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Did you know that companies with 30 or more landing pages generate 7x more leads than those with fewer than ten? But landing pages don’t convert visitors to leads all by themselves — without attractive and compelling offers behind them, they won’t generate the tonnes of leads for your sales team that you want them to.

That’s why it’s so important to create valuable content people want to download, and then package it in a way that’s visually appealing to your readers. A big part of the ebook creation process is making it look both professional and attractive so people want to read it and share it.

Download our 13 customizable ebook templates here for free.

We know not every team has someone in-house who can (or has time to) whip up a slick, highly shareable ebook design. But we have good news: You don’t need to be a designer by trade to design beautiful ebooks yourself. With the right resources and approach, it doesn’t have to be a daunting task.

We created five ebook templates to help make this process easier for you — and they were so popular that we decided to create an additional 13 brand new-and-improved ebook templates for you this year. We hope these templates minimize the time you spend on the details of design, allowing you to concentrate on writing valuable, lead-generating content your readers will love.

With these slick new templates, you’ll be able to:

• Create beautifully designed ebooks without either the cost of a designer or experience with InDesign/Illustrator/Photoshop.
• Choose from 13 different ebook designs, and even add your own brand colours to any of them in a few quick steps.
• Spend more time writing awesome content and less time getting the layout right.
• Use all of the stock images provided in the templates, free of charge.
• Save your ebooks as professional and attractive PDF files that are ready for download.

Let us know what you think of the new designs in the comments below once you’ve downloaded your own copy of our 13 Customizable Ebook Templates or tweet about this ebook using the Click to Tweet link and/or the Twitter-sized image below:

With nearly every marketing operation now taking place online, it can be tough to distinguish between the various types of digital marketing people use today. What about ecommerce marketing? What is it, and how does it compare to practices like social media, content, search engine, and email marketing?

Ecommerce marketing and digital marketing are not mutually exclusive. Ecommerce websites can use all of the above digital channels to promote a product and grow their business.

Let’s explore how ecommerce marketing uses all the digital media available today.

Ecommerce marketing is just one community of marketers who can use the principles of digital and inbound marketing to convert visitors into customers. However, ecommerce marketers don’t necessarily use these marketing channels the same way a traditional brand or content marketer would.

To give you a sense of what an ecommerce marketing strategy looks like, here are some common marketing channels and how you’d use them to build an online store.

Social Media Marketing

Brands, publishers, contractors, and growing businesses all launch pages on today’s most popular social networks to connect with their audience and post content that audience is interested in. As an ecommerce marketer, you can do the same thing, but the campaigns you run might look a bit different, and not every social network is a fit for your needs.

Ecommerce websites are highly visual — you have to show off the product, after all — so your success on social media depends on your use of imagery to drive attention and traffic to your product pages. Instagram is an appropriate platform for ecommerce businesses because it enables you to post sharp product photography and expand your product’s reach beyond its purchase page.

An ecommerce business is no stranger to product reviews, either. Using a Facebook Business Page to share product praise is a perfect fit for businesses that already solicit customer reviews across their online store.

Content Marketing

When you hear “content marketing,” you might think of blogging and video marketing — things that are meant to improve your website’s ranking in search engines and answer questions related to your industry. But if you’re selling a product online, do you really need articles and videos to generate transactions? You sure do.

A product’s purchase page should be optimized for search terms that include the name of the product. If you sell wedding dresses, for example, a Google search for “brown bridesmaid dress” is more likely to produce product pages like yours. However, optimizing an ecommerce store for short, product-driven keywords isn’t the only way to convert visitors into buyers.

If you manage an online wedding dress store, writing blog posts about “how to plan a wedding” can attract everyone involved in wedding preparations no matter where they are in the planning process. Meanwhile, shooting videos can show people how best to use your product, increasing customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships with website visitors.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a little different than search engine optimization (SEO). While SEO relies on your knowledge of Google’s ranking algorithm to optimize content, SEM can involve pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, which allow you to pay for top spots on search engine results pages.

On Google, PPC campaigns guarantee that potential buyers will see a link to your page when they enter search terms that match the terms of your campaign. But because you’re paying Google each time a person clicks on your result, the payoff to you should be high.

This is why ecommerce marketers often register with Google AdWords and promote their product pages through PPC campaigns. The campaign puts searchers right in front of the business’s product when they click on a paid result, increasing the likelihood that the searcher will make a purchase before leaving the business’s website.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, and believe it or not, it holds specific value in the world of ecommerce marketing.

In a time when data privacy runs high on an internet user’s priority list, not every commercial email is welcome in that user’s inbox. Ecommerce marketers need to be careful when and how they add website visitors to their mailing list. Here are two ways an ecommerce marketer might use email marketing:

The Post-Purchase Follow Up

If a user has already purchased a product from your website — and agreed to receive emails from you during the checkout process — sending a follow-up email a few days after the product is delivered to them keeps the conversation going and gauges their future interest in your product line.

You might ask them to write a review of your product, or read original content on how to use what they just bought.

The Abandoned Shopping Cart

If, after submitting his/her email address, a website visitor stopped buying a product and bounced from the website, the ecommerce business can send a polite email to the visitor asking if they’d like to complete the checkout process.

This visitor is often called the “abandoned shopping cart,” and emails to retain their business can make the difference between a purchase and a lost customer.

Ecommerce businesses have several marketing tools at their disposal. Using digital and inbound marketing just the right way, you can create campaigns that are designed to help your online store attract customers and grow better.

Every year, we see new elements and styles in website design begin to emerge.

Some elements — when incorporated thoughtfully — help tell stories and explain your company. Other elements work to improve how content looks on a specific device. While it’s not necessary to include every trend that comes about on your website, many of them have the potential to improve your visitor’s experience.

But with so many options to choose from, it can be challenging to determine which ones are really worth considering. To help you narrow your focus, we’ve detailed eight important elements of modern website design that you can include to improve your site’s performance.

8 Modern Website Design Elements and Trends

Element #1: Unique and Large Typography

Most companies have a particular font or typography that they use to help their customers immediately identify them versus their competitors. In recent years, designers have received a larger selection of fonts to choose from, making it easier for brands to more accurately express themselves through typography. 

For example, The New Yorker is recognized instantly through their use of unique font, Adobe Caslon Pro. While more unique fonts, such as Blokletters-Balpen, have begun to be used by startups and technology companies like Zero.

Why is it useful?

Typography uses one design trend across the website to lead readers to different parts of the page. For instance, The New Yorker website leads visitors from one section to another based on the typography and font sizes.

When creating your company’s brand, your choice in typography can indicate subtle hints about who you are. Are you fun or serious? Functional or informational? Regardless of what font you choose, be sure that your designer considers its applicability across browsers and computers. Choosing a font that is not supported by common browsers and computers could mean that your website displays awkwardly on different devices. 

Element #2: Large & Responsive Hero Images

You don’t have to go far beyond the popular publishing website Medium.com to see an example of a large hero image:

Large images such as this one do away with the concept of above and below the fold. By focusing on just the image with text rather than a CTA or social buttons, Medium creates a strong visual experience that encourages you to scroll down to read more. 

Large hero images are also often placed in the background with text and other content overlaid on top, like on Uber’s website. Regardless of the approach you utilize, large images can help visually tell your story without having to rely on just text. 

Why is it useful?

Your customers are coming from all over the place and have high expectations. You may not be sure if they are finding your website from their phone, tablet, or desktop computer. The image that Medium uses above is extremely powerful, but if it was only visible from desktop computers, many people may miss it. 

That said, ensuring your images are responsive makes for a good user experience. Website visitors can look at different images — whether they are the background or product images — and be able to get the same experience no matter what device they are coming from. 

Element #3: Background Videos

Videos that automatically play in the background can add a lot to a page. They can be used to tell a story and significantly reduce the amount of other content that is needed to explain your business.

Let’s take Wistia‘s website, for example. When you land on their homepage a large video automatically starts playing in the background, and by clicking on the play button, you get a deeper look at Wistia:

This background video serves as a brilliant way to get the visitor engaged to click-through to the main video. 

Why is it useful?

Background videos focus on enticing the visitor from the moment they land on your page. The video allows your visitor to understand the key points about your company without ever having to read a single line of text. 

In addition, video is processed 60,000 times faster by our brains compared to text. While people are often hesitant to read heavy blocks of text, videos appear effortless and can be consumed very quickly. It also helps that connection speeds are increasing and mobile device sizes are growing, making for better video experiences.

Element #4: Semi-Flat Design

In 2013 Apple fundamentally shifted to flat design. Simply put, flat design is any element that does not include or give the perception of three dimensions, such as shadows. Not only is flat design is easier for users to comprehend, but it can also load more quickly on websites without complicated or overly-technical elements.

Following in Apple’s footsteps, many other organizations — both large and small — have shifted to flat design. However, company’s like Uber have put their own spin on the style by adding subtle shadows and dimensions. As you can see in the image below, the boxes have an element of depth with shadows around them, without overdoing it:

When you scroll over any of the boxes on the Uber homepage the shadow disappears and relieves the image behind it.

Why is it useful?

Flat design helps the visitor understand your content more quickly, and adding some elements of depth can bring it to life. Regardless of whether you fully design your website using flat design or utilize shadows and other elements, it’s important to be consistent throughout your website. Ensure that your homepage, product pages, and any other key sections of your website all utilize the same design cues so that visitors can instantly understand what they’re viewing.

Element #5: Hamburger Menus

It’s likely that most websites you come in contact with have a long menu of options to choose from. The advantage of this is that the menu can take the visitor directly to where they want to go. However, the disadvantage is that they generally take up a ton of valuable screen space. 

The hidden, or hamburger, menu changes this. This menu was common in web applications before making it’s way to web design — even in Google Chrome you can find a hamburger menu on the right-hand side.

Source: UX movement

Wondering why it’s called a hamburger menu?

If you use your imagination, the three lines that are stacked on top of one another look like hamburger patties. Get it?

Why is it useful?

The pages of your website should have a clear path for the user to take. Removing a busy navigation makes the experience cleaner and distraction free. This improved experiences help to improve the likelihood that the user will find the information they need to complete a desired action. 

Element #6: Giant Product Images

You may have noticed that many B2B websites are starting to display large product images on their sites to highlight different features or parts of their product. This is no coincidence. 

To give you a better idea of what we’re talking about, let’s take a look at the product page for the HubSpot Website Platform:

There is a large featured image at the top of this page, and as you scroll down the page there are additional in-depth product images. The images are also responsive which aims to ensure an optimized experience for viewers coming from different devices, as we mentioned earlier. 

Why is it useful?

Larger product images help designers highlight different features of a product in a more efficient and effective way.

This approach reinforces the benefits of a feature by providing the opportunity to highlight the most valuable pieces. For instance, in the second image, you will notice that there are numbers on the image corresponding with benefits of certain features.

These large images are also scan-friendly. They help visitors generate a solid understanding of what the different product features do by convey them through images instead of words.

Element #7: Card Design

With the rise of Pinterest, designers and marketers alike have become fascinated with cards. Individual cards help distribute information in a visual way so the visitors can easily consume bite-sized pieces of content without being overwhelmed. 

Brit + Co’s homepage serves as a great example of card design in action:

By breaking up different pieces of content into cards, users can pick and choose which articles they want to expand. This helps to keep the homepage feeling clean and organized, without relying on a ton of text. 

Why is it useful?

Card design is becoming more and more popular across B2B and B2C websites because it helps to deliver easily digestible chunks of information for users. Using this design on your site can help highlight multiple products or solutions side-by-side. 

Keep in mind that your cards should be responsive. This means that as the screen size gets smaller or larger, the number and size of cards shown should adapt accordingly.

Element #8: Short Product or Feature Videos

In addition to background videos, companies are also beginning to use short product or feature videos to highlight a specific use case. These short videos are great at bringing your solution to life, while not overwhelming the visitor with a long experience that they must sit through.

A strong example of this comes from the folks at InVision. They display this short illustrator of how easy it is to use their product by dragging-and-dropping a design directly on their homepage:

Why is it useful?

According to Inc. Magazine, 92% of B2B customers watch online video, and 43% of B2B customers watch online video when researching products and services for their business. Therefore, B2B companies need to create videos that explain their products because it is influential in the buyer’s decision-making process.

These short videos allow for your prospect to quickly understand value without watching a really long, in-depth experience. Sure, both have value, but the shorter videos allows for quick understanding that is best for top of the funnel.

 

How in the world did we get here?

It’s hard to believe it’s already August — but alas, here we are, watching summer (in Boston, anyway) progress.

We’ve been keeping busy, and so has Google, it seems. July was a busy month for the search giant, and we’ve put together a rundown of the major highlights you may have missed last month.

What You Missed Last Month in Google

1. Someone From Google Will Testify on Election Interference

At Wednesday’s Senate Select Committee Intelligence hearing on foreign influence in social media, Senator Mark Warner confirmed that a representative from Google will testify before the same committee next month on election interference.

In July, BuzzFeed News scooped this upcoming testimony, where it was reported that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey are confirmed to appear.

While there’s no definitive answer on who, exactly, will represent Google, CEO Sundar Pichai has been invited.

However, Google recently promoted General Counsel Kent Walker to senior vice president of global affairs, where he’ll manage both the company’s legal team, and one dedicated to trust and safety. The move could point to Walker’s presence alongside Sandberg and Dorsey next month.

The testimony is scheduled to take place on September 5.

2. More Search Results

For quite some time now, Google has been evolving its search results page (SERP). Whether it’s an algorithm change, a featured snippet, or a knowledge graph — if there’s a way to get information to users in a quicker, more concise way, chances are, Google will try to incorporate it.

Now, that’s coming in the form of certain content displays from web pages — specifically, lists of FAQs, Q&As, and how-to steps.

#GoogleDanceSingapore New Search Features coming in @methode @rustybrick @sejournal pic.twitter.com/6dZbIQ4HiS

— Akhil Agarwal (@akhil1594)
July 26, 2018

And while, as we’ve covered, having page content displayed right there on the SERP could lead to fewer clicks — The SEM Post explains that there is an upside to content creators whose pages are featured in these results. For starters: one result appears to take up the entire screen, at least on mobile, giving the page owner a significant amount of “screen real estate.” Read full story >>

3. Chrome’s “Not Secure” Warning Is Here

In February, Google announced on its security blog that, in a matter of months, any sites without HTTP encryption (the “s” is for “Secure Sockets Layer,” or SSL, which is covered here) would display a “not secure” warning.

Last month, that took effect.

Source: Google

With the July release of Chrome 68 — the latest edition of Google’s web browser — these new warnings display to let users know that, while the browsing experience for an HTTP page isn’t necessarily unsafe, it removes an additional layer of security from “eavesdroppers” when you enter secure information like passwords or credit card numbers. Read full statement >>

4. EU Fines

The European Union will fine Google €4.3B — roughly $5 billion — in an antitrust case that the European Commission has based on alleged abuses by the company for “Android market dominance.”

These include the Google’s forced inclusion (e.g., for phone manufacturers) of its own search engine and apps like the Chrome browser into the Android operating system — which Google has 90 days from the decision date to stop doing.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai later released a statement defending the company’s practices around its operating system, saying that they have “expanded the choice of phones available around the world.” Read full story >>

5. In the Clouds

Google Cloud Next, the company’s annual cloud conference, has come and gone. A host of new products and solutions were unveiled — many of them within the realm of language processing capabilities. From new machine learning capabilities, to text-to-speech (and speech-to-text) tools, the company dedicated an entire blog post to the top announcements — all 100+ of them — from this year’s event. Read full post >>

Until Next Month

As always, we’re watching all things Google. We’ll continue to pick out top news items, algorithm updates, and trends.

And until September arrives — have a great August.

Featured image credit: Google