By Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

Some are saying blogging is dead. Though the rules have changed, it’s still a solid strategy for growing your online business. But if you’re still using the same guidelines from a few years ago, it’s most likely going to seem much harder than it should.

There is a silent shift online in blogging trends. After years of chasing access on social platforms, people are slowing the pace and searching for content they can trust, save, and later return to. Simultaneously, AI-driven search is rewarding depth, clarity, and real expertise.

It appears that blogs are turning into the most stable place to create online visibility.

Now, blogging trends favor ownership over platforms, depth, and consistency.



What are some blogging Stats?


1. Worldwide

Blogging is still one of the most widely used publishing constructs online and, globally there are hundreds of millions active.

There are millions of blog posts published daily which shows sustained growth rather than decline.

The largest change isn’t in volume, but intent. More posts are built to rank, survive, and be reused over time.

2. AI in blogging

AI tools are now commonly used for:

Research and topic discovery

Outlines and structure
Summaries, headlines, and SEO optimization

3. Overall Data

The overall data shows blogging is growing, although it’s no longer about volume. Consistency, depth, and structure outdo speed and frequency.

AI is a support tool, not a replacement for expertise.

Despite its performance advantage, long-form content is still underused.

Thus, the reason blogging trends now favor the long game and why blogs are once again becoming an essential content asset, especially for brands investing in relevant authority to build trust and long-term search visibility.



What are some core blogging trends going forward?


According to one source, more than 65% of internet users still read blogs and spend meaningful time on them, which is the reason future blogging trends reflect a reset. After years of algorithm chasing and platform-first content, blogs are being evaluated on credibility, usefulness, and staying power.


1. AI Creation and Optimization

AI-driven creation and optimization is now used by writers for faster research, to structure ideas, and to improve SEO.

The strongest blogs use AI to make things run more smoothly and then rely on human judgment to form the final message.

Voice content still matters. People don’t trust content that feels automated or interchangeable. Blogs are kept readable, specific, and worth returning to by human editing.


2. AI is a Baseline

Now, AI is assumed. Most blogs use it for structure, research, and optimization, so it no longer offers an edge on its own. On strong blogs, AI is guided, edited, and constructed by human intelligence.

Searches and readers can quickly recognize generic output. Blogs that depend heavily on automation have a hard time building trust.  Those that combine AI efficiency with clear thinking and original perspective perform better over time.


3. Keyword Tricks

Content built around keywords only is considered unreliable. Blogs that focus on real-world knowledge, consistent subject matter, and transparent authorship are more stable in rankings than content built around keywords alone.

This favors creators and brands with quality content, not just something to publish. Authority is cumulative and harder to fake, which raises the bar across the board.


4. Content Anchors

Blogs are becoming content anchors and are no longer individual posts. They operate as anchors which support multiple formats, including short-form video, newsletters, social content, and audio. Creators are getting more value from fewer pieces instead of writing more.

https://marketingsuccessreview.com/internet-marketing-2/the-shift-in-blogging-trendshis approach reflects how people now consume information, first scanning, then going deeper when something seems useful.


5. Narrow Focus vs. Broad Reach

Blogs for smaller audiences with well-defined intent outperform better than larger ones that have vague appeal. General-interest blogs are trailing behind those that have a definite focus. Hyper-specific topics attract readers who are more likely to subscribe, engage, and return.

Now, relevance matters more than reach. Blogs that know exactly who their audience is grow faster and more predictably.


6. Revenue and Volume

Revenue is not tied to volume but to relationship. Audience trust matters more than traffic spikes. Many blogs earn with paid newsletters, affiliate content, memberships, product-driven funnels, and affiliate content based on real use, rather than display ads.

Because these models reward consistency and credibility, they work. Sustainable income is from readers who choose to stay rather than from visitors who bounce.

The next step is understanding how to build content that actually works within it, not just reacts to it. That means applying proven tactics for creating engaging, SEO-friendly content that keeps readers interested, supports search visibility, and holds up as algorithms and platforms keep changing.


Uses for Blogging Tools

Tools alone are no longer an advantage as everyone has access to them. What counts is how you use them to support your blogging strategy, which is built for search visibility, audience engagement, and long-term growth across a larger digital strategy.


1. AI Content Assistants:

a) Speed up brainstorming, outlining, and initial drafts for blog content

b) Support keyword research, long tail keywords, and alignment )with search intent

c) Help structure blog articles so they surface more easily in ai search and conventional search

d) Improve clarity and flow, especially for long-form blog content

e) Still require human editing to keep an authentic tone and avoid generic ai generated
content


AI helps bloggers publish faster, but it doesn’t create an authentic connection. If you rely on it without judgment, you tend to blend in, not stand out.


2. Analytics

Use analytics and behavior-tracking tools to:

a) Show how readers spend time on web pages, not just how many clicks you get

b) Tell where users scroll, pause, or drop off in a single blog post

c) Identify which blog articles drive organic traffic and which lose attention

d) Turn up content gaps and opportunities to improve internal links

e) Support better decisions in the area of content strategy and blog content strategy


Understanding behavior matters more than vanity metrics since more than half of all users still read blogs to find answers and to solve their problems


3. Automation and Workflow Enhancers

Automation and workflow enhancers are used to:

a) Help bloggers publish regularly, even when you post weekly across multiple blogging
platforms

b) Turn one average blog post into interactive elements, video content, or social media
marketing assets

c) Discover SEO and formatting problems before they damage search results

d) Reduce time spent on repetitive tasks like updates, scheduling, and checks

e) Free up focus to create content, for audience engagement, and for creating fresh content


For most businesses, blogs support more than content marketing. They anchor digital presence, drive traffic, and support lead generation in ways that social media is unable to. Over time, some platforms disappear, but blogs continue to hold value across other platforms.

Tools cannot replace thinking. The blogs that succeed are the most intentional, not the most automated.



What are some common blogging mistakes?


1. Clear Intent

You must have clear search intent when publishing.

Define your purpose before you write. Each post should answer one clear query for a specific target audience. The content isn’t ready if you can’t the goal in one sentence. Clarity turns blog content into valuable insights.


2. Total Dependence on AI

Since AI-generated text is becoming more common across the blogging industry, high-quality content still needs human judgment. Use AI to support drafting and research, but not for decision-making. You need to edit for voice, context, and relevance.


3. Social Media

You should treat social media like distribution and not as a foundation. Create blog articles around target keywords and long-term search visibility. Some platforms will not last, but blogs continue to support digital marketing and long-term digital presence.


4. Weekly Posting

Post less if you need to, so you can spend more time improving each article. One compelling post that solves an actual problem will outperform several mediocre ones, regardless of current trends or posting frequency.


5. Watching Traffic

You should focus on engagement signals. Examine how readers spend time, where they drop off, and whether they come back again. Audience engagement over time is a better sign of success than raw traffic numbers.


6. Padding Posts

Do some massive editing. Replace fluff and filler with examples, interactive content that adds value and clarity. Whether it’s a cooking blog or a B2B site, usefulness is what keeps readers coming back.


Blogging that lasts isn’t about faster publishing or seeking out every new platform. It’s built on clarity, focus, and content that earns its place in search and with readers.

With the shift in blogging trends, the long game succeeds again because it’s the only strategy that’s still holding up.

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by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.


Since email marketing is continually evolving, what worked last year or even last month might not be adequate today. Spam filters are smarter, people are more selective about what they open, and inboxes are stuffed. So, how can you make sure your emails do not end up unopened, ignored, or even trashed? If you want more clicks, actual engagement …

Read more here

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by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

To attract customers, you need to create valuable content and experiences rather than reaching out to them. This digital inbound content marketing approach attracts users to your brand when you offer useful or entertaining information and experiences. This can be text, video, or audio, which makes it easier for prospects to find you.

When using content marketing to build a following, you’ll see higher returns for each additional piece of content you publish.

This article details content marketing moving forward.

You can read it here

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by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

To turn your website visitors into leads, you can offer appealing lead magnets like e-books and checklists in exchange for their contact information via clear call-to-action (CTAs) and optimized landing pages. Use live chat/chatbots for immediate engagement, build trust with social proof (testimonials), and ensure a seamless, mobile-friendly user experience with strategic pop-ups and A/B testing to polish your approach.

When we blog or create any kind of content, the end goal is to create loyal paying customers.


Here are three proven blogging strategies that convert website visitors into customers:

1. Create engaging, long-form, relevant content that adds value. Hone in on the specific problems your audience faces and provide valuable, detailed solutions that show your authority to solve their problem and help them take actionable steps themselves.

2. Solve problems.


3. Be authentic.

Authenticity builds trust. Show the human side of your business, but don’t go into personal details unless a personal anecdote helps to demonstrate your point. Don’t overdo it.



What is lead generation?


A lead is someone who may be interested in the product or service you offer; a potential customer.

Lead generation or “lead gen” is the means of finding potential customers and inviting them to engage with you so they enter your sales funnel.

You’ll need a strategy to find potential customers, get their attention, and capture their contact information.


There are three main components in a lead generation strategy:

1. Target audience

Determine which specific viewer persona you will focus on for each lead generation strategy.

If you have more than one kind of customer, start with your best type and later on add lead gen strategies for other kinds of customers.


2. Platform

For lead generation to be effective, you should go where there’s a high volume of new people who fit your target audience.

You may have a high volume of traffic to your website, but it’s a landing page, not a platform.

Even if you do have a high volume of traffic to your website, you need a lot of new people who aren’t already in your database.

Successful lead gen hinges on using other people’s platforms to find and engage with fresh  potential customers to whom you’re not already exposed.

Newbies commonly make the mistake of focusing on building things on the business’s (blog, podcast, lead magnets, etc.)… which then don’t produce results because the business doesn’t have enough new traffic to their own site.

Even the best content can’t convert if not enough people see it! You need to get people to come to your site from other places.


3. Content and capture

Go to other people’s platforms to get in front of new people and then bring them to your website and get them on your email list so that going forward, you have control over communications with them.

Give away, free, something of value like a webinar, an infographic, a white paper, or a free trial to showcase your expertise, get your lead’s contact information, and continue building a relationship with them.

Then, you’ll need a plan for converting leads to sales, which is a topic for a separate post.


Since there are many other ways to generate leads, explore your options and remember the main principles of lead generation:


1. Go where your target audience is

2. Give them something for free before asking them to buy

3. Capture their information in your own client management software

4. Give them more for free and build the relationship

5. When the time is right, make a sales offer


Success depends on reaching the right people, at the right time, at the right place, at sufficient volume. With some experimentation, you can determine what works well for your business to dial in all those variables.

Once you’ve chosen a lead generation strategy to test, you’ll need software to manage everything for you so you can quickly and easily manage new leads, convert them into clients, and give them such great service that they keep coming back for more.

This article is an overview of a few ways to turn your website visitors into leads for your business.


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by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

In marketing, you’re probably used to hearing about the next best thing, and then watching it disappear a few months later.

Although sometimes what is trending becomes the standard; blogging, email marketing, or social media. Each of these was once thought to be a passing fad. Now, they’re the foundation of how you connect with buyers.

So, that’s why you should pay attention.

Digital marketing strategy is rapidly developing due to higher expectations, new tools, and smarter buyers. The strategies that worked a few years ago are beginning lose their advantage.

To remain competitive, you need to understand the direction things are headed, and it’s essential to know how to adjust your approach.

Across the industry, real shifts are being seen, and they’re backed by what forward-thinking companies are already doing and by what today’s buyers truly want.

So, if you’re creating a strategy that’s designed to last, the following are some key digital marketing trends to pay attention to:


1.  The Buyer’s First Touchpoint

In the future, buyers will no longer begin their journey on your website or even on Google. More and more, discovery starts inside AI-powered settings like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and other generative platforms where users compare, research, and validate decisions before ever clicking a link.

This shift changes how digital marketing works. Instead of optimizing only for traffic or rankings, you must now optimize for AI summarization, interpretation, and citation. If your content isn’t authoritative, clear, and structured for machine understanding, it might never surface at the minute a purchaser forms intent.


2.  Content Ecosystems

A significant shift, trending in digital marketing, is highlighting AI-driven content ecosystems. This marketing trend shows interconnected content (pillar pages) outperforming single pieces, which builds topical authority for better AI visibility.

A pillar page is a comprehensive, long-form webpage that serves as a central hub for a broad topic, linking out to more specific, in-depth articles (topic clusters) on related subtopics, creating an authoritative resource for users and search engines, establishing topical authority, and improving site navigation. Think of it as a detailed overview (the “pillar”) with links to specialized chapters (the “clusters”), organized to provide a complete user journey through a subject, like a “Complete Guide to Digital Marketing” linking to posts on SEO, social media, etc. ~ Google search


3.  AI Search Optimization

AI platforms redesign user discovery. A new discipline—Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), also referred to as AI Engine Optimization (AEO)—has become a key focus in digital marketing trends. Unlike traditional search engine optimization (SEO), GEO prioritizes how AI models read, interpret, and cite information as opposed to how algorithms rank pages.


4.  Full Funnel Social Platforms

While analyzing digital marketing trends, social commerce becomes a game-changing influence. This progression in digital marketing trends shows how shopping behaviors are basically shifting. Social commerce is set to transform the way consumers find and buy products, converting social media platforms into new storefronts. This digital marketing trend shows no signs of slowing down. The integration of social media and e-commerce is transforming shopping, making it effortless and more engaging for consumers.


5.  AI-Enhanced Creative

AI will be embedded directly into the content system, which is a major shift in creative production. Modern AI tools help you shape concepts, refine messaging, and adapt visuals across platforms with greater speed and consistency instead of simply producing variations. This development reflects broader trends in digital marketing, as audiences expect higher-quality content, and platforms reward skillful storytelling that fits each format.

With AI increasing the speed of production and improving decision-making, creative teams can focus on strategy and storytelling, as digital marketing trends refocus toward video-first engagement. Campaigns become more cohesive, more adaptable, and considerably faster to implement, which is an advantage as digital marketing trends move toward video-first engagement.

For example: “Side-by-side comparison of “traditional creative workflow” vs. “AI-accelerated creative workflow.”


6.  Omnichannel Marketing

Modernized Omnichannel channel marketing and multi-surface visibility will be prominent trends in digital marketing.

As digital activities splinter across platforms, you can no longer count on single-channel attribution or isolated analytics.

Users will shift seamlessly between search, video, email, social, AI assistants, and offline touchpoints, often interacting with a brand over and over again before converting.

Those using AI for creative adaptation will get better multi-surface presence, thus blending platforms for seamless user experiences.


7.  Brand Authenticity

The drive for authenticity will accelerate because of shifting user expectations, rising skepticism toward overly polished or generic content, and algorithm updates. People don’t want automated campaigns or AI-generated fluff but brands that feel human, credible, and based in real knowledge. So, building a strong brand based on genuine values will be the main differentiator for your business. With competition intensifying and elements becoming easier to duplicate, your brand will be the only true defense to protecting market share. You must focus on developing a unique identity, rather than quality alone, that resonates with your target audience.


8. AI-Driven Hyper-Personalization

Personalization continues to be a priority, but there are now stricter privacy expectations and new federal conditions. Consumers want tailored experiences but are increasingly cautious about how their data is collected and used. The FCC has updated consent rules (effective January 2025) that require clear, written permission before you can send automated marketing messages. This forces marketers to rethink how they build compliant, trust-based communication flows.

Instead of relying on third-party data or aggressive retargeting, marketers are moving toward privacy-first methods built on transparent value exchanges, clear consent, and cleaner first-party data. People are more willing to share information when they understand how it makes things better for them, and those who communicate this clearly keep stronger engagement.


9.  Search Everywhere Optimization

Content discovery is continually and quickly evolving, and search behavior is expanding far beyond Google. Although Google is still the main player, users are now beginning their research across a mix of AI assistants, video search engines, social platforms, and emerging multi-surface ecosystems. This shift requires you to take a broader view of where search happens and how customers find information, because modern discovery is no longer limited to a single platform or algorithm.

AI assistants play a major role at the beginning of research journeys. ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overview and others deliver multi-source answers in seconds, sometimes replacing the traditional “scroll through results” behavior. Video-heavy platforms such as YouTube and TikTok will still operate as primary search engines for younger users. In the future, nearly half of Gen Z will prefer platform-native search before turning to Google, and TikTok’s internal search indexes captions, spoken audio, on-screen text, and comments, transforming every video into a searchable asset.

Search everywhere optimization is about meeting customers where they naturally look first.

We’ve covered nine future digital marketing trends in this article. If you choose to use them, AI implementation and search optimization are a good starting point, as these digital marketing trends form the foundation for other advanced strategies.


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,

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

At the present time, most areas don’t explicitly prohibit AI-generated content, but there are legal considerations around copyright, disclosure requirements, and intellectual property rights.

How you implement the use of AI writing tools is the key to legality—avoiding copyright infringement, ensuring proper oversight, and following industry guidelines for disclosure.



Is it legal to use AI to write articles?

Using AI to write articles usually isn’t illegal, although the legal landscape is still changing.

As a business owner, you can safely incorporate AI content creation when you follow best practices that prioritize human review and editorial control.

For digital marketers, the main thing to understand is that using AI content generation itself isn’t usually prohibited, but how you use it matters enormously.

The tool is legal, but the application might raise legal questions.

For example, taking photos with a camera is legal, but where and how you take them determines whether you’re breaking privacy laws.


Is AI-generated content protected by copyright law?

Currently, AI-generated content occupies a complicated place within copyright law. In many jurisdictions, copyright protection requires human authorship and creativity, thus presenting a fundamental challenge for content created solely by AI with no human input.

In the UK and the EU, copyright law generally requires a human author for content to be protected.

The US Copyright Office has a similar position and has stated that it will not register works produced solely by AI without the creative input of a human. However, if the content is created with AI assistance that contains ample human direction, editing, or refinement might still qualify for copyright protection as a human-authored piece.

When you’re using AI writing tools to outline content that you then significantly edit, refine, or complete, you’ll probably have stronger copyright claims than if you’re publishing raw AI content.

The essential thing is to demonstrate meaningful human input in the creative process.

Thus creating an interesting dynamic where, legally speaking, having a human-in-the-loop approach not only improves the quality of your content but it possibly strengthens your copyright position.


Do you need to disclose when content is AI-generated?

Both platforms and audiences are increasingly beginning to expect transparency.

Although there is no universal legal requirement mandating disclosure of AI-generated content, Google’s helpful content guidelines emphasize creating content mainly for people rather than for search engines, whether AI is involved or not. The question of disclosure is about legality, trust, and ethics.

Numerous marketing professionals embrace a middle-ground approach. They don’t necessarily label every AI-assisted paragraph, but are open about their content creation procedures in general terms.


Since search engines are continually improving their algorithms, in order to better detect and potentially classify AI content, having a disclosure statement in place future-proofs your content strategy and demonstrates your dedication to transparency.

You don’t have to be apologetic—just simple and factual about your content development method.


Key points for responsible AI content creation

For responsible use of AI content creation, you must balance innovation with ethical and legal issues. As you incorporate AI writing tools into your digital marketing strategy, use these necessary guidelines to remain on the right side of the law and best practices.

The most important thing is to maintain human oversight.

AI should be used as a collaborative process rather than a replacement for human judgment.

This approach will probably strengthen your copyright position and also ensure relevance to your audience.

Use transparency to build trust with your audience.

Although you may not need to label each piece of your content as AI-assisted, a clear policy about your content creation process shows integrity.

Think about including information about your method of developing content on the about page of your website or editorial guidelines.


As a final point, remain adaptable.


The legal environment surrounding AI content is quickly evolving. As new regulations, industry standards, and platform policies continue to change, what’s considered best practice today may be modified. If you have flexible processes and stay informed about changes in this area, you’ll be well-positioned to adapt your method as needed.


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by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

You can use a good lead magnet to help convert visitors into leads. A lead magnet is a marketing method where you offer resources such as a discount, an e-book, a tool, etc. in exchange for a prospect’s contact information. The primary goal of a lead magnet is to start and further a relationship with potential buyers.

This is an option you can use to turn your visitors into leads.

Read the article here

Try this viral mailer that pays

by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

As the term suggests, autoresponders automate your email marketing which saves you time.

If you set up your autoresponders correctly, subscribers receive the right messages from you at the right time without you having to send them manually.

There are a lot of powerful, free autoresponder tools online to help you grow your email list and nurture leads.



Why do you need an autoresponder email service?

As a marketer, you can use autoresponders to set up a series of emails and then send those messages automatically based on certain rules, conditions, and user actions.

For example:

Lots of bloggers use an autoresponder sequence to notify existing subscribers of new posts on their blog or to welcome new subscribers.

There are various types including stand-alone autoresponders specifically designed to automate the sending of pre-written email sequences based on triggers, such as a customer signing up for a newsletter.

With the correct autoresponder, you can create advanced workflows that automatically send the right email to the right person, at the correct time.

Automated emails can re-engage disinterested buyers and keep them engaged, drive more people to your website,  get you more sales, and more.


So, should you stop manually sending out autoresponder messages?

The answer is no, since email automation isn’t always the best way to go.

There will be lots of times when it will make more sense to send them manually.

For instance, sales announcements and general news updates, messages celebrating festive occasions and seasonal promotions.



What are the best free autoresponders?


You can get autoresponders from most top email marketing companies, however, when you’re just starting out, paying for email marketing can add a lot of expense to your website-building costs.

Following are some of the best free autoresponder tools to help you get started no matter what size budget you have.

1. Constant Contact


According to research, Constant Contact is the best email marketing software in the world.


Pros


Some of the pros include:

~ You can sign up for a free trial without entering your credit card details. You’re charged only if you actively choose to continue using it.

~ It’s fast and easy to create an account. Just click a few options and Constant Contact will display some helpful resources based on your answers.

~ If you have a WordPress website, enter your website’s URL and get a unique branded email template with the colors, images, and logos from your site.

~ Choose from a hundred plus ready-made email templates.

~ The drag-and-drop functionality is very easy to use, even for beginners, which is especially helpful if you are new to email marketing.

~ The Constant Contact support team is easy to reach via live chat software, phone, and email.

~ There’s also a library of resources and online training. In the United States, you can even go to their in-person live seminars.


Cons


A couple of cons:

~ Constant Contact doesn’t offer a free-forever plan. After the 60-day free trial, you’ll need to pay in order to keep using your email list. If you want to continue, you can get 20% off using the Constant Contact coupon.

~ After the free trial period, to keep using the automated features, you’ll need to pay for the Email Plus plan.


Pricing

Constant Contact’s Lite plan starts at $12 per month. However, if you want to use the email automation templates, you’ll need the Standard plan, which starts at $35 per month. For custom automations, the Premium plan starts at $80 per month.


2. Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, is a marketing automation platform that combines both email and SMS marketing, so you can send SMS text messages to your WordPress users.

They’re one of the fastest-growing email autoresponder platforms in Europe.

Pros

~ Brevo has a generous free-forever plan that allows you to store as many email contacts as you want. You’re just limited by how many emails you can send each day.

~ The majority of Brevo’s tools are available on their free plan including the digital marketing automation tools.

~ On the free plan, you get access to email support, so you can contact the support team if you’re having problems.

Brevo’s marketing automation tool has a user-friendly drag-and-drop Workflow Editor that allows you to create powerful automations without having to write any code or learn complex tools.

~ You can track the actions that each contact takes on your website, like purchasing a product, and send transactional emails based on their behavior.

~ Brevo has a fully customizable sign-up form so you can add email subscriptions to your WordPress blog or website.

~ There are over 40 responsive email templates that look just as good on mobile and smartphones, as on mobile devices. With the intuitive drag-and-drop editor you can also create your own templates.

~ If you are creating an email marketing campaign for a client, then they may have provided some ready-made HTML assets. To save time, you can upload these HTML templates to Brevo, and then use them as the basis for your campaign.


Cons

~ All emails sent from a free plan have Brevo’s branding, which can make your campaigns look non-professional. The paid Starter plan also has the Brevo branding, which can be removed by purchasing a $10.80 per month addon.

~ Although the marketing automation tools are included in the free plan, these tools are limited to 2000 contacts on both the free and Starter plans which can make it hard to grow your email list.

~ The free plan has a 300 emails per day limit which can seem like a lot when you are just starting out, but you can hit this limit very quickly. With that in mind, you shouldn’t choose Brevo simply because they offer a free-forever plan.

Pricing

Unlike some other email providers, Brevo’s free plan is completely free, forever, with no limit on how many contacts you can create.

If you need to send more than 300 emails a day, you’ll have to upgrade to one of their paid plans, which start at $8.08 per month.

But, be aware that Brevo’s plans are always based on how many emails you send each month, and not on the size of your email list.


3. HubSpot is a popular marketing automation platform and one of the best CMRs for small businesses. They have a free plan that’s a perfect introduction to HubSpot’s all-in-one marketing platform.


Pros

~ The free plan includes a CRM that creates a contact record for each subscriber. You can use this information to create personalized email campaigns that feature the most relevant subject lines, links, attachments, and content.

~ HubSpot’s free plan includes many tools that can complement your email marketing. This includes a popup form builder, live chat, ad management, and more.

~ The email editor has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that lets you easily create a call to action, add images, and customize the email to match your own branding.

~ You can schedule emails to arrive in the subscriber’s inbox at the best time, regardless of time zone differences.


~ Optimize your emails for different devices.

~ HubSpot has a selection of goal-based templates that you can choose from, or you can build your emails entirely from scratch.

~ You can use HubSpot’s email analytics tool to analyze your campaigns.

~ Integrates with Uncanny Automator, which is one of the best marketing automation tools for small businesses. You can use Uncanny Automator to automatically add visitors, customers, and event attendees to your HubSpot mailing lists.


Cons

~ You cannot remove the HubSpot branding on the free plan, which can make your business seem less professional.


~ You’re limited to 2,000 emails per month and 1,000,000 contacts with the free plan.

~ Advanced features like A/B split testing and email segmentation are only included in HubSpot’s higher-tiered paid plans. When your business starts growing, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan to get the most out of your email list.


Pricing

The free plan allows 2,000 emails per month and a generous 1,000,000 contacts. It also comes with all of HubSpot’s free tools, including a CRM, forms, landing pages, live chat, and more.

Paid plans start at $15/month per 1,000 subscribers.


4. GetResponse is an all-in-one email marketing platform.

~ It’s built to help you grow your audience, engage with customers, and make more money online without having to hire huge team to manage it all. And more than 100,000+ businesses trust them to help them do just that. 

~ Additionally, they’re GDPR compliant and offer award-winning 24/7 customer support in eight different languages.

~ With GetResponse’s autoresponder, you can connect and build relationships with new subscribers without lifting a finger.

~ Plus, you can recycle old content, sell your products, celebrate milestones, etc.

~ GetResponse offers special tiers for mid-sized and larger companies.

~ They have a 30-day free trial.

You’ll have to upgrade to a higher plan if you need more than one user or sales funnel. Plus, you get an automation builder with five workflows on the Plus plan.


5. AWeber, founded in 1998, is one of the most established autoresponder tools. This popular email marketing service has powerful autoresponder features and also offers a free plan that lets you send 3,000 emails per month to 500 subscribers.


Pros

~ AWeber’s free plan contains all the elements you’d expect from a premium plan, including a drag-and-drop editor, hundreds of templates, and access to thousands of professional stock images.

~ Easily add AWeber to your WordPress website using the.

~ Ready-made landing page templates so you can create high-converting landing pages for your email campaigns.

~ AWeber has powerful automation and segmentation tools that allow you to create some very detailed autoresponder series.

~ Integrates with lots of other services, including OptinMonster, Unbounce, Elegant Themes. Etc.

~ If you’re selling online, AWeber integrates with all the top eCommerce solutions, including Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, Etsy, Shopify, and others.

~ On the free plan, you can access all the support materials, including master class sessions and live webinars.

~ AWeber regularly brings out new features that all customers can access, including those on the free plan.

~ It allows subscribers to fill out forms, purchase products, book meetings, and more without leaving their inboxes with the AMP interactive email feature.

~ You can web push notifications to people who’ve opted into receiving them.

~ They offer 24/7 customer support.

Cons

~ AWeber’s free plan limits you to 3,000 emails per month and 500 subscribers.

~ You’re limited to 1 landing page and 1 email automation.

~ The free version has the AWeber branding, with no way to remove it.
~ If you do upgrade, then AWeber definitely isn’t the cheapest option out there. It has more features than some other email autoresponders, but they are pricey.

Pricing You can send 3,000 emails per month to 500 subscribers using the free AWeber plan. If you want to add more contacts or send unlimited emails, you’ll need to upgrade to one of the pro plans, which start at $12.50 per month when billed annually.


This list only covers 5 autoresponders. According to research these are the best out there.

If you want to start or grow an email list, make more sales as an ecommerce store or service provider, or nurture visitor relationships, you need an email autoresponder.

Just carefully do your research and choose the best one for your purpose, because you may not be able to change things later.

So, are you using autoresponders to follow up with your lists?



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by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

SMART is an acronym for the 5 essential features every significant goal should have. It should be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

SMART goals are a way of setting intentions that are clear, trackable, and achievable.

These goals have to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

Writing SMART goals is about breaking your objectives into smaller, more manageable sections that are easy to track and achieve.



What are SMART goals?


When you’re considering the meaning of SMART goals, think of them as a tool to change grand resolutions into a tangible roadmap. The SMART goals acronym can help you build a plan for personal and professional success.

As previously stated, SMART goals are an outline for setting clear and attainable objectives by making them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.


S: Specific

Remember you’re setting your SMART goals to accomplish a particular, limited objective—not a broad one. To be sure you can achieve them, make them specific to what you’re working on.


M: Measurable

To help you evaluate the success or failure of your project and know whether you’ve achieved your goals, there should be some kind of objective way to measure them, such as a deadline, percent change, a number, or some other measurable component.


A: Achievable

Although you want to be sure you’re setting goals that you could possibly hit, you don’t want them to be too easy to achieve. Achievable means your goals shouldn’t be completely outside the realm of possibility.


R: Relevant

A relevant goal aligns with your wide-ranging, broader life objective.

It’s one that you’re willing to work very hard for, because you know it impacts your long-term success.

If it doesn’t ultimately matter, you’re not going to stick to it.


T: Time-bound

A time-bound goal needs a deadline—a time frame that creates a sense of urgency.

If you have plenty of time to get something done, you’ll seldom get anything accomplished.

So, you need time constraints when it comes to significant goals. They’ll help you stay focused on the broader objective and your ultimate goal while ensuring the best prioritization.


Here are some SMART GOALS examples.


1. Time Management

Vague:  I want to better manage my time.

SMART:

To improve my time management, I’ll use a management planner to organize tasks, assign specific time blocks, and finish one thing at a time before starting another.


2. Lose weight:

Vague: I want to lose weight.

SMART:

I’ll lose 15 pounds in the next 15 weeks while following a balanced diet and exercising three times a week, tracking my weekly progress with a scale and a food diary app.


3. Travel

Vague: I want to do more traveling.

SMART:

Within the next 6 months, I’ll plan and book a 7-day cruise to the Bahamas by saving $200 per month and researching reasonably priced hotel choices.


4. Organization:

Vague: I want to be organized.

SMART:

Within the next 3 months, I’ll declutter and organize my home office by devoting 2 hours every weekend to decluttering my desk.



Are SMART goals the only way to go?


There’s another opinion on SMART goals.

Is it really true that goals have to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely?

Instead of the usual SMART goal lists that have been around for the past decade, hear what Emmanuel Acho has to say. It’s something new about setting goals.


For Gen Z, the More / Less List is the perfect goal-setting tool. It’s almost the precise opposite of SMART goals, but it performs where SMART goals fall short.

It was created by artist Julia Rothman as a low-pressure alternative to traditional New Year’s resolutions, where you list things you want to increase (“More”) and things you want to decrease (“Less”) in your life.

It’s a simple, action-based exercise to obtain clarity on your desires and intentions for the year. It frequently uses drawings or simple icons to represent what’s on the list.


It was popularized in short TikTok videos. The premise is easy:

Keep the list extremely simple
List MORE of what you want in your life/job/team/process
List LESS of what you don’t want


Using More / Less lists doesn’t mean you have to stop using SMART goals. You just want a flexible context for setting goals in the ever-changing tech workspace.


In this article, I’ve covered the SMART goals acronym, examples, and an alternative. It is by no means comprehensive, just an overview.

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By Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links on this website. There is no expense to you.

You can attract customers by creating valuable content and experiences rather than  reaching out to them. This digital inbound content marketing approach attracts users to your brand when you provide useful or entertaining information and experiences, usually in the form of text, video, or audio and makes it easier for prospects to find you.

Content marketing is valuable because it builds relationships and trust with your potential and existing customers.

So, it’s easier to sell your products faster.

Those who use content marketing, to build a following, see higher returns for each additional piece of content they publish.

This article is an overview of content marketing moving forward.



How does content marketing work?

Informative content marketing draws people to your brand.

If you publish a video, podcast episode, or a blog post and interested people use it they become acquainted with your brand.

Once you have their attention you can build a relationship and later sell them your products and/or services.


Content marketing can help your business by:

1. Reducing customer acquisition costs

Although quality content creation isn’t cheap, you’ll see a stronger ROI (return on investment) from each piece you produce because your audience will increase.

Your first blog post, video, or social media posting might not be seen by many people. As more prospects find your content and become followers, each addition al piece of content you publish will be seen by more people and produce a stronger ROI.

Unlike paid ads, where you and your competitors can earn roughly the same ROI for each dollar spent, your brand with a strong content marketing strategy and a larger following can earn much more for each piece of published content.

2. Improving the quality of leads

With content marketing you can categorize the kind of customers you attract based on your content production.

For example, if your target audience is exclusively gardeners, you can discuss only topics that a gardener would be interested in, like soil preparation or garden layouts. You might also offer access to exclusive reports on industry benchmarks that would interest them.

Contrast this with using paid ads where you have to depend on platforms to accurately identify your target audience. As privacy concerns are on the increase and there is less accurate audience targeting, paid ads are producing lower returns.

3. Building a stable lead pipeline

If you produce evergreen content (content that’s relevant for years) you get higher returns over time, because you can continue to generate returns from it for years after it’s published.

You’ll still probably have a steady pipeline of leads, due to your evergreen content, even if you stop producing content for a while.

4. Increasing customer loyalty and retention

Essentially, content marketing is a cheat protocol to build trust with your potential customers at scale.

The more familiar your potential customers become with your brand, viewpoints, and identity, the easier it is for them to trust your brand and the more likely they are to continue to buy from you.



How do you create a content marketing strategy?

You have to attract the right customers in order for content marketing to work.

1. Your Ideal Customer

Your first step is defining your ideal target customer. To do that, ask yourself these questions:

a) What’s the position of the person who buys your product or service?

b) What is the person’s job?

c) What pain points does the person need resolved?

What is the person’s knowledge of the subject? (This is important to know to avoid beginner-level keywords when you’re targeting advanced customers)

Answering these questions will give you an excellent sense of your ideal buyer persona, and that will make the rest of your content strategy clear.


2. Your Marketing Funnel and Choice of Content

Customers don’t generally buy the first time they visit your website, and that’s okay.

The aim of content marketing is building relationships and leading prospects to make a purchase.

This happens in several stages from awareness of a problem to be solved to learning about solutions, and then to a decision to purchase a product or service.

3. Content Ideas and Brand Voice

Next, you should generate content ideas and establish your brand.

An effective marketing content strategy requires more than just mapping out the types of content you will need to produce. In order to get prospects to pay attention, you need must to have something unique and interesting to say to get people to pay attention to your content.

So the next step is determining how to consistently generate content ideas that are unique and interesting to your ideal audience.


4. Content Calander and Work Flow

If you publish new content consistently your content marketing strategy will scale.

The formula for a great content marketing strategy is:

An outstanding content idea, plus
A high volume of content publishing, and
Consistency for a long time period


5. Measure Results

The final step is to test and measure your results.

Since content marketing is a long-term play, and you probably won’t see any immediate returns on your investment, this is tricky.

But, here are some content marketing metrics you can track to make sure your strategy is going in the right direction:

Your generating higher quality leads that close faster

Your general brand awareness has increased (more social media mentions, backlinks, brand queries, etc.)

Your website is driving more traffic

Your existing customers are staying longer and are generally happier


Some of the many benefits of having a digital marketing strategy include:

Improved efficiency

Insights

Boosted productivity

Knowing your audience

Increased ROI


You can use an action plan to set up goals, budgets, tactics, timelines, etc. With a strategy in place, you’ll have a great basis to work from and you can adapt your plans if things change. Use your strategy as a blueprint you can return to for guidance.

Following are some useful resources to stay on top of trends and developments in the area of digital marketing.



1. Newsletters

As consumers are being more vigilant about cookies for tracking, being able to connect with and influence your customer base via email marketing is vital. Here are a few popular ones.

The Daily Carnage

Neil Patel

Google Think

Search Engine Land

The Rundown AI


2. Online publications and blogs

Here are a few from the host of great online publications and blogs that offer a variety of content, from podcasts, articles, guides, and handy toolkits.

Econsultancy

Adweek

HubSpot

Search Engine Watch

CoSchedule


3. Social Media

Social media is an effective way for marketers to communicate, influence consumers, and engage. You can monitor conversations and trends, and keep an eye on your competitors.


Social media platforms are inclined to change. It could be the name or the look of the platform or the replacement of a feature.

Generally, these changes have little effect or impact on how you use them in your day-to-day activities as a social media marketer.


4. Google Trends

Google Trends and Alerts is a valuable free tool for you, as a marketer, to stay on top of the news and industry announcements. It allows you to check the web and notifies you through email when a new result matching your search query appears.


5. Podcasts and webinars

Podcasts about digital marketing and technology can be an outstanding source of news and information.


These are some thoughts and an overview of content marketing moving forward.

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