Workflow & Automation

The people with bright ideas who build and run the company, yes. But also the devotees who use the product or service, find it valuable, and tell their friends and colleagues about it. Telling your brand’s story in a compelling way that conveys its distinctive possibilities and sparks curiosity is an integral part of your marketing strategy. But how can you craft an effective narrative that reaches the right people and persuades them to pay for your product or services?
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The answer: tapping into the tenets of brand marketing. By doing so, you’ll be able to spread awareness of your brand — and turn curious passersby into dedicated customers and loyal brand advocates.

What’s brand marketing, anyways?

Rather than spreading the word about a standalone update of what your company is up to (like a new feature or special event, for example), brand marketing is the segment of marketing where you promote your brand’s story, and build overall awareness of your brand. Think of it as a chance to convey what your brand is all about, and grab the attention of potential customers — and, ideally, make a lasting, favorable impression.

One of the most important elements of brand marketing is storytelling. To tell your brand’s story in a compelling and easy-to-grasp way, it’s necessary to have a distinctive and cohesive brand identity and brand message. 

These elements help the people you’re trying to reach (a.k.a. your target market) understand what it is you do and what you stand for in the world. This includes not only the essentials of what you offer, but also your brand’s mission and values, who your products and services are most relevant for, and how it feels to interact with your company.
Ultimately, brand marketing is a holistic way to foster recognition, build trust, and fortify your brand’s reputation. When done well, you’ll pique the interest of people who’d most benefit from what you offer — and they’ll keep your brand top of mind.

And, what is lead generation?

A high-quality lead is someone who has shown genuine interest in your company’s products or service. They’ve signaled this interest by interacting with your brand in a meaningful way. Maybe they downloaded a piece of content, signed up for your newsletter, engaged with a social media post, or responded to a sales pitch. In short: Think of a lead as a potential customer.

Lead generation is the process of finding these “leads” or potential customers, and strengthening your brand’s relationship with them. It’s an important piece of the marketing funnel and plays a role in fostering new customer conversion and acquisition. 

By interacting with these potential customers and keeping their awareness and interest in your brand going (and growing), you have the chance to turn their initial spark of curiosity into action, guiding them from simple bystander status to loyal customer.

How brand marketing boosts lead generation

For your brand marketing to have the most impact — and generate the most high-quality leads — it’s essential to have a deep understanding of your target audience. To get started, craft a targeting strategy that’s specifically designed to meet your intended customers’ needs. Consider which marketing channels they visit most, their spending habits, and what sort of content they tend to interact with. 

When you tailor your approach to your audience’s preferences and motivations, your message is more likely to cut through the noise, elicit a reaction, and lodge in people’s memory for the long haul. Take Grubhub’s viral end-of-year campaign, “2022 Delivered.” This fun brand moment recapped the nation’s ordering trends for the year in an interactive way: highlighting the personal eating habits of millions of users. 

The response was tremendous, with overwhelmingly positive feedback on social media as people shared their highlights and compared stats. And the high engagement numbers — a 51% email open rate and more than 1.3 million page views — signaled that people truly connected with this shareable brand marketing strategy.

This type of marketing effectively spreads brand awareness and boosts brand recognition. As people shared their top late-night orders and other meal stats on social media, their followers who aren’t yet Grubhub users got a taste for the brand filtered through their friends’ genuine enthusiasm. This form of social proof can inspire peers to become customers. Because, when happy and engaged customers share what they love about your brand in a real and natural way, it inspires potential new customers to see what the fuss is all about.

Messages that feel like they’re speaking directly to someone’s experience make an impression and move the needle. On the other end of the spectrum, when your message isn’t reaching the right people, it’s like shouting into the void. As the Nielsen 2023 Annual Marketing Report underscores: “Ads that best reached their intended audience generated significantly higher ROI than those that didn’t.” In other words: Investing resources to reach the right people pays off — with positive associations and feelings of loyalty and trust, which keep your company top of mind.

Think of your website as a catalyst

Once you’ve got your brand marketing strategy in motion and potential customers are streaming in to learn more about your offerings, your website plays an essential role. 

When done well, it’s a seamless extension of your marketing efforts and a hub where you can nurture relationships with the leads you generate.

For example, building security company dormakaba uses their website to showcase the possibilities of their products to inspire their audience of builders, architects, and planners — and, in turn, convert prospective customers. Each page of their website has a call to action to lead viewers to the information they’re seeking. Native contact forms connect to marketing automation tools to get visitors started on the path to becoming customers. Seamlessly translating the site into five languages with Webflow’s SEO controls, dormakaba can literally speak their global target markets’ language, which fosters a more personalized experience, and leads to better conversion.

Since potential customers will come to your website looking to learn more, you have the chance to deepen their awareness and understanding of your brand — and guide them to next steps in the customer journey. Whether someone visits your website with a sliver of curiosity or they’re already intent on signing up, having a clear, compelling website poses a powerful opportunity to further educate prospective buyers, acquire new customers, and grow your business. 

Convert more customers with Webflow

Quality websites bridge the gap between brand awareness and lead generation — and make a winning first impression on potential customers.

To launch a brand marketing strategy that fosters high-quality leads, you’ll need the right tools.

See how Webflow Enterprise, a powerful visual web development platform, can help your marketing team turn interested visitors into devoted customers. Learn how to make landing pages that convert, create websites that drive leads, and tailor localized and internationalized site experiences to audiences worldwide. 

Customers spend hours researching products and services before deciding to buy. Even then, they may hesitate and abandon a purchase altogether, leaving your marketing efforts fruitless.

But with search retargeting, you can use those search queries to your advantage. From social media to blogs, you can create customized ads that pop up all over the web, reminding users of their interests and encouraging them to complete their purchases.

What’s search retargeting, and how does it work?

Search retargeting is a digital marketing strategy that involves targeting users based on past search behavior. Unlike traditional retargeting, which relies on tracking users after they visit specific websites, this approach focuses on people who use search engines like Google.

When a user enters a query related to a specific keyword or topic, Google and other search engines collect this data anonymously. Advertisers selling similar products and services use this data to serve targeted ads to those users as they browse the web, even if they haven’t visited the advertiser’s website before.

Say someone searches for “best cloud storage solution” on Google without making a purchase. Later, they might see ads for cloud solutions from different companies as they scroll through social media or other websites. These ads are possible because companies use search queries to target them with relevant content, hoping they’ll take action and buy a product or service.

Search retargeting vs. remarketing

Remarketing is a form of retargeting, and most marketers differentiate the terms by strategy. While search retargeting focuses on sending ads relevant to a user’s recent search queries, remarketing involves sending personalized messages (typically via email) to people who’ve already purchased. 

Instead of encouraging first-time buyers, remarketing nurtures relationships and brand loyalty through repeat purchases. So if you already own an Apple Watch, Apple might send you a promotional email about related products, like watch straps, for instance.

The 3 types of search retargeting campaigns

Diversified search retargeting provides opportunities to reconnect with your audience and encourage them to become loyal customers. Here are the three types of retargeting.

• General website retargeting targets users who interacted with your website or app but have yet to take a desired action, like adding items to a shopping cart, signing up for a newsletter, or wishlisting products. General website retargeting ads typically appear on social media and other websites, encouraging visitors to return and complete their transactions.
• Search network retargeting shows ads based on a user’s past search behavior across search engines like Google and Bing. You can use Google Analytics to collect specific keywords people entered (related to products and services) and create ads accordingly. When someone uses these keywords, your ads appear.
• Remarketing lists for search ads (RLSAs) allows you to customize search ads and bids based on users’ past interactions with your site or app. You can bid on relevant keywords users commonly enter into Google through paid search retargeting, increasing the chance your ads appear at the top of search results.

What are the benefits of search retargeting campaigns?

Aside from reaching potential customers who previously searched for your products and services, search retargeting offers the following benefits.

Driving cost-efficiency

Search retargeting lets you reach users who’ve already shown interest. This leads to higher conversion rates and a more cost-effective advertising strategy than other approaches, like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and influencer marketing.

Instead of reaching a broader audience with generic ads, you can use retargeting to zero in on users who’ve searched for your product, ensuring you spend your advertising budget on those likely to convert.

Enhancing brand recall

Repeatedly exposing users to ads based on their interests and search activity reinforces brand recall. A travel company, for instance, can use search retargeting to display vacation packages for those who’ve previously searched for travel destinations, keeping the brand top of mind when prospects are ready to book their next trip.

Marketing new or popular products

Retargeting lets you promote new or popular products to those who’ve previously engaged with similar items. Say you run an online streaming platform. You can use retargeting to personalize and recommend related movies to users searching for content by the same director or in the same genre.

Engaging prospects throughout the buyer’s journey

You can engage with potential customers at various stages of the buyer’s journey, from initial awareness to final purchase. For instance, a project management–based software company can attract people who used keywords like “project management tool” and “task management software” in Google. They can also offer discounts and informative content to guide these searchers through the decision-making process.

Customizing ads

Search retargeting lets you create highly personalized ads for specific audience segments. You can display one ad for 18–25-year-olds and another for 26–35-year-olds, ensuring each demographic receives ads tailored to their tastes and preferences. It also helps to create customer-centric site designs, so users seamlessly transition from your ad to your website and recognize that you’re catering to their needs.

Cross-selling and upselling opportunities

Retargeting opens the door for cross-selling and upselling opportunities. You can target users with ads for complementary and upgraded products based on past search behavior. For example, an electronics company might promote accessories like headphones and cases to users who recently bought a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. It can also offer combo deals through “Buy a phone and get a smartwatch free!” ads to convince prospects to spend more and perceive the brand as providing value-for-money discounts.

How to set up Google search retargeting: 4 steps

No matter what you’re trying to advertise, here are four steps to create a Google search targeting campaign.

1. Set up a Google Ads account

First, create an account with Google Ads. Provide your company name, website, and email address. Then, add Google’s remarketing tag to your site to start collecting data. The tag keeps tabs on visitor behavior, and you can add this tag to every page you want to track.

You can also create remarketing lists within the Audience Manager, and divide your target audience based on segments like website, app, and YouTube users.

2. Choose relevant keywords

Use keyword research to find terms that are relevant to your business and align with your target audience’s interests. This helps your ads reach the right people. 

Try to include long-tail keywords (keywords with several words), and ensure each word is highly relevant — and not similar — to the ads you want to display. For example, if you’re promoting a short-term event like a smart home device launch, use terms like “best smart home device” and “new smart home device launch” to raise awareness.

3. Create ads

After selecting keywords, create attractive ads for people who previously used these queries. Like the keywords, your ads should be relevant and provide clear value propositions to encourage users to click. They should also stand out on a web page or social media timeline with high-quality images and legible text.

For example, your event ad might be a teaser, subtly highlighting features like the home device’s connectivity, battery life, and performance. You can also use ad extensions, like callouts and hyperlinks, to redirect users to the event page or give them more information about your brand.

4. Monitor campaign performance

After launching your retargeting campaign, monitor performance to ensure it’s delivering returns. Use Google Analytics to track key metrics like click-through rate (CTR), return on ad spend (ROAS), and conversion rate.

If you notice specific keywords generating traffic without conversions, consider adjusting your bidding strategy or tightening your targeting criteria to speak to a more relevant audience.

Reach the right audience with Webflow

Search retargeting can be an effective strategy to capture searchers and turn them into customers. This strategy might bring people to your website, but keeping them there is another challenge. Webflow’s powerful website platform and app integrations allow you to personalize your site content and A/B test elements to find what resonates with your users.

According to a 2023 survey, 87% of marketers say that incorporating video into their marketing strategies gives them a positive return on investment. 

But while video is slowly gaining popularity and breeding real results, implementing video on a website poses a few issues — slow load times, poor security, and little customization — which can turn customers away. But here’s the good news: with the right platform, organizations can eliminate the headaches, and make video one of their strongest marketing tools for lead generation.

In this blog, we’ll cover the different types of video hosting and the top 7 hosting sites to check out.

What is video hosting?

Video hosting simplifies the process of storing, managing, and delivering video content, ensuring seamless integration into client projects and marketing campaigns. 

It’s a vital tool for freelance web designers, visual developers, and agencies, as well as in-house marketing and design teams that want to make video a part of their marketing strategies. 

Why do you need a video hosting service?

With video hosting, you can create engaging marketing campaigns that resonate with your audience, like product demos, tutorials, and brand stories. You can distribute these campaigns across various channels to drive brand awareness and engagement — without having to worry about crashes or glitches. 

Though every organization has specific needs, video hosting services generally ensure optimized playback experiences across various devices and internet speeds. This optimization makes videos easy for target audiences to access and view, regardless of their location or device.

What are the types of video hosting solutions?

Not all video hosting platforms are the same. There are a few different kinds your team should consider:

• Public video hosting platforms — Platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion offer wide reach and social features, making them ideal for content creators and businesses seeking exposure. They provide free or affordable options and foster community engagement, helping marketers reach a broad audience.
• Private video hosting platforms — Services such as Wistia, Vidyard, and Brightcove offer enhanced privacy, advanced analytics, and customization options. These platforms are great for businesses and educational institutions needing secure video sharing and greater control over branding.
• Live streaming — Services such as Twitch, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live facilitate real-time interaction and audience engagement. They are perfect for gamers, event organizers, influencers, and businesses hosting live events, providing a platform for immediate viewer feedback and participation.
• Social media video hosting — Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook offer high engagement and virality potential. They are ideal for influencers, brands, and marketers targeting specific demographics, providing built-in audiences and extensive social sharing features.
• Self-hosted video solutions — Hosting videos on your own server using software like WordPress with plugins allows for full control and customization freedom. This option is best for tech-savvy users and businesses needing complete control over their content without relying on third-party services.

Choosing the best video hosting platform for you

To choose the best third-party hosting platform for your video content, consider factors like:

Price

Video hosts can be free, subscription-based, or price tiered. Paid services tend to offer more analytics and content management options, like adding custom calls to action (CTAs) and branding to the video player. You’ll need to consider your budget and how important these features are to you.

Embed options

Look for comprehensive embedding options that allow you to add a video anywhere you need, such as marketing campaign content across emails, social posts, and landing pages. Your hosting service should offer these embed options in whatever format you need.

Metadata options

Designer-friendly video hosting sites let you add snippets that automatically populate with your videos so you don’t have to find a way to support this critical metadata yourself.

Metadata describes other data. For example, this article has a meta description outlining what the article’s about. It also has image descriptions built into the HTML copy to help search engines like Google index the site and decide where to place it in search results.

Having metadata automation is a huge timesaver, as video-rich snippets are beneficial for better website search engine optimization (SEO), helping your website rank higher in Google search results and receive more traffic.

Accessibility

Some hosts let you include transcripts or captions for videos, which are crucial for accessibility. Competent video players automate these tasks so you don’t forget to add this data when uploading your video.

Analytics

Analytics provide valuable insights into viewer behavior and engagement — audience retention, click-through rates, and video completion rates — to help you refine and enhance your video content.

Metrics like total views, play duration, and engagement rates (comments, likes, favorites) are key indicators of the impact and performance of your videos. The number of total views provides insight into the reach and popularity of your videos, while play duration and engagement rates point to how long viewers watch and interact with them.

Audience demographics, including location, age, and gender, can also help you tailor your video content to a specific audience. For example, if you discover a significant portion of your audience is from Latin America, you can include Spanish subtitles to improve the viewing experience for that demographic.

Customization

A customizable video player makes the web design process more cohesive because you can alter the appearance based on your needs, brand, and target audience. It allows you to adapt the player to your website content’s design or color scheme, or create share options for various social media platforms to encourage people to send your video to others. These customization options also make it easier to enlarge buttons or window size for different device layouts, which is important for responsive designs.

7 of the best video hosting sites

Here are seven video hosting options we’ve found work particularly well for web designers who want customization options and robust analytics.

1. Vidzflow

‍Vidzflow is a high-quality video hosting platform that caters to the needs of businesses and content creators. Customizable, simple to use, and perfect for any marketing campaign, Vidzflow allows users to tailor specific controls, brand videos, and optimize video load times. And the best part? It works directly with Webflow.

Why we love it:

• Customizable settings and tools
• Supports a wide variety of formats including mp4, mov, avi, mkv, mpg and webm
• Simple video upload and embed 
• Buffer-free, stall-proof playback
• High-quality video performance
• No code needed

Plans and pricing:

• Free plan available
• Lite: $9 per month 
• Starter: $19 per month
• Business: $39 per month

2. SproutVideo

‍SproutVideo is one of the best video hosting options for advanced analytics and optimization, which help you manage large lists of videos with their own stats to track. The platform allows you to monitor play numbers, play rates, hours watched, and average engagement. You can even dig down to the domains where your video is most popular, the geographic popularity of videos, and popularity over time.

Why we love it:

• Responsive inline, lightbox, and email embed codes
• Subtitle support using WebVTT and SRT standard
• Custom color themes, thumbnails, and controls for video players
• Comprehensive audience demographics and video engagement metrics

Plans and pricing:

• 30-day free trial
• Seed: $10 per month
• Sprout: $35 per month
• Tree: $75 per month
• Forest: $295 per month

3. Dailymotion

Dailymotion offers advanced video analytics, including tracking views, view-through rates, and uploads. This video hosting platform also lets you filter for what’s most important or view stats in real-time to see which videos are getting attention right now.

Analytics are available on the platform or through an application programming interface (API), depending on how you prefer to work. You can also use Google Analytics with Dailymotion to optimize your content for Google’s search criteria. Even more impressive, most features are available at no cost, making Dailymotion an excellent video hosting service for limited budgets.

Why we love it:

• Custom embed scripts with native SDK support
• Full metadata options including title, tags, description, upload date, duration, and thumbnail URL
• Subtitle support using SRT standard
• Custom color themes, watermarks, and controls for video players
• Analytics for video engagement metrics and audience demographics

Plans and pricing:

• Primarily free; contact for enterprise-level quotes

4. Brightcove

‍Brightcove is an enterprise-level suite of services for video marketing. This online video hosting platform specializes in monetization and engagement so your video content gains visibility and brings in revenue through ads. Brightcove also offers integrations with other tools like Zencoder for cloud video encoding, Media Studio for video distribution and revenue, and Audience Insights for detailed analytics. It’s famously reliable, reporting 99.99% uptime and providing high-level video protection to prevent misuse.

Why we love it:

• IFrame and in-page embed codes
• Custom metadata fields
• Subtitle support through player native caption generation, custom subtitle tracks, and WebVTT
• Full player customization through CSS and JavaScript
• Real-time analytics for video engagement metrics and audience demographics, as well as customizable reporting

Plans and pricing: 

• Contact Brightcove for customized pricing information

5. Hippo Video

‍Hippo Video is an innovative AI-driven video platform that allows you to create interactive videos from text at scale without the need for recording. Users can transform any piece of content into an engaging video using Hippo Video’s comprehensive tools — from training materials to customer support documents.

Users can also leverage interactive elements such as AI avatars, in-video CTAs, forms, polls, and surveys to create immersive videos that resonate with and engage the audience.

Why we love it:

• Instantly transform prompts, PPTs, PDFs, or blog posts into interactive videos with AI avatars
• Record video and personalize it for thousands within your CRM or sales platform
• Add video to your platform with just ten lines of code

Plans and pricing:

• Free plan available
• Pro: $20 per month per user
• Teams: $60 per month per user
• Enterprise: $80 per month per user

6. Vidyard

‍Vidyard offers a free option and priced tiers starting at $19 per month. Marketing and design professionals will want the paid tier, as it includes unlimited video support, CTA creation, and in-depth analytics. These metrics help both marketers and designers track what people interact with and encourage conversions on webpages with video content.

Vidyard’s system offers high-quality, ad-free video hosting — an ideal choice for small businesses that take their video seriously.

Why we love it:

• Responsive inline, lightbox, and email embed codes

Plans and pricing:

• Free plan available 
• Pro: $19 per month
• Plus: $59 per user per month
• Business: Contact Vidyard for more info

7. YouTube

You or your clients may already use YouTube for video playlists and have developed channels with original content. If that’s the case, stick with YouTube embedding and use its built-in analytics options. It’s not as comprehensive as our other choices and contains ads, but YouTube videos are a good starting place when the priority is publishing content right away and showing up on search engines.

Why we love it:

• IFrame embedding and IFrame Player API support with full parameter control
• Metadata support for title, description, and tags
• Comprehensive subtitles support for multiple file extensions, including SRT standard, WebVTT, and SAMI
• Customization of player controls, autoplay, progress bar color, language preference, and video looping
• Analytics for video engagement metrics and audience demographics

Plans and pricing: 

• Free, but may require developer work for analytics

Host your videos through Webflow

With the right video hosting service, your website can nail your next big marketing strategy and keep customers interested and engaged.

By teaming up with Webflow, your organization can access dozens of powerful integrations to optimize your videos — and your business. Sign up for free →

Since then, marketing teams of all sizes have been trying to wrap their heads around what the impact of this change will be, how to address it in their marketing programs, and how they can rethink their end-to-end digital programs to better future proof their efforts.

Lucky for you, Google has once again hit pause on their third-party cookie drop date, writing in a statement posted to their website on April 23, 2024: 

“We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem.” 

Instead, the deprecation date has now moved to roughly the “second half of Q4.” 

While marketers may be rejoicing at yet another pause, the best teams remain ready for what’s to come in the future. So for those who have been reluctant to prepare for cookie deprecation — or those just looking to make sense of it all — we’re here to help.   

Below, read on to better understand the various types of digital cookies, learn more about how Google’s proposed changes will impact marketing and website teams, and explore some best practices for continuing to engage with your customers online in a meaningful way in a post-cookie world.  

What are third-party cookies?

First, a quick reminder: a cookie is a little file that a website tells your browser to put on your computer. The info in that file can then be read by websites later on. Two common use cases for cookies are for keeping you logged in to a site and maintaining a shopping cart. (Fun fact: the inventor of the browser cookie was also the first to implement animated GIFs in browsers.)

A third-party cookie is one that comes from a domain different from the one that’s being viewed, such as an ad network. Any page on any site that calls the same cookie can read or modify the data in that cookie. Sometimes, they’re known as tracking cookies.

Third-party cookies have made life easier for marketers. By tapping into existing networks with extensive tracking, you can leverage a lot of data to laser-focus your ads. Once you have them on your site, there’s little effort required to set up retargeting ads, making attribution a breeze because the same cookie can load on the page where an ad is clicked — as well as on your landing page.

Third-party cookies, however, can cause privacy issues

There’s nothing inherently bad about third-party cookies. In fact, beyond ads, they can be convenient for use cases like maintaining a logged-in state across multiple sites. However, they can ingest a ton of users’ online behavioral data, which in return, may expose sensitive or even private details about a person’s identity, interests, and beliefs. 

Additionally a lot of users and consumers find the practice of hyper-targeting intrusive. In fact, 58% of consumers recently surveyed state retargeting ads derived from third-party cookie tracking are “creepy.” As a result, consumer sentiment has shifted toward an online experience where companies do not collect so much information about them or anyone else (or at least where they are paid for it since so much of user data has been sold over the years, and people are rarely actually paid for wholesale transactions involving their own data).

What are first-party cookies?

By contrast, first-party cookies are generated by and for a particular website. Within the marketer’s suite, these cookies are typically provided by your analytics, CRM, and other platforms to be served up exclusively on your domain. When you (or your dev team) copies a bit of JavaScript from a platform into a page template, chances are it’s to load a cookie.

Many first-party cookies can accomplish a lot of what used to be done with third-party cookies. For instance, Facebook gives each site its own cookie and aggregates data on the back end so the system still knows to serve you ads for things you’ve recently browsed the internet for. The difference is that Facebook doesn’t allow an individual site to know exactly who you are.*

What about those accept-our-cookies modals?

Until recently, the only way to control which cookies you accepted was to fiddle with your browser settings or install an extension. Most people didn’t bother.

Legislation in the past few years, most notably the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), has led to new rules that require informed consent for cookies beyond what’s “necessary” for running the site. That’s why now, practically every website you visit serves you a popup modal or bottom banner asking for cookie consent.

This consent is required for both first- and third-party cookies. So what’s the problem?

Google decided it’s time to wave goodbye to third-party cookies

In 2020, Google announced that its Chrome browser would no longer have third-party cookies allowed by default. (We won’t get into why, but here are some articles if you’re looking for further reading). Safari and Firefox, among other browsers, had already started restricting them, but with 65% of the global browser market share, when Google sets a policy for the Chrome browser, it essentially forces the whole Internet to comply.

Google’s alternative, Privacy Sandbox, is a program to develop a set of APIs that allow marketers to get relevant and personalized ads in front of the right audiences while shielding users’ identifying information.

There’s a ton more to unpack with Privacy Sandbox, but one part that blows our mind is the obliquely named Protected Audience API, which allows ad auctions to be run within the browser.

However, the plan is still in beta

They said it’d be done in two years. Four years later, it’s been delayed — again.

In January 2024, Chrome finally turned on its anti-third-party cookie feature, Tracking Protection, to 1% of users. But there’s at least one more potential hangup. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is concerned that Privacy Sandbox could favor Google’s own ad business, and in February insisted that Google needs to resolve some outstanding issues before it’d be approved to finish the rollout.

Will this be resolved before the second half of the year, when Google has said it will deploy the new policy to everyone? Will other new factors and setbacks emerge? Time will tell.

How marketing and web teams can prepare for third-party cookie deprecation

When a browser blocks third-party cookies, a range of outcomes is possible. Sometimes there are little-to-no consequences. Other times, the user experience is massively impacted. And in many instances,  it mucks up the well-oiled machinery of advertising.

Start preparing for cookiepocalpyse

An easy way to test if you’ve amply prepared for third-party cookie deprecation is by following these steps: 

1. Open up Chrome and follow these instructions to opt in to blocking third-party cookies. 
2. Browse your site, and see what happens.
3. If the end user experience looks  different, it’s probably time to get in touch with a dev to identify the offending cookie(s).

If you buy or host online ads, there’s more to do.

Think about the ad networks you participate in 

Understand their approach to the third-party cookie phaseout. Just as with other major tech transitions, even if someone else is doing the heavy lifting, it often requires some small but important adjustments on the client’s side. (Remember the Google Analytics crossover?)

Use this as an opportunity to expand your marketing playbook 

If you rely heavily on retargeting, channel attribution, or just about anything else that programmatically places your brand across the web, this should especially ring true. Even though Google and others are putting in work to replicate the convenience and power of third-party cookies while preserving privacy, the technology is not yet complete nor fully proven.

A few strategies marketers can explore: 

• Collect zero-party and first-party data to directly own vital information about your site visitors and audience.
• Diversify the marketing channels you activate on, such as leaning into driving organic traffic through SEO or publishing relevant content through different stages of the conversion funnel to help attract the right audience.
• Personalize email campaigns for existing customers based on what first-party data you do know about them.
• Include UTM parameters in marketing campaigns to better identify the source of user sessions.

We know change isn’t always fun, but as marketers, staying ahead of the curve and future proofing your digital strategy is an investment in your overall business health. By getting started today and taking time to audit your web strategy, you’re taking an important step in protecting and enabling a better end-user experience — and you’ll be thankful when the day new policies and guidelines do go into effect.

*Note: Webflow does not place any cookies—third-party or otherwise—on sites hosted on our platform. Our customers add them on their own.

Talented personnel improve organizational success — but when working as a team, their impact multiplies. Strengthening every member ensures the collective thrives and promotes growth beyond individual achievement.

By investing in your team’s development, you equip them to handle project challenges head-on, leading to faster problem resolution, increased efficiency, and improved business outcomes. Read on to learn what a high-performing team is and how to build one.

Here’s what high-performance teams do differently

High-performance teams consistently hit benchmarks and adjust to evolving requirements. Here are a few more common characteristics of high-performing teams.

Speed and efficiency

Great teams deliver projects on time, within budget, and without wasted resources. They do so by mapping out and following high-efficiency workflows and using tools that empower teamwork as well as autonomy.

For example, a web development team might use prototyping and wireframing tools to work collaboratively on website design concepts. But each person has the responsibility of updating tasks and timelines in a centralized project management platform.

Effective communication

High-performing teams avoid time-consuming re-work and miscommunications by checking in early and often. They welcome each other’s opinions and diverse perspectives.

Great communication also means easy access to information and transparency regarding project outcomes, issues, and individual responsibilities. You must encourage this kind of culture to avoid organizational information silos. Establish open communication channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams to empower each member to voice their ideas and concerns. And schedule regular check-ins — both between managers and direct reports and with teams as a whole — to ensure everyone’s always looped in.

Cohesion 

Effective teamwork requires prioritizing team goals over individual achievements. It’s these shared goals that create cohesion among disparate parts by aligning everyone’s effort with project expectations.

To create this cohesion, make sure your team clearly understands the “why” behind shared goals. This well-defined purpose motivates everyone to contribute meaningfully.

Here’s a high-performing team example of cohesion. A web development team is working on a Webflow site. The user experience (UX) designer sketches the website navigation journey, the user interface (UI) designer creates a user-friendly interface, and the marketing team provides input throughout to make sure the site is on-brand. Tasks differ, but because everyone’s aligned on the website’s end goals, they create a cohesive, visually captivating site.

Agility

Changes in consumer behavior, market trends, and competitor offerings require teams to pivot — thoughtfully. This means enmeshing adaptability into company culture so you’re not working from a sink-or-swim mentality. And that involves preparing contingency plans, crafting risk registers, and conducting trend analyses.

This agility also applies to the tools you choose. For instance, you might host your website with Webflow because our platform offers quick customization options. As your target audience’s preferences shift, you can adjust landing pages with ease to pivot effectively.

Autonomy

Autonomy can increase workflow efficiency — and ease the workload for managers and help them avoid micromanagement.

Carly Pallis, the chief of staff (and former VP of marketing) at Pavilion, says, “When you’re a lean team, it’s really important that you feel that whoever you’re hiring can come in and work relatively autonomously. You can have your initial setup meeting and say, ‘This is what I’m looking for. These are the goals. This is where I need you to focus.’ And they can take that and run with it.”

Cross-functional collaboration

Cross-functional teamwork is often required to tackle complex challenges and produce high-quality deliverables. For example, UI/UX designers, marketing professionals, and search engine optimization (SEO) experts will collaborate to create a holistic user experience when building websites.

This diverse expertise isn’t always available. Smaller teams might adopt Lean UX methodologies and iterative design techniques to minimize wasted resources and maximize available talent.

Another way to gain diverse skill sets on a budget is to outsource tasks like graphic design and editing to a contractor or agency. A Webflow Expert can also help if your team lacks expertise for specific projects.

7 tips for building high-performance teams

Meet teamwork challenges head-on with these seven essential tips for creating and nurturing a team that consistently goes above and beyond.

1. Create a shared sense of purpose

Foster cohesion and alignment by giving your team a mission statement. Express a vision that speaks to the group as a whole but also respects individual values. To do this, you might chat one-on-one with each employee and then bring everyone together to further discuss shared values among the group. Then, craft a concise message that articulates what they’re all working toward.

Consider recording this mission statement and purpose in a team charter that team members can reference when needed to ensure continuous alignment.

2. Set clear goals and expectations

Clarity is key to boosting team performance. Set SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) to ensure everyone understands what they’re working on and why. This transparency and level of detail keeps employees on task and reduces wasted time and miscommunications.

Enterprise-level applications can boost this clarity by centralizing communication, project plans, and updates to keep everyone on the same page.

3. Invest in continuous learning and skill development

Encourage team members to jump on the chance to improve their skills. Offer training resources, workshops, and mentorship programs. And speak with managers to identify problem areas and encourage individuals to take courses that suit their needs and career aspirations. You might establish a quarterly training program where experienced employees mentor junior colleagues in similar roles, allowing them to develop skills and share knowledge.

4. Celebrate success and learn from setbacks

Highlighting milestones boosts morale and motivation, and reflecting on shortcomings builds resilience. Acknowledge and reward achievements in public communication channels, like your intranet or Slack, to reinforce positive behavior and encourage others to follow. And conduct post-project reviews to identify what went well, what went wrong, and where you can improve.

5. Encourage diversity and inclusion

True diversity extends beyond hiring practices. As Webflow’s CEO states, you must ensure every employee “feels valued and empowered to do fulfilling and impactful work.” At Webflow, this means:

• Measuring what matters (using data to aim toward equality and hold ourselves accountable)
• Providing opportunities to encourage employee awareness, allyship, and advocacy
• Centering the most marginalized
• Being actively anti-racist

Work with company leaders to develop a thoughtful and thorough diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy. Audit your approach regularly. And continuously provide employees with the opportunity to voice concerns regarding your DEI practices.

6. Prioritize work-life balance

An overwhelmed employee who can’t fit in soul-nourishing activities like time with loved ones, exercise, and travel can’t effectively contribute to your team. You must help employees create a work-life balance so they feel happy, productive, and motivated.

If possible, offer alternative working arrangements like remote work or flexible hours to accommodate diverse lifestyles and personal commitments. And provide wellness programs, mental health days, and workshops on fostering the right work-life balance for various personal priorities. Encourage team members to set boundaries and disconnect from work during non-business hours to prevent burnout and promote mental health.

7. Equip your team with the right tools

The “right tools” vary for every team, so this step starts with an audit of your current toolkit and unmet needs. Try to simplify your tech stack. Choose streamlined platforms that cover various purposes, like a design collaboration tool that helps web design, UI, and UX professionals work within the same platform. And if you don’t have one already, ensure your team has a robust design system to speed up and improve the web design process. 

Then, equip your team with a resource library that offers best practices for using your toolkit. You might also conduct software-specific training workshops to reduce the learning curve.

Dealing with team roadblocks

High-performance teams still come across challenges — how they handle them sets them apart. Here are a few common issues and how to effectively address them.

Burnout

Burnout resulting from prolonged stress or overwhelming workloads hinders productivity and increases dissatisfaction. Combat this by actively monitoring and adjusting workloads, redistributing resources when necessary, and setting realistic deadlines. This ensures employees aren’t overburdened and promotes a workplace culture that values mental health and work-life balance.

Internal conflict

Whether arising from clashing opinions or simple misunderstandings, internal conflict can lower morale and hamper effective collaboration. Address these issues head-on by implementing conflict resolution techniques like facilitated dialogues, problem-solving workshops, and team-building exercises. Encourage a culture of empathy and active listening to prevent issues from escalating.

You might also emphasize that internal conflict isn’t always a problem — it’s healthy to disagree, and sometimes this conflict can even result in more innovative ideation.

Lack of leader engagement

When leaders appear disengaged or distant, this attitude can be contagious and demotivate the team. As a leader, it’s essential to stay actively involved, provide guidance, and show genuine interest in your team’s work. And if you directly report to anyone, consider managing up to align your boss with team goals.

Maximize team collaboration with Webflow

Building and maintaining high-performance teams requires ongoing effort and adaptation, as well as equipping your team with the right tools to improve communication and productivity. With Webflow’s visual-first design and development tools, your team can move faster and collaborate together in the same workspace. Our visual web development platform is designed for tech-savvy engineers and nontechnical types alike.

Learn more about Webflow Enterprise and how it can boost your team’s performance.

Ultimately, this caused a blocker that hampered our user’s proficiency and speed when building on Webflow. 

Our team wanted to address this issue, so we asked ourselves, how might we enhance Webflow’s layout features to improve user adoption and satisfaction? 

The answer? The align box—a user-friendly interface designed to minimize clicks and streamline the layout process in Webflow. Let’s take a closer look at how our team built this feature. 

Drawing inspiration from Tic-Tac-Toe

During our brainstorming session, we drew inspiration from the classic game of Tic-Tac-Toe — using its underlying mechanics to inform the design of the align box. Much like Tic-Tac-Toe’s familiar 3×3 grid, the align box adopts a similar 3×3 grid-like layout. 

We drew a parallel with how players play Tic-Tac-Toe with how we wanted the align box to appear. Just as players use individual cells in Tic-Tac-Toe to place their X or O symbols — we wanted our users to interact with the align box by selecting an individual cell to adjust alignment. 

When we reflected on the structure of Tic-Tac-Toe, we noticed that the game’s markup essentially comprises 9 divs, each with an onClick handler to facilitate player moves. Similarly, in our codebase, we’ve structured 9 divs (referred to as cells), each equipped with its onClick logic. 

We conceptualized each cell as corresponding to a specific coordinate; for example, the top-left cell is assigned the coordinate (0,0), the center cell (1,1), and so forth. This systematic arrangement streamlines cell-related operations, ensuring ease of reference. Utilizing our designated coordinate system, we retrieved the alignment values associated with the clicked cell when a user interacts with it to apply a particular style. These alignment values can include various style properties, such as align-items and  justify-content for Flexbox, and align-content and justify-content for Grid.

Lastly, inspired by the commonly used 2D array representation in Tic-Tac-Toe to identify winning combinations, we implemented a similar approach in our codebase. Leveraging a 2D array, we constructed the HTML markup for the align box and integrated onClick logic, connecting it with our coordinate system to dynamically apply styles.

/**
* The possible cell values
*/
enum Cell {
  TopLeft = '0,0',
  TopCenter = '0,1',
  TopRight = '0,2',
  CenterLeft = '1,0',
  Center = '1,1',
  CenterRight = '1,2',
  BottomLeft = '2,0',
  BottomCenter = '2,1',
  BottomRight = '2,2',
}

/**
* A 2D array of all 9 cells in the alignBox
*/
const alignBox = [
  [Cell.TopLeft, Cell.TopCenter, Cell.TopRight],
  [Cell.CenterLeft, Cell.Center, Cell.CenterRight],
  [Cell.BottomLeft, Cell.BottomCenter, Cell.BottomRight],
];

{alignBox.map((row) =>
  row.map((cell) => (
   

  ))
)}

Building the align box

Structure

After we laid the groundwork for our coordinate system, we then dived into the process of structuring the align box. One fundamental requirement was that at any given time the align box needed to display an icon corresponding to the selected styles. This icon could cover one or three cells in our 3×3 grid. So when a user hovered over a different cell, an icon or icons were revealed that corresponded to certain alignment styles.

The markup required layering multiple elements on top of each other. This breaks down as follows: 

1. A Container React element tasked with managing event handlers, business, and keyboard logic.
2. A Ninebox React element responsible for displaying or concealing the 9 dots.
3. A hovered variant React element responsible for presenting icons linked to hovered alignment styles.
4. A selected variant React element responsible for showcasing icons corresponding to selected alignment styles.
5. A hovered variant that appears only when a modifier key is held (in this instance, Command (on Mac) or Control (On Windows)).

Display Icons

With the markup established, we then proceeded to create a map data structure to determine the lookup of the appropriate icon efficiently. This structure handles all conceivable combinations of alignment values, enabling retrieval of the pertinent icon data—including the svg icon. We applied a similar approach for the hovered variant, but instead, we based our selection on the hovered alignment values. 

Accessibility

At Webflow, we’re dedicated to accessibility for all users when building for the web. To ensure the align box was accessible, we implemented the ability to modify alignment values via keyboard navigation methods, such as using the arrow keys, to set the alignment styles. In addition, to facilitate seamless navigation between cells via keyboard, we also introduced the concept of an active cell.

Active Cell

1. An active cell represents the cell corresponding to the current alignment styles. Calculating this active cell declaratively was crucial for several reasons. First, it ensured that we would know which cell was active when the component was initially rendered. 
2. Since alignment values can be altered through various means outside of the component (such as using dropdowns or resetting property labels), the active cell could potentially become out of sync with the actual alignment values. By calculating this declaratively, we were able to ensure that the active cell always accurately reflected the alignment values, given that these values serve as the ultimate source of truth.

/**
* Enum representing directional values. This enum correlates with arrow key directions.
*/
enum Direction {
  /* Direction Up correlates to ArrowUp */
  Up = 'Up',
  /* Direction Down correlates to ArrowDown  */
  Down = 'Down',
  /* Direction Left correlates to ArrowDown */
  Left = 'Left',
  /* Direction Right correlates to ArrowRight */
  Right = 'Right',
}

const activeCell = () => getCellFromAlignmentValues()

/**
* Handles keyboard navigation between the cells in the alignBox. This function is
* called when the user presses an arrow key while the alignBox is focused.
* @param {Direction} direction – The direction to navigate in. This correlates with the arrow key pressed.
* @returns {void}
*/
const handleKeyboardNavigation = (direction: Direction) => {
  let nextCell: Cell = activeCell;
 
  switch (direction) {
    case Direction.Up:
      nextCell = gridNavigation.moveUp(activeCell);
      break;
    case Direction.Down:
      nextCell = gridNavigation.moveDown(activeCell);
      break;
    case Direction.Left:
      nextCell = gridNavigation.moveLeft(activeCell);
      break;
    case Direction.Right:
      nextCell = gridNavigation.moveRight(activeCell);
      break;
  }

  // Get the values of the cell navigated to
  const values = getCellAlignmentValues();

  // Update the element styles with the new values
  onUpdate(values)
}

With the active cell established, we then implemented a reusable class called GridNavigation, which facilitates navigation between cells in the align box. This class exposes four new methods: moveDown, moveUp, moveLeft, and moveRight, corresponding to navigation in the respective directions. When an arrow key is pressed, we’re able to determine the next cell to navigate to, retrieve its value, and subsequently update the styles accordingly based on this navigation. 

In April, we launched the align box with the goal of achieving a harmonious balance between simplicity for newcomers and efficiency for experienced users. 

Even though the launch received an 94% positive social sentiment response, there are always opportunities for improvement, and we look forward to continuing to refine the user experience in the upcoming months.

No website is perfect. Occasional glitches and delays are inevitable. But the true measure of a website’s quality is how it manages errors and exceptions to prevent them from ruining a website visitor’s experience.

Strategic error handling is a safeguard in these situations, enabling swift intervention to solve problems as they arise. This proactive approach lets you minimize the potential for disruption and strengthen user trust by demonstrating a commitment to a seamless and enjoyable browsing experience.

Understanding error handling

Every action a user takes on a website — like clicking links or submitting forms — triggers a background program. This program, or code, dictates how the site responds to user inputs, displays content, and manages navigation. But not every interaction goes as expected. Visitors might enter data the system doesn’t anticipate, or server issues could momentarily hinder site functionality, leading to potential errors and exceptions.

Effective error handling means identifying, analyzing, and fixing these issues to maintain smooth website operation. This includes managing exceptions to prevent them from halting programs and preventing your website from showing detailed error messages and sensitive information, minimizing cyberthreat risk. By concealing this information, error handling helps you maintain operational integrity and bolster your site’s security measures so you can provide a seamless and safe visitor experience.

What’s an error (and is it the same as an exception)?

An error is any unexpected situation during a program’s execution that might stem from logical mistakes or system failures. Imagine you create a website form to collect user feedback. The form includes a script that validates email addresses to ensure it follows a standard email format, such as user@website.com. But due to a logical error, the script incorrectly validates email addresses that lack an “@” symbol, allowing visitors to submit incomplete and invalid addresses.

Exceptions are a subset of errors that specifically interrupt the normal flow of program instructions, like when a program attempts to access a nonexistent file. If your website dynamically loads content from an external file or database when a user selects a specific option, an exception might occur if that file is missing or deleted. Since the expected resource is unavailable, the program encounters an exception, disrupting its intended operation.

3 common error types

Whether you’re customizing a checkout flow or setting up feedback forms, understanding error types is crucial to fixing them. Here are three common types.

1. Logic error

Logic errors stem from flaws in a program’s design or implementation that lead to unintended behavior without immediate system crashes. Consider a scenario in which the task is to calculate the average from a list of numbers. But due to a logic error, the code multiplies these numbers instead of summing them up. Because your code’s syntax is correct, logic errors won’t typically trigger flags during compilation or execution but will often manifest through abnormal program behaviors.

2. Compile-time errors

These errors arise when a program called a compiler translates human-readable code into a machine-executable format. This compilation process checks the code for syntax errors before producing an executable file.

Development languages like C, C++, Rust, and Java undergo a traditional compilation phase, while JavaScript, Python, and PHP are interpreted languages that don’t require compilation.

For compiled languages, compile-time errors occur during the compilation phase after you’ve written your code but before you execute the program. They usually consist of:

• Syntax issues where you get the “grammar” of your code wrong, such as typos or an unclosed parenthesis.
• Type mismatches where your code expects a number but you try to use a letter.

3. Runtime errors (exceptions)

Runtime errors, or exceptions, occur as the program runs and can lead to crashes if unhandled. Imagine an ecommerce site with a form for users to enter item quantities. If a user inputs a letter rather than a number and the code doesn’t safeguard against this input, attempting to calculate the total price will trigger a runtime error. This happens because the program expects a numerical value for multiplication but receives a letter instead.

Error handling configuration

Strategic error handling tailors its approach to the unique challenges of each error type. 

Here are a few tips to resolve each error category effectively.

Handling logical errors

Debugging tools are indispensable for identifying logical programming errors. In JavaScript, for instance, leveraging the browser’s developer console and tools like Chrome DevTools and the Visual Studio Code debugger can be particularly helpful. These tools let you:

• Inspect variables. This feature lets you analyze variable values at different execution stages in real time, providing insights into your program’s state and helping you identify logical error sources.
• Set breakpoints. Breakpoints let you pause code execution at specified points to examine the program’s state and variables. This lets you isolate sections where issues might arise, making logical error detection faster.
• Step through code. Debugging tools enable line-by-line execution observation, showing you how the program changes variables and calls functions. By stepping through the code, you can witness the exact sequence of operations, track the values of variables, and identify discrepancies or unexpected behavior.

Handling compile-time errors

Interpreted or scripted languages, like JavaScript and Python, don’t go through traditional compilation phases or have explicit compile-time errors. For instance, JavaScript returns errors after catching them when your script loads or executes. In these languages, errors get identified and logged during the script’s load or execution. But compiled languages like C and Java halt the compilation process if the compiler detects errors and logs them for correction.

To manage compile-time errors, use an integrated development environment (IDE) or text editor with syntax checking and highlighting features. These resources, along with build tools and compilers, can pinpoint and help address compile-time errors by providing immediate feedback on potential issues. For instance, IDEs like Eclipse for Java or Visual Studio for C# offer comprehensive debugging tools that highlight syntax and logical errors in real time. They also suggest possible fixes, making maintaining clean, error-free custom code easier.

Handling runtime errors

When addressing runtime errors and exceptions, developers typically follow one of two approaches — error bubbling or immediate error handling.

Error bubbling lets an error rise, or “bubble,” from the initial occurrence point through nested functions until it reaches a higher level that lets the developer address it. This method depends on the hierarchical structure of the call stack to manage errors systematically.

But immediate error handling addresses errors at the point of occurrence and prevents them from affecting other application parts.

In both cases, you can use a try-catch block or error event listener to catch and process your error.

Try-catch blocks

A try-catch block is an error handler that exists in many programming languages. It’s a control flow statement that defines the sequence in which individual instructions or blocks of code are executed. These blocks encapsulate code that may trigger errors within a try segment, while the catch segment processes any errors that arise to prevent program crashes. This setup includes:

• Try block: Encases code that might trigger an error
• Catch block: Activates if an error occurs within the try block, with the error providing details about the issue

Here’s an example try-catch block syntax for JavaScript:

The try-catch block syntax varies for each language, so you’ll need to adapt the code to your needs.

Error event listener

Unlike the try-catch block, which deals with synchronous code execution, an error event listener allows developers to handle errors that occur asynchronously — outside the typical flow of synchronous code execution. These listeners are particularly effective in web development for handling errors from external resource loading and user interactions.

Employing error event listeners lets you intercept errors at a broader application level. This enables more effective error logging, debugging, and handling and ensures that asynchronous errors don’t interrupt the overall application flow.

Avoid errors with an automated testing suite

To complement the error-handling strategies discussed above, consider adopting automated testing suites.

These software tools automate code testing and reduce manual errors by simulating user interactions to detect issues early. By preventing errors from reaching production, automated suites streamline debugging and bolster application reliability, ultimately ensuring a seamless user experience. This approach embodies the DevOps shift left philosophy, which encourages early and frequent testing to identify errors before they escalate.

An effective testing suite includes the following key components.

Unit tests

Unit tests scrutinize individual code sections and functions to ensure each operates as expected. Because they look at each feature individually, these tests are great for identifying logic errors early in development.

As a best practice, you should write unit tests for each feature you create to allow for focused testing on component behavior without broader application contexts interfering.

Consider the earlier logic error example. After writing a feature, a developer would write a unit test that checks if the feature calculates the average from a list of numbers. If the feature incorrectly multiplies values instead, the unit test would highlight this discrepancy before the developer merges the code. This ensures errors are caught early.

Unit tests also excel at identifying runtime errors by testing various inputs, especially when dealing with unexpected data types. Consider a scenario where your number-averaging feature encounters nonnumeric data, like the letter “p,” as input. Should your form mistakenly accept this, a runtime error will occur. But by designing your feature only to accept specific data types, any inappropriate input triggers an error or warning message to the user. Unit testing ensures your feature robustly handles these edge cases to prevent runtime errors and maintain your application’s integrity.

Integration tests

Integration tests ensure seamless interaction between application components by simulating real-world scenarios where different parts work together. They identify interface issues and verify the correct data flow to prevent logic and runtime errors.

Consider a scenario where a runtime error occurs in the code responsible for database comment storage. An integration test could replicate submitting a comment through the web application, saving it to the database, and then displaying it on the website. This approach allows the test to identify any runtime errors early and prevent them from affecting the production environment. Integration tests can also help you troubleshoot code by highlighting error messages, unexpected outcomes, and any other signs that the process or program didn’t proceed as planned.

End-to-end tests

End-to-end (E2E) tests look at your entire application workflow, encompassing user interfaces, databases, and external integrations. They simulate user scenarios to uncover logic and runtime errors across the system.

While integration tests focus on interactions between different application components, E2E tests evaluate the entire application’s workflow from the user’s perspective. So while integration tests verify component compatibility, E2E tests validate the complete user experience.

For instance, in testing the graphical user interface (GUI) — the components users interact with — an E2E test might navigate through critical user flows, like logging in. It simulates clicks through the login sequence to ensure all forms work correctly, the systems accurately process and store user information, and the interface displays the proper information.

Enjoy error-free websites with Webflow

Understanding various error types and implementing strategies to manage or prevent them is essential. Webflow Enterprise offers a suite of analytics tools and integrations designed to simplify this process. These resources empower your team to identify, analyze, and address potential issues more efficiently, so you don’t have to worry about 502 bad gateway errors and security risks.

Explore Webflow Enterprise today and discover how our platform can revolutionize your online presence.

Thousands of design portfolios exist on the internet, each with a talented designer behind them looking to attract clients. To stand out, your portfolio must be unique, compelling, and skills-driven. You need to demonstrate what sets you apart and what it’s like working with you to ensure the client-designer match works well. 

Read on to discover six techniques for crafting a client-winning portfolio, plus get inspired with our list of impressive design portfolio examples. 

6 proven design portfolio tips

While design portfolios vary wildly depending on who creates them, some fundamental principles appear consistently in the strongest ones. Here are six best practices great design portfolios tend to follow.

1. Curate diverse work

Select design projects from different mediums, like websites, apps, and advertisements. Even if potential clients are only interested in hiring you for one medium, sharing various examples demonstrates versatility and experience — both highly sought-after characteristics.

2. Prioritize quality over quantity

Everything in your portfolio should represent your best work. Don’t use examples you aren’t proud of just to pad the site. You have limited control over what potential clients see first, so every addition should make an excellent impression.

3. Provide context and insights

While the work should speak for itself, it can benefit from added context. Use subtle text blocks to describe how you went about a design or the challenges you encountered while making it. 

If you have experience with typical design obstacles like translation issues and complex design requirements, mention those to let potential clients know you can handle challenging projects.

4. Update regularly

Update your portfolio to include new projects as you complete them. While you’re at it, ensure you’re tagging every project with a date to indicate how recent samples are. Viewers will naturally construct a timeline to understand how your designs have evolved over the years.

5. Demonstrate results and impact

Include text or infographics that show how your designs impacted key metrics like viewership, sales, and click-through rates. This quantifiable proof encourages potential clients wanting to see the same improvements to get in touch.

6. Express your personality

While project quality might be priority #1, clients also want a cohesive working relationship — as do you. Express yourself in your portfolio so clients get an idea of your communication style, design preferences, and general attitude. This increases the chance it’s a good match for all involved.

25 design portfolio examples worth checking out

Each of the following examples stands out for the way creators execute design trends, showcase their work, and express their unique personality. Let these examples inspire your team’s next web design project.

1. Jessica Hernandez

‍Jessica Hernandez is a UX researcher based in San Francisco, CA. If you’re looking for an example of a portfolio that gives an excellent first impression, this is it.

Jessica’s portfolio starts with a fun pre-loading animation, leading to a website full of color, personality, and charm. As you scroll, you discover where Jessica is from and that her expertise is in education. Post-scrolling, an “Enter” animation invites you to continue exploring the site.

Equipped with a digital resume, a projects page, contact information, and an About page, this website is an excellent example of a multi-page portfolio website done right.

2. Christina Kosik

Christina Kosik is a UX designer and web developer based in Vancouver, Canada. Her page-loading-time animation lets you know the site is almost loaded so you don’t bounce. 

In the works section, selecting projects gives you a peek at the assets she made for each one. Every case study also includes a link to the finished website, so users can fully explore what she’s made. That way, visitors skimming the site can get a quick idea of what Christina offers, while those needing more information can also find it.

3. James Williams

‍James is a Webflow designer and developer, and their portfolio site succinctly portrays their experience in the field. The animated homepage guides visitors through their most recent work, with links to pages dedicated to each case study. A “Get in touch” button subtly exists in the header, and they close the homepage with a more prominent call-out, encouraging visitors to reach out without overwhelming the site with CTA buttons. 

4. Timothy Maurer

This site is an excellent example of a clean, uncomplicated, and project-focused portfolio. Timothy’s portfolio acts as a streamlined index for all his best work. The homepage presents an impressive feed of his projects, with projects speaking for themselves among a distraction-free UX design.

5. Esmeralda Studios

Enkhmaa is an interaction designer with a comprehensive online portfolio that features three case studies and illustration and motion graphics galleries. They balance simplicity and personality expression, surrounding designs with whitespace to highlight their work while adding fun graphics, fonts, and hover animations to express themselves.

6. Dan Machado

Dan Machado is a multidisciplinary designer who uses large, striking imagery to invite you to explore his case studies. Each one balances copy with imagery so those with the time can thoroughly understand the work, and speedy scrollers can quickly discover what Dan is capable of. 

Dan’s site is an excellent point of reference if you’re considering using a lot of imagery to complement your portfolio’s copy.

7. Greg Christian 

Greg Christian’s portfolio is a modern (and much more interesting) take on a traditional resume. As soon as you land on the homepage, you discover the companies he’s worked for, current projects, and location. This one-page portfolio presents work in an uncluttered way to keep the reader’s attention throughout.

8. Kerem Suer

Kerem Suer is an interdisciplinary designer based in San Francisco. To effectively showcase all the arenas he excels in, Karem added brief tags to each design showcase on the homepage, like “Product, UI design” and “Brand.” He also gives a small peek into his design process by breaking elements of his work into various sizes and layouts. 

9. Alex Beige

Alex Beige is an NYC-based web developer and designer whose portfolio site takes you on a journey that showcases Alex’s fun personality and stellar work. This one-page website walks you through previous client work, the design and development process, a (hilarious) team page, and a CTA to get in touch. Playful imagery and subtle animations engage readers throughout.

10. Moritz Petersen

‍Moritz Petersen is a freelance web designer and developer who fully tailors sites to client needs. His online design portfolio features a beautiful scrolling interaction through the Webflow Designer while showcasing the clients he’s worked with.

Toward the end of scrolling through Moritz’ homepage, he showcases his workflow so future clients know what to expect when working with him. He also promotes Webflow as a web development platform to inspire clients to use him for Webflow-based services.

11. Aaron Grieve

Aaron Grieve is a self-proclaimed Webflow nerd who has contributed to the Webflow community for years. He’s the author of in-depth, informative blogs and the creator of dazzling websites like Your Retreats. 

While this one-page portfolio is quite busy, he uses white text against a black background to improve navigation and highlight key sections like “Client projects” and “Webflow templates.” And by directly linking to the sites he produced, Aaron lets the work speak for itself.

12. Colin Moy

Colin Moy’s homepage is particularly eye-catching, with animated eyes representing the O’s in his name. He keeps the theme throughout the site, making the Os in “About,” “Portfolio,” and “Contact” clickable elements that open a larger circle with more information. Clicking “Portfolio” triggers an accordion of vertical ovals, each with preview images or video and a project name. 

It’s a playful design that encourages readers to explore the whole site to look for all the O’s, keeping them engaged. Clone this project to see whether this playful style suits your work.

13. Matthew P Munger 

Matthew P Munger is a senior product expert at Webflow. His unique design portfolio is a throwback to the classic Mac OS. Matthew has created a unique UX, letting us browse a system that’s since been overtaken by a more modern design. The retro style of this portfolio sets Matthew apart and delights the audience.

14. Robert Floyd

Robert Floyd is a YouTuber and product designer with a minimalist portfolio website that features snippets of work across various industries. He offers helpful information about each project, like the year, his role, the product name, and the prototype link. And he encourages professional networking by highlighting his LinkedIn, YouTube, and GitHub profiles in the top-right menu.

15. Brett Land

Brett Land is the portfolio of Brett Shea, a copywriter, designer, and creative director based in San Francisco. He sets himself apart with confident, quirky writing, such as, “Now entering Brett Land” and “…why don’t you just click below to peep the type of work I’ve been known to make?”

The catalog page features high-profile projects for companies like Lyft and Airbnb to flex his expertise. Meanwhile, his “Stupidfest” page showcases his humor, with mock products like beer-flavored yogurt and hummus-flavored Gatorade. 

Overall, Brett’s portfolio is unique, fun to explore, and memorable — all required to stand out.

16. Michael Ji

Michael Ji’s portfolio uses fun animations to showcase his work in a tightly curated way. From the moment you land on the site, various moving elements encourage you to view certain items, like core characteristics that make Michael who he is (including “Passionate and curious,” and “A perfectionist”). As you scroll, projects move in and out of view to offer a more comprehensive look at his work. You can stop to explore each project, or continue scrolling to get a quick glimpse.

17. Yuki Asakura

Yuki Asakura’s site is the perfect example of letting your work speak for itself. It features a short introduction followed by three project examples that lead to complete case studies.

The case studies demonstrate Yuki’s passion (improving transportation), and the ease of site navigation reflects his UX/UI design expertise. Scrolling triggers every animation, and each one fits seamlessly into the UX. Plus, he presents project work on a simple background precisely as it appears on various devices.

18. Adam Ho

Adam Ho’s portfolio uses a busy design style that might be overwhelming at first but becomes fun to play with as you scroll and move your cursor around. The statement at the top of the site prepares you for a truly unique experience: “Upon refresh, the showcase as you see it in this current iteration will disappear, as there are trillions of combinations of information.”

While simplicity is often best to showcase project work, this site stands out for breaking all the rules.

19. Matt Jablonski 

Matt Jablonski’s design portfolio generously uses whitespace to highlight his work. Every card on the homepage has a pale-colored overlay that stands out against the white — each notably different but adhering to a complementary color scheme. The pastel color palette brings all the elements together into a cohesive experience.

20. David McGillivray

A seasoned creative director and designer, David McGillivray creates holistic design solutions, which this unique portfolio reflects. It’s evident that David is an experienced UX designer: he balances copy with imagery excellently, pulling focus to project work with large images while also including enough information to satisfy visitor curiosity. Each image-heavy project page immerses us in David’s work, showcasing animations, micro-interactions, and product design.

21. Tony Gines

Tony Gines’ one-page and mostly static portfolio embodies the “less is more” principle. The text on the left presents Tony’s key skills (user interface, brand strategy, logo design, illustration, animation, user experience) and the page closes with five social network links, like X (Twitter), Instagram, and Gmail. For some, these two elements are all that’s needed to decide whether to get in touch.

22. Maria la Portuguesa 

Maria la Portuguesa is a Berlin-based graphic designer who uses her site to show off her quirky graphic design skills, branding, and logo designs. This site perfectly balances showcasing one’s personality without distracting from project work. The homepage highlights 10 project work snippets that, once clicked on, open a web page that discusses each more thoroughly.

23. DesignPilot’s portfolio website template

If you want to build a comprehensive one-page portfolio, this cloneable template by Chethan KVS at DesignPilot is a great start. The top menu gives the illusion of a multi-page site, but clicking on the options simply jumps the page to the selected section.

This outline uses motion throughout, with text and images sliding into place as you scroll. It also includes placeholders for client testimonials, a contact form, and a footer section with social media icons and additional links.

24. Farzin Zaman

Farzin Zaman Khan is a web designer and Webflow developer who uses whitespace to draw attention to his work while creating a fun navigation experience (circles along a timeline unite as you scroll and hit the next project) to keep visitors scrolling. 

Farzin opens the site with a bold “Email me” CTA button for those who want to get in touch right away. And at the end, he places his contact information in a striking, user-friendly heading with clever animations that make the experience more exciting.

25. Pierrick Calvez 

Pierrick Calvez is a painter and graphic designer whose portfolio focuses equally on both disciplines. This site is one of the most minimalist in this list, laying out artwork against an off-white background that, once clicked, opens larger versions. The only items at the top are his name and buttons for selected works, Pierrick’s resume, and contact.

His artwork is so striking, it’s a treat that he hasn’t distracted from it with extraneous details.

Make a client-collecting design portfolio with Webflow

With inspiration and tips in hand, you’re ready to craft a portfolio site that’s engaging and effectively sells your unique offering. Start with Webflow, a visual development environment you can use no matter your coding expertise.

Explore the Made in Webflow marketplace for the perfect portfolio template, and check out Webflow University for courses, interactive lessons, and quick-start guides to help you get up to speed.

The outcome is their Austin-based company Shipwell, which is committed to empowering companies to efficiently scale their supply chain — no matter their size, stage, or industry.

The company’s ethos can be boiled down to one simple statement: making shipping better. It’s this very objective that has the company’s tiny-but-mighty marketing team laser focused on leveling up how they connect with their customers.

We recently caught up with their CMO, Karen Sage, to hear more about her vision for her marketing team and why an end-to-end website overhaul was a critical next step for the company. Read on to learn why she was ready to move on from WordPress, how her team members collaborated with Webflow Enterprise Partner Veza Digital to make their vision a reality, and what’s in store for the future at Shipwell.

A vested interest in building websites marketing teams can actually use

Karen Sage knows a thing or two — or three — about the pains that come with a marketing website her teams can’t regularly use or update. In her career, she’s led marketing teams where someone has developed a nearly impossible-to-use website, and this was once again the case with Shipwell’s previous website. 

“It was extremely difficult for my marketers to do anything beyond tiny changes, and attempting to would completely break our WordPress website that was built with custom templates and plugins.”

— Karen Sage, CMO at Shipwell

This posed an even greater issue as site pages became outdated because updating them meant being beholden to a developer or outside consultant. Sarah Slaughter, Sr. Manager, Creative & Brand at Shipwell, emphasized some of the challenges she personally was feeling with the existing website. “Our external developers built custom-templated experiences that they believed would make it easier for the marketing team to edit, but in reality, it was the opposite. We were locked into these very formulaic templates that only let us edit one or two things, but nothing more,” she lamented.

Identifying additional key pains with their existing website

Karen shared that one of the value points Shipwell is able to offer is an excellent user experience in their tool. “That’s why having a clunky website — one that was very templated and lacked interactivity — was creating a disjointed brand and user experience,” she explained.

As Karen, Sarah, and their wider marketing team began evaluating how they could solve for this, enable more marketing autonomy, and improve the overall customer experience, they began summarizing exactly what wasn’t working with their current website — from initial visit to post-sale and ongoing lifecycle activities.

They pinpointed a few core challenges when it came to website development and management:

• The development cycle was painfully slow and expensive: Moving a button over just a few pixels could cost them upwards of $600 and 2+ business days with outside web developers.
• Their website wasn’t interactive: As the team explored building engaging customer experiences, such as interactive calculators or animations, development was a major blocker.
• The impact of content optimization fell short: Without an easy-to-use, easy-to-navigate website that was optimized to visitors’ needs, optimizations to content had minimal impact.

In addition to functionality and issues with development, the team — as well as their investors — had major concerns about continuing to use WordPress, due to the known security issues that come with the number of plugins needed to build their website with custom templates.

Waving goodbye to painful and costly development cycles

Karen quickly prioritized the need to not only move off WordPress, but to completely reimagine their web presence. However, with limited in-house support, she knew working with a partner who could bring website expertise to this project was necessary. She began interviewing numerous agencies and left frustrated as many failed to truly understand her priorities and pain, often trying to push her back toward a WordPress site, which was a non-starter.

Enter Veza Digital: a Webflow Enterprise Partner and full-scale growth marketing agency that not only specializes in WordPress-to-Webflow migrations, but was acutely aware and empathetic of the pains the Shipwell marketing team was facing. 

“We knew Karen was a high-intent user when it came to replatforming, and we also wanted to help set Shipwell apart from competitors in their industry, which meant creating a very uniquely designed and modern website built for the future.”

— Jamal Haymour, Director of Partnerships at Veza Digital

Jamal and his team wanted to set the Shipwell team up for long-term success and scale, and therefore walked them through how they could start using Webflow’s CMS as much as possible, bringing more control into marketers’ hands. Additionally, they showed them that the Veza team could still develop some custom site experiences, animations, and interactions to ensure Karen’s team’s exact vision was properly executed.

Finally feeling heard and understood, Karen and team decided migrating to Webflow and partnering with Veza Digital was the best path forward and proceeded with confidence.

Collaboration was a key driver for Shipwell’s website redesign success

Ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work, the teams at Veza Digital and Shipwell aligned on key roles and responsibilities. Karen’s in-house team would handle copywriting and raw product assets, while Veza focused on design, migration, and development – as well as ensuring new experiences were optimized for conversion.

Through the redesign process, Veza Digital managed to elevate Shipwell’s brand image. Using Figma, Veza created visually compelling web pages aligned with Shipwell’s brand guideline. With the custom-made design, Veza managed to extract the essence of Shipwell’s brand. The result was an enhanced website design, improved with custom motion graphics that set a new standard for the transportation management industry. 

After getting through the arduous process of cleaning up the WordPress site content the Veza team imported into Webflow, they were finally able to hit the ground running in December 2023. 

Throughout the migration and redesign process, the two teams remained highly collaborative and in lockstep, defining approval workflows, staying connected on Slack, conducting weekly status calls and written updates, and leaving the door open to ad-hoc calls that could unblock the Veza team as needed.

A partnership that sets Shipwell up for long-term success

All-in-all, the Shipwell team created new copy for 25 unique pages, and the Veza team migrated over 1500+ pages and built 20 net new pages by project completion. They also were able to preserve Shipwell’s existing brand by bringing the company’s beloved mascot, Swifty, to life on the site using custom animations. “This was an important undertaking because while yes, Shipwell is a corporation in the logistics space, it still has a brand we wanted to ensure remained intact amongst all of the change,” Jamal explained.

As key partners for the Shipwell team, their support didn’t stop with building pages, custom animations, and interactions. They continue to be critical partners when it comes to SEO optimizations and bugs following the new site launch. Additionally, because enabling greater marketing autonomy was a core catalyst for moving to Webflow, Veza’s team is now providing Shipwell’s marketing team with ongoing support. 

This includes training on-site management and updates, as well as creating recordings for long-term reference. Additionally, Veza provides support to Shipwell for net-new requests, graphic design to ensure new designs align with the current look and feel, and overall site enhancements.

Building a truly powerful website unlocked greater digital potential and shifted company culture

The marketing team at Shipwell was able to do so much more than redesign their website. They completely reimagined what their website could look like, how it could function, and what it could support — transforming it into a true lever for leveling up the customer experience.

By project completion, the Shipwell team had:

• Redesigned the user interface to provide a sleek, modern experience
• Updated their navigation menu to ensure finding what users need is effortless
• Organized their digital resources, making it simpler than ever to delve into the details of Shipwell’s solutions
• Created more straightforward ways for users to connect with their team

Additionally, the Shipwell team was able to bring dream projects, like their ROI calculator and partner portal, to life with support from the Veza team. Now, the marketing team can track site performance using analytics and heatmaps to better understand what’s resonating with their audience — something they were only previously able to achieve to an extent using their social channels.

As an added bonus, not only was Shipwell’s marketing team able to deliver on consumer and business needs, but they were able to shift their internal company culture.

“Our greater Shipwell team was really energized by having a high-quality website, which in turn has boosted team morale and internal company sentiment.”

— Karen Sage, CMO at Shipwell

What’s in store for the future at Shipwell

While it’s easy to track the visual upgrade the Shipwell team accomplished, the biggest impact driver in this website overhaul was speed. “As we are at a company stage where we are growing fast, time is of the essence,” Sarah explains. “We’re excited about our ability to move quickly with Webflow, ship new campaigns in a fraction of the time, and just build more digital experiences that resonate with our target audience.”

Looking ahead, the team is excited to have a clear picture of key website metrics that can help them make data-driven decisions on content and site optimizations. Additionally, with their new website and modern look and feel, the team is excited to continue to expand on their web presence, continuously iterating upon the user journey to consistently deliver delightful experiences to their users.