“You always need a salesman” – is this going to dramatically change?

The post “You always need a salesman” – is this going to dramatically change? appeared first on TheMarketingblog.

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2018/12/you-always-need-a-salesman-is-this-going-to-dramatically-change/

9 Reasons for Leaving Your Last Job That Hiring Managers Will Completely Understand

Out of all the questions hiring managers can potentially ask you during an interview, “Why did you leave your last job?” could be one of the hardest to answer.

To effectively answer this question, you need to frame your response in a way that shows hiring managers that you know what's important to you and how to handle less than ideal situations. But you also don’t want to sound ungrateful for the opportunities you had in your previous role, or come off like you're still bitter about how you left things with your last employer.

It can be challenging to explain why you decided to leave your last position without throwing your old company under the bus. But if answered thoughtfully, this question can help you highlight your flexibility and self-awareness.

To help you nail this question at your next interview, we rounded up nine reasons for leaving your last job that hiring managers will completely understand. And even if you’ve only worked in your current role for a short amount of time, these reasons can help you frame your decision to depart your last role in a way your potential new employer can truly respect.

9 Good Reasons For Leaving Your Job

1. You’re looking to level up in your career, and your current company has limited opportunities for career growth.
2. You don’t feel challenged or you’re not learning anything new at your current job.
3. The nature of your work is not what was promised to you.
4. You’re burnt out.
5. You feel undervalued at your current job.
6. You want to make a career change.
7. You want a better work life balance.
8. Your values don’t align with the company’s values.
9. You had to leave the company due to family or personal reasons.

1. You’re looking to level up in your career, and your current company has limited opportunities for career growth.

Career stagnation can be incredibly frustrating. If you’ve worked hard at the same company for a few years, and you haven’t been promoted or even promised a promotion, you have every right to leave your current job. If you can communicate that you haven’t been able to climb the career ladder at your preferred pace during your interview, you’ll show hiring managers that you’re ambitious and goal-orientated.

2. You don’t feel challenged or fulfilled at your current job.

No job is perfect, but if you don’t feel any satisfaction at work, it’s definitely time for a change. Work becomes a chore if you don’t feel mentally stimulated or emotionally fulfilled. And hiring managers will completely understand why you’re leaving your current role, if this is the case. They’ll also be impressed with your internal need to be passionate about your job.

3. The nature of your work is not what was promised to you.

Did your current employer promise you a copywriting job, but now you somehow work in product marketing? If they’ve baited-and-switched you like this, wanting to leave the company is more than understandable. They promised you something, but failed to honor it -- so why stay?

Leaving your job to find a new role that actually meets your expectations will also show hiring managers that you can stand up for yourself and pursue what you truly want in life.

4. You’re burnt out.

If your job’s heavy workload or endless stress make you hate going to work, it’s time for a fresh start somewhere else. Burnout can make work and, in turn, life miserable and most hiring managers have experienced it at least once in their careers, so if you need a new change of pace, they’ll definitely be able to empathize with you. They’ll also respect your willingness to take care of your mental and emotional health.

5. You feel undervalued at your current job.

When your current manager underestimates your potential or doesn’t know how to leverage your skill set to its full potential, work can become frustrating and dull. So why work for a company that doesn’t challenge you or allow you to make a impact?

If you can genuinely convey these frustrations and aspirations during your interview, hiring managers will perceive you as someone who truly wants to make a difference at their company -- and that’ll only boost your chances of landing the job.

6. You want to make a career change.

In a world where most industries never stop changing, it’s common to leave a job to pursue a new career path. But even if you think your lack of experience in an industry is a vulnerability, you shouldn’t fret. Most hiring managers actually like hiring candidates from other industries because they can bring a fresh perspective to their team and company.

7. You want a better work life balance.

Sometimes employers forget that people work to live and don’t live to work. If your current job steals too many hours away from your personal life, it’s time to go. Life is for living, so if you can express your desire to work in a new role that provides a better work life balance, hiring managers will admire the respect you have for your own time.

8. Your values don’t align with the company’s values.

Whether you were never a good fit at your current company or a merger or acquisition altered its values, a moral conflict with an employer is totally a justifiable reason to leave. If you stand firmly behind your own beliefs, you shouldn’t have to compromise your ethics to drive results for a business you don’t support.

Hiring managers also want to hire people whose values align with their company’s, so clarifying that you both have similar principles will help you out tremendously during an interview.

9. You had to leave the company due to family or personal reasons.

Life happens. If you left your last job because you needed to take care of your family or nourish your physical or mental health, hiring managers won’t knock off any points during your interview. In fact, this reason will most likely bump up your score because you’ve proved that you can prioritize what’s truly important in life.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/reasons-leaving-last-job

What Does Allyship Mean?

Research has shown more inclusive companies have a 2.3x higher cash flow per employee, and are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their industry.

Increasing sales, while driving innovation -- who doesn't want that?

Undoubtedly, inclusion is critical for your company's success and long-term growth. But inclusion can't happen without allyship -- and yet, many of us still aren't sure what "allyship" means.

I have a sticker on my laptop that reads, "Ally is a verb". I got it recently at an Allyship panel hosted here at HubSpot. It's a daily reminder for me that being an ally is continuous action -- not just a label.

To ensure a workplace culture in which employees feel included and valued, it's critical you learn what allyship means, and how you can become an ally.

Allyship

Allyship is the lifelong process in which people with privilege and power work to develop empathy towards another marginalized group's challenges or issues. The goal of allyship is to create a culture in which the marginalized group feels valued, supported, and heard. Being an ally is not a label -- it is a verb.

What Does Allyship Mean?

Allyship is the continuous process in which someone with privilege and power seeks to first learn about the experiences of a marginalized group of people, and then ultimately empathize with their challenges and build relationships with that group of people.

The role of an ally includes:

• Being able to listen, and shine a spotlight on those whose voices are often unheard.
• Recognizing your own privilege and power, and using that privilege to lift others up.
• Being aware of implicit biases you might have.
• Supporting the group you're allying by letting them speak for themselves whenever possible.
• Not expecting special recognition for being an ally, and not taking credit for the ideas of the marginalized group.

Additionally, Corey Ponder, who published How To Challenge Ourselves to Grow As Allies on Medium, writes, "Allies recognize their privilege and status within the in-crowd but support others that are outsiders or lack a voice in the in-crowd. This requires challenging accepted group dynamics and recognizing that being part of the in-crowd should not supersede the importance of supporting individuals that are outsiders or that lack a voice in the in-crowd."

Ultimately, it's critical you remember being an ally is not a part-time role.

For a complete list of resources on allyship, check out How to Be an Ally: 23 Resources That Can Help.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/allyship

How to Do A/B Testing: A Checklist You'll Want to Bookmark

When marketers like us create landing pages, write email copy, or design call-to-action buttons, it can be tempting to use our intuition to predict what will make people click and convert.

But basing marketing decisions off of a "feeling" can be pretty detrimental to results. Rather than relying on guesses or assumptions to make these decisions, you're much better off running an A/B test -- sometimes called a split test.

A/B testing can be valuable because different audiences behave, well, differently. Something that works for one company may not necessarily work for another. In fact, conversion rate optimization (CRO) experts hate the term "best practices" because it may not actually be the best practice for you.

But A/B tests can also be complex. If you're not careful, you could make incorrect assumptions about what people like and what makes them click -- decisions that could easily misinform other parts of your strategy.

Keep reading to learn how to do A/B testing before, during, and after data collection so you can make the best decisions from your results.

What is A/B testing?

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a marketing experiment wherein you "split" your audience to test a number of variations of a campaign and determine which performs better. In other words, you can show version A of a piece of marketing content to one half of your audience, and version B to another.

To run an A/B test, you need to create two different versions of one piece of content, with changes to a single variable. Then, you'll show these two versions to two similarly sized audiences and analyze which one performed better over a specific period of time (long enough to make accurate conclusions about your results).

Image Credit: ConversionXL

A/B testing helps marketers observe how one version of a piece of marketing content performs alongside another. Here are two types of A/B tests you might conduct in an effort to increase your website's conversion rate: 

Example 1: User Experience Test

Perhaps you want to see if moving a certain call-to-action (CTA) button to the top of your homepage instead of keeping it in the sidebar will improve its clickthrough rate.

To A/B test this theory, you'd create another, alternative web page that reflected that CTA placement change. The existing design -- or the "control" -- is Version A. Version B is the "challenger." Then, you'd test these two versions by showing each of them to a predetermined percentage of site visitors. Ideally, the percentage of visitors seeing either version is the same.

Learn how to easily A/B test a component of your website with HubSpot's Marketing Hub.

Example 2: Design Test

Perhaps you want to find out if changing the color of your call-to-action (CTA) button can increase its clickthrough rate.

To A/B test this theory, you'd design an alternative CTA button with a different button color that leads to the same landing page as the control. If you usually use a red call-to-action button in your marketing content, and the green variation receives more clicks after your A/B test, this could merit changing the default color of your call-to-action buttons to green from now on.

To learn more about A/B testing, download our free introductory guide here.

The Benefits of A/B Testing

A/B testing has a multitude of benefits to a marketing team, depending on what it is you decide to test. Above all, though, these tests are valuable to a business because they're low in cost but high in reward.

Let's say you employ a content creator for $50,000/year. This content creator publishes five articles per week for the company blog, making 260 articles per year. If the average post on the company's blog generates 10 leads, you could say it costs just over $192 to generate 10 leads for the business ($50,000 salary ÷ 260 articles = $192 per article). That's a solid chunk of change.

Now, if you ask this content creator to spend two days developing an A/B test on one article, instead of writing two articles in that time period, you might burn $192 because you're publishing one fewer article. But if that A/B test finds you can increase each article's conversion rate from 10 to 20 leads, you just spent $192 to potentially double the number of customers your business gets from your blog.

If the test fails, of course, you lost $192 -- but now you can make your next A/B test even more educated. If that second test succeeds in doubling your blog's conversion rate, you ultimately spent $284 to potentially double your company's revenue. No matter how many times your A/B test fails, its eventual success will almost always outweigh the cost to conduct it.

There are many types of split tests you can run to make the experiment worth it in the end. Here are some common goals marketers have for their business when A/B testing:

• Increased Website Traffic: Testing different blog post or webpage titles can change the number of people who click on that hyperlinked title to get to your website. This can increase website traffic as a result.
• Higher Conversion Rate: Testing different locations, colors, or even anchor text on your CTAs can change the number of people who click these CTAs to get to a landing page. This can increase the number of people who fill out forms on your website, submit their contact info to you, and "convert" into a lead.
• Lower Bounce Rate: If your website visitors leave (or "bounce") quickly after visiting your website, testing different blog post introductions, fonts, or feature images can reduce this bounce rate and retain more visitors.
• Lower Cart Abandonment: Ecommerce businesses see 40 – 75% of customers leave their website with items in their shopping cart, according to MightyCall. This is known as "shopping cart abandonment." Testing different product photos, check-out page designs, and even where shipping costs are displayed can lower this abandonment rate.

Now, let's walk through the checklist for setting up, running, and measuring an A/B test.

How to Conduct A/B Testing

Before the A/B Test

1. Pick one variable to test.

As you optimize your web pages and emails, you might find there are a number of variables you want to test. But to evaluate how effective a change is, you'll want to isolate one "independent variable" and measure its performance -- otherwise, you can't be sure which one was responsible for changes in performance.

You can test more than one variable for a single web page or email; just be sure you're testing them one at a time.

Look at the various elements in your marketing resources and their possible alternatives for design, wording, and layout. Other things you might test include email subject lines, sender names, and different ways to personalize your emails.

Keep in mind that even simple changes, like changing the image in your email or the words on your call-to-action button, can drive big improvements. In fact, these sorts of changes are usually easier to measure than the bigger ones.

Note: There are some times when it makes more sense to test multiple variables rather than a single variable. This is a process called multivariate testing. If you're wondering whether you should run an A/B test versus a multivariate test, here's a helpful article from Optimizely that compares the two.

2. Identify your goal.

Although you'll measure a number of metrics for every one test, choose a primary metric to focus on -- before you run the test. In fact, do it before you even set up the second variation. This is your "dependent variable."

Think about where you want this variable to be at the end of the split test. You might state an official hypothesis and examine your results based on this prediction.

If you wait until afterward to think about which metrics are important to you, what your goals are, and how the changes you're proposing might affect user behavior, then you might not set up the test in the most effective way.

3. Create a 'control' and a 'challenger.'

You now have your independent variable, your dependent variable, and your desired outcome. Use this information to set up the unaltered version of whatever you're testing as your "control." If you're testing a web page, this is the unaltered web page as it exists already. If you're testing a landing page, this would be the landing page design and copy you would normally use.

From there, build a variation, or a "challenger" -- the website, landing page, or email you’ll test against your control. For example, if you're wondering whether including a testimonial on a landing page would make a difference, set up your control page with no testimonials. Then, create your variation with a testimonial.

4. Split your sample groups equally and randomly.

For tests where you have more control over the audience -- like with emails -- you need to test with two or more audiences that are equal in order to have conclusive results.

How you do this will vary depending on the A/B testing tool you use. If you're a HubSpot Enterprise customer conducting an A/B test on an email, for example, HubSpot will automatically split traffic to your variations so that each variation gets a random sampling of visitors.

5. Determine your sample size (if applicable).

How you determine your sample size will also vary depending on your A/B testing tool, as well as the type of A/B test you're running.

If you're A/B testing an email, you'll probably want to send an A/B test to a smaller portion of your list to get statistically significant results. Eventually, you'll pick a winner and send the winning variation on to the rest of the list. (See "The Science of Split Testing" ebook at the end of this article for more on calculating your sample size.)

If you're a HubSpot Enterprise customer, you'll have some help determining the size of your sample group using a slider. It'll let you do a 50/50 A/B test of any sample size -- although all other sample splits require a list of at least 1,000 recipients.

If you're testing something that doesn't have a finite audience, like a web page, then how long you keep your test running will directly affect your sample size. You'll need to let your test run long enough to obtain a substantial number of views, otherwise it'll be hard to tell whether there was a statistically significant difference between the two variations.

6. Decide how significant your results need to be.

Once you've picked your goal metric, think about how significant your results need to be to justify choosing one variation over another. Statistical significance is a super important part of A/B testing process that's often misunderstood. If you need a refresher on statistical significance from a marketing standpoint, I recommend reading this blog post.

The higher the percentage of your confidence level, the more sure you can be about your results. In most cases, you'll want a confidence level of 95% minimum -- preferably even 98% -- especially if it was a time-intensive experiment to set up. However, sometimes it makes sense to use a lower confidence rate if you don't need the test to be as stringent.

Matt Rheault, a senior software engineer at HubSpot, likes to think of statistical significance like placing a bet. What odds are you comfortable placing a bet on? Saying "I'm 80% sure this is the right design and I'm willing to bet everything on it" is similar to running an A/B test to 80% significance and then declaring a winner.

Rheault also says you’ll likely want a higher confidence threshold when testing for something that only slightly improves conversation rate. Why? Because random variance is more likely to play a bigger role.

"An example where we could feel safer lowering our confidence threshold is an experiment that will likely improve conversion rate by 10% or more, such as a redesigned hero section,” he explained. "The takeaway here is that the more radical the change, the less scientific we need to be process-wise. The more specific the change (button color, micro copy, etc.), the more scientific we should be because the change is less likely to have a large and noticeable impact on conversion rate."

7. Make sure you're only running one test at a time on any campaign.

Testing more than one thing for a single campaign -- even if it's not on the same exact asset -- can complicate your results. For example, if you A/B test an email campaign that directs to a landing page at the same time that you’re A/B testing that landing page ... how can you know which change caused the increase in leads?

During the A/B Test

8. Use an A/B testing tool.

To do an A/B test on your website or in an email, you'll need to use an A/B testing tool. If you're a HubSpot Enterprise customer, the HubSpot software has features that let you A/B test emails (learn how here), calls-to-action (learn how here), and landing pages (learn how here).

For non-HubSpot Enterprise customers, other options include Google Analytics' Experiments, which lets you A/B test up to 10 full versions of a single web page and compare their performance using a random sample of users.

9. Test both variations simultaneously.

Timing plays a significant role in your marketing campaign’s results, whether it's time of day, day of the week, or month of the year. If you were to run Version A during one month and Version B a month later, how would you know whether the performance change was caused by the different design or the different month?

When you run A/B tests, you'll need to run the two variations at the same time, otherwise you may be left second-guessing your results.

The only exception here is if you're testing timing itself, like finding the optimal times for sending out emails. This is a great thing to test because depending on what your business offers and who your subscribers are, the optimal time for subscriber engagement can vary significantly by industry and target market.

10. Give the A/B test enough time to produce useful data.

Again, you'll want to make sure that you let your test run long enough in order to obtain a substantial sample size. Otherwise, it'll be hard to tell whether there was a statistically significant difference between the two variations.

How long is long enough? Depending on your company and how you execute the A/B test, getting statistically significant results could happen in hours ... or days ... or weeks. A big part of how long it takes to get statistically significant results is how much traffic you get -- so if your business doesn't get a lot of traffic to your website, it'll take much longer for you to run an A/B test.

In theory, you shouldn't restrict the time in which you're gathering results. (Read this blog post to learn more about sample size and timing.)

11. Ask for feedback from real users.

A/B testing has a lot to do with quantitative data ... but that won't necessarily help you understand why people take certain actions over others. While you're running your A/B test, why not collect qualitative feedback from real users?

One of the best ways to ask people for their opinions is through a survey or poll. You might add an exit survey on your site that asks visitors why they didn't click on a certain CTA, or one on your thank-you pages that asks visitors why they clicked a button or filled out a form.

You might find, for example, that a lot of people clicked on a call-to-action leading them to an ebook, but once they saw the price, they didn't convert. That kind of information will give you a lot of insight into why your users are behaving in certain ways.

After the A/B Test

12. Focus on your goal metric.

Again, although you'll be measuring multiple metrics, keep your focus on that primary goal metric when you do your analysis.

For example, if you tested two variations of an email and chose leads as your primary metric, don’t get caught up on open rate or clickthrough rate. You might see a high clickthrough rate and poor conversion rates, in which case you might end up choosing the variation that had a lower clickthrough rate in the end.

13. Measure the significance of your results using our A/B testing calculator.

Now that you've determined which variation performs the best, it's time to determine whether or not your results statistically significant. In other words, are they enough to justify a change?

To find out, you'll need to conduct a test of statistical significance. You could do that manually ... or you could just plug in the results from your experiment to our free A/B testing calculator. For each variation you tested, you'll be prompted to input the total number of tries, like emails sent or impressions seen. Then, enter the number of goals it completed -- generally you'll look at clicks, but this could also be other types of conversions.

The calculator will spit out the confidence level your data produces for the winning variation. Then, measure that number against the value you chose to determine statistical significance.

14. Take action based on your results.

If one variation is statistically better than the other, you have a winner. Complete your test by disabling the losing variation in your A/B testing tool.

If neither variation is statistically better, you've just learned that the variable you tested didn't impact results, and you'll have to mark the test as inconclusive. In this case, stick with the original variation -- or run another test. You can use the failed data to help you figure out a new iteration on your new test.

While A/B tests help you impact results on a case-by-case basis, you can also apply the lessons you learn from each test and apply it to future efforts. For example, if you've conducted A/B tests in your email marketing and have repeatedly found that using numbers in email subject lines generates better clickthrough rates, you might want to consider using that tactic in more of your emails.

15. Plan your next A/B test.

The A/B test you just finished may have helped you discover a new way to make your marketing content more effective -- but don't stop there. There’s always room for more optimization.

You can even try conducting an A/B test on another feature of the same web page or email you just did a test on. For example, if you just tested a headline on a landing page, why not do a new test on body copy? Or color scheme? Or images? Always keep an eye out for opportunities to increase conversion rates and leads.

Learn how to best carry out some of the steps above using the free ebook below.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-do-a-b-testing

Jeremy Corbyn says EU state aid rules make no sense

The most depressing aspect of Corbyn’s recent interview in the Guardian was his claim that the European Union’s state aid rules “need to be looked at again, because quite clearly, if you want to regenerate an economy … then I don’t want to be told by somebody else that we can’t use state aid in order to be able to develop industry in this country”.

That statement shows no sign that he has followed any of the debates about whether the state aid rules are, as Lexiters claim, a reason why Labour should oppose membership of the single market.

There are several reasons why the Lexit claim fails to stack up.

Read MORE >>>>>

The post Jeremy Corbyn says EU state aid rules make no sense appeared first on TheMarketingblog.

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2018/12/jeremy-corbyn-says-eu-state-aid-rules-make-no-sense/

Dentist SEO digital marketing courses: What to expect

Over the years, businesses have been trying to race to the top of the search engine result pages.

Why do they do that? Simple, when people search for products or services using search engines like Google or Bing, they usually open the links that come up first — not many people notice the second or third page anymore.

The same goes for dentists or dental clinics since people search for anything online including dentists. So how would you market your dental clinic correctly to end up on page one of the search results?

Learn from the experts! There are SEO digital marketing courses designed just for dentists that you can take to help you climb that ladder.

What can you expect with these digital marketing courses?

Know that you need to have your own website

Yes, you need to have a website. It’s your home on the world wide web. A website is where you invite people to get to know you, your services, and your specializations. This is where you can have your patients set an appointment and how they can find your exact location.

Your website is where most of your marketing efforts are born. You have to have an appealing website, something that will say “come and look around” not one that will make viewers leave and look for another one.

Learn to optimize your website

Your website will be useless if you don’t optimize it with SEO, or search engine optimization. The key is to inject the most effective keywords in your content. That way, whenever people search using these words, your website will show up. But there’s more to it than just keywords.

Not everyone knows the right and widely used set of keywords people use when searching for specific information. You must learn how to research and use the right keywords. There are tools used for this purpose, like Google AdWords Keyword Planner, for example. Since it’s likely that your dental clinic may be in one location only, it is wise to target the local market so you can use localized keywords to reach the right people.

You need to learn how to convert your website traffic into client engagements, which will eventually become sales revenue for you. The best SEO digital marketing companies for dentists should be able to teach you how to optimize your content.

Create a website that is all-device friendly

As you’ll learn in the digital marketing course, when creating a website, it’s essential that it can be navigated on any platform. A recent study showed that more than 65% of the whole world’s population use mobile devices.

The mobile responsive design uses HTML and CSS codes for the reason that most smartphones don’t support outdated Flash and Java websites. This makes text and multimedia work on any screen. Mobile responsiveness is one factor that makes a website rank higher in the search engine results. This makes information accessible in an instant, which is very beneficial to your dental clinic.

Learn how to create engaging videos

An effective marketing strategy is using well-crafted marketing videos. People tend to develop a more significant interest when watching videos when compared to reading.

Most people are either out of time or just too lazy to read everything on your website; it’s simply too time-consuming. Creating short but engaging video content will sure give your website added value. This will provide even more SEO value if you upload your videos on Youtube because Google is the owner of Youtube.

Start by creating a Youtube channel. Then create videos that are educational — your topics can all be about dental practice or anything about dentistry. You can even provide dental care tips or show how you perform procedures. Remember to keep your video topics on something that your viewer will benefit from, something that can give them an “Aha!” moment.

This usually makes the viewers take note of your channel name for future reference. The next time they search for dental care, they may look up your channel name specifically.

This may be free information, but this is how you get your viewers engaged. Make your Youtube channel name the name of your dental clinic then inject keywords in your video titles and descriptions. This should keep you up on that Google search result page, and you know what that would mean to your business.

An SEO digital marketing course will definitely give you all the know-how that you need in running your dental clinic successfully using digital marketing. If you are interested in other aspects of marketing, you can check out tips webmarketing123.com. You will surely learn valuable lessons when it comes to succeeding in your online career. Remember that nothing is constant but change, and you will have to be on par with all the changes around us, including how businesses run and what the most successful strategies are these days.

Keep the fire burning and help your dental clinic earn a spot on the first page!

The post Dentist SEO digital marketing courses: What to expect appeared first on TheMarketingblog.

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2018/12/dentist-seo-digital-marketing-courses-what-to-expect-2/

Laughter Spot : At last a good Trump joke

Photo By: Steven Ferdman

The jokes about the Donald are usually pretty pathetic. This one is better, not the best but better. Enjoy [Note the flattering mug shot]

The post Laughter Spot : At last a good Trump joke appeared first on TheMarketingblog.

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2018/12/laughter-spot-at-last-a-good-trump-joke/

Is your local HMV store on this list?

The post Is your local HMV store on this list? appeared first on TheMarketingblog.

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2018/12/is-your-local-hmv-store-on-this-list/

What Does HTTP 302 Mean?

If you've spent any time on the internet at all, chances are you've encountered an HTTP status code.

In simple terms, HTTP status codes are essentially standard response codes used to show the relationship between all the things that go on in the background when you travel from web page to web page: things like the user agent (i.e., your web browser), the web page you're trying to load, and any third-party web applications you might be running.

Because of the complexity of how all those things interact, there are a ton of possible HTTP status codes you can run up against. HTTP status codes can be used to identify and diagnose the particular blocker preventing you from loading a resource, or give you more information about the journey you took on the way to a page.

What Does HTTP 302 Mean?

One of the most common HTTP status codes is HTTP 302. This status occurs when a resource or page you're attempting to load has been temporarily moved to a different location -- via a 302 redirect.

As opposed to 301 redirects -- which are used to permanently direct users from one location to another -- 302 redirects are temporary. You usually won't notice a 302 redirect if it's set up correctly. The web server serving up the 302 redirect should immediately indicate the new location of the page to your browser, and should send you there right away.

If you want to see when you've encountered a 302 redirect (or any type of redirect), consider using an application or Chrome extension (like this one, Redirect Path). This type of tool will show you directly in your browser when you run into a redirect.

It's important to note that an HTTP 302 status code is caused by the web server you're attempting to reach. It's not an issue with your web browser, or anything you can control on your end of things.

If you're thinking about setting up 302 redirects on your own website, you should know that these types of temporary redirects aren't appreciated by Google. Google's crawler will follow and honor a permanent 301 redirect, but will ignore any temporary 302 redirects you set up. If you want to maintain your search ranking on a page you need to redirect to a new location, opt for a permanent 301 redirect instead.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/http-302

How to generate roofing contractor leads for your startup

How to Generate Roofing Contractor Leads for Your Startup

One of the greatest challenges any business experiences is generating leads. Generating roofing contractor leads is no exception, and it can be a trial-and-error of sorts to know what works. Generating qualified leads is what drives the roofing business. With some help from www.ippeileads.com and the following steps, you can generate residential and commercial leads for your roofing business.

Update your business page.

It is well-known that most consumers today look for local businesses online. However, not all companies utilize Google My Business Page (GMBP) listing. Ensure that you optimize your listing and use the updated features that come with GMBP to generate contractor leads. Here’s what you can do:

• Use the appointment feature to allow roofing contractor leads to schedule meetings easily. They can immediately book using the feature even without calling you.
• Use the direct messaging feature so leads can contact you. You can create automated responses if you like or turn it off when you’re not available.
• Answer questions in the Q&A section to save time, especially when you’re getting the same questions over again.

Take advantage of social media.

Your marketing plan should include social media as it’s sure to get attention these days. Using social media can help improve your visibility to potential clients. Although search engines’ algorithms may not include social media to influence your rank, having an active social media account will get you into the first page of search results. If a roofing company has a Facebook page, for example, searching for its name will likely yield its Facebook and other social media pages.

Here are some tips to help improve lead generation using social media:

• Share customer testimonials or before and after pictures.
• Share your blog posts to your followers.
• Host a live question and answer session on Facebook.
• Share home improvement articles or videos from other sources.
• Find a local housing contractor partner to create a giveaway or promotion.
• Give useful advice or comments using your business page.

Request previous customers to write testimonials or reviews.

You can’t expect your customers to write reviews when they’re not asked, and they are more likely to write reviews only when they’re not satisfied. Thus, it’s helpful to ask clients to leave reviews for your business. Here’s how you can do it:

• Ask them personally after finishing a job. Provide a printed card with URLs of your business page.
• Send an email after finishing a job and request them to write a review.
• Specify that you prefer a written review, not just a star rating.

Create strategic partnerships with other roofing contractors.

One of the most effective ways to generate leads is to pair up with other related companies. For example, you can partner with your local hardware store where a lot of people go to buy supplies for home repair tasks.

• Go and meet the owner and the employees of the company.
• Bring business cards and brochures to help explain what you do. Ask if they’re willing to refer customers with roof problems to you.
• You can make a sweeter deal by agreeing to buy some roof supplies from them or tell them you’re an avid customer for supplies.
• Think about joining a roofing trade organization.

Start a blog.

This seems like an ancient technique, but it can still help you bring traffic to your business startup’s website. Regularly posting high-quality content on your blog will bring organic traffic. Take note that your blog posts should contain fresh content using roofing SEO keywords, for search engines to prioritize it. To maximize each blog post you publish, use that keyword in essential places in your post such as in a subheader and your title tag.

Implement local SEO.

Roofing local SEO is crucial as it sets you apart from others. It’s one of the best ways to generate roofing contractor leads for your business, setting you apart from the competition.

There are two main parts of local Internet marketing, namely, on-page and off-site optimization. On-page optimization techniques include the following:

• Optimizing every page of your website for search engine keywords
• Using localized words in page titles
• Using keywords in image file names and tags
• Linking to authority sites

Off-site optimization techniques include the following:

• Social media sites
• Uniform listings of business information or citations
• Backlinks from authority sites, such as roofing publications

Start by identifying the roofing keywords to use. Create content optimized for the given terms. Inspect your citations and ensure they are the same. Building your site’s profile will help you attract quality visitors to your website.

Final Thoughts

Generating leads for your roofing contractor business may not be easy, but the steps that are given here can help you start well. A new roof is expensive, and people do not look for it unless they need to. Building your online presence will help you grow your business. When your online presence is strong, the possibility of clients finding you increases, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post How to generate roofing contractor leads for your startup appeared first on TheMarketingblog.

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2018/12/how-to-generate-roofing-contractor-leads-for-your-startup/

The SEO Elevator Pitch - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by KameronJenkins

What is it you do again?

It's a question every SEO has had to answer at some point, whether to your family members over the holidays or to the developer who will eventually implement your suggestions. If you don't have a solid elevator pitch for describing your job, this is the Whiteboard Friday for you! Learn how to craft a concise, succinct description of life as an SEO without jargon, policing, or acting like a superhero.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high-resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Hey guys, welcome to this week's edition of Whiteboard Friday. My name is Kameron Jenkins, and I work here at Moz. Today we're going to be talking about creating an SEO elevator pitch, what is it, why we need one, and what kind of prompted this whole idea for an SEO elevator pitch.

So essentially, a couple of weeks ago, I was on Twitter and I saw John Mueller. He tweeted, "Hey, I meet with a lot of developers, and a lot of times they don't really know what SEOs do." He was genuinely asking. He was asking, "Hey, SEO community, how do you describe what you do?" I'm scrolling through, and I'm seeing a lot of different answers, and all of them I'm resonating with.

They're all things that I would probably say myself. But it's just interesting how many different answers there were to the question, "What do SEOs do and what value do they provide?" So I kind of thought to myself, "Why is that? Why do we have so many different explanations for what SEO is and what we do?" So I thought about it, and I thought that it might be a good idea for myself and maybe other SEOs if you don't already have an elevator pitch ready.

What is an SEO elevator pitch?

Now, if you're not familiar with the concept of an elevator pitch, it's basically — I have a definition here — a succinct and persuasive speech that communicates your unique value as an SEO. It's called an elevator pitch essentially because it should take about the length of time it takes to ride the elevator with someone. So you want to be able to quickly and concisely answer someone's question when they ask you, "Oh, SEO, what is that?I think I've heard of that before. What do you do?"

Why is this so hard?

So let's dive right in. So I mentioned, in the beginning, how there are so many different answers to this "what do you say you do here" type question. I think it's hard to kind of come up with a concise explanation for a few different reasons. So I wanted to dive into that a little bit first.

1. Lots of specialties within SEO

So number one, there are lots of specialties within SEO.

As the industry has advanced over the last two plus decades, it has become very diverse, and there are lots of different facets in SEO. I found myself on quite a rabbit trail. I was on LinkedIn and I was kind of browsing SEO job descriptions. I wanted to see basically: What is it that people are looking for in an SEO?

How do they describe it? What are the characteristics? So basically, I found a lot of different things, but I found a few themes that emerged. So there are your content-focused SEOs, and those are people that are your keyword research aficionados. There are the people that write search engine optimized content to drive traffic to your website. You have your link builders, people that focus almost exclusively on that.

You have your local SEOs, and you have your analysts. You have your tech SEOs, people that either work on a dev team or closely with a dev team. So I think that's okay though. There are lots of different facets within SEO, and I think that's awesome. That's, to me, a sign of maturity in our industry. So when there are a lot of different specialties within SEO, I think it's right and good for all of our elevator pitches to differ.

So if you have a specialty within SEO, it can be different. It should kind of cater toward the unique brand of SEO that you do, and that's okay.

2. Different audiences

Number two, there are different audiences. We're not always going to be talking to the same kind of person. So maybe you're talking to your boss or a client. To me, those are more revenue-focused conversations.

They want to know: What's the value of what you do? How does it affect my bottom line? How does it help me run my business and stay afloat and stay profitable? If you're talking to a developer, that's going to be a slightly different conversation. So I think it's okay if we kind of tweak our elevator pitch to make it a little bit more palatable for the people that we're talking to.

3. Algorithm maturity

Three, why this is hard is there's been, obviously, a lot of changes all the time in the algorithm, and as it matures, it's going to look like the SEO's job is completely different than last year just because the algorithm keeps maturing and it looks like our jobs are changing all the time. So I think that's a reality that we have to live with, but I still think it's important, even though things are changing all the time, to have a baseline kind of pitch that we give people when they ask us what it is we do.

So that's why it's hard. That's what your elevator pitch is.

My elevator pitch: SEO is marketing, with search engines

Then, by way of example, I thought I'd just give you my SEO elevator pitch. Maybe it will spark your creativity. Maybe it will give you some ideas. Maybe you already have one, and that's okay. But the point is not to use mine.

The point is essentially to kind of take you through what mine looks like, hopefully get your creative juices flowing, and you can create your own. So let's dive right into my pitch.

So my pitch is SEO is marketing, just with search engines. So we have the funnel here — awareness, consideration, and decision.

Awareness: Rank and attract clicks for informational queries.

First of all, I think it's important to note that SEO can help you rank and attract clicks for informational queries.

Consideration: Rank and attract clicks for evaluation queries.

So when your audience is searching for information, they want to solve their pain points, they're not ready to buy, they're just searching, we're meeting them there with content that brings them to the site, informs them, and now they're familiar with our brand. Those are great assisted conversions. Rank and attract clicks for evaluation queries. When your audience is starting to compare their options, you want to be there. You want to meet them there, and we can do that with SEO.

Decision: Rank, attract clicks, and promote conversion for bottom-funnel queries

At the decision phase, you can rank and attract clicks and kind of promote conversions for bottom of funnel queries. When people are in their "I want to buy" stage, SEO can meet them there. So I think it's important to realize that SEO isn't kind of like a cost center and not a profit center. It's not like a bottom of funnel thing. I've heard that in a lot of places, and I think it's just important to kind of draw attention to the fact that SEO is integrated throughout your marketing funnel. It's not relegated to one stage or another.

But how?

We talked about rank and attract clicks and promote conversions. But how do we do that? That's the what it does.

But how do we do it? So this is how I explain it. I think really, for me, there are two sides to the SEO's coin. We have driving, and we have supporting.

1. Driving

So on the driving side, I would say something like this. When someone searches a phrase or a keyword in Google, I make sure the business' website shows up in the non-ad results. That's important because a lot of people are like, "Oh, do you bid on keywords?"

We're like, "No, no, that's PPC." So I always just throw in "non-ad" because people understand that. So I do that through content that answers people's questions, links that help search engines find my content and show signs of authority and popularity of my content, and accessibility. So that's kind of your technical foundation.

You're making sure that your website is crawlable and it that it's index the way that you want it to be indexed. When people get there, it works. It works on mobile and on desktop. It's fast. So I think these are really the three big pillars of driving SEO — content, links, and making sure your website is technically sound. So that's how I describe the driving, the proactive side of SEO.

2. Supporting

Then two, we have supporting, and I think this is kind of an underrated or maybe it's often seen as kind of an interruption to our jobs.

But I think it's important to actually call it what it is. It's a big part of what we do. So I think we should embrace it as SEOs.

A. Be the Google Magic 8-ball

For one, we can serve as the Google Magic 8-Ball. When people come to us in our organization and they say, "Hey, I'm going to make this change, or I'm thinking about making this change.Is this going to be good or bad for SEO?"

I think it's great that people are asking that question. Always be available and always make yourself ready to answer those types of questions for people. So I think on the reactionary side we can be that kind of person that helps guide people and understand what is going to affect your organic search presence.

B. Assist marketing

Two, we can assist marketing. So on this side of the coin, we're driving.

We can drive our own marketing strategies. As SEOs, we can see how SEO can drive all phases of the funnel. But I think it's important to note that we're not the only people in our organization. Often SEOs maybe they don't even live in the marketing department. Maybe they do and they report to a marketing lead. There are other initiatives that your marketing lead could be investigating.

Maybe they say, "Hey, we've just done some market research, and here's this plan." It could be our job as SEOs to take that plan, take that strategy and translate it into something digital. I think that's a really important value that SEOs can add. We can actually assist marketing as well as drive our own efforts.

C. Fix mistakes

Then number three here, I know this is another one that kind of makes people cringe, but we are here to fix mistakes when they happen and train people so that they don't happen again. So maybe we come in on a Monday morning and we're ready to face the week, and we see that traffic has taken a nosedive or something. We go, "Oh, no," and we dive in.

We try to see what happened. But I think that's really important. It's our job or it's part of our job to kind of dive in, diagnose what happened, and not only that but support and be there to help fix it or guide the fixes, and then train and educate and make sure that people know what it is that happened and how it shouldn't happen again.

You're there to help train them and guide them. I think that's another really important way that we can support as SEOs. So that's essentially how I describe it.

3 tips for coming up with your own pitch

Before I go, I just wanted to mention some tips when you're coming up with your own SEO elevator pitch. I think it's really important to just kind of stay away from certain language when you're crafting your own "this is what I do" speech.

So the three tips I have are:

1. Stay away from jargon.

If you're giving an SEO elevator pitch, it's to people that don't know what SEO is. So try to avoid jargon. I know it's really easy as SEOs. I find myself doing it all the time. There are things that I don't think are jargon.

But then I take a couple steps back and I realize, oh yeah, that's not layman's terms. So stay away from jargon if at all possible. You're not going to benefit anyone by confusing them.

2. Avoid policing.

It can be easy as SEOs I've found and I've found myself in this trap a couple of times where we kind of act as these traffic cops that are waiting around the corner, and when people make a mistake, we're there to wag our finger at them.

So avoid any language that makes it sound like the SEOs are just the police waiting to kind of punish people for wrongdoing. We are there to help fix mistakes, but it's in a guiding and educating and supporting, kind of collaborative manner and not like a policing type of manner. Number three, I would say is kind of similar, but a little different.

3. Avoid Supermanning.

I call this Supermanning because it's the type of language that makes it sound like SEOs are here to swoop in and save the day when something goes wrong. We do. We're superheroes a lot of times. There are things that happen and thank goodness there was an SEO there to help diagnose and fix that.

But I would avoid any kind of pitch that makes it sound like your entire job is just to kind of save people. There are other people in your organization that are super smart and talented at what they do. They probably wouldn't like it if you made it sound like you were there to help them all the time. So I just think that's important to keep in mind. Don't make it seem like you're the police waiting to wag your finger at them or you're the superhero that needs to save everyone from their mistakes.

So yeah, that's my SEO elevator pitch. That's why I think it's important to have one. If you've kind of crafted your own SEO elevator pitch, I would love to hear it, and I'm sure it would be great for other SEOs to hear it as well. It's great to information share. So drop that in the comments if you feel comfortable doing that. If you don't have one, hopefully this helps. So yeah, that's it for this week's Whiteboard Friday, and come back again next week for another one.

Thanks, everybody.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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5 Infographics to Teach You How to Easily Make Infographics in PowerPoint [Free Templates]

Despite the spattering of headlines that have popped up over the past several years proclaiming "infographics are dead," infographics are, in fact, alive and well.

Infographics aren't just alive and well -- they remain a staple in many business's content strategies. And while there are a lot of them, marketers who spend the time aligning the topic, content, and style of their infographics with the needs and preferences of their target audiences are still finding success among their audience.(And by "success" I mean driving traffic -- and potential leads -- to their websites and generating social buzz through people sharing and commenting.)

As of 2018, the use of infographics among B2B marketers has increased the most of any marketer in the last four years, now at 65%. And according to John Medina, a developmental biology expert, adding an image to written content can increase one's ability to retain that information by 55% (wow).

Download 10 free infographic templates here to help you create professional-looking infographics without a designer.

But how can those who don't necessarily have a design background -- or the budget to commission an agency, hire a dedicated in-house designer, or purchase expensive design software -- create professional-looking infographics that are able to captivate their audiences?

Here's a little secret: You can do it using the software you probably already have installed on your computer. That's right -- PowerPoint can be your best friend when it comes to visual content creation.

To help you get started, we've created 10 fabulous infographic templates you can download and use for free right within PowerPoint. Don't be shy ... download them here.

And in this post, we'll highlight five of the infographic templates from the download and teach you some PowerPoint infographic creation basics along the way. Just be sure to download the PowerPoint templates for yourself so you can easily customize the designs you see below!

5 Infographics That Teach You How to Create an Infographic in PowerPoint

1. How to Create an Infographic Filled With Data

Infographics and data visualization are the peanut butter and jelly of the visual content world.

When you have new data to reveal to the world, you can use an infographic to display that data as part of a cohesive, visual narrative. And that's exactly what the "Data Geek" template is for.

We've loaded this template with a variety of different charts and graphs, which you can easily update with your own data. (Just right click on a graph, choose "Edit Data," and you'll be able to customize the values in an Excel spreadsheet.)

Not sure which types of graphs to use for your different data sets? Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

• Column chart: Use for comparing different categories or for showing changes over time (from left to right).
• Pie chart: Use for making part-to-whole comparisons. (Note: They work best with small data sets.)
• Line graph: Use for showing data that changes continuously over time. Ideal for displaying volatility, trends, acceleration, or deceleration.
• Doughnut chart: Use like a pie chart. This stylistic variation allows you to put a number, graphic, or other visual in the center of the chart.
• Bar chart: Use like a column chart. (The horizontal bars make it easier to display long category names.)

2. How to Make a Timeline Infographic

Telling the history of a particular industry, product, brand, trend, or tactic can be a great topic for an infographic. And while there are a variety of different ways that you can visualize time -- including in a circle, which is what we did with our Google algorithm updates infographic -- the timeline is by far the most common and easiest design method to use.

Before we describe how to create a timeline via our timeline infographic template, find out below how to design a timeline from scratch using PowerPoint.

How to Make a Timeline in PowerPoint

1. Select "SmartArt" from the PowerPoint navigation bar.
2. Find a graphic that fits your data from the Process menu.
3. Or, select "Alternating Picture Circles" from the Picture menu.
4. Add or remove timestamps from your timeline graphic.
5. Insert your data into the graphic.
6. Edit the text and imagery of your SmartArt graphic.

1. Select "SmartArt" from the PowerPoint navigation bar.

To make a timeline graphic in PowerPoint, suitable for any infographic, open PowerPoint and click "Insert" from the top navigation bar, as shown below. Then, select the SmartArt icon beneath the navigation bar, where you'll find several categories of graphics to choose from.

2. Find a graphic that fits your data from the Process menu.

There are two categories of graphics that make effective timelines. The first is the Process category. Click this option to expand the graphics menu shown below. To make your selection easier, we've highlighted in red a few of the most fitting timeline-related graphics.

3. Or, select "Alternating Picture Circles" from the Picture menu.

Aside from the Process menu of graphics, you'll also find a viable timeline graphic in the Picture category. Select this category and you'll find the "Alternating Picture Circles" option near the center of the graphics menu. We've highlighted it in red, below.

4. Add or remove timestamps from your timeline graphic.

For the sake of these instructions, we'll use the "Alternating Picture Circles" graphic from the Picture menu. Once you've inserted this graphic into your first PowerPoint slide, you can add or remove circular icons to match how many dates or periods of time your data covers.

5. Insert your data into the graphic.

At this point, the size of your timeline graphic should match the amount of data you have. Begin to fill your timeline with the information you plan to report on using this timeline.

6. Edit the text and imagery of your SmartArt graphic.

As with the other graphics available in PowerPoint's SmartArt, you can edit the text and the images associated with your timeline to your liking. As you can see below, we've edited the years and the images to better represent what happened at each point in time.

To insert images into your timeline graphic, simply right-click the square landscape icon, select a graphic "From File," and upload an image from your computer onto your PowerPoint slide.

Of course, if you're willing to give up a tiny bit of creative freedom for a ton of convenience, you can download the timeline infographic template below -- which opens directly in PowerPoint.

To tell your story with our timeline infographic template below, update the time periods in the center circles, replace the placeholder text, and adjust the visuals and colors to your liking. For those latter adjustments, you can choose "Insert" > "Shape in PowerPoint" to add in different visuals, and use the paint bucket (a.k.a. "color fill") icon to change the colors of different elements.

Want to make sure your timeline infographic hits all the right notes? Here are some tips to consider:

• Research. Research. Research. The best timeline infographics aren't just beautifully designed -- they also tell a great story based on extensive research. So before you start the design phase of your infographic, put in the time to surface the best information possible.
• Narrow the scope: Timelines that cover hundreds or thousands of years can certainly be interesting, but they can also require weeks or months of research. To keep your sanity, stick with shorter time periods.
• Keep your copy concise: Infographics are supposed to be visual. If you find yourself writing 100+ words for each date on your timeline, a blog post may be the better content format.

3. How to Design a Totally Hip Infographic

Ok, so "hipness" is definitely in the eye of the beholder. But for this infographic template we wanted to do something that reflected modern design trends, including using banners and arrows.

In terms of content, we provided plenty of space for both stats and copy. There's also a column chart at the bottom. But remember, you can always add different charts and graphs to the template wherever you see fit. Just select "Insert" > "Chart ..." and you'll have several options to choose from.

To make sure your end result is as hip as possible, here are some design tips to follow:

• Experiment with new color palettes. There are tons of free color palettes online. Don't believe me? Do a Google image search of "color palette." When you find a palette you like, drag the image directly into your PowerPoint presentation. Next, select the "color fill" bucket, choose "More Colors ..." and click on the eyedropper icon. With the eyedropper tool, you can select colors from your palette and use them for elements in your infographic.
• Take the time to manipulate shapes. PowerPoint has an extensive library of shapes -- including banners, ribbons, and arrows -- that you can use in your infographic design. By clicking and dragging on the little yellow diamonds that appear on these shapes, you can customize them. For example, you can make the pointy ends of a ribbon longer or shorter, or make the body of an arrow thinner or thicker.

4. How to Create a Flowchart Infographic

Warning: Creating a flowchart-style infographic is not for the faint of heart.

While on the surface a flowchart infographic may appear simple and fun, a lot of thought and planning need to go into making sure the different sections flow into each other in a logical way.

In our flowchart PowerPoint template, we created a basic flowchart structure, with positive responses guiding viewers to a conclusion at the bottom left of the infographic and negative responses guiding viewers to a separate conclusion at the bottom right of the infographic.

To ensure your flowchart infographic makes sense and is easy for viewers to navigate, follow these tips:

• Draw out the branches beforehand. Before you dive into PowerPoint, get out a pen and paper and do a rough outline of your flowchart. Test for weaknesses in your logic by answering questions in every possible combination and seeing where you end up. For best results, have a friend or coworker run through the flowchart too.
• The smaller the scope, the easier the execution. The more questions or stages you add to your flowchart, the more difficult it will be to create (and the harder it will likely be for viewers to understand). So try to narrow the focus of your flowchart.

5. How to Design an Image-Heavy Infographic

So far, the infographic templates we've looked at have relied primarily on illustrations that you can create within PowerPoint. But of course, there's no reason why you can't bring external photos and other images into your infographic design.

We've created this image-heavy infographic template for that exact purpose. It's great for comparing different categories, ideas, or results, and since you don't need to create or customize a lot of shapes, it's a lot less work.

Here are some suggestions for ensuring your image-heavy infographic is easy on the eyes:

• Use high-quality images. It's better to scale down a big image (e.g. 2,000 pixels by 2,000 pixels) than to scale up a small image (e.g. 20 pixels by 20 pixels) in order to fit a particular space. The latter approach will result in images appearing pixelated and grainy.
• Use borders. Adding borders to your images will help make them feel like their part of a cohesive design. In PowerPoint, you can control the size, style, and color of borders under the "Format Picture" tab.
• Save your infographic as a PNG file. This is a best practice for all infographics, but is particularly relevant when publishing an infographic that contains photographs. The PNG extension offers better quality than other options. To save your finished infographic as a PNG file, you simply need to choose "File" > "Save As ..." and select PNG from the dropdown.

What are you waiting for? Grab your free infographic templates so you can start customizing fantastic-looking infographics of your own!

Want to learn more about infographics? Check out 10 Traits of Amazingly Awesome Infographics.

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/create-infographic-in-powerpoint

9 Important Elements to Include in Your Employee Handbook

An employee handbook is a critical document for setting clear expectations for new employees, providing policies for all employees to follow, and making it easier for you know how to deal with problems with your employees when they arise.

Among other things, your employee handbook should cover everything from dress code and vacation days to your code of conduct and nondiscrimination policies.

Additionally, it should set the tone for what it's like to work at your company -- your employee handbook isn't just a list of "what not to do". It's also a chance to express your company mission statement, and workplace culture.

For instance, maybe you want to allow for casual dress Friday's, to provide your employees the opportunity to feel more comfortable before the weekend. This is an exciting employee benefit, and one you should clearly outline.

Here, we'll cover the nine elements you must include in your employee handbook in an employee handbook template, and provide a sample employee handbook for further inspiration.

Employee Handbook Template

To know what to include in your employee handbook, take a look at our template.

Employee Handbook for [Company Name]

Introduction to company & values.

Here, you'll want to describe your company's history, including when you were founded, by whom, and why. Additionally, you'll want to briefly include your company mission statement, and add some insight into your company culture. What do you prioritize in the workplace? Autonomy, continuous education? Include that here. Essentially, give your new employee the elevator speech of why your company matters, and why they should be excited to be apart of it.

Code of conduct

In this section, you need to give your employees a general overview of information regarding ethics and compliance. Ultimately, a code of conduct allows you to emphasize your company's values, and the desired behavior you wish to foster in your leaders and employees. These rules can allow you to fairly regulate and assess an individual's behavior.

You'll want to include as many specific details as possible -- for instance, let employees know your definition of excessive tardiness, and how tardiness will be disciplined. Alternatively, you might include specific dress code requirements in this section.

Additionally, your code of conduct section will be a reference point for employees when they're dealing with difficult ethical dilemmas in their day-to-day. It's a section that tells them what your company values and considers right from wrong, along with resources for employees when they encounter ethical predicaments.

Equal employment and nondiscrimination policy

The U.S. Department of Labor requires many businesses to include an equal employment and nondiscrimination policy in their employee handbook. Plus, you want each employee to know that discrimination or harassment of any kind won't be tolerated in your workplace. Even just one instance of discrimination can create toxicity for an entire company's culture.

Computers and technology policy

You'll need to make clear what your employees can and can't do with the technology you provide them. Among other things, let employees know whether you have the right to see emails they send on company computers, whether you expect them to avoid social media while on their work computer, and how much privacy they should expect while using company property.

Additionally, you'll want to inform your employees whether certain actions on company technology are fireable offenses.

Compensation and benefits policy

Simply put, your employees want to know about their benefits regarding health care, dental, vision, life insurance, stocks, etc. In this section you can also let them know about benefits such as tuition reimbursement, commuter benefits, parking, employee referral bonuses, and 401(k) plans.

You'll also want to include critical information regarding salary, payroll deductions, and compensation increases for specific job descriptions to convey how each employee can advance their income. Additionally, you'll want to document the payment schedule for each employee (weekly or bi-monthly).

New hire and separation policy

Let your new employees know whether they need to wait to receive their benefits (and how long), what steps need to be taken if an employee wants to quit, and information regarding your progressive discipline policy. By outlining the steps you take for discipline, you're ensuring a level of fairness and establishing prohibited behavior.

You'll also want to outline what an employee is entitled to if they are terminated, and for how long they can expect certain benefits.

Leave policy

It's critical you outline how much paid and unpaid vacation time each employee gets, as well as how much time they get for medical leave and paid family leave, as well as sick time. Some of these policies, such as family medical leave, are enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor, so you'll often need to comply by the same standards as other businesses in your state.

Non-disclosure Agreement and Confidentiality policy

To ensure your employees don't misuse confidential information either regarding your internal operations or your clients, it's critical you outline what you constitute as confidential information. Your business is bound by law to protect certain information, and you'll want to make a list and ensure your employees are aware of what information they can and can't share. Among other things, this likely includes your company's internal business plan, your client's information, and employees' financial account information.

Signature page

A signature page is important for two reasons -- first, it confirms the employee received the handbook, and incentivizes each employee to read it through before signing. Second, if you're ever dealing with a wrongful termination lawsuit, it could help with your defense.

Sample Employee Handbook

While your employee handbook will be undoubtedly unique and particular to your culture and company values, we've created a sample employee handbook to help get you started.

However, many of these sections are too personal and legally sensitive to include in a sample. For instance, when writing a non-disclosure agreement, you'll need to review state and federal laws and will need the guidance of a lawyer.

Employee Handbook for Healthy Tea & Co.

Introduction to company & values.

Welcome to Healthy Tea & Co.!

Started in 2011, Healthy Tea & Co. aims to create healthy, organic tea and drink products and market them to people who want to live healthier lives. Founded by Hannah Jones and Mark Pluto, we pride ourselves on being a workplace that focuses on employee happiness and autonomy, diversity and inclusion, and helps our customers find products on the shelves that are both delicious and nutritious.

What is important to know when joining our team at Healthy Tea & Co.?

We value independence and autonomy, and for that reason, we allow our employees to work either in-office or remotely.

We like to have fun, which is why we have casual-dress Friday's, ping pong tables, and monthly team outings.

We encourage continuous learning and want our employees to seek out growth opportunities, so we offer employee-taught trainings on a variety of topics, tuition reimbursement, and a free book program.

Ultimately, as an employee at Healthy Tea & Co., we expect you to remain honest and trustworthy with your team, willing to think outside the box, and excited to experiment and ask questions about our products and our systems, because we as a company value growth and innovation.

[Code of conduct would go here]

Compensation and benefits policy

The amount of compensation you will receive is provided in your offer letter.

In addition, Healthy Tea & Co. must deduct specific amounts from your paycheck. These mandatory deductions (required by federal law) include:

● Social security (pre-tax)

● Medicare (pre-tax)

● Federal withholding taxes (pre-tax)

● State withholding taxes (pre-tax)

Health & Wellness Benefits include:

[Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance would go here, as well as Life Insurance, Dependent care, Healthcare Spending Account, Accident Insurance, etc.]

Leave policy

At Healthy Tea & Co., our vacation policy for PTO entails the following:

0-2 years tenure = 15 days

2-5 years tenure = 20 days

6+ years tenure = 30 days

Additionally, in compliance with state laws, we offer 5 sick days, which can be used for personal illness or to take care of a sick family member.

In the U.S., we observe the following holidays:

• New Year's Day
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Presidents Day
• Patriots Day
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Christmas Day

[Financial benefits, such as 401(k) or employee referral bonus, would go here]

[Equal employment and nondiscrimination policy would go here]

[Computers and technology policy]

[Anti-discrimination policy would go here]

I have read all of the provisions of this agreement and I understand, and agree to, each of such provisions, effective as of the date first entered above. 

________________ (sign here)

________________ (date)

Code of Conduct Samples

To ensure you have all the inspiration you need to create your own code of conduct section in your employee handbook, take a look at some of these inspiring company code of conducts':

• Google's Code of Conduct
• Coca-Cola's Code of Conduct
• Starbucks' Code of Conduct
• Facebook's Code of Conduct
• Toyota's Code of Conduct

from Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/employee-handbook