve invested in your guest blogging strategy. That’s because it’s where you get to link back to your own site and resources. Options commonly offered include:

• A single link to your home page
• A link to any page/resource on your site
• A link to your site plus a social media link
• A couple of web and social media links

There are even a few site owners who put no restrictions on links in the bio, though that’s not very common. In most cases, you’ll be able to link to a URL of your choice plus a social link.

How to Use Your Bio for Lead Generation

If you get the choice, consider improving lead generation by linking to a landing page with a lead magnet, so you get signups from people who already like the content you’ve written and want to learn more. Here’s an example of that guest blogging strategy from Adam Connell on Blog Boost Traffic:

OptinMonster is a great way to deliver your lead magnet. Follow our guide to creating your first campaign, then visit the Success tab in the OptinMonster campaign builder. You can deliver the lead magnet immediately via a success theme or a link, and can also send it by email.

Whether you’re linking to a landing page or not, include a clear call to action (CTA) so readers know what to do next. A typical guest posting CTA can ask readers to:

• Visit your site
• Download a free resource
• Follow you on social media

OptinMonster’s Referrer Detection feature is another useful way to capitalize on traffic resulting from your guest blogging strategy. It allows you to show specific campaigns to people coming from a particular site, without needing to create a whole landing page.

Follow our instructions for creating your first campaign, then go to Display Rules » Current URL path » exactly matches. Add the URL of your guest post.

You’ll be able to track the success of your campaign in OptinMonster’s conversion analytics dashboard.

Another approach to the bio is to define your target audience. Say who you work with and how you can help them, as in the example from Cate Scolnik below:

If you can, add UTM parameters so you can check the success of each guest blog in Google Analytics. That’ll tell you which sites are really working to meet your goals. You’ll be able to track the traffic coming from different sites within your GA4 dashboard.

If you have a WordPress site and want an easier way to track UTM links, try MonsterInsights.

MonsterInsights brings the power of Google Analytics to your WordPress dashboard with an easy-to-use interface. That’ll save you time and stress.

MonsterInsights starts at just $99.50 a year, and there’s a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Try MonsterInsights today!

Finally, there’s no rule that your guest posting bio has to be identical on every site. Don’t be afraid to change your bio depending on your goals. Here’s one bio for a travel site:

And here it is customized for a productivity site:

Step 8. Be Responsive

We’re going to keep this next guest blogging strategy tip short and sweet: keep an eye on the comment section and respond to comments and mentions of your post.

Why? Not just because it’s good manners, although that’s a good reason. Being responsive is how you make connections with your new audience, which can help you meet some of your strategic goals.

Blog owners will also be happy if you’re responsive, making it more likely they’ll be receptive to new pitches, or will suggest ways you can contribute further. This moves you even closer to achieving your goals for your guest blogging strategy.

If the blog owner allows it, subscribe to comments on your guest post, so you’ll get an email alert when anyone comments. You can also track mentions and shares of the post via a Google alert.

Step 9. Promote Your Content

Content promotion is a key part of your guest blogging strategy so more people read your content and follow it back to your site. The site owner will be happy to benefit from increased traffic, too.

You can promote guest posting content via the same channels you use to promote your own content. For example, you can inform subscribers about your guest blog in your email marketing newsletter. You can even include links to your best posts in any drip email campaigns you have scheduled.

You should also share your content on social media. If you’re promoting content via Buffer or another social scheduling platform, add your guest post links to your queue. Remember, not everyone will see your social media post the first time, so reshare your guest posts several times.

Wherever you share your guest posts, encourage your subscribers and followers to visit, comment, and share. Some will be happy to oblige.

Finally, link to and mention your guest blog content whenever it makes sense, both in posts on your own blog and on other guest posts, which brings us to the next point:

Step 10. Write More Guest Posts

While one guest post will help you achieve some goals, for real success you need to keep writing more. With a good guest blogging strategy, more is more, as long as you can maintain high-quality guest articles.

The more posts you write, the more online presence you’ll have, and the more people will see you as an authority. That leads to more invitations to write and participate in events, more organic traffic to your site, and more leads and sales.

Of course, if you’re writing a lot of guest posts, you’ll need a way to keep track of them. That’s why it makes sense to have a guest posting calendar.

An easy way to do this is to create a new calendar in Google Calendar and add the titles and due dates of any guest blogging commitments.

If you’re writing for a few publications regularly, use color-coding to have an easy visual guide to what’s coming up for which sites. You can even note when posts are scheduled to be live, so you can kick social media promotion into high gear.

Other tools for tracking your blogging commitments include Asana and CoSchedule.

Step 11. Track Success

If you want to know if your guest blogging strategy is working, you’ll need to measure success. This means using some of the tools mentioned earlier in this guide.

For example, if you want to see if your content is bringing in more leads, track traffic to your landing page with Google Analytics, and use OptinMonster’s conversion analytics to assess the success of your marketing campaigns.

Search Buzzsumo as described earlier to see if your guest content is being shared on social media. Buzzsumo also lets you set up an author search so you can track all your guest content from one place. To do this use author: [your author name] in the search box.

Use Semrush as described earlier to see how your guest content ranks for target keywords and if you’re getting new inbound links and related traffic from your guest posts.

Lastly, remember to follow up with the blog owner or editor. Thank them for the chance to contribute and ask if they have any feedback or potential opportunities for future collaborations.

That’s it. By following this guest posting guide, you’ll be ready to become a successful guest blogger.

Guest posting stands out as a tried-and-true strategy to boost brand visibility, establish authority, and foster meaningful industry connections.

But remember, the success of your guest blogging efforts is often tied to the tools you use to convert that newfound traffic into loyal subscribers or customers.

If you’re looking to supercharge these conversions, consider OptinMonster.

With its intuitive design and powerful features, it’s no wonder many successful bloggers and marketers trust OptinMonster to optimize their guest blog returns.

As you venture into the world of guest blogging, ensure you’re equipped with the best tools to maximize your efforts. Happy blogging!

Get started with OptinMonster today!

Related Resources:

• How to Write an Excellent Blog Post in 10 Steps
• Ultimate List of Blogging Statistics and Facts
• The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing
• How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy

With the rapid growth of social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, video marketing has outperformed traditional marketing, offering a dynamic and engaging way to tell your brand’s story.

So, let’s turn the spotlight on these game-changing video marketing statistics and see how they can transform your approach to digital marketing.

Every year since 2015, Wyzowl has revealed its annual video marketing report. 

Now in its ninth edition, the study garnered data from 528 respondents, comprising both professional marketers and consumers. 

Their latest findings indicate that digital video consumption is on the rise, and as a result, video marketing is thriving and delivering better outcomes for marketers than ever before.

Let’s look at some key video marketing stats from the research and analyze them for actionable takeaways.

27 Video Marketing Statistics:

1. 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool in 2023.
   
2. The highest ever proportion of marketers (96%) continue to value video as an ‘important part’ of their content marketing strategy.
   
3. 30% of people lack the time to create video content but 70% of ‘non-video-marketers’ plan to start online video marketing in 2023.
   
4. 17% of video marketers said they used video for the first time in 2022.

Key takeaway:

Video remains a predominant marketing choice, with almost 90% of businesses adopting it. Its popularity has peaked more than any time in the previous nine years.

Various reasons prevent businesses from using video, but the most common challenge is the shortage of time.

Anticipating 2024, the trajectory for video usage is on the rise. Nearly all marketers currently using video plan to continue, and 70% of those not yet using video are gearing up to embark on it.

5. 66% of video marketers created live action video in 2022.
   
6. 71% of marketers created social media videos in 2022.

Key takeaway:

While social media marketing videos and explainer videos are undeniably at the forefront, the vast array of video styles adopted by businesses is truly impressive.

The overall integration of video for internal processes and customer engagement is heartening to observe.

7. 42% of video marketers say they spend between $0 and $500 on an average video.
   
8. 39% of video marketers feel video marketing is becoming more expensive.

Key takeaway:

Evidently, most video marketers are leveraging the rise of cost-effective, and sometimes even free, video marketing channels.

Most tend to spend minimally on their regular video content. Yet, when brands decide to invest more, many favor the $1k-$5k range for each video.

However, a unique subset of brands is always ready to allocate a heftier budget for their video marketing campaigns.

In a nutshell, video marketing offers a variety of pricing options, making it more and more approachable for different kinds of businesses.

9. 63% of video marketers say that the number of video views is one of the metrics by which they measure the ROI on their video content.

Key takeaway:

Video views are the most common measure to determine a video’s effectiveness.

The last thing marketers desire is for their content to be overlooked.

10. 96% of video marketers say video marketing has increased internet users understanding of their product or service.
    
11. 95% say video marketing has helped them increase brand awareness.
    
12. 91% say video marketing has helped them increase internet traffic.
    
13. 90% say video marketing has helped them generate leads.
    
14. 87% say video marketing has helped them increase sales.
    
15. 87% say video marketing has increased dwell time on their website.
    
16. 53% say video marketing has helped them reduce support queries.
    
17. 92% say video gives them a good return on their investment – another all-time high.

Key takeaway:

We’ve witnessed a marked increase in key video marketing statistics throughout the year.

This could be a sign that brands are refining their understanding and execution of video marketing strategies.

Engaging target audience is the next big focus in video marketing. A recent survey indicates that actions such as likes, shares, comments, and clicks are highly cherished.

What’s intriguing is the shift in objectives as we dive deeper into the list.

While foundational metrics like sales and customer retention might be overshadowed in video marketing, it’s possibly because they’re tough to correlate and measure compared to direct metrics like views and likes.

Additionally, in a domain as data-centric as marketing, it’s fascinating to find that 11% of video marketers, which is more than 1 in 10, don’t always evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of their video campaigns.

18. 96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
    
19. 89% of people say watching a video has convinced them to buy a product or service.
    
20. 79% of people say watching a video has convinced them to buy a software or app.
    
21. 91% of people say they want to see more online videos from brands in 2023.
    
22. 51% of people are likelier to share videos with their friends than any other type of content.
    
23. People, on average, watch 17 hours of video content per week.

Key takeaway:

The data shows that people use videos a lot online. They watch videos to learn about products which helps them in purchasing decisions.

This means videos are essential for online shopping and should be a big part of online marketing.

Key takeaway:

24. YouTube is the most widely used video marketing platform with 90% of video marketers trusting the world’s #1 video site.
    
25. Only 36% of marketers have published live video content such as live streams on social media channels.

Results indicate that the upcoming year will likely see the same trend in the platforms marketers rely on.

Mainstream video platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook are expected to remain at the forefront of video marketing plans.

26. Video ads have an average click through rate (CTR) of 1.84%, the highest among all digital ad formats
    
27. 3.5 billion users watched videos on mobile devices in 2023, with Facebook videos attracting 26 minutes of watch time daily.

Beyond Video Marketing Statistics

The rise of video marketing seems unstoppable. With over 90% of individuals wanting more brand videos in 2023, video has become crucial for brand visibility and lead generation.

The following decade promises continued growth and success for video marketing, making it an essential brand strategy worldwide.

Video marketing is ever-evolving, with video marketing statistics highlighting its growing significance.

But, as we all know, creating compelling video content is just one piece of the puzzle. To truly maximize your marketing efforts, capturing and nurturing leads is crucial.

Enter OptinMonster: a powerful tool designed to optimize lead generation and conversion rate.

By integrating OptinMonster’s advanced features, such as exit-intent pop-ups and targeted campaigns, you can ensure that your video marketing efforts are complemented by a robust strategy to convert viewers into new customers.

Dive into the world of efficient lead generation with OptinMonster and watch your video marketing ROI soar.

Create High Converting Optin Campaigns Today!

More on Video Marketing

• 5 Video Marketing Tips To Skyrocket Your Organic Traffic And Conversions
• How to Create a Video Popup To Boost Engagement (Step by Step)

A well-crafted digital marketing plan helps you set clear objectives, understand your target audience, optimize resources, and measure success effectively. Without a plan, your marketing efforts can become disjointed and ineffective, making it challenging to compete with all the brands vying for online users’ attention.

In this post, I’ll discuss the steps for developing a robust digital marketing plan full of clear, actionable strategies so you can ensure that your marketing efforts are structured, efficient, and impactful.

• What Is Digital Marketing?
• How to Create a Digital Marketing Plan
  • 1. Set Clear Goals
  • 2. Build Solid Customer Avatars
  • 3. Take Inventory of Your Digital Assets
  • 4. Develop New Digital Assets & Decide on Distribution Channels
  • 5. Track Your Metrics & Adjust

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the process of promoting a brand, company, service, or product via the internet. It includes the use of all online marketing channels, including:

• Search engines
• Social media
• Digital Video Platforms
• Websites
• Paid online ads
• Email

A strong digital marketing plan helps you grow your business by building brand awareness, driving traffic, generating leads, and making sales.

How to Create a Digital Marketing Plan (Step-by-Step)

Before you can create a digital marketing plan, you’ll need to think about why you’re doing it. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• What results do I want?
• How will I achieve these results?
• How will I measure the results?
• What tools will I need?

Once you’ve explored these questions, you can start following these steps:

1. Set Clear Digital Marketing Goal

One of the most important steps in digital marketing planning is goal setting, so you can fully understand your business objectives.

Do you want to boost brand awareness? Are you looking to add followers on social media? Or do you want to grow your email list?

One of the most popular methods of goal setting is S.M.A.R.T. Smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Most goal-setting methods are going to encourage setting goals that meet these same criteria.

Let’s take a look at some digital marketing plan examples for setting attainable and measurable goals.

Increase Brand Awareness

If your goal is to increase brand awareness, you might set up your goal tracking like this:

Goal: Increase website traffic

Metric: 500 new weekly organic site visitors by the end of Q4 2024

Marketing Tactics:

• Create high-quality blog content
• Increase blog posting to 4 days per week
• Optimize posts and pages for search engine rankings
• Use social media marketing to engage with customers and direct them to the site
• Increase guest post contributions to other high-quality publications

Increase Social Media Reach

What if you want to increase your social media reach? In that case, your setup would look similar, but your wording would change. And, of course, your tactics will be a lot different.

Goal: Increase the number of followers on Facebook

Metric: 200 new Facebook followers by the end of Q4 2024

Marketing Tactics:

• Post valuable content on Facebook that appeals to your target market
• Increase Facebook postings from 1 to 2 times per day
• Continue responding to all questions or comments from visitors
• Use Facebook Live feature at least once per month
• Boost 5 posts through Facebook ads

Grow Your Email List

For growing your email list, you may use something like this:

Goal: Increase the number of email subscribers

Metric: 750 new email subscribers by the end of Q4 2024

Marketing Tactics:

• Create 5 new targeted OptinMonster email signup popups
• Offer lead magnets in each popup
• Use Page-Level Targeting to precisely target your lead magnets
• Use Exit-Intent® popups to capture email address before visitors leave your site
• Test your onsite digital campaigns using A/B split test

If you want to use these tactics to grow your email list, sign up for OptinMonster today!

2. Build Solid Customer Avatars

Before you can sell anything, you need to have a clear idea of who you’re selling to.

The customer avatar, a fictional character that represents your ideal customer, can help with this. Customer avatars, also known as buyer personas, tell us a lot about the prospect. For instance, you can pinpoint demographics, such as age, education level, and occupation.

Customer avatars even include the products they’ve purchased and places they’ve visited. They answers questions like:

• Who are they?
• What do they like to do for fun?
• Where do they like to shop?
• What are their habits?

You can also dive further into a customer persona to include psychographics. This includes consumers’ attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria. Just like demographics, psychographics helps you build a customer avatar of what your ideal prospect looks like.

Check out this example of a customer avatar template from Hubspot:

Here’s another example from Digital Marketer:

This information will play an important part in developing your overall digital marketing plan. The more detailed your customer avatar, the better you can customize your digital marketing strategy.

Now that you have your customers sorted out, let’s talk about your digital assets.

3. Take Inventory of Your Current Digital Assets

A digital asset has 3 main characteristics:

• It’s stored digital
• It provides value to your company
• It’s searchable and discoverable

When considering your available digital assets as a part of your strategy, you’ll start by taking inventory of your current digital assets. These can be anything from your blog content to paid ads, or even the exposure earned through word-of-mouth.

Digital assets can be owned, earned, or paid. You’ll need to inventory each type and decide which new assets you need for your digital marketing plan.

Owned Digital Assets

Any digital property that you can control and that is unique to your brand is considered an owned digital asset. A common example is your website, but it can also be things like:

• Social media profiles
• Blog content
• Case studies
• Original imagery and infographics
• Digital videos
• Email marketing

Even some of your off-site content, such as posts on Medium or content on GitHub, can be considered an owned digital asset.

It’s important to track owned media so you can get a full understanding of the buzz around your brand. This also gives you an idea of how that impacts your marketing efforts.

You can track social media directly in the analytics of the social media platform you’re using. There are also amazing tools like MonsterInsights that you can use with Google Analytics to get the info you need to track the ROI of your owned media.

Earned Digital Assets

Next, analyze your earned media assets. Earned media is any attention that you’ve earned but not paid for. You can earn media assets a number of ways including the customer service you’ve provided or through the influence of your SEO efforts.

Here are a few examples of earned digital assets:

• Guest posts
• PR
• Customer experience
• Word-of-mouth
• Press mentions
• Reviews

Other examples include user-generated videos and social media mentions. These can be from content writers, journalists, reporters, or even customers.

GoPro has a number of digital marketing examples that include earned digital assets. One of their more popular earned media assets includes YouTube videos made by customers with GoPro’s products.

Every time someone posts a cool video from their GoPro, the company gets a new earned digital asset.

GoPro encourages the practice by offering prizes for this user-generated content in their GoPro Awards. They also share many of the winning videos on their own YouTube channel.

Here’s an example of one award-winner, a spooky Halloween video created by Lukasz Lewenda.

Lukasz shot 100% of the video using GoPro.

Just like we mentioned about owned media, it’s also important to track your earned media. Depending on the type of earned media you’re tracking, there are different tools that can help.

Again, you really can’t go wrong with MonsterInsights and Google Analytics. But, you can also set up simple Google Alerts or Walk Talker Alerts that can notify you anytime your brand is mentioned online.

Here’s an alert preview for “go pro” using Google Alerts:

Track and analyze your earned media so you can include it into your overall marketing plan.

Paid Digital Assets

Finally, you’ll want to look at all of your paid assets. Typically, paid media serves as a promotion method to boost your exposure. You can find this anywhere exposure is paid for like:

• Google Ads
• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
• Social media ads
• Native ads
• Online video ads

In terms of tracking, a tool like Semrush can track both organic and paid traffic (such as pay-per-click).

4. Develop New Digital Assets & Decide on Distribution Channels for Your Digital Marketing Plan

Now, you can analyze your goals, customer avatars, and digital assets to decide what’s next. Here are some questions to answer with your marketing team:

• What digital marketing channels do your customer avatars use?
• Which of your existing digital assets be repurposed on these channels?
• What new digital assets do you need to develop?
• What marketing budget will your plan require?
• What time, staff, and resources will your plan require?
• Are you able to accomplish your original goals within the timeline you set? Or should you change it?

Once you answer these questions, you’ll be ready to implement your digital marketing strategy and start working toward your goals.

5. Track Your Metrics & Adjust Your Digital Marketing Strategy Accordingly

In the goal-setting section, I mentioned how important it is for your goals to be measurable. Here’s where that becomes important.

Throughout the time period that you’ve set for your plan, you should monitor your goal metric to see if you’re on-track.

If your goal is to add 750 new email subscribers in 6 months, you’d need to average 125 signups a month. If you only get 50 in your first month, then you probably need to adjust your digital marketing strategy or ramp up your efforts.

For instance, maybe you were using an OptinMonster popup to offer 5% off in exchange for the shopper’s email address.

If this popup isn’t getting enough subscribers, you could try increasing the coupon to 10% off or offering free shipping instead.

In short, you should continually monitor and optimize your online marketing plans based on how your metrics are performing.

FAQs

How can I improve conversion rates in my digital marketing plan?
To improve your conversion rates, use techniques such as A/B testing, improving website usability, and creating compelling calls-to-action (CTAs). These tactics will encourage more users to take desired actions, such as purchasing a product or signing up for a newsletter.

What role does search engine optimization (SEO) play in my digital marketing strategy?
SEO is crucial for increasing your website’s visibility on search engines, driving organic traffic, and enhancing your brand’s online presence. Incorporating SEO best practices, like keyword optimization and quality content creation, ensures your digital marketing strategy reaches the right audience.

How can a small business benefit from a digital marketing plan?
A well-crafted digital marketing plan helps small businesses compete with larger companies by reaching a broader audience online. It helps in building brand awareness, generating leads, and converting those leads into customers, often at a lower cost compared to traditional marketing methods.

Boost Your Business With a Killer Digital Marketing Strategy

Now you have a solid digital marketing strategy framework for your business:

1. Set clear goals
2. Build solid customer avatars
3. Inventory your digital assets
4. Develop new digital Assets and decide on distribution channels
5. Track your metrics and adjust

Want to learn more about developing an online marketing strategy? Here are some resources to help:

• 8 Digital Marketing Best Practices
• The Ultimate Beginner’s Content Marketing Guide
• 45 Best Digital Marketing Tools to Boost Your Business
• Video Marketing Tips to Skyrocket Traffic and Conversions

If your digital marketing plan includes email marketing, OptinMonster is the best way to build a high-quality email list full of engaged subscribers. You can also use our onsite marketing campaigns to keep people on your site longer, offer incentives to buy, recommend products, and more!

Social media can be one of the biggest levers of growth for your brand. It allows you to connect with your target audience in a way that other platforms simply can’t compete with.

But growing your online presence can be difficult at best. At worst, it’s downright discouraging.

That’s why, in today’s post, I’ll share 5 tried-and-tested strategies for how to raise awareness on social media for your brand.

At OptinMonster, we have spent several years growing our awareness on social media. As a result, we have been able to gain good traction on social media platforms like Facebook where thousands of people follow us.

Here’s how many people follow us on X.com (formerly Twitter) as of this writing:

And it’s this knowledge of improving our social media presence that gives us the credibility to share our first-hand experience with you.

If you implement the tips that I’ll share with you today, you’ll start seeing more followers, engagement, and conversions coming from your social efforts.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive straight into the list.

1. Convert Your Site’s Traffic Into Social Media Followers
2. Build Custom Campaigns for Social Traffic
3. Display Social Feeds on Your Site
4. Run Contests on Social Media
5. Have a Consistent Posting Schedule

How to Spread Awareness on Social Media

You may have read similar blog posts about how to spread awareness on social media.

And you’ve probably come across a hundred versions of the same advice: create engaging content your audience loves.

That’s why, in this post, I’ll share more unique strategies that you can actually apply in your progress to raise awareness on social media.

Each of the methods listed below shares the following advantages:

• They don’t require any coding skills or technical knowledge.
• You can implement them in a matter of minutes.
• These ideas are proven to work for faster results.

With that in mind, let’s check out our 5 expert tips on how to spread awareness on social media.

1. Convert Your Site’s Traffic Into Social Media Followers

Many marketers and small business owners make a common mistake: they treat their social media marketing strategy in a vacuum.

They don’t leverage other marketing channels, such as their website, email list, and push notifications as part of their brand awareness strategy.

This is a big missed opportunity.

You can redirect some of your site’s organic traffic to your social channels. From there, you’ll be able to get more social media users to follow you and raise your brand’s awareness.

And OptinMonster is hands down the best tool to send traffic to your social media channels:

OptinMonster is the #1 lead generation software that allows you to easily create ‘optin campaigns.’

Optins are marketing campaigns that seek people’s permission to send them offers, promotions, discounts, and so on. Here’s an example of an optin campaign:

Some of the most common types of optin campaigns include:

• Lightbox Popups
• Floating Bars
• Inline Campaigns
• Fullscreen Welcome Mats
• Gamified Spin-to-Win Wheels

But you are probably wondering, “How do these optin campaigns help grow awareness on social media?”

That’s where using OptinMonster’s ready-to-use marketing templates, like the one below, come into play:

This campaign allows you to seamlessly redirect users to your social media networks.

The template is 100% customizable, so you can choose which social channels to promote across your site.

You’ll also be able to modify things like the image, headline, colors, text, and more without needing any coding experience.

That’s because OptinMonster uses a drag-and drop builder to give you total control over how your campaign looks and functions.

But here’s what really makes this strategy effective: you can use OptinMonster’s targeting rules to show your social campaign to the right people, in the right places, and at just the right time in their customer journey.

That means using triggers like:

• Exit-Intent® Technology: Grow your social following from visitors who are actively leaving your website.
• Scroll Depth: Boost conversions by displaying your campaign after people have shown interest in your on-page content.
• OnSite Retargeting®: Keep users engaged by showing fresh campaigns to returning visitors.

These are just a few of the ways you can target social media campaigns to get higher conversions, though there are many others.

Want to see it in action for yourself? Click below to start your 100% risk-free OptinMonster subscription today:

Grow Your Social Following With OptinMonster Today!

BONUS: Done-For-You Campaign Setup ($297 value) Our conversion experts will design 1 free campaign for you to get maximum results – absolutely FREE! Click here to get started →

2. Build Custom Campaigns for Social Traffic

I just shared a tip about how you can send your website traffic to your social channels to raise awareness about your brand.

Now, I suggest you do somewhat opposite.

Rather than using optin campaigns to redirect users to your social media profiles, you can create optins to welcome visitors from a specific social network.

Here’s an example of what that might look like:

The popup above shows a campaign made for mobile devices. And it rewards visitors coming from Facebook with a 25% discount.

This helps you boost brand awareness and improve your word-of-mouth marketing efforts.

By creating personalized offers for visitors coming from a particular social channel, you can compound the effect of your social and organic traffic.

You also start training users to check in with your social accounts for more deals and future savings.

Plus, everything can be set up in a matter of minutes.

With OptinMonster, you can target your customers based on where they’re visiting from with Referer Detection.

Imagine being able to present an offer for visitors coming from Instagram and an entirely unique offer for visitors from the Facebook page.

You’ll be able to tailor your messaging to sub-groups (also called ‘segments’) of your audience.

This will make your brand more memorable and get you higher conversions in the process.

Want to try it out first-hand? Get started with your 100% risk-free OptinMonster account today!

3. Display Social Feeds on Your Site

So far, I have shared 2 ideas that help you link your social media traffic with your site traffic. Both these tips involve people coming and going from one marketing channel to the other.

With this 3rd tip, you can link the 2 traffic even more closely by displaying a real-time social feed on your website.

That means taking feeds from sources like:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• X.com (formerly Twitter)
• YouTube
• And more…

Then you can display social media content from these platforms on your website.

You can also show the feed in specified areas across your entire site. This can be in places like above the footer or in a sidebar.

Here’s an example from the Endeavour Team of what an Instagram feed would look like on a home page:

This gives your social media channels more exposure.

As people visit your website, they’ll have immediate access to your social media feeds. They can click directly on the feed to land on the particular social platform and start engaging with your brand.

If your website is built on WordPress, setting up a social feed on your site is extremely easy. You just need a tool like Smash Balloon:

Smash Balloon is a powerful tool that you can use to add social media feeds to your WordPress site.

This premium plugin lets you customize feeds from:

• YouTube
• Facebook
• X.com
• Instagram

Once you download the plugin, there are zero technical or coding skills required.

Everything is totally customizable with an easy-to-use dashboard. You can tailor your social feeds to your brand’s look and style.

As a result, you’ll gain a larger following on social media and build brand awareness.

Check out Smash Balloon today!

4. Run Contests on Social Media

Running an online giveaway contest is yet another great way to build awareness on social media.

Online contests are powerful marketing strategies that can help you improve your social engagement fast.

And the whole process of planning an online contest is pretty simple:

• Select a prize that is valuable for your target audience.
• Define how a new audience member can enter the contest.
• Announce the winner.
• Follow up with a special offer for all the participants.

To increase your social media following, you can make following your social media pages a prerequisite to entering the contest.

And if you want that contest to go viral, you can award extra entries for participants. For instance, if you are running a giveaway contest among your Facebook followers, you can give extra entries to people who complete one or more of these ‘bonus actions:’

• Follow your Instagram page.
• Watch a 2-Minute Video.
• Share the Contest on Their Social Feed.
• Visit a Landing Page on Your Website.
• Subscribe to Your YouTube Channel.

If you follow the strategy outlined above, you can grow your social media following and generate more revenue in the process.

By making a targeted call-to-action (CTA) aimed at growing your social engagement, you’ll be raising awareness about your brand on social media.

For more tips on making the most of online contests, check out our guide on How to Run an Online Contest to Boost Traffic and Generate Leads.

But how can you create an online contest from scratch if you’re strapped for time?

If you’re using WordPress, all you need is a plugin like RafflePress:

RafflePress is the world’s best viral contest builder and giveaway plugin.

The best part about RafflePress is that it’s really easy to create custom contests designed to go viral from the start.

That’s because you can configure ‘entry points’ that are tied to different calls to action.

For instance, someone could read a blog post for 3 entry points, share the post on social for 2 entry points, or follow your social channel for 1 entry point.

That would give each participant the ability to have 6 entry points total and boost their odds of winning.

You can set these actions to be optional or mandatory, giving your users more freedom to choose how they enter the contest.

With RafflePress, you can select prizes that your target audience will love. Then you can build a contest with CTAs to boost your online presence on social media.

From there, you’ll be able to add contests to existing posts and pages or generate a new landing page with a single click.

Plus, there’s no coding required, making this the perfect tool for beginners.

Want to see it in action for yourself? Get started with RafflePress today!

5. Have a Consistent Posting Schedule

Like I said at the start of the post, building your online presence can take time.

And one of the most important ingredients to a successful social media awareness campaign is simply consistency.

Lots of marketers and business owners begin posting on social media but burn out after a few weeks. Usually, it’s because they run out of topics to post about as time goes on.

A good way to avoid this is to create a posting schedule and calendar that you can stick to.

I highly recommend scheduling your social media posts throughout the week to make sure you are ahead of schedule.

While there are lots of tools for scheduling social posts, you might already have access to one through a popular SEO tool: Semrush.

Semrush is primarily a software used to increase your rankings on search engines like Google. It allows you to research keywords, analyze competitor strategies, and identify LSI/related keywords your posts need.

But what many people don’t know is that Semrush also has a social media poster that connects to:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com
• Instagram
• YouTube

And it allows you to easily schedule all of your social posts:

With Semrush, you’ll also have access to features that will help you improve your search engine optimization (SEO).

If your business is trying to grow on social media and improve your organic rankings, I strongly recommend you use Semrush to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

As you schedule more posts for social media, you can start automating your social strategy. This helps you build more brand awareness in less time.

Get started with Semrush today!

Get Your Social Media Game Up!

And that’s all for now! These are 5 expert tips for how to spread awareness on social media.

If you follow any of the 5 strategies above, I’m confident that you’ll start seeing the results you have been working so hard to achieve.

BONUS: Done-For-You Campaign Setup ($297 value)Our conversion experts will design 1 free campaign for you to get maximum results – absolutely FREE! Click here to get started →

If you enjoyed this post, you’ll want to check out the following resources:

• 8 Best Social Media Platforms for Small Business
• The Ultimate Beginner’s Content Marketing Guide
• 9 Ways to Grow Your Email List With Social Media
• Email Marketing vs. Social Media: Which One Is Better?
• 35 Social Media Marketing Tools You Can Start Using Today
• How To Incorporate Social Media Strategy Into Your SEO Plan
• 11 Social Media Metrics You Need to Nail Your Marketing Goals

Want to create an optin campaign to drive your site traffic to your social media accounts?

Grow Your Social Following With OptinMonster Today!