How to Effectively Manage Your Rentals from Anywhere on Earth

Sourced From: https://retipster.com/how-to-effectively-manage-your-rentals-from-anywhere-on-earth/

The world gets smaller every day.

It’s a world where more than one in three buyers make offers sight-unseen and where virtual tours are quickly escalating from photos to videos to immersive virtual reality walk-throughs.

Investors buy rental properties …

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Exclusive Freebie: Communication Icon Pack

Sourced From: https://inspiredm.com/exclusive-freebie-communication-icon-pack/

The power of communication cannot be underestimated, especially not with the Freepik Communication Icon Pack. It has everything that you could think of in relation communication in the modern world. 

From smart slick cameras, tablets, and folders you have everything you can think of. Communication is all around us and is changing as the world evolves and modernizes. This icon pack is a constant reminder of that. There are three versions of each icon available and they are 100 percent editable which means you can customize them to suit your needs.

Each icon is free to download and even better you can find more styles on the Freepik and Flaticon websites. You can use the icons from anything to postcards to stationary. Free for personal and commercial use!

Download this awesome resources from here.

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source https://ihelpsell.net/exclusive-freebie-communication-icon-pack/

Google wants to clear up some mobile-first indexing confusion

Sourced From: https://www.vertical-leap.uk/blog/google-mobile-first-indexing-confusion/

Mobile-first indexing is currently rolling out across the web and Google is aware that many webmasters are still a little confused about what it means for them. So the search giant has attempted to clear up some of the confusion in a Twitter thread created last week.

You can see the thread for yourself by clicking here or on the embed below, but we’re going to cover all of the key points in this summary and remind you exactly what mobile-first indexing is (something Google doesn’t clarify in the Twitter thread).

What does Google have to say about mobile-first indexing?

We"ve seen great presentations & posts on mobile-first indexing, it"s awesome to see all the details (thanks, @aleyda @jenstar @alexisksanders @dawnieando @badams + others)! There are only a few things we"ve sometimes seen confusion about, so we thought we"d clarify them.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

There are seven key issues Google seems to think webmasters are having with mobile-first indexing. Here’s what the search giant wants to tell you:

URLs in search

With mobile-first indexing, we index the mobile version. When we recognise separate mobile URLs, we"ll show the mobile URL to mobile users, and the desktop URL to desktop users – the indexed content will be the mobile version in both cases.

Crawled counts

The total number of crawled URLs a day generally won"t change, but the balance will shift from mostly desktop to mostly mobile crawls. During a switch-over to mobile-first indexing we may temporarily crawl more as we re-index everything.

Cached page

Unfortunately, it looks like we"re currently still not showing a cached page for many mobile-first indexed sites. This is a bug, not by design, and should get resolved over time. It"s just the UI, it doesn"t affect crawling, indexing, or ranking.

Speed and mobile-first indexing

The mobile speed update in July is independent of mobile-first indexing. Fast sites are awesome for users, especially on mobile, since devices and connections there tend to be slower than with desktops.

Mobile website UIs

Using ‘hamburger-menus" and ‘accordions" on mobile websites is fine.

On requirements

Neither mobile-friendliness nor a mobile-responsive layout are requirements for mobile-first indexing. Pages without mobile versions still work on mobile, and are usable for indexing. That said, it"s about time to move from desktop-only and embrace mobile.

On ranking

The mobile-first index doesn"t change anything for ranking other than that the mobile content is used. While mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor on mobile, being in the mobile-first index is not.

If you still have questions, you can check Google"s documentation on mobile-first indexing by clicking the following links:

Mobile-first Indexing
Rolling out mobile-first indexing
Best practices for mobile-first indexing

You might also want to follow the Twitter thread we’ve been talking about for any updates, or you can put your own questions to Google on the thread.

What exactly is mobile-first indexing?

We feel most of the confusion about mobile-first indexing disappears once you know exactly what it is – especially when the majority of sites are going to be unaffected. So let’s chip in with our own attempt to clear up the mobile-first indexing confusion by explaining what it is.

Until recently, Google has used the content from the desktop version of pages to crawl, index and rank pages for all queries. The problem is, there are a number of websites now that run separate mobile and desktop versions of the same pages and this has caused some issues now that the majority of Google traffic is mobile.

Mobile-first indexing means that when Google detects separate mobile and desktop versions of the same pages it will now use the mobile version by default and then revert to the desktop version for users who are searching on computers.

This means you won’t be directly affected by mobile-first indexing, unless you have separate mobile and desktop pages. This is true for the majority of sites across the web and Google itself recommends using responsive design to deliver single pages across multiple devices – something that won’t be affected by mobile-first indexing because there’s only one version of your content.

There is a chance you’ll see some fluctuation for certain pages if there’s any change to the results around you but it’s unlikely anything drastic will happen.

If you’re running separate mobile and desktop versions of the same page anywhere across your site, then you’ll want to follow Google’s best practices for mobile-first indexing. Above all, check that your links and canonical tags are in order, aim to provide the same content across both versions and make sure you have structured data present on both pages.

 

If you have any further questions about mobile-first indexing or are having problems with optimising your pages for the switch, just get in touch with our team.

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How to Get Your Posts Seen on Instagram (Really), Plus Weekend Links

Sourced From: https://www.realestateexpress.com/career-hub/blog/real-estate-weekend-links-social-media-edition/

Read: Ever thought of generating leads from Quora?

Apparently, this often-overlooked platform can actually be a goldmine for real estate leads. Bet you never thought of that one! According to this Follow Up Boss story, Quora’s great for these reasons:

Leads are pre-qualified. (People searching for answers on Quora are already thinking about buying or selling).
You become an expert in your field by building authority as you answer questions.
Your answers remain on the site so future leads can find you.
As you gain followers, your traffic compounds.

That’s why you should use Quora, according to the story. For more on the how you’ll have to check out the full article here.

Follow your passion! Start your career in real estate now with our FREE Career Switch Kit!

Listen: How to get your posts seen on Instagram (really)

You can’t listen to every podcast, but if you’re just going to listen to one this week, make it this helpful guide to understanding the Instagram algorithm. Don’t you hate posting only to realize just a small handful of people have seen what you’ve put out there? Us, too. This podcast should help.

Here are three quick takeaways:

Everyone’s feed is unique because Instagram shows you posts based on how you interact within the platform, not based on who you follow. (2:50)
Three main factors determine what will pop up in your feed: recency, interest and relationships. (3:33)
Focus on quality to avoid getting lost in the shuffle as more and more brands join Instagram. (8:50)

Watch: Tips and advice for every new real estate agent out there

This is a 25-minute video loaded with tips for agents who have been working for less than five years. If you’re thinking to yourself, “I’m an old pro, I don’t need this stuff,” that could be true — but does someone you know need to watch this? Mentorship opportunity! Forward this along and you’ve helped out a young agent with just the touch of a button.

A couple key points we noticed:

Stay consistent. Tom Ferry says you have to try something 60 or 80 times before you have enough data to say whether it’s a failure or not. That’s about two months of knocking on doors every day, if you’re doing the math. (2:21)
Know your daily number. How many conversations do you have to have before you get a contract? What kind of contract leads to a successful closing? The business is math. (11:51)

Follow: Speaking of Instagram…

Keeping with our Instagram theme this week, check out The Real Houses of IG. It’s an Instagram account by Kate Rumson, who does interior design, real estate investment, development — all that stuff. These inspiring, gorgeous photos will make you feel good about homes and be that little boost in your feed when you need a pick-me-up.

Act: Now’s the time to start planning for July 4th

July 4th isn’t that far away and if you’re going to do something fun for your clients or community, now’s the time to get ready for it. Will you participate in any community BBQ’s? Offer a special service or discount? Plan a July 4th themed email blast? Your choice, but whatever it is, start brainstorming now so you can execute with excellence.

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6 Ways to Collaborate for Better Design

Sourced From: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/06/6-ways-to-collaborate-for-better-design/

Your team is all spread out— your designers are working from Lisbon, your content team is in New York, and your project manager is in Argentina. How do you create a system that makes it simple to organize and plan large web projects? There is a trick to getting designers and copywriters to work together smoothly, and it’s called communication. But even simple communication will fail if you don’t have the correct processes in place. 

1. Set Up a Project Management Foundation

Before you begin collaborating, you’ll want to make sure you have an actual system set up.
“I want to move forward, but I’m not sure what’s approved.” How often have you said that to your team? Some teams have a lot of fire in them. They like to dive right into the problem to find the solution, but that could cause a lot of problems later on. Most design problems aren’t actually design problems, they’re management problems. 

Most design problems aren’t actually design problems, they’re management problems

What happens if you have the best designers in the world, but you fail to explain the client’s problem properly? What if the designs they send keep getting rejected? And what happens when the designers and writers understand the project differently? The key is to develop a solution that actually works for everyone so project managers can properly understand and explain the issue, and designers and writers can develop solutions that work for those problems.
According to Sara, a Project Manager at Entermotion: The key to smooth design/writer collaboration is in the communication process; It’s important to be able to properly speak the same “language” so that all sides of it (design, writers, project managers) know exactly what’s needed and what’s being said; I think a lot of the mistakes in the process come down to a misunderstanding of the smaller details; Those smaller details can derail a big portion of the project even if they seem minuscule at first; Having everyone on the same page from the beginning and not starting out with “I think they want it like this…” (which leaves people assuming) or with too many open holes in the details can be detrimental to the whole process.
This is the most important step to take when planning a website. You need a careful project manager to help ensure the success of a project by exploring what the creatives can handle, how project success will be measured, making sure the creatives can dream big while sticking with a nightmare-size budget, and a detailed plan for how the designers and creatives can make it happen. Each project manager will have her own tools, but there are a few trusted apps that we know can get you on track:

Develop a design structure to help you meet your goals
Align your team’s goals with Basecamp or Asana and assign due dates, track projects, upload media content, and set calendar goals together.
Visualize your team’s progress with Trello or Notion
Keep up with your team on Slack or RocketChat

Once project managers have the right tools, they have to figure out the best way to implement changes.

2. Understand Project Scope Before Getting Started

Project managers should help determine all of the key project elements (and those tiny details that could derail a project):

Project Goals
Deliverables
Project Functions
Desired Features
Desired Deadline
Agreed-Upon Budget

Once the scope has been determined, project managers should figure out what they are not handling:

Is the client hosting their own website?
Is the client using a third-party company to get a logo developed?
Does the client have a deep connection with a marketing firm that will help them?

To do all that properly, project managers should have a checklist of information ready:

Who is the main decision maker for the company?
Does the client fully understand the scope of the project?
Does the project manager fully understand the scope of the project?

To make sure everyone is on the same page, project managers should share back a project chart (or detailed list of steps) so the client can confirm that the information is correct.
Once that’s settled, project managers can take it to the team!

3. Kick off Content First 

Collaborating for better design is about making sure the design and content team has a unified vision of what’s happening. Agencies and small teams handle this differently, but each leads to the same goal: getting the designers and writers on the same page to create something beautiful and avoid any pitfalls. 
Here’s how to lead a great kickoff chat:

Present project and deliverables needed
Give people time to come up with ideas
Set clear expectations and goals
Research before presenting
Develop a singular vision
Outline responsibilities for next steps

When you leave a kickoff chat, the entire team should feel empowered and ready to tackle the project clearly toward that singular vision you developed. Some companies have unique ways of handling the kickoff:
Amazon, for example, has a team member present a press release for the unfinished product. Like all press releases, it includes information about the problem, solution, and how to get started. Then, when the team goes back to designing and writing, they make sure that the product their building matches what was described in the press release.
But not every team can work like Amazon, so what happens if you’re working with a remote team? Jeff Gothelf has some ideas to keep your team’s process strong. He suggests that timing is a great way to keep remote teams excited. If everyone kicks off a project together at the beginning of it, teams will be able to understand and respond to each other’s learning and working styles.
A good project kickoff should be one where all team members uncover ideas together:

Understand a project’s end goals
Define and understand audience needs 
Determine main aesthetics and aesthetic goals
Define information architecture 
Develop content ideas

In a remote team, it’s super important that all key members of each project work together at the beginning to determine goals and eliminate potential hang ups.

4. Wireframe and Determine Content 

Set up a way to wireframe, prototype, and develop content as the design elements shift if you don’t have one already. As you move on from the kickoff chat, it’s important to have flexible tools that shift with the content.

Wireframe.cc

Wireframe.cc – starts at $16/month. This is a clean app that shows you the elements you need only when you need them. A context-sensitive tool bar and a limited color palette make it simple to create sketch-like wireframes in a pinch.

FluidUI

FluidUI is a prototyping tool to help you communicate information architecture to clients and receive realtime feedback on prototypes. This goes a little beyond simple wireframing because you can hop on an in-app video call to discuss each project as it’s happening.

Mockflow

Mockflow is a collaborative UI tool to help remote teams wireframe. It’s free for one project and goes up to $160/month for enterprises. Teams can brainstorm UI ideas on the go, export designs, and work with a library of wireframe templates.

when you use the right tools, your wireframe or prototype can shift with the design elements

Wireframing can be a collaborative part of the design process. Elements of the design might shift, but when you use the right tools, your wireframe or prototype can shift with the design elements. 
When you’re working on a remote team, it’s important that all members feel empowered to get feedback and collaborate properly. With the wireframe tools above, team members can get client feedback, uncover new solutions, and connect with their team.
Designers and copywriters can use wireframes to get specific feedback on projects. During a back-and-forth session, team members can ask for specific feedback:

How do you feel about animating the first half of this?
What if we turned this text into an infographic?
How will we be designing this?
Do you have ideas for hover text here?
Does the client want a video masthead here?

Opening up the ability to chat about an ongoing project will allow designers and writers to work collectively (and separately) toward one goal.

5. Work with a Content Management Platform That Supports Your Needs

Copywriters need a way to access older versions of copy and designers need a clean way to see what content was approved and what goes where. If your team works with smart content management platforms, they’ll be able to do everything they need in one place. 

Google Docs or Zoho Docs allow teams to share assets, so remote companies can all see the same progress 
Brainstorm in Dropbox Paper or Evernote to outline goals, responsibilities, and project needs.
Create a hierarchy in Jumpchart or Airstory so clients can see what content will be planned, where it will go, and what information they need to develop.

Whether you’re working with 1 designer and 1 copywriter or 16 designers and a full staff of copywriters, you’re going to need a way to do all this:

Control versions so each team member can work on the most updated version
Track changes so you can see who changed what, when
Follow client feedback, if any
Allow designers and copywriters to collaborate effectively, and work with tools that morph as the content or information shifts

6. Collaborate with Your Bosses and Clients for Full Approval

Before you submit the deliverables to your clients or bosses, decide how you’re going to present it. 

Create a framework so your clients and boss understand the way in which your deliverables will support the clients’ main goals
Create an index of topics you’ll cover during the meeting 
Discuss what stage your work is in and how it will be incorporated when it goes live 
Commit to an action plan 

Once you know how you’re going to present it, designers and copywriters should collaborate to make sure everything is in place:

Meta copy has been developed
Content is properly placed
Background information is prepared
All content is created and has been proofread

You never want to share information that is poorly presented, but you also don’t want to wait months until everything is “perfect.” Let’s face it: perfection is a beautiful idea but one that rarely helps businesses. Sometimes, it’s best to make sure everything is as right as it can be before you send it off. If you present the information properly, prepare the correct details, and share it in a beautiful package (backed up by case studies, evidence, or stats), your boss or client will have nothing left to do except approve it. 

Takeaway

Collaboration is about asking the right questions, coming to the table with an open mind, and ensuring that you have processes in place to execute a clear plan. Once you have a clear action plan, designers and copywriters will be able to collaborate for powerful projects that please the project managers as much as the clients.

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How to Get More Online Reviews for Your Business

Sourced From: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/baer-facts/how-to-get-more-online-reviews-for-your-business/

Online reviews, when done well, create new customers. Done poorly, they repel potential customers.

How important are online reviews? More than 80% of Americans trust them, according to BrightLocal research. A new study I just finished yesterday for my upcoming book with Daniel Lemin found that online reviews rank second—behind only friend and family recommendations—among the critical sources of information driving a consumer’s potential purchase.

And among millennials? They trust online reviews MORE than they trust friends and family.

But they can’t be reviews from whenever. Like the new Harry Styles ballad, they have to be FRESH! In fact, 77% of consumers do not trust reviews that are older than 90 days, says BrightLocal.

Also, Google now uses “review velocity”—the pace at which your business accumulates new reviews—as a ranking factor for local search results.

We are at a point where getting a consistent supply of positive reviews has a material impact on business success. Yet, SO MANY businesses entirely botch the review solicitation process. By my count, there are four ways to ask for an online review:

Online Reviews Solicitation Playbook 1

Ignore online reviews entirely, and just hope and assume that some percentage of customers will be motivated to create them. This is a bad idea, since about 1% of customers will do so on their own.

Online Reviews Solicitation Playbook 2

Use some sort of visual cue to encourage or nudge customers to create an online review. This is where you find things like “Review us on Yelp” window clings and so forth. This is better than doing nothing, but isn’t terribly persuasive.

Online Reviews Solicitation Playbook 3

Making a whole hullabaloo out of online reviews, and either engaging in a quid pro quo (write us a review and you get a discount), or a guilt trip (what do I have to do today for you to give us a review?). This is not only a violation of the terms of service of essentially every reviews platform, but new research finds that bribing people for reviews actually produces FEWER reviews, not more.

Online Reviews Solicitation Playbook 4

Providing customers with some sort of tactile, noticeable item that encourages them to write a review without feeling like they are being fully bribed to do so. If you can execute it operationally, this is the option you want.

A Brilliant Idea From Antigua

I was on vacation in the Caribbean last week. It was fantastic! On our last night in the islands, my family and I stayed at the Siboney Beach Club on Antigua: fun, cozy, boutique hotel right on the sand of Dickensen Bay, Siboney. It is run by very nice locals who aim to please. We were only there a day, but we had a great time.

Upon checking out, they gave me two small bottles of local rum, and attached to each was a business card, encouraging a TripAdvisor review. Online reviews are clearly important to the owners—after all, even in Antigua rum isn’t free—and a quick check of TripAdvisor finds that they have 411 reviews, a 4.5 average, and are ranked #4 of all hotels in the St. John’s area of the island.

 

THIS is how you solicit reviews. I’m going to drink the rum first, then write the review.

Find a way to give your customers something small enough to not feel like a bribe, yet noticeable enough to make them remember you and want to write a review.

If you come up with some cool ideas (and I know you will), let me know, won’t you? I’m always looking for new case studies.

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World Cup Fever Aside – What Can Social Media Tell Us About the Popularity of eSports?

Sourced From: http://www.socialmediaimpact.com/world-cup-fever-aside-can-social-media-tell-us-popularity-esports/

Non-gamers are likely to remain oblivious to the sheer size and scale of live gaming events – tournaments where the very best players come together in a face off to become undisputed champion of their cherished game. Huge audiences tune in to watch live streams of the contests and these are growing rapidly day-by-day. Today, tournaments of this kind are raking in view counts of around 500 million.

(While commonly being referred to as eSports, in this post we’ll refer to them as live gaming events – you’ll get the gist in a few paragraphs time.)

In order to understand what kinds of people of viewing these events, we looked to the vast social and digital space for answers – until we had over 250,000 posts that were related to the following video games: first person shooter Counterstrike, Dota 2, online multiplayer strategy game League of Legends, basketball hit NBA 2K, the FIFA series and American Football game Madden.

Here’s what we found out about the audiences dedicated to these games:

Each social platform plays a different role 

Depending on the platform, the social conversations had about live video game tournaments differ:

YouTube – used to show highlights and discuss the talking points through comments
Reddit – the post-match analysis space – where the critics meet
Tumblr – hones in on the overall league performances from a wider perspective
Instagram – memes, memes and more memes
Twitter – 42% of the total conversations surrounding live gaming events take place on Twitter – and it’s mostly news

(data collected from Pulsar TRAC)

Gamers are different to sports gamers

Traditional gaming behaviour cannot be confused with the sports gamers we’re discussing here – and this was demonstrated from the insights we collected.

Audiences for sports games are definitely part of a minority. 93% of the discussions we found accounted for traditional gamers talking Counterstrike, Dota 2, and League of Legends. Gaming content is the primary focus for this particular audience – who gather to discuss gaming host platforms like Steam and have plenty of interest in high quality gaming products and graphics enhancers such as those from brands like Razer.

Those who joined conversations around Madden, FIFA, and NBA 2K tournaments were a measly 7% – very much with their own DNA.

Sports games such as FIFA and Madden have an audience that share a similar passion with the real life sports as well, instead of gaming tournaments. There’s also a commitment to sticking to one preferred game, which creates and audience of individuals keen on segregating themselves. There’s also a link to geographic location, as we discovered sports gaming audiences that are UK-based prefer FIFA to the US sports games Madden and NBA 2K.

Specific teams or competitions do not dictate the interests of the sports games audience in live gaming, unlike those who follow more ‘traditional’ games. Tournament interest is few and far between – as this audience prefers to follow individual players on services such as Twitch, often watching gameplay of the now hugely popular Fortnite. Influencers within these audiences are similarly focused on sports in real life. For instance, FIFA fans often tie their interests in the game itself closely with their passion for soccer.

What we’ve learned is that conversations surrounding sports-based live gaming tournaments are increasing. However, this growth is quite marginal – increasing by 4% since 2017 which is similar to the growth of the industry itself.

Different communities for different games 

There are individual gaming communities – we know this for certain, although the discussions regarding different games within these communities is minimal. Gaming communities are usually formed around a fan favorite title, and this goes for both traditional games such as Counterstrike & League of Legends, and sports games such as FIFA.

The hardcore fans within our sports eSports search do not engage with casual fans online. So to conclude, sports fans are passionate about sports, while eSports gamers are the complete opposite.

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Do the Right Thing for Your Business … and Your Audience

Sourced From: http://www.copyblogger.com/copyblogger-weekly-89/

This week was all about doing the right thing — being cool, kind, ethical, and respectful. Not in spite of your business goals, but to support them. Because it turns out, most people would actually rather do business with someone who isn’t a complete tool. On Monday, Stefanie Flaxman talked about content authenticity — what
Read More…

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Do Open Houses Work

Sourced From: https://www.maxrealestateexposure.com/do-open-houses-work/

Do Open Houses Sell Homes? Do open houses work? Do open houses sell homes? These are questions that every real estate agent has been asked at one time or another in their career. One of the most heated debates in real estate comes into play when Realtors talk about whether open houses work to sell […]

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MASHVISOR Review: 3 Problems Every Real Estate Investor Has – And How to Solve Them

Sourced From: https://retipster.com/mashvisorreview/

I’ve been hearing about a company called Mashvisor for a few months now, and I recently had a chance to give the site a test drive and see what all the buzz is about.

In this blog post, I’m going …

The post MASHVISOR Review: 3 Problems Every Real Estate Investor Has – And How to Solve Them appeared first on REtipster.

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Mobile Home Investing: A Beginner’s Guide

Sourced From: https://retipster.com/mobile-home-investing-for-beginners/

The world of manufactured homes and mobile home investing can be a bit confusing for traditional real estate investors.

There are so many unique qualities to watch out for when it comes to working with this specific asset class.

In …

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Ideo: Make your ideas tangible

Sourced From: https://www.consultantsmind.com/2018/06/10/ideo/

Three years ago, I wrote about idea fight club – the simple, fun, true idea that consultants should start projects with an open mind, then systematically, democratically beat up on those same ideas, until the best one emerges victorious. Making ideas stronger with tough love. Ran across this IDEO video on  “idea fitness”. Analogous concept […]

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Vertical Leap Customer Day 2018

Sourced From: https://www.vertical-leap.uk/blog/vertical-leap-customer-day-2018/

Our 2018 Customer Day will take place on Wednesday 18th July at the No 6 Cinema, next door to our offices in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. And we’re delighted that Microsoft will be one of our guest speakers!

This annual event is always a fantastic day, bringing you up to speed with the latest

industry trends and providing you with loads of insight and techniques to help you increase your visibility online and prepare for the future of search.

It’s also a great opportunity to network with our other customers, meet all of the people who work on your campaigns and have a tour of the office. There will be meeting rooms and break-out areas available if you’d like to meet with your campaign managers whilst you’re here.

What will you learn?

Industry trends and insights
Latest techniques to help you get a competitive edge, including machine learning, data science and data visualisation
How to prepare for the future of search

Agenda

09.15         Refreshments

09.30        What’s happened in the last 12 months (industry and at Vertical Leap)

09.45        Interactive game – win a prize!

10.00        Performance User Experience (PUX)

10.20        PPC: Data science, automation and other clever stuff we’re doing

10.40         Refreshments

11.00         Content marketing: Telling stories with data

11.20         Data & Analytics

11.40         SEO: Latest techniques and models we’re developing

12.00        Microsoft: AI search

12.30        Lunch

1.15           Apollo: New design features for our customers

1.45          The future: Where the industry and Vertical Leap are heading

2.00         End of seminar

Workshops

This year, we will be running the following workshops and consultations after the seminar:

PUX workshop, 2.30-3.30pm (10 spaces)
Data & Analytics – live demo, 2.30-3.30pm (10 spaces)
1-2-1 website consultations (8 spaces) – if you’re thinking of updating your website soon, we are offering 15 min slots to have an informal chat with one of our website specialists.

Where and when?

Date: Wednesday 18th July 2018
Time: 9.15am – 2.00pm (3.00pm for workshop attendees)
Venue: No 6 Cinema, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth PO13LR   Directions and parking

What people said last year

“I thought the event was great – especially Google and the level of interactivity!”

“The only negative is that it’s a pity you don’t host more of these!”

“We thoroughly enjoyed the day and felt it was really informative and gave us a greater impression of just how many opportunities SEO and PPC (plus the world of digital in general) can provide to a business.”

“It was a super interesting day and I really felt we benefited so much so thank you for inviting us. The Google talk was completely fantastic, not forgetting Bing too.”

“I feel inspired and  motivated.”

“I thought the Customer Day was brilliant! The content was really useful, a good balance of insights covering things we can do right now and more strategic planning for the future. My brain was racing when I left!”

Come along, it’s always a great day!

If you’d like to come along or have any questions, email Michelle Hill on mhill@vertical-leap.uk. Also let us know if you’d like to arrange a 1-2-1 with your campaign managers afterwards.

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Be An Active Listener While Consulting with Noelle Mykolenko: Podcast #39

Sourced From: https://www.consultingsuccess.com/be-an-active-listener-while-consulting-with-noelle-mykolenko-podcast-39

When you put yourself in your client’s shoes, you’ll understand that the resistance to change comes from their fear of the unknown. They have attached themselves to practices that have been serving them well in the past but isn’t working for them in the present. She explains that this situation is very common that it has become the norm rather than the exception. As a consultant during these situations, you need to become an active …

Be An Active Listener While Consulting with Noelle Mykolenko: Podcast #39 is a post from: Consulting Success

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source https://ihelpsell.net/be-an-active-listener-while-consulting-with-noelle-mykolenko-podcast-39/

Best Tips For Having an Estate Sale

Sourced From: https://www.maxrealestateexposure.com/estate-sale/

What is an Estate Sale? The words “estate sale” can mean different things to different people. There are indeed multiple ways to interpret the definition of an estate sale. For example, most people who are not real estate agents think of an estate sale as an auction where furniture and other household possessions are sold […]

The post Best Tips For Having an Estate Sale appeared first on Massachusetts Real Estate Exposure.

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Michael Zipursky on Leaders In The Trenches Podcast

Sourced From: https://www.consultingsuccess.com/michael-zipursky-on-leaders-in-the-trenches-podcast

Michael was recently featured on Leaders in the Trenches Podcast, which you can listen to here: The Mindset of Success with Michael Zipursky In business, the way you think determines your actions — which determines how successful your business is. Successful consultants adopt the mindset which provides the foundation for their success. Consultants that fail aren’t failing because they have a poor website or can’t write effective proposals — those are surface level problems. They have …

Michael Zipursky on Leaders In The Trenches Podcast is a post from: Consulting Success

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A Beginners Guide to Pinterest +[PDF download]

Sourced From: https://www.dreamgrow.com/a-beginners-guide-to-pinterest/

Let’s take it from the beginning.

Everyone starts out as beginners at some point, and it takes patience, time, and consistency to become a professional.

To become a professional, we all have to take a route. As with driving, there are different roads you can take that leads us to the same destination. Some might be twisty, some might be quick, some might be slow – but they’ll get you to the destination.

They have one thing in common though. Whichever you begin from, you always start from scratch. And the same goes for learning how to master Pinterest.

In this article, we’ll give you the basics of Pinterest. From common terms and words to setting up your page, to creating killer content and dominating the platform.

In this post, we’ll cover it all.

Download 10 page Pinterest Business Best Practices Guide PDF file.
What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a social media platform that allows you to share, discover, and save your own or others posts to your profile, making it a collection.

You don’t need many sentences to explain Pinterest. Here’s how Pinterest describes it:

Pinterest is a visual bookmarking tool that helps you discover and save creative ideas.

Why Pinterest?

People use Pinterest to find and store images of clothes they wish to buy, the food they wish to cook, places they wish to visit and furniture that they would love in their homes.

Pinterest is powerful
Pinterest is growing
Pinterest is unique
Pinterest is free

Pinterest for Business/Brands

Pinterest is, in essence, the shop window of your site. Big and small businesses have cottoned on to the many benefits that Pinterest can offer including:

Increased visibility and brand awareness
Builds dofollow backlinks
Sales
Social engagement
SEO
Traffic

Pinterest can be used to create a look book for your company, displaying your products and creating an idea of what your business is about. Success relies on creating ‘pinnable’ images that other users will want to repin. Travel, food, fashion, weddings and interior design are among the most popular niches.

Pinterest promoted pins

Pinterest promoted pins offers a simple advertising module. Just dive in and get your promotions going. To start off, you will select a pin that you want to use to promote your brand. Next, you will set your goals and then you will choose your audience (potential pinners). Then you will set a CPC bid for your campaign and budget. Read Pinterest Promoted Pins: 14 Tips How to Get Awesome Results.

How to create an account

You can access Pinterest directly from your desktop by visiting Pinterest.com. The desktop is the most convenient option when working on your marketing activities.

There’s also a Pinterest app. It’s available both for IOS and Android. To download the app, simply visit the App Store respectively Google Play.

There are two types of accounts you can create. You can either create a regular account or a business account. Of course, which account you choose should reflect your purpose of use. If you are going to use the social media platform as a marketing source and a way to reach your target audience, creating a business account is a wise choice. If you are going to use to app for pure entertainment, creating a personal account is the most appropriate.

How to create a personal account

According to Pinterest, it only takes 15 seconds to set up your account. Whether or not that is true is up to you to prove.

There are two ways to create an account on Pinterest. The first method is to create one from their website. To do so, choose if you want to create an account using your Facebook account, Google account, or your email address.

The second method of creating a Pinterest account is to do it through the app. Open the Pinterest app, and you get the following screen.

The same goes here. However, the difference is that you cannot create an account using Google, nor can you create a business account directly when signing up. Business account has to be done at a later stage of you signing up.

How to create a business account

As of today, there is no possibility of creating a business account directly through the app. You have to do it on the Pinterest website.

To create a brand new business account:

Visit Pinterest for business.
Fill in the asked details, including who will manage the page.
Read the Business Terms of Service, accept, and click “Create Account”

To convert your personal account to a business account: If you have already created a regular account but want to convert it to a business account, you can do so very easily.

Go to the “Convert to business account” page on Pinterest’s website.
Fill in your business name and website (optional).
Click “convert“

Why business account?

Business accounts have access to a few more features than regular accounts, such as Pinterest Analytics, which is a built-in analytics tool that lets you study how your page performs. In addition to Analytics, you will also need a business account to create ads on the platform.

Common words & terms

As with all social media platforms, Pinterest has its own dictionary of words and terms that are dedicated solely to the platform.

Of course, for beginners, these words can be confusing, and make the usage of Pinterest more difficult than it needs to be. Therefore, one of your highest priorities, when getting started, should be to learn the meaning of the most common Pinterest terms.

Pin
A pin is a visual bookmark that redirects you to another website if you click on it, often the original source.

Repin/Re-pin
When you save a pin that has been posted by someone else, to your board, it is called repinning. Repinning is also known as re-pinning and saving. Re-Pinning is the new re-tweet. Pinterest may not be the newest social site but it is quickly taking over the old favorites and research has uncovered that Pinterest drives more traffic than Twitter.

Board
A board is a place where you save related pins. You can create how many boards as you want, and normally, you add pins that have something in common on the same boards and name them to separate them better. Boards are like folders that let you keep your pins organized on the platform.

Pinner
Pinterest’s users are often referred to as pinners.

Follower
When you find a pinner who shares appealing content, you can follow that user. Now, when that individual adds a new pin, it will appear on your homepage.

Source link
A source link is the website URL that a shared pin links to.

Likes
Similar to most social platforms. Like a pin to show your support, and that you endorse it. A bonus of the like feature on Pinterest is that you can like a pin and then later look at it without sharing it on your profile.

Creating a board

Before you start creating pins or repinning, you need somewhere to put them. Therefore, before you begin pinning, you need to create one (or more) boards.

To create a board, open up your profile and tap on the plus symbol (+). Give the board a name, and choose if you want the board to be secret or public. Once you are done, click “Create“.

If you want to edit your board later go to the board you created and tap the pen icon in the top left corner. Here you can name your board, add a description, add a topic, invite collaborators that can contribute to the board, add more people, and delete your board.

Every board you create should have a distinct theme. As you start creating more boards, you need to take a moment to think about what topics resonate well with your brand, what topics speak your brand language – and reflect your personality.

Creating your first pin

Now that you have created a board, you are ready to start creating your first pin. There’s a difference in your original pin, and repinning or liking others’ content.

You can share a pin using different methods.

If you are visiting a website, you can share a pin of the images that are on that website – if the website has integrated share buttons.

If so, tap on the Pinterest icon and share your pin.

If you want to create a pin directly from the app, you can do so. Go to your profile, and tap the “+” located at the top of the screen to the right. Choose Pin from “Photo” or “Web“.

By choosing “Photo,” you can share photos from your photo library – or take a photo right on the spot

By choosing “Web,” you are opted to write in a website URL and then redirected to that website. Once you are there, you can look around until you find an image worth pinning. To pin an image you see, tap on it, and you’ll be presented with options to share it.

However, one of the simplest methods is to install the Pin It button directly from Pinterest. Once installed, this button will appear on your browser bar. When you find an image online that you like, press the pin button, and Pinterest will ask you to confirm which image you would like to select for pinning. By pinning with the button, there is no need to attribute the image as Pinterest will link it back to its original location. Simply add your new pin to the most relevant board and add a caption to ensure it is sufficiently optimized.

Features to know about
Private messages

On Pinterest, you can send and receive private messages from other users on the platform. To access your messages once inside the app, choose the speech bubble icon at the bottom of your screen. Toggle from Notifications to “Inbox” to see your messages.

To send a message, choose”New message” and search for the users you’d like to send your message to.

Visual search

Many don’t know this, but Pinterest has a visual search feature that lets you identify, and sometimes even buy products in a pin. Pinterest will present similar products like the ones seen in the pin and suggest similar products from online stores, that you can put in your cart and shop without ever having to leave the app.

To access this feature, tap on the magnifying glass in the top right corner of a pin, and then on the suggested dots that appear on the pin after Pinterest has identified the object(s).

Pinterest browser extension

Pinterest has developed a browser extension for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox that lets you save links to images that you find on the web.

Once the extension is activated, you’ll see a red “Save” button in the corner of the images you hover over with your mouse. Click “Save,” and choose a board to post it on to share it on your Pinterest account.

Instant ideas

In the bottom right corner of every pin, you can see a small circle. If you tap on that, Pinterest will present you with more pins similar to that – without redirecting you to a new page.

Filter your searches

To get more exact results, you can filter your search results by tapping the funnel icon located just right to the search bar.

Filter your search by the following criteria:

Pinterest for Your Business

Pinterest is used by many businesses – but also ignored by many as well. By not taking advantage of what Pinterest has to offer in terms of marketing for brands, you’re missing out on some tremendous opportunities.

Because marketers are always in the hunt to know where the attention is, they often tend to look at the number of users across the various social media platforms and choose the ones with the highest numbers.

Pinterest allows you to optimize your pins and include tags to attract users with keywords. You can track Pinterest traffic in Google Analytics, and you can also track the number of repins from other users also.

There are a variety of ways that Pinterest can benefit your business:

Drive Traffic to Your Site

Pinterest is a great way to drive traffic to your site. As long as your site contains high quality, interesting images, people will want to pin them. These pins or recommendations will ensure larger numbers of people see your pins and can be directed back to your site with minimum fuss.

Boost Your Keyword Strategy

Get found for the phrases that matter to your business. Pinterest boards and profiles are indexed by Google which means that you can optimize your boards with specific keywords to help you appear in the search results.

Identify Pins that Convert

Google Analytics allows you to identify which pins convert into sales. In doing so, you will get a better feel for the types of images your target market is likely to pin and the products they will be interested in purchasing.

Encourage Natural Links

Content assets are a great way to encourage natural links to your site. However, if people do not know they are there or cannot find them through traditional search methods, it may be wise to pin things like infographics on Pinterest. This will enable your target market to find your content assets and pass them on quickly to other people, making them highly visible in a short space of time.

Source

Comparing social platforms based on their user count is similar to the glass half empty, half full phenomenon. When you compare Instagram and Pinterest in terms of user count, you can understand why some marketers choose Instagram over Pinterest.

Instagram has 700 million active users, while in contrast, Pinterest “only” has 200 million. But on the other hand, Pinterest has 150 million people who use the platform regularly. 200 million! That’s almost half of the population in the U.S.

How Pinterest Works: the DO’s and DON’Ts for marketing

Let’s say you are a professional food blogger and you want to drive more traffic to your site. You post a picture of your amazing no-bake cookie dough truffles. They look good, so others repin the picture to their boards. Some think it looks so good that they want to try to make the truffles themselves. The pinner clicks the picture twice and arrives at your site for the recipe. The picture has driven traffic to your site. The pinner may subscribe and start following your blog; Pinterest has successfully marketed your site.

So the concept seems easy. Provide engaging, aesthetic images of your product or service on your website, pin them to Pinterest and allow the image to bring your customers to your site. This is easy; however, there are some important things to remember that can affect your marketing efforts. Here are just a few hints for effective marketing through Pinterest.

The DO’s and Don’ts of Pinterest Marketing

Don’t upload pictures to Pinterest from your computer. This will not link back to your website
Do put them on your website and pin them from your site. Not only does this link people directly to your site, but the more links you have going to your website, the higher your search engine rankings can be.
Don’t pin pictures from your site that have no content on your site. If someone has followed the photo to your website it is because they want to read more about the topic of the photo.
Do provide a visible subscription button to your page. If they like the content they may want to subscribe, you should make this as easy as possible.
Don’t direct people to a sales page (the “add to cart” page) with no product information. Prices, reviews, etc are always good to have immediately.
Do provide easy purchasing directions on your site. If it is confusing, or there are technical problems, customers may be deterred from following through with their purchase.

About the author: Jens Wirdenius is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Veloce International and the influencer directory Veloce Network. He is a social media and marketing nut, sharing his passion for business in his articles.

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Success Story: How an Inverse Mentorship Benefits Everyone

Sourced From: https://www.realestateexpress.com/career-hub/blog/success-story-inverse-mentorship/

Six years ago when real estate agent Evan Roberts earned his license and started in the business, he realized he needed to learn tricks of the trade beyond his course.

“You have more complex transactions,” said Roberts, “and you really need someone with 20 to 30 years experience who has been through the process before and who you can lean on.”

What happens, Roberts wondered, when your clients didn’t find a house and instead want to buy a lot and build? Conducting a transaction with a land broker is different than buying a house that’s already built.

For help, Roberts turned to the agents at Dependable Homebuyers in Baltimore, Maryland where he works.

“Our office has real estate agents across many generations,” he said. “Everyone has unique strengths and we work to mentor each other in our areas of expertise.”

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Building an inverse mentorship

The agents in his office were happy to help Roberts with this question and many more, but Roberts wanted to share something with them in return, leading him to develop an inverse mentorship.

He noticed some of them were still doing postcard marketing and shying away from building a website with an SEO strategy. “They don’t feel as comfortable with content marketing or SEO,” said Roberts. “That’s where we’re really able to trade our expertise.”

To help them, Roberts set up what he calls a syndication network. 

“Instead of them having to go learn these different platforms and the different complexities, what we do is just create their citations,” Roberts said. “I just provide them a form, they go to this form, put in the information and click submit. I copy my templates.”

Roberts also writes guests posts for their websites which provides the other real estate agents with content and helps build the authority of both sites by creating backlinks.

It’s a lot of work for Roberts, creating all the content takes time. But, it’s worth it. “I’m giving away a lot of value but like anything when you give a lot you gain a lot. when I need help with a transaction I can call someone and I know they’re going to pick up,” said Roberts.

This version of mentoring sees both sides learn something and as technology rapidly advances, it’s becoming more and more common as new real estate agents entering the industry have native knowledge of many marketing platforms that would take older agents months of focus to truly learn.

These younger agents now have something to offer while at the same time are hungry for the real-life experience that older agents have amassed.

“A reciprocal mentorship,” Roberts said. “is the best way to improve your weaknesses and mature your strengths.”

The post Success Story: How an Inverse Mentorship Benefits Everyone appeared first on Real Estate Express.

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What’s New for Designers, June 2018

Sourced From: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/06/whats-new-for-designers-june-2018/

No summertime blues here. With so many new tools, the dog days of summer will be filled with playing with new elements and expanding your design portfolio.

If we’ve missed something that you think should have been on the list, let us know in the comments. And if you know of a new app or resource that should be featured next month, tweet it to @carriecousins to be considered!

Cool Backgrounds

Cool Backgrounds is a pretty nifty tool to help you create a trendy background element with color and gradients and shapes. You can create images for blogs, social media and full website designs as well as desktop wallpapers. The options are beautiful without any changes but you can also create customizations in the still, and animated, background options. Just make what you like in-browser and download.

Record Label Logos

Record Label Logos is a great collection of visual inspiration. The project by Reagan Ray is a curated collection of some of the best record label branding and logos of all time. Some of the old-school logos are just phenomenal. Browse and feel inspired.

Beagle

Beagle is a security tool that is designed to help secure your website before hackers break in. You can test security and see all the results in an intuitive dashboard that details each security scan.

Priority Nav Scroller

Priority Nav Scroller is the tool for you if you want to prioritize website navigation and works particularly well with a large number of links or if you need additional inline controls. The simple script is easy to use and install and has a clean design.

Codacy

Codacy helps you improve code and automate code reviews. It’s designed as a productivity tool for software dev teams. Check style, security, duplication, complexity and coverage on every change while tracking code quality.

Bokeh Effect

Bokeh Effect is for everyone who loves trendy faded background bubbles or blobs. This CSS animation includes a soft effect that’s interesting without being overwhelming. Check out Louis Hoebregts project on Codepen.

Rainbow Hover Buttons

Rainbow Hover Buttons are a groovy little bit of code that creates a fun hover state for clickable elements. Check out the code from Varun Vachhar.

Critters

Critters is a Webpack plugin to inline critical CSS and lazy-load the rest. What’s different about this library is that it doesn’t use a headless browser to render content. It is fast and lightweight and is great for single-page applications.

Solna

Solna is the world’s first invoicing platform that is powered by credit score data. Designed for small business owners and freelancers, the tool helps you automate cash flow and reduce exposure to risk. The tool allows you to create custom invoices, automated reminders, upload bulk data, track invoices and see reports and it is free to use. Right now Solna is made for users in the UK, but you can sign up to be notified as the international launch expands.

Fathom Analytics

Fathom Analytics is a new alternative to website data collection without sharing or selling collected data. It tracks everything you expect – users, key actions, etc. The tool is open-source and is in the pre-launch stages, but it looks like a great start to a new kind of analytics product that you can take a look at on GitHub.

Wallpaper Generator

Wallpaper Generator is a simple tool to create different wallpaper and background patterns. Just toggle the controls in the pen by Tim Severien to create something for your project.

Goat

Goat is a tool that teams have been needing: It is a URL shortener that’s made just for private teams or groups. And it is designed so that only your team can access links, such as those in shared folder. Plus you can great link groups and integrate it with your team on Slack.

Roast

Roast is a static web host that “just works” for plain HTML (Jekyll, Hugo, etc.) and React/Angular/Vue. It includes secure HTTPS, fast AWS CDN, SEO reporting and server-side rendering with free and paid plans.

Wired Elements

Wired Elements is a kit of UI elements in a hand-drawn style. While there aren’t a lot of projects where you can likely use this, it’s pure fun. The elements are drawn with randomness so that everything looks like you just sketched it out.

Optic

Optic is an artificial intelligence pair-programming tool to help automate ordinary tasks to improve workflows. Use it to connect projects with similar code and files, ask questions from your IDE and to highlight code and get suggestions.

Lord Icon

Lord Icon is a set of 50 SVG animated icons. They might look simple, but these little gems can add a lot of spark to buttons and elements throughout your design. Customize them with color and scaling to fit your design.

12 Languages Icons

12 Languages is an icon shot that shows personas to match languages in your design. Each illustration is featured in a simple cartoon style.

Clothes & Shopping Icons

Clothes & Shopping Icons is a set of line-style vectors that could work great for online shops or ecommerce. Each icon file comes in multiple file formats for ease of use and quick customization.

Libmoji

Libmoji is a tiny library for making Bitmoji avatars. It uses the Bitmoji avatar-building API to render previews with certain characteristics and allows you to integrate this style of avatar without a Bitmoji or Snapchat account.

Winds

Winds is an open-source RSS and Podcast app. Use it to listen or play with the code to customize your own listening or reading experience. It includes machine learning that will help find content that matches your tastes. (Plus, there’s already a UI/UX stream to get started.)

Tutorial: 1 Element CSS Rainbow Gradient Infinity

CSS Tricks has a fun tutorial to create a 1 Element CSS Rainbow Gradient Infinity. The quick tutorial walks you through creating the shapes and gradient in CSS with step-by-step instructions and code snippets so you can walk through it with ease.

Tutorial: Building a Responsive Image

Still not exactly sure how to create a responsive image or logo in the most efficient manner? Nils Binder has a great tutorial (with demo content) to get you through it. From the designer: “I got the idea to build a logo file for our company, that not only reacts to the browser width but instead adapts while respecting its aspect ratio. So you can use it anywhere, and the file itself chooses which version to show depending on the size it’s given.”

Cannes

Cannes is an art-deco style typeface with neat ligatures. This display typeface includes a modern stroke style and is free for personal and commercial use.

Delicious Adventures

Delicious Adventures is a simple novelty font in a clean, almost-handwriting style. It comes with upper- and lowercase letters and numbers. The stroke widths are thick enough to hold up in a variety of display uses.

Kotori Rose

Kotori Rose is a fun geometric sans serif typeface that can work for display or slightly smaller blocks of text. It has bold letterforms and includes upper- and lowercase letters, numerals and punctuation.

Lash

Lash is a display typeface in a rough style with an extra-high x-height. It includes sharp edges in two styles with an uppercase character set, numbers and punctuation.

Megan June

Megan June is a full collection of characters in a thin style. Use it as an uppercase font for display or use lowercase as well for blocks of text. The simple strokes are highly readable.

Quiet Meows

Quiet Meows is something fun for all the cat lovers out there. The funky font replaces some characters with cats for a silly style. Use it for your feline-fab friends.

Sunset Beach

Sunset Beach is a modern script with swashes. It includes a full character set without numerals. There are also ligature options and some extended symbols.

Add Realistic Chalk and Sketch Lettering Effects with Sketch’it – only $5!

Source

p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;}
.alignleft {float:left;}
p.showcase {clear:both;}
body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;}

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Website Pop-Ups: The Good, the Bad, and 18 Rules You Should Never Break

Sourced From: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/06/website-pop-ups-the-good-the-bad-and-18-rules-you-should-never-break/

A website is a place where a business can educate its audience about its brand. What it does. Why it does it. What they’ll get out of being there. That, in and of itself, is a lot of information.

When designing a website for your clients, the last thing you want is to overdo it. The web is not a place for excess and its users typically don’t have the patience to sift through pages and pages stuffed full of information just to get to the relevant bits.

That’s why minimalism will endure as a design trend. It allows web designers to convey a lot about a brand and its message, without having to spell it all out on the page. It gives brands a cleaner, more buttoned-up look while also clearing a path to conversion for visitors.

But just because you design with simplicity and minimalism in mind, doesn’t mean you can’t share additional messages with visitors. You just have to find less cumbersome and intrusive ways to do so.

Years ago, the pop-up was introduced as a means to do this. It kept related and relevant information within the website without having to intrude on the well-designed page. However, Google has since cracked down on the usage of pop-ups that it deems disruptive to the user experience, which has some designers and developers confused about what they’re supposed to do now.

So, what does it mean? Is the pop-up no longer a viable way to promote special offers, share value-add content, subscribe new followers, or recover nearly-lost sales? In this article, I’m going to cover the current state of website pop-ups and give you some best practices to adhere to when using them.

The Current State of Website Pop-ups

First, let’s talk about what pop-ups look like today, how they’re used, and why you would even want to include them in your web design plan.

Types of Pop-ups

A modal is the most common type users encounter on the web.

It can literally pop open on a web page, slide into the page, or just be there right from the point of entry. While these usually can be found in the dead-center of the page, some websites now place them closer to the bottom of the page or even stick them in the corner.

An interstitial or overlay pop-up is one that covers the entire screen, usually upon entering a website.

A notification bar is one that can permanently stick to the top or bottom of a website.

5 Very Good Reasons to Use Pop-ups

You might think that with the backlash from Google on mobile pop-ups (I’m getting to that soon…) that it would be best to stay away from pop-ups altogether. However, I’ll give you 5 very good reasons why most of the websites you design should include them:

1. They’re Attention-Grabbing

No one has patience to read anymore, which is why delivering attention-grabbing micro-messages in pop-ups are so great.

2. They Draw the Eyes to What’s Most Important

Pop-ups deliver extra value to online visitors—and they know it. So, when a pop-up appears, they’re going to immediately be drawn to that offer or value-added opportunity.

3. They’re Versatile

Pop-ups no longer move visitors out of the browser window or clog up their desktop with ads they weren’t aware of. You now have so many different types to work with and they can be triggered at different points of the website experience:

Upon entry
After a certain point of scrolling
Triggered by an action
Right before exiting

4. They Keep the Site Clean

As I mentioned before, minimalism is important for making a website aesthetically pleasing. But if you have a special message you really want to get in front of visitors and don’t want to take up precious and limited real estate to do it, you can use pop-ups to deliver it.

5. They Increase Conversions

Sumo studied its users’ pop-ups and the conversion rates associated with them. What they found was that pop-ups have the potential to convert at a rate of about 3%, on average. Pop-ups that are designed really well, however, have the potential to convert 9% of visitors that encounter them.

You can also use them to increase engagement on the site. Ask them to fill out a survey, share something on social media, or to watch a video on a landing page.

But What’s the Deal with Mobile Pop-ups?

Okay, so Google doesn’t hate mobile pop-ups. It just wants web developers to be smarter about how they use them since pop-ups can be disruptive for users, in general, though definitely more so on smaller mobile screens.

As a result, Google has begun issuing penalties to mobile websites that use these three kinds of pop-ups:

In summary, stay away from:

Pop-ups on the first page of a mobile user’s visit
Pop-ups that hide the majority of the web page behind it
Interstitials

Got it? Now, let’s talk about what you should do when using website pop-ups.

18 Best Practices for Using Website Pop-ups

Never use pop-ups for the sole purpose of having a trendy design element in place. If you waste visitors’ time with a meaningless disruption, you’ll lose their trust.
Design the pop-up to look just as good as the rest of your website.

Make sure they’re responsive.
Keep copy short and to the point.
Don’t use the passive aggressive Yes/No calls-to-action unless it’s your brand’s personality to be that way. If you’re including two CTAs, do it in a way that positively encourages them to take action on the primary one.
If you’re going to collect contact information, ask only for one thing: their email address.
Make sure the content of the pop-up is relevant to the page it appears on.

If you can, avoid showing pop-ups on the first page. Give visitors a chance to acclimate first. For the record, though, this is one of the entry pop-up types Google does allow for (since privacy is so important):

Follow Google’s rules for mobile: no interstitials, no oversized modals, and no pop-ups on the first page.
Don’t feel like desktop and mobile pop-ups need to be identical. Design pop-ups for each device type.
Always include an easy way to get out of the pop-up: either click outside of it or place an “X” button in the top-right.
Time your pop-ups to appear at just the right moment of the on-site experience (like right before visitors are about to exit).

Set frequency rules, so visitors don’t keep seeing pop-ups on every page or on every visit.
Place pop-ups in the right location.
If you want to intrude (and think visitors will be okay with it), put them in the center of the screen.

If you want to share a special offer, use a sticky bar.

If you want to give them something to think about as they move around the site, put the pop-up off to the side.

Use audience segmentation and targeting to create customized pop-up messages.

Wrapping Up

If you have something really valuable to share with visitors or know you have a way to positively lure them back to your site, give website pop-ups a shot. And don’t be afraid to A/B test them the way you do other elements on your site. There’s so much here to play with, including design, copy, placement, CTA, triggers, and more.

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