When you’re creating content for the web, it’s easy to make assumptions about what you think your audience might respond to — but that’s not necessarily the right mentality.

Enter A/B testing: one of the easiest and most popular forms of conversion rate optimization (CRO) testing known to marketers. And while many businesses have seen the value in using this type of validation to improve their decision making, others have tried it, only to be left with inconclusive results — which is frustrating, to say the least. converting more visitors into customers, so let’s dive in …

4 Common A/B Testing Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

Problem #1: Your testing tool is faulty.

Popularity is a double-edged sword — it’s true for high schoolers and it’s true for A/B testing software.

The ubiquity of A/B testing has led to a wide range of awesome, low-cost software for users to choose from, but it’s not all of equal quality. Of course, differing tools offer differing functionality, but there can also be some more tricky differences between tools. And if you’re unaware of these differences, your A/B tests may be in trouble before you even get started.

For example, did you know that some testing software can significantly slow down your site? This decrease speed can have a harmful impact on your site’s SEO and overall conversion rates.

In fact, on average, just one second of additional load time will result in an 11% decrease in page views, and 7% decline in conversions. This creates a nightmare scenario where the websites you were hoping to improve through A/B testing are actually hindered by your efforts.

It gets worse: Your selection of A/B testing software can actually impact the results of your tests, too. Entrepreneur and influencer, Neil Patel, found that the A/B software he was using was showing significant differences, but when he implemented the new page he failed to see conversions change. His problem turned out to be a faulty testing tool.

So with all these hidden pitfalls, what can you do to make sure your A/B testing software is working fine?

The Fix: Run an A/A test.

Prior to running an A/B test, you should run an A/A test with your software to ensure it’s working without impacting site speed and performance.

For the uninitiated, an A/A test is very similar to an A/B test. The difference is that in an A/A test both groups of users are shown the exact same page. That’s right, you need to literally test a page against itself. While this may seem silly at first, by running an A/A test you will be able to identify any distortionary effects caused by your testing software.

An A/A test is the one time you want your results to be boring. If you see conversion rates drop as soon as you start testing, then your tool is probably slowing down your site. If you see dramatic differences between the results for the two pages, then your software is likely faulty.

Problem #2: You stop testing at the first significant result.

This is the statistical equivalent to taking your ball and going home. Unfortunately, when it comes to A/B testing, stopping your test as soon as you see a statistical significant result is not just bad sportsmanship, but it also produces completely invalid results.

Many tools encourage this behavior by allowing users to stop a test as soon as statistical significance has been hit. But if you want to drive real improvement to your site, you need to fight the urge to end your tests early. This may seem counterintuitive, but the more often you check your test for significant results, the more likely you are to see incorrect results.

The issue here is false positives: these are results that incorrectly show a difference between pages. The more often you check your results, the more likely you will hit a result that has been thrown off by false positives.

This isn’t an issue if you stay calm and don’t end your test early. However, if you end your test at the first sign of a significant result then you’ll likely fall victim to deceptive false positive outcomes.

Analytics firm Heap published the results of a simulation, which displays how ending your test early compromises your results.

Using standard significance testing, results from a 1,000-user test are checked once there is a 5% chance of false positive. If the tester checked the same group of users 10 times, the chance of a false positive result balloons to 19.5%. If checked 100 times, our 5% chance of a false positive increases eight fold to 40.1%.

These are good numbers to remember next time you get excited about early promising results.

The Fix: Stick to a predetermined sample size.

To combat false positives, discipline is key. You should set a sample size in stone prior to running an A/B test and resist the urge to end your test early (no matter how promising your results look).

Don’t fret if you’re scratching your head on how large your sample needs to be. There are plenty of tools available online for calculating a minimum sample size. Some of the most popular are from Optimizely and VWO.

One last note on sample size: Keep in mind that you’ll need to pick a realistic number for your page. While we would all love to have millions of users to test on, most of us don’t have that luxury. I suggest making a rough estimate of how long you’ll need to run your test before hitting your target sample size.

Problem #3: You’re only focusing on conversions.

When you’re deep in the weeds of an A/B test, it’s easy to focus on the trees and miss the forest. Put more literally, in A/B testing, it is easy to concentrate only on conversions and lose sight of the long-term business results produced.

While adding new copy to your site may produce higher conversion rates, if the converted users are of lower quality then a higher conversion rate may actually create a negative result for the business.

It can be easy to fall victim to vanity metrics while A/B testing, yet these metrics will distract your focus away from the actual revenue-driving results. If you’re testing a call-to-action that leads to a landing page, you should not just focus on conversions to the landing page. Instead, measure the leads produced from the page and ideally try to tie those leads to the revenue they produce.

The Fix: Test a hypothesis.

Before you start your A/B test you should outline a hypothesis you wish to validate or disprove. By focusing this hypothesis on a KPI that drives actual business results, you’ll avoid being distracted by vanity metrics.

Your A/B test should be judged on its ability to affect this KPI, and not its impact on other associated figures. So if your goal is to increase sign-ups, always judge success by measuring sign-ups, not on clickthrough rates to the sign-up page.

When working to validate or disprove your hypothesis, don’t just throw out any results that aren’t statistically significant — use these results to inform your later tests, instead. For example, if a change to your page’s CTA showed a small, statistically insignificant improvement, then this could be a sign that you might be onto something. Try running further tests on your CTA and see if you can hit on one that produces a significant improvement.

Problem #4: You only test incremental changes.

The button color test may have ruined A/B testing, as this test’s popularity has made it the frame of reference for understanding how A/B testing should be utilized. But there’s more to the practice than that. In fact, while a large website might see a big return from adjusting something small like button color, for the vast majority of us, these small, incremental changes are not going to produce meaningful results.

A/B testing can force us to aim for miniscule improvements, but by focusing only on the incremental, we may be missing a much larger opportunity.

The Fix: Periodic radical testing.

A good rule of thumb? Periodically test radical changes to your page. (This practice has since been coined radical testing.) If you’re seeing weak conversion rates, then it’s probably a sign you should invest time in testing out a radical change rather than incremental changes.

Think of your testing efforts like a poker game, you’ll need to periodically bet big if you want to see a big return.

But before you run off preaching the accolades of radical testing, be aware that it has some drawbacks. First, it requires more upfront labor than A/B testing. Radical testing requires that you invest time drafting a major page redesign. Because of this time investment, I recommend only periodically conducting radical tests.

An additional pitfall to radical testing is that it makes it hard to pinpoint what factors are having the largest impact on your site. What radical testing does allow you to do is determine if a large page rehaul will impact your conversions, but it won’t allow you to pinpoint which individual changes might be driving these results — so keep that in mind before you get started.

These are a few of the most common A/B testing mistakes but there are many, many more. Share your thoughts below some of the missteps you’ve seen.

Getting started with something new can be pretty daunting. Heck, I’ve tried to learn the guitar at least four times by now. I may not know how to play a C chord, but I know it would have been easier to learn if I’d had a guide or teacher. 

For many marketers, getting started with inbound marketing can feel just as daunting as learning an unfamiliar skill, if not much more because their professional reputation is as stake.

To help, our latest ebook breaks down the who, what, when, where, and why of Getting Started with Inbound for Schools. You can expect to learn actionable tips for:

• Budgeting your time for inbound marketing
• Calculating the ROI of your inbound efforts
• Understanding your current marketing funnel
• Prioritizing the different tasks associated with inbound
• Building a foundation and setting benchmarks
• Starting your first content marketing campaign

Launching an inbound marketing program can seem a bit overwhelming at first. So many channels, so many metrics. There is a process to it all, and the more prepared you are, the more likely you are to be successful. 

You can download your complimentary copy of Getting Started with Inbound for Schools here >>

Like what you read? Feel free to share this ebook via Twitter with this Click to Tweet link.

It’s not often that you see the word “fun” and “algorithm” in the same sentence. (Okay, fine. Maybe you do, if you’re a marketing nerd like I am.) But think about this: Google has really been around for over two decades. With a history like that, there’s got to be at least some compelling trivia, right?

Believe it or not, algorithms are really cool. I mean, they get us our search results, after all.But how does Google’s algorithm work? And how has it evolved over the course of so many years?

We thought you might ask that, so we put together some fun facts about Google’s algorithm, and how it’s shaped the way we search today.

What the Heck Is an Algorithm, Anyway?

To quote Google itself, “Algorithms are the computer processes and formulas that take your questions and turn them into answers.” They cut through its estimated “trillions” of web pages in existence to find the information you’re looking for.

Think about that for a second. “Trillions.” One trillion, numerically, looks like this:

1,000,000,000,000

Imagine if there were no algorithms, and we had to somehow sift through that amount of information ourselves. Luckily, Google has developed an algorithm that can read — at a pace few of us can begin to fathom — different signals from these pages that indicate how likely they are to answer your search query.

But it’s not just about the words on the page. Algorithms can also read how recent the content is, how likely it is to be spam, and how it pertains to your location.

As marketers, all of this stuff matters. Where and how your pages rank in Google can make or break your organic search traffic, so it’s important to understand how the algorithm works and how to ethically optimize for it. What’s more, it’s crucial to be adaptable — the Google algorithm has changed a lot over the years, and will continue to do so as it becomes even more user-friendly.

8 Fun Facts About Google’s Algorithm

1) Google’s overall algorithm has had one name since 2013: Hummingbird.

Source: Search Engine Land

If you do keep up with the changes to Google’s algorithm, you’ve probably seen some colorful names assigned to them — Panda, Penguin, and Pigeon to name a few.

However, those names have only been assigned to updates made to the overall algorithm itself — which today is called Hummingbird. It was formally announced in September 2013 and created to make search results more “precise and fast” like the bird itself, according to Search Engine Land [SEL].

SEL has one of the best analogies we’ve seen to describe the algorithm at-large — Hummingbird is a “recipe” with hundreds of “ingredients.” These ingredients are the different pieces that help the algorithm determine the quality of those trillions of pages, and how well any one of them might answer your search.

2) Google makes changes to its algorithm roughly 500 times per year.

Source: pyxle

SEO community Moz states that Google makes between 500-600 changes to its algorithm annually, most of which are so minor that the public doesn’t usually hear about them.

Even without those minor changes, however, Moz has recorded no less than 140 updates to the Google algorithm since 2000.

Because the list was fairly dense, I enlisted the help of a colleague to count the items accurately. In splitting it up into two sections — the eight years before and after 2008, respectively — we noticed something interesting. The first eight years only listed 25 updates of note, whereas the latter had 115.

So why have there been so many more updates in the recent years? It could have something to do with the massive increase in users. But it could also be about changes to the way we search. For one, we’re searching on our phones a lot more — 51% percent of digital media is consumed via mobile — which has led to more than one crackdown by Google on pages that aren’t optimized for such platforms.  

We’re also starting to see an uptick in voice search. And while there currently aren’t precise formulas to plan or rank for those kinds of searches, we imagine that Google will start changing its algorithm for them — after all, it’s seen a 3400% increase in voice queries since 2008.

Like we said — understanding the algorithm requires agility. It’s only going to continue to change, so in order to maintain good search standing, marketers should learn to adapt.

3) One of the original goals was to cut through spammy content from advertisers.

Source: Stanford InfoLab

Google’s “history in depth” dates back roughly 20 years — in 1997, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were working on their first search engine, which they then called BackRub.

Then, in 1998, the pair published a paper at Stanford titled “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine.” That’s where we see one of the first mentions of PageRank, which is the technology that Google continues to use to help rank search results.

But there’s one thing in the admittedly dense text that really stood out. At the time of writing the paper, Page and Brin noted, “the predominant business model for commercial search engines is advertising. The goals of the advertising business model do not always correspond to providing quality search to users.”

We can’t help but geek out over the fact that Google remains loyal to that thesis. When I previously interviewed my colleague Marcus Andrews about the algorithm, he told me, “Google is very focused on the user.”

In fact, you could say that’s why Google has continued to make so many changes to the algorithm. It’s finding new ways to get the best content to users.

Just have a look at the search engine’s “Steps to a Google-friendly site” — one of the first things listed is to “provide high-quality content on your pages.” Eighteen years later, Google is working toward the original vision of its founders.

4) PageRank was named after Google co-founder Larry Page.

Source: Stanford InfoLab

When the name “PageRank” is assigned to the technology that helps Google rank pages, it seems fairly intuitive. But it was actually named after one of Google’s co-founders, Larry Page, whose young mug can be found to the right in the image above.

PageRank itself has quite a history. While its technology was in many ways beneficial, it was also very confusing, even to some expert SEOs. That’s why SEL published the in depth article, “What Is Google PageRank?” — very few people understood it.

Google says that PageRank is what “looks at links between pages to determine their relevance.” But SEL says it’s more like a voting system, in which inbound links to a given page count as votes toward its authority. So, the more votes, the more authority. The clincher? Anyone could view a site’s PageRank.

In spring of 2016, Google announced that while it would still be using PageRank technology to internally adjust its algorithm, the public would no longer be able to able to view any of its data. For some, that was happy news, according to SEL and its “retrospective on how [PageRank] ruined the web.” Apparently, PageRank’s emphasis on being linked to created a lot of annoying, borderline spammy behavior — like links becoming available for purchase.

Today, the technology for ranking has become more discerning, thanks in large part to MozRank, which is a “link popularity score.” To learn more about using MozRank for SEO and tracking competition, check out our HubSpot Academy guide here.

5) There’s a Google Dance — but it’s not what it sounds like.

Source: Search Engine Land

Our inner marketing nerds wish that “The Google” was actually a physical dance move. In actuality, though, Google Dance was actually the name applied to the sudden changes to its rankings, back when the algorithm used to majorly change every month.

Marketing Land credits forum WebmasterWorld for originating the term, and also for assigning different geographically-inspired names to each dance, like “Boston” in February 2003 and “Florida” later that year. But Florida, it seems, was the last dance — or the last salient one, anyway. That’s when Google stopped making major updates to its algorithm every month, and instead started making the general under-the-radar adjustments it does today.

But to keep track of these changes, especially the minor ones, it can help to keep an eye on the MozCast Google Weather Report. It assigns a temperature that indicates how much the algorithm has changed since the previous day — the higher and stormier the conditions, the greater the shift to Google’s rankings.

Don’t be sad — earlier this year, Google hosted an event at the SMX West conference called “Google Dance” to celebrate “an annual gathering for search marketers.” 

6) There isn’t *really* a reason behind the names for updates.

Source: Wade Creative Network

I would really love to think that there’s an adorable story behind assigning the name “Penguin” to an algorithm update. But according to Moz, there isn’t really a formal naming method.

Similar to the names for Google’s “dance moves,” WebmasterWorld users also named most of the other updates — “Boston,” because it was announced at SES Boston, and others in the same way that hurricanes are named, though it’s rumored that “Dominic” came from a Boston pizza place. 

Moz also reports that some of the self-named algorithm updates, like “Caffeine,” “Panda” and “Vince” came from Google itself, and that the latter two were named after Google engineers. 

7) Algorithms are also getting smarter for image searches.

Source: Forbes

Recently, Google announced the debut of the Pixel, its newest smartphone. Among its brag-worthy features? “The highest rated smartphone camera. Ever.”

Part of what makes the camera so great are its “its world-class software algorithms,” said Google camera product lead, Isaac Reynolds. That can be attributed to Pixel’s HDR+ algorithm, which helps users capture the best quality photos, despite lighting or movement conditions.

What does that have to do with Google’s search algorithm? Well, nothing directly. But it does show even more progress toward the quest to yield the best content for users, including images. In the realm of visual searches, it’s all about the Cloud Vision API — the technology that allows Google to analyze and determine the content of images.

Late in 2015, Google made that API accessible to the public, which allows geeks like myself to play with it and see how it reads the content of their own photos. Naturally, I had to take it for a spin, first with an image of my dog:

Next, I tried it with this nice photo of HubSpot’s blogging team: 

Whoa. How did it know that I had, in fact, uploaded a photo of a black dog? And how did it know that the second photo was of a team experiencing joy?  

It’s that sneaky, remarkable algorithm, which has been programmed — we predict using tons of existing images with various facial expressions, objects, landmarks, and more — to detect and recognize the elements and objects within an image.

Cool, huh? Give it a try here.

8) There’s a human side — the “search evaluators.”

Source: Google

Google enlists the work of human beings to evaluate the quality of search results. Each year, there are roughly 40,000 of these “precision evaluations,” as Google calls them, in which search evaluators determine the quality of results for different searches .

There’s a 146-page document that explains the guidelines used by search evaluators when rating results. It seems to be largely intended for people who are interested in becoming evaluators. But upon exploring the guidelines, the information might also help developers and marketers determine what constitutes search quality.

Different sections of it can even be useful to people who are just getting started with SEO. Have a look at the “Your Money or Your Life” section, which goes into evaluating a page’s potential implications for a user’s health and finances, for example. Some of the criteria might look like common sense, but it also provides some unique insights on how to keep your content accountable, especially if you’re giving advice.

There are also three different sections each dedicated to the highest, lowest, and medium quality pages. Again, what might seem like common sense can actually serve as valuable information to marketers — for example, if a page is deemed to have a “true lack of purpose,” it will be classified as “lowest quality.”

That’s something to keep in mind as you develop and manage your content. Have a read, and see if anything on your pages needs to change.

Have Fun With Search

So, there you have it — algorithms can be fun, after all, especially when you get to play with photo recognition API.

But with a history as rich as the one belonging to Google’s algorithm, there’s sure to be some interesting trivia, and just a splash of drama along the way.

We can’t wait to see what’s next. And, as always, we’re here to keep you posted.

What are your favorite pieces of the Google algorithm history? Let us know in the comments.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people working an average 8.8 hour workday are actually only productive for about three hours.

So where is all that wasted time going?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics study, the four most popular unproductive activities were the following:

1. Reading news websites – 1 hour 5 min
2. Checking social media – 44 min
3. Discussing non-work-related things with coworkers – 40 min
4. Searching for new jobs – 26 min

Given this data, it’s more important than ever before for teams to make the most of their productive hours.

We’ve compiled a list of seemingly innocuous phrases that could be secretly sabotaging your team’s productivity. Read on to learn what to avoid, and what to say instead.

6 Phrases That Secretly Sabotage Productivity

1) “I need that by the end of the day.”

When you tell a colleague that you need an asset by the end of the day, you’re essentially asking them to drop everything else they’re currently working on to focus instead on completing your task. This could potentially throw off their whole day, and lead to a problematic backlog they’ll need to scramble to unearth themselves from. 

Before you set an end of the day deadline, ask yourself: Do we really need this done by the end of the day? Is this a realistic time line? What else does this person have on their plate right now? Try to consider the project’s bottom line. Is not getting this component done by the end of the day really more problematic than pushing back this person’s entire schedule to get it done?

If this phrase pops up regularly in your office, it could be an indicator that your team needs to rethink the way you communicate around project goals and deadlines. A shared work calendar or other project management tool can help your team be more aware of what others are currently working on, and keep everyone on track with a shared time line of the project’s progress.

2) “The project is 75% done.”

This might seem like a productive way to assess the progress of a project, but providing a percentage isn’t the most accurate or helpful way to communicate how the project is really moving along. You might have roughly 75% of a project’s tasks complete, but does this really provide the best picture of where you currently stand? Not all tasks are created equal, and that last 25% could actually take longer and require more effort than the first 75%.

Instead of throwing around a percentage of completed work, communicate your progress more holistically: “Here’s what we’ve done so far, and here is what still needs to be done.” It’s a simple shift, but it gives your clients a much more precise, honest picture of where the work currently stands. It also helps your team more accurately understand the project’s progress.

3) “I’m not sure that’s the best approach.”

Challenging your colleagues’ opinions in a respectful, productive way has been proven to lead to more meaningful discussions and creative solutions. But if you’re going to dissent, make sure you can back it up — or you may just end up stalling progress instead.

Expressing mild dissent or uncertainty without clearly explaining why or offering viable alternatives doesn’t bring anything actionable to the table. It doesn’t give your team a place to start examining potential issues or brainstorming better solutions, since you haven’t really explained the perceived problem in the first place.

Yes, sometimes your gut just tells you something is off — but citing your gut doesn’t give your team anything tangible to go on. Challenge yourself to dig deeper into your own opinions and express the reasons behind them with firm certainty.

4) “Could you finalize the final final version?”

How many designers does it take to approve the final version of a project? In some cases, way too many. The approval process at some agencies is essentially a poorly-planned obstacle course — unstructured, time-consuming, and more than a little exhausting.

Without a formal approval process in place, projects can get stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of revisions and tweaks, resulting in several “final” versions of the same thing. Not only is this a major pain for your team, but it can delay the project and frustrate the client.

If you find yourself sorting through folders all titled with variations of “final_final_16”, it may be time to rethink the way your team finalizes projects. Take the time to agree on a straightforward approval pipeline at your agency, and stick to it. Remember: Abandoning perfectionism is the key to growing your business and producing better work.

5) “Let’s take this offline.”

This commonly used phrase frequently finds itself on management jargon blacklists, but it still manages to sneak its way into everyday office conversations.

“Let’s take this offline” is basically a thinly-veiled way to say, “I don’t want to talk about this right now — let’s deal with it later.” Sometimes, it’s perfectly acceptable and efficient to table a topic until later. Maybe the current setting isn’t appropriate, or there are more pressing matters to attend to.

But this phrase becomes problematic when it’s used to keep putting off more challenging conversations. It always seems easier to tackle the harder stuff later, but it only puts undue pressure on your team to get more done in a shorter period of time.

If you absolutely need to put something pressing on the back burner, don’t just push it away without explicitly planning a time and place to discuss it later. “Let’s talk about this at our morning meeting tomorrow,” is a lot better in the long run than, “Let’s avoid this as long as possible.”

6) “We need to think bigger / better / outside of the box.”

Thinking bigger and better sounds undeniably awesome, but it’s a practically meaningless sentiment. Some variation of this phrase usually gets thrown around at creative brainstorm meetings in an attempt to encourage divergent ideas, but it’s unlikely to spur creative insights or force your team to consider new points of view. Unfortunately, creativity doesn’t have an ON switch.

As an alternative, consider a quick creative exercise to get your team warmed up. Lisa Bodell, the author of Kill the Company, suggests playing “Kill a Stupid Rule” — a team game designed to jump start creativity.

The rules are pretty simple. Give your team 10 minutes to answer the following question: “If you could get rid of any rule, either kill it or change it, what rule would you choose and why?” Have them write their answers on sticky notes. When the time is up, have everyone stick their rule on a whiteboard with two axises: Ease of implementation on the Y axis, and degree of impact on the X axis. Like this:

Bodell recommends having a discussion with your team after all the rules are placed on the grid — Are there any rules you can cut on the spot? If so, do it. It will make your team see you’re willing to get rid of processes that hinder creativity.

For more ideas, check out these science-backed methods for improving creativity.

Are there any phrases that hinder productivity in your office? Share with us in the comments.

Did you know that, on average, smartphone users touch their phones 2,617 times each day?

According to the survey conducted by dscout in the spring of 2016, smartphone users also spend an average of 145 daily minutes on their mobile phones.

In other words, we’re leaning on our mobile devices more than ever before. In fact, data from HubSpot Research revealed that a whopping 33% of respondents use their smartphone as their primary device for internet use.

Unsurprisingly, Google has responded to the growth of mobile search by launching The AMP Project, or Accelerated Mobile Pages. In short: AMP was designed so publishers could build web pages that load more quickly on mobile devices.

What do marketers need to know about this new project? We’re glad you asked. Let’s walk through some of the most common questions and answers below.

What is AMP?

AMP enables content to load near-instantaneously by removing JavaScript from the page. It prioritizes text-based content, then loads additional content after the remainder of the page has rendered.

Google’s decision to launch this open-source initiative was rooted in the importance of improving the user experience (UX) for the millions of mobile searchers worldwide. (And, in part, to compete with Apple News and Facebook Instant Articles.)

Google has partnered with several different publishers and platforms to start using AMP on its content — Twitter, Vox, BuzzFeed, and the Washington Post, to name a few. It’s also created a carousel of “Top Stories” in Google Search that highlights web pages and articles built with AMP.

Here’s an example of what an AMP-formatted story on the Top Stories carousel looks like once you click:

Source: Search Engine Land

You can test what AMP looks like on your own mobile phone now. Open up your Google app and type in the newsworthy topic of your choosing (I chose Mars):

Pretty fast loading speed, right? As you also probably noticed, articles with the lightning bolt AMP designation can appear in a carousel of results at the top of the search engine results page.

AMP-formatted websites also appear in the main Google search engine results page, as shown below:

Source: Search Engine Land

If this seems like a big shift, you’re right. Let’s explore why AMP will be so impactful on mobile search and search engine optimization (SEO).

Why Does AMP Matter?

The biggest benefit of AMP is improved user experience: When mobile searchers find the information they’re looking for faster, they’re less likely to navigate away from a website. The AMP Project Product Manager, Rudy Galfi, said that the median time for an AMP-formatted page to load is 0.7 seconds — in comparison, the median load time for other web pages is 22 seconds.

More than half of site visitors spend fewer than 15 seconds on a website before navigating away, so AMP has a huge impact on publishers’ ability to attract and keep potential customers on their blog and landing pages. Google found that 29% of smartphone users will immediately navigate away from a site if it loads too slowly or if they can’t find the information they’re looking for.

Users are spending more time searching on their mobile devices than on computers all over the world. If you’ve optimized your website and email for mobile devices, AMP is a way to optimize your content for mobile search, too.

Another benefit of AMP is content visibility. AMP-formatted content is published in the AMP carousel at the top of a Google search results page, and the lightning bolt icon denotes AMP-formatted pages in search results. These layout and design changes help AMP content stand out in the crowd to users searching for information, which could drive more clicks and traffic.

How Does AMP Impact SEO?

According to Advanced Web Ranking, the first position in Google search results achieves an average clickthrough rate of 31% internationally. The second position? Only a 19.5% clickthrough rate. So, search rankings are very important to marketers.

The ultimate goal of inbound marketing is to get your website discovered by potential customers, and discovery in search engine results is key to making that happen. Blog posts and news articles formatted with AMP HTML code is one of many tools, such as keywords, headings, and alt-text, that marketers can use to optimize their content for search results.

But AMP is not a direct search engine ranking factor, and sites that format their pages with AMP will not see an immediate leap in search rankings. Instead, Google Senior Director of News and Social Products, Richard Gingras, told AdAge that AMP is one of the 200 signals Google looks at when determining rankings.

“If we had two articles that from a signaling perspective scored the same in all other characteristics but for speed, then yes we will give an emphasis to the one with speed because that is what users find compelling,” explained Gingras.

 

So, what’s the takeaway for marketers? Speed is a signal that impacts search rankings, but that doesn’t mean AMP formatting alone will get your site on the first page of Google.

But, it could contribute to higher rankings in combination with other strong signals. For example, if fewer visitors are immediately navigating away from your content because it loads quickly and is relevant to their search query, that would signal to Google to increase the ranking in search because it’s highly useful for users.

How to Use AMP

In order to implement AMP on your own web pages, you’ll need to build and develop new version of web pages with AMP HTML.

The reason you can’t simply build one web page with AMP for desktop and mobile search? AMP removes third-party JavaScript to speed up the page’s load time for mobile users, so the same web page would be simplified and less exciting for the viewer on their computer.

Remember, AMP is designed to improve user experience, so when you create a separate AMP version, you ensure that desktop and mobile visitors alike enjoy your content. Marketing Land recommends using rel= “canonical” tags so Google doesn’t downgrade your content because it’s been duplicated.

The AMP Project website provides specific instructions and tutorials for how to build a web page with AMP code. Additionally, they offer a portfolio of AMP examples for AMP design inspiration.

Below is a video from The AMP Project that explains the ins and outs of what goes into an AMP-formatted page:

Source: The AMP Project

If you’re a HubSpot customer, AMP is coming to the HubSpot Marketing Platform in early 2017. With this setting, blogging teams won’t have to hire a developer or learn how to code AMP with the resources outlined above. Instead, users will only have to check a box in order to create AMP-formatted blog posts to get discovered in mobile search.

Here’s what it will look like:

See the check box above the “Save changes” button? That’s the entire process for creating pages formatted with AMP in HubSpot Software. Easy, right?

What’s Ahead

Expect to see more results appear in the AMP carousel when you search for content on your mobile device, and keep an eye out for new developments in mobile optimization from Google’s competitors among search engines, software, and social media networks.

For now, head to The AMP Project to learn more about AMP, and look for HubSpot blog content in your AMP carousel soon.

What are your strategies for optimizing your blog for mobile search? Share with us in the comments below.

Data-driven content strategies are a hot marketing industry trend at the moment, but this is a trend that has some legs. After all, why not make all the data you gather from current and potential customers work for you?

You see, data is the real MVP of marketing: It can be used to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, track the overall health of your brand, and (when used properly) it can help to spark new content ideas.

And if you need some inspiration, I put together a roundup of some brands that are using data to fuel really compelling and sharable stories. Check them out below.

7 Examples Of Data-Driven Storytelling By Leading Brands

1) OkCupid

OkCupid has all the demographic and connection information that one would expect from an extremely popular online dating site. But instead of keeping this info totally internal, it uses the trends and statistics to create interesting, data-driven posts that are also extremely popular on social media due to the compelling topics.

And let’s not forget the funny, clever, and insightful quizzes that users can and do answer, and how OkCupid uses that data to craft equally funny, clever, and insightful posts. 

Recommended Content:

One popular post — “Don’t Be Ugly By Accident” — talks about crafting great profile pictures for online dating, but the advice is applicable to virtually anyone who wants to put their best foot forward online, whether it is a dating site, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

2) GrubHub

The folks at GrubHub know what you eat, where you eat it, and when you order it. While this might seem a little mundane, the food delivery app mines this data and turns it into unique content like quizzes, contests, polls, and special offers.

GrubHub also partners with various publishers who use the data to create compelling native advertising that hardly feels like stereotypical sponsored content.

Recommended Content:

Leading up to the U.S. Presidential election, GrubHub created a quiz together with Time Magazine to see whether or not your dietary preferences were Democrat or Republican based on user data overlaid with voting/polling data for the same area.

3) Jawbone

The team behind Jawbone wants people to be healthy and live better lives. Beyond enabling users to track their own personal data through the fitness band, Jawbone uses that data to support its content creation efforts. 

The content produced typically involves making predictions and then providing corresponding advice based on the research it does into its user bases’ behavior.

The key takeaway for other brands here? Look for ways to use your data and the learnings you take away from it to provide actionable tips and advice that make a real difference in your user’s lives.

Recommended Content:

“How University Students Sleep” discusses the sleep trends on some of America’s premier campuses and shows how sleep can affect learning and performance — a topic that’s directly tied to the data Jawbone collects. This information is relevant to almost everyone, but perhaps particularly relevant to younger demographic — one that is likely interested in using the product. 

4) Zillow

Real estate has always been a data-centric profession — from pricing data to demographic data, and much more. And Zillow takes it to the next level by leveraging the vast amounts of data in its real estate platform to create content that is useful and compelling for current buyers, sellers, and real estate agents, as well as others with a general interest in the industry. 

Take a lesson from Zillow and use your data to tell stories that have a broader appeal than your exact target demographic who is ready to convert. Make your content interesting on its own, and position yourself as an authority in your space or community. 

Recommended Content:

Everyone wants to add value to whatever it is they are promoting or selling, so Zillow used content from successful listings to determine what words they all had in common. The result? This article: “15 Words That Could Add Value To Your Listing.” Straight to the point and actionable, this is news that Zillow’s audience can certainly use, and it has the data to back it up.

5) Spotify

The popular music app Spotify does more than provide you with some excellent tunes. Instead it takes things a step further by using to data to create custom playlists based on your listening activity, the time of day, current season, and so on. 

They also compile “year of” playlists showing not only the most popular songs of the year, but also when they were popular — sparking memories and happy reminiscing.

Recommended Content:

An oldie (for the internet at least) but a goodie, this 2013 post outlining how Spotify uses analytics and data to produce playlists and other content is still pretty darn relevant and useful.

6) Uber

Having an online newsroom or company announcement page is pretty standard, but the tremendously popular peer-to-peer ridesharing service Uber features much more than the expected updates or self-promotional posts.

Instead, it uses its vast amount of data to show users the value of its service and make connections where most brands wouldn’t — sparking a conversation that is not only about its drivers and riders, but about society and human behavior in general.

Recommended Content:

“Ten facts you may not know about Uber drivers,” is not only interesting in a slice-of-life type of way (who doesn’t want to know more about the people driving you around) but points to major societal trends as well. Even if you don’t use Uber, the article provides a compelling story about the types of people working as drivers.

For instance, did you know that 24% of Uber drivers are entrepreneurs using the flexibility and steady income from the app to support their own business development? 

7) Mint

As the personal finance gurus of the millennial generation, Mint often uses its vast amounts of data about its audience’s finances and spending habits to create infographics centered around timely topics. 

The lesson? Take a look at Google Trends or use anything you’ve noticed in the news or our collective internet pop culture, see what statistics or behaviors from your users might apply or be connected to it somehow, and make it a story. Bonus points for creative and shareable visuals, and finding ways that your data satisfies the innate curiosity about what our fellow human beings are up to.

Recommended Content:

Mint’s Millennials and Charity Infographic — timed for and posted during the holiday season — might be the perfect mix of data, trends, and a compelling, relevant, and newsworthy topic. 

Ready to tell your data’s story?

Of course, you might not have the budget or access to the sheer volume of user data that some of these relatively big brands do, but nearly all marketers, content creators, and business owners have access to data that can be used to tell a story.

For instance, restaurant owners know what the most popular dishes are, boutique owners know the latest trends amongst their crowd (e.g., microtrends in a given neighborhood or amongst a given style subset), and B2B brand marketers probably have an idea of where the industry is going based on the questions their customers are asking and the keywords that drive users to their websites and landing pages.

Every type or marketer works with data all the time, whether that means using analytics to track user behavior and conversions to analyzing statistical information about the target audience and their interests and demographic make-up. It’s a fundamental aspect of the business, and we all use it to inform our process and measure our efforts — but companies like the aforementioned brands can and do take it to the next level.

What are your favorite examples of data-driven storytelling? Share them in the comments.

Empty space is not always wasted space.

In fact, when it comes to web design, it’s a best practice to give your content a little breathing room.

Today’s website visitors are content-scanners. They scroll quickly, skim posts, and get distracted by busy layouts trying to accomplish too much. The key to getting your visitors’ undivided attention is simplicity — and that starts with an effective use of whitespace.

In this article, we’ll take a brief look at why whitespace matters, what it means for conversion-driven web design, and how eight websites are using whitespace to lead their visitors towards a desired action.

What Is Whitespace?

Whitespace refers to the negative areas in any composition. It’s the unmarked distance between different elements that gives viewers some visual breaks when they process design, minimizing distractions and making it easier to focus.

Intentionally blank areas aren’t just aesthetically pleasing — they actually have a big impact on how our brains take in and process new material. Too much information or visual data crammed into a small, busy space can cause cognitive fatigue, and our brains have difficulty absorbing anything at all. It’s information overload at its very worst.

Why We Need Whitespace

To understand the importance of whitespace, think about how difficult it is for your brain to process an entire page from the phone book or white pages. All those columns of teeny tiny text get squished together into one indigestible chunk of information, and it can be a real challenge to find what you’re looking for.

While phone books are designed to display maximum information in minimum space, the majority of print layouts are created to be more easily understood — thanks to whitespace.

To illustrate how effective whitespace is at helping our brains process information in print, check out the example below from Digital Ink:

See the difference? The layout on the left uses the vast majority of available space, but it looks crowded and severe — not exactly something you’d feel comfortable staring at for a long time to read.

In contrast, the layout on the right uses wider columns and more distance between paragraphs. It’s a simple design shift that has a major impact on making the article look more approachable and readable.

In addition to making layouts easier to understand, whitespace can also place emphasis on specific elements, helping the viewer understand what they should focus on. Using whitespace to break up a layout and group particular things together helps create a sense of balance and sophistication.

Take a look at this business card example from Printwand:

The business card on the left does include negative space, but the elements are still cramped into one area, making the whole card look cluttered and unprofessional. The card on the right uses whitespace to a better effect, spacing the individual elements out so the composition is easier to make sense of.

When it comes to designing websites, whitespace is crucial — not only from an aesthetic standpoint, but also from a conversion optimization perspective. Using whitespace effectively can make your website more easily navigable, comprehensible, and conversion-friendly, directing users more smoothly to call-to-actions and encouraging them to convert.

In fact, research by Human Factors International found that using whitespace to highlight or emphasize important elements on a website increased visitor comprehension by almost 20%.

Just take a look at these two website layouts:

On the left, the call-to-action button has no room to breathe — it’s wedged between busy dividers and tightly packed text. There’s too much distraction around the button, making it difficult for visitors to focus on what matters.

On the right, the call-to-action has been padded with some much-needed whitespace. The button now appears to be a focal point on the page, encouraging visitors to stop and take notice.

You’ll notice that adding some whitespace around our call-to-action has caused some of the other content on the page to be pushed down — and that’s perfectly okay. Not everything has to be above the fold (the part of the website that appears before the user starts to scroll). In fact, designers shouldn’t try to stuff a ton of content before the fold of the page, since it will end up looking cluttered and overwhelming.

8 Websites Using Whitespace to Their Advantage

1) Shopify

The homepage for ecommerce platform Shopify has a simple objective: Get visitors to sign up for a free trial.

To direct users to this action, they’ve surrounded their one-field sign-up form with plenty of whitespace, minimizing distractions and ensuring visitors can’t miss it. The site’s main navigation is displayed much smaller than the form text, and placed out of the way at the top of the screen to avoid taking attention away from the central form.

2) Everlane

Whitespace doesn’t have to mean the complete absence of color or pictures — it means making sure page elements are generously and strategically spaced to avoid overwhelming or confusing your visitors.

To show off their latest clothing collection, fashion retailer Everlane opts for a minimal set up: The full page background shows off a photograph of their “Camel” collection, and a small, expertly placed call-to-action appears in the center of the screen, encouraging users to click and “shop collection.” It’s a perfect example of leading users towards an action without being pushy or aggressive. 

3) Airbnb

There are a lot of potential visuals that room share company Airbnb could have included on their homepage, but instead, they went with this straightforward, conversion-friendly design that leads visitors to try their product immediately. 

The minimal layout relies on very limited copy and visuals, placing all the emphasis on the search box. The succinct copy invites users to try searching for a room, and the navigation and logo are tucked out of the way in the corners of the page. 

4) Wistia

Using whitespace strategically can be as easy as making sure your forms and call-to-action buttons are noticeably separated from the rest of your content. This simple change makes a huge difference in how your content is perceived. 

Wistia, a video platform, anchors their homepage with a friendly question and a drop-down form. The form serves as the central focal point of the whole page, and it’s given plenty of space to set it apart from the site’s main navigation and image.

5) Welikesmall

Digital agency Welikesmall proves that whitespace doesn’t have to be boring, empty, or even static. Their homepage displays a full screen demo reel of their recent video projects, filtering through a variety of exciting vignettes to immediately capture the visitor’s attention. 

Full-screen video in any other context could seem busy and aggressive, but since the layout is designed with generous whitespace, it looks polished. With all the focus on the video background, the text is kept minimal. The agency’s logo appears in one corner, and a folded hamburger style menu appears in the other. Welikesmall’s slogan — “Belief in the Making” — is fixed in the center of the screen, along with a call-to-action button linking to the agency’s full 2016 demo reel.  

6) Simpla

This homepage from Simpla demonstrates the power that a relatively empty above the fold section can have. This simple, decidedly minimal homepage uses whitespace to urge users to keep scrolling.

Beneath the logo and navigation, a large portion of the site has been left unmarked. The top of a photo — along with a short paragraph of text and an arrow — invites visitors to keep reading to learn more about the company and their mission.

This unique use of whitespace not only looks sophisticated, but it strategically draws visitors further into the site. 

7) Harvard Art Museums

The Harvard Art Museums might be known for displaying antiquated paintings, but their homepage is decidedly modern. The whitespace here provides the perfect backdrop for the featured art, making sure that nothing distracts from the pieces themselves. It’s about as close to a digital art exhibition as you can get. 

The masonry-style layout gives the user a reason to keep scrolling, and also ensures that none of the images are crowded together. To maintain the minimal gallery aesthetic, the site’s navigation is completely hidden until the user hovers their mouse towards the top of the page.

8) Burnkit

When working with whitespace on your homepage, you’ll have to make some tough decisions about what’s important enough to display, since there’s less room for a pile of cluttered content. This design agency shows us that you can display a wide variety of content in a minimal layout, without squishing things together and muddling the composition. 

Burnkit‘s homepage features blog content, key excerpts from the agency’s portfolio of client work, and behind the scenes looks at the agency’s culture. So how did they manage to fit so much onto one page without overwhelming the visitor? Whitespace. Lots and lots of whitespace. Each article is given generous padding, and the user can keep scrolling to reveal new material. 

How does your website use whitespace? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @HubSpotAgencies.

Even after years of education, there are some things that some people still mess up. For me, it’s algebra. For others, it’s the laws of physics. And for many, it’s grammar.

It’s not easy. Words and phrases that sound fine in your head can look like gibberish when written down — that is, if you even realize you made a mistake in the first place. It’s easy for little grammar mistakes to slip by, especially when you’re self-editing.

But how do you prevent grammatical errors if you’re not even aware you’re making them?

Well, you can start by reading through this post to see which common grammar mistakes resonate with you the most. (It’s okay — we’re all guilty of at least one.) Make a mental note to avoid that mistake in the future, or heck, just bookmark this page to remind yourself of them over and over (and over) again.

30 Common Grammar Mistakes to Check For in Your Writing

1) They’re vs. Their vs. There

One’s a contraction for “they are” (they’re), one refers to something owned by a group (their), and one refers to a place (there). You know the difference among the three — just make sure you triple check that you’re using the right ones in the right places at the right times. I find it’s helpful to search through my posts (try control + F on PC or command + F on Mac) for those words and check that they’re being used in the right context.

Correct Usage: They’re going to love going there — I heard their food is the best!

2) Your vs. You’re

The difference between these two is owning something versus actually being something:

You made it around the track in under a minute — you’re fast!

How’s your fast going? Are you hungry?

See the difference? “Your” is possessive and “you’re” is a contraction of “you are.” Again, if you’re having trouble keeping them straight, try doing another grammar check before you hit publish.

3) Its vs. It’s

This one tends to confuse even the best of writers. “Its” is possessive and “it’s” is a contraction of “it is.” Lots of people get tripped up because “it’s” has an ‘s after it, which normally means something is possessive. But in this case, it’s actually a contraction.

Do a control + F to find this mistake in your writing. It’s really hard to catch on your own, but it’s a mistake everyone can make.

4) Incomplete Comparisons

This one drives me up a wall when I see it in the wild. Can you see what’s wrong with this sentence?

Our car model is faster, better, stronger.

Faster, better, stronger … than what? What are you comparing your car to? A horse? A competitor’s car? An older model?

When you’re asserting that something should be compared to something else, make sure you always clarify what that something else is. Otherwise, it’s impossible for your readers to discern what the comparison actually means.

5) Passive Voice

If you have a sentence with an object in it — basically a noun that receives the action — passive voice can happen to you. Passive happens when the object of a sentence is put at the beginning of a sentence instead of at the end. With passive voice, your writing comes across as sounding weak and unclear.

Hold up. Re-read that last paragraph I just wrote — there’s waaaaaay too much passive voice. See how it seems kind of jumbled and not quite punchy? Let’s try that again.

Passive voice happens when you have an object (a noun that receives the action) as the subject of a sentence. Normally, the object of the sentence appears at the end, following a verb. Passive writing isn’t as clear as active writing — your readers will thank you for your attention to detail later.

Make sense? It’s kind of a complicated thing to describe, but active voice makes your writing seem more alive and clear. Want to get into the nitty-gritty of avoiding passive voice? Check out this tip from Grammar Girl.

6) Dangling Modifiers

I love the name of this mistake — it makes me think of a dramatic, life-or-death situation such as hanging precariously off a cliff. (Of course grammar mistakes are never that drastic, but it helps me remember to keep them out of my writing.)

This mistake happens when a descriptive phrase doesn’t apply to the noun that immediately follows it. It’s easier to see in an example taken from my colleague over on the HubSpot Sales Blog:

After declining for months, Jean tried a new tactic to increase ROI.

What exactly is declining for months? Jean? In reality, the sentence was trying to say that the ROI was declining — not Jean. To fix this problem, try flipping around the sentence structure (though beware of passive voice):

Jean tried a new tactic to increase ROI after it had been declining for months.

Better, right?

7) Referring to a Brand or an Entity as “They”

A business ethics professor made me aware of this mistake. “A business is not plural,” he told our class. “Therefore, the business is not ‘they.’ It’s ‘it.'”

So, what’s the problem with this sentence?

To keep up with their changing audience, Southwest Airlines rebranded in 2014.

The confusion is understandable. In English, we don’t identify a brand or an entity as “he” or “she” — so “they” seems to make more sense. But as the professor pointed out, it’s just not accurate. A brand or an entity is “it.”

To keep up with its changing audience, Southwest Airlines rebranded in 2014.

It might seem a little strange at first, but once you start correctly referring to a brand or entity as “it,” the phrasing will sound much more natural than “they.”

8) Possessive Nouns

Most possessive nouns will have an apostrophe — but where you put that apostrophe can be confusing. Here are a few general rules to follow:

• If the noun is plural, add the apostrophe after the s. For example: the dogs’ bones.
• If the noun is singular and ends in s, you should also put the apostrophe after the s. For example: the dress’ blue color.
• On the other hand, if the noun is singular and doesn’t end in an s, you’ll add the apostrophe before the s. For example: the lizard’s tail.

Simple, right? If you want a deeper dive into the rules of possessive nouns, check out this website.

9) Affect vs. Effect

This one is another one of my pet peeves. Most people confuse them when they’re talking about something changing another thing.

When you’re talking about the change itself — the noun — you’ll use “effect.”

That movie had a great effect on me.

When you’re talking about the act of changing — the verb — you’ll use “affect.”

That movie affected me greatly.

10) Me vs. I

Most people understand the difference between the two of these, until it comes time for them to use one in a sentence. They’ll say something like:

When you get done with that lab report, can you send it to Bill and I?

But that’s wrong.

Try taking Bill out of that sentence — it sounds weird, right? You would never ask someone to send something to “I” when he or she is done. The reason it sounds weird is because “I” is the object of that sentence — and “I” should not be used in objects. In that situation, you’d use “me.”

When you get done with that lab report, can you send it to Bill and me?

Much better.

11) To vs. Too

We’ve all accidentally left the second “o” off of “too” when texting in a hurry. But in case the mistake goes beyond that, let’s review some usage rules.

“To” is typically used before a noun or verb, and describes a destination, recipient, or action. Take these examples:

My friend drove me to my doctor’s appointment. (Destination)

I sent the files to my boss. (Recipient)

I’m going to get a cup of coffee. (Action)

“Too,” on the other hand, is a word that’s used as an alternative to “also” or “as well.” It’s also used to describe an adjective in extremes. Have a look:

My colleague, Sophia Bernazzani, writes for the HubSpot marketing blog, too.

She, too, is vegan.

We both think it’s too cold outside.

You might have noticed that there’s some interesting comma usage where the word “too” is involved. We’ll cover commas a bit more later, but when you’re using the word “too” to replace “also” or “as well,” the general rule is to use a comma both before and after. The only exception occurs when “too” is the last word in the sentence — then, follow it with a period.

12) Do’s and Don’ts

I’m not talking about the do’s and don’ts of grammar here — I’m talking about the actual words: “do’s” and “don’ts.” They look weird, right? That’s because of two things:

1. There’s an apostrophe in one to make it plural … which typically isn’t done, and
2. The apostrophes aren’t put in the same place in both words.

Unfortunately, it’s AP Style, so we just have to live with it. It’s a hot angle for content formats, so I wouldn’t shy away from using it. But when you’re checking your writing for grammatical errors, just remember that the apostrophes should be in different places.

Note: There are different schools of thought about how to punctuate this one depending on what style guide/usage book you’re using. The Chicago Manual of Style, for instance, recommends “dos” and “don’ts.” The important thing is to be consistent and stick to one style guide, whether it’s AP Style, Chicago, or your own house style guide.

13) i.e. vs. e.g.

Confession: I never remember this rule, so I have to Google it every single time I want to use it in my writing. I’m hoping that by writing about it here, the trend will stop.

Many people use the terms interchangeably when trying to elaborate on a point, but each one means something different: “i.e.” roughly means “that is” or “in other words,” while “e.g.” means “example given” or “for example.” The former is used to clarify something you’ve said, while the latter adds color to a story through an example.

14) Peek vs. Peak vs. Pique

This mistake is another one I often see people make, even if they know what they mean.

• Peek is taking a quick look at something — like a sneak peek of a new film.
• Peak is a sharp point — like the peak of a mountain.
• And pique means to provoke or instigate — you know, like your interest.

If you’re going to use one in your writing, stop and think for a second — is that the right “peek” you should be using?

15) Who vs. That

This one is tricky. These two words can be used when you’re describing someone or something through a phrase like, “Lindsay is a blogger who likes ice cream.” When you’re describing a person, be sure to use “who.”

When you’re describing an object, use “that.” For example, you should say, “Her computer is the one that overheats all the time.” It’s pretty simple, but definitely something that gets overlooked frequently.

16) Who vs. Whom vs. Whose vs. Who’s

Whoa. This one looks like a bit of a doozy. Let’s break it down, shall we?

“Who” is used to identify a living pronoun. If you asked, “Who ate all of the cookies?” the answer could be a person, like myself (“I did”), or another living being (“the dog did”).

Hey, both are realistic scenarios in my world.

“Whom” is a little trickier. It’s usually used to describe someone who’s receiving something, like a letter — “To whom will it be addressed?” But it can also be used to describe someone on the receiving end of an action, like in this sentence:

Whom did we hire to join the podcast team?

“Whose” is used to assign ownership to someone. See if you can spot the error in this question:

Who’s sweater is that?

Because the sweater belongs to someone, it should actually be written this way:

Whose sweater is that?

“Who’s,” on the other hand, is used to identify a living being. It’s a contraction for “who is” — here’s an example of how we might use it in a sentence here in Boston:

Who’s pitching for the Red Sox tonight?

See the difference? “Whose” is used to figure out who something belongs to, whereas “who’s” is used to identify someone who’s doing something.

17) “Alot” vs. A lot vs. Allot

I hate to break it to all of you “alot” fans out there, but “alot” is not a word. If you’re trying to say that someone has a vast number of things, you’d say they have “a lot” of things. And if you’re trying to say that you want to set aside a certain amount of money to buy something, you’d say you’ll “allot” $20 to spend on gas.

If you’re trying to remember to stay away from “alot,” check out this awesome cartoon by Hyperbole and a Half featuring the alot. That face will haunt you for the rest of your content marketing days.

18) Into vs. In to

Let’s clarify the “into” versus “in to” debate.

They’re often confused, but “into” indicates movement (Lindsay walked into the office) while “in to” is used in lots of situations because the individual words “to” and “in” are frequently used in other parts of a sentence. For example, “to” is often used with infinitive verbs (e.g. “to drive”). Or “in” can be used as part of a verb (e.g. “call in to a meeting”).

So if you’re trying to decide which to use, first figure out if the words “in” or “to” actually modify other words in the sentence. If they don’t, ask yourself if it’s indicating some sort of movement — if it does, you’re good to use “into.”

19) Lose vs. Loose

When people mix up “lose” and “loose,” it’s usually just because they’re spelled so similarly. They know their definitions are completely different.

According to Merriam-Webster, “lose” is a verb that means “to be unable to find (something or someone), to fail to win (a game, contest, etc.), or to fail to keep or hold (something wanted or valued).” It’s like losing your keys or losing a football match.

“Loose” is an adjective that means “not tightly fastened, attached, or held,” like loose clothing or a loose tooth.

A trick for remembering the difference is to think of the term “loosey-goosey” — both of those words are spelled with two o’s.

20) Then vs. Than

What’s wrong with this sentence?

My dinner was better then yours.

*Shudder.* In the sentence above, “then” should be “than.” Why? Because “than” is a conjunction used mainly to make comparisons — like saying one thing was better “than” another. “Then” is mainly an adverb used to situate actions in time:

We made dinner, and then we ate it.

21) Of vs. Have

I have a bad habit of overusing a phrase that goes like this: “Shoulda, coulda, woulda.” That basically means I regret not doing something, but it’s too late to dwell on it now. For example, “I shoulda done my laundry on Sunday.”

But “shoulda,” “coulda,” and “woulda” are all short for something else. What’s wrong with this statement?

I should of done my laundry on Sunday.

Since it’s so common for us to throw around fake worlds like “shoulda,” the above mistake is an easy one to make — “shoulda” sounds like a shortened version of “should of.” But really, “shoulda” is short for “should have.” See how it works in these sentences:

I should have done my laundry on Sunday.

I could have taken a shorter route.

I would have gone grocery shopping on Friday, if I had time.

So next time, instead of saying, “shoulda, woulda, coulda,” I should probably say, “should’ve, would’ve, could’ve.”

22) Use of Commas

There are entire courses on correct comma usage, but let’s go over some of the most common comma use cases here.

To separate elements in a series.

Each element in a series should be separated by a comma. For example: “I brought a jacket, a blanket, and an umbrella to the park.” That last comma is optional. It’s called an “Oxford comma,” and whether you use it depends on your company’s internal style guide.

To separate independent clauses.

You can use commas to separate independent clauses that are joined by “and,” “but,” “for,” “or,” “nor,” “so,” or “yet.” For example, this sentence is correctly written: “My brother is very smart, and I’ve learned a lot from him.”

An independent clause is a sentence that can stand on its own. Here’s how to test it: Would the second part of the sentence (following one of those coordinating conjunctions) make a full sentence on its own? If so, add a comma. If it doesn’t, leave it out.

To separate an introductory word or phrase.

At the beginning of a sentence, we often add an introductory word or phrase that requires a subsequent comma. For example:

In the beginning, I had no idea how to use a comma.

Or:

However, after reading an awesome blog post, I understand the difference.

Other common introductory words and phrases include “after,” “although,” “when,” and “while.”

To learn about more use cases for the comma, check out this blog post from Daily Writing Tips.

23) Assure vs. Insure vs. Ensure

All of these words have to do with “making an outcome sure,” which is why they’re so often mixed up. However, they aren’t interchangeable.

• “To assure” means to promise or say with confidence. For example, “I assure you that he’s good at his job.”
• “To ensure” means to make certain. For example, “Ensure you’re free when I visit next weekend.”
• Finally, “to insure” means to protect against risk by regularly paying an insurance company. For example, “I insure my car because the law requires it.”

24) Less vs. Fewer

You know the checkout aisle in the grocery store that says “10 Items or Less”? That’s actually incorrect. It should be “10 Items or Fewer.”

Why? Because “items” are quantifiable — you can count out 10 items. Use “fewer” for things that are quantifiable, like “fewer M&Ms” or “fewer road trips.” Use “less” for things that aren’t quantifiable, like “less candy” and “less traveling.”

25) Semicolons

Semicolons are used to connect two independent clauses that, though they could stand on their own, are closely related. For example, you could use a semicolon in the sentence: “Call me tomorrow; I’ll have an answer for you by then.”

Notice that each clause could be its own sentence — but stylistically, it makes more sense for them to be joined. (If there’s a coordinating conjunction between the two clauses — like “and,” “but”, or “or” — use a comma instead.)

You can also use semicolons to separate items in a list when those items contain commas themselves:

There are two options for breakfast: eggs and bacon, which is high in protein and low in carbs; or oatmeal and fruit, which is high in carbs but has more fiber.

26) Compliment vs. Complement

These two words are pronounced exactly the same, making them easy to mix up. But they’re actually quite different.

If something “complements” something else, that means it completes it, enhances it, or makes it perfect. For example, a wine selection can complement a meal, and two colors can complement each other.

The word “compliment” though, refers to an expression of praise (as a noun), or to praise or express admiration for someone (as a verb). You can compliment your friend’s new haircut, or pay someone a compliment on his or her haircut.

27) Farther vs. Further

People often use “farther” and “further” interchangeably to mean “at a greater distance.”

However, in most countries, there are actually subtle differences in meaning between the two. “Farther” is used more to refer to physical distances, while “further” is used more to refer to figurative and nonphysical distances. So while Paris is “farther” away than Madrid, a marketing team falls “further” away from its leads goal. (Note: The word “further” is preferred for all senses of the word in the U.K., Australia, Canada, and elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Nations.)

The word “further” can also be used as an adjective or as an adverb to mean “additionally.” For example, “I have no further questions.”

28) En Dash vs. Em Dash

Both “–” and “—” are versions of the dash: “–” is the en dash, and “—” or “–” are both versions of the em dash. You can use either the en dash or the em dash to signify a break in a sentence or set off parenthetical statements.

The en dash can also be used to represent time spans or differentiation, such as, “That will take 5–10 minutes.”

The em dash, on the other hand, can be used to set off quotation sources, such as, “‘To be, or not to be, that is the question.’ —Shakespeare.”

29) Title Capitalization

This one is tough, since so many different outlets apply different rules to how titles are capitalized. Luckily, I have a secret weapon — TitleCap.

The site outlines capitalization rules as follows:

1. Capitalize the first and the last word.
2. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
3. Lowercase articles (“a,” “an,” “the”), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
4. Lowercase the ‘to’ in an infinitive (“I want to play guitar”).

Let’s use the title of this post as an example: “Grammar Police: 30 of the Most Common Grammatical Errors We All Need to Stop Making.” If left to my own devices — and remember, I write for a living — I would have left “We” lowercase. I always have to double-check, which is why guides like this one are so valuable.

30) Between vs. Among

Let’s clear this one up: The word “between” is used to refer to two (or sometimes more) things that are clearly separated, and the word “among” is used to refer to things that aren’t clearly separated because they’re part of a group or mass of objects.

So you choose between a red shirt and a black shirt, but you choose among all your shirts. You walk between Centre Street and Broad Street, but you walk among your friends.

Watch Your Language

English, like many other languages, has its own set of tricky rules and intricacies. But with a little bit of practice and help from guides like this one, you can become a grammar master.

These are just a few grammar mistakes we’ve picked up on. Which ones do you frequently catch? Let us know in the comments.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2015 and has been updated and for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

When was the last time you performed a competitor analysis for your brand?

Too often, a competitor analysis is reserved for the early days of a company or the launch of a new product. For others, analyzing the competition doesn’t go further than scrolling through their social media accounts every morning.

Whether it’s lack of time or understanding, many marketers are not taking full advantage of a proper competitor audit. Yet, knowing how your competitors are positioning their product and brand story is a key way to ensure your content remains compelling to your persona.

In our new ebook, How to Run a Competitor Analysis, we’ll show you how to compare your competitor’s weaknesses against your own strengths and vice versa. You’ll learn how to:

• Identify your direct and indirect competitors
• Analyze your competitor’s content strategy for quality and reach
• Grade your competitor’s SEO strategy and increase your own authority
• Equip your salespeople to compete during the decision stage of the buyer’s journey

Then, we’ll show you how to organize all of your research in a single document to align your entire team.

Fair warning, this is not the ultimate guide to replicating your competitor’s every move. But with our competitor analysis guide, you’ll discover how to run an efficient, on-going analysis that sets your brand apart.

Sixteen years ago, I was the founder and CEO of ActiveBuddy, the first commercial bot — or chatbot — company. Our uber human natural language bot SmarterChild grew to having over 20 million users across the AOL and Microsoft Instant Messaging networks.

There is a very good chance that you had one of our bots in your Buddy List.

SmarterChild proved that people liked having a conversation with a smart, opinionated computer. ActiveBuddy also built bots for commercial clients including Radiohead, Intel, Keebler, Microsoft, Comcast and Austin Powers.

We had a great run. But, we were way too early and eventually sold our technology to Microsoft.

Marketing Agencies and Bots

The good news for savvy marketing agencies is that due to advances in natural language processing, A.I. and the ubiquity of messaging platforms — including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram and Slack — bots are back and have become one of today’s most hyped marketing platforms.

The pitch to marketers that ActiveBuddy used in 2001 — “Now, your brand can have an active 1:1 conversation with a customer” — is a daily fact of life in 2016.

I think that there are three key reasons that agencies should consider getting into the bot space:

First, bots and related hot startup activity in the A.I. space are, well, hot. Here is a quote from the always-prescient research firm L2’s discussion of winners and losers:

“Loser: social apps. Looking at the most popular words startups use to describe themselves when trying to raise money, it appears that ‘app’ and ‘social’ have given way to ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘machine learning.'”

The second reason that you should consider entering the bot space is that bots are more like traditional advertising than apps ever were. Bots are a conversational platform. Because of this, agencies have the right skill sets for bot development. You know how to write, create compelling content and can build out a conversational interface.

Apps are about technology and programming. Bots are about your understanding of human and consumer communications. Thanks to Facebook, you can use their API without the need for your own high-test programmers.

Finally, your agency’s being able to talk about bots and their future in marketing is an excellent new business strategy. In a world where there are simply too many agencies, having something new to say is a wonderful thing. Large marketers like Mondelez, H&M, Unilever and Sephora have already paid attention to this new category. Like lemmings, many more potential clients are following in their footsteps.

You should note that your competitor agencies — ranging from digital RG/A to creative CPB — are already in the bot game.

OK, one more big reason to consider bots: Large-scale messaging platforms including Microsoft’s Bot Framework and Facebook have embraced and are promoting bots. Do I have to say more?

Bots Are Not Easy

It is still early, but that is just fine. Getting in early is a good thing.

VentureBeat, one of the leading bot cheerleaders, recently ran a poll that indicated that consumers are not yet enamored with bots (note: despite my company’s past success, this is still a very new platform).

“Less than 14 percent (of consumers) will gravitate toward the chatbot as their primary choice when it comes to connecting with brands. Mobile websites score slightly higher, but the majority of users still cite apps as their primary choice.”

“That’s likely because the chatbot experience, right now, is lacking when it comes to engagement, user experience, and understanding the customer journey,” said Stewart Rogers, the director of marketing technology at VentureBeat. “We’re very early in the evolution of conversation user interfaces, and while it is clear that the vast majority of consumers use messaging apps — and consider them necessary — the bots themselves leave a lot to be desired.“

I am not surprised. The key takeaway that my team took from our ActiveBuddy and SmarterChild experience was that bots had to have a compelling personality to grab the attention and repeat usage of their human buddies.

A user had to want to talk with the bot. In addition to proving instant responses and information, our SmarterChild had personality in spades — just Google “SmarterChild conversations” to see what I mean. We had to make a human-type connection to succeed.

Remember, the great advantage of bots is their conversational interface. Not having a personality that a user will want to connect with will deliver certain failure. As I mentioned earlier, marketing communications agencies are perfectly positioned to create these new, highly communicative brand ambassadors.

Last point: bots are supported by databases. Your bots have to recognize past conversations and, without being creepy, need to be able to remember all the history of your special “bot relationship.”