Explore proven strategies for creating high-performing landing pages that guide users towards action and conversion goals. The post 10 Top Converting Landing Pages That Boost Your ROI [With Examples] appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
A new study finds Google’s expansion of AI Overviews correlates with declining clickthrough rates for informational queries. The post Google CTR Study: AI Overviews Rise As Click Rates Decline appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Reader Disclosure Looking for the best membership platform? Compare MemberPress vs Memberium vs Podia to find the right fit for your online membership business. Choosing the right membership platform can make or break your online business. As an entrepreneur, educator, or content creator, you need a solution that’s easy to use, flexible, and built to grow with you. With so many options out there, how do you decide? Today, we’re comparing MemberPress vs Memberium vs Podia – three popular platforms designed to help you monetize content, build memberships, and sell courses. We’ll break down their features, integrations, pricing, and ease of use so you can find the best fit for your needs. By the end, you’ll have a clear idea of which platform will set you up for success. What The MemberPress vs Memberium vs Podia Platforms Has To Offer Here is an overview of all you should know about each of these platforms: MemberPress An All-in-One Membership Solution MemberPress is the world’s most popular membership and monetization plugin. Collectively, MemberPress users have generated over $2billion in revenue. Powerful and flexible, it allows you to easily sell memberships, restrict content, create online courses, and manage subscriptions. Whether you’re building a coaching program, an online course, or a community-driven membership site, MemberPress has a wealth of tools to help you create your dream membership experience. What are the Key Features & Benefits of Using the MemberPress Platform Effortless Setup: MemberPress boasts a user-friendly setup process, allowing you to configure your membership site swiftly without extensive technical knowledge. With its ReadyLaunch™ templates and startup wizard, you can set up your membership site to accept payments in minutes. watch >> how to auto-style your memberpress pages in 1 minute Robust Access Control: With powerful access rules, you can precisely determine who views your content, restricting access to pages, posts, categories, tags, and files based on membership levels. Integrated Course Management: MemberPress’ Learning Management System (LMS) MemberPress Courses lets you create and sell online courses effortlessly. It’s available on all plans and features a drag-and-drop curriculum builder, quizzes, and progress tracking. Flexible Content Dripping: Keep your audience engaged by scheduling content releases, ensuring members receive material at optimal times. Customizable Coupons: Generate unlimited coupons to promote your offerings, with control over expiration dates, usage limits, and discount types. Tools You Can Integrate With MemberPress MemberPress integrates seamlessly with top tools to enhance your membership site: Payment Gateways: Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net. Email Marketing Services: Mailchimp, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, Keap, and more. Community Platforms: BuddyPress, bbPress, Discord, and more. Learning Management Systems (LMS): Aside from it’s proprietary MemberPress Courses, you can also integrate with LearnDash, Talent LMS, and WP Courseware. Automation Plugins: Zapier and Uncanny Automator to connect your membership site to 1000s more apps. Other Notable Integrations: WooCommerce, Elementor, Formidable Forms, OptinMonster, MonsterInsights. MemberPress Pricing and Plans MemberPress offers three annual subscription pricing plans: Basic: Priced at $359 per year, suitable for beginners launching their first membership site. Plus: At $599 per year, ideal for entrepreneurs and small businesses seeking advanced features. Pro: For $799 per year, tailored for professionals and advanced membership sites requiring comprehensive capabilities. Right now, new customers can take advantage of a 50% off welcome discount for the first year. This is User Experience & Support Setting up and managing MemberPress is straightforward, even for WordPress beginners. Built exclusively for WordPress, it works flawlessly within the platform, offering an intuitive dashboard and flexible customization options. Plus, MemberPress provides detailed documentation, video tutorials, and a top-rated customer success team, ensuring you’re supported all the way, no matter your specific needs. Why Should You Choose MemberPress? If you want a feature-rich, scalable, and reliable membership solution without coding, MemberPress is a top contender. It’s built for flexibility, making it ideal for business owners, educators, and content creators who want complete control over their membership sites. Memberium A Membership Solution for Infusionsoft & Keap Users Memberium is a WordPress membership plugin designed specifically for businesses using Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) and ActiveCampaign. It enables users to create automated, scalable membership sites by leveraging CRM and marketing automation. If you rely on Keap or ActiveCampaign for managing customers and email marketing, Memberium can help you seamlessly integrate memberships into your workflow. Key Features & Capabilities of Memberium Deep CRM Integration: Automate membership access, billing, and content delivery directly through Keap or ActiveCampaign. Flexible Content Restriction: Control access to pages, posts, videos, and downloads based on membership levels. Automated Drip Content: Schedule content releases based on user behavior or predefined rules. Robust Tag-Based Access Control: Assign and modify membership levels using CRM tags. Multi-Site & Multi-Membership Support: Create different membership tiers or run multiple membership sites. Secure Login & Member Management: Prevent account sharing and manage user access efficiently. Notable Integration Features on Memberium Since Memberium is built specifically for Keap and ActiveCampaign, it offers seamless integration with these platforms. It also works well with: Learning Management Systems (LMS): LearnDash, LifterLMS, WP Courseware. E-commerce & Payment Gateways: Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce. Affiliate & Marketing Tools: WP Fusion, ThriveCart. Other WordPress Plugins: Elementor, Gravity Forms. Memberium Pricing & Plans Memberium has a separate pricing model for users of Keap and ActiveCampaign. For Keap Users, Standard – $77/month ($770/year) Pro – $117/month ($1170/year) Advanced – $207/month ($2,070/year) For ActiveCampaign Users, Standard – $37/month ($370/year) Pro – $57/month ($570/year) Advanced – $127/month ($1,270/year) Is Memberium Easy to Use? Memberium is a powerful but technical platform best suited for users already comfortable with Keap or ActiveCampaign. The setup process requires CRM configuration and automation setup, making it more complex than beginner-friendly plugins like MemberPress or Podia. However, for businesses that rely heavily on CRM-driven automation, Memberium provides unparalleled flexibility. Support options include detailed documentation, live chat, and a community forum, but users may need CRM expertise or a developer to take full advantage of its features. Who Should Use Memberium? If you’re already using Keap or ActiveCampaign and want a deeply integrated, automated membership site, Memberium is an excellent choice. However,
Learn how to make Google ads for low budget work for you, even with limited spending, to achieve your marketing goals. The post Ask A PPC: Is Google Ads Still Good Value For Money For Low Budget Accounts? appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
As an employee and a freelancer, I’ve seen plenty of brands fall prey to a shiny object syndrome where they want to build a feature they saw a competitor launch or simply thought was a good idea. Then, they build that idea without knowing if their audience needs or wants it — they skip usability testing. “In many companies, if the leading competitor has this feature and we think it’s a good idea, validation is done. It never works,” shares author and product leader Itamar Gilad. “You should not assume that your competitor actually knows what they are doing any more than you do. I always ask, ‘Where is your evidence?’” Usability testing is a way for your company to test and validate new ideas and features with evidence. In this post, I’ll cover what usability testing is, the main types of usability tests, and how to run a usability test — even without a big research team or budget. Table of Contents What is usability testing? Benefits of Usability Testing When to Do Usability Testing What to Test for Usability Testing Usability Testing Examples & Case Studies Types of Usability Tests How to Conduct a Usability Test 15 Usability Testing Questions Usability Testing vs. User Research User research, also known as UX research, is a broad field that includes multiple methods to understand the needs, behaviors, and motivations of users. Usability testing is just one of many user testing techniques. Usability Testing vs. A/B Testing A/B testing compares two variations to determine which performs better. While usability testing typically analyzes a single version of a product, UX researchers sometimes use A/B usability testing to compare two prototypes and understand why one version outperforms the other. Benefits of Usability Testing When you’re trying to build and launch a product, running a usability test may seem daunting or expensive. But I promise it’s worth the effort — here are four reasons why. 1. Helps you understand your users’ wants and needs. I’ve seen some companies get so caught up in what they think their customers want that they only find out after launching a product that it doesn’t match what they need or want. Testing a product early means companies can understand the market and create a product that’s much more likely to succeed. 2. Helps you make data-based decisions. In any development cycle, products go through multiple rounds of iterations to reach a launch-ready product. Design teams have to make some assumptions when creating a first iteration, but usability testing can validate or disprove a concept before it moves from prototype to development. Many teams can fall prey to a “false consensus effect,” where they assume that others will agree with their point of view. Usability testing removes the bias and the designer’s lens so you can have a data-based, objective view of what’s working and what’s not. 3. Creates shorter product development cycles. You might assume that adding a testing phase would lengthen your product development cycle. But, when companies invest in UX and usability testing early, they can shorten product development by 33 to 55%. That means you need fewer resources to fix a faulty product later on — and you can deliver value add, revenue-generating products to the market faster. 4. Leads to higher customer retention, cross-sell, and upsell rates. Studies show that companies that invest in customer experience see 42% higher customer retention, 33% higher customer satisfaction, and 32% higher cross-selling and up-selling. Simply put, with a good experience, customers are less likely to leave and more likely to spend more over time. When to Do Usability Testing Not every company has a dedicated UX research team, nor needs one. While SaaS companies who ship products constantly may need a robust usability testing strategy, most companies need only periodic research. Here are some scenarios where usability testing may be beneficial. Prototyping: Launching a New Product, App, or Website Most product designs start with wireframes. Teams then build out high-fidelity mockups and a working prototype. These steps give companies a fast, low-cost way to validate a design before actually building it. “Usability testing and design is so much cheaper than coding, then figuring out you created a problem and having to pivot back,” shares Katie Lukes, VP of Product Strategy at Innovatemap. “If you are making big swings and assumptions about how people work, you want to get that design in people‘s hands to see, ‘Can they navigate this experience that I’ve designed for them? Can they achieve this goal?’” If you are designing whole screens that will be brand new experiences for the user or workflows for them to go through, designing a working prototype is really important. Pre-Launch: Late-Stage Testing Once you’ve validated and coded your concept, late-stage usability testing can help you catch bugs and issues before launch. Post-Launch: Improving an Existing Product If you have an existing website or app, you can run usability tests for a prototype of a new or improved feature. You can also A/B test small changes like copy, color, or other design choices to see if it improves a quantifiable outcome like a user clicking “Buy Now.” Expanding to New Markets If you have an existing product but are launching to new geographies or industries, usability testing can help you see how a different audience interacts with your product. For example, educators and students may use collaboration software differently than a business team. What to Test for Usability Testing When I conduct a usability test, I’m looking for much more detailed information than whether users had a “good” user experience or a “bad” one. To set up a successful usability test, identify the problem you are aiming to solve and create a study plan outlining exactly what you want to test and how. Here are some components that you may want to consider testing. Navigation How easily can users find their way around your product? Test the intuitiveness of your menu structure, search functionality, and overall information
Whether you‘re just starting out with content marketing or you’ve been using the same approach for a while, it never hurts to revisit your content strategy plan and make sure it’s innovative and engaging for your prospects and customers. In this post, we’ll dive into what content strategy is, why your business needs a content marketing plan, and what steps you need to take to create your strategy. Plus, we’ll explore some examples of effective content marketing strategies for inspiration. Table of Contents What is a content strategy? Why Marketers Need to Create a Content Marketing Strategy Content Marketing Strategy Statistics Elements of a Content Strategy Plan What You Need to Create a Content Marketing Strategy How to Create a Content Strategy Framework Questions to Ask When Creating a Content Strategy Content Marketing Strategy Examples Content Strategy Template Content Strategy Tactics Your content strategy is the foundation of the attract and delight stages in your buyer’s journey that follows the inbound marketing framework. Say your business goals include increasing brand awareness. To achieve this, you might implement an SEO-focused content strategy to increase your website’s visibility on the search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive traffic to your products or services. Along with attracting prospects to your brand, you can leverage a content strategy for sales enablement and customer satisfaction. Plus, with 70% of marketers actively investing in content marketing, developing a good content strategy is critical to competing in your industry. Why Marketers Need to Create a Content Marketing Strategy A couple of years ago, I worked as a content writer for a literary company that had just launched. Despite all the pre-launch meetings, the founder and CEO of the company didn’t understand the importance of creating a content marketing strategy for our forthcoming website. Three months after the launch, the CEO expressed dissatisfaction with the poor performance so far — neither the website nor the company’s social media accounts were seeing organic traffic, and the paid ads were not converting at all. I suggested that we create a content strategy plan for the next quarter. Sure enough, by the end of Q2, we recorded an increase in traffic and conversions from both the website and social media profiles. No matter the kind of company or industry you work in, a content marketing strategy is integral for the success of your digital marketing efforts. 1. It aligns the team on goals and objectives. When content creators, social media managers, writers, and other team members are aligned on goals such as brand awareness, lead generation, or customer engagement, they can produce content that consistently supports these aims. This increases the chances of getting tangible results. Carl Broadbent, a digital marketing expert, values content marketing strategies for the alignment they bring. “After years of publishing blogs, ebooks, and videos, I‘ve learned that a strong content strategy acts like a guiding compass. It points you towards topics and formats aligned with business goals, so you’re not just cranking out content for content’s sake,” Broadbent says. Broadbent also notes that teams will make mistakes along the way. He recalls, “‘I’ve made that mistake! Last year, we invested heavily in podcasts, thinking it would attract our target buyers. Turns out our audience preferred snappy infographics. Our podcast push fizzled out fast without the right strategy in place.” 2. It guides content creation and distribution. Ayomide Joseph, a freelance content marketer for SaaS companies like Aura, Nextiva, and Trengo, explains the purpose of a content marketing strategy: “The concept of ‘strategy’ in content marketing is simply to give you a roadmap that’ll guide you from where you are to where you want to be,” Joseph says. For example, Joseph notes that if you’re looking to drive more inbound leads via content, ideally, creating bottom-of-the-funnel content is the way to go. “A content marketing strategy answers the questions, ‘How do you go about it? What’s the keyword you’re going to target, search volume, difficulty — and what distribution approach will you utilize?’” Joseph says. “If you don’t have a content marketing strategy, you’ll be working blind.” A content marketing strategy requires you to plan the type of content to create, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, and podcasts. You’ll also determine the most effective channels for distribution, whether that be social media platforms, email marketing, or the company’s website. This planning ensures that content is consistent, timely, and relevant to the audience’s interests and needs, fostering brand loyalty and advocacy. 3. It optimizes resources. When you map out a fully fledged content marketing strategy, you’ll be able to allocate resources more efficiently, whether those resources are time, budget, or manpower, to bring the strategy to life. By knowing the type of content you need to produce and the platforms through which you’ll distribute it, you can direct your efforts and budget toward activities that offer the best return on investment (ROI). 4. It improves online visibility. A well-executed content marketing strategy can alleviate this problem by improving a brand’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). High-quality, optimized content is favored by search engines and ranks higher in search results, which leads to increased organic traffic. By targeting specific keywords and topics relevant to your target audience, you can attract more qualified leads to your website. 5. It builds brand authority and trust. By consistently producing high-quality, relevant, and valuable content, you can establish your business as a thought leader in its industry. This authority builds trust with your audience, which is crucial for long-term relationships and customer loyalty. A content marketing strategy ensures that your content not only attracts attention but also provides value and encourages your audience to return and interact with the brand further. Content Marketing Strategy Statistics Here are some statistics that show the results a content marketing strategy can help you generate for your business: More than 90% of marketers are either maintaining or increasing their investment in content marketing in 2025 (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2025) 15% of
Let’s get right down to it — the key to successful SEO is concentrating on long-tail keywords, which are associated with more qualified traffic that’s more likely to convert. As for the key to finding — and choosing — the right long-tail keywords? I’ve found that it involves knowing how to use keyword research software effectively. In doing so, you can find specific, relevant search terms that can attract users who are further down their search intent than those using generic terms. In this post, I’m highlighting the thirteen best tools out there for performing keyword research for your website content. Before we go any further, though, I want to touch on two important things to consider as you do your research: relevance and (if applicable) location. Table of Contents Keyword Relevance Location-Based Keywords Choosing the Right Keywords for Your Business Free Keyword Research Tools Paid Best Keyword Research Tools Keyword Relevance Relevance is the most important factor to consider when choosing the right keywords for SEO. Why? Because the more specific you are, the better. For instance, if you own a company that installs swimming pools, it‘s likely that you’d attract more qualified prospects by targeting a keyword such as “fiberglass in-ground pool installation,” rather than “swimming pools.” That‘s because there’s a good chance that someone searching for “fiberglass in-ground pool installation” is looking for information on installation or someone to perform the installation … and that could be you. Sure, optimizing for “swimming pools” has its place. But there’s no doubt that this keyword will attract a much more generic audience that may not be looking for what you have to offer. Go for the relevant, long-tail keywords instead. Location-Based Keywords Another major factor to consider when optimizing for the right keywords is location-based searches. When looking for contractors and services in their specific area, search engine users will usually include their location in the search. So, “fiberglass in-ground pool installation” becomes “fiberglass in-ground pool installation in Boston, MA.” If you operate in one geo-location, you may want to consider adding location-based keywords to all of your pages, since traffic from other locations isn’t going to be very much help to you. If your business operates in several geo-locations, it is also a wise choice to create a separate web page dedicated to each location so you can make sure your brand is present when people are searching for individual locations. Choosing the Right Keywords for Your Business Now that you understand these two considerations, how do you choose the keywords most likely to drive the best leads to your business? Guessing, for obvious reasons, is not a good strategy. While you might be spot on, the search terms people use to find you might surprise you. With that in mind, it’s best to use a keyword research tool that will either confirm your guess (or blow it out of the water) and help you identify long-tail keywords that are right for your business. There are tons of tools out there, and finding the best keyword research software can be overwhelming. To make your job easier, I’ve demoed these top thirteen tools — free and paid — so you can make a quick choice and start identifying strong long-tail keywords for your SEO campaign. Free is always my favorite place to start, especially when you’re just dipping your toes into SEO. 1. Google Keyword Planner Best for: Simple keyword research that taps right into Google Search algorithms. Google has a few tools that make it easy to conduct keyword research, and their free AdWords tool called Keyword Planner is a great place to start — especially if you use AdWords for some of your campaigns. Important note: You need to set up an AdWords account to use Keyword Planner, but that doesn’t mean you have to create or spend money on an ad. Google will try to funnel you into creating your first ad, providing step-by-step directions. You can bypass this by selecting “back” and “skip” until you are prompted to set up your account. After playing with it, I discovered that while you do need to put in a payment method, you do not need to spend money. To get started, choose the “Discover new keywords option.” Then, type in some basic information about your business and enter your URL. When you input keywords and your website address into Keyword Planner, Google spits out a list of related keywords along with simple metrics to gauge how fierce the competition is around each one and how many searches it gets on both a global and local search level. It‘ll also show you historical statistics and information on how a list of keywords might perform — and it’ll create a new keyword list by multiplying several lists of keywords together. You can choose the ideas you like most, or that best fit your business, and then select “Add keywords” to save them so you can streamline what you’re looking for. 2. Google Trends Best for: Comparing search terms against one another and doing quick searches. Google Trends is another free tool from Google. It lets you enter multiple keywords and filter by location, search history, and category. Once you enter that information in, it’ll give you results that show how much web interest there is around a particular keyword, what caused the interest (e.g., press coverage), and where the traffic is coming from — along with similar keywords. The best part about Google Trends is its colorful, interactive graphs that you can play with, download, and even embed on your website. One way to use Google Trends? If you’re trying to decide between two keyword variations for your latest blog post title. Simply perform a quick comparison search in Google Trends to see which one is getting searched more often. For example, when you compare marketing metrics vs. marketing KPIs, you can see how they’ve trended over the past several years. You’ll also be able to find related
Don’t launch a new agency or any brand before listening to advice from someone who’s done it and even written a book about building brands that break barriers.
Matt Mullenweg shares three reasons why WordPress will grow stronger in the near future and his thoughts on succession planning The post WordPress’s Next Phase: Mullenweg Shares What’s Ahead appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Google updates robots meta tag document with details on managing how content appears in new AI Mode. The post Google Updates Robots Meta Tag Document To Include AI Mode appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
