In part one of our must-have elements for an effective website, I focused on content. In part two, I’ll touch how we’ve come a long way from old school website design; although, some elements of modern sites give a nod to features from back in the day in regard to simplicity. While a lot of creative inspiration and functionality factors go in to good design, here are some current trends that have broad acceptance and appeal.

One of the most popular uses of online surveys is for businesses to conduct research. By sharing surveys, companies have the opportunity to perform valuable market research that will aid in buyer persona development, journey mapping, lead nurturing, and to obtain valuable feedback. Additionally, Survey Monkey notes, “Surveying your customers to test branding and naming concepts will help you understand the attitudes motivations, and preferences of your customers, especially in relation to your competitors.” Regardless of your motivation for incorporating surveys into your inbound marketing strategies, utilizing the Survey Monkey Integration in HubSpot allows you to take your data and turn it into something actionable.

I get really excited each week when I find great posts to pass along to our inbound and digital marketing followers. My favorite one this week talks about applying the 80/20 rule to marketing. I’ve actually never thought about this concept in a way that so closely relates to my work – but when I took a deeper dive into the methodology, it really made sense. Check out this post along with a few other good ones I’ve collected this week:

Over the last decade, the purpose and functionality of an organization’s website has changed drastically. Websites are now storefronts, sales representatives, customer service personnel and ultimately, an extension of your team. If your website doesn’t tell your company’s story and go above and beyond to address a visitor’s needs, you’re most likely missing out on opportunities to convert a prospect into a customer.

Facebook Audience Insights is an incredible analytical tool that when used to the fullest, will provide you with a large amount of demographic and behavioral data about your audience and competitors. Facebook Audience Insights is my go-to tool for researching personas and identifying the right audience for Facebook ads. Insights can be accessed through Facebook Ads Manager and is free to use.

I love to nerd-out reading as many great articles as I possibly have time for throughout the week. I also enjoy passing them along to our team and others who I think could benefit from some of the great information I come across. This week’s posts feature everything from the 7 minute morning routine you absolutely have to try to simple sales mistakes that could be costing you customers. These articles include inbound strategies, digital marketing, social advertising, content production and promotion, web design, public relations, events and much more. Here’s this week’s flashback:

Is your website holding you back from capturing attention and sale conversions from prospective customers? Businesses are constantly challenged with providing the best online experience for visitors. This is the case not only in regard to becoming found, but also with respect to the functionality of your site.

In part one and two of this tutorial series, we focused on adding the new Facebook pixel to your website and creating custom conversions. In this tutorial, I’ll show you step by step how to add Standard Events on those special pages of your website that you want to track and optimize for your Facebook ad campaigns.

If you’re like me, your inbox is flooded with post notifications and enewsletters filled with good articles that you’ve highlighted to read later. Most weeks, I try to at least scan the articles that are of greatest interest to me and I pass the best ones along to our team. These articles include everything from inbound strategies, digital marketing, social advertising, content production and promotion, web design, public relations, events and much more. I thought some of my favorites would be of interest to our clients and followers, so I’ve created The Weekly Roundup – a recap of the best posts I’ve come across. I’ll try to be consistent with posting, so be sure to check back every Friday to view my faves from the week.

People make buying decisions much differently today than they did 15…10… even 5 years ago. Gone are the days where a cold call is an acceptable form of capturing the attention of new prospects and customers. In fact, most people don’t even like answering a phone call from a friend, much less have a conversation with someone they have not met. This is just one example of the drastic change businesses have experienced in recent years with generating leads and mapping their buyer’s journey.