Google Analytics is a fantastic tool that provides real-time data on your website traffic. But as anyone who's looked at it knows, the interface is overwhelming and confusing. It can be hard to find the information you need. Kristin Hicks of Constant Contact highlights the must-have metrics from Google Analytics: 1. Website Traffic The first
Communication
How Do I Know if My Online Marketing is Working? [Quiz]
One of the biggest challenges when it comes to online marketing is attaching a clear ROI to your efforts. Many business owners struggle with knowing that they need to market, but being afraid of just tossing money down the drain. If you're already marketing but feeling like you're just treading water, there are a few questions you should ask
What Should My Marketing Budget Be? [Infographic]
The online marketing landscape is a bustling market. One the left, merchants trying to sell you services for an arm and a leg. On the right, merchants promising the same services for pennies. Business owners know they need to be marketing, but with all the noise they aren't sure how much they should spend on online marketing. Or, worse, they're
The Anatomy of a Successful Email
Did you bring your scalpel? We're continuing our dissection of successful marketing tools to narrow in on what makes them work. Today we're slicing open some successful emails to see how they're built. For our purposes today, I'm defining "successful" as achieving one of the below: Open Rate above industry averages Click Rate above industry
How You’re Annoying Your Customers (Without Realizing It)
For the first 16 years of his life, my younger brother's name was "STOPJON!." STOPJON! blew raspberries, jumped on the couch, yanked ponytails, trudged mud through the house and threw water balloons. STOPJON! never heard his name unless it was shouted in annoyance. Eventually, STOPJON! matured and graduated to "Jon," but not before leaving a legacy
4 Email Content Ideas for Health Professionals [Infographic]
As anyone in the healthcare industry can confirm: there just aren't enough hours in the day. And as a health professional, your first priority is your patients or clients. You probably know that you should be marketing...but you just don't have the time. Lucky for you, there is a way to do both. Emails aren't just useful for sending out
How to Find Your Perfect Customer
I'm going to be blunt: if you're still thinking of your potential customer pool as "anyone who needs my product/service," you need to stop. If pure need was all the drove purchasing decisions, we wouldn't have the variety of products we do on the market. Think about the divide between Coke and Pepsi, and how passionately customers advocate for
The Trends to Pay Attention to in 2017
2016 is finally over. It's time to brush off the dust of last year and step forward into 2017. A lot changed in the digital marketing landscape over the last 12 months. Here are the top digital marketing trends in 2017 that you need to know to keep your business competitive. Digital Marketing - You Have to Be There It may seem obvious, but
How to Get Reviews
You can't afford to ignore online reviews - your customers sure don't. 88% of consumers read reviews to determine the quality of a local business. Before ever picking up the phone, your customers will be searching for your online reviews. If you don't have any, they may not buy. But getting online reviews is a struggle many business owners face.
How to Write Epic Content
Between TV, email and social media, we're all bombarded with so many words a day that they all blur together into a shapeless mush. It takes some truly special content to stand out from the rest. How can you make your online marketing efforts reach the most people? Make it epic. Stories unite us. They define us. There's a reason why stories like
Why Aren’t People Opening Your Emails?
Ever feel like you're just shouting into a void? That no matter how amazingly beautiful your emails are, no matter how Earth-shattering the subject matter, it doesn't even matter because barely anyone is opening them? Don't lose hope! The bad news is that people aren't opening your emails. The good news is that you can fix that. If your emails
How to Make Sure Your Holiday Event Doesn’t Fall Flat
Here's a terrifying reminder: the holidays are almost here. We already gave you some tips for making the most out of the holiday season, but one of the easiest (and most popular) ways to reach out to customers is with a holiday event. Miranda Paquet at Constant Contact has some tips for rocking any holiday event. 1. Decide on a goal Do you
How to Create Compelling CTAs (Calls-to-Action)
Here's a million-dollar question: how do you get people to do what you want them to? It isn't enough to just dump words out into the universe and hope that does something. Whether you're putting together a website, sending out an email, posting on social media or drafting up a blog, you want to drive people toward a specific action. What that
How Do I Market When My Business is Boring?
Let's face it: we can't all be the cool kids. You know the type: those renegade, cutting-edge startups that shake the status quo. Some of us have to be the doers - the invisible forces that keep the world turning. Sometimes our product isn't sexy and our services are, well, kind of boring. At least when it comes to social media, blogs and website
5 Ways to Rock the Holiday Season
You can't deny it any longer: it's now officially Pumpkin Spice season. The plastic bats are coming out of hibernation, skeletons are gracing storefront windows and you can't walk three feet without seeing orange. Now's the time to dust off your strategy and start gearing up for Holiday 2016. Even if you're not selling a tangible product, you can
How to Use Email Marketing Automation, Without Turning Your Subscribers Off
Do you want more time in your day? Of course you do. While you're busy juggling all your obligations, it's easy to overlook marketing. Email marketing is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to connect with your audience...but who has the time? That's where email marketing automation comes in. Set it once, then walk away.You don't have time
10 Commandments for Millennial Marketing
A few weeks ago, we told you how to appeal to Gen Xers. Continuing on our generational journey, here's a bit of insight into millennials. This list from Rustin Nethercott of Constant Contact shows the 10 commandments of millennial marketing. Read the full article and nab an infographic here.1. Mobilize Your EffortsIt’s safe to say that mobile
60 Ways To Grow Your List in 60 Seconds [VIDEO]
Earlier this week, Dave shared 60 tips for growing your email list. It's a fantastic resource (if we do say so ourselves) but there's only one problem...it's a little long. We decided to give it another try, without any pesky things like "slide transitions" or "pausing to breath" eating up precious time. We try to be efficient. We had to tap into a
6 Dos and Don’ts of Marketing to Generation X
Poor Generation X. Wedged between the Baby Boomers and Millennials, Generation X frequently gets swept to the side. Which is a shame, because Gen Xers are the managers and entrepreneurs. In other words? They're the decision-makers.These folks, aged 35-51, have a monumental influence on the market that isn't being tapped into. Millennials are the
4 Ways to Segment Your Email List
What does your email list look like? No, not how many emails you have. How is it organized? Is it organized? Too many companies overlook list segmentation, when it's one of the most important features of email marketing. By breaking out your list, you can send targeted emails to the people most likely to act. That's powerful.Azure Collier
Creative Email Call-to-Action Ideas That Really Drive Action [Infographic]
If you send out regular emails to your customers, you know the frustration of crafting the perfect email and seeing those open rates shoot up...but the click through rates stay at rock-bottom. Once your readers open your email, they don't click on anything. Why is that?The answer is frustratingly simple: you're not giving them something they want
6 Things You Can Learn from Your Email Analytics
By Miranda Paquet, Constant Contact Making sense of your email analytics can be tricky at first.How do you know which numbers to focus on? What do all those numbers really mean anyway? Is this really worth your time?To approach your email reports with confidence, you have to understand what information you have available and how to use that
7 Ideas for Your First Autoresponder Series
Every day, you've got a thousand things demanding your attention. Can you really afford to spend time emailing out each one of your leads? Autoresponder emails are a sleek, automated way to follow up with new contacts. The best part? With Constant Contact, they take only minutes to set up.Miranda Paquet of Constant Contact has 7 simple ideas for
BizzyWeb Receives 2015 Constant Contact All Star Award
BizzyWeb has been named a 2015 All Star Award winner by Constant Contact®, Inc., the trusted marketing advisor to hundreds of thousands of small organizations worldwide. The annual award recognizes the most successful 10% of Constant Contact’s customer base, based on their significant achievements leveraging online marketing tools to engage their
[Infographic] The Email Obstacle Course: What Happens Between Send and Receive
We've all lost a couple emails to the nebulous void of cyberspace. Why is that? At what point between "sent" and "received" does an email just...vanish?This infographic via Constant Contact breaks down the life cycle of an email to get to the bottom of disappearing emails: * * *Rethinking your email strategy? Check out our Buzz Builders online
Improve Your Open Rates with These 12 Subject Line Tweaks
You have two seconds to capture your audience. Go.A great subject line and an ok subject line is the difference between a click and an instant trip to the trash bin. This week, Dave will be showing you how to make your subject lines stand out. Looking for a quick fix? Miranda Paquet of Constant Contact has some tips for tweaking your subject lines.
How to Make Your Website and Email Work Together
It's no secret that we're a little obsessed with Constant Contact. Alright, maybe more than a little obsessed. Can you really blame us? Constant Contact makes it easy to streamline your online marketing with emails, promotions, events, surveys and more. One other important feature of Constant Contact: you can sync it with your website. Today, we're
3 Simple Steps to Finding the Right Words to Use in Your Marketing
By now, you're probably sick of hearing us talk about Search Engine Optimization, but there's a reason we bring it up so often: it really is that important. Dave recently walked through the basics of SEO and he stressed the importance of keywords. But how do you identify the right keywords for your business? Natalie Denyse over at Constant Contact
Email Design Best Practices: How to Design the Perfect Email in 2016 [Guide]
by Ryan Pinkham, Constant ContactFirst impressions matter. And when someone opens your email, what they see is going to determine what they do next.Following email design best practices ensures your email looks good and delivers real results.If you’re using an email marketing service like Constant Contact to do your email marketing, you’re in
The What, When, and Who of Successful Emails [Infographic]
Jason Fidler, Constant ContactHere at Constant Contact, we’re always uncovering new data to help you create effective email campaigns.Whether it’s providing the best time to send emails based on the industry you’re in, or taking a look at what types of content result in the best click-through rates, we work hard to ensure that small businesses and
15 Last-Minute Holiday Email Ideas to End 2015 with a Bang
by Ryan Pinkham, Constant ContactLet’s face it.No matter how hard you try, it’s difficult to ever be completely prepared for the holiday season.Hopefully you’ve prepared your store or office to make sure you’re providing the best experience to customers.But what about your marketing?A tool like email marketing makes it quick and easy to promote
3 Ways to Automate Your Email Marketing this Holiday Season
Bria Sullivan, Constant ContactThe holidays are a busy time for your business.And with so much to do, you may be wondering how you’re going to keep up with your growing list of marketing responsibilities, while also keeping your business running smoothly.When it comes to your email marketing, one of the best ways to save time while still driving
5 Ideas to Make This Your Most Profitable Holiday Season Yet
Ryan Pinkham, Constant ContactIf the holidays are a busy time for your small business, you know how important the next few months will be.Consumers are expected to spend big this holiday season. If you want them to shop small, you need to plan ahead.Luckily, there are simple steps you can take to set your business up for success.Here are five
How a Small Business Made $67,000 from One Cyber Monday Email
Miranda Paquet, Constant ContactWhen Heath Bowman, owner of Southeastern Underdeck Systems, sent out an email last year on Cyber Monday, he wasn’t expecting anything groundbreaking. “Our Cyber Monday offer was our first email with Constant Contact,” Heath explains. “To be honest, I really wasn’t expecting anything from it. I had never run a
The Best Time to Send Black Friday Special Offers
Black Friday is one of the most profitable shopping holidays, and retailers are busy planning their social media and email strategy. To help retailers make informed decisions about last-minute social media and email campaigns, Yesmail analyzed the performance of 50 top retailers’ email and social promotions in the week leading up to Black
Make Google Work For You With These 4 Videos
Oh Google, my Google. What would the internet be without that trusted blue G? Since its launch, Google has moved beyond its impressive title as the most frequently-used search engine to a suite of applications, marketing tools and social networks. Plain and simple: pleasing Google is good for business. If your potential customers can't find you